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 LIV.

To be a man of metal.

When the Lion is dead, the Beasts are not afraid. Brave men are not to be jea∣sted with. If one resist not the first time, he'll far less resist the second, and it grows still worse and worse. For the same difficulty that in the beginning might have been surmounted, is greater in the end. The vigour of mind surpasses that

Page 49

of the body, it must always be in a rea∣diness, as well as the Sword, to be made use of when occasion serves. By that means we gain respect. Many men have had eminent qualities, who for want of a good heart, have been looked upon as dead, seeing they have been buried alive in the obscurity of contempt. It is not without reason that Nature hath given Bees both honey and a sting, and the body of man also both nerves and bones. The mind then, must also have some mix∣ture of sweetness and resolution.

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