ofession surpasses all others that have
been invented by man, and is so much the more honorable as it is more
exposed to dangers. Let none presume to tell me that the pen is
preferable to the sword. This may be ascertained by regarding the end
and object each of them aims at; for that intention is to be most valued
which makes the noblest end its object. The scope and end of learning, I
mean human learning (in this place I speak not of divinity, whose aim is
to guide souls to Heaven, for no other can equal a design so infinite as
that), is to give a perfection to distribute justice, bestowing upon
every one his due, and to procure and cause good laws to be observed; an
end really generous, great, and worthy of high commendation, but yet not
equal to that which knight-errantry tends to, whose object and end is
peace, which is the greatest blessing man can wish for in this life.
And, therefore, the first good news that the world received was that
which the angels brought in the night--the beginning of our day--when
they sang in the air, 'Glory to God on high, peace on earth, and to men
good-will.' And the only manner of salutation taught by our great Master
to His friends and favorites was, that entering any house they should
say, 'Peace be to this house.' And at other times He said to them, 'My
peace I give to you,' 'My peace I leave to you,' 'Peace be among you.' A
jewel and legacy worthy of such a donor, a jewel so precious that
without it there can be no happiness either in earth or heaven. This
peace is the true end of war; for arms and war are one and the same
thing. Allowing, then, this truth, that the end of war is peace, and
that in this it excels the end of learning, let us now weigh the bodily
labors the scholar undergoes against those the warrior suffers, and then
see which are the greatest.

"These, then, I say, are the sufferings and hardships a scholar endures.
First, poverty (not that they are all poor, but to urge the worst that
may be in this case); and having said he endures poverty, methinks
nothing more need be urged to express his misery; for he that is poor
enjoys no happiness, but labors under this poverty in all its parts, at
one time in hunger, at another in cold, another in nakedness, and
sometimes in all of them together; yet his poverty is not so great, but
still he eats, though it be later than the usual hour, and of the scraps
of the rich; neither can the scholar miss of somebody's stove or