EXPLORATA:

OR,

DISCOVERIES.

Fortuna.

Ill fortune never crushed that man whom good fortune deceived not. I therefore have counselled my friends never to trust to her fairer side, though she seemed to make peace with them; but to place all things she gave them so, as she might ask them again without 5 their trouble; she might take them from them, not pull them to keep always a distance between her and themselves. He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity. Heaven prepares good men with crosses; but no ill can happen to a good man. Contraries are 10 not mixed. Yet that which happens to any man may to every man. But it is in his reason, what he accounts

it and will make it.

Casus. Change into extremity is very frequent and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he com- 15 monly becomes a prodigal; for, to obscure his former

obscurity, he puts on riot and excess.

Consilia. No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel sometimes; and no man is so wise but may

ΤΟ

15

easily err, if he will take no others' counsel but his own. But very few men are wise by their own counsel, or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself had a fool to his master.

5 Fama. A fame that is wounded to the world would be better cured by another's apology than its own for few can apply medicines well themselves. Besides, the man that is once hated, both his good and his evil deeds oppress him he is not easily emergent.

Negotia. In great affairs it is a work of difficulty to please all. And oft times we lose the occasion of carrying a business well and thoroughly by our too much haste. For passions are spiritual rebels, and raise sedition against the understanding.

Amor patriæ. There is a necessity all men should love their country: he that professeth the contrary may be delighted with his words, but his heart is there.

Ingenia. - Natures that are hardened to evil you shall sooner break than make straight; they are like poles 20 that are crooked and dry, there is no attempting them.

25

Applausus.We praise the things we hear with much more willingness than those we see, because we envy the present and reverence the past; thinking ourselves instructed by the one, and overlaid by the other.

Opinio. - Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing; settled in the imagination, but never arriving at the understanding, there to obtain the tincture of reason. We labor with it more than truth. There is much more holds us than presseth us. An ill fact is one 30 thing, an ill fortune is another; yet both oftentimes sway us alike, by the error of our thinking.

Impostura.

Many men believe not themselves what they would persuade others; and less do the things which they would impose on others; but least of all 35 know what they themselves most confidently boast. Only

they set the sign of the cross over their outer doors, and sacrifice to their gut and their groin in their inner closets.

Jactura vitæ.

What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! in scattering s compliments, tendering visits, gathering and venting news, following feasts and plays, making a little winterlove in a dark corner.

Hypocrita. Puritanus Hypocrita est Hæreticus, quem opinio propriæ perspicaciæ, qua sibi videtur, cum paucis, in Ecclesia dogmatibus errores quosdam animadvertisse, de statu mentis deturbavit: unde sacro furore percitus, phrenetice pugnat contra magistratus, sic ratus obedientiam præstare Deo.

Mutua auxilia. - Learning needs rest: sovereignty 15 gives it. Sovereignty needs counsel: learning affords

it.

There is such a consociation of offices between the prince and whom his favor breeds, that they may help to sustain his power as he their knowledge. It is the greatest part of his liberality, his favor; and 20 from whom doth he hear discipline more willingly, or the arts discoursed more gladly, than from those whom his own bounty and benefits have made able and faithful?

Cognitio] universi. In being able to counsel others, 25 a man must be furnished with a universal store in himself, to the knowledge of all nature- that is, the matter and seed-plot: there are the seats of all argument and invention. But especially you must be cunning in the nature of man: there is the variety of things 30 which are as the elements and letters, which his art and wisdom must rank and order to the present occasion. For we see not all letters in single words, nor all places in particular discourses. That cause seldom happens wherein a man will use all arguments.

35

5

Consiliarii adjunct[i], probitas, sapientia. The two chief things that give a man reputation in counsel are the opinion of his honesty and the opinion of his wisdom: the authority of those two will persuade when the same counsels uttered by other persons less qualified are of no efficacy or working.

Vita recta. Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage. And therefore the reputation of honesty must first be gotten, which cannot be but by living well. 10 A good life is a main argument.

Obsequentia, humanitas, solicitudo. Next a good life, to beget love in the persons we counsel, by dissembling our knowledge of ability in ourselves, and avoiding all suspicion of arrogance, ascribing all to their instruc15 tion, as an ambassador to his master, or a subject to his sovereign; seasoning all with humanity and sweetness, only expressing care and solicitude. And not to counsel rashly, or on the sudden, but with advice and meditation. Dat nox consilium. For many foolish things fall 20 from wise men, if they speak in haste or be extemporal. It therefore behoves the giver of counsel to be circumspect; especially to beware of those with whom he is not thoroughly acquainted, lest any spice of rashness, folly, or self-love appear, which will be marked by new per25 sons and men of experience in affairs.

Modestia, parrhesia. And to the prince, or his superior, to behave himself modestly and with respect. Yet free from flattery or empire. Not with insolence or precept; but as the prince were already furnished with the 30 parts he should have, especially in affairs of state. For in other things they will more easily suffer themselves to be taught or reprehended: they will not willingly contend, but hear, with Alexander, the answer the musician gave him: Absit, o rex, ut tu melius hæc scias, 35 quam ego.

Perspicuitas, elegantia. - A man should so deliver himself to the nature of the subject whereof he speaks, that his hearer may take knowledge of his discipline with some delight; and so apparel fair and good matter, that the studious of elegancy be not defrauded; redeem arts 5 from their rough and braky seats, where they lay hid and overgrown with thorns, to a pure, open and flowery light, where they may take the eye and be taken by the hand. Natura non effæta.—I cannot think Nature is so spent and decayed that she can bring forth nothing to worth her former years. She is always the same, like herself; and when she collects her strength is abler still. Men are decayed, and studies: she is not.

ΙΟ

Non nimium credendum antiquitati. I know nothing can conduce more to letters than to examine the writings 15 of the ancients, and not to rest in their sole authority, or take all upon trust from them, provided the plagues of judging and pronouncing against them be away; such as are envy, bitterness, precipitation, impudence, and scurrile scoffing. For to all the observations of the ancients 20 we have our own experience, which if we will use and apply, we have better means to pronounce. It is true they opened the gates, and made the way that went before us, but as guides, not commanders: Non domini nostri, sed duces fuere. Truth lies open to all; it is no 25 man's several. Patet omnibus veritas; nondum est occupata. Multum ex illa, etiam futuris relictum est.

Dissentire licet, sed cum ratione. — If in some things I dissent from others, whose wit, industry, diligence, and judgment, I look up at and admire, let me not therefore 30 hear presently of ingratitude and rashness. For I thank those that have taught me, and will ever; but yet dare not think the scope of their labor and inquiry was to envy their posterity what they also could add and find out. If I err, pardon me: Nulla ars simul et inventa est et 35