80 THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. 



to encounter with these miseries. Moreover this 

 virtue was received and brought unto him from the 

 remotest part of the ocean, and from the sun, that is, 

 from wisdom as from the sun ; and from the medi 

 tation of inconstancy, or of the waters of human life, 

 as from the sailing upon the ocean ; which two, 

 Virgil hath well conjoined in these verses : 



&quot; Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas : 

 &quot; Quique metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum 

 &quot; Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.&quot; 



Happy is he that knows the cause of things, 

 And that with dauntless courage treads upon 

 All fear and fates, relentless threat nings, 

 And greedy throat of roaring Acheron, 



Moreover, it is elegantly added for the consola 

 tion and confirmation of men s minds, that this noble 

 hero crossed the ocean in a cup or pan, lest, perad- 

 venture, they might too much fear that the straits 

 and frailty of their nature will not be capable of this 

 fortitude and constancy. Of which very thing Se 

 neca well conceived, when he said, &quot; Magnum est 

 &quot; habere simul fragilitatem hominis, et securitatem 

 &quot; Dei.&quot; It is a great matter for human frailty and 

 divine security to be one and the self-same time, in 

 one and the self-same subject. 



But now we are to step back a little again to 

 that, which by premeditation we past over, lest a 

 breach should be made in those things which were 

 so linked together : that therefore which I could 

 touch here is that last crime imputed to Prome 

 theus, about seeking to bereave Minerva of her vir- 



