ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 269 



the method of acting they had once found good and prosperous. 

 Thus Machiavel prudently observes of Fabius Maximus : "That 

 he would obstinately retain his old inveterate custom of delay- 

 ing and protracting the war, when now the nature was changed 

 and required brisker measures." In others again, the same 

 defect proceeds from want of judgment, when men do not sea- 

 sonably distinguish the periods of things and actions, but alter 

 too late, after the opportunity is slipped. And something of 

 this kind Demosthenes reprehended in the Athenians, when he 

 said : "' They were like rustics in a fencing-school, who always 

 after a blow, guard the part that was hit, and not before."* 

 And lastly, this defect in others, because they are unwilling that 

 the labor they have taken in the way once entered should be 

 lost, and know not how to sound a retreat, but rather trust they 

 shall conquer occasions by perseverance. But this obstinacy 

 and restiveness of the mind, from whatever root it proceeds, is 

 highly prejudicial to business and men's private fortunes : on 

 the contrary, nothing is more politic than to make the wheels 

 of the mind concentric with the wheels of fortune, and capable 

 of turning together with them. And thus much of the two sum- 

 mary or collective precepts for advancing one's fortune. 



The scattered precepts for rising in life are numerous: we 

 shall single out a few by way of example. The first is, that 

 the builder of his fortune properly use and apply his rule, that 

 is, accustom his mind to measure and estimate the price and 

 value of things, as they conduce more or less to his particular 

 fortune and ends, and this with diligence, not by halves. It is 

 surprising, yet very true, that many have the logical part of 

 their mind set right and the mathematical wrong, and judge 

 truly of the consequences of things, but very unskilfully of their 

 value. Hence some men are fond of access to and familiarity 

 with princes ; others of popular fame, and fancy these to be great 

 enjoyments, whereas both of them are frequently full of envy 

 and dangers. Others, again, measure things according to their 

 difficulty and the labor bestowed in procuring them, imagining 

 themselves must needs have advanced as far as they have 

 moved. So Caesar, to describe how diligent and indefatigable 

 the younger Cato was to little purpose, said in the way of irony, 

 " That he did all things with great labor." And hence it hap- 

 pens, that men frequently deceive themselves, when, having 

 the assistance of some great or honorable personage, they 



