384 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



Some, however, may flatter themselves, that, by what 

 sinister means soever their fortune be procured, they are 

 determined to use it well when obtained; when it was said 

 of Augustus Caesar and Septimus Severus, that &quot;they ought 

 never to have been born, or never to have died&quot;: so much 

 evil they committed in aspiring, and so much good they 

 did when seated. But let such men know that this recom 

 pensing of evil with good, though it may be approved after 

 the action, yet is justly condemned in the design. Lastly, 

 it may not be amiss, in this eager pursuit of fortune, for 

 men to cool themselves a little with the saying of Charles 

 the Fifth to his son; viz. &quot;Fortune is like the ladies, who 

 generally scorn and discard their overearnest admirers.&quot; 

 But this last remedy belongs to such as have their taste 

 vitiated by a disease of the mind. Let mankind rather rest 

 upon the cornerstone of divinity and philosophy, both 

 which nearly agree in the thing that ought first to be 

 sought. For Divinity says. &quot;Seek ye first the kingdom 

 of God, and all other things shall be added unto you&quot;: 108 

 so philosophy directs us first to seek the goods of the mind, 

 and the rest will either be supplied, or are not much wanted. 

 For although this foundation, laid by human hands, is some 

 times placed upon the sand, as in the case of Brutus, who, 

 at his death, cried out, &quot;0 virtue, I have reverenced thee as 

 a being, but alas, thou art an empty name!&quot; 107 yet the same 

 foundation is ever, by the Divine hand, fixed upon a rock. 

 And here we conclude the doctrine of rising in life, and the 

 general doctrine of business, together, 



106 Matt. vi. 33. 



107 *fj TArj^xov aperrj, \6yos ap 1 ijtrfl eyu&amp;gt; Se ae 



*i)s epyov r)&amp;lt;rKovv &amp;lt;rv 6 dp* eSovAeues ro\^ Dio. CaSS. xlvii. 49, 



