Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Book I (the closing argument)

Lastly, leaving the vulgar arguments, that by learning man excelleth man in that wherein man excelleth beasts; that by learning man ascendeth to the heavens and their motions, where in body he cannot come; and the like: let us conclude with the dignity and excellency of knowledge and learning in that whereunto man’s nature doth most aspire, which is immortality, or continuance; for to this tendeth generation, and raising of houses and families; to this tend buildings, foundations, and monuments; to this tendeth the desire of memory, fame, and celebration; and in effect the strength of all other human desires. We see then how far the monuments of wit and learning are more durable than the monuments of power or of the hands. For have not the verses of Homer continued twenty-five hundred years, or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter; during which time infinite palaces, temples, castles, cities, have been decayed and demolished? It is not possible to have the true pictures or statues of Cyrus, Alexander, Cæsar, no nor of the kings or great personages of much later years; for the originals cannot last, and the copies cannot but leese of the life and truth. But the images of men’s wits and knowledges remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time and capable of perpetual renovation. Neither are they fitly to be called images, because they generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages. So that if the invention of the ship was thought so noble, which carrieth riches and commodities from place to place, and consociateth the most remote regions in participation of their fruits, how much more are letters to be magnified, which as ships pass through the vast seas of time, and make ages so distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations, and inventions, the one of the other?

最后，那些通俗的论点就不谈了，比如人凭学问胜过别人，正如人凭理性胜过禽兽；凭学问，人能登上天体和它们的运行，那是他的身体到不了的地方；诸如此类。让我们以知识和学问在人的天性最渴望的那件事上的尊贵与卓越来作结，那就是不朽，或者说延续。生儿育女、成家立业是为了这个；建筑、基业和纪念碑是为了这个；对记忆、名声和赞颂的渴望是为了这个；实际上，人的其他一切愿望的力量也都在这里。由此我们看到，智慧和学问的纪念碑，比权力或双手造出的纪念碑要长久得多。荷马的诗句不是已经流传了两千五百年甚至更久，没有丢失一个音节、一个字母吗？而在这期间，无数的宫殿、神庙、城堡、城市都已经衰败、倾毁了。居鲁士、亚历山大、恺撒的真实画像或雕像，我们是得不到的；不，就连晚得多的那些君王和大人物的，也得不到；因为原作不能长存，而摹本又免不了失去原有的生气和真实。可是人的才智和知识的形象，却留在书里，不受时间的侵害，并且能够不断更新。称它们为“形象”其实也不恰当，因为它们还在不断生发，把种子撒进别人的心里，在后来的世代里引起无穷的行动和见解。所以，如果说船的发明被认为如此高贵，因为它把财富和货物从一处运到另一处，使最遥远的地区结成伙伴、分享彼此的物产，那么文字就更应该被推崇了：它们像船一样，驶过时间的茫茫大海，使相隔如此遥远的时代，能够彼此分享智慧、启示和发明。