I LIBRARY Y OF GREAT THOUGHTS FKOM LATIN AUTHORS. BY CKAUFURD TAI? EAMAGE, LL.D. AUTHOR OF "GREAT THOUGHTS FROM GREEK AUTHORS," "GREAT THOUGHTS FROM FRENCH AND ITALIAN AUTHORS," "GREAT THOUGHTS FROM GERMAN AND SPANISH AUTHORS," ETC. THIKD EDITION, CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED. ' Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world." DR. JOHNSON. NEW YORK: JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER. PEEFACE TO THIKD EDITION. LITTLE need be added to what was stated in former editions of this work. The illustrations from the Old and New Testaments have heen in- creased, and many new passages have been given. Few of the ways that conduct to virtue are more full of pleasantness and peace than that which leads us to warm our hearts by putting them in close contact with noble natures. "I am not the rose, but I live with the rose," says the Eastern apologue, "and so I have become sweet." It was a strong conviction of the truth of this apoph- thegm that induced the Editor to spend many of the leisure hours of a busy life in bringing together the beautiful thoughts of ancient writers ; and he was induced to present them to the public, in the hope that many, who have little time to devote to the study of the Classics, would be glad to renew their acquaintance with the finer emanations of the Roman masters. The Editor has not been disappointed in his ex- pectations, for the sale of the work has continued to increase, and proves that there is a large num- ber of educated minds who take delight in the wis- dom of the ancients. Each quotation is a separate bait, a temptation to feel greatly and to do greatly; and a friend, whose delicate health has obliged him to retire from ilu- busy haunts of men, very 4 PEE FACE TO THIRD EDITION. beautifully remarks that their charm for the old and infirm is scarcely less. To such " it is noth- ing short of delightful to have a book at hand which will suit itself either to the exigencies or the deficiencies of the minute, with an elastic power of adaptability which no living friend can possess." It was for those of lofty aspirations among the young, and for men of cultivated minds among the old, that the Editor attempted to make a selection from a treasure that has continued to accumulate from the earliest times, till it now comprehends a brief abstract of the wisdom of all ages. CHBONOLOGUCAL INDEX OF AUTHOKS. Plautus born about B.C. 254 died about B.C. 184 Terence born B.C. 195 died B.C. 159 Varro born B.C. 116 died B.C. 28 Cicero born B.C. 106 died B.C. 43 Caesar born B.C. 100 died B.C. 44 Lucretius born B.C. 95 died B.C. 52 Catullus born B.C. P7 died B.C. 47 Sallust born B.C. 86 died about B.C. 34 Virgil born B.C. 70 died B.C. 19 Horace born B.C. 65 died B.C. 8 Livy born B.C. 59 died A. D. 17 Tibullus born about B.C. 59 died about B.C. 18 Propertius born about B.C. 51 died about B.C. 15 Pubiius Syrus nourished about B.C. 45 Ovid born B.C. 43 died A. D. 18 Nepos flourished B.C. 40 Seneca born about A. D. 1 died A. D. 65 Phsedrus flourished A.D. 20 Pliny the Elder born A.D. 23 died A.D. 79 Suius Italicus born A.D. 25 died A.D. 100 Persius born A.D. 34 died A.D. 62 Lucan born about A.D. 39 died A.D. 65 Quintilian born A.D. 40 died about A.D. 118 Martial born A.D. 43 died A.D. 104 Petronius Arbiter flourished A.D. 50 Tacitus born about A.D. 59 died about A.D. 120 Pliny the Younger flourished A.D. 61 Statius born about A.D. 61 died about A.D. 96 Columella flourished A.D. 70 Juvenal flourished A.D. 90 INDEX OF AUTHORS. Curtiua flourished A.D. 150 Ausonius born A.D. 815 died A.D. 398 Ammianus Marcellinus flourished A.D. 350 Claudian flourished A.D. 400 Manilius is of uncertain date. IKDEX OF AUTHORS. AUTHORS. PAGES. Ammianus Marcel- i 7 11 Ausonius 12-15 Caesar 15-18 Catullus IS--*-.' Cicero 23-132 Claudian 132-137 Columella 138-139 Curtius 130 143 Eunius 143-146 Horace 146-247 Juvenal 248-373 Lavy 273-290 Lucan 290-300 Lucretius 300-318 Manilius 318-322 Martial 322-334 Nepos 334-336 Ovid 336-399 AUTHORS. PAGES. Persius 400-407 Petronius Arbiter . . . 407-410 Phsedrus 411-415 Plautus 415-446 Pliny the Elder 446-450 Pliny the Younger . . . 450-4G7 Propertius 467-473 Publius Syrus 473-484 Quintilian 484-492 Sallust 492^500 Seneca 500-577 Silius Italicus 678-582 Statius 582-586 Tacitus 586-606 Terence 606-623 Tibullus 624-629 Varro 629-631 Virgil 631-670 Supplement 671-679 GREAT THOUGHTS FROM LATIN AUTHORS. AMMIANUS MAECELLINUS. FLOUKISHED FKOM ABOUT A.D. 350 TO A.D. 390. AMMIANUS MAKCELLINTJS, a native of Antioch in Syria, was the last subject of Koine who com- posed a profane history in the Latin language. Of his personal history little is known ; he was an officer in the army, accompanying Ursicinus, an able general of the Emperor Constantius, to the East in 350. We next find him accompanying Julian in his expedition against the Persians, hav- ing a narrow escape in the retreat of the Romans. His history extended from the accession of Nerva, A.I>. 96, to the death of Valens, A.D. 378, compris- ing a period of 282 years. It was divided into thirty-one books, of which the first thirteen are lost. What remains includes the reign of Constan- tius from A.D. 353, and those of Gallus, Julianus, Jovianus, Valentinianus, and Valens. FOLLY OF MEN. Some imagining that they can best commend themselves to the Eternal by erecting statues to that great Being, earnestly devote themselves to these, as if they were certain to obtain more re- 8 AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. ward from senseless idols of brass than from the conscientious performance of honorable duties. TKUTII IS SIMPLE. The language of truth is unadorned and always simple. We find the three great tragic writers of Greece speak of truth in the same way. Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," act v. sc. 1) says: " Truth is truth To the end of reckoning." Matthew vi. 22 : "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of ught." ff ry 7 MAX PARALYZED BY FATE.*" lil . The senses of men are usually blunted and dead- \ ened, when fate lays a heavy hand upon them. THE 51IXD OF MAX IX SLEEP. The mind freed from the shackles of the body, never resting, being under the impressions whieh cares and anxieties have made upon it, brings be- fore us those night visions which we call fanta- sies. Longfellow ("A Psalm of Life") expresses himself other- wise: , " Tell me not, in mournful numbers, ' Life is but an empty Dream ! ' For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem." But Byron ("The Dream," 1. 5) says: " Dreams in their development have breath, And tears and tortures and the touch of joy; They have a weight upon our waking thoughts, They take a weight from off our waking toils, They do divide our being." AMMIANUS MAECELL1NUS. 9 Shakespeare (" Romeo and Juliet," act i. sc. 4) says: " I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy ; Which is as thin of substance as the air; And more inconstant than the wind, which wooes Even now the frozen bosom of the north. And, being anser'd, puffs away from thence. Turning his face to the dew-dropping south." RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. Adrasteia, whom we also call Nemesis, very often (I wish it were always so!) acts as the avenger of the deeds of the impious and the re- warder of the righteous Leing a certain sublime law of the Almighty placed over the minds of men, or as others define it, a self-existing guardian angel watching over each individual with uncon- trolled power; which theologians of old, falsely assuming to he the daughter of Justice, maintain to look down on all things earthly from the abys- ses of eternity. She, as the directress of original causes, the arbitress and judge of events, rules over the urn containing the fates of men, turning cut at will the lots of life; and ending very differ- ently at times from what she seemed to have in- tended, turns round our fates with endless changes. And binding with the indissoluble chain of neces- sity the pride of man, vainly puffed up, and caus- ing the ups and downs of life, as she best knows to turn them; now she throws him down from his lofty seat, and again lifting the upright from the lowest bottom raises him to the pinnacle of fort- une. EXCEPTIONS TO EVERY RULE. But in the midst of thorns roses spring up, and amidst savage beasts some are tame. 10 AMMIANUS MARC ELLIN US. So Psalm xxx. 5: " Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." ALMOST ALL DIFFICULTIES MAY BE OVERCOME BY PRUDENCE. Almost all difficulties may be got the better of by prudent thought, revolving and pondering much in the mind. MAN ABLE TO FORESEE GOOD AND BAD. It is not wonderful that men sometimes are able to discern what is profitable and what is hurtful to them, since we regard their minds to Le related to the heavenly beings. THE GENIUS WATCHING OVER EACH. His particular Genius, who was placed to watch over his life, was thought to have abandoned him, as he was on the point of leaving the world. For theologians say, that to all men, when they are born, certain divine beings are attached to direct their actions, though visible to very few, only to those who are distinguished by many virtuous qualities. THE WILL OF HEAVEN. No power or virtue of man could ever have de- served that, what has been fated, should not have taken place. Shakespeare (" Henry VI.," Part III., act iv. sc. 3) says: " What fates impose, that men must needs abide; It boots not to resist both wind and tide." So Psalm cxxxv. 5: " For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places." AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. 11 MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES. Yet the success of plans and the advantage to be derived from them do not at all times agree, seeing the Gods claim to themselves the right to decide as to the final result. So Proverbs xvi. 9 : ".A man's heart devisetli his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." TKUTH SOMETIMES DAJVGEEOUS. Truth is often attended with danger. There is a French proverb of the thirteenth century, which expresses this idea: " Every truth is not good to be said." So Mark vi. 18 : " For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not." VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. Any one that is prosperous may before evening by the turn of fortune's wheel become most Wretched. THE SAME CHAEACTEE PEOUD AND HUMBLE. So that he seemed, when he felt confidence in himself, to be like a tragic actor declaiming from the high-heeled buskin; and when he was cast down, to be more humble than any low comedian in Lis sock. BUSINESS FOB IDLE HANDS. Wicked acts are accustomed to be done with im- punity for the mere desire of occupation. 12 A USONIUS. AUSONIUS. BORN ABOUT A.D. 315 DIED ABOUT A.D. 392. DECIMUS MAGNUS AUSONIUS, a Latin poet and grammarian, was a native of Bordeaux, born about the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era. He devoted himself to the study of law, and became tutor to Gratian, son of the Emperor Valentinian, by whom he was appointed praefec- tus of Latium, of Libya, and of Gaul, and at last, in the year 379, was made consul. The letter of Gratian conferring the dignity, and the grateful reply of Ausonitts are both extant. After the death of Gratian he retired from public life, and ended his days in a country retreat at no great distance from his native city about A.D. 392, in the reign of Honoring. There can be no doubt from several passages in his works that he was a Christian, though the licentious nature of some of his writ- ings proves that he did not at all times attend to its pure doctrines. He was the author of many works, which have been preserved, but the most celebrated are his twenty Eclogues, of which the tenth, entitled Mosella, is a description of the river Moselle, one of the best specimens of his powers- as a poet, though the same faults pervade it as his other works want of simplicity, taste, easiness of versification, and purity of language. ADVICE TO THE UPSTART. Whoever thou art that hast become rich from great poverty, use thy good fortune with modera- tion. AUSONIUS. 13 EVERYTHING HUMAN PERISHES. Can we wonder that men perish and are forgot- ten when their noblest and most enduring works decay ? Death comes even to monumental struct- ures, and oblivion rests on the most illustrious names. A MAN OF LETTERS. Because thy library is full of books, which thou hast bought, dost thou think thyself a man of let- ters ? In the same way, lay up strings, plectra, and lyres ; having bought all these, to-morrow thou wilt be a musician. WELL BEGUN, HALF DONE. Begin; to have begun is half of the work. Let the half still remain; again begin this and thou wilt have done all. A FAVOR SLOWLY BESTOWED. A favor which is tardily bestowed is no favor; for a favor which has been quickly granted is a more agreeable favor. WHATEVER THOU DOEST, DO IT QUICKLY. If thou intendest to do a kind act do it quickly, and then thou mayest expect gratitude: a favor grudgingly conferred causes ingratitude. THE UNGRATEFUL. The earth produces nothing worse than an un- grateful man. Shakespeare (" As You Like It," act ii. sc. 7) says : " Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; 14 A USONIUS. Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. " Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, That dost not bite so nigh, As benefits forgot : Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend remember'd not." And (" Twelfth Night," act iii. sc. 1) : " I hate ingrafitude more in a man Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, Or any taint of vice." FICKLENESS OF FORTUNE. Fortune is never stable, is always turning, al- ways changing; throws down the prosperous and raises the humble. Euripides (Fr. Ino. 23) says: " Thou seest what small things are sufficient to bring down tyrants who have had a long course of prosperity ; even one day pulls this man from his lofty seat and raises another. Riches have wings : for I see those who once had them fall- ing from their high hopes." Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 1093, M.) says : " As Fortune sometimes, while she is conferring on us one good, in doing so pumps up three evils." HOW ENEMIES ABE INCREASED. When thou causeth fear to many, then is the time to be on thy guard. PRESERVE EQUANIMITY. If fortune is favorable, be not elated; if fort- une thunders, be not cast down. FEAR CONSCIENCE. When about to commit a base deed, respect thy- self if thou hast no other witness. CAESAR. 15 Diphilus, who flourished B.C. 300 (Fr.Com. Gr., p. 1091, M.), says much to the same effect : "For whoever does not feel ashamed before his own con- science, when he has committed a base deed, why will he feel ashamed before another who is unconscious of it ? " LARGE DOWRY CAUSE OF MISCHIEF. When the dowry is too large, it is often the cause of much mischief. BEGUN HALF DONE. Set about whatever thou intendest to do: the beginning is half the battle. BETTEB NOT TO BE BORN. Therefore the sentiment of the Greeks is best, for they say that it is best for man not to be born, or being born, quickly to die. THE SUSPECTED. The suspected and the man really guilty seem to differ only slightly. C^SAR. BORN B.C. 100 DIED B.C. 44. C. JULIUS CAESAR, the dictator, the son of C. Julius Caesar and Aurelia, was born on the 12th July B.C. 100, and murdered on the 15th March B.C. 44. He attached himself to the popular party, and mar- ried, B.C. 83, Cornelia, the daughter of L. China, one of the chief opponents of Sulla ; being in con- sequence proscribed and obliged to conceal him- self for some time in the country of the Sabincs. 