314 ADVANCEMENT OF tEAKJfctffl. [800* VI ir 



course shall I take ? I love him as well as man can do, and 

 would willingly suffer any misfortune in his stead : but I 

 know his nature ; if I deal freely with him, I shall offend 

 him ; at least chagrin him, and yet do him no service. Nay, 

 I shall sooner alienate his friendship from me, than win him 

 over from those things he has fixed his mind upon.&quot; Such 

 an effeminate and useless friend as this Solomon reprehends, 

 and pronounces that greater advantage may be received from 

 an open enemy ; as a man may chance to hear those things 

 from an enemy by way of reproach, which a friend, through 

 too much indulgence, will not speak out. 



XXX. A prudent man looks well to his steps, but a fool turns aside 

 to deceit. 1 



There are two kinds of prudence ; the one true and sound, 

 the other degenerate and false : the latter Solomon calls by 

 the name of folly. The candidate for the former has an eye 

 to his footings, looking out for dangers, contriving remedies, 

 and by the assistance of good men defending himself against 

 the bad : he is wary in entering upon business, and not un 

 provided of a retreat ; watching for opportunities, powerful 

 against opposition, &c. But the follower of the other is 

 wholly patched up of fallacy and cunning, placing all his hope 

 in the circumventing of others, and forming them to his 

 fancy. And this the aphorism justly rejects as a vicious and 

 even a weak kind of prudence. For, 1. it is by no means a 

 thing in our own power, nor depending upon any constant 

 rule ; but is daily inventing of new stratagems as the old 

 ones fail and grow useless. 2. He who has once the character 

 of a crafty, tricking man, is entirely deprived of a principal 

 instrument of business, trust; whence he will find nothing 

 succeed to his wish. 3. Lastly, however specious and pleas 

 ing these arts may seem, yet they are often frustrated ; as 

 well observed by Tacitus, when he said, that crafty and bold 

 counsels, though pleasant in the expectation, are hard to 

 execute, and unhappy in the event. 



XXXI. Be not over -righteous, nor make thyself over-wise : for why 

 shouldst thou suddenly be taken off! * 



There are times, says Tacitus, wherein great virtues meet 

 with certain ruin. 11 And this happens to men eminent for 



Prov. xv. 21. Eccles. viL &quot;. 7. * Hist. i. 2. 



