316 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [llOOK Vlit 



XXXIV. At the face shines in water, so are men* hearts manifi^t to 

 the wise. 1 



This aphorism distinguishes between the minds of prudent 

 men and those of others, by comparing the former to water, 

 or a mirror, which receives the forms and images of things ; 

 whilst the latter are like earth, or unpolished stone, which 

 reflects nothing. And the mind of a prudent man is the 

 more aptly compared to a glass, because therein one s own 

 image may, at the same time, be vi-swed along with those of 

 others, which could not be done by the eye without assistance : 

 but if the mind of a prudent man be so capacious as to 

 observe and distinguish an infinite diversity of natures and 

 manners in men, it remains that we endeavour to render 

 it as various in the application as it is in the representation. 

 &quot; Qui sapit, innumeris moribus aptus erit.&quot;* 



If we have dwelt too long upon those parables, and used 

 them for higher purposes than mere illustrations, the dignity 

 of both author and subject must be our excuse. For thus, 

 it was not only usual among the Jews, but very common 

 also among the wise men of other ancient nations, when they 

 had, by observation, hit upon anything useful in common 

 life, to reduce and contract it into some short sentence, para 

 ble, or fable. Fables anciently supplied the defect of exam 

 ples ; but now that times abound with variety of histories, 

 it is better and more enlivening to draw from real life. But 

 the method of writing best suited to so various and intricate 

 a subject as the different occasions of civil business, is that 

 which Machiavel chose for treating politics ; viz., by observa 

 tion or discourse upon histories and examples. b For the 

 knowledge which is newly drawn, and, as it were, under our 

 own eye, from particulars, best finds the way to particulars 

 again. And doubtless it is much more conducive to practice 

 that the discourse follow the example, than that the example 

 follow the discourse : and this regards not only the order, 

 but the thing itself; for when an example is proposed as the 

 basis of a discourse, it is usually proposed with its whole 

 apparatus of circumstances, which may sometimes correct and 

 supply it; whence it becomes as a model for imitation and 

 practice; whilst examples, produced for the sake of the 



Prov. xxvii. 19. * Ars Amandi, i. 760. 



b Discorso sopra Liv. 



