318 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



This part concerning duties is likewise divided into 

 two the one treating of the duties of man in common, and 

 the other of respective duties, according to the profession, 

 vocation, state, person, and degree of particulars. 10 The 

 first of these, we before observed, has been sufficiently 

 cultivated and explained by the ancient and later writers. 

 The other also has been touched here and there, though not 

 digested and reduced into any body of science. 11 We do 

 not, however, except to its being treated piecemeal, as 

 judging it the best way to write upon this subject in sepa 

 rate parts; for who will pretend he can justly discourse and 

 define upon the peculiar and relative duties of all orders 

 and conditions of men ? But for treatises upon this subject, 

 which have no tincture of experience, and are only drawn 

 from general and scholastic knowledge, they commonly 

 prove empty and useless performances; for though a by 

 stander may sometimes see what escaped the player, and 

 although it be a kind of proverb, more bold and true with 

 regard to prince and people, &quot;that a spectator in the valley 

 takes the best view of a mountain, yet it were greatly to 

 be wished that none but the most experienced men would 

 write upon subjects of this kind; for the contemplations of 

 speculative men in active matters appear no better to those 

 who have been conversant in business than the dissertations 

 of Phormio upon war appeared to Hannibal, who esteemed 

 them but as dreams and dotage. One fault, however, dwells 

 with such as write upon things belonging to their own office 

 or art, viz., that they hold no mean in recommending and 

 extolling them. 



In speaking of books of this kind, it would indeed be 

 sacrilege in me to omit mention of your Majesty s excellent 



10 For the modern writers in this way, see Morhof s &quot;Polyhistor. &quot; torn. iii. 

 lib. i. &quot;De Philosophise moralis Scriptoribus&quot; ; and &quot;Stollii Introductio in 

 Historiam Literariam, de Philosophia generatim morali&quot;; in particular, consult 

 Puffendorf, &quot;De Officio Hominis and Civis.&quot; Shaw. 



11 This appears to be attempted by G-rotius, in his book &quot;De Jure Belli ac 

 Pacis&quot;; and by Puffendorf, in his &quot;De Jure Natures et Gentium. &quot; See M. 

 Barbeyrac s translation of the latter into French, with annotations. Ib. 



