is son that he may dig out treasures: Prov.
ii. Ye are the wells of living waters, which father Abraham first
digged, Isaac digged again, and which the Philistines strive to fill
up: Gen. xxvi. Ye are indeed the most delightful ears of corn, full of
grain, to be rubbed only by apostolic hands, that the sweetest food may
be produced for hungry souls: Matt. xii. Ye are the golden pots in
which manna is stored, and rocks flowing with honey, nay, combs of
honey, most plenteous udders of the milk of life, garners ever full; ye
are the tree of life and the fourfold river of Paradise, by which the
human mind is nourished, and the thirsty intellect is watered and
refreshed. Ye are the ark of Noah and the ladder of Jacob, and the
troughs by which the young of those who look therein are coloured; ye
are the stones of testimony and the pitchers holding the lamps of
Gideon, the scrip of David, from which the smoothest stones are taken
for the slaying of Goliath. Ye are the golden vessels of the temple,
the arms of the soldiers of the Church with which to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked, fruitful olives, vines of Engadi, fig-trees
that are never barren, burning lamps always to be held in
readiness--and all the noblest comparisons of Scripture may be applied
to books, if we choose to speak in figures.

CHAPTER II

THE DEGREE OF AFFECTION THAT IS PROPERLY DUE TO BOOKS

Since the degree of affection a thing deserves depends upon the degree
of its value, and the previous chapter shows that the value of books is
unspeakable, it is quite clear to the reader what is the probable
conclusion from this. I say probable, for in moral science we do not
insist upon demonstration, remembering that the educated man seeks such
degree of certainty as he perceives the subject-matter will bear, as
Aristotle testifies in the first book of his Ethics. For Tully does
not appeal to Euclid, nor does Euclid rely upon Tully. This at all
events we endeavour to prove, whether by logic or rhetoric, that all
riches and all delights whatsoever yield place to books in the
spiritual mind, wherein the Spirit which is charity ordereth charity.
Now in the first place, because wisdom is contained in books more than
all mortals understand, and wisdom thinks lightly of riches, as the
foregoing chapter declares. Furthermore, Aristotle, in his Problems,
determines the question, why the ancients proposed prizes to the
stronger in gymnastic and corpor