efy and corrupt inwardly. Therefore measure not
thine advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure: and defer
not charities till death; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly,
he that doth so is rather liberal of another man's than of his own.

III

OF YOUTH AND AGE

A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no
time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first
cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in
thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men is
more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds
better, and as it were more divinely. Natures that have much heat and
great and violent desires and perturbations are not ripe for action
till they have passed the meridian of their years; as it was with
Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus. Of the latter of whom it is said,
_Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, plenam_.[33] And yet he was
the ablest emperor, almost, of all the list. But reposed natures may
do well in youth. As it is seen in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus Duke of
Florence, Gaston de Foix, and others. On the other side, heat and
vivacity in age is an excellent composition for business.

Young men are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution
than for counsel; and fitter for new projects than for settled
business. For the experience of age, in things that fall within the
compass of it, directeth them; but in new things, abuseth them. The
errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged
men amount but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner.
Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than
they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without
consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles
which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which
draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and that
which doubleth all errors will not acknowledge or retract them; like
an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object
too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and
seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves
with a mediocrity.

Certainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that will be
good for the present, because the virtues of either age may correct
the defects of both; and good for successio