them. And whereas, by nature, and out of a firm resolution, he adhered to this principle; not to be eminent amongst great and deserving men, but to be chief amongst inferiors and vassals; he chose only mean and active men, and such as to whom himself might be all in all. And hereupon grew that saying, "So let Cæsar live, though I die ;" and other speeches of that kind. As for the nobility, and those that were his peers, he contracted friendship with such of them as might be useful to him; and admitted none to his cabinet council, but those that had their fortunes wholly depending upon him.

He was moderately furnished with good literature, and the arts; but in such sort as he applied his skill therein to civil policy. For he was well read in history; and was expert in rhetoric, and the art of speaking. And because he attributed much to his good stars, he would pretend more than an ordinary knowledge in astronomy. As for eloquence, and a prompt elocution, that was natural to him and pure.

He was dissolute, and propense to voluptuousness and pleasures; which served well at first for a cover to his ambition. For no man would imagine, that a man so loosely given could harbour any ambitious and vast thoughts in his heart. Notwithstanding, he so governed his pleasures, that they were no hinderance either to his profit or his business; and they did rather whet than dull the vigour of his mind. He was temperate at his meals; free from niceness and curiosity in his lusts; pleasant and magnificent at public interludes.

Thus being accomplished, the same thing was the means of his downfal at last, which in his beginnings was a step to his rise; I mean, his affection of popularity; for nothing is more popular than to forgive our enemies; through which, either virtue or cunning, he lost his life.

A

CIVIL CHARACTER

OF

AUGUSTUS CÆSAR.

WRITTEN IN LATIN BY HIS LORDSHIP, AND ENGLISHED BY DR. RAWLEY,

AUGUSTUS CESAR, if ever any mortal man, was endued with a greatness of mind, undisturbed with passions, clear and well ordered; which is evidenced by the high achievements which he performed in his early youth. For those persons which are of a turbulent nature or appetite, do commonly pass their youth in many errors; and about their middle, and then and not before, they shew forth their perfections; but those that are of a sedate and calm nature, may be ripe for great and glorious actions in their youth. And whereas the faculties of the mind, no less than the parts and members of the body, do consist and flourish in a good temper of health, and beauty, and strength; so he was in the strength of the mind inferior to his uncle Julius ; but in the health and beauty of the mind superior. For Julius being of an unquiet and uncomposed spirit, as those who are troubled with the falling sickness for the most part are. Notwithstanding,

he carried on his own ends with much moderation and discretion; but he did not order his ends well, proposing to himself vast and high designs above the reach of a mortal man. But Augustus, as a man sober, and mindful of his mortality, seemed to propound no other ends to himself than such as were orderly and well weighed and governed by reason. For first he was desirous indeed to have the rule and principality in his hands; then he sought to appear worthy of that power which he should acquire next, to enjoy an high place he accounted but a transitory thing: lastly, he endeavoured to do such actions as might continue his memory and leave an impression of his good government to after ages. And therefore, in the beginning of his age, he affected power; in the middle of his age, honour and dignity; in the decline of his years, ease and pleasure; and in the end of his life, he was wholly bent to memory and posterity.

THE PRAISE OF

HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES,

BY FRANCIS BACON.

WRITTEN IN LATIN BY HIS LORDSHIP, AND TRANSLATED BY
DR. BIRCH. *

HENRY Prince of Wales, eldest son of the king of Great Britain, happy in the hopes conceived of him, and now happy in his memory, died on the 6th of Nov. 1612, to the extreme concern and regret of the whole kingdom, being a youth, who had neither offended nor satiated the minds of men. He had by the excellence of his disposition excited high expectations among great numbers of all ranks; nor had through the shortness of his life disappointed them. One capital circumstance added to these was the esteem, in which he was commonly held, of being firm to the cause of religion and men of the best judgment were fully persuaded, that his life was a great support and security to his father from the danger of con

* He says, "the following translation is an attempt, for the sake of the English reader, to give the sense of the original, without pretending to reach the force and conciseness of expression peculiar to the great writer as well as to the Roman language.

VOL. 3.

G G