178 THE ADVANCEMENT OP LEARNING. 



and all wickedness most punished in itself : according as the 

 poet saith excellently : 



&quot; Quse vobis, qus digna, viri, pro laudibus istis 

 Prsemia posse rear solvi? pulchernma primum 

 Dii moresque dabunt vestri.&quot; 



And so of the contrary. And secondly they ought to look up 

 fo the Eternal Providence and Divine Judgment, which often 

 ubverteth the wisdom of evil plots and imaginations, according 

 hat scripture, &quot;He hath conceived mischief, and shall 

 brin^forth av^n thing.&quot; And although men should refrain 

 themselves from injury and evil arts, ye ^is incessant and 

 Sabbathless pursuit of a man s fortune leaveth not tribute 

 which we owe to God of our time ; who (we see) demandeth a 

 Tenth of our substance, and a seventh, which is more strict of 

 our time : and it is to small purpose to have an erected face 

 towards heaven, and a perpetual grovelling spirit .upon earth, 

 eatin- dust as doth the serpent, Atque a^thumo ^n&amp;lt;x 

 parUculam aura?. And if any man natter himself that he w^ 

 employ his fortune well, though he should obtain it ill, a. 

 was said concerning Augustus Cassar, and after of Septimms 

 Sevens &quot;That either they should never have been born or 

 ebl theV should never have died,&quot; they did so much mischief 

 m the pWuit and ascent of their greatness, and so much good 

 when they were established ; yet these compensations and 



) 



And lastly it is not amiss for men, m their race towards the 

 fortune t y o cool themselves a little with that conceit which is 

 elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V., in his instruc- 

 tiofis to the king his son, &quot; That fortune hath somewhat of the 

 natxue of a woman, that if she be too much wooed she is the 

 Lrther off &quot; But this last is but a remedy for those whose 

 astes are corrupted: let men rather build upon that founda- 

 Hon which is as a corner-stone of divinity and philosophy, 

 whereTn they join close, namely that same Primum qua^tc 

 For divinity saith, Primum qucerite regnum Dei, ct ixta omnia 

 IdjicSn^oUs /and philosophy saith Prym **$ 

 animi; cetera aut aderunt, aut nonoberunt. And alti 

 the human foundation hath somewhat of the sands, as we see 

 in M. Brutus, when he broke forth into that speech, 



&quot; Te colui (Virtus) ut rem ; ast tu nomen inane es ; &quot; 



vet the divine foundation is upon the rock But this may 

 seWefor a taste of that knowledge which I noted as deficient. 



