ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 36T 



larger. And the Italian thinks himself upon the cross with 

 the crier, or put up to sale, when, without manifest cause, 

 he is treated better than usual; for small favors lull man 

 kind, and disarm them both of caution and industry; whence 

 they are properly called by Demosthenes the baits of sloth. 

 Again, we may clearly see the crafty and ambiguous nature 

 of some actions which pass for benefits, from that trick 

 practiced by Mucianus upon Antony; for after a pretended 

 reconciliation he most treacherously advanced many of An 

 tony s friends to lieutenancies, tribuneships, etc., and by 

 this cunning entirely disarmed and defeated him; thus 

 winning over Antony s friends to himself. 68 



But the surest key for unlocking the minds of others 

 turns upon searching and sifting either their tempers and 

 natures, or their ends and designs; and the more weak 

 and simple are best judged by their temper, but the more 

 prudent and close by their designs. It was prudently and 

 wittily, though in my judgment not substantially, advised 

 by the Pope s nuncio as to the choice of another to succeed 

 him in his residence at a foreign court, that they should by 

 no means send one remarkably but rather tolerably wise; 

 because a man wiser than ordinary could never imagine 

 what the people of that nation were likely to do. It is 

 doubtless a common error, particularly in prudent men, 

 to measure others by the model of their own capacity; 

 whence they frequently overshoot the mark, by supposing 

 that men project and form greater things to themselves, 

 and practice more subtile arts than ever entered their 

 minds. This is elegantly intimated by the Italian proverb 



&quot;Di denari, di senno, e di fede, 

 C ne manco che non crede&quot; ; 69 



and therefore, in men of small capacities, who commit many 

 absurdities, a conjecture must rather be formed from the 



68 Tacit. Hist. iv. 



&quot;There is always less money, less wisdom, and less honesty, than people 

 imagine.&quot; 



