Francis Bacon - The Essays 1601
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, 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.
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, partly expresseth them;
when there be not
stonds 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) falleth upon that,
that he had versatile ingenium.
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.
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.
So Sylla chose the name of Felix,
and not of Magnus.
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.
- Impressum -