The courtiers manual oracle, or, The art of prudence written originally in Spanish by Baltazar Gracian, and now done into English.
About this Item
Title
The courtiers manual oracle, or, The art of prudence written originally in Spanish by Baltazar Gracian, and now done into English.
Author
Gracián y Morales, Baltasar, 1601-1658.
Publication
London :: Printed by M. Flesher, for Abel Swalle ...,
1685.
Rights/Permissions
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Subject terms
Courts and courtiers.
Maxims.
Link to this Item
http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A41733.0001.001
Cite this Item
"The courtiers manual oracle, or, The art of prudence written originally in Spanish by Baltazar Gracian, and now done into English." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A41733.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 14, 2025.
Pages
MAXIME CX.
Not to wait, till one be a setting Sun.
It is a Maxime of Prudence to leave things, before they leave us. It is the part of a wise man to make a triumph of his own defeat, in imitation of the Sun, which, though still glorious in light, is accustomed to retire into a Cloud, that he may not be seen to decline; and by that means leave it in doubt, whether he be set, or not. He ought to draw out of the way of accidents, that he may not pine away with fretting. Let him not stay till fortune turn her back upon him, lest she should bury him alive, in regard of the affliction that it would give
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him; and dead in respect of his Reputa∣tion. A good Horseman gives his Horse sometimes the Reins, that he may keep him from rearing up, and himself from derision, if he should chance to fall in the middle of the carriere. A beauty ought to prevent her glass by breaking it, be∣fore it come to shew her that her charms are fading. See the Maxime 38.
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