ESSAY XXI. FORTUNE. IT cannot be denied but outward accidents con- [1] duce much to fortune; favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue; but chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands: "Faber quisque fortunæ suæ," saith the poet; and the most frequent of external causes is, that the folly of one man is the fortune of another; for no man prospers so suddenly as [1.] It cannot be denied but: The same form of expression is occasionally met with in more recent writers, but it does not accord with the best usage or with reason. When closely examined, it approaches to a contradiction of the idea meant to be conveyed, unless you suppose an implied ellipsis, thus: 'It cannot be denied (but it may be asserted that), outward, &c.' The only change necessary, in correcting such a form of expression, is to alter the but to that. Fortune: success. [Ad hominum fortunas promovendas vel deprimendas.] Occasion, &c.: occasion suited to bring into action certain virtues or peculiarities which lead to success. Compare §§ 2 and 4. Faber, &c.: 'Every man is the architect of his own fortune.' Sallust, in his letters' De Republica Ordinanda,' attributes these words to Appius Claudius Cæcus, a Roman poet whose works are now lost. Lord Bacon, in the Latin translation of his Essays, which was made under his supervision, rendered the word 'poet,' 'comicus;' by whom he probably meant Plautus, who has this line in his 'Trinummus' (Act 2: Sc. 2): 'Nam sapiens quidem pol ipsus finget fortunam sibi,' which has the same meaning, though in somewhat different terms.-D. The folly, &c.: Thus in Bacon's Antitheta:-'Stultitia unius, fortuna alterius.' Serpens, &c.: 'A serpent, unless it shall have devoured a serpent, does not become a dragon.' by others' errors; "Serpens nisi serpentem comederit [2] non fit draco." Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praise; but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune; certain deliveries of a man's [3] self, which have no name. The Spanish name, "disemboltura," partly expresseth them, when there be not stonds nor restiveness in a man's nature, but that the wheels of his mind keep way with the wheels of his fortune; for so Livy (after he had described Cato Major in these words, "In illo viro, tantum robur corporis et animi fuit, ut quocunque loco natus esset, fortunam sibi facturus videretur,") falleth upon that he had "versatile ingenium;" therefore, if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune; for though [4] she be blind, yet she is not invisible. The way [2] Apparent: Synonyme? 'The outward and apparent sanctity should flow from purity of heart.'—Atterbury. : Deliveries in the obsolete sense of modes or acts of exertion. [Facultates nonnullæ se expediendi.] [3.] Disemboltura: graceful facility, implying readiness to adapt one's self to circumstances. Stonds: hindrances, causes for hesitation. 'The removal of the stonds and impediments of the mind, that often clears the passage and current to a man's fortune.'-Bacon's Letter to Temple. Restiveness: an indisposition to move. Keep way with: or as we say keep up with, or keep pace with. 'In that man there was such great strength of body and mind, that in whatever station he had been born, he seemed as though he should make his fortune, or would have made fortune his own.' Upon that: Modern usage requires, upon that, that. Versatile ingenium: 'a versatile genius.' Blind: So the ancient poets represented the goddess Fortune. [4.] The simile in this sentence is uncommonly beautiful and original. Milky One edition reads milken, the older form of the word. 'The remedies are to be proposed from a : of fortune is like the milky way in the sky, which is a meeting, or knot, of a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together: so are there a number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, that make men fortunate: the Italians note some of them, such as a man would little think. When they speak of one that cannot do [5] amiss, they will throw in into his other conditions, that he hath "Poco di matto;" and, certainly, there be not two more fortunate properties, than to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest: therefore extreme lovers of their country, or masters, were never fortunate neither can they be; for when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his own The term constant course of the Milken diet.'- Temple. 