Neither is the commandment of tyrants much better, over
people which have put off the generosity of their minds; and,
therefore, it was ever holden that honours in free monarchies and
commonwealths had a sweetness more than in tyrannies, because the
commandment extendeth more over the wills of men, and not only over
their deeds and services. And therefore, when Virgil putteth
himself forth to attribute to Augustus Caesar the best of human
honours, he doth it in these words:-
"Victorque volentes
Per populos dat jura, viamque affectat Olympo."
But yet the commandment of knowledge is yet higher than the
commandment over the will; for it is a commandment over the reason,
belief, and understanding of man, which is the highest part of the
mind, and giveth law to the will itself. For there is no power on
earth which setteth up a throne or chair of estate in the spirits
and souls of men, and in their cogitations, imaginations, opinions,
and beliefs, but knowledge and learning. And therefore we see the
detestable and extreme pleasure that arch-heretics, and false
prophets, and impostors are transported with, when they once find in
themselves that they have a superiority in the faith and conscience
of men; so great as if they have once tasted of it, it is seldom
seen that any torture or persecution can make them relinquish or
abandon it.
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