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THE SECOND BOOKE 221
It is that which Anthisthenes said, that a man must
provide himselfe either of wit to understand or of a
halter to hang himselfe: And that which Chrysippus
alleaged upon the speech of the Poet Tyrtasus,
De la vertn, ou de mort approcher, 1
Or vertue to approch,
Or else let death incroch.
And Crates said that love was cured with hunger,
if not by time; and in him that liked not these two
meanes, by the halter. That Sextius, to whom Seneca
and Plutarko give so much commendation, having
given over all things else and betaken himselfe to the
study of Philosophy, seeing the progress of his studies
so tedious and slow, purposed to cast himself into the
Sea; Ranne unto death for want of knowledge: Reade
here what the law saith upon the subject. If peradventure
any great inconvenience happen, which cannot
he remedied, the haven is not farre-off, and by
swimming may a man save himselve out of his body,
as out of a leaking boat: for it is feare to die, and
not desire to live, which keepes a foole joyned to his
body. As life through simplicity becommeth more
pleasant, so (as I erewhile began to say) becommeth
it more innocent and better. The simple and the
ignorant (saith St. Paul) raise themselves up to heaven,
and take possession of it; whereas we, with all the
knowledge we have, plunge ourselves downe to the
pit of hell. I rely neither upon Valentian (a professed
enemy to knowledge and learning), nor upon Licinius
(both Roman Emperours), who named them the venime
and plague of all politike estates: Nor on Mahomet,
who, as I have heard, doth utterly interdict all manner
of learning to his subjects. But the example of that
great Lycurgus and his authority, ought to beare chiefe
sway, and the reverence of that divine Lacedemonian
policy, so great, so admirable, and so long time flourishing
in all vertue and felicity without any institution
or exercise at all of letters. Those who retume from
1 PLUT. in Solon's Life. AMYOT'S Trans.