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THe Poets fable that A∣pollo being enamored of Cassandra, was by her many shifts & cunning sleights still deluded in his desire; but yet fed on with hope vntill such time as shee had drawen from him the gift of prophesying; and hauing by such her dissimulation in the end, atteined to that which from the beginning shee sought after, at last flatly reiected his suite. Who finding himselfe so farre engaged in his pro∣mise, as that hee could not by any
meanes reuoke againe his rash gift, and yet enflamed with an earnest de∣sire of reuenge, highly disdayning to bee made the scorne of a craftie wench, annexed a penaltie to his promise, to wit, that shee should euer foretell the trueth, but neuer be beleeued: So were her diuinations alwayes faithfull, but at no time re∣garded, whereof shee still found the experience, yea euen in the ruine of her owne countrey, which shee had often forewarned them of, but they neither gaue credite nor eare to her words. This Fable seemes to inti∣mate the vnprofitable liberty of vn∣timely admonitions and counselles. For they that are so ouerweened with the sharpnesse and dexteritie of their owne wit and capacitie, as that they disdaine to submit themselues to the documents of Apollo, the God of Harmonie, whereby to learne and obserue the method and mea∣sure of affaires, the grace and grauitie of discourse, the differences between the more iudicious and more vulgar
eares, and the due times when to speake and when to be silent; Bee they neuer so sensible and pregnant, and their iudgements neuer so pro∣found and profitable, yet in all their endeuours either of perswasion or perforce, they auaile nothing, nei∣ther are they of any moment to ad∣uantage or mannage matters, but do rather hastē on the ruine of all those that they adhere or devote them∣selues vnto. And then at last when calamitie hath made men feele the euent of neglect, then shall they too late be reuerenced as deep foreseing and faithfull prophets. Whereof a notable instance is eminently set forth in Marcus CatoVticēsis, who as from a watchtower discouered afar off, and as an Oracle long foretold, the approching ruine of his Coun∣trey, and the plotted tyrannie houe∣ring ouer the State, both in the first conspiracie, and as it was prosecu∣ted in the ciuill contention between Cesar and Pompey, and did no good the while, but rather harmed the
commonwealth, and hastned on his countreys bane, which M. Cicero wisely obserued, and writing to a fa∣miliar friēd doth in these termes ex∣cellently describe, Cato optimè sentit, sed nocet interdum Reipublicae: loquitur enim tanquam in Republicâ Platonis, non tanquam in faece Romuli. Cato (saith he) iudgeth profoundly, but in the meane time damnifies the State, for he speakes as in the com∣monwealth of Plato, and not as in the dregs of Romulus.