16 C^ESAB. He served for several years in the wars of Asia, but returned to Rome B.C. 78, on hearing of the death of Sulla. He became quaestor B.C. 68, prae- tor B.C. 62, reaching the consulship B.C. 59, when he joined Pompey and Crassus in an agreement to support one another and divide the power between themselves. This was what was called the first triumvirate; and to make his union with Pompey still more intimate, he gave him his daughter Julia in marriage. He married at the same time Calpurnia, the daughter of L. Piso, who was consul the following year. Obtaining the province of Gaul, he was occupied for nine years in its subjugation, conquering the whole of Transalpine Gaul, which had hitherto been inde- pendent of the Romans, with the exception of the part called Provincial he twice crossed the Rhine, and carried the terror of the Roman arms across that river, and he twice landed in Britain, which had hitherto been unknown to the Romans. While Caesar had been thus actively engaged in Gaul, affairs in Rome had taken a turn which threatened a speedy rupture between him and Pompey. The ten years of Caesar's government would expire at the end of B.C. 49, and he was therefore resolved to obtain the consulship for B.C. 48, as he would otherwise be reduced to a pri- vate station. Pompey joined the aristocratical party, and prepared to resist the proceedings of his opponent ; but Caesar crossed the Rubicon, which separated his province from Italy, and in three months subdued the whole of Italy. Having defeated his rival Pompey in the plains of Phar- salia B.C. 48, he became undisputed master of the Roman empire. He caused himself to be pro- claimed perpetual dictator, and had actually con- sented to accept the imperial throne, when he was CAESAR. 17 murdered by the republican party, who hoped by his death to restore the old constitution. He fell in the Senate House on the 15th March B.C. 44. PUNISHMENT OF WICKEDNESS. The gods sometimes grant greater prosperity and a longer period of impunity to those whom they wish to punish for their crimes, in order that they may feel more acutely a change of circum- stances. EIGHTS OF WAR. It is the right of war for conquerors to treat those whom they have conquered according to their pleasure. WINE. They allowed no wine or other luxuries to be imported, because they believed they had a ten- dency to enervate the mind and make men less brave in battle. GAULS. The Gauls are hasty and precipitate in their res- olutions. GAULS. Almost all the Gauls are fond of change, and easily excited to war, while they are at the same time attached to liberty and hate slavery. Men willingly believe what they wish. IMITATIVE CHARACTER OF THE GAULS. They are a race of consummate ingenuity, and possess wonderful powers to imitate whatever they sec done by others. 2 ! CATULLUS. FEAK. In extreme danger, fear turns a deaf ear to every feeling of pity. TO THROW BLAME OX THE DEAD. That be knew, and was well aware, that nothing was easier than to ascribe the blame of an act to the dead. The French have a proverb, " Les mort font toujours tort." TRIVIAL, CAUSES IN WAR. In war important events are produced by trivial causes. CATULLUS. BORN B.C. 87 DIED ABOUT B.C. 47. CAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, a celebrated Latin poet, was born at Sirmio, in the vicinity of Ve- rona, B.C. 87, one year before the historian Sal- lust. His father was the friend of Julius Csesar, and Catullus himself was on intimate terms of friendship with all the most illustrious men of his age. His time was spent principally at Rome or in his villa near Tibur. It is not known when he died, but it must have been subsequently to B.C. 47, as he mentions the consulship of Vatinius. He was the author of 116 poems, which we still possess. They are partly epigrammatic, partly elegiac, with a few lyrical pieces. Catullus was deeply imbued with the spirit of Greek poetry, and had formed his taste on that model. CATULLUS. 19 THE GRAVE. He is now travelling along that darksome path to the bourne from which, they say, no one ever returns. THE WHISPERING OF THE. TREES. For on the ridge of Cytorus it often gave forth a hissing, while the leaves spoke. Tennyson ('' The Princess ") thus expresses the same idea: " As in a poplar grove when a light wind wakes A lisping of the innumerous leaf, and dies, Each hissing in his neighbor's ear." ONE ETERNAL NIGHT TO ALL,. Suns may set and rise; we, when our short day has closed, must sleep on during one never-ending night. Young, in his "Night Thoughts" (No. 6), says in a very different tone: " Look nature through, 'tis revolution all; All change, no death; day follows night, and night The dying day ; stars rise, and set and rise. Earth takes the example. See the Summer, gay With her green chaplets and ambrosial flowers, Droops into pallid Autumn: Winter gray, Horrid with frost and turbulent with storm, Blows Autumn and his golden fruits away, Then melts into the Spring: soft Spring, with breath Favonian, from warm chambers of the South Recalls the first. All, to reflourish, fades ; As in a wheel all sinks, to reascend; Emblems of man, who passes, not expires." See Sir Walter Scott's lament over Pitt and Fox in the in- troduction to " Marmion," beginning " To mute and to material things New life revolving summer brings," etc. GROSS PLEASURES. Gross and vulgar pleasures. 20 CATULLUS. A STUPID BOOBY. That stupid booby of mine is so crazy that he neither sees nor hears, and. even knows not who he is, or whether he exists at all. " So benumbed in his wits is my booby, that he Is as deaf and as blind as a buzzard can be; Yea, he knows not, the oaf, who himself is or what, Or whether in fact, he exists or does not." MAKTIN. THE MOTE IN OUR OWN EYE. Every one has his faults, but we see not the wallet that is behind. Burns says : " O wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us." So Psalm six. 18: " Who can understand his errors f cleanse thou me from secret faults." THE PLEASURE OF REST AFTER LABOR. Oh, what is more sweet than, when the mind, set free from care, lays its burden down; and, when spent with distant travel, we come back to our home, and rest our limbs on the wished-for bed ? This, this alone, repays such toils as these ! SILLY LAUGHTER. A silly laugh's the silliest thing I know. SWEET MEETINGS, FAREWELL. O sweet meetings of friends, farewell. Tennyson ("The Princess," cant, iv.) expresses the same idea very beautifully : " Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather in the eyes, lu looking on the happy Autumn fields, And thinking of the days that are no more." CATULLUS. 21 THE LOVE-SICK. Peer for the gods he seems to me And mightier, if that may be, Who, sitting face to face with thee, Can there serenely gaze ; Can hear thee sweetly speak the while, Can see thee, Lesbia, sweetly smile, Joys that from me my senses wile, And leave me in a maze. For, ever, when thy face I view, My voice is to its task untrue, My tongue is paralyzed, and through Each limb a subtle flame Runs swiftly, murmurs dim arise Within my ears, across my eyes A sudden darkness spreads, and sighs And tremors shake my frame. MABTUT. PALSIED OLD AGE. Till hoary age shall steal on thee, With loitering step and trembling knee, And palsied head, that ever bent, To all in all things nods assent. MARTIN. THERE IS A TIDE IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN. What is granted by the gods more desirable than a lucky moment ? THE VIRGIN. As the flower grows apart in the secluded gar- dens unknown to the cattle, bruised by no plough, fondled by the breezes, strengthened by the rays of the sun, and nourished by the rains of heaven; many a boy and girl have desired to pluck it; when the same flower, plucked by some tiny hand, lias lost its beauty, 110 boys or girls have desired it: so 22 CATULLUS. is the virgin, while she remains so, while she is beloved by her friends, but when she has lost her chaste flower, she is neither pleasing to the youth nor beloved by the girls. THE RISING BREEZE. As when at early dawn the western breeze Into a ripple breaks the slumbering seas, Which gently stirr'd, move slowly on at first, And into gurglings low of laughter burst; Anon, as fresher blows the rising blast, The waves crowd onward faster and more fast, Floating away till they are lost to sight Beneath the glow of the empurpled light, So from the royal halls, and far from view, Each to his home with wand'ring steps withdrew. MARTIN. CONFOUNDING OF EIGHT AND WRONG. The confounding of all right and wrong in the wild fury of war has averted from us the gracious smile of heaven. FICKLENESS OF WOMAN. The vows that woman makes to her fond lover are only fit to be written on air or on the swiftly- passing stream. DIFFICULT TO RELINQUISH A CONFIRMED PASSION. It is difficult to give up at once a long-cherished passion. THE INCONSISTENCIES OF LOVE. I hate and I love. Why I do so, thou mayest perhaps inquire: I know not; but I feel that it is so, and I am tormented. CICERO. 23 CICERO. BOKN B.C. 106 DIED B.C. 43. M. TULLIUS CICERO, born on the 3d January B.C. 106, was a native of the city of Arpinum, but re- ceived his education at Rome under Greek masters, more particularly under the renowned Archias of Antioch. Dui'ing the scenes of strife and blood- shed between Marius and Sulla, he identified him- self with neither party, devoting his time to those studies which were essential to him as a lawyer and an orator. When tranquillity was restored, he came forward as a pleader at the age of twenty- five, but thinking that there was great room for improvement in his style of composition and mode of delivery, he determined to quit Italy and visit the great fountains of arts and eloquence. He re- mained six months at Athens, and then made a complete tour of Asia Minor, returning to Rome after an absence of two years, B.C. 77. His great talents, developed by such careful and judicious training under the most cultivated masters, could not fail to command success. Though possessed of no family influence, he was elected qua3stor B.C. 76, and, having Sicily as his province, he dis- charged his trust so faithfully that he gained the love and esteem of all the Sicilians. He undertook some years afterwards the prosecution of Verres, who had been praetor of Sicily, and was charged with many flagrant acts of extortion. This prose- cution was successful, and Verres, despairing of being able to defend himself, went into voluntary exile. He was appointed consul B.C. 63, and gained great glory by suppressing the conspiracy formed by Catiline and his accomplices for the subversion of the commonwealth. For this great service 24 CICERO. he was honored with the title of Pater Patriaj, father of his country. His good fortune, however, at last failed him, and he was compelled to yield to the storm that broke upon him. He quitted Home B.C. 58, and crossed over to Greece. His correspondence during the whole period of his exile presents the melancholy picture of a man crushed and paralyzed by a sudden reverse of fort- une. The following year he was recalled, and we then find him employing the greater part of his time in pleading causes or living in the country, where he composed his two great political works, the De EeptblicA and the Ds Legibus. He was appointed pro-consul of Cilicia, and his ad- ministration of that province gained him great honor. At the close of the year he returned to Rome, where he fell, as he says, into the veiy flame of civil discord, and found war had broken out between Pompey and Cajsar. After much vacillation he joined Pompey, but after the battle of Pharsalia B.C. 48, he threw himself on the mercy of the coiiqueror, by whom he was forgiven. Cicero was now at liberty to follow his own pur- suits without interruption, and accordingly, until the death of Csesar B.C. 44, devoted himself with assiduity to literary studies. During those years he composed nearly the whole of his most impor- tant works on rhetoric and philosophy. However, he paid constant attention to public affairs. From the beginning of the year B.C. 4.3 to the end of April, Cicero was at the height of his glory; with- in this space the last twelve Philippics were all delivered, and listened to "with rapturous applause. Octavius, however, joined with Lepidus and An- tony, usurping the whole power of the state, and their first step was to make out a list of the pro- scribed, among whom Cicero was marked for im- CICEEO. 25 mediate destruction. He made an attempt to escape, but thinking it vain, submitted to his fate. The assassins cut off his head and hands, which were conveyed to Rome, and by the orders of Antony nailed to the rostra. ARTS. All the arts, which have a tendency to raise man in the scale of being, have a certain common bond of union, and are connected, if I may be allowed to say so, by blood relationship with one another. LITERATURE. Do you imagine that I could find materials for my daily speeches on such a vai'iety of subjects, if I did not improve my mind by literary pursuits; or that I could bear up against such a strain, if I did not relieve it occasionally by philosophical in- quiries ? GLORY AND HONOR ONLY DESIRABLE. For, if I had not been thoroughly convinced from my youth upwards by the precepts of many philosophers, and by my own literary investiga- tions, that there is nothing in this life really worthy of being desired except glory and honor, and that, in the pursuit of these, even bodily tort- ure, death, and banishment are of little account, never would L have rushed in your defence to so many, and such severe struggles, nor exposed my- self to the daily attacks of these abandoned citi- zens. NATURAL ABILITIES AND EDUCATION CON- TRASTED. I add this also, that nature without education nas oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural abilities. 26 CICEBO. We find the very opposite statement made by Critias in his elegies (Fr. 6 Sc.): " There are more men ennobled by study than by nature." And Epicharmus (Stob. TTETE-, 54) has the same idea: " Friends, study gives more than a noble nature." LITERATURE. For the other employments of life do not suit all time, ages, or places; whereas literary studies employ the thoughts of the young, are the delight of the aged, the ornament of prosperity, the com- fort and refuge of adversity, our amusement at home, no impediment to us abroad, employ our thoughts on our beds, attend us on our journeys, and do not leave us in the country. Jeremy Taylor thus speaks of literature : " Books are a guide in youth and an entertainment for age. They help us to forget the crossness of men and things, compose our cares, and lay our disappointments asleep. When we are weary of the living, we may repair to the dead, who have nothing of peevishness, pride, or design in their conversation." And Addison says: " Books are the legacies that genius leaves to mankind, to be delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn." And Milton says: "Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain a potencie of life in them to be as active as that Soule was whose progeny tfcey are." A POET. I have always learned from the noblest and wisest of men, that a knowledge of other things is acquired by learning, rules, and art, but that a poet derives his power from nature herself, that the qualities of his mind are given to him, if I may say so, by divine inspiration. Wherefore rightly does Ennuis regard poets as under the CICERO. 