Lib. I. Of the Advancement ofLearmm. q j 



way before, but now in, fit place to be refumed 5 of whofe Military ver- 

 •iues and A^s inwar^ there needs no note or recital, having been the 

 wonders ofthe world in that kind ; but, o£their affection and propcnjion 

 towards Learning., and peculiar perfeiiion therein, it will not be imper- 

 tinent to fay fbmething. 



§ Alexander was bred and taughtunder Arijiotle, (certainly a great 

 Philofopher) who dedicated divers of his Books of /'/»z/(?/()/;/j/unto him : 

 he was attended with Calijihenei, and divers other Learned perfons 

 that followed him in Camp, and vyere his perpetual affociates, in all 

 his Travels and Conquefts. What Price and Ejiimation he had Learn" 

 ingin^ doth notably appear in many particulars, ^s in the envy he ex- 

 prefled towards Achille's great fortune, in this, 1'hat he had fa good a Plut in 

 Trumpet of his Anions and prorvef as Homer's verfes. In the judgment ^'"*'^'^' 

 he gave touching the precious Cabinet of Darius, which was found ar 

 mongft the reft of the fpoils ; whereof, when queftion was mov'd, 

 what thing was worthy to be put into it, and onefaid one thing, ano- 

 ther, another, he gave fentence for Homer's tvor^s. His reprehenfory piut.ut 

 letter to Arijiotle, after he had fej: forth hXsBookvf Nature, wherein he f^P". 

 expoftulates with him, for publilhing the fecrets or myfteries of Philo- 

 (bphy, and gave him to underftand. That hin^fclf ejiccmed it more to Ut (M^te., 

 excel others in Learning and Knowledge, than in Power and Empire. 

 There are many other particulars to this purpofe. But how excellently 

 his mind was endowedwith Learning, doth appear, or rather (liine in all 

 his speeches and anfwerf, full of of knowledg jjnd wifdom j whereof 

 though the Remains be fmall, yet you Ihall find deeply imprefled in 

 them, the foot-fteps of all fclences in Moral knowledge 3 Let the fpeech 

 of Alexander be obferved touching Diogenes, and fee (ifye pleafe) if it 

 tend not to to the true eftate of one of the greateft queftions in moral 

 Philofophyj* IVhether the enjoying of outward things, on the contemning 

 of them, be the greater happinef. Fqr when he faw Diogenes contented 

 zpithfo little, turning to thofe that ftood about him, that mock'd at the 

 Cynicks condition, he faid, If I were not Alexander, IcouldwiJIj to be 

 Diogenes. But Seneca, in this coraparifon, prefers Diogenes, when ' "^"° 

 hefaith. Plus erat quod Diogenes noUet accipere, qnam quod Alexander oeBen.f, 

 pofftt dare. There were more things which Diogenes would have refufed, 

 than thofe were which Alexander could have given. In Natural kpowkdg, 

 obferv'e that fpeech that was ufual with him, T^^^ /)^/e/f j6^ mortality . . 

 chiefly in two things. Sleep, and Lujl : which (peech, in truth, is extraft- Aiexlnd/ 

 ed out ofthe depth of Natural Philofophy, tafting rather ofthe concep- 

 tion of an Arijiotle, or a Democritus, than an Alexander j feeing as well 

 theindigence, as redundance of nature, defign'd by thefe two Afts, 

 are, as it were, the inward witneil'es and the earneft of Death. In 

 Toefy, let that fpeech be obferved, when upon tl!e bleeding of his 

 wounds, he called unto him one of his Flatterers, that was wont to a» 

 fcribeunto him divine honour, look^(f3\x.h. lit) this is the bloud of a man, 

 notfuch liquor as Homer fpeakj of, which ranfrbm Venus hand, when it 

 vpas pierced by Diomedes : with this fpeech checking both the Poets^ 

 and his flatterers, and himfelf. InL(7^^/c^obferve that reprehenfion of 

 Diale&ic^ Fallacies, in repelling and retorting Arguments, in that fay- 

 ing of his wherein he takes up Caffandery confuting the informers againft 

 his father Antipater. For when Alexander ha,pned to {hy,Doyou thwk^theje 



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