The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

BooK I. ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 183
or profoundness "' of Satan;" so by argument of of houses and families; to (his buildings, fcuncontraries, the just and lawful sovereignty over dations, and monuments; to this tendeth the demen's understanding, by force of truth rightly in- sire of memory, fame, and celebration, and in
terpreted, is that which approacheth nearest to the effect the strength of all other human desires.
similitude of the divine rule. We see then how far the monuments of wit and
As for fortune and advancement, the beneficence learning are more durable than the monuments of
of learning is not so confined to give fortune only power or of the hands. For have not the verses
to states and commonwealths, as it doth not like- of Homer continued twenty-five hundred years,
wise give fortune to particular persons. For it or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter;
was well noted long ago, that Homer hath given during which time, infinite palaces, temples, casmore men their livings, than either' Sylla, or tles, cities, have been decayed and demolished?
Caesar, or Augustus ever did, notwithstanding It is not possible to have the true pictures or statheir great largesses and donatives, and distribu- tues of Cyrus, Alexander, Ceesar; no nor of the
tions of lands to so many legions: and no doubt kings or great personages of much later years;
it is hard to say, whether arms or learning have for the originals cannot last, and the copies cannot
advanced greater numbers. And in case of but lose of the life and truth. But the images of
sovereignty we see, that if arms or descent have men's wits and knowledges remain in books, excarried away the kingdom, yet learning hath empted from the wrong of time, and capable of
carried the priesthood, which ever hath been in perpetual renovation. Neither are they fitly to be
some competition with empire. called images, because they generate still, and
Again, for the pleasure and delight of know- cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking
ledge and learning, it far surpasseth all other in and causing infinite actions and opinions in sucnature: for, shall the pleasures of the affections ceeding ages: so that, if the invention of the ship
so exceed the senses, as much as the obtaining was thought so noble, which carrieth riches and
of desire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner; commodities from place to place, and consociateth
and must not, of consequence, the pleasures of the most remote regions in participation of their
the intellect or understanding exceed the plea- fruits, how much more are letters to be magnified,
sures of the affections! We see in all other which, as ships, pass through the vast seas of
pleasures there is satiety, and after they be used, time, and make ages so distant to participate of
their verdure departeth; which showeth well they the wisdom, illuminations, and inventions, the
be but deceits of pleasure, and not pleasures; one of the other. Nay further, we see, some
and that it was the novelty which pleased, and of the philosophers which were least divine, and
not the quality: and therefore we see that volup- most immersed in the senses, and denied genetuous men turn friars, and ambitious princes turn rally the immortality of the soul, yet came to this
melancholy. But. of knowledge there is no point, that whatsoever motions the spirit of man
satiety, but satisfaction and appetite are per- could act and perform without the organs of the
petually interchangeable; and therefore appear- body, they thought, might remain after death,
eth to be good in itself simply, without fallacy or which were only those of the understanding, and
accident. Neither is that pleasure of small effi- not of the affections; so immortal and incorrupticacy and contentment to the mind of man, which ble a thing did knowledge seem unto them to be.
the poet Lucretius describeth elegantly, But we, that know by divine revelation, that not
only the understanding but the affections purified,,not only the spirit but the body changed, shall be
I It is a view of delight," saith he, " to stand advanced to immortality, do disclaim these rudior walk upon the shore side, and to see a ship ments of the senses. But it must be remembered
tossed with tempest upon the sea; or to be in a both in this last point, and so it may likewise be
fortified tower, and to see two battles join upon a needful in other places, that in probation of the
plain; but it is pleasure incomparable, for the dignity of knowledge or learning, I did in the
mind of man to be settled, landed and fortified in beginning separate divine testimony from human,
the certainty of truth; and from thence to descry which method I have pursued, and so handled
and behold the errors, perturbations, labours, and them both apart.
wanderings up and down of other men." Nevertheless, I do not pretend, and I know it
Lastly, leaving the vulgar arguments, that by will be impossible for me, by any pleading of
learning man excelleth man in that wherein man mine, to reverse the judgment, either of AEsop's
excelleth beasts; that by learning man ascendeth cock, that preferred the barleycorn before the gem;
to the heavens and their motions, where in body or of Midas, that being chosen judge between
he cannot come, and the like; let us conclude Apollo president of the Muses, and Pan god of the
with the dignity and excellency of knowledge and flocks, judged for plenty; or df Paris, that judged
learning in that whereunto man's nature doth for beauty and love against wisdom and power, not
most aspire, which is, immortality or continu- of Agrippina, 6" occidat matrem, modo imperet,"
ance; for to this tendeth generation, and raising that preferred empire with conditions never so de