THE FIRST BOOK. 65 



sovereignty we see, that if arms or descent have carried away 

 the kingdom, yet learning hath carried the priesthood, which 

 ever hath been in some competition with empire. 



Again, for the pleasure and delight of knowledge and 

 learning, it far surpasseth all other in nature : for, shall the 

 pleasures of the affections so exceed the pleasure of the 

 senses, as much as the obtaining of desire or victory ex- 

 ceedeth a song or a dinner ? and must not, of consequence, 

 the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the 

 pleasures of the affections ? We see in all other pleasures 10 

 there is satiety, and after they be used, their verdure 

 departeth ; which showeth well they be but deceits of 

 pleasure, and not pleasures ; and that it was the novelty 

 which pleased, and not the quality : and therefore we see 

 that voluptuous men turn friars, and ambitious princes turn 

 melancholy. But of knowledge there is no satiety, but satis 

 faction and appetite are perpetually interchangeable ; and 

 therefore appeareth to be good in itself simply, without 

 fallacy or accident. Neither is that pleasure of small efficacy 

 and contentment to the mind of man, which the poet 20 

 Lucretius describeth elegantly, 



SUAVE MARI MAGNO, TURBANTIBUS ^QUORA VENTIS, etc. 



It is a view of delight, saith he, to stand or walk upon the 

 shore side, and to see a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea ; or 

 to be in a fortified tower, and to see two battles join upon a 

 plain; but it is a pleasure incomparable, for the mind of man 

 to be settled, landed, and fortified in the certainty of truth ; and 

 from thence to descry and behold the errors, perturbations, 



Lastly, leaving the vulgar arguments, that by learning 30 

 man excelleth man in that wherein man excelleth beasts ; 

 that by learning man ascendeth to the heavens and their 

 motions, where in body he cannot come, and the like ; let us 

 conclude with the dignity and excellency of knowledge and 

 learning in that whereunto man's nature doth most aspire, 



