LII. Some are made unhappy by fortune, and there are others who are so by nature. Those I say, who in their own proper genius and tempers, find their greatest enemy; discontented men, who are pleased with nothing, but are always loathing what they are in present possession of; who although they should frequently change their fortunes, would find no other effect from it, than they would from changing their shirts, which after ten or twelve days wear would be ready to poison them. These people live in a continual opposition to the movements of Fortune, notwithstanding which, they are dragged on, and obliged to obey the impulse of the wheel, being compelled by force and violence; or like the stars, which are constrained to follow the movements of the sphere to which they are attached, although they are always endeavouring at a motion, opposite to that of the orb which agitates them. These are sickly souls, whose stomachs turn at all sorts of food, and there are not a few of such men in the world. THE MOST REFINED POLICY. SECT. I. I. The center of all the political doctrine of Machiavel, is placed in that cursed maxim of his, that in the application of temporal means, the semblance or appearance of virtue is useful; real virtue, or virtue itself, is an obstacle. From this point issues forth, in right lines, the poison, to the whole circumference of that pernicious system. All the world abominates the name of Machiavel, and almost all the world are his followers. Although, to speak the truth, the practice of the world is not taken from the doctrine of Machiavel; but the doctrine of Machiavel, is rather taken from the practice of the world. This depraved genius taught, in his writings, that which he had studied in men. The world was the same before Machiavel, which it is at present, and they deceive themselves greatly, who think, that the ages continued to grow worse, as they continued to succeed one another. The golden age never existed but in the imaginations of the poets; the happiness they feign to have prevailed in it, was enjoyed by only one man, and one woman, Adam and Eve; and continued so short a space of time, that so far from lasting an age, according to many fathers, it did not endure an entire day.