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Essay XL: Of Fortune
Essay XL: Of Fortune
It cannot be denied, but outward accidents conduce much to fortune;
favor, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly, the
mould of a man`s fortune is in his own hands. Faber quisque fortunae suae
[Every one is the architect of his own fortune], saith the poet. And the most
frequent of external causes is, that the folly of one man is the fortune of
another. For no man prospers so suddenly as by others` errors. Serpens nisi
serpentem comederit non fit draco [A serpent must have eaten another serpent
before he can become a dragon]. Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praise;
but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune; certain
deliveries of a man`s self, which have no name. The Spanish name, desemboltura
[facility in expression], partly expresseth them; when there be not stonds ^1
nor restiveness in a man`s nature; but that the wheels of his mind keep way
with the wheels of his fortune. For so Livy (after he had described Cato Major
in these words, In illo viro tantum robur corporis et animi fuit, ut quocunque
loco natus esset, fortunam sibi facturus videretur [Such was his strength of
body and mind, that wherever he had been born he could have made himself a
fortune]) falleth upon that, that he had versatile ingenium [a wit that could
turn well]. Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see
Fortune: for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible. The way of fortune
is like the Milken Way in the sky; which is a meeting or knot of a number of
small stars; not seen asunder, but giving light together. So are there a
number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and
customs, that make men fortunate. The Italians note some of them, such as a
man would little think. When they speak of one that cannot do amiss, they will
throw in into his other conditions, that he hath Poco di matto [a little out
of his senses]. And certainly there be not two more fortunate properties, than
to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest. Therefore
extreme lovers of their country or masters were never fortunate, neither can
they be. For when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his
own way. An hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover (the French hath
it better, entreprenant, or remuant); but the exercised fortune maketh the
able man. Fortune is to be honored and respected, and it be but for her
daughters, Confidence and Reputation. For those two Felicity breedeth; the
first within a man`s self, the latter in others towards him. All wise men, to
decline the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and
Fortune; for so they may the better assume them: and, besides, it is
greatness in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So Caesar said to the
pilot in the tempest, Caesarem portas, et fortunam ejus [You carry Caesar and
his fortune]. So Sylla chose the name of Felix [the Fortunate], and not of
Magnus [the Great]. And it hath been noted, that those who ascribe openly too
much to their own wisdom and policy end infortunate. It is written that
Timotheus the Athenian, after he had, in the account he gave to the state of
his government, often interlaced this speech, and in this Fortune had no
part, never prospered in anything he undertook afterwards. Certainly there
be, whose fortunes are like Homer`s verses, that have a slide and easiness
more than the verses of other poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon`s fortune,
in respect of that of Agesilaus or Epaminondas. And that this should be, no
doubt it is much in a man`s self.
[Footnote 1: Stops.]
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