LIBER OCTAVUS. 791 



Debuisse illos aut nunquam nasci, aut nunquam mori 1 ; tanta 

 in ambitu fortunae suas patrarunt mala ; tanta rursus summa 

 adepti, contulerunt bona ; intelligat nihilominus hanc malo- 

 rum per bona compensationem post factum probari ; consilium 

 autem hujusmodi merito damnari. Abs re postremo nobis non 

 fuerit, in cursu isto incitato et fervido versus fortunam nostram, 

 frigidam paulisper aspergere, haustam e dicterio illo non inele- 

 gante Caroli Quinti Imperatoris, in Institutionibus suis ad 

 filium ; Imitari Fortunam mores mulierum, qua procos plus 

 nimio ambientes plerunque superbe aversantur.* Verum hoc 

 ultimum remedium pertinet ad eos, quibus gustus ex morbo 

 animi corruptus est. Innitantur potius homines lapidi illi, qui 

 Theologiae et Philosophies est tanquam angularis ; quae idem 

 fere asserunt de eo, quod primum quceri debeat. Etenim 

 Theologia edicit, Primum qu&rite regnum Dei, et ista omnia 

 adjicientur vobis 3 : Philosophia autem simile quiddam jubet ; 

 Primum qucerite bona animi, cater a aut aderunt aut non oberunt. 

 Quamvis autem hoc fundamentum, humanitus jactum, interdum 

 locetur super arenas ; quemadmodum videre est in M. Bruto, 

 qui in earn vocem sub exitum suum prorupit ; 



Te colui, Virtus, ut rem ; ast tu nomen inane es ; 4 



At idem fundamentmn, divinitus locatum, firmatur semper in 

 petra. Hie autem Doctrinam de Ambitu Vitas, et simul 

 Doctrinam Generalem de Negotiis, concludimus. 



1 See, with reference to Augustus, Aurelius Victor, Epit. c. 1. ; and for Sever us, 

 his life by Lampridius. 



2 It was on being obliged to raise the siege of Metz that Charles V. remarked that 

 Fortune was like a woman, that, after having favoured him in his youth, she turned 

 against him when he was no longer young. There are, I believe, several papers of 

 instructions addressed by him to Philip II. In one or two which I have seen the 

 remark mentioned in the text does not appear to occur. 



3 St. Matt. vi. 33. 



4 This line is of course a translation of the following : 



5 rX^fjiov aper)) \6yos ap" ^crff fyk 5e <re 



us Hpyov tf&Kovv, ffv 8* op' i8oi'>\fves Tvxy> 



which, according to Dio Cassias, xlvii., was the dying exclamation of Brutus. From 

 the way in which the lines are introduced by Dio Cassius, they appear to be a frag, 

 ment of a speech of Hercules in some lost tragedy. The first line and the first portion 

 of the second (which, in effect, is all that i? here translated) occur not only in Dio 

 Cassius, but also in Plutarch, De Superstitions, where, however, no reference is made 

 to Brutus. Most editions of Dio Cassius are accompanied by a Latin translation. In 

 the earlier ones of those which 1 have seen, the woids in question are given in prose, 

 and in the later in Iambic verse. 



SE 4 



