66 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



searching spirit; others, a walk for a wandering mind; 

 others, a tower of state; others, a fort, or commanding 

 ground; and others, a shop for profit or sale, instead of 

 a storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the endow 

 ment of human life. But that which must dignify and exalt 

 knowledge is the more intimate and strict conjunction of 

 contemplation and action; a conjunction like that of Saturn, 

 the planet of rest and contemplation ; and Jupiter, the planet 

 of civil society and action. But here, by use and action, we 

 do not mean the applying of knowledge to lucre, for that 

 diverts the advancement of knowledge, as the golden ball 

 thrown before Atalanta, which, while she stoops to take up, 

 the race is hindered. 



&quot;Declinat cursus, aurumqne volubile tollit.&quot; Ovid, Metam. x. 661. 



Nor do we mean, as was said of Socrates, to call philosophy 

 down from heaven to converse upon earth: 70 that is, to 

 leave natural philosophy behind, and apply knowledge only 

 to morality and policy: but as both heaven and earth con 

 tribute to the use and benefit of man, so the end ought to 

 be, from both philosophies, to separate and reject vain and 

 empty speculations, and preserve and increase all that is 

 solid and fruitful. 



&quot;We have now laid open by a kind of dissection the chief 

 of those peccant humors which have not only retarded the 

 advancement of learning, but tended to its traducement. 71 

 If we have cut too deeply, it must be remembered, &quot;Fidelia 

 vulnera amantis, dolosa oscula malignantis. 72 However, we 

 will gain credit for our commendations, as we have been 

 severe in our censures. It is, notwithstanding, far from our 



70 Cicero, Tuscul. Qusest. v. c. 4. 



71 To this catalogue of errors incident to learned men may be added, the 

 frauds and impostures of which they are sometimes guilty, to the scandal of 

 learning. Thus plagiarism, piracy, falsification, interpolation, castration, the 

 publishing of spurious books, and the stealing of manuscripts out of libraries, 

 have been frequent, especially among ecclesiastical writers, and the Fratres 

 Falsarii. For instances of this kind, see Struvius &quot;De Doctis Impostoribus, &quot; 

 Morhof in &quot;Polyhist., de Pseudonymis, Anonymis, etc.,&quot; Le Clerc s &quot;Ars Crit- 

 ica,&quot; Cave s &quot;Historia Literaria Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, &quot; Father Simon, 

 and Mabillon. Ed. 



72 Prov. xxvii. 6. 



