But the managing of this argument with integrity and truth,
which I note as deficient, seemeth to me to be one of the best
fortifications for honesty and virtue that can be planted. For, as
the fable goeth of the basilisk--that if he see you first, you die
for it; but if you see him first, he dieth--so is it with deceits
and evil arts, which, if they be first espied they leese their life;
but if they prevent, they endanger. So that we are much beholden to
Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they
ought to do. For it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with
the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions
of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his
volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest--that is,
all forms and natures of evil. For without this, virtue lieth open
and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are
wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil.
For men of corrupted minds presuppose that honesty groweth out of
simplicity of manners, and believing of preachers, schoolmasters,
and men's exterior language.
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