27 special protection of heaven, because they seem to be delivered over to us as a beneficent gift by the gods. Let then, judges, this .name of poet, which even the very savages respect, be sacred in your eyes, men as you are of the most cultivated mind. Rocks and deserts re-echo to their voice; even the wildest animals turn and listen to the music of their words; and shall we, who have been brought up to the noblest pursuits, not yield to the voice of poets ? So Psalin xcii. 4: " For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work." ACHILLES. How many historians is Alexander the Great said to have had with him to transmit his name to posterity ? And yet, as he stood on the promon- tory of Sigeum by the tomb of Achilles, he ex- claimed: "O happy youth, who found a Homer to herald thy praise!" And with reason did he say so; for if the Iliad had never existed, the same tomb which covered his body would have also buried his name. PRAISE. We are all excited by the love of praise, and it is the noblest spirits that feel it most. VIRTUE. For virtue wants no other reward for all the labors and dangers she undergoes, except what she derives from praise and glory; if this be de- nied to her, O judges, what reason is there why we should devote ourselves to such laborious pur- suits, when our life is so brief, and its course narrowed to so small a compass ? Assuredly, if our minds were not allowed to look forward to the 28 CICERO. future, and if all our thoughts were to be termi- nated with our life, there would be no reason why we should weary ourselves out with labors, sub- mit to all the annoyances of cares and anxiety, and fight so often even for our veiy lives. In the noblest there resides a certain virtuous princi- ple, which day and night stimulates a man to, glorious deeds, and warns him that the recollec- tion of our names is not to be terminated by time, but must be made boundless as eternity. Everything in which I have been engaged in this world, as the wisest of men think, will be regard- ed in after ages as belonging to my soul; at pres- ent, at all events, I delight myself with such thoughts and hopes. So Romans viii. 24: "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? " THE VOICE OF GOD. This ought almost to be regarded as the voice and words of the immortal gods, when the globe it- self, the air and the earth, shake with an unusual agitation and prophesy to us in accents that we have never before heard and which seem incredi- ble. So Acts xii. 22: " It is the voice of a god, and not of a man." HOW THE WICKED ARE PUNISHED. The darts of the gods are fixed in the minds of the wicked. So Colossians iii. 6: " For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." CICERO. 20 PUT AWAY ANGER. Our anger and quarrels must be put away. So Genesis xiii. 8: " Let there be no strife between thee and me." FALSE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE GOOD ABE WITHOUT EFFECT. 4 As fire, when it is thrown into water, is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation, when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, falls away at once and vanishes. So Titus i. 15: " Unto the pure all things are pure." THE POPULACE. The common rabble estimate few things accord- ing to their real value, most things according to the prejudices of their minds. PUNISHMENT OF THE PERJURED AND THE LIAR. The same punishment, which the gods inflict on the perjured, is prepared for the liar. For it is not the form of words, in which the oath is wrapped up, but the perfidy and malice of the act that excite the wrath and anger of the immortal gods against men. THE PERJURED AND THE LIAR. The man, who has once deviated from the truth, is usually led on by no greater scruples to commit perjury than to tell a lie. THOU SHALT NOT KILL. The connection of blood is of great power. It is a most undeniable portent and prodigy that there should be one having the human shape, who 30 CICERO. should so exceed the beasts in savage nature as to deprive those of life, by whose means he has him- self beheld this most delicious light of life. So Genesis ix. 5: "And surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the band of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man ; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man." GUILTY CONSCIENCE. It is the terror that arises from his own dishon- est and evil life that chiefly torments a man : his wickedness drives him to and fro, racking him to madness; the consciousness of bad thoughts and worse deeds terrifies him: these are the never-dy- ing Furies that inwardly gnaw his life away; which day and night call for punishment on wicked children for their behavior to their par- ents. THE SELF-MADE MAN. He is, in my opinion, the noblest, who has raised himself by his own merit to a higher station. AN ADVANTAGE TO WHOM. L. Cassius, whom the Roman people used to re- gard as the best and wisest of judges, inquired ever and anon at a trial: For whose advantage the deed was committed. DIFFERENCES OF POWERS. For we cannot do everything by ourselves; dif- ferent men have different abilities. FRIENDSHIP. Nor is there any more certain tie of friendship than when men are joined and bound together in their objects and desires. CICERO. 31 So Shakespeare (" Merchant of Venice," act iii. sc. 4) says: " For in companions That do converse and waste the time together, Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, There must be needs a like proportion Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit." THE POPULACE. There is no sagacity, no penetration, no powers of discrimination, no perseverance in the common people: the wise have always regarded their acts rather to be endured than to be praised. BALLOT. The voting tablet is pleasing to the people, which holds up to view the countenance, while it conceals the intentions, and gives a man liberty to do what he wishes, but to promise what is asked of him. FILIAL AFFECTION. The dutif ulness of children is the foundation of all the virtues. SLANDER. There is nothing which wings its flight so swiftly as calumny, nothing which is uttered with more ease; nothing is listened to with more read- iness, nothing dispersed more widely. Shakespeare (" Cymbeline," act iii. sc. 4) says: '"Tis slander; Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile ; whose breath Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie All corners of the world; kings, queens, and states, Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave This viperous slander enters." 32 CICERO. So Psalm xxxiv. 13: " Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile." A CANDIDATE. Virtue, honesty, uprightness are the qualities that are required in a candidate, not fluency of language, nor knowledge of arts and sciences. VIRTUE. In the approach to virtue there are many steps. So Ephesians iv. 13: "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." BULES FOK LIFE. The illustrious and noble ought to place before them certain rules and regulations, not less for their hours of leisure and relaxation than for those of business. GRATITUDE. A grateful mind is not only the greatest of vir- tues, but the parent of all the other virtues. GRATITUDE TO BE FELT FOR EARLY TEACHING. Who of us is there liberally brought up, who does not gratefully remember those who have brought him up, his masters, and teachers, even the very dumb place where he has been nourished and taught ? CHANGE OF OPINIONS ALLOWABLE. I have learnt, seen and read, that the following are the proper principles for the guidance of man : Ancient records and the annals of literature, both of this state and of others, have handed it down to us as the words of the wise and noble, that the same opinions raid sentiments are not in- variably to be supported by the same individuals, but that they ought to adopt those which may be required by the circumstances of the times, the position in which the state is placed, and accord- ing as the peace and agreement of parties may require. HATRED. Let them hate, provided they fear. AN ABYSS OF EVILS. An abyss and gulf of evils. SECKET ENMITY. There is nothing more difficult to guai'd against than what is concealed under the pretence of duty. For when you have one, who is your openly de- clared enemy, you may easily avoid his attacks by caution: while a hidden ill not only exists but overwhelms you, before you are able to foresee it or examine into its existence. UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE. It is uncertain how long the life of each of us will be. INTEGRITY. There is no cause for glorying in being upright, where no one has the power or is trying to corrupt you. A TRAITOR. No wise man ever thought that a traitor ought to be trusted. 3 34 CICERO. PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF. When a man takes upon himself to correct the manners of his neighbor, and to reprove his faults, who will forgive him if he has deviated in the slightest degree from the precise line of his duty ? So Matthew xviii. 33: "Shonldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the torment- ors, till he should pay all that was due unto him." THE UNCERTAINTY OF CHOPS. All the results of agriculture are dependent not so much on reason and diligence, as on those most uncertain of all things, winds and weather. FINDING FAULT WITH OTHERS. Everything that thou reprovest in another, thou must above nil take care that thou art not thyself guilty of. COVETOUSNESS. That evil, if implanted in man's nature, creeps on in such a way, when the habit of sinning has emancipated itself from control, that no limits can be put to its bold proceedings. RELATIONSHIP OF PURSUITS AND HABITS. A relationship in pursuits and habits is almost as important as the relationship of name mid family. SACRILEGE. Things sacred should not only not be touched with the hands, but may not be violated even in thought. So Luke xix. 46: "My house Is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." C ICE HO. 35 SECRET ENMITIES. } Secret enmities are more to be feared than open. HIS OWN CONFESSION CONDEMNS HIM. He must be convicted by his own confession. FlilENDS AND ENEMIES. Let friends perish, provided our enemies are de- stroyed along with them. MASTER AND SLAVE. He, who should be the master, sometimes takes the place of the slave; he, who should be the slave, becomes the master. THE RESULT OF A PLAN. Men usually judge of the prudence of a plan by the result, and are very apt to say that the suc- cessful man has had much forethought, and the unsuccessful shown great want of it. LIBERTY. What is so much beloved by the people as liberty, which you see not only to be greedily sought after by men, but also by leasts, and to be preferred to all things? MAKNEStS. Men's characters and habits are not influenced so much by the peculiarities of family and race as by the physical features of their native land and their mode of life things, by which we are sup- ported and by which we live. 36 (.'ICE 1 10. PROSPERITY. Aii individual in a private station, unless he be endued with great wisdom, cannot confine himself in due bounds if he reach high fortune and wealth. THE SOUL. Therefore, for many other reasons, the souls of the good appear to me to be divine and eternal; but chiefly on this account, because the soul of the best and the wisest has such anticipation of a future state of being, that it seems to centre its thoughts only on eternity. REVEXGE. We can more easily avenge an injury than requite a kindness ; on this account, because there is less difficulty in getting the better of the wicked than in making one's self equal with the good. VITUPERATION. Scurrility has no object in view but incivility; if it is uttered from feelings of petulance, it is mere abuse; if it is spoken in a joking manner, it may be considered raillery. SOWING WILD OATS. There have been many most illustrious men, who when their youthful passions had cooled down, displayed in mature age the most exalted virtues. THE APPETITES. The appetites of the belly and the throat are so far from diminishing in men by time that they go on increasing. CICERO. 37 So Proverbs xiii. 25 : " The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want," TKUTH. Oli ! great is the power of truth, which is easily able to clef end itself against the artful proceedings of men, their cunning, and subtlety, not less than against their treachery. So Johnvii.25:- "Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he whom they saek to kill ? But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him." DESIRE OF PLEASURE. He was not accustomed to pleasures ; which, when they are pent up for a long while and have been curbed and kept down in the early period of youth, sometimes burst forth suddenly and over- throw every obstacle. THE SEEDS IN YOUTH. The desires in the young, as in herbs, point out what will be the future virtues of the man, and what great crops are likely to reward his indus- try. OUR COUNTRY. Our country is the common parent of all. FOR WHAT PURPOSE WORDS WERE INVENTED. Because our intentions cannot be made out if we be silent, words have been invented not to be a curb, but to point them out. 38 CICERO. JUSTICE MUST NOT BE WARPED. The administration of justice ought neither to be warped by favor, nor broken through by the power of the noble, nor bought by money. THIS IS THE POINT OF MY ARGUMENT. This is the point of my defence. TAXES THE SINEWS OF THE STATE. We have always considered taxes to be the sinews of the state. FALSEHOOD. It is the act of a bad man to deceive by false- hood. THE COUNTENANCE. The whole countenance is a certain silent lan- guage of the mind. Shakespeare (" Pericles," act i. sc. 1) says: " Her face the book of praises, where is read Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence Sorrow were ever razed, and testy wrath Could never be her mild companion." THE BELLY. Born for the gratification of his appetite and not for the acquisition of glory and honor. GUILTY CONSCIENCE. It is a mail's own dishonesty, his crimes, his wickedness, and barefaced assurance, that takes away from him soundness of mind: these are the furies, these the flames and firebrands of the wicked. So Job xv. 20: " The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days." CICERO. 3 destroyed by death. 1 am more inclined to be of the opinion of those among the ancients, who used to maintain that the souls of men are divine, and when they leave the body they return to heaven, and those who are the most vir- tuous and upright have the most speedy entrance. CICERO. 57 FRIENDSHIP WITH RELATIONS. Nature herself lias produced friendship with re- lations, but it is never very stable. FRIENDSHIP A UNION OF FEELING ON ALL SUB- JECTS. Friendship only truly exists where men harmo- nize in their views of things human and divine, ac- companied with the greatest love and esteem ; I know not whether, with the exception of wisdom, the gods have given us anything better. Blair ("The Grave," 1. 88): "Friendship: mysterious cement of the soul! Sweet'ner of life, and solder of society." FRIENDSHIP RENDERS PROSPERITY MORE BRILL- IANT. Friendship throws a greater lustre on prosper- ity, while it lightens adversity by sharing in its griefs and anxieties. So Proverbs xvii. IT: " A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for ad- versity." ABSENT FRIENDS. For in this way we may say that the absent are present, the needy have abundance, the weak are in health, and, what may seem absurd, the dead are alive. This is the idea in the well-known line: " Though lost to sight, to memory dear." And in 1 Corinthians v. 3: " Absent in body, but present in spirit." Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 502, M.) says: " Lament your kinsmen with moderation, for they are not dead, but have gone before on the same road, along which 58 CICERO. we must all necessarily pass; then we, too, hereafter, shall come to the same resting-place, about to spend the remain- der of our time along with them." IN FRIENDSHIP NOTHING FALSE. In friendship we find nothing false or insincere; everything is straightforward, and springs from the heart. THAN FRIENDSHIP NOTHING MORE DELIGHTFUL. O matchless wisdom, those seem to take the sun out of the world who remove friendship from the pleasures of life; than which we have received nothing better or more pleasant from tie gods. