you much more ; if he be superior, if he be not to be commended, you much less. Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

LV. OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION.

The winning of honour is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvantage ; for some in their actions do woo and affect honour and reputation; which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but inwardly little admired : and some, contrariwise, darken their virtue in the shew of it; so as they be undervalued in opinion. If a man perform that which hath not been attempted before, or attempted and given over, or hath been achieved, but not with so good circumstance, he shall purchase more honour than by affecting a matter of greater difficulty, or virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them, he doth content every faction or combination of people, the music will be the fuller. A man is an ill husband of his honour that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through, can honour him. Honour that is gained and broken upon another hath the quickest reflection, like diamonds cut with facets; and, therefore, let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honour, in outshooting them, if he can, in their own bow. Discreet followers and servants help much to reputation : “ Omnis fama a

• “ domesticis emanat.” Envy, which is the canker of

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honour, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self in his ends, rather to seek merit than fame: and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine Providence and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honour are these : in the first place are “conditores imperiorum," founders of states and commonwealths ; such as were Romulus, Cyrus, Cæsar, Ottoman, Ismael : in the second place are “ legislatores,” lawgivers ; which are also called second founders, or "perpetui principes," because they govern by their ordinances after they are gone; such were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, Alphonsus of Castile, the wise, that made the “ Siete partidas :" in the third place are “ liberatores,” or “salvatores,” such as compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries from servitude of strangers or tyrants; as Augustus Cæsar, Vespasianus, Aurelianus, Theodoricus, King Henry the Seventh of England, King Henry the Fourth of France : in the fourth place are "propagatores," or

” propugna“ tores imperii,” such as in honourable wars enlarge their territories, or make noble defence against invaders : and, in the last place, are “patres patriæ," which reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live; both which last kinds need no examples, they are in such number. Degrees of honour in subjects are, first,“ participes curarum,” those upon

, whom princes do discharge the greatest weight of their affairs ; their right hands, as we call them : the next are “ duces belli,” great leaders :

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“ Fons turbatus, et vena corrupta est justus cadens “ in causâ sud coram adversario." The office of judges may have reference unto the parties that sue, unto the advocates that plead, unto the clerks and ministers of justice underneath them, and to the sovereign or state above them. First, for the causes or parties that sue.

« There “ be (saith the Scripture) that turn judgment into “wormwood;" and surely there be, also, that turn it into vinegar ; for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal duty of a judge is, to suppress force and fraud; whereof force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought to be spewed out, as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down hills : so when there appeareth on either side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground. Qui for“ titer emungit, elicit sanguinem ;” and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine, that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware of hard constructions, and strained inferences ; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws: especially in case of laws penal, they ought to have care that that which was meant for terror be not turned into rigour; and that they bring not upon

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the people that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, “ Pluet super eos laqueos ;" for penal laws pressed, are a shower of snares upon the people : therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined in the execution : " Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum,” &c. In causes of life and death judges ought, (as far as the law permitteth) in justice to remember mercy, and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person.

. Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead. Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice; and an overspeaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal. It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have heard in due time from the bar; or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short, or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to direct the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said, and to give the rule, or sentence. Whatsoever is above these is too much, and proceedeth either of glory and willingness to speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or of want of a staid and equal attention. It is a strange thing to see that the boldness of advocates should prevail with judges ; whereas they should imitate God, in whose - seat they sit, who represseth the presumptuous,