Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/204

 Now, if we wish to express these three things by three well-known words, these will be:

Erudition.

Virtue or seemly morals.

(iii) Religion or piety.

Under Erudition we comprehend the knowledge of all things, arts, and tongues; under Virtue, not only external decorum, but the whole disposition of our movements, internal and external; while by Religion we understand that inner veneration by which the mind of man attaches and binds itself to the supreme Godhead.

7. In these three things is situated the whole excellence of man, for they alone are the foundation of the present and of the future life. All other things (health, strength, beauty, riches, honour, friendship, good-fortune, long life) are as nothing, if God grant them to any, but extrinsic ornaments of life, and if a man greedily gape after them, engross himself in their pursuit, occupy and overwhelm himself with them to the neglect of those more important matters, then they become superfluous vanities and harmful obstructions.

8. To illustrate the matter by an example. The timepiece (either the sun-dial or the mechanical clock) is an elegant and very necessary instrument for measuring time, and its essential excellence depends on the accurate joining together of all its parts. The case which is added, the chasings, the engravings, and the gildings are accessories which add something to its external appearance, but nothing to its utility. Were any to prefer a handsome clock to a good one, men would laugh at him for not realising in what the essential excellence of the object consisted. In the same way, the value of a horse consists in its strength, combined with spirit, speed, and promptness in obeying its rider’s wishes. A flowing tail or one tied in a knot, hair combed and standing erect, gilded bits, gay coverings, and trappings of whatever kind, add decorative beauty, it is true, yet we call a man a fool if we see that he measures a horse’s excellence by them.