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 47) says: " There is no better medicine for grief than the advice of a good and honored friend. He who, in his sufferings, excites and tries to soothe his mind by wine, though he may have pleasure for a moment has a double portion of pain after- wards." A MIND WELL REGULATED. This, then, is a proof of a well-trained mind, to delight in what is good, and to be annoyed at the opposite. WHO CAN LOVE HIM WHOM HE FEARS? For who can love either him whom he fears, or him by whom he thinks that he is feared ? THE RESULTS OF PROSPERITY. For not only is Fortune herself blind, but she generally causes those men to be blind whose in- terests she has more particularly embraced. Therefore they are often haughty and arrogant; nor is there anything more intolerable than a prosperous fool. And hence we often see that men, who were at one time affable and agreeable. CICERO. 59 are completely changed by prosperity, despising their old friends, and clinging to new. Pope (Prologue to the Satires, 1. 84) thus speaks of a fool: " No creature smarts so little as a fool." TO LOVE AS IF ONE DAY WE WERE TO HATE. He used to maintain that there was no maxim more at variance with friendship than that of the man who said, "that we ought always to indulge in love as if we might one day hate.''' A SUBE FRIEND. Ennius has Avell remarked, " that a real friend is known in adversity." TO HATE OPENLY. Open and avowed hatred far more becomes a man of straightforward character than concealing our sentiments with a smooth brow. THE DUTIES DUE TO FRIENDSHIP. It is a common proverb that many bushels of salt must be eaten together, before the duties due to friendship can be fulfilled. REMINDING KINDNESSES. That is a detestable race of men who are always raking up kindnesses conferred; he, who has re- ceived them, ought to have them on his memory, and not the man who has conferred them. EXCELLENCE RARE. A kind of men, few and far between (all good things are rare) for there is nothing more difficult to find than perfection. 60 CICERO. A SECOND SELF. Unless this idea be adopted in friendship a true friend will never be found ; for he is like a second self. A THING DONE. For this is a preposterous idea, and we do over that which has been done, which we are prohib- ited to do by the ancient proverb. MODESTY GREATEST ORNAMENT OF FRIENDSHIP. He takes the greatest ornament from friendship, who takes modesty from it. SOCIETY NECESSARY. If a man could mount to heaven, and survey the mighty universe with all the planetary orbs, his admiration of their beauties would be much di- minished, unless he had some one to share in his pleasure. ENEMIES BETTER THAN FRIENDS. Bitter and unrelenting enemies often deserve better of us than those friends whom we are in- clined to regard as pleasant companions; the former often tell us the truth, the latter never. FLATTERY. Let flattery, the handmaid of vices, be far re- moved from friendship. So Luke vi. 26: " Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you ! for :o did their fathers to the false prophets." HYPOCRISY. The truth is that few are endowed with virtue CICERO. 61 in comparison with the number of those who wish us to believe that they possess it. AFFECTION AND KINDLY FEELING. When affection and kindly feeling are removed, all cheerfulness also is banished from existence. AVARICE. I have never, by Hercules, considered heaps of money, magnificent palaces, influence in the state, military commands, nor any of those pleasures of which men are particularly fond, as things either good in themselves or to be desired; inasmuch as I saw that those who abounded in them still de- sired them the most. The thirst of desire is never filled nor fully satisfied; those who possess such things are tormented not only with the wish to increase them, but also with the fear of losing them. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 1091 M.) says: " Certainly a sordid love of money is a most foolish thing: for the mind being intent on gaining sees nothing else." GUILTY CONSCIENCE. Death is terrible to those with whose life all things come to an end, not to those whose fame cannot die; but banishment is terrible to those who possess, as it were, a confined and circum- scribed abode; not to those who consider the whole habitable globe as one city. Miseries and calamities press upon thee who thinkest thyself rich and increased with goods. Thy lusts torture thee; thou art tormented night and day; who never considerest enough what thou hast, and even fearest, lest that which thou hast should not continue with thee. The consciousness of thy evil deeds goads thee to madness; the fear of judg- 62 CK'KBO. ment and of the laws racks thy mind; wherever thou turnest thy eyes, thy unjust deeds, like fu- ries, meet thee, and do not suffer thee to breathe. THE UPRIOHT. Wlio therefore lives as he wishes, but the man who leads ah upright life, who rejoices in the per- formance of his duty, who has considered well and thoughtfully the path of life he ought to pursue? who does not submit to the laws fron> fear, but pays respect and obedience to them because he considers that this is the most proper course; who says, does, and thinks nothing, in short, but of his ow r n will, and freely; all whose plans and all whose acts are derived from and return to himself ; nor is there anything which lias more authority with him than his own wishes and judgment. Even Fortune herself, which is said to have the greatest power, gives way to him : as the wise poet has said " A man's fortune has its form given to it by his habits." FRUGALITY. Ye immortal gods ! men know not how great a revenue economy is. VIRTUE NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM US. For, if those cunning valuers of things prize highly meadows and certain pieces of ground, be- cause such kind of possessions can be but little injured, at what a rate ought viitue to be es- teemed, which can neither be taken away nor stolen; nor can we lose it by shipwreck or fire; nor, is it to be changed by the power of tempests, or time? those who possess it are alone rich. CICERO. 63 STATESMEN. Be persuaded that there is a certain separate place in heaven for those v\ ho have preserved, aided, and ameliorated their country, where they may enjoy happiness to all eternity. For there is nothing on earth which gives more pleasure to that Supreme Being who governs this world, than the meetings and assemblies of men, bound to- gether by social rights, which are called states; the governors and the preservers of these coming thence return to the same place. So Hebrews v. 9: ' ' He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." THE SOU!,. No doubt, replied Scipio, those are alive who have broken loose from the chains of the body as from a prison; it is yours that is called life that is really death. THE WOELI) IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD. Unless the God, whose temple the whole of this is which thou beholdest, shall release thee from these bonds of the body, thou canst not enter here. SUICIDE UNLAWFUL. Wherefore, Publiup, thou and all the good musfc keep the soul in the body, nor must men leave this life without the pel-mission of the Being by whom it has been given, lest then shouldst seem to treat contemptuously the gift of life confened on thee by the Supreme Being. So Philippians i. 23: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far 64 L'HJEliO. better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." VIRTUE OUGHT TO ATTRACT TO TRUE GLORY. Therefore, if thou wilt only turn thy eyes up- wards, and look to that heavenly abode and eternal dwelling-place, thou wilt pay no regard to the gossip of the vulgar, nor place thy hopes in the rewards of men; virtue by its allurements must attract thee to true honor; what others say of thee let them see to it, yet talk they will. THE MIND IS THE MAX. Do thou exert thyself, and believe that it is not thou but thy body that is mortal. For thou art not the being whom this figure shows, but the mind is the man, and not the figure which can be pointed at with the ringer. Know therefore that thou art a divine being, since it is a deity in thee which moves, feels, remembers, foresees, rules, and governs that body, over which it is placed, in the very same way as the Supreme Being governs this world; and as the Eternal God directs this world; which is in a certain degree mortal, so the never-dying spirit directs the frail body. THE I5KAVE. No man can be brave who considers pain to be the greatest evil of life, nor temperate who con- siders pleasure to be the highest good. THE OBLIGATIONS OF LIFE. There is no kind of life, whether we are trans- acting public or private affairs, at home or abroad those in which we are alone concerned or with others that is free of obligations. In the due (JICEUO. 66 discharge of these consists all the dignity, and in their neglect all the disgrace, of life. REASON AND INSTINCT. Between man and the lower animals there is this great distinction, that the latter, moved by instinct, look only to the present and what is be- fore them, paying but little attention to the past or the future. Whereas man, from being endued with reason, by means of which he sees before and after him, discovers the causes of events and their progress, is not ignorant of their antecedents, is able to compare analogies, and to join the future to the present; he easily sees before his mind's eye the whole path of life, and prepares things necessary for passing along it. Thou seest, my son Marcus, the very form and features, as it were, of virtue; and could it only be beheld by our eyes, it would rouse in us a wonderful love of wisdom. LEARNING. We are all drawn and attracted to the desire of knowledge and learning, in which we think it honorable to excel; but to make mistakes and to be ignorant, we regard as base and disgraceful. THE EARTH CHEATED FOR THE VSE OF MAX. But seeing (as has been well said by Plato) we have not been born for ourselves alone, but our country claims one part of us. our friends another, and, as the Stoics declare, all the productions of the earth have been created for the use of men, whereas men are born in order that they should assist one another: in this we ought to follow 5 06 CICERO. nature as our guide, to bring into the common stock whatever is useful by an interchange of good offices, at one time giving, at another receiv- ing, to bind men in union with each other by arts, by industry, and by all the faculties of our mind. So 1 Thessalonians iv. 9:" For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.'' THE AMBITIOUS. In men of the highest character and noblest genius there generally exists insatiable desire of honor, command, power, and glory. DO NOTHING WHICH IS DOUBTFUL. Wherefore wisely do those admonish us who f jrbid us to do anything of which we may be in doubt, whether it is right or wrong. What is right shines with unreflected lustre, whereas hesi- tation insinuates a suspicion of something wrong. THE FUNDAMENTAL, PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE. The fundamental principles of justice are, in the first place, that no injury be done to any one; and, secondly, that it be subservient to the public good. RIG OK OF LAW. Hence "strictness of law is sometimes extreme injustice " has passed into a trite proverb. JUSTICE TOWARDS INFERIORS. Let us remember that justice must also be observed even to inferiors. TRUE HONORABLE DEALING. In honorable dealing we must consider what we intended, not what we said. CICERO. 61 HYPOCRISY. In acts of wickedness there is nothing greater than that of those who, when they deceive, so manage that they seem to be virtuous aud upright men. FALSE GENEROSITY. For many men act recklessly and without judg- ment, conferring favors upon all, incited to it by a sudden impetuosity of mind: the kindnesses of these men are not to be regarded in the same light or of the same value as those which are con- ferred with judgment and deliberation. But in the conferring and requiting of a favor, if other things be equal, it is the duty of a man to assist where it is most required. The very opposite of this often takes place, for men assist those from whom they hope to receive in return, even though they do not require it. REASON AND SPEECH. It is reason and speech that unite men to each other; nor is there anything else in which we differ so entirely from the brute creation. MARRIAGE THE CLOSEST BOND OF SOCIETY. The first bond of society is the marriage tie: the next our children; then the whole family of our house, and all things in common. So Genesis ii. 24 : " Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." FATHERLAND. But, when thou considerest everything carefully and thoughtfully, of all societies, none is of more importance, none more dear than that which 68 CICERO. unites us with the commonwealth. Our parents, cli 'Mi-en, relations, and neighbors are dear, but our fatherland embraces tlie whole round of these endearments; in defence of which, who would not dare to die if only he could assist it ? POPULARITY. The man who is of the highest spirit and most influenced by the desire of glory, is most easily excited to the commission of injustice. Such a position is indeed of a slippery character, for there is scarcely to be found a man who, when he has undertaken labors and undergone dangers, does not look to glory as their reward. POP U L AIUT Y-HUXTIX G. That man is not to be considered among the great who depends on the errors of the foolish multitude. KETIKEMENT. There are, and have been, many men who, de- siring that life of tranquillity which I have been describing, have retired from public affairs, and devoted themselves to the pleasures of private life. These have h?.d the same object in view as men in high rank namely, that they should stand in need of nothing, be the slave of no one, enjoy perfect liberty; the peculiar characteristic of which kind of life is, that a man lives according to his own will and pleasure. Wherefore, since those desirous of power have this in common with those lovers of retirement whom I have described, the one think they are able to obtain it by the pos- session of great wealth, and the other by being content with their own small competency. The idea of neither of these is to be altogether disrc- CICERO. 69 garcled, but the life of the inactive is easier, safer, less burdensome and annoying to others, whereas those, who devote themselves to public life and the management of great affairs, are more advan- tageous to mankind, and rise to greater glory and honor. TO DESPISE RICHES. Nothing is a greater proof of a narrow and grov- elling disposition than to be fond of riches, while nothing is more noble and exalted than to despise money, if thou hast it not; and if thou hast it, to employ it in acts of benelicence and liberality. So Hebrews xiii. 16: "But to do good and communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." IK ALL AFFAIRS THERE SHOULD BE DILLIGENT. PREPARATION. In all affairs before thou undertakest them, a diligent preparation should be made. WISE ATDMINTSTRATION. An army abroad is of little use unless there is prudent conduct in affairs at home. WAR ONLY TO BE MADE TO SECURE PEACE. Let war be so carried on that no other object may seem to be in view except the acquisition of peace. FORESIGHT. Though the one is a proof of a high spirit, the other is that of a lofty intellect to anticipate by forethought coming events, and to come to a con- clusion somewhat beforehand what may possibly happen in either case, and what ought to be done 70 CICERO. in that event, and not to be obliged sometimes to say, " I had never thought it." These are the acts of a powerful and sagacious mind, one who trusts in his own prudence and schemes. DEATH TO BE PREFERRED TO SLAVERY. When time and necessity require it, we should resist with all our might, and prefer death to slavery and disgrace. Euripides (Fr. Archel. 