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conscious to himself that he is most defective, and is most out of countenance in himself, that will the flatterer entitle him to perforce,° spreta conscientia.° Some praises come of good wishes and respects, which is a form due in civility to kings and great persons, & laudando præcipere," when, by telling men what they are, they represent to them what they should be. Some men are praised maliciously to their hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards them: pessimum genus inimicorum laudantium; insomuch 10 as it was a proverb amongst the Grecians that "he that was praised to his hurt should have a push° rise upon his nose;' as we say that a blister will rise upon one's tongue that tells a lie. Certainly, moderate praise, used with opportunity, and not vulgar,° 15 is that which doth the good. Solomon saith, "He that praiseth his friend aloud, rising early, it shall be to him no better than a curse. Too much magnifying of man or matter doth irritate contradiction, and procure envy and scorn.

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To praise a man's self, cannot be decent, except it be in rare cases; but to praise a man's office or profession, he may do it with good grace, and with a kind of magnanimity. The cardinals of Rome, which are theologues and friars and schoolmen,° 25 have a phrase of notable contempt and scorn towards civil business; for they call all temporal business of wars, embassages, judicature, and other employments, sbirrerie,° which is "under-sheriffries," as if they were but matters for under-sheriffs and catch-30

poles; though many times those under-sheriffries do more good than their high speculations. St. Paul, when he boasts of himself, he doth oft interlace, “I speak like a fool;" but speaking of his call5ing he saith, "Magnificabo° apostolatum meum.'

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LIV. OF VAIN-GLORY

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It was prettily° devised of sop°: "The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot-wheel, and said, What a dust do I raise!'" So are there some vain persons that, whatsoever goeth alone,° or moveth 10 upon greater means, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious must needs be factious; for all bravery stands upon comparisons. They must needs be violent to make good their own vaunts. 15 Neither can they be secret, and, therefore, not effectual°; but, according to the French proverb, "Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit": Much bruit,° little fruit. Yet, certainly, there is use of this quality in civil affairs: where there is an opinion and fame 20 to be created, either of virtue or greatness, these men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus Livius noteth in the case of Antiochus° and the Etolians,° there are sometimes great effects of cross lies; as if a man that negotiates between two princes, to 25 draw them to join in a war against the third, doth

extol the forces of either of them above measure, the

one to the other. And sometimes he that deals between man and man raiseth his own credit with both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. And in these, and the like kinds, it often falls out that somewhat is produced of nothing; 5 for lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance.

In military commanders and soldiers vain-glory is an essential point; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpeneth another. In cases 10 of great enterprise upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into business; and those that are of solid and sober natures have more of the ballast than of the sail. In fame of learning the flight will be slow, without 15 some feathers of ostentation. "Qui de contemnenda gloria libros scribunt, nomen suum inscribunt." Socrates, Aristotle, Galen, were men full of ostentation. Certainly, vain-glory helpeth to perpetuate a man's memory; and virtue was never so 20 beholding to human nature as it received his due at the second hand. Neither had the fame of Cicero,° Seneca,° Plinius Secundus, borne her age so well, if it had not been joined with some vanity in themselves, like unto varnish, that makes seelings not 25 only shine, but last.

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But all this while, when I speak of vain-glory, I mean not of that property that Tacitus doth attribute to Mucianus, "Omnium, quæ dixerat, feceratque, arte quadam ostentator:" for that proceeds 30

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not of vanity, but of natural magnanimity and dis cretion, and in some persons is not only comely, but gracious. For excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation. 5 And amongst those arts there is none better than that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of: which is, to be liberal of praise and commendation to others in that wherein a man's self hath any perfection. For, saith Pliny, very wittily," "in commending 10 another, you do yourself right; for he that you commend is either superior to you in that you commend, or inferior. If he be inferior, if he be to be commended, you much more. If he be superior, if he be not to be commended, you much less."

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Glorious men are the scorn of wise men; the admiration of fools; the idols of parasites; and the slaves of their own vaunts.

LV. OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION

THE winning of honour is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvantage. For 20 some in their actions do woo and affect honour and reputation; which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but inwardly little admired. And some, contrariwise, darken their virtue in the show of it, so as they be undervalued in opinion.

25 If a man perform that which hath not been attempted before; or attempted and given over; or

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hath been achieved, but not with so good circumstance; he shall purchase more honour than by effecting a matter of greater difficulty of virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them he doth con-5 tent every faction or combination of people, the music will be the fuller. A man is an ill husband° of his honour that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honour him. Honour that is 10 gained and broken upon another hath the quickest reflection, like diamonds cut with facets. And, therefore, let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honour, in outshooting them if he can, in their own bow. Discreet followers and servants 15 help much to reputation: "Omnis fama° a domesticis emanat." Envy, which is the canker of honour, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self in his ends rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine providence 20 and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy.

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The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign. honour are these: In the first place are conditores imperiorum, founders of states and commonwealths; such as were Romulus, Cyrus, Cæsar,° 25 Ottoman, Ismael. In the second place are legislatores, lawgivers, which are also called second founders, or perpetui principes, because they govern by their ordinances after they are gone. Such were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Eadgar,

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Alphonsus 30

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