The Seventh Figure

p. 67

The Seventh Figure

'Because from time to time thou hast been self-willed thou art predestined to be surrounded by much adversity. For thou hast not considered of thyself how thou art prefigured magically under the symbol of a stone, as both fat and lean. Thou dost not know it, therefore thou fallest beneath the punishment that hath broken up all empires. Had thy pretended wisdom and understanding been thine own thou wouldst have been beyond disaster, and moreover other empires would have taken thee as a mirror. But it is not so, therefore thy wisdom proveth to be a folly at this time.'