14) says: " For a few brave men are better than many cowards." And Euripides (Fr. Archel. 28): " One thing only I declare to you, that you ought never willingly to sink in life to slavery, when you may die in free- dom." THE CHARACTER OF A RESOLUTE MAX. It is the character of a brave and resolute man not to be ruffled with adversity and not to be in such confusion as to desert his post, as we say, but to preserve presence of mind and the exercise of reason without departing from his purpose. So 1 Peter v. 7: " Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." THE NOBLE. It is the duty of a great man, in a revolutionary age, to punish the guilty, to be kind to the lower orders, and in all states of fortune to do what is straightforward and honorable.. THE CONTEMPT OF DANGERS. We should never by shunning dangers cause that we should seem cowardly and timid, Lut we should also avoid unnecessarily exposing ourselves to danger, than which nothing can be more fool- ish. CICERO. 71 MODERATION WORTHY OF A GREAT AND GOOD MAN. Nothing is more praiseworthy, nothing more suited to a great and illustrious man than placabil- ity and a merciful disposition. So Romans xii. 18: " If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." PUNISHMENT TO BE PROPORTIONED TO THE OFFENCE. We must take care that crimes be not more severely punished then they deserve, and that one should not be punished for a fault, respecting which another is not even called in question. ANGER IN Above all things in punishing we must guard against passion ; for the man who is in a passion will never observe the mean between too much and too little. LET US AVOID PRIDE. In prosperity let us particularly avoid pride, disdain, and arrogance. EQUANIMITY IN ALL THINGS. It shows a weak mind not to bear adversity and prosperity with moderation. AFFABILITY IN HIGH FORTUNE. Rightly do those teach who admonish us that we should be the more humble in proportion to our high rank. So Matthew xviii. 4: "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." 72 (JKJERO. THE OPINION OF THE WORM). To treat with contempt what the world thinks of us is the maik not merely of arrogance but of a character utterly shameless. THE APPETITES MUST OBEY REASON. We must take care that our appetites be obe- dient to reason, neither outrunning it nor lagging behind from sluggishness or langor, and that these be in a state of tranquillity, and free from all disturbing influences. JOKES. The distinction between a delicate witticism and alow, rude joke is very perceptible; the former may be indulged in, if it be seasonable, and in hours of relaxation, by a virtuous man; the latter, if indecent gestures and olscenity of language be used, is unworthy even of a human being. Earl of Roscommon (" Essay on Translated Verse "): " Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense." A LIMIT TO BE SET TO OUU AMUSEMENTS. There is a certain limit to be observed even in our amusements, that we do not abandon ourselves too much to a life of pleasure, and carried away by such a life sink into immorality. AMUSEMENT NOT DISALLOW ABI,E. Sport and merriment are at times allowable ; but we must enjoy them as we do sleep and other kinds of repose when we have performed our weighty and important affairs. THE MIND. The mind of man is improved by learning and reflection; it is always searching into or doing L'WERO. 73 something, and is led forward by the pleasurable enjoyment of the eye and the ear. TIIE UNWILLJNCJ MINERVA. Hence it is the more evident in what the grace- ful consists, on this account, because there is nothing becoming which goes against the grain (as is the proverb) that is to say, when nature re- sists and opposes. A MAN'S OWN MANNERS. A man's own manner and character is what best becomes him. A PROFESSION. We ought particularly to determine what kind of characters we wish to be, and what is to be the course of our life which is a-mattcr of great diffi- culty. For in early youth) when the judgment is weak, every one selects the kind of life which he prefers ; therefore he is fixed in a certain definite course before he is able to judge which is best for him. FEW CAN DECIDE TIIE MODE OF THEIR FUTURE LIFK. The rarest class is made up of those who, either from the possession of exalted genius, or furnished with excellent education and learning, or having both have been allowed time to make up their mind what course of life they would wish to em- brace. VIRTUOUS EXAMPLE OF A FATHER. The best inheritance that a father can leave to his children, and which is superior to any patri- mony, is the glory of his virtue and noble deeds; 74 CICERO, to disgrace which ought to be regarded as base and impious. DUTIES OF CITIZENS. A private citizen ought to live on terms of equal- ity with his fellow-citizens, neither cringing nor subservient, nor haughty nor insolent; he ought to be favorable to measures in the state which lead to peace and quietness, for such we consider to be the character of a virtuous and upright citi- zen. AN ALIEN. A foreigner and an alien ought to attend to noth- ing but his own business, never to meddle -with the affairs of others, and least of all to pry into the concerns of a foreign state. OBSERVE CONSISTENCY OF CONDUCT. Nothing is more becoming than in all our actions and in all of our deliberations to observe consist- ency of conduct. BEAUTY AND DIGNITY. But, as there are two kinds of beauty, in the one of which is loveliness, in the other dignity; we ought to regard loveliness as the quality of woman, dignity that of man. Therefore, let every orna- ment unworthy of a man be removed from his per- son, and let him guard against any similar defect in his gestures and movements. CLOWNISHNESS TO BE AVOIDED. Besides, we must be neat in our person, though not over particular, and let us shun boorish and ungentlemanlike slovenliness. The same princi- CICERO. 75 pies must be applied to our dress, in which, as in most things, a mean is to be observed. CONVERSATION. A conversationalist must not exclude others from conversation at the dinner-table, as if it were his own possession, but he ought to regard mutual interchange of ideas to be the rule in conversation as in "other things. BRAGGING. It is a silly thing to brag loudly of one's own do- ings (the more so if it be false), and to imitate the braggadocio-soldier in the play, telling falsehoods to the great amusement of the company. DEGENERACY. It is a disgraceful thing when the passers-by ex- claim, " O ancient house! alas, how unlike is thy present master to thy former lord!" A PALACE. A man's dignity should be increased by his house, and yet not wholly sought from it; the mas- ter ought not to be ennobled by the house, but the house by the master. QUICK TO SEE THE FAULTS OF OUR NEIGHBORS. For it happens that we are more quicksighted as to the faults of others than of our own. PRUDENCE. Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought and to be avoided. 76 CICERO. IMPORTANCE OF LEGAL STUDIES. Hence it may be understood that the studies and pursuits of literature ought to be deferred to the study of law, which relates to the interests of the human race, than which there ought to be nothing more important to man. PUBLIC SPEAKING. On this account it is more serviceable to the public to speak eloquently, provided it is with prudence, than to think ever so accurately, if it be destitute of eloquence; for thought terminates in itself, whereas eloquence embraces all those with whom we are united in the society of life. THE LEARNED TEACH AFTER THEIR DEATH. Learned men not only instruct and educate those who are desirous to learn, during their life, and while they are present among us, but they continue to do the same after death by the monu- ments of their learning which they leave behind them. PIETY AND HOLINESS. Piety and holiness of life will propitiate the gods. So Micah vi. 6: " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord." And 1 Peter iii. 15: " Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." MAX THE CAUSE OF MISCHIEF TO MAN. There is no plague of so fearful a character that it may not arise to man from man. FORTUNE. Who does not know the influence that fortune exercises both upon our prosperity and adversity? CICERO. 77 For when we sail with her favoring breeze, we are carried forward to the wished-for port, and when she blows against us, we are in distress. Sir Thomas Browne (" Religio Medici," c. 17, 18) expresses the same idea very beautifully : "All cannot be happy at once; for because the glory of one state depends upon the ruin of another, there is a revolu- tion and vicissitude of their greatness which must obey the spring of that wheel not proved by intelligencies, but by the hand of God, whereby all estates rise to their zenith and ver- tical points, according to their predestinated periods. For the lives not only of men but of commonweals, and the whole world, run not upon an helix that still enlargeth, but on a cir- cle, where arising to their meridian, they decline in obscurity, and fall under the horizon again. " These must not therefore be named the effects of fortune, but in a relative way, and as we term the works of nature. It was the ignorance of man's reason that begat this very name, and by a careless term miscalled the providence of God; for there is no liberty for causes to operate in a loose and straggling way, nor any effect whatsoever but hath its warrant from some universal or superior cause. 'Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables; for even in sortileges and matters of greatest uncertainty, there is a settled and pre-ordered course of effects. It is we that are blind, not fortune: because our eye is too dim to dis- cover the mystery of her effects, we foolishly paint her blind, and hoodwink the providence of the Almighty. I cannot just- ify that contemptible proverb that fools only are fortunate ; or that insolent paradox, that a wise man is out of the reach of fortune; much less those opprobrious epithets of poets, whore, bawd, and strumpet. 'Tis, I confess, the common fate of men of singular gifts of mind to be destitute of those of fortune; which doth not any way deject the spirit of wiser judgments, who thoroughly understand the justice of this pro- ceeding, and being enriched with higher donatives, cast a more careless eye on these vulgar parts of felicity. It is a most unjust ambition to desire to engross the mercies of the Almighty, nor to oe content with the goods of mind without a possession of those of body or fortune : and is an error worse than heresy to adore these complimental and circumstantial pieces of felicity, and undervalue those perfections and essen- tial pouits of happiness wherein we resemble our Maker." Simonides of Ceos (Fr. 36, S.) thus expresses himself : TS CICERO. "For the life of man is unstable: having nothing certain, it is moved here and there by accidents. Yet hope cheers the mind: no one knows what an hour may bring forth; God rules all the affairs of men, and often a boisterous storm overwhelms them in calamity." FEAR. Fear is a bad guardian of a thing that requires to last, while on the other hand, affection is faith- ful to the end. So Galatians iii. 23: ' But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.'' PLEASURES. Pleasures, those alluring mistresses, divert the great majority of mankind from the path of virtue; and when the torch of affliction is applied they are terrified beyond measure. All men feel strongly life, death, riches, and poverty. As to those who, with a high and noble spirit, look on such things with an indifferent eye, men, whom a great and lofty object, when it is presented, draws and absorbs to itself, in such cases who can re- frain from admiring the splendor and beauty of their high-principled conduct? Euripides (Fr. Archel. 10) says: " There is no one who seeks to live in pleasure that lias reached fame: man must labor." INCORRUPTIBILITY. Men particularly admire him who is not to be influenced by money; for in whomsoever they see this quality strongly marked, they regard him as ore purified by fire. HTPOCR1SY AXD TRUE POPULARITY. Well did Socrates say, that this was the nearest and the shortest road to glory, when a man acted CICERO. 79 so that he was such as he wished to be considered. Whereas those are greatly mistaken who think that they can obtain permanent glory by hypoc- risy, vain pretence, and disguised words and looks. True glory strikes its roots deep, and spreads them on all sides; everything false disappears quickly, like spring flowers, nor can anything, that is untrue, be of long duration. So Proverbs xix. 5: " He that speaketh lies shall not escape." Also Acts v. Si, 39: " And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it* be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." THE CHIEF RECOMMENDATION OF A YOUNG MAN. The chief recommendation of a young man is modesty, obedience to parents, and affection for relations. CONVERSATION. But yet it is difficult to say how much men's minds are conciliated by a kind manner and affa- bility of speech. DUTY OF AN ADVOCATE. We ought to consider it a duty to defend the guilty, provided he be not an abominable and im- pious wretch. Mankind desire this, custom allows it, and even humanity is willing to tolerate it. TIIE DUTY OF A JUDGE. It is the duty of a judge in all trials to follow truth. IN WHAT WAY GENEKOSITY IS TO BE SHOWN. Our purse should not be so closed that our kind feelings cannot open it, nor yet so unfastened that 80 CICERO. it lies open to all. A limit should be set, aud it should depend on our means. So isaiaa Iviii. 7: " Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cost out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thy- self from thine own flesh ? " BOUNTY. We ought particularly to remember this, as it is often in the mouths of the men of the present day, and has even passed into a proverb, " That a bountiful disposition has no bQttom." For where can there be any moderation when both those who are accustomed to get and others are anxious for the same thing ? BENEFITS ILL BESTOAVED. Well has Ennius said, " Kindnesses misplaced are nothing but a curse and disservice." li Praise undeserved is satire in disguise." GRATITUDE. Now it was well said, whoever said it, " That he, who hath the loan of money has not repaid it; and he, who has repaid it, has not the loan ; but he, who has acknowledged a kindness, has it still; and he, who has a feeling of it, has requited it." LEVELLING PRINCIPLE, NO MISCHIEF GREATER. He said very unwisely, "That there were not two thousand men of property in the^vhole state." A speech well worthy of notice, and which aimed at the equalizing of property, than which there is no principle more pernicious in a state. CICERO. 