ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 233 



that they were a cunning of an inferior form in regard of true policy, 

 attributing the one to Augustus, the other to Tiberius, where, speaking 

 of Livia, he saith, &quot; Et cum artibus mariti simulationc filii bcnc com- 

 posita ;&quot;for surely the continual habit of dissimulation is but a weak 

 and sluggish cunning, and not greatly politic. 



Another precept of this architecture of fortune is, to accustom our 

 minds to judge of the proportion or value of things, as they conduce 

 and arc material to our particular ends ; and that to do substantially 

 and not superficially. For we shall find the logical part, as I may 

 term it, of some men s minds good, but the mathematical part 

 erroneous ; that is, they can well judge of consequences, but not of 

 proportions and comparisons, preferring things of show and sense 

 before things of substance and effect. So some fall in love with access 

 to princes, others with popular fame and applause, supposing they are 

 things of great purchase ; when, in many cases, they arc but matters 

 of envy, peril, and impediment. 



So some measure things according to the labour and difficulty, or 

 assiduity, which are spent about them ; and think if they be ever 

 moving, that they must needs advance and proceed : as Caesar saith in a 

 despising manner of Cato the second, when he dcscribcth how laborious 

 and indefatigable he wasto nogreat purpose ; &quot; Ha?c omnia magno studio 

 agcbat.&quot; So in most things men are ready to abuse themselves in 

 thinking the greatest means to be best, when it should be the fittest. 



As for the true marshalling of men s pursuits towards their fortune, 

 as they are more or less material, I hold them to stand thus : first, the 

 amendment of their own minds ; for the remove of the impediments 

 of the mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune, than the obtain 

 ing fortune will remove the impediments of the mind. In the second 

 place I set down wealth and means, which, I know, most men would 

 nave placed first, because of the general use which it bcarcth towards 

 all variety of occasions. But that opinion I may condemn with like 

 reason as Machiavcl doth that other, that moneys were the sinews of 

 the wars, whereas, saith he, the true sinews of the wars are the sinews 

 of men s arms, that is, a valiant, populous, and military nation ; and he 

 voucheth aptly the authority of Solon, who, when Croesus showed him 

 his treasury of gold, said to him, that if another came that had better 

 iron, he would be master of his gold. In like manner it may be truly 

 affirmed, that it is not moneys that arc the sinews of fortune, but it is 

 the sinewsand steel of men s minds, wit, courage, audacity, resolution, 

 temper, industry, and the like. In third place I set down reputation, 

 bccausa of the peremptory tides and currents it hath, which, if they be 

 not taken in their due time, are seldom recovered, it being extreme 

 hard to play an after-game of reputation. And lastly I place honour, 

 which is more easily won by any of the other three, much more by all, 

 than any of them can be purchased by honour. To conclude this 

 precept, as there is order and priority in matter, so is there in time, 

 the preposterous placing whereof is one of the commonest errors, while 

 men fly to their ends whcr they should intend their beginnings; and 

 do not take things in order of time as they come on, but marshal them 



