210 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



choose in their actions that which is most passable : 

 for this will preserve men from foil, not occupy them 

 too much about one matter, win opinion of moderation, 

 please the most, and make a show of a perpetual felicity 

 in all they undertake ; which cannot but mightily in- 

 crease reputation. 



35. Another part of this knowledge seemeth to have 

 some repugnancy with the former two, but not as I 

 understand it ; and it is that which Demosthenes 

 uttereth in high terms ; ' Et quemadmodum receptum 

 est, ut exercitum ducat imperator, sic et a cordatis viris 

 res ipsae ducendae ; ut quae ipsis videntur, ea gerantur, 

 et non ipsi eventus persequi cogantur.' For if we ob- 

 serve we shall find two differing kinds of sufficiency in 

 managing of business : some can make use of occasions 

 aptly and dexterously, but plot little ; some can urge 

 and pursue their own plots well, but cannot accommo- 

 date nor take in ; either of which is very imperfect with- 

 out the other. 



36. Another part of this knowledge is the observing 

 a good mediocrity in the declaring, or not declaring 

 a man's self : for although depth of secrecy, and making 

 way {' qualis est via navis in mari,' which the French 

 calleth sourdes menees, when men set things in work 

 without opening themselves at all), be sometimes both 

 prosperous and admirable ; yet many times ' dissimu- 

 latio errores parit, qui dissimulatorem ipsum illaqueant.' 

 And therefore we see the greatest politiques have in 

 a natural and free manner professed their desires, rather 

 than been reserved and disguised in them. For so we 

 see that Lucius Sylla made a kind of profession, ' that 

 he wished all men happy or unhappy, as they stood his 

 friends or enemies.' So Caesar, when he went first into 

 Gaul, made no scruple to profess ' That he had rather 

 be first in a village than second at Rome.' So again, 

 as soon as he had begun the war, we see what Cicero 

 saith of him, ' Alter ' (meaning of Caesar) ' non recusal, 

 sed quodammodo postulat, ut (ut est) sic appelletur 

 tyrannus.' So we may see in a letter of Cicero to 

 Atticus, that Augustus Caesar, in his very entrance into 



