82 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



broken, and to-day a mortal die.&quot; I18 And hence Yirgil 

 excellently joined the knowledge of causes and the conquer 

 ing of fears together as concomitants: 



qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, 

 Quique metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum, 

 Subjecit pedibus; strepitumque Acherontis avari.&quot; 119 



It were tedious to enumerate the particular remedies 

 which learning affords for all the diseases of the mind, 

 sometimes by purging the morbific humors, sometimes 

 by opening obstructions, helping digestion, increasing the 

 appetite, and sometimes healing exulcerations, etc. But 

 to sum up all, it disposes the mind not to fix or settle in 

 defects, but to remain ever susceptible of improvement 

 and reformation; for the illiterate person knows not what 

 it is to descend into himself, or call himself to an account, 

 nor the agreeableness of that life which is daily sensible of 

 its own improvement; he may perhaps learn to show and 

 employ his natural talents, but not increase them; he will 

 learn to hide and color his faults, but not to amend them, 

 like an unskilful mower, who continues to mow on without 

 whetting his scythe. The man of learning, on the contrary, 

 always joins the correction and improvement of his mind 

 with the use and employment thereof. To conclude, truth 

 and goodness differ but as the seal and the impression; for 

 truth imprints goodness, while the storms of vice and per 

 turbation break from the clouds of error and falsehood. 



From moral virtue we proceed to examine whether any 

 power be equal to that afforded by knowledge. Dignity of 

 command is always proportionable to the dignity of the 

 commanded. To have command over brutes as a herdsman 

 is a mean thing; to have command over children as a 

 schoolmaster is a matter of small honor; and to have com 

 mand over slaves is rather a disgrace than an honor. Nor 

 is the command of a tyrant much better over a servile 



118 See Epictetus, Enchir. c. 33, with the comment of Simplicius. 



119 Georg. ii. 490. 



