244 Of the Advancement of Learning, L i b. VIIL 



feeing the order and contexture of matter hath brought me at length 

 to this point, that I muft now a little after handle the Art of Empire 5 

 and being I write to fo Great a Kmg, which is fo perfeift a Mafter in 

 this Science, wherein he hath been trained up even from his infancy ; 

 nor can I be altogether unmindful,what place I hold under your Ma- 

 jefty j I thought it would beft become me in this point to approve 

 my felf unto your Majefty, by silence^ rather than by IVriting. Ci- 

 cero m^k.^^ mention not only of an ^r/j but of a kind of £/^^«c»fc 

 found in Silence : for after he had commemorated in an Efifile la 

 Attjcui^ many conferences which had interchangeably paft between 



Ad Atticum. him and another,he writeth thus ; In this place I have borroived fome- 

 rvhat from your Eloquence^ for I have held my peace. And Pindar to 

 whom it is peculiar fuddenly to ftrike, as it were , with a Divine 

 Scepter, the minds of men by rare fhort fentence, darts forth fome 



Pindsr. luch faying as this, Interdnm magis aficiunt nan di£fa quam dida: 



wherefore I have refolv'd in this part to be Silent, or which is next to 

 Silence, to be very brief. But before I come to the Arts of Empire, 

 fome things by way of Preoccupation are to be (et down concerning 

 other Portions of Civil DoUrine. 



fs Civil Science is converfant about a fubjed, which of all other is 

 mofl: immers'd in matter, and therefore very difBcultly reduced unto 

 Axioms: yet there are many circumftances which help this difficulty ; 

 forfirft, Cato the Cenfor was wont to fay of his Romans; That they 



Plutar. in M. w^''^ ^^h shecp, a man were better drive a Flacky of them, than one of 



Catone. ff^cm '■, for in a Flock., if you cotildget but fome ferv to go right, youJJjall 



have all the relifoUovp of their oven accord: So in this refpeft indeed, 

 the Duty of Morality is fomewhat more difficult than that of Policy. 

 Secondly, Morality propounds to it felf that the Mind be imbued and 

 furnifht with Internal Goodncf-, but Civil Knowledge requires no more 

 but Goodncf External only, for this, as refpeftmg fociety, fufficeth. 

 Wherefore it often comes to pafs that the Government is Good, the 

 Times Bad : for in Sacred Story the faying is often repeated, (peak- 

 ing of Good and Godly Kings, Andyet the People direCted not their 

 hearts to the Lord God of their Fathers j wherefore in this refpeft alfo, 

 the parts of Ethick are more auftere and difficult. Thirdly, States 

 have this nature, that like great Engines they are llowly moved, and 

 not without great pains ; whence it comes,that they are not fo eafily 

 put out of frame : For as in jEgypt the feven good years upheld the 

 feven bad 5 fo in States , the good Government and Laws of the 

 Precedent times caufe, that the errors of fucceeding times, do not 

 quickly fupplant and ruine : But the Decrees and Cuftoms of parti- 

 cular perfons, are more fuddenly fubverted : And this Ukewife doth 

 charge Morality, but eafetb Policy. 



I Civil Knotvledge hath three parts, according to the three (iim- 

 mary Aftions of Society ^ The Do&rinc of Converfation 5 The Do- 

 Brine of Negociation j and the DoClrine of Empire or Republickj. For 

 there are three forts of Good, which men leek to procure to them- 

 felves from civil Society ^ Comfort again ft Solitude, Ajfiliance in Bufi- 

 nefs , and Proteciion againft Injuries : and thefe be three wif- 

 doras diftinft one from the other, and often times disjoyn'dj 



mfdom 



