84 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [PAGES 



necessarily a good governor, as we see in the case of James him 

 self. "James, though an able man, was a weak monarch. His 

 quickness of apprehension and soundness of judgment were marred 

 by his credulity and partialities, his childish fears, and habit of 

 vacillation. Eminently qualified to advise as a counsellor, he 

 wanted the spirit and resolution to act as a sovereign. His 

 discourse teemed with maxims of political wisdom, his conduct 

 frequently bore the impress of political imbecility." Lingard, 

 vol. vii., p. 139. 



1. 34. politic men, politicians. 



1. 35. to extenuate and disable, to depreciate and disparage. 

 To extenuate now means to represent an evil as less than it is : 

 and to disable means to disqualify. 



1. 36. pedants. The word is derived from the Greek word 

 paideuein, which means, literally, to bring up a child. 



Page 12, 1. 1. particulars, instances. 



1. 2. the infinite disadvantage. Cf. " Woe to the land that's 

 governed by a child ! " Rich. III. ii. 3. 11. Stevens quotes as a 

 parallel, "Woe to thee, land, when thy king is a child." 

 Ecclesiastes, x. 16. 



1. 5. traduce, to ridicule. 



1. 8. Seneca, for the influence of Seneca over Nero, see Meri- 

 vale's Roman Empire, vol. vi. p. 273. 



1. 10. contestation, satisfaction. Gordian died at the age of 

 nineteen. Gibbon says of Misitheus, who was Gordian's father- 

 in-law, that his ' wise counsels had no object except the glory of 

 his sovereign and the happiness of the people. ' Ch. vii. 



1. 13. not much unlike, practically it was a government by 

 pedants, because they advised the women who were the nominal 

 rulers. 



1. 14. the women, viz. Mamsea his mother, and Msesa his grand 

 mother. The latter soon died, and Mamsea then summoned to 

 her assistance sixteen of the wisest and most virtuous senators, 

 as a perpetual council of state. "The general tenor of her 

 administration was equally for the benefit of her son and of the 

 empire." Gibbon, ch. vi. 



1. 15. the Bishops of Rome, the Popes. 



1. 16. as by name, for instance. Pius the fifth was a Dominican, 

 Sixtus the fifth a Franciscan friar. Pius was Pope from 1565- 

 1572. The most remarkable event of his Pontificate was the 

 defeat of the Turks in the battle of Lepanto, in which his fleet 

 was engaged in conjunction with those of Venice and Spain. 

 Sextus was Pope from 1585-1590. His vigorous, though cruel, 

 administration is described by Gibbon, ch. Ixx. 



