ture resteth upon societies well ordained and disciplined. For commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means are now applied to the ends least to be desired.
XL. Of Fortune.
It cannot be denied, but outward accidents conduce much to fortune; favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly, the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. Faber quisque fortunæ suæ,[1] 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.[2] Overt and apparent[3] 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
- ↑ Every man is the maker of his own fortune. It is a Latin epigram of Bacon's, making in four words a short cut through eight words of Plautus:
For indeed the wise man really makes his own fortune for himself.Plautus. Trinummus. II. ii. 82.
Nam sapiens quidem pol ipsus fingit fortunam sibi.
- ↑ Unless the serpent has devoured a serpent, it does not become a dragon.
- ↑ Apparent. Manifest to the understanding, evident, plain.
"It may be, these apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the persuasion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day."
Shakspere. Julius Caesar. ii. 1.
