A MAN that is young in years, may be old in
hours, if he have lost no time. But that hap-
peneth 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. And yet he was the ablest em-
peror, 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 experi-
ence 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 busi-
ness; 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 considera-
tion of the means and degrees; pursue some
few principles, which they have chanced upon
absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws un-
known 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 of success. 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
succession, that young men may be learners, while
men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern
accidents, because authority followeth old men,
and favor and popularity, youth. But for the moral
part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as
age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin, upon the
text, Your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams, inferreth that young
men, are admitted nearer to God than old, because
vision, is a clearer revelation, than a dream. And
certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world,
the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather
in the powers of understanding, than in the virtues
of the will and affections. There be some, have an
over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth
betimes. These are, first, such as have brittle wits,
the edge whereof is soon turned; such as was Her-
mogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceed-
ing subtle; who afterwards waxed stupid. A second
sort, is of those that have some natural dispositions
which have better grace in youth, than in age;
such as is a fluent and luxuriant speech; which
becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully saith of
Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem decebat.
The third is of such, as take too high a strain at the
first, and are magnanimous, more than tract of
years can uphold. As was Scipio Africanus, of
whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant.
Back to: The Essays