Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/445

Rh from flying out into Extravagance. Is there then a Necessity of touching upon this Coast in order to the arriving at true Learning ? Not at all: They are useful indeed in some Respects, but as to the Point of Probity, they signify little. Do you say then they signify nothing towards Virtue, and Moral Improvement? I say a Man may be good without them, and yet they are not altogether Useless. To illustrate the Matter. Tho’ we may understand a Foreigner well enough by an Interpreter, yet it may not be amiss to learn the Language our selves. Thus you see we may go on without the Advantages of Education. What then don’t Mathematicians and other Scholars, stand fairer for degrees in Honesty, than other People? I can’t see which way, says he, since they mistake the Nature of Good and Evil, and are as much govern’d by their Vices as the rest of the World. For, to speak freely, a Man may have abundance of fine Notions in his Head, and run through all the Sciences as they call them, and yet love Wine and Women, and Mony, a great deal too much. In short, he may be admirably furnish’d this way, and yet be a Fop, a Knave, or a Traitor, if he has not a care: I'm sorry to say there are not a few Men of Letters Rh