212 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



parison, preferring things of show and sense before 

 things of substance and effect. So some fall in love 

 with access to princes, others with popular fame and 

 applause, supposing they are things of great purchase, 

 when in many cases they are but matter of envy, peril, 

 and impediment. So some measure things according to 

 the labour and difficulty or assiduity which are spent 

 about them ; and think, if they be ever moving, that 

 they must needs advance and proceed ; as Caesar saith 

 in a despising manner of Cato the second, when he de- 

 scribeth how laborious and indefatigable he was to no 

 great purpose, Haec omnia magno studio agebat. So 

 in most things men are ready to abuse themselves in 

 thinking the greatest means to be best, when it should 

 be the fittest. 



38. As for the true marshalling of men s pursuits 

 towards their fortune, as they are more or less material, 

 I hold them to stand thus. First the&amp;lt; amendment of 

 their own minds. For the remove of the impediments 

 of the mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune, 

 than the obtaining fortune will remove the impediments 

 of the mind. In the second place I set down wealth 

 and means ; which I know most men would have placed 

 first, because of the general use which it beareth towards 

 all variety of occasions. But that opinion I may con 

 demn with like reason as Machiavel doth that other, 

 that moneys were the sinews of the wars ; whereas 

 (saith he) the true sinews of the wars are the sinews of 

 men s arms, that is, a valiant, populous, and military 

 nation : and he voucheth aptly the authority of Solon, 

 who, when Croesus showed him his treasury of gold, said 

 to him, that if another came that had better iron, he 

 would be master of his gold. In like manner it may be 

 truly affirmed, that it is not moneys that are the sinews 

 of fortune, but it is the sinews and steel of men s minds, 

 wit, courage, audacity, resolution, temper, industry, 

 and the like. In the third place I set down reputation, 

 because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath ; 

 which, if they be not taken in their due time, are seldom 

 recovered, it being extreme hard to play an after game 



