"
And although men should refrain themselves from injury and evil
arts, yet this incessant and Sabbathless pursuit of a man's fortune
leaveth not tribute which we owe to God of our time; who (we see)
demandeth a tenth of our substance, and a seventh, which is more
strict, of our time: and it is to small purpose to have an erected
face towards heaven, and a perpetual grovelling spirit upon earth,
eating dust as doth the serpent, Atque affigit humo divinae
particulam aurae. And if any man flatter himself that he will
employ his fortune well, though he should obtain it ill, as was said
concerning Augustus Caesar, and after of Septimius Severus, "That
either they should never have been born, or else they should never
have died," they did so much mischief in the pursuit and ascent of
their greatness, and so much good when they were established; yet
these compensations and satisfactions are good to be used, but never
good to be purposed. And lastly, it is not amiss for men, in their
race towards their fortune, to cool themselves a little with that
conceit which is elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles V.
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