Essaies: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion

to particular persons one by one. But I do not say that the consideration of factions should be neglected.

People of lower status original: "Meane men" must join a side original: "adhere", but great men who have strength in themselves would do better to remain impartial and neutral. Yet even for beginners, to join a side so moderately that one is a member of one faction while remaining acceptable original: "passiblest" to the other usually provides the best path forward.

The lower and weaker faction is the more united original: "firmer in conjunction". When one of the factions is eliminated original: "extinguished", the remaining one splits into subdivisions, which is beneficial for a secondary leader original: "good for a second". It is often observed that once men are established in office, they join the faction opposite to the one that helped them get there.

The person who switches sides original: "Traitor" in a factional dispute often succeeds easily; for when matters have been stalled in a state of balance for a long time, the recruitment of a single person tips the scales original: "casteth them", and he receives all the credit.