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tium; insomuch as it was a proverb amongst the Gre cians, that he that was praised to his hurt, should have a push rise upon his nose; as we say, that a blister will rise upon one's tongue that tells a lie. Certainly moderate praise, used with opportunity, and not vulgar, is that which doth the good. Solomon saith, He that praiseth his friend aloud, rising early, it shall be to him no better than a curse. Too much magnifying of man or matter doth irritate contradiction, and procure envy and scorn. To praise a man's self cannot be decent, except it be in rare cases: but to praise a man's office or profession, he may do it with good grace, and with a kind of magnanimity. The cardinals of Rome, which are theologues, and friars, and schoolmen, have a phrase of notable contempt and scorn towards civil business; for they call all temporal business, of wars, embassages, judicature, and other employments, sbirrerie, which is undersheriffries, as if they were but matters for undersheriffs and catchpoles; though many times those under-sheriffries do more good than their high speculations. St. Paul, when he boasts of himself, he doth oft interlace, I speak like a fool; but speaking of his calling, he saith, magnificabo apostolatum meum.

LIV. OF VAIN-GLORY.

It was prettily devised of Æsop: The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot-wheel, and said, What a dust do I raise! So are there some vain persons, that whatsoever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater means, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious must needs be factious; for all bravery stands upon comparisons. They must needs be violent, to make good their own vaunts: neither can they be secret, and therefore not effectual; but according to the French proverb, Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit: Much bruit, little fruit. Yet certainly there is use of this quality, in civil affairs: where there is an opinion, and fame to be created, either of virtue or greatness, these men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus

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Livius noteth, in the case of Antiochus and the Etolians, there are sometimes great effects of cross lies; as if a man that negotiates between two princes, to draw them to join in a war against the third, doth extol the forces of either of them above measure, the one to the other: and sometimes he that deals between man and man, raiseth his own credit with both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. And in these and the like kinds, it often falls out, that somewhat is produced of nothing; for lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance. In military commanders and soldiers, vainglory is an essential point; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpeneth another: in cases of great enterprise, upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into business; and those that are of solid and sober natures have more of the ballast than of the sail. In fame of learning the flight will be slow, without some feathers of ostentation: Qui de contemnenda gloria libros scribunt, nomen suum inscribunt. Socrates, Aristotle, Galen, were men full of ostentation. Cer tainly vain-glory helpeth to perpetuate a man's me mory; and virtue was never so beholden to human nature, as it received its due at the second hand. Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Se cundus, borne her age so well, if it had not been joined with some vanity in themselves: like unto varnish, that makes ceilings not only shine but last. But all this while, when I speak of vain-glory, I mean not of that property that Tacitus doth attribute to Muci anus; omnium, quæ dixerat, feceratque, arte quadam ostentator: for that proceeds not of vanity, but of natural magnanimity and discretion: and in some persons, is not only comely but gracious. For excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation. And amongst those arts, there is none better than that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of; which is to be liberal of praise and commen dation to others, in that wherein a man's self hath any perfection. For, saith Pliny, very wittily, "in com

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"mending another you do yourself right; for he that you commend is either superior to you in that you "commend, or inferior. If he be inferior, if he be to "be commended, you much more. If he be superior, "if he be not to be commended, you much less." Glorious men are the scorn of wise men; the admiration of fools; the idols of parasites; and the slaves of their own vaunts.

LV. OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION.

THE winning of honour is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvantage. For some in their actions do woo and affect honour and reputation; which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but inwardly little admired. And some, contrariwise, darken their virtue in the shew of it; so as they be undervalued in opinión. If a man perform that which hath not been attempted before, or attempted and given over; or hath been atchieved, but not with so good circumstance; he shall purchase more honour than by effecting a matter of greater› difficulty or virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them he doth content every faction or combination of people, the music will be the fuller. A man is an ill husband of his honour, that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honour him. Honour that is gained and broken upon another, hath the quickest reflexion, like diamonds cut with fascets. And therefore let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honour, in out-shooting them, if he can, in their own bow. Discreet followers and servants help much to reputation: omnis fama a domesticis emanat. Envy," which is the canker of honour, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self, in his ends rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine providence and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honour, are these. In the first place are conditores imperiorum; founders of

states and commonwealths; such as were Romulus, Cyrus, Cæsar, Ottoman, Ismael. In the second place are legislatores, lawgivers, which are also called second founders, or perpetui principes, because they govern by their ordinances, after they are gone: such were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, Alphonsus of Castile the wise, that made the Siete partidas. In the third place are liberatores, or salvatores; such as compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries from servitude of strangers or tyrants; as Augustus Cæsar, Vespasianus, Aurelianus, Theodoricus, king Henry the seventh of England, king Henry the fourth of France. In the fourth place are propagatores, or propugnatores imperii, such as in honourable wars enlarge their territories, or make noble defence against invaders. And in the last place are patres patriæ, which reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live. Both which last kinds need no examples, they are in such number. Degrees of honour in subjects are; first, participes curarum, those upon whom princes do discharge the greatest weight of their affairs; their right hands, as we call them. The next are duces belli, great leaders; such as are princes lieutenants, and do them notable services in the wars. The third are gratiosi, favourites; such as exceed not this scantling, to be solace to the sovereign, and harmless to the people: and the fourth, negotiis pares; such as have great places under princes, and execute their places with sufficiency. There is an honour likewise, which may be ranked amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely: that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger for the good of their country; as was M. Regulus, and the two Decii.

LVI. OF JUDICATURE.

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JUDGES ought to remember that their office is jus dicere, and not jus dare; to interpret law, and not to make law, or give law. Else will it be like the authority claimed by the Church of Rome; which, under pretext of exposition of Scripture, doth not stick

to add and alter; and to pronounce that which they do not find; and by shew of antiquity to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned than witty; more reverend than plausible; and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Cursed, saith the law, is he that removeth the land-mark. The mislayer of a mere-stone is to blame: but it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of land-marks, when he defineth amiss of lands and property. One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples. For these do but corrupt the stream: the other corrupteth the fountain. So saith Solomon; Fons turbatus, et venu corrupta, est justus cadens in causa sua coram adversario. The office of judges may have reference unto the parties that sue; unto the advocates that plead; unto the clerks and ministers of justice underneath them; and to the sovereign or state above them.

First, for the causes or parties that sue. There be, saith the Scripture, that turn judgment into wormwood; and surely there be also that turn it into vinegar for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal duty of a judge is, to suppress force and fraud; whereof force is the more pernicious when it is open; and fraud when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought to be spewed out as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down hills so when there appeareth on either side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen, to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as 'upon an even ground. Qui fortiter emungit, elicit sanguinem; and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine, that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws: especially in case of laws penal they ought to have care, that that which was meant for terror be not turned into

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