1 Qo Of the Advancement of Learning, Lib. VI. 



is moretoloofe one eye, than to a man that hath two eyes: fo if one 

 have divers children, it is mofe grief to him to loofe the laft furviving 

 fon, than all the reft. And therefore Sibylla when (he had burnt her 

 two firft Books ^ doubled the price of the TAz)-(^, becaufe the lofsofthat 

 Ageii lib. [ja(i been eradus rrivationis, and not Diminntionis. 



I No.At. 



The Reprehenjiofi, 



THe Fal/ax of this C(7/(7«r is reprehended ; ^rji in thofe things^ the 

 ufe andfervice whereof rejicth infufficiency^ or competency, that if 

 in A determinate ^antity. As if a man be bound upon penalty to pay 

 a fum of money at an appointed day, it would be more to him to want 

 one Noble, than if, (fuppofing he could not tell where to be firnilht 

 with this one Noble) ten Nobles more were wanting. So in the decay 

 of a man's eftate, the degree of Debt which firft breaks the ftock, and 

 cafts him behind, feems a greater damage, than the laft Degree, whea 

 he proves nothing worth. And hereof the common Forms are, Sera in 

 Hefiod. pindo Parjimonia: and as good never a whit, as never the better, Cy^c. Se- 

 condly this Colour deceives in refpe[i of that Principle in Nature , Corru- 

 Arlft.i.dc ptiounius, Generatio alt er ills : fo that the degree of ultimate Privatio»y 

 Gen.Sc doth many times lej? difadvantage, becaufe it gives the caufe, andfetsthe 

 ^°^' xvits a-vpork^ tofome new courje. Which is the canfe that Demolihenes 

 Orat.i.in often complains before the people of Athens. That the conditions iitt' 

 Fhihp. pofed by Philip, and accepted by them, being neither profitable, nor honou- 

 rable, were but aliments of their floth andweaknef, that it were much bet" 

 ter they were taken away 3 for by this means their indujiries might be 4- 

 wakedto find out better remedies andjironger ^efolutions. We knew a 

 Phyfician was wont to fay plea(antly and yet fharply to delicate Dames, 

 when they complained they were they could not tell hovv^ but yet they 

 could not endure to take any Phyfick; he would tell them, your only 

 way is to be fickjndeed, for then you will be glad to take any medicine. So 

 further, this Degree of Privation, or of the higheft period of want, fer- 

 veth not only toftir up induftry, but alfo to command patience. As 

 for the fecond\>xznc\\oiLih\s Colour, it depends upon the fame realbn, 

 which is the degrees of ^/i^^^i// and Nullity :, hence grew the commoa 

 Place of extolling the beginning of every thing 



Dimidium fa&i qui bene capit habet. 



This made the Aftrologersfo idle as to make a judgement npon a man's 

 nature and Deftiny, from the moment or point of conftellatioa in his 

 Nativity, *or Conception. 



The Rcprehenfion. 



T His Colour firfi deceives, becaufe in many things, the firji inceptions 

 are nothing elfe than what Epicurus terms them in his Philofophy, 

 Tcntamenta, that is imperfeCl Ojfcrs, and Efiays, which vanifli and come 

 to nofubUance without iteration and improvement. Wherefore in this 

 cafe t he/fc^W degree feems the worthier ,and more potent than the Firfi : 

 as the Body-horfein the Cart that draws more than the formoft^ And 



it 