'Milky' graphically denotes the appearance of a certain belt of the starry heavens. Are: Why not substitute is? Think: What does present usage require to be added? Bacon in the Antitheta, pithily says:-' Fortuna veluti galaxia; hoc est, nodus quarundam obscurarum virtutum sine nomine :' 'Fortune, like the milky way, is a cluster of small, twinkling, nameless virtues.' [5.] When they speak, &c.: This is in accordance with the proverb, Fortune favors fools,' because they trust all to fortune. When a fool escapes any danger, or succeeds in any undertaking, it is said that fortune favors him; while a wise man is considered to prosper by his own prudence and foresight. For instance, if a fool who does not bar his door escapes being robbed, it is ascribed to his luck; but the prudent man having taken precautions, is not called fortunate. But a wise man is in fact more likely to meet with good fortune than a foolish one, because he puts himself in the way of it. One way in which fools succeed where wise men fail, is, that through ignorance of the danger they sometimes go coolly about some hazardous business. Hence the proverb that 'the fairies take care of children, drunken men, and idiots.'-W. 66 [6] way. An hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover; the French hath it better; (" entreprenant," or remuant;") but the exercised fortune mak[7] eth the able man. Fortune is to be honoured and respected, an it be but for her daughters, Confidence and Reputation; for those two felicity breedeth; the first within a man's self, the latter in others towards [8] him. All wise men, to decline the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and Fortune; for so they may the better assume them: and, besides, it is greatness in a man to be the care of the [9] higher powers. So Cæsar said to the pilot in the In into: Change the clause so as to remove this infelicity. Poco, &c.: A little of the fool.' Or masters: Ellipsis to be supplied? His own way: Paraphrase. [6.] Enterpriser: adventurer, bold operator. Remover : one who keeps things in motion. Exercised: in distinction from 'hasty,' must mean a fortune gained by long exercise and vigorous exertion. [Fortuna præpropera, magna molientes et nonnihil turbulentos reddit; at fortuna exercita ea est, quæ efficit prudentes et cordatos.] [7] An: Some editions read and. In either case the word stands for if. 'Nay and I suffer this, I may go craze.'—Beaumont and Fletcher. What bold figure is used in this sentence? [8.] To decline: to turn away, to avoid. Timotheus, below. Use: Synonyme? condensed expression, involving no obscurity. are to be mentally supplied? See note on The care: a What words [9] Cæsarem, &c.: 'You carry Cæsar and his fortunes.'Plut. Vit. Cæs. 38. Felix: The Fortunate.' The Great.'-Plut. Sylla 34. He ascribed his Hercules, a deity whom he especially regarded. unfortunate: Equivalent expressions? Magnus: success to End tempest, "Cæsarem portas, et fortunam ejus." So Sylla chose the name of "Felix," and not of "Magnus," and it hath been noted, that those who ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy, end unfortunate. It is written, that Timotheus, the Athe- [10] nian, after he had, in the account he gave to the state of his government, often interlaced this speech, "and in this fortune had no part," never prospered in any thing he undertook afterwards. Certainly there [11] [10.] Timotheus: the son of Conon. The incident here alluded to is thus fully described by Rollin, Vol. IV, 242: "No captain at first ever experienced less than himself the inconstancy of the fortune of war. He had only to undertake an enterprise, to accomplish it. Success perpetually attended his views and desires. Such uncommon prosperity did not fail to excite jealousy. Those who envied him, caused him to be painted asleep, with Fortune by his side taking cities for him in nets. Timotheus retorted coolly, 'If I take places in my sleep, what shall I do when I am awake?' He took the thing afterwards more seriously; and, angry with those who pretended to lessen the glory of his actions, declared in public that he did not owe his success to Fortune, but to himself. That goddess, says Plutarch, offended at his pride and arrogance, abandoned him afterwards entirely, and he was never successful afterwards." Interlaced: threw in by way of parenthesis. [11.] Slide: fluency, smoothness. [Quæ majore cum facilitate fluunt.] The passage in Plutarch reads thus: "As the poetry of Antimachus and the portraits of Dionysius, both of them Colophonians, with all the means and strength one finds in them, appear to be too much labored, and smell too much of the lamp; whereas the painting of Nicomachus, and the verses of Homer, beside their other excellencies and graces, seem to have been struck off with readiness and ease; so, if we compare the exploits of Epaminondas and Agesilaus, performed with infinite pains and difficulty, with those of Timoleon, which, glorious as they were, had a great deal of freedom and ease in |