第26章 OF THE SEVERAL SUBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE(3)

Honourable is whatsoever possession,action,or quality is an argument and sign of power.

And therefore to be honoured,loved,or feared of many is honourable,as arguments of power.To be honoured of few or none,dishonourable.

Dominion and victory is honourable because acquired by power;and servitude,for need or fear,is dishonourable.

Good fortune,if lasting,honourable;as a sign of the favour of God.Ill and losses,dishonourable.Riches are honourable,for they are power.Poverty,dishonourable.Magnanimity,liberality,hope,courage,confidence,are honourable;for they proceed from the conscience of power.Pusillanimity,parsimony,fear,diffidence,are dishonourable.

Timely resolution,or determination of what a man is to do,is honourable,as being the contempt of small difficulties and dangers.

And irresolution,dishonourable,as a sign of too much valuing of little impediments and little advantages:for when a man has weighed things as long as the time permits,and resolves not,the difference of weight is but little;and therefore if he resolve not,he overvalues little things,which is pusillanimity.

All actions and speeches that proceed,or seem to proceed,from much experience,science,discretion,or wit are honourable;for all these are powers.Actions or words that proceed from error,ignorance,or folly,dishonourable.

Gravity,as far forth as it seems to proceed from a mind employed on something else,is honourable;because employment is a sign of power.But if it seem to proceed from a purpose to appear grave,it is dishonourable.For the gravity of the former is like the steadiness of a ship laden with merchandise;but of the like the steadiness of a ship ballasted with sand and other trash.

To be conspicuous,that is to say,to be known,for wealth,office,great actions,or any eminent good is honourable;as a sign of the power for which he is conspicuous.On the contrary,obscurity is dishonourable.

To be descended from conspicuous parents is honourable;because they the more easily attain the aids and friends of their ancestors.On the contrary,to be descended from obscure parentage is dishonourable.

Actions proceeding from equity,joined with loss,are honourable;as signs of magnanimity:for magnanimity is a sign of power.On the contrary,craft,shifting,neglect of equity,is dishonourable.

Covetousness of great riches,and ambition of great honours,are honourable;as signs of power to obtain them.Covetousness,and ambition of little gains,or preferments,is dishonourable.

Nor does it alter the case of honour whether an action (so it be great and difficult,and consequently a sign of much power)be just or unjust:for honour consisteth only in the opinion of power.Therefore,the ancient heathen did not think they dishonoured,but greatly honoured the gods,when they introduced them in their poems committing rapes,thefts,and other great,but unjust or unclean acts;in so much as nothing is so much celebrated in Jupiter as his adulteries;nor in Mercury as his frauds and thefts;of whose praises,in a hymn of Homer,the greatest is this,that being born in the morning,he had invented music at noon,and before night stolen away the cattle of Apollo from his herdsmen.

Also amongst men,till there were constituted great Commonwealths,it was thought no dishonour to be a pirate,or a highway thief;but rather a lawful trade,not only amongst the Greeks,but also amongst all other nations;as is manifest by the of ancient time.And at this day,in this part of the world,private duels are,and always will be,honourable,though unlawful,till such time as there shall be honour ordained for them that refuse,and ignominy for them that make the challenge.For duels also are many times effects of courage,and the ground of courage is always strength or skill,which are power;though for the most part they be effects of rash speaking,and of the fear of dishonour,in one or both the combatants;who,engaged by rashness,are driven into the lists to avoid disgrace.