64 THE STONES OF VENICE I. PRIDE OF SCIENCE

§ 27. Observe, also, the difference between tasting knowledge and hoarding it. In this respect it is also like food; since, in some measure, the knowledge of all men is laid up in granaries, for future use; much of it is at any given moment dormant, not fed upon or enjoyed, but in store. And by all it is to be remembered that knowledge in this form may be kept without air till it rots, or in such unthreshed disorder that it is of no use; and that, however good or orderly, it is still only in being tasted that it becomes of use; and that men may easily starve in their own granaries, men of science, perhaps, most of all, for they are likely to seek accumulation of their store, rather than nourishment from it. Yet let it not be thought that I would under-value them. The good and great among them are like Joseph, from whom all nations sought to buy corn;¹ or like the sower going forth to sow beside all waters, sending forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass: only let us remember that this is not all men’s work. We are not intended to be all keepers of granaries, nor all to be measured by the filling of the storehouse; but many, nay, most of us, are to receive day by day our daily bread, and shall be as well nourished and as fit for our labour, and often, also, fit for nobler and more divine labour, in feeding from the barrel of meal that does not waste and from the cruse of oil that does not fail, than if our barns were filled with plenty, and our presses bursting out with new wine.²

§ 28. It is for each man to find his own measure in this

¹ [In all previous eds. “to whom all nations sought to buy corn.” Ruskin had at first written “to whom all nations came ...,” and, in altering “came” to “sought,” forgot to alter the preposition. In another draft of this passage, he amplifies and illustrates the distinctions drawn in the text between different states of Knowledge. The highest state, he says, is

“Knowledge and Contemplation; that is to say, Knowledge brought fairly forth into the Mind’s presence, and set before its Throne, that the King may have pleasure in its beauty. This is the noblest-the final state of all knowledge. Every other state is either inferior to this or preparatory for it. Knowledge in store is dormant; Knowledge in use is menial; Knowledge at usury, doubtful and imperfect; Knowledge under Contemplation is in its royal state invested with all honour and power.”]

² [The Bible references in § 27 are Genesis xli. 57; Isaiah xxxii. 20; Luke xi. 3; 1 Kings xvii. 14; Proverbs iii. 10.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]