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To that main wish, I will add those of the good old nurse of Horace, in his epistle to Tibullus: 'Sapere', you have it in a good degree already. 'Et fari ut possit quae sentiat'. Have you that? More, much more is meant by it, than common speech or mere articulation. I fear that still remains to be wished for, and I earnestly wish it to you.
The very foundation of poetry is good sense, if we may allow Horace to be a judge of the art. "Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons." "Such judgment is the ground of writing well." And if so, we have reason to believe that the same man who writes well can prescribe well, if he has applied himself to the study of both.
In either case, 'Sapere est princihium et fons'; but it is by no means all. That knowledge must be adorned, it must have lustre as well as weight, or it will be oftener taken, for lead than for gold. Knowledge you have, and will have: I am easy upon that article.
Pia mater, Plus quam se sapere, et virtutibus esse priorem Vult, et ait prope vera. Horace. Vere mihi festus atras Eximet curas. Horace. The next morning I received a letter from my mother. "My dear Henry," began my affectionate and incomparable parent "My dear Henry,
On the other hand, remember, that what Horace says of good writing is justly applicable to those who would make a good figure in courts, and distinguish themselves in the shining parts of life; 'Sapere est principium et fons'. A man who, without a good fund of knowledge and parts, adopts a court life, makes the most ridiculous figure imaginable.
But perhaps it is the men themselves, their earnestness, their splendid courage, their noble simplicity, that most inspired one with reverence. It was Huxley's aim to enlighten the many, and he enlightened them. It was Mill's lot to help thinkers, and he helped them. SAPERE AUDE was the motto of both. How few there are who dare to adopt it!
Let him be satisfied with correcting himself, and not seem to condemn everything in another he would not do himself, nor dispute it as against common customs. "Licet sapere sine pompa, sine invidia."
In 1784 Kant wrote a tractate entitled, Was ist Aufklärung? He said: 'Aufklärung is the advance of man beyond the stage of voluntary immaturity. By immaturity is meant a man's inability to use his understanding except under the guidance of another. The immaturity is voluntary when the cause is not want of intelligence but of resolution. Sapere aude!
Would I fortify myself against the fear of death, it must be at the expense of Seneca: would I extract consolation for myself or my friend, I borrow it from Cicero. I might have found it in myself, had I been trained to make use of my own reason. Euripides, ap. Cicero, Ep. Whence Ennius: "Nequidquam sapere sapientem, qui ipse sibi prodesse non quiret."
In either case, 'Sapere est princihium et fons'; but it is by no means all. That knowledge must be adorned, it must have lustre as well as weight, or it will be oftener taken, for lead than for gold. Knowledge you have, and will have: I am easy upon that article.
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