" {81a}
"Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio.
"Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
Choose neither magistrates, civil or ecclesiastical, by favour
or price; but with long disquisition and report of their worth by all
suffrages. Sell no honours, nor give them hastily, but bestow them with
counsel and for reward; if he do, acknowledge it (though late), and mend
it. For princes are easy to be deceived; and what wisdom can escape
where so many court-arts are studied? But, above all, the prince is to
remember that when the great day of account comes, which neither
magistrate nor prince can shun, there will be required of him a reckoning
for those whom he hath trusted, as for himself, which he must provide.
And if piety be wanting in the priests, equity in the judges, or the
magistrates be found rated at a price, what justice or religion is to be
expected? which are the only two attributes make kings akin to God, and
is the Delphic sword, both to kill sacrifices and to chastise offenders.
_De gratiosis_. --When a virtuous man is raised, it brings gladness to his
friends, grief to his enemies, and glory to his posterity. Nay, his
honours are a great part of the honour of the times; when by this means
he is grown to active men an example, to the slothful a spur, to the
envious a punishment.
_Divites_. --_Heredes ex asse_. He which is sole heir to many rich men,
having (besides his father's and uncle's) the estates of divers his
kindred come to him by accession, must needs be richer than father or
grandfather; so they which are left heirs _ex asse_ of all their
ancestors' vices, and by their good husbandry improve the old and daily
purchase new, must needs be wealthier in vice, and have a greater revenue
or stock of ill to spend on.
_Fures publici_. --The great thieves of a state are lightly the officers of
the crown; they hang the less still, play the pikes in the pond, eat whom
they list. The net was never spread for the hawk or buzzard that hurt
us, but the harmless birds; they are good meat:--
"Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.
" {81a}
"Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio. " {81b}
_Lewis XI_. --But they are not always safe though, especially when they
meet with wise masters. They can take down all the huff and swelling of
their looks, and like dexterous auditors place the counter where he shall
value nothing. Let them but remember Lewis XI. , who to a Clerk of the
Exchequer that came to be Lord Treasurer, and had (for his device)
represented himself sitting on fortune's wheel, told him he might do well
to fasten it with a good strong nail, lest, turning about, it might bring
him where he was again. As indeed it did.
_De bonis et malis_. --_De innocentia_. --A good man will avoid the spot of
any sin. The very aspersion is grievous, which makes him choose his way
in his life as he would in his journey. The ill man rides through all
confidently; he is coated and booted for it. The oftener he offends, the
more openly, and the fouler, the fitter in fashion. His modesty, like a
riding-coat, the more it is worn is the less cared for. It is good
enough for the dirt still, and the ways he travels in. An innocent man
needs no eloquence, his innocence is instead of it, else I had never come
off so many times from these precipices, whither men's malice hath
pursued me.
or price; but with long disquisition and report of their worth by all
suffrages. Sell no honours, nor give them hastily, but bestow them with
counsel and for reward; if he do, acknowledge it (though late), and mend
it. For princes are easy to be deceived; and what wisdom can escape
where so many court-arts are studied? But, above all, the prince is to
remember that when the great day of account comes, which neither
magistrate nor prince can shun, there will be required of him a reckoning
for those whom he hath trusted, as for himself, which he must provide.
And if piety be wanting in the priests, equity in the judges, or the
magistrates be found rated at a price, what justice or religion is to be
expected? which are the only two attributes make kings akin to God, and
is the Delphic sword, both to kill sacrifices and to chastise offenders.
_De gratiosis_. --When a virtuous man is raised, it brings gladness to his
friends, grief to his enemies, and glory to his posterity. Nay, his
honours are a great part of the honour of the times; when by this means
he is grown to active men an example, to the slothful a spur, to the
envious a punishment.
_Divites_. --_Heredes ex asse_. He which is sole heir to many rich men,
having (besides his father's and uncle's) the estates of divers his
kindred come to him by accession, must needs be richer than father or
grandfather; so they which are left heirs _ex asse_ of all their
ancestors' vices, and by their good husbandry improve the old and daily
purchase new, must needs be wealthier in vice, and have a greater revenue
or stock of ill to spend on.
_Fures publici_. --The great thieves of a state are lightly the officers of
the crown; they hang the less still, play the pikes in the pond, eat whom
they list. The net was never spread for the hawk or buzzard that hurt
us, but the harmless birds; they are good meat:--
"Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.
" {81a}
"Non rete accipitri tenditur, neque milvio. " {81b}
_Lewis XI_. --But they are not always safe though, especially when they
meet with wise masters. They can take down all the huff and swelling of
their looks, and like dexterous auditors place the counter where he shall
value nothing. Let them but remember Lewis XI. , who to a Clerk of the
Exchequer that came to be Lord Treasurer, and had (for his device)
represented himself sitting on fortune's wheel, told him he might do well
to fasten it with a good strong nail, lest, turning about, it might bring
him where he was again. As indeed it did.
_De bonis et malis_. --_De innocentia_. --A good man will avoid the spot of
any sin. The very aspersion is grievous, which makes him choose his way
in his life as he would in his journey. The ill man rides through all
confidently; he is coated and booted for it. The oftener he offends, the
more openly, and the fouler, the fitter in fashion. His modesty, like a
riding-coat, the more it is worn is the less cared for. It is good
enough for the dirt still, and the ways he travels in. An innocent man
needs no eloquence, his innocence is instead of it, else I had never come
off so many times from these precipices, whither men's malice hath
pursued me.
