ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 61 



the world, to write them in such capital letters, as they who run 

 may read them.f Such are the remarkable events and exam- 

 ples of God's judgments, though late and unexpected, sudden 

 and unhoped-for deliverances and blessings, Divine counsels 

 dark and doubtful at length opening and explaining them- 

 selves, etc. All which have not only a power to confirm the 

 minds of the faithful, but to awaken and convince the con- 

 sciences of the wicked. 



CHAPTER XII 



The Appendix of History embraces the Words of Men, as the Body of 

 History includes their Exploits. Its Division into Speeches, Letters, 

 and Apophthegms 



And not only the actions of mankind, but also their sayings, 

 ought to be preserved, and may doubtless be sometimes inserted 

 in history, so far as they decently serve to illustrate the narra- 

 tion of facts ; but books of orations, epistles, and apophthegms, 

 are the proper repositories of human discourse. The speeches 

 of wise men upon matters of business, weighty causes, or diffi- 

 cult points, are of great use, not only for eloquence, but for the 

 knowledge of things themselves. But the letters of wise men 

 upon serious affairs are yet more serviceable in points of civil 

 prudence, as of all human speech nothing is more solid or ex- 

 cellent than such epistles, for they contain more of natural sense 

 than orations, and more ripeness than occasional discourses: 

 so letters of state affairs, written in the order of time by those 

 that manage them, with their answers, afford the best materials 

 for civil history. 



Nor do apophthegms only serve for ornament and delight, 

 but also for action and civil use, as being the edge-tools of 

 speech 



" Secures aut mucroncs verborum," * 



which cut and penetrate the knots of business and affairs : for 

 occasions have their revolutions, and what has once been advan- 

 tageously used may be so again, either as an old thing or a new 

 one. Nor can the usefulness of these sayings in civil affairs be 

 questioned, when Caesar himself wrote a book upon the subject, 

 which we wish were extant ; for all those we have yet seen of 

 the kind appear to be collected with little choice and judgment. 



