64 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



services. And therefore, when Virgil putteth himself forth 

 to attribute to Augustus Caesar the best of human honours, 

 he doth it in these words : 



Victorque volentes 



Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo. 

 [Moving in conquest onward, at his will 

 To willing peoples he gives laws, and shapes 

 Through worthiest deeds on earth his course to Heaven.] 

 But yet the commandment of knowledge is yet higher than 

 10 the commandment over the will ; for it is a commandment 

 over the reason, belief, and understanding of man, which is 

 the highest part of the mind, and giveth law to the will 

 itself : for there is no power on earth which setteth up a 

 throne or chair of state in the spirits and souls of men, and 

 in their cogitations, imaginations, opinions, and beliefs, but 

 knowledge and learning. And therefore we see the detestable 

 and extreme pleasure that arch-heretics, and false prophets, 

 and impostors are transported with, when they once find in 

 themselves that they have a superiority in the faith and 

 20 conscience of men ; so great, that, if they have once tasted of 

 it, it is seldom seen that any torture or persecution can make 

 them relinquish or abandon it. But as this is that which the 

 author of the Revelation calleth the depth or profoundness of 

 Satan : so by argument of contraries, the just and lawful 

 sovereignty over men's understanding, by force of truth 

 rightly interpreted, is that which approacheth nearest to the 

 similitude of the divine rule. 



As for fortune and advancement, the beneficence of 

 learning is not so confined to give fortune only to states 

 30 and commonwealths, as it doth not likewise give fortune to 

 particular persons. For it was well noted long ago, that 

 Homer hath given more men their livings, than either Sylla, 

 or Caesar, or Augustus ever did, notwithstanding their great 

 largesses and donatives, and distributions of lands to so many 

 legions : and no doubt it is hard to say, whether arms or 

 learning have advanced greater numbers. And in case of 



