THE SECOND BOOK 217 



last is but a remedy for those whose tastes are corrupted : 

 let men rather build upon that foundation which is as 

 a comer-stone of divinity and philosophy, wherein they 

 join close, namely that same Primum quaerite. For 

 divinity saith, ' Primum quaerite regnum Dei, et ista 

 omnia adiicientur vobis ' : and philosophy saith, ' Pri- 

 mum quaerite bona animi ; caetera aut aderunt, aut 

 non oberunt.' And although the human foundation 

 hath somewhat of the sands, as we see in M. Brutus, 

 when he brake forth into that speech, 



Te colui (Virtus) ut rem; ast tu nomen inane es; 



yet the divine foundation is upon the rock. But this 

 may serve for a taste of that knowledge which I noted 

 as deficient. 



47. Concerning government, it is a part of knowledge 

 secret and retired in both these respects in which things 

 are deemed secret ; for some things are secret because 

 they are hard to know, and some because they are not 

 fit to utter. We see all governments are obscure and 

 invisible : 



Totamque infusa per artus 

 Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. 



Such is the description of governments. We see the 

 government of God over the world is hidden, insomuch 

 as it seemeth to participate of much irregularity and 

 confusion. The government of the soul in moving the 

 body is inward and profound, and the passages thereof 

 hardly to be reduced to demonstration. Again the 

 wisdom of antiquity (the shadows whereof are in the 

 poets) in the description of torments and pains, next 

 unto the crime of rebellion, which was the giants' 

 offence, doth detest the offence of futility, as in Sisyphus 

 and Tantalus. But this was meant of particulars : 

 nevertheless even unto the general rules and discourses 

 of poUcy and government there is due a reverent and 

 reserved handling. 



48. But contrariwise in the governors towards the 

 governed, all things ought as far as the frailty of man 



