22 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



when he writes to his friend Atticus ; ' Cato optimo 

 sentit, sed nocet interdum reipublicae ; loquitur enim 

 tanquam in republica Platonis, non tanquam in faeco 

 Romuli.' And the same Cicero doth excuse and ex- 

 pound the philosophers for going too far and being too 

 exact in their prescripts, when he saith, ' Isti ipsi 

 praeceptores virtutis et magistri videntur fines officio- 

 rum paulo longius quam natura vellet protulisse, ut 

 cum ad ultimum animo contendissemus, ibi tamen, ubi 

 oportet, consisteremus ' : and yet himself might have 

 said, ' Monitis sum minor ipse meis ' ; for it was his 

 own fault though not in so extreme a degree. 



6. Another fault likewise much of this kind hath 

 been incident to learned men ; which is, that they 

 have esteemed the preservation, good and honour of 

 their countries or masters before their own fortunes 

 or safeties. For so saith Demosthenes unto the 

 Athenians ; ' If it please you to note it, my counsels 

 unto you are not such whereby I should grow great 

 amongst you, and you become little amongst the 

 Grecians ; but they be of that nature, as they are 

 sometimes not good for me to give, but are always good 

 for you to follow.' And so Seneca, after he had con- 

 secrated that ' Quinquennium Neronis ' to the eternal 

 glory of learned governors, held on his honest and loyal 

 course of good and free counsel, after his master grew 

 extremely corrupt in his government. Neither can 

 this point otherwise be ; for learning endueth men's 

 ' minds with a true sense of the frailty of their persons, 

 the casualty of their fortunes, and the dignity of their 

 soul and vocation : so that it is impossible for them 

 to esteem that any greatness of their own fortune can 

 be a true or worthy end of their being and ordainment ; 

 and therefore are desirous to give their account to God, 

 and so likewise to their masters under God (as kings 

 and the states that they serve) in these words ; ' Ecce 

 tibi lucrefeci,' and not ' Ecce mihi lucrefeci ' : whereas 

 the corrupter sort of mere politiques, that have not 

 their thoughts established by learning in the love and 

 apprehension of duty, nor never look abroad into 



