12 Of the Advancement of Learning. L i b . I. 



I 



Prxi'.lib. troduftion. Either my affc3ion to the vporl^l have undertaken deceives 



nte^ or there was never State fxore great, more religious, more richly fur- 



nip'd tvith good prcfidcntSy nor rvhich avarice and riot conquered fo late , 



nor where jo great reverence to Poverty and Parcimony continued fo long. 



So likewife after the State of Rome was now degenerate, we read that 



when C£far the DiBator took upon him a Reftauration of the col- 



lapfed ftate, one of his confidents gave him this counfel. That of all 



Points the moft fummary to fuch a defignraent, as he went about, was 



by all means to take away the eftimation of wealth , For ( (aith he ) 



Oiat ad C ^^^fi ^"'^ ^^ <?//jcr evils, together veith the reputation of mony jbaU ceafe, 



Cifar. if neither publique Officers nor any other Dignity, which commonly are fo 



Saiiift.im- coygtcd, were expofed to file. To conclude this point, as it was truly 



faid that Rubor e^ virtutis Color, though fometimes it come from vice , 



Diog. ^"" fo you may truly fay, Paupertas eji virtutis fortuna, though fometimes 



Cyn. it may proceed from mifgovernment and improvidence. Surely this is 



S,olomons Cenfure, ^ifejiinat ad divitias non erit infons, and Precept, 



rov, 2 . ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ and jell it not j So wifdom and knowledge judging it right 



P'ov.^S' and equal that means (hould be iraployed to get Learning, and nof 



Learning be applied to gather up means. ^^ 



§ To what purpofe (hould we fpeak of the privatenefs and ohfcurenefi 

 of life, which is objedred to learned men > It is a Theme fo common 

 and fo frequently handled by all, to extol Leafure and reth-ednefs, not 

 taxed with fenfuality and {loth, before a Civil and Adtive life j for 

 fafety , liberty, fweetnefs, dignity, or at leaft freedom from indignities, 

 as no man handles thisfubjeft, but handles it well : fhch a confiinancy 

 it hath to mens conceptions in the expreffing 5 and to mens content in 

 the allowing. This only I will add, that Learned men forgotten in 

 States , are like the Images o^CajJins and Brutus in the funerals of ^a- 

 • «7<«, of which , not to be reprefented as others were, Tacitus (aith, Eo 

 Annal.?. 'i'/^ pr^fulgebant quod non vifebantur. 



§ For Meanncfs of imploymetit ajjigned to Learned men, that which is 

 moft traduced to contempt is. That the government of childhood and 

 youth is commonly allotted to thera^the contempt of which age is tranf- 

 fcrred upon the Preceptors or Tutors. But how unjuft this traduce- 

 ment is, if you will reduce things from popularity of opinion, to mea" 

 fure of reafon, may appear in that we fee inen are more careful what 

 they put into new veflels, than into a veffel feafbn'd ; and more curi- 

 ous what mould they lay about a young plant, than a plant corrobo- 

 rate ; So as it is manifeft that the weakeft terms and times of all things, 

 ufe to have the beft applications and helps. Harken, if you pleale, to 

 . I the Hebrew Rabbins, Your young men f jail fee vifions, your old menJJjall 



dream dreams --i from this Text they collecl, that youth is th"* worthier 

 age, by fo much as Revelation is more clear by vifions, than by dreams. 

 And it is worth the noting that however Pedants have been the deri- 

 — fion and (corn of T/jc^/er/, as the Apes o{ Tyranny, znd that the mo- 

 dern loofeneG or negligence hath taken no due regard to the" choice of 

 School' mafiers ax\dTutors--) yet it hath been an ancient complaint drawn 

 down from the beft and vvifelt times, even to our age, that States were 

 too bufie with their Laws and too negligent in point of Education. 

 Which excellent part of Ancient Difcipline hath been in fome fort rC' 

 Vivcdonatctmcs by the Col/eges of the Jefuits, whofe pains and dili- 

 gence 



