C&AP. I1.J WISE CONDUCT fcXEMFLmm 315 



virtue and justice, sometimes suddenly, and sometime* after 

 it was long foreseen. But if prudence be also joined, so aa 

 to make such men cautious and watchful of their own safety, 

 then they gain thus much, that their ruin shall come suddenly, 

 and entirely from secret and dark counsels whence they may 

 escape envy, and meet destruction unexpected. But for that 

 over-righteousness expressed in the aphorism, it is not under 

 stood of virtue itself, in which there is no excess, but of a 

 vain and invidious affectation and show thereof, like what 

 Tacitus intimates of Lepidus making it a kind of miracle 

 that he never gave any servile opinion, and yet stood safe in 

 severe times. u 



XXXII. Give occasion to a wise man, and his wisdom will be 

 increased.* 



This aphorism distinguishes between that wisdom which 

 has grown up and ripened into a true habit, and that which 

 only floats in the brain, or is tossed upon the tongue without 

 having taken root. The former, when occasion offers, is pre 

 sently roused, got ready, and distended, so as to appeal- 

 greater than itself; whereas the latter, which was pert 

 before, stands amazed and confounded when occasion calls for 

 it : so that the person who thought himself endowed with 

 this wisdom, begins to question whether his preconception* 

 about it were not mere dreams and empty speculations. 



XXXIII. To pmise one s friend aloud, rising early, has the same effect 

 as cursing himJ 



Moderate and sensible praises, dropped occasionally, are of 

 great service to the reputation and fortunes of men ; whilst 

 immoderate, noisy, and fulsome praises do no good, but 

 rather hurt, as the aphorism expresses it. For, 1. they plainly 

 betray themselves to proceed from an excess of good will, or 

 to be purposely designed rather to gain favour with the per 

 son by false encomiums, than to paint him justly. 2. Sparing 

 and modest praises generally invite the company somewhat 

 to improve them, but profuse and immoderate ones to detract 

 and take off from them. 3. The principal thing is, that 

 immoderate praises procure envy to the person praised, as all 

 extravagant commendations seem to reproach others that 

 may be no less deserving. 



Annals, iv. 20. Prov. ix. 9, r Prov. xxiy. 14, 



