THE FIRST BOOK 185 



same caveat, 'Non ad cetera instituta revocans quae jampridem 

 corruptis moribus ludibrio sunt : and Cicero noteth this error 

 directly in Cato the second, when he writes to his friend 

 Atticus; Cato optime sen t it, sed nocet interdum reipublicae; 

 loquitur enim tanquam in republica Platonis, non tanquam in 

 faece Romuli : and the same Cicero doth excuse and expound 

 the philosophers for going too far and being too exact in 

 their prescripts, when he saith, Isti ipsi praeceptores virtutis 

 et magistri videntur fines offidorum paulo longius quam natura 

 vellet protulisse, ut cum ad ultimum animo contendissemus, ibi 

 tamen, ubi oportet, consisteremus : and yet himself might have 

 said, Monitis sum minor ipse meis ; for it was his own fault, 

 though not in so extreme a degree. 



Another fault likewise much of this kind hath been 

 incident to learned men ; which is, that they have esteemed 

 the preservation, good, and honour of their countries or 

 masters before their own fortunes or safeties. For so 

 saith Demosthenes unto the Athenians : ' If it please you to 

 note it, my counsels unto you are not such whereby I 

 should grow great amongst you, and you become little 

 amongst the Grecians : but they be of that nature, as they 

 are sometimes not good for me to give, but are always 

 good for you to follow/ And so Seneca, after he had 

 consecrated that Quinquennium Neronis to the eternal glory 

 of learned governors, held on his honest and loyal course 

 of good and free counsel, after his master grew extremely i>l J^O 

 corrupt in his government. Neither can this point other- \ 

 wise be ; for_learning endueth men's minds with a true 

 sense of the frailty of their persons, the casualty of their 

 fortunes, and the dignity of their soul and vocation ; so that 

 it is impossible for them to esteem that any greatness of their 

 own fortune can be a true or worthy end of their being and 

 ordainment ; and therefore are desirous to give their 

 account to God, and so likewise to their masters under 

 God (as kings and the states that they serve), in these 

 words; Ecce tibi lucrefeci, and not Ecce mihi lucrefed: 

 ^ . whereas the corrupter sort of mere politiques, that have not 

 JJ their thoughts established by learning in the love and 

 apprehension of duty, nor never look abroad into univer- 



