For, shall the pleasures of
the affections so exceed the pleasure of the sense, as much as the
obtaining of desire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner? and
must not of consequence the pleasures of the intellect or
understanding exceed the pleasures of the affections? We see in all
other pleasures there is satiety, and after they be used, their
verdure departeth, which showeth well they be but deceits of
pleasure, and not pleasures; and that it was the novelty which
pleased, and not the quality. And, therefore, we see that
voluptuous men turn friars, and ambitions princes turn melancholy.
But of knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and appetite
are perpetually interchangeable; and, therefore, appeareth to be
good in itself simply, without fallacy or accident. Neither is that
pleasure of small efficacy and contentment to the mind of man, which
the poet Lucretius describeth elegantly:-
"Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, &c."
"It is a view of delight," saith he, "to stand or walk upon the
shore side, and to see a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea; or
to be in a fortified tower, and to see two battles join upon a
plain.
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