81 Good health is to be secured by an acquaintance with our constitutions, and by observing what things benefit or injure us; by temperance in liv- ing, which tends to preserve the body; by refrain- ing from sensuality; in short, by employing the skill of those who have devoted themselves to the study of the human body. LEISURE. My son Marcus, Cato tells us that Publius Scipio, he who was called Africanus the Elder, used to say " that he was never less at leisure than when he was at leisure, nor less alone than when he was alone." A splendid saying, and worthy of a great and wise man, which shows that he used to deliberate on affairs in his leisure hours, and to converse with himself when he was alone, so that he never was idle, and sometimes did not require the society of others. Therefore the two things which cause ennui to others namely, retirement and solitude roused him. Sir P. Sidney (" Arcadia," b. i.) expresses the same idea: " They are never alone that are accompanied by noble thoughts." DO GOOD UNTO ALL MEN. It is more in accordance with nature to under- go the greatest labors and annoyances, for the sake, if it were possible, of preserving or assist- ing all nations. EVEKY OXE SHOULD BEAK HIS OWN BURDEN. Every one should bear his own burden rather than abridge the comforts of others. 6 82 CICERO. THE ABANDONMENT OF THE COMMON GOOD. The desertion of the common intei-est is con- trary to nature. NOTHING EXPEDIENT AVIIICH IS NOT ALSO VIRTU- OUS. He often assures us that there is nothing expe- dient which is not also honorable, nothing honor- able which is not also expedient; and he main- tains that there is no greater injury done to men than by those who try to separate them. GUILT IN THE HESITATION OF A WICKED ACT. Wickedness resides in the very hesitation about an act, even though it be not perpetrated. THE TRUE WAY OF LIFE. He who runs in a racecourse ought to exert him- self as much as he can to conquer, but ought by no means to trip up, or throw down the man with whom he is contending; so in the affairs of life there is nothing wrong in a man trying to obtain what may be for his advantage, yet roguery is un- lawful. THE BUYER AND SELLER. Everything should be disclosed, that the buyer may be ignorant of nothing which the seller knows. IGNORANCE OF ANOTHER NOT TO BE PREYED ON. No one should act so as to take advantage of the ignorance of his neighbor. MAN OF INTEGRITY. For when they praise the faith, the honor, the goodness of a man, they say, " He is one with whom we may play at odd and even in the dark." CICERO. 83 PEKJUKY. For to swear falsely is not at all times to be ac- counted perjury, but not to perform that which you have sworn according to the intentions of your mind " ex animi tui sententia," as our law books have it is perjury. PEBJUKY. I have sworn with my tongue, but I have a mind unsworn. IPSE DIXIT. Nor am I accustomed to approve of that which we have heard about the Pythagoreans, who they say used to answer, when they made an assertion in discussing a subject, if they were asked why it was so, "He himself has said it." Now this "he" was Pythagoras. ALL NATIONS HAVE AN IDEA OF A GOD. Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of a God. For what nation or race of men is there that has not, even without being taught, some idea of a God ? So Acts xvii. 23: "Whorf therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." GOD IS ETERNAL. For the same nature, which has given to us a knowledge of the gods, has imprinted on pur minds that they are eternal and happy. THE HAPPINESS OF LIFE. We place a happy life in tranquillity of mind. 84 CICERO. GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS. Who should not fear God, who foresees, con- siders, and perceives all things ? THE ETERNITY OF GOD. For the gods have always been, and never were born. AN APE. How like to us is that filthy beast the ape ! SUPERSTITION AND TRUE RELIGION CONTRASTED. Superstition is a senseless fear of God, religion the pious worship of God. TIME DESTROYS THE ERRONEOUS OPINIONS OF MEN. Time destroys the groundless conceits of man, but confirms that which is founded on nature and reality. Byronsays: li But time strips our illusions of the soul, And one by one in turn some grand mistake Casts off its bright skin yearly like a snake." ALL THE SICK ARE NOT CURED. Because all the sick do not recover, therefore medicine is no art. ART. It is above all the property of art to create and bring into being. HOW GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPPED. The best, the purest, the most holy worship of the gods, and that which is most consistent with CICERO. 85 our duty, is to worship them always with purity and sincerity of words and thoughts; for not only philosophers, but even our ancestors have drawn a distinction between superstition and religion. Euripides (Fr. Antig. 38) says: " There are three virtues, ray child, which you ought to observe, to honor the gods, reverence your parents, and re- spect the common laws of Greece; and doing so, you will always have the fairest crown of glory." So John iv. %i: " God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Epictetus (i. 16) thus exhorts man to the praise of God: " Are these the only works of Providence with regard to us? And what speech can fitly celebrate their praise? For, if we had any understanding, ought we not, both in public and in private, incessantly to sing and praise the Deity and rehearse his benefits ? Ought we not. whether we dig, or plough, or eat, to sing this hymn to God, 'Great is God, who has sup- plied us with these instruments to till the ground; great is God who has given us hands and organs of digestion; who has given us to grow insensibly, to breathe in sleep ' ? These tilings ought we ever to celebrate ; but to make it the theme of the greatest and divinest hymn, that he has given us the power to appreciate these gifts and to use them well. But because some of you are blind and insensible, there must be some one to fill this station and lead, in behalf of all men, the hymn to God; for what else can I do, a lame old man, but sing hymns to God ? Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale ; were I a swan, I would act the part of a swan. But since I am a reasonable creature, it is my duty to praise God. This is my business, I do it. Nor will I ever desert this post so long as it is permitted me, and I call on you to join in the same song." GOD. ^ Nothing is superior to God; he must therefore govern the world. God is subject to no principle of nature, therefore he rules the whole of nature. NATURE fcETTEK THAN AKT. Those things are better which are perfected by 86 CICERO. nature than those things which are finished by art. THE WORLD WILL BE BUKNT UP. From which some philosophers think that that will happen which Panretius doubts, that the whole world will at last be burnt up. So 2 Peter iii. 7: - " But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." MEN NOT SIMPLY INHABITANTS OF THE EAKTU. God has made men, springing from the ground, tall and upright, that, with eyes looking to heaven, they might acquire a knowledge of the Divine Be- ing. For men are not to consider themselves as mere dwellers on earth, but as it were placed there to gaze on the heavens and heavenly bodies, which is the privilege of no other animated creature. THE EYES PLACED LIKE SENTINELS. The eyes, like sentinels, occupy the highest place in the body. ELOQUENCE. How noble and divine is eloquence ! the mistress of all things, as you are accustomed to say. Which, in the first place, enables us to learn those things of which we are ignorant, and to teach others those things which we know; by this we exhort; by this we persuade; by this AVC console the afflicted ; by this we dissipate the fears of the timid ; by this we restrain the eager; by this we put an end to passions and desires; it is this that has bound mankind by the community of privi- leges, of laws, and civil society; this it is which CICERO. 87 has removed us far from the ills of a savage and barbarous life. MAN. Everything that the earth produces belongs to man: we enjoy the fields and the mountains; ours are the rivers and the lakes; we sow corn and plant trees; we give fruitfulness to the earth by irrigating the ground ; we confine, direct, and turn the course of rivers; in short, by our proceedings we endeavor to form, as it were, a second nature. Euripides (Fr. Aiol. 25) says: " Man's strength lasts only a short time; yet by his cunning devices he brings under him the various tribes of the sea, earth, and air." INSPIRATION, No man was ever great without divine inspiration. So Daniel ii. 21 : " He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." And Matthew x. 20: " For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." REASONING OFTEN DARKENS MATTERS. The clearest subjects are often obscured by lengthened reasoning. BEST NOT TO KNOW THE FUTURE. Often it is disadvantageous to know what is to happen ; for it is wretched to be grieved without the power of changing events. THE EXPERIENCED. I call thosi3 experienced whose minds are strengthened by knowledge, as the hands are hardened by labor. 88 JUSTICE. Justice renders to every one his due. MALICE. Malice is a subtle and deceitful engine to work mischief. VIRTUE. No one lias ever acknowledged having received virtue from a god. EVERY POET MAD. Democritus maintains that there can be no great poet without a spice of madness. CAREFUL, OBSERVATION'. A long course of careful observations, conducted for a length of time, brings with it an incredible accuracy of knowledge. "COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFOBE." Certain signs precede certain events. Coleridge says: " Often do the spirits Of great men stride on before the events, And in to-day already walks to-morrow." PREDESTINATION. Since this is so, nothing has ever happened which has not been predestinated, and in the same way nothing will ever occur, the predisposing causes for which may not be found in nature. IMPOSTORS. In short, I care nothing for the Marsian augurs, nor the village haruspices, nor strolling astrolo- C1CE110. 80 gers, nor for the gypsy priests of Isis, nor for the interpreters of dreams; for these possess neither science nor art, but are superstitious priests and impudent impostors. They are either lazy or mad, or act to gain a livelihood; knowing not the right path themselves, they pretend to show it to others, promising riches to gain a penny. TEACHERS. What nobler employment, or more advanta- geous to the state, than that of the man who in- structs the rising generation ! A WISE PROPHET. The best guesser I shall always call the most sagacious prophet. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 85) says: " He is the best prophet who is the best guesser." And Theocritus (Idyl. xxi. 32) says: " lie is the best diviner of dreams who is taught by his un- derstanding." KNOWLEDGE OF FUTURITY. For my own part, I can never believe that a knowledge of future events would be of advantage to us; for what a miserable life Priam would have led, had he known the occurrences that were to befall him in his old age ! STAR-GAZING. Nobody looks at what is immediately before them ; we are all employed jn gazing at the stars. IT IS WELL, TO OI5SERVE TIIE FACTS OF NATURE. Though it be impossible to discover the occult causes of natural phenomena, still it is well to ob- serve and animadvert upon the facts themselves. 90 CICEEO. EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS. In extraordinary events ignorance of their causes produces astonishment. ONE IS NOT SURPRISED AT WHAT HAPPENS OFTEX. A man is not surprised at what he sees fre- quently, even though he be ignorant of the reason; whereas if that which he never beheld before hap- pens, then he calls it a prodigy. CIIANGEABLENESS OF FORTUNE. No one will separate fortune from inconstancy and rashness. HOW SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR IS TO BE DRIVEN AWAY. Drive away by the principles of nature that ter- ror which may have been caused by the strange- ness of the event. THERE ARE NO PRODIGIES. Nothing can be done without a cause, nor has anything been done which cannot again be done. Nor, if that has been done which could be done, ought it to be regarded as a prodigy. There are, therefore, no prodigies. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT. There is nothing which God cannot accomplish. GOD KNOWS THE CHARACTER OF MAN. God cannot be ignorant of the character of man. So Psalm xciv. 11 : "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man. that they are van- ity." GOD KNOWN BY HIS WORKS. The beauty of the world and the orderly ar- CICERO. 91 rangement of everything celestial makes us con- fess that there is an excellent and eternal nature, which ought to be worshipped and admired by all mankind. So Psalm cii. S5-37: " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a gar- ment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION. Religion is not removed by removing superstition. MAN PRESCIENT AND SAGACIOUS. This provident, sagacious, versatile, subtile, thoughtful, rational, wise animal, which we call man, has been created by the supreme God with a certain noble privilege; for he alone of so many different kinds and sorts of animals is partaker of reason and reflection, when all others are destitute of them. But what is there, I will not say in man, but in all heaven and earth, more divine than rea- son? which, when it has arrived at maturity, is properly termed wisdom. So John i. 13: "Which were born of God." NO NATION SO SAVAGE THAT DOES NOT ACKNOWL- EDGE GOD. Therefore, of all kinds of animals there is none except man that has knowledge of a God; among men there is not a nation so savage and brutish which, though it may not know what kind of a being God ought to he, does not know that there must be one. From this we may infer that, who- 92 CICERO. ever, as it were, recollects and knows whence he is sprung, acknowledges the existence of a God. NATUKE TEACHES MAX TO LOOK UPWAKI). Nature has bestowed on man alone an erect stat- ure and raised his thoughts to the contemplation of heaven, as if it were connected with him by re- lationship and his ancient home. EVIL HABITS. There is in fact such corruption engendered in man by bad habits, that the sparks, as it were, of virtue, furnished by nature, are extinguished, and vices of an opposite kind arise around and become strengthened. So Romans xvi. 18: "They by good words and fair speeches deceive the hwirts of the simple." THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR. Let man love himself not more than his neighbor. So Matthew v. 43: " Thou shalt love thy neighbor." And John xiii. 31- "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." IIKMOKSE OF COXSCIEXCK. The furies pursue men, not with burning torches, as the poets feign, but with remorse of conscience and the tortures arising from guilt. So Job xv. 24, 25: " Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid, ... for he stretcheth out his hand against God." JUSTICE. Justice is obedience to the written laws. CICERO. 