CENTURY X. 505 



fore he advised him, to absent himself as much as he 

 could, and remove far from him. This soothsayer 

 was thought to be suborned by Cleopatra, to make 

 him live in Egypt, and other remote places from 

 Rome. Howsoever the conceit of a predominant or 

 mastering spirit of one man over another, is ancient, 

 and received still, even in vulgar opinion. 



941. There are conceits, that some men that are 

 of an ill and melancholy nature, do incline the com 

 pany into which they come to be sad and ill-disposed ; 

 and contrariwise, that others that are of a jovial 

 nature, do dispose the company to be merry and 

 cheerful. And again, that some men are lucky to 

 be kept company with and employed ; and others 

 unlucky. Certainly, it is agreeable to reason, that 

 there are at the least some light effluxions from spirit 

 to spirit, when men are in presence one with another, 

 as well as from body to body. 



942. It hath been observed, that old men who 

 have loved young company, and been conversant 

 continually with them, have been of long life ; their 

 spirits, as it seemeth, being recreated by such com 

 pany. Such were tlve ancient sophists and rhetori 

 cians ; which ever had young auditors and disciples ; 

 as Georgias, Protagoras, Isocrates, &c. who lived till 

 they were an hundred years old. And so likewise 

 did many of the grammarians and school-masters ; 

 such as was Orbilius, &c. 



943. Audacity and confidence doth, in civil bu 

 siness, so great effects, as a man may reasonably 

 doubt, that besides the very daring, and earnestness, 



