ery worthy of
being known. And here I may say, that those who say that those studies
which I have mentioned are cultivated for the sake of the pleasures of the
mind, do not understand that they are desirable for their own sakes,
because the mind is delighted by them, without the interruption of any
ideas of utility, and rejoices in the mere fact of knowledge, even though
it may possibly produce inconvenience. But why need we seek for more
instances to prove what is so evident? For let us examine our own selves,
and inquire how the motions of the stars, and the contemplation of the
heavenly bodies, and the knowledge of all those things which are hidden
from us by the obscurity of nature, affect us; and why history, which we
are accustomed to trace back as far as possible, delights us; in the
investigation of which we go over again all that has been omitted, and
follow up all that we have begun. Nor, indeed, am I ignorant that there is
a use, and not merely pleasure, in history. What, however, will be said,
with reference to our reading with pleasure imaginary fables, from which
no utility can possibly be derived? Or to our wishing that the names of
those who have performed any great exploits, and their family, and their
country, and many circumstances besides, which are not at all necessary,
should be known to us? How shall we explain the fact, that men of the
lowest rank, who have no hope of ever performing great deeds themselves,
artisans in short, are fond of history; and that we may see that those
persons also are especially fond of hearing and reading of great
achievements, who are removed from all hope of ever performing any, being
worn out with old age?

It must, therefore, be understood, that the allurements are in the things
themselves which are learnt and known, and that it is they themselves
which excite us to learning and to the acquisition of information. And,
indeed, the old philosophers, in their fictitious descriptions of the
islands of the blessed, intimate the kind of life which the wise pass,
whom they imagine to be free from all care, requiring no cultivation or
appointments of life as necessary, and doing, and about to do nothing else
but devote their whole time to inquiring and learning and arriving at a
knowledge of nature. But we see that that is not only the delight of a
happy life, but also a relief from misery. Therefore, many men while in
the power of enemies or tyrants, many while in prison or