s, to wit: first, science, which
comprises prudence and wisdom; secondly, temperance, comprising sobriety
and chastity; thirdly, courage, or strength of body and mind; fourthly,
activity, that is to say, love of labor and employment of time; fifthly,
and finally, cleanliness, or purity of body, as well in dress as in
habitation.

Q. How does the law of nature prescribe science?

A. Because the man acquainted with the causes and effects of things
attends in a careful and sure manner to his preservation, and to the
development of his faculties. Science is to him the eye and the light,
which enable him to discern clearly and accurately all the objects
with which he is conversant, and hence by an enlightened man is meant a
learned and well-informed man. With science and instruction a man never
wants for resources and means of subsistence; and upon this principle a
philosopher, who had been shipwrecked, said to his companions, that were
inconsolable for the loss of their wealth: "For my part, I carry all my
wealth within me."

Q. Which is the vice contrary to science?

A. It is ignorance.

Q. How does the law of nature forbid ignorance?

A. By the grievous detriments resulting from it to our existence; for
the ignorant man who knows neither causes nor effects, commits every
instant errors most pernicious to himself and to others; he resembles a
blind man groping his way at random, and who, at every step, jostles or
is jostled by every one he meets.

Q. What difference is there between an ignorant and a silly man?

A. The same difference as between him who frankly avows his blindness
and the blind man who pretends to sight; silliness is the reality of
ignorance, to which is superadded the vanity of knowledge.

Q. Are ignorance and silliness common?

A. Yes, very common; they are the usual and general distempers of
mankind: more than three thousand years ago the wisest of men said: "The
number of fools is infinite;" and the world has not changed.

Q. What is the reason of it?

A. Because much labor and time are necessary to acquire instruction,
and because men, born ignorant and indolent, find it more convenient to
remain blind, and pretend to see clear.

Q. What difference is there between a learned and a wise man?

A. The learned knows, and the wise man practices.

Q. What is prudence?

A. It is the anticipated perception, the foresight of the effects and
consequences of every action; by means of which fo