And for what? Is there one of them
that yet knows what a commonwealth is? And are you yet afraid of
such a government in which these shall not dare to scrape for
fear of the statute? Themistocles could not fiddle, but could
make of a small city a great commonwealth: these have fiddled,
and for your money, till they have brought a great commonwealth
to a small city.
"It grieves me, while I consider how, and from what causes,
imaginary difficulties will be aggravated, that the foregoing
orders are not capable of any greater clearness in discourse or
writing; but if a man should make a book, describing every trick
and passage, it would fare no otherwise with a game at cards; and
this is no more, if a man plays upon the square. 'There is a
great difference,' says Verulamius, 'between a cunning man and a
wise man (between a demagogue and a legislator), not only in
point of honesty, but in point of ability as there be that can
pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there be some that
are good in canvasses and fractions, that are otherwise weak
men.' Allow me but these orders, and let them come with their
cards in their sleeves, or pack if they can. 'Again,' says he,
'it is one thing to understand persons, and another to understand
matters; for many are perfect in men's humors that are not
greatly capable of the real part of business, which is the
constitution of one that has studied men more than books.
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