93 INSPIRATION OF MAN. For whoever is acquainted with his own mind, will, in the first place, feel that he lias a divine principle within him, and will regard his rational faculties as something sacred and holy; he will always both think and act in a way worthy of so great a gift of the gods; and when he shall have proved and thoroughly examined himself, he will perceive how well furnished by nature he has come into life, and what noble instruments he possesses to obtain and secure wisdom. THE SPOTS WHERE OUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN. We are moved, I know not how, by the spots in which we find traces of those who possess our esteem and admiration. BEGIN WITH A PRAYER TO GOD. We must begin our acts with a prayer to the immortal gods. LAW. I see, therefore, that this has been the idea of the wisest, that law has not been devised by the ingenuity of man, nor yet is it a mere decree of the people, but an eternal principle which must direct the whole universe, ordering and forbidding everything with entire wisdom. Thus they used to say that the mind of the divinity was the real and ultimate law which orders or forbids every- thing justly; hence that law which the gods have assigned to mankind is justly deserving praise, for it is the reason and mind of a wise being well fitted to order or forbid. Tliis idea is beautifully expressed by Hooker (' Ecclesiast- ical Polity," book i.): " Of law there can be no less acknowledged, than that her 94 CICERO. seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power." For it was reason, derived from the nature of things, impelling man to what is right, and deterring him from what is wrong, which does not then begin to he law, when it is found written down in books, but was so from the first moment of its existence. It was co-eternal with the divine mind, wherefore true and ultimate law fitted to order and to forbid is the mind of the Supreme Being. Coke ("Institute," b. i. fol. 970) says: ' Reason is the life of the law ; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. . . . The law, which is the per- fection of reason.'' LAW. Law, therefore, is what distinguishes right and wrong, derived from nature herself the most ancient principle of all things, to which the laws of men direct themselves, when they impose pen- alties on the wicked, and protect and defend the good. Sir \V. Jones (" Ode in Imitation of Alcseus "): " Sovereign law that state's collected will, O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. GOD KXOWS MAN. The gods know what sort of a person every one really is; they take notice with what feelings and with what piety he attends to his religious duties, and are sure to make a distinction between the good and the wicked. CICEltO. 95 So Psalm v. 4-6 :- " For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." STAINS OF THE CONSCIENCE CANNOT BE OBLITERATED. The stains that effect the mind cannot be got rid of by time, nor yet can the multitudinous waters of the sea wash them away. RELIGIOUS FEELINGS. That is a noble sentence of Pythagoras " That then chiefly do piety and religion flourish in our souls, when we are occupied in divine services." GOD IS NOT TO BE PROPITIATED BY THE GIFTS OF THE WICKED. Let the impious listen to Plato, that they may not dare to propitiate the gods with gifts, for he forbids us to doubt what feelings God must enter- tain towards such, whenever a good man is un- willing to accept gifts from the wicked. AN ART IN TEACHING. For not only is art shown in knowing a thing, but there is also a certain art in teaching it. THE MAGISTRATE A SPEAKING LAW. It may be truly said that the magistrate is a speaking law, and the law is a silent magistrate. MAGISTRATES ARE NECESSARY. A state cannot exist without the foresight and diligence of magistrates. 96 CICERO. So 1 Peter ii. 13, 14: " Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punish- ment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well." OBEDIENCE. He who obeys with modesty, appears worthy of some day or other being allowed to command. So Ephesians vi. 5, 0: "Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ: not with eye-service, as men- pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." SAFETY OF THE PEOPLE IS THE SUPREME LAW. Let the safety of the people be the supreme law. SONGS ABLE TO CHANGE THE FEELINGS OF A NATION. This observation is much more certain than that of Plato, who pretends that a change in the songs of musicians is able to change the feelings and conditions of a state. This is very much the idea of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun : " I knew a very wise man that believed that, if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation." MEN ARE IMITATORS OF THOSE ABOVE THEM. Thou mayst plainly see that such as the chief men of the state have been, such also has been the character of the state; and whatever change of manners took place in the former, the same always followed in the latter. CICERO. 97 CICERO OPPOSED TO BALLOT. For I am of the same opinion as you have always been, that open " viva voce" voting is the best method at elections. BALLOT A COVER FOR CORRUPT VOTES. Wherefore the powerful ought rather to have been deprived of their power of influencing votes for bad purposes, than that the ballot should have been conferred on the people, whereby corrupt votes are concealed, virtuous citizens being left in the dark as to the sentiments of each. Wherefore no good man has ever been found to bring forward or propose such a law. BREVITY THE" SOUL OF A SPEECH. For brevity is the best recommendation of a speech, not only in the case of a senator, but in that, too, of an orator. So Shakespeare (" Hamlet," act ii. sc. 2): " Brevity is the soul of wit." MEMORY. Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things. POWER OF ELOQUENCE. Nothing appears to me to be nobler than to keep assemblies of men entranced by the charms of eloquence, wielding their minds at will, impelling them at one time, and at another dissuading them from their previous intentions. NOTHING MORE NOBLE THAN TO ASSIST THE WRETCHED. What is there so kinglike, so noble, so generous, 7 98 CICEliO. as to bring aid to the suppliant, to raise up the broken in heart, to save and deliver from dangers ? So Psalm Ixxii. 12: " For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper." RHETORICIANS WITH VOLUBLE TONGUES. Mnesarclius used to say that those whom we called orators, were nothing else but artisans with voluble and well-trained tongues, but that no one was an orator unless he was wise. THE LAWYERS. The house of the lawyer is, no doubt, the oracle of the whole state. THE GOOD. Socrates used to say that to those who were con- vinced that they should prefer nothing so much as to be good men, every other kind of learning was easy. USE THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. Be unwilling to allow iis to be the slave of only one, but rather of you all in whatever we can and ought Sol Peter iv. 10: " As every man hath received the grift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." THE SMALLEST PLEASURE. Many prefer the smallest pleasure to the most important advantage. ELOQUENCE FLOURISHES IN A FREE STATE. The practice of public speaking flourishes in every peaceful and free state. CICERO. 99 History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity. THE PRIMARY LAW OF HISTOKY. Who does not know that the primary law of history is that it should not dare to say anything false, next that it should dare to state the truth, that there should be no suspicion of favor nor yet of hatred in its words? PEECOCITY. There cannot be long continued sap in that which has too quickly acquired maturity. THE RESULT OF DULNKSS OF MIND. It is the part of the slow of perception to follow up the rivulets of learning and never to see the fountain-head. DILIGENCE. Diligence has greatest power in everything, particularly in defending causes; it is above all to be cultivated, it is always to be attended to; there is nothing which it does not accomplish. AVARICE AND LUXURY. If you wish to destroy avarice, you must destroy luxury, which is its mother. THE ABLE PHYSICIAN. The able physician, before he attempts to give medicine to his patient, makes himself acquainted not only with the disease, which he wishes to cure, but with the habits and constitution of the sick man. 100 < KJERO. A. POET MUST BE DIVINELY INSPIRED. I have often heard that no real poet can exist without the spirit being on fire, and without, as it were, a spice of madness. So also Plato (" Phaedrus," c. 23) says: ' Whoever, without the madness of the Muses, approaches to the gates of poesy, with the persuasion that by means of art he can become an able poet fails in his purpose." See the opening of Shakespeare's "Midsummer- Night's Dream," act v. ENVY. Men envy high and successful fortune. THE ENVIOUS. Most men are envious, and this is above all a common fault. A HARVEST. As thou sowest, so shalt thou reap. TKUE GLORY. True praise is due to virtue alone. MAN KNOWS HIMSELF LEAST. Every one is least known to himself, and the most difficult task is to get acquainted with one's own character. SATIETY OF PLEASURE. In everything satiety is closest on the greatest pleasures. UNLEARNED GOOD SENSE BATHER THAN LOQUA- CIOUS FOLLY. I prefer the wisdom of the unlearned to the folly of the loquacious. CH 'EltO. 101 This is something like what Cratinus (Etymolog. M., p 196, T.) says in a fragment: " The fool goes on saying baa, baa, like the sheep." Nicostratus (Fr. Com. Gr., p. G3S, M.) says: " If it were the sign of wisdom to speak unceasingly, much and quickly, the swallows would be accounted much more wise than we are." Posidippus (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 1148, M.) says: " It is no hard task to speak fluently, but to act well is not so easy; for many, who talk fluently, have no sense." Pope (" Moral Essays," Ep. iv. 1. 43) thus expresses the same idea: " Good sense, which only is the gift of heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven." And Spenser, in his " Shepherd's Calendar " (May, 140) says: " But of all burdens that a man can bear, Most is, a fool's talk to bsar and hear." DISSIMULATION. Dissimulation creeps gradually into the minds of men. THE COUNTENANCE. The countenance is the very portrait of the soul, and the eyes mark its intentions. So Matthew vi. 22: " The light of the body is the eye." HIGHEST PLACE. When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second, or even linger in the third rank. THE BEAUTIFUL IN THE MIND ONLY. I am of opinion that there is nothing of any kind so beautiful, but there is something stiil more beautiful, of -which this is the mere image and ex- pression as a portrait is from a person's face a something which can neither le perceived by the 102 CICERO. eyes, the ears, nor any of the senses; we compre- hend it merely in the thoughts of our minds. GRANDILOQUENT OBATORS. For there have been grandiloquent orators, so to speak, impressive and sonorous in their language, vehement, versatile, and copious; well trained and prepared to excite and turn the minds of their au- dience. While the same effect has been produced by others, by a rude, rough, unpolished mode of address, without finish or delicacy; others, again, have effected the same by smooth, well-turned pe- riods. NEAT OBATOBS. On the other hand, there are orators of subtle and acute minds, well educated, making every sub- ject which they treat clear, but adding little in re- ality to our knowledge, refined and correct in their language. Among these some are crafty, but un- polished, and on purpose rude and apparently un- skilful; while others exhibit more elegance in their barrenness and want of spirit that is to say, they are facetious, flowery in their language, and admit of a few ornaments. THE POWEB OF THE VOICE DERIVED FROM THREE SOUNDS. Wonderful indeed is the power of the voice which, though consisting merely of three sounds the bass, treble, and tenor yet possesses great strength, and a sweet variety, as is shown in songs. EXCESS OFFENDS MORE THAN FALLING SHORT. In everything we must consider how far we ought to go, for though everything has its proper CICERO. 103 medium, yet too much is more offensive than too little. Hence Apelles used to say, that those paint- ers committed a fault who did not know what was enough. THE ELOQUENT MAN. He is the eloquent man who can treat subjects of an humble nature with delicacy, lofty things im- pressively, and moderate things temperately. IGNORANCE OF THE PAST. Not to know what happened before one was born, is always to be a child. IX GEE AT ARTS THE HEIGHT DELIGHTS US. For in all great arts, as in trees, it is the height that charms us; we care nothing for the roots or trunks, yet it could not be without the aid of these. TO BE ASHAMED OF OUB PROFESSION. That very common verse which forbids us " to be ashamed of speaking of the profession which we practise," does not allow me to conceal that I take delight in it. NECESSITY. The inventions dictated by necessity are of an earlier date than those of pleasure. AVISDOM IX NOT THINKING THAT ONE KNOWS THAT OF WHICH HE IS IGNORANT. For this cause he imagined that Socrates was called the wisest of men by Apollo, because all wis- dom consists in this, not to tliink that we know what we do not know. 104 CKJEHO. Voltaire in the " Histoire d'un bon Bramin " says: "The Brahmin said to me one day: I should wish never to have been born. I asked him why. He answered: I have been studying for forty years: they are forty years lost: I am teaching others, and I am ignorant of everything." The Karl of bierline (Loud. fol. It37, p. 7) says in his " lie-creations with the Muses:" " Yet all that I have learned (beinge toyles now past\ By long experience, and in famous schooles, Is but to know my ignorance at last. Who think themselves most wise are greatest fooles." TBTJTH AT THE BOTTOM OF A WELL,. Accuse nature, who has completely hid, as De- mocritus says, truth in the bottom of a well. Shakespeare (" Hamlet," act ii. sc. 2) says something to the same effect: " If circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed Within the centre." This is not unlike what JEschylus (Supp. 1044) says: " Who is able to fathom with the eye the mind of mighty Jove, a vista, the depth of which cannot be reached." There is a very pretty idea in " Don Quixote," v. 10, which seems to refer to this proverbial expression: " Truth may be stretched out thinly, but there can be no rent, and it always gets above falsehood as oil does above water.'' PAINTEKS. Painters see many things in the shade and the height which we do not see. THE SENSES. In my opinion there is the greatest truth in the senses, if they are sound and strong, and if all things are removed which oppose and impede them. CICERO. Utt PAINTING. The eyes are charmed by paintings, the ears by music. REASON A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN OUR STEPS. Eeason is as it were a light to lighten our steps and guide us through the journey of life. Nothing is more delightful than the light of truth. LIKE AS TWO EGGS. Like as two eggs, according to the proverb. FALSEHOOD OFTEN BOBBERS ON TRUTH. So close does falsehood approach to truth, that the wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow ledge. THE CONTEMPLATION OF NATURE IS THE FOOD OF THE MIND. When we are contemplating and pondering on the works of nature, we are supplying, as it were, its natural food to the mind : our thoughts assume a loftier character, and we learn to look down on what is human; while we meditate on the vault of heaven above, our own affairs appear petty and contemptible; our mind derives delight from what is so sublime and inscrutable. So F*alm viii. 4: " When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? 106 CICERO. VIETUE AND ITS COUNTERFEIT. It is not virtue, but a deceptive copy and* imita- tion of virtue, when we are led to the performance of duty by pleasure as its recompense. THE EFFECT OF IGNORANCE. Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of man is greatly perplexed. DEATH ALWAYS IMPENDING. Death approaches, which is always impending o/vr us, like the stone over Tantalus; then comes superstition, with which he, who is racked, can never have peace of mind. HOW AVE ARE RELIEVED FROM SUPERSTITION. When we know the nature of all things, we are relieved from superstition, freed from the fear of death, and not disturbed by ignorance of circum- stances, from which often arise fearful terrors. TERSE SENTENCES. Terse sentences briefly expressed, Iiave great weight in leading to a happy life. MAN BORN FOR TWO THINGS. Man has been born for two things thinking and acting. THE TRUTH. Nature has inspired man with the desire of see- ing the truth. HOW BEAUTIFUL VIRTUE IF SHE COULD BE SEEN. What fervent love of herself would Virtue excite if she could be seen ! CICERO. 