The First Book 3 



human. For let a man seriously and diligently revolve and 

 peruse the succession of the emperors of Rome; of which 

 Caesar the Dictator, who lived some years before Christ, and 

 Marcus Antoninus were the best learned; and so descend, 

 to the emperors of Graecia, or of the West; and then to the 

 lines of France, Spain, England, Scotland, and the rest, and 

 he shall find this judgment is truly made. For it seemeth 

 much in a King, if, by the compendious extractions of other 

 men's wits and labours, he can take hold of any superficial 

 ornaments and shows of learning ; or if he countenance and 

 prefer learning and learned men : but to drink indeed of the 

 true fountains of learning, nay, to have such a fountain of 

 learning in himself, in a King, and in a King born, is almost 

 a miracle. And the more, because there is met in your 

 Majesty a rare conjunction as well of divine and sacred 

 literature, as of profane and human; so as your Majesty 

 standeth invested of that triplicity, which in great venera- 

 tion was ascribed to the ancient Hermes; the power and 

 fortune of a king, the knowledge and illumination of a priest, 

 and the learning and universality of a philosopher.^ This 

 propriety inherent ^ and individual attribute in your 

 Majesty deserve th to be expressed not only in the fame and 

 admiration of the present time, nor in the history or tradi- 

 tion of the ages succeeding, but also in some soUd work, fixed 

 memorial, and immortal monument, bearing a character 

 or signature both of the power of a King, and the difference 

 and perfection of such a King. 

 3. Therefore I did conclude with myself, that I could not 

 make unto your Majesty a better oblation than of some 

 Treatise tending to that end, whereof the sum will consist of 

 these two parts; the former, concerning the excellency of 

 Learning and Knowledge, and the excellency of the merit and 

 true glory in the augmentation and propagation thereof: 

 the latter, what the particular acts and works are, which 

 have been embraced and undertaken for the Advancement 

 of Learning; and again, what defects and undervalues I 

 find in such particular acts : to the end, that though I can- 

 not positively or affirmatively advise your Majesty, or 



* Marsilius Ficinus, Arg. ad Harm. Trism. — Et philosophus maxi- 

 mus, et sacerdos maximus, et rex maximus. 



* Propriety inherent; the logical " Proprium quod consequitur 

 essentiam rei." 



