--It was wittily said upon one that was taken for a
great and grave man so long as he held his peace, "This man might
have been a counsellor of state, till he spoke; but having spoken,
not the beadle of the ward." [Greek text]. {32b} Pytag. quam
laudabilis! [Greek text]. Linguam cohibe, prae aliis omnibus, ad
deorum exemplum. {33a} Digito compesce labellum. {33b}
Acutius cernuntur vitia quam virtutes.--There is almost no man but
he sees clearlier and sharper the vices in a speaker, than the
virtues. And there are many, that with more ease will find fault
with what is spoken foolishly than can give allowance to that
wherein you are wise silently. The treasure of a fool is always in
his tongue, said the witty comic poet; {33c} and it appears not in
anything more than in that nation, whereof one, when he had got the
inheritance of an unlucky old grange, would needs sell it; {33d} and
to draw buyers proclaimed the virtues of it. Nothing ever thrived
on it, saith he. No owner of it ever died in his bed; some hung,
some drowned themselves; some were banished, some starved; the trees
were all blasted; the swine died of the measles, the cattle of the
murrain, the sheep of the rot; they that stood were ragged, bare,
and bald as your hand; nothing was ever reared there, not a
duckling, or a goose.
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