The history of the Greeks as well as Romans shows that there were
no famous princes among them who were devoid of literature. The
sacred law of Moses in prescribing to the king a rule of
government, enjoins him to have a copy made of the book of Divine
law (Deut. xvii.) according to the copy shown by the priests, in
which he was to read all the days of his life. Certes, God
Himself, who hath made and who fashioneth every day the hearts of
every one of us, knows the feebleness of human memory and the
instability of virtuous intentions in mankind. Wherefore He has
willed that books should be as it were an antidote to all evil,
the reading and use of which He has commanded to be the healthful
daily nourishment of the soul, so that by them the intellect
being refreshed and neither weak nor doubtful should never
hesitate in action. This subject is elegantly handled by John of
Salisbury, in his Policraticon. In conclusion, all classes of
men who are conspicuous by the tonsure or the sign of clerkship,
against whom books lifted up their voices in the fourth, fifth,
and sixth chapters, are bound to serve books with perpetual
veneration.


CHAPTER XV

OF THE ADVANTAGES OF THE LOVE OF BOOKS

It transcends the power of human intellect, however deeply it may
have drunk of the Pegasean fount, to develop fully the title of
the present chapter. Though one should speak with the tongue of
men and angels, though he should become a Mercury or Tully,