I. PRIDE OF SCIENCE II. ROMAN RENAISSANCE 63

lower or higher stage of an eminence whose summit is God’s throne¹ infinitely above all; and there is just as much reason for the wisest as for the simplest man being discontented with his position, as respects the real quantity of knowledge he possesses. And, for both of them, the only true reasons for contentment with the sum of knowledge they possess are these: that it is the kind of knowledge they need for their duty and happiness in life; that all they have is tested and certain, so far as it is in their power; that all they have is well in order, and within reach when they need it; that it has not cost too much time in the getting; that none of it, once got, has been lost; and that there is not too much to be easily taken care of.

§ 25. Consider these requirements a little, and the evils that result in our education and polity from neglecting them. Knowledge is mental food, and is exactly to the spirit what food is to the body (except that the spirit needs several sorts of food, of which knowledge is only one), and it is liable to the same kind of misuses. It may be mixed and disguised by art, till it becomes unwholesome: it may be refined, sweetened, and made palatable, until it has lost all its power of nourishment; and even of its best kind, it may be eaten to surfeiting, and minister to disease and death.

§ 26. Therefore, with respect to knowledge, we are to reason and act exactly as with respect to food. We no more live to know, than we live to eat. We live to contemplate, enjoy, act, adore; and we may know all that is to be known in this world, and what Satan knows in the other, without being able to do any of these. We are to ask, therefore, first, is the knowledge we would have fit food for us, good and simple, not artificial and decorated? and secondly, how much of it will enable us best for our work; and will leave our hearts light, and our eyes clear? For no more than that is to be eaten without the old Eve-sin.

¹ [Compare In Memoriam, Iv.-a passage quoted in one of Ruskin’s “Letters to M. G.” (Mary Gladstone):-

“Upon the great world’s altar-stairs

That slope through darkness up to God.”]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]