Whatsoever it be, every
mountebank has it more than the best doctor, and the hangman more
than the Lord Chief Justice of a city. Every creature has it both
of nature and art if it be any ways extraordinary. It was as often
said, "This is that Bucephalus," or, "This is that Incitatus," when
they were led prancing through the streets, as "This is that
Alexander," or, "This is that Domitian"; and truly for the latter, I
take Incitatus to have been a much more honourable beast than his
master, and more deserving the consulship than he the empire. I
love and commend a true good fame, because it is the shadow of
virtue; not that it doth any good to the body which it accompanies,
but 'tis an efficacious shadow, and like that of St. Peter cures the
diseases of others. The best kind of glory, no doubt, is that which
is reflected from honesty, such as was the glory of Cato and
Aristides, but it was harmful to them both, and is seldom beneficial
to any man whilst he lives; what it is to him after his death, I
cannot say, because I love not philosophy merely notional and
conjectural, and no man who has made the experiment has been so kind
as to come back to inform us.
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