OF SELF-ACQUAINTANCE.
Knowledge holdeth by the hilt, and heweth out a road to conquest;
Ignorance graspeth the blade, and is wounded by its own good sword:
Knowledge distilleth health from the virulence of opposite poisons;
Ignorance mixeth wholesomes, unto the breeding of disease:
Knowledge is leagued with the universe, and findeth a friend in all things;
But ignorance is everywhere a stranger; unwelcome, ill at ease, and out of place.
A man is helpless and unsafe up to the measure of his ignorance,
For he lacketh perception of the aptitudes commending such a matter to his use,