THE FIRST BOOK 223 



woman weeping for her pitcher of earth that was broken, 

 and went forth the next day and saw a woman weeping 

 for her .son that was dead ; and thereupon said, Heri vidi 

 fragilem frangi, hodie vidi mortalem mori. And therefore 

 Virgil did excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge 

 of causes and the conquest of all fears together, as con- 

 comitantia. 



Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, 

 Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum 

 Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acheron tis avari. 



It were too long to go over the particular remedies 

 which learniag doth minister to all the diseases of the mind; 

 sometimes purging the ill humours, sometimes opening the 

 obstructions, * sometimes helping digestion 1 , sometimes in- 

 creasing appetite, sometimes healing the wounds and exul- 

 cerations thereof, and the like ; and therefore I will 

 conclude with that which hath rationem totius\ which is, 

 that it disposeth the constitution of the mind not to be 

 fixed or settled in the defects thereof, but still to be capable 

 and susceptible of growth and reformation. For the 

 unlearned man knows not what it is to descend into him- 



self or to call himself to account, nor the pleasure of that J* J 

 suavissima vita, indies sen tire se fieri me li or em. The good qef 

 parts he hath he will learn to shew to the full and use them 

 dexterously, but not much to increase them : the faults he 

 hath he will learn how to hide and colour them, but not 

 much to amend them ; like an ill mower, that mows on 

 still and never whets his scythe : whereas with the learned 

 man it fares otherwise, that he doth ever intermix the 

 correction and amendment of his mind with the use and 

 employment thereof. Nay further, in general and in sum, 

 certain it is that veritas and bonitas differ but as the seal 

 and the print ; for truth prints goodness, and they be the 

 clouds of error which descend in the storms of passions 

 and perturbations. 



From moral virtue let us pass on to matter of power 

 and commandment, and consider whether in right reason 

 there be any comparable with that wherewith knowledge 



