Pagina 208 de 310

Changes in estate also issue from this, for if, to one who

governs himself with caution and patience, times and affairs

converge in such a way that his administration is successful, his

fortune is made; but if times and affairs change, he is ruined if

he does not change his course of action. But a man is not often

found sufficiently circumspect to know how to accommodate himself

to the change, both because he cannot deviate from what nature

inclines him to do, and also because, having always prospered by

acting in one way, he cannot be persuaded that it is well to

leave it; and, therefore, the cautious man, when it is time to

turn adventurous, does not know how to do it, hence he is ruined;

but had he changed his conduct with the times fortune would not

have changed.