I.] A D VANCE MENT OF LEARNING. 1 1 1 



interdum reipublicac ; loquitur enim tanquam in republica Platonis, 

 non tanquam in ficce Romuli.&quot; And the same Cicero doth excuse and 

 expound the philosophers for going too far, and being too exact in their 

 prescripts, when he saith, &quot; Isti ipsi praeceptores virtutis et magistri 

 videntur fines officiorum paulo longius, quam natura vellet, protulisse, 

 ut cum ad ultimum animo contendissemus, ibi tamen, ubi oportet con- 

 sistercmus :&quot; and yet himself might have said, &quot; Monitis sum minor 

 ipse meis;&quot; 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 : &quot; 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.&quot; 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 cornipt in his govern 

 ment. Neither can this point otherwise be ; for learning enducth 

 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 ; &quot; Ecce tibi lucrifeci,&quot; and not &quot; Ecce mihi lucrifeci : &quot; whereas 

 the corrupter sort of mere politicians, that have not their thoughts 

 established by learning in the love and apprehension of duty, nor ever 

 look abroad into universality, do refer all things to themselves, and 

 thrust themselves into the centre of the world, as if all lines should 

 meet in them and their fortunes ; never caring, in all tempests, what 

 becomes of the ship of state, so they may save themselves in the cock 

 boat of their own fortune ; whereas men that feel the weight of duty, 

 and know the limits of self-love, use to make good their places and 

 duties, though with peril. And if they stand in seditious and violent 

 alterations, it is rather the reverence which many times both adverse 

 parts do give to honesty, than any versatile advantage of their own 

 carriage. Hut for this point of tender sense, and fast obligation of duty, 

 which learning doth endue the mind withal, howsoever fortune may tax 

 it, and many in the depth of their corrupt principles may despise it, 

 yet it will receive an open allowance, and therefore needs the less dis 

 proof or excusation. 



Another fault incident commonly to learned men, which may be 

 more probably defended than truly denied, is, that they fail sometimes 

 in applying themselves to particular persons : which want of exact 

 application ahseth from two causes ; the one, because the largeness of 

 their nund can hardly confine itself to dwell in the exquisite observation 



