I0 BACON 



We come now to that sort of discredit which is brought upon 

 learning by learned men themselves ; and this proceeds either 

 (i) from their fortune, (2) their manners, or (3) the nature of 

 their studies. 



i. The disrepute of learning from the fortune or condition of 

 the learned, regards either their indigence, retirement, or mean- 

 ness of employ. As to the point, that learned men grow not so 

 soon rich as others, because they convert not their labors to 

 profit, we might turn it over to the friars, of whom Machiavel 

 said, "That the kingdom of the clergy had been long since at an 

 end, if the reputation and reverence towards the poverty of the 

 monks and mendicants had not borne out the excesses of bishops 

 and prelates. "a For so the splendor and magnificence of the 

 great had long since sunk into rudeness and barbarism, if the 

 poverty of learned men had not kept up civility and reputation. 

 But to drop such advantages, it is worth observing how rever- 

 end and sacred poverty was esteemed for some ages in the 

 Roman state, since, as Livy says, " There never was a republic 

 greater, more venerable, and more abounding in good examples 

 than the Roman, nor one that so long withstood avarice and 

 luxury, or so much honored poverty and parsimony.''^ And we 

 see, when Rome degenerated, how Julius Csesar after his victory 

 was counselled to begin the restoration of the state, by abolish- 

 ing the reputation of wealth. And, indeed, as we truly say that 

 blushing is the livery of virtue, though it may sometimes pro- 

 ceed from guilty so it holds true of poverty that it is the attend- 

 ant of virtue, though sometimes it may proceed from mis- 

 management and accident. 



As for retirement, it is a theme so common to extol a private 

 life, not taxed with sensuality and sloth, for the liberty, the 

 pleasure, and the freedom from indignity it affords, that every 

 one praises it well, such an agreement it has to the nature and 

 apprehensions of mankind. This may be added, that learned 

 men, forgotten in states and not living in the eyes of the world, 

 are like the images of Cassius and Brutus at the funeral of 

 Junia, which not being represented as many others were, Tacitus 

 said of them that " they outshone the rest, because not seen."^ 



As for their meanness of employ, that most exposed to con- 

 tempt is the education of youth, to which they are commonly 

 allotted. But how unjust this reflection is to all who measure 

 things, not by popular opinion, but by reason, will appear in the 



