(13) Wherein it may appear at the first a new and unwonted argument
to teach men how to raise and make their fortune; a doctrine wherein
every man perchance will be ready to yield himself a disciple, till
he see the difficulty: for fortune layeth as heavy impositions as
virtue; and it is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politique,
as to be truly moral. But the handling hereof concerneth learning
greatly, both in honour and in substance. In honour, because
pragmatical men may not go away with an opinion that learning is
like a lark, that can mount and sing, and please herself, and
nothing else; but may know that she holdeth as well of the hawk,
that can soar aloft, and can also descend and strike upon the prey.
In substance, because it is the perfect law of inquiry of truth,
that nothing be in the globe of matter, which should not be likewise
in the globe of crystal or form; that is, that there be not anything
in being and action which should not be drawn and collected into
contemplation and doctrine. Neither doth learning admire or esteem
of this architecture of fortune otherwise than as of an inferior
work, for no man's fortune can be an end worthy of his being, and
many times the worthiest men do abandon their fortune willingly for
better respects: but nevertheless fortune as an organ of virtue and
merit deserveth the consideration.
Pages:
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347