It was prettily devised of Æsop, the fly sat upon the axle-tree of the
chariot-wheel, and said, “What a dust do I raise!” So are there some
vain persons, that, whatsoever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater
means, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they
that carry it. They that are glorious, must needs be factious; for all
bravery[531] stands upon comparisons. They must needs be violent, to
make good their own vaunts; neither can they be secret, and therefore
not effectual; but, according to the French proverb, “Beaucoup de
bruit, peu de fruit;”—“much bruit,[532] little fruit.” Yet, certainly,
there is use of this quality in civil affairs: where there is an
opinion[533] and fame to be created, either of virtue or greatness,
these men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus Livius noteth, in the
case of Antiochus and the Ætolians,[534] there are sometimes great
effects of cross lies; as if a man that negotiates between two princes,
to draw them to join in a war against the third, doth extol the forces
of either of them above measure, the one to the other; and sometimes
he that deals between man and man, raiseth his own credit with both,
by pretending greater interest than he hath in either; and in these,
and the like kinds, it often falls out, that somewhat is produced of
nothing; for lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings
on substance. In military commanders and soldiers, vainglory is an
essential point; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage
sharpeneth another. In cases of great enterprise upon charge[535]
and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into
business; and those that are of solid and sober natures, have more of
the ballast than of the sail. In fame of learning, the flight will be
slow without some feathers of ostentation: “Qui de contemnendâ gloriâ
libros scribunt, nomen suum inscribunt.”[536] Socrates, Aristotle,
Galen, were men full of ostentation: certainly, vainglory helpeth to
perpetuate a man’s memory; and virtue was never so beholden to human
nature, as it received its due at the second hand. Neither had the fame
of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Secundus,[537] borne her age so well if it
had not been joined with some vanity in themselves; like unto varnish,
that makes ceilings not only shine, but last. But all this while, when
I speak of vainglory, I mean not of that property that Tacitus doth
attribute to Mucianus, “Omnium, quæ dixerat feceratque, arte quâdam
ostentator;”[538] for that[539] proceeds not of vanity, but of natural
magnanimity and discretion; and, in some persons, is not only comely,
but gracious; for excusations,[540] cessions,[541] modesty itself, well
governed, are but arts of ostentation; and amongst those arts there is
none better than that which Plinius Secundus speaketh of, which is
to be liberal of praise and commendation to others, in that wherein a
man’s self hath any perfection. For, saith Pliny, very wittily, “In
commending another, you do yourself right;[542] for he that you commend
is either superior to you in that you commend, or inferior: if he be
inferior, if he be to be commended, you much more; if he be superior,
if he be not to be commended, you much less.” Glorious[543] men are the
scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and
the slaves of their own vaunts.