107 Plato speaks (" Phsedrus," c. 31 or 2TO D.) in the same noble language: For sight is the sharpest of our bodily senses, though wisdom cannot be seen by it. How vehement would be the love she would inspire, if she came before our sight, and showed us any such clear image of herself, and so would all other lovable things. MONEY. Money is the creator of many pleasures. TEMPERANCE. Temperance is the moderating of one's desires in obedience to reason. BARE THINGS. In every art, science, and we may say even in virtue itself, the best is most rarely to be found. HUNGER BEST SEASONING FOB FOOD. I hear Socrates saying that the best seasoning for food is hunger, for drink, thirst. WHO CAN KNOW WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FOBTH ? Can any one find out how his body shall be, I do not say a year hence, but even at evening? HIS DEEDS DIFFEB FROM HIS AVORDS. His deeds do not agree with his words. PAST LABORS. It is generally said "Past labors are pleasant." Euripides says, for you all know the Greek verse, "The recollection of past labors is pleasant." THE FICKLE AND TRIFLING. Who does not hate tho mean, the vain, the fickle, and the trifling ? 108 CICERO. MANKIND BORN FOR SOCIETY. We have been born to unite with our fellow-men, and to join in community with the human race. So 1 John i. 7: " But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we hare fellowship one with another. " LITERATURE NECESSARY TO THE MIND. The cultivation of the mind is a kind of food supplied for the soul of man. THE BEGINNINGS OF THINGS. The beginnings of all things are small. JUSTICE. Justice is seen in giving every one his own. HABIT. Habit is as it were a second nature. ARTS CHERISHED BY RESPECT SHOWN TO THEM. The honor shown to arts cherishes them, for all are incited to their pursuit by fame; the arts which are contemned by a -people make always Jittle progress. Moore says: " Where none admire, 'tis useless to excel : Where none are beaux, 'tis vain to be a belle.' 1 PROPER EXPRESSION DOES NOT ALWAYS FOLLOW CORRECT THOUGHT. It may happen that a man may think rightly, yet cannot express elegantly what he thinks. But that any one should commit his thoughts to writ- ing, who can neither arrange or explain them, nor amuse the reader, is the part of a man unreasona- bly abusing both his leisure and learning. CICEUO. 109 DEATH. I am unwilling to die, but I care not if I were dead. WHILE I EEAD, I ASSENT. While I read, I assent; when I have laid down the book, and have begun to meditate on the im- mortality of the soul, all this feeling of acqui- escence vanishes. ANTIQUITY. Antiquity, the nearer it was to its divine origin, perhaps perceived more clearly what things were true. ALL NATIONS ACKNOWLEDGE A GOD. No nation is so barbarous, no one is so savage, whose mind is not imbued with some idea of the gods. Many entertain foolish ideas respecting them, yet all think that there is some divine power and nature. Sol John vi. 1: " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." LAW OF NATURE IS THE CONSENT OF ALL NATIONS^ In everything the consent of all nations is re- garded as the law of nature. THE HUSBANDMAN PLANTS FOR POSTERITY. The industrious husbandman plants trees, of which he himself will never see a berry. TO DIE FOR ONE'S COUNTRY. Nobody could ever meet death in defence of his country without the hope of immortality. 110 CICEBO. THE POET. I fly from mouth to mouth, ever living. ANTICIPATION OF FUTURE AGES. There resides in the human breast, I know not how, a certain anticipation of future ages; this exists and appears chiefly in the noblest spirits; if it were taken from us, who is there so mad as to lead a life of danger and anxiety? THE SOUL EXISTS BY CONSENT OF ALL NATIONS. As nature tells us, there are gods, and we know, by the understanding, what like they must be, so, by the consent of all nations, we believe that the soul exists for eternity; but where it is to exist, and of what nature it is, we must learn from the understanding. DIFFICULT TO RELIEVE THE MIND FROM THE THRALDOM OF THE SENSES. It requires a powerful intellect to release the mind from the thraldom of the senses, and to wean the thoughts from confirmed habits. TO ERR WITH PLATO ! By Hercules, I prefer to err with Plato, whom I know how much you value, than to be right in the company of such men. A PROFESSION. Let a man practise the profession which he best knows. THE TRUTH. Nature has imbued our minds with an insatiable desire to be acquainted with the true. CICERO. Ill THE SOUL IMPRISONED IN THE BODY. When I reflect on the nature of the soul, it is much more difficult for me to conceive what like the soul is in the body, where it dwells as in a foreign land, than what like it must be when it has left the body and ascended to heaven, its own peculiar home. So 1 Chronicles xxix. 15: " For we are strangers before thee. and sojourners, as were all our fathers." And Matthew xxv. 34: " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- pared for you from the foundation of the world." THE MIND OF THE ASTRONOMER IS DIVINE. The mind that has comprehended the revolu- tions and the complicated movements of the heavenly bodies, has proved that it resembles that of the Being who has fashioned and placed them in the vault of heaven. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy, the mother of all arts, what else is it, except, as Plato says, the gift, as I say, the in- vention, of the gods ? It is she that has taught us first to worship them, next has instructed us in the legal rights of mankind, which arise out of the social union of the human race, then has shown us the moderation and greatness of the mind; and she too has dispelled darkness from the mind as from the eyes. So Ecclesiastes ii. 26: " For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy." THE SOUL. Whatever that principle is which feels, con- 112 CICEliO. ceives, lives, and exists, it is heavenly and divine, and therefore must be eternal. So Romans v. 5: " The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." THE MIND, Although thou art not able to see the mind of man, as thou seest not God, yet as thou reeogniz- est God from His works, so thou must acknowl- edge the divine power of the mind from its recol- lection of past events, its powers of invention, from its rapidity of movement, and the desire it has for the beautiful. So Romans i. 20: "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God-head."' THE GOOD AND THE BAD. The opinion of Socrates was to the following effect, and thus he spoke: "There are two roads and two directions which souls take on leaving the body. Those who have spent their lives iu vicious practices, giving themselves wholly up to the lusts of the body, so as to become blinded to all that is good, or who have sunk into the mire of private filth and wickedness, or who have com- mitted inexpiable crimes against their country, such go to a sepai m ate abode, away from the gods. Those, on the other hand, who have kept them- selves pure and chaste, little subject to fleshly lusts, but imitating the life of the gods, find no difficulty in returning to those from whom they came. SUICIDE. That divine principle, that rules within us, for- C ICE HO. 113 bids us to leave this world without the order of the Divinity. THE LIFE OF PHILOSOPHERS. The whole life of philosophers is a commentary on death. LIFE LENT TO ITS AT INTEREST BY NATURE. Nature has bestowed on us life at interest like money, no day being fixed for its repayment. INNUMERABLE ROADS TO THE GRAVE. There are innumerable roads on all sides to the grave. THE MAN WHO HAS LIVED LONG ENOUGH. Every man has lived long enough who has gone through all the duties of life with unblemished character. GLORY. Glory follows virtue as if it were its shadow. MAN NOT MADE BY CHANCE. For we have not been framed or created without design nor by chance, but there has been truly some certain power, which had in view the happi- ness of mankind; neither producing nor maintain- ing a being, which, when it had completed all its labors, should then sink into the eternal misery of death: rather let us think that there is a haven and refuge prepared for us. OUR LAST DAY. That last day brings not to us extinction but merely change of place. 8 114 CICERO. FEW ACT ACCORDING TO REASON. How few philosophers are there whose habits, mind, and lives are constituted as reason demands. So Proverbs xx. 9: "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ? " ALL MEN NOT SUSCEPTIBLE OF IMPROVEMENT. All fields are not fruitful. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy is the cultivation of the mental faculties; it roots out vices and prepares the mind to receive proper seed. DEATH. He who is preparing destruction for another, may be certain that his own life is in danger. HABIT. Great is the power of habit. REASON. Reason is the mistress and queen of all things. CONSCIENCE. There is no greater theatre for virtue than con- science. THE WICKEDNESS OF MAX. Now as soon as we have been ushered into the light of day and brought up, at once we are engaged in every kind of wicked practice and the utmost perversity, so that we seem to have sucked in error almost with our nurse's milk. CICERO. 115 GLORY. Glory is something that is really and actually existing, and not a mere sketch; it is the united expression of approval by the good, the genuine testimony of men who have the power of forming a proper judgment of virtuous conduct; it is the sound given back by virtue, like the echoes of the woods, which, as it usually attends on virtuous actions, is not to be despised by the good. Milton ("Paradise Regained," b. iii. 1. 25) thus speaks of glory: " Glory, the reward That sole excites in high attempts, the flame Of most erected spirits, most tempered pure Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise." DISEASES OF THE MIND. The diseases of the mind are more destructive and in greater number than those of the body. When the mind is in a disturbed state, like the body, health cannot exist. THE ATICIPATION OF EVILS. Epicurus thinks that it is foolish to anticipate future evils, which may never happen: " sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." PAIN AND DISEASE. There is no mortal whom pain and disease do not reach. FOLLY TO TEAB ONE'S HAIR IN SORROW. It is folly to tear one's hair in sorrow, as if grief could be assuaged by baldness. 116 CICERO. THE FOOL LYNX-EYED TO THE FOLLIES OF HIS NEIGHBORS. It is the peculiar quality of a fool to be quick in seeing the faults of others, while he easily forgets his own. Sosicrates (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 1183) says: " We are quick to see the evil conduct of others, btit when we ourselves do the same, we are unconscious of it." WHAT IS ILLI T STRIOUS IS ATTAINED BY LABOR. What is there that is illustrious, that is not also attended by labor ? DL'ST TO DUST. Dust must be consigned to dust. So Ecclesiastes xii. 7: " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was." And iii. 20: " All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." HATRED. Hatred is ingrained anger. ANGER. Anger is the desire of punishing the man who seems to have injured you. So Proverbs xxvii. 4: " Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous.'' Discord is anger more bitter than hatred, con- ceived in the inmost breast. AVARICE. When money is coveted, and reason does not cure the desire, there a disease of the mind exists, and that disease is called " avarice." CIVELiO. 117 THE CORRUPTION OF OPINIONS. Hence it happens that mental diseases take their rise from the corrupt state of the sentiments. A LAUGH ADMISSIBLE, BUT NOT A GUFFAW. Though a laugh is allowable, a horse-laugh is abominable. PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy, thou guide of life! Thou searcher after virtue, and banisher of vice! What would not only we ourselves, but the whole life of men, have been without thy aid? It is thou that found- edst cities, collectedst men in social union; thou that broughtest them together first in dwellings, then in marriage, then in all the delights of litera- ture: thou discoveredst laws, bestowedst on men virtuous habits: to thee we fly for aid. One day spent virtuously, and in obedience to thy precepts, is worth an immortality of sin. Sophocles (Antig. 354) thus speaks of man: " And he hath taught himself language, lofty wisdom, and the customs of civic law." In fact he represents speech and language as the beginning of civilization. Milton in his " Comus " (1. 484) thus eulogizes philosophy: " How charming is Divine Philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose; But musical as is Apollo's lute. And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns." SOCRATES. Socrates was the first who brought down philos- ophy from heaven, introducing it into the abodes of men, and compelling them to study the science of life, of human morals, and the effects of things good and bad. 118 CICERO. Milton (" Paradise Regained," b. iv. 1. 2C1) says of Socrates: " To sage Philosophy next lend thine ear, From heaven descended to the low-roof 'd house Of Socrates: see there his tenement, Whom well inspired the oracle pronounced Wisest of men ; from whose mouth issued forth Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools Of Academicks, old and new." So Psalm Ixxxiv. 10: ' For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." HUMAN LIFE. It is fortune, not wisdom, that rules tne life of man. THE MIND OF MAX. The mind of man, a particle plucked from the intellect of the Almighty, can be compared with nothing else, if we may be forgiven for saying so, than with God himself. So Joel ii. 28:- "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." And Luke iv. 18: " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." THE POET. I have not yet known a poet who did not thini himself superexcellent. ONE'S OWN. His own is beautiful to each. STRIVING AFTER DIVINE THINGS. The very meditating on the power and nature of God excites the desire to imitate that eternal Being. So Colossians iii. 2: " Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." CICERO. 119 VIRTUE. Virtue joins man to God. So 3 John ii: " He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." BETTER TO RECEIVE THAN DO AN INJURY. It is far better to receive than to do an injury. THE MIND OPPRESSED BY EXCESSIVE EATING. We cannot use the mind aright, when the body is filled with excess of food and drink. FATHERLAND WHEREVER WE ENJOY OURSELVES. Our country is wherever we find ourselves to bo happy. When Soci^ites was asked to what country ho belonged, he said that he was a citizen of the world. For he thought himself an inhabitant and citizen of the whole universe. " I THINK, THEREFORE I AM." To think is to live. DRINK OK DEPART. In life we ought, in my opinion, to observe that rule, which prevails in the banquets of the Greeks: " Let him either drink or depart." ELOQUENCE THE COMPANION OF PEACE. Eloquence is the companion of peace, the associ- ate of a life of leisure, and the pupil, as we may say, of a state that is properly constituted. NEXT, BUT AT A LONG INTERVAL. Next, but at a long interval. 120 < K'KRO. HONOR IS THE REWARD OF VIRTUE. Honor is the reward of virtue. VIRTUE TO BE PUT IX PRACTICE. Nor is it sufficient merely to be in possession of virtue, as if it were an art, but we must practise it. VIRTUE CONSISTS IN ACTION. The whole of virtue consists in practice. FATHERLAND NOT A REFUGE FOR OUR IDