Letters to His Son 1748 | Page 9

proud of their knowledge, only speak to decide, and
give judgment without appeal; the consequence of which is, that
mankind, provoked by the insult, and injured by the oppression, revolt;
and, in order to shake off the tyranny, even call the lawful authority in
question. The more you know, the modester you should be: and (by the
bye) that modesty is the surest way of gratifying your vanity. Even
where you are sure, seem rather doubtful; represent, but do not
pronounce, and, if you would convince others, seem open to conviction
yourself.
Others, to show their learning, or often from the prejudices of a school-
education, where they hear of nothing else, are always talking of the
ancients, as something more than men, and of the moderns, as
something less. They are never without a classic or two in their pockets;
they stick to the old good sense; they read none of the modern trash;
and will show you, plainly, that no improvement has been made, in any
one art or science, these last seventeen hundred years. I would by no
means have you disown your acquaintance with the ancients: but still
less would I have you brag of an exclusive intimacy with them. Speak
of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry;
judge them all by their merits, but not by their ages; and if you happen
to have an Elzevir classic in your pocket neither show it nor mention it.
Some great scholars, most absurdly, draw all their maxims, both for
public and private life, from what they call parallel cases in the ancient
authors; without considering, that, in the first place, there never were,
since the creation of the world, two cases exactly parallel; and, in the

next place, that there never was a case stated, or even known, by any
historian, with every one of its circumstances; which, however, ought
to be known, in order to be reasoned from. Reason upon the case itself,
and the several circumstances that attend it, and act accordingly; but
not from the authority of ancient poets, or historians. Take into your
consideration, if you please, cases seemingly analogous; but take them
as helps only, not as guides. We are really so prejudiced by our
education, that, as the ancients deified their heroes, we deify their
madmen; of which, with all due regard for antiquity, I take Leonidas
and Curtius to have been two distinguished ones. And yet a solid
pedant would, in a speech in parliament, relative to a tax of two- pence
in the pound upon some community or other, quote those two heroes,
as examples of what we ought to do and suffer for our country. I have
known these absurdities carried so far by people of injudicious learning,
that I should not be surprised, if some of them were to propose, while
we are at war with the Gauls, that a number of geese should be kept in
the Tower, upon account of the infinite advantage which Rome
received IN A PARALLEL CASE, from a certain number of geese in
the Capitol. This way of reasoning, and this way of speaking, will
always form a poor politician, and a puerile declaimer.
There is another species of learned men, who, though less dogmatical
and supercilious, are not less impertinent. These are the communicative
and shining pedants, who adorn their conversation, even with women,
by happy quotations of Greek and Latin; and who have contracted such
a familiarity with the Greek and Roman authors, that they, call them by
certain names or epithets denoting intimacy. As OLD Homer; that SLY
ROGUE Horace; MARO, instead of Virgil; and Naso, Instead of Ovid.
These are often imitated by coxcombs, who have no learning at all; but
who have got some names and some scraps of ancient authors by heart,
which they improperly and impertinently retail in all companies, in
hopes of passing for scholars. If, therefore, you would avoid the
accusation of pedantry on one hand, or the suspicion of ignorance on
the other, abstain from learned ostentation. Speak the language of the
company that you are in; speak it purely, and unlarded with any other.
Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with.
Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not
pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one. If you are

asked what o'clock it is, tell it; but do not proclaim it hourly and
unasked, like the watchman.
Upon the whole, remember that learning (I mean Greek and Roman
learning) is a most useful and necessary ornament, which it is shameful
not to be master of; but, at the same time most carefully avoid those
errors and abuses which I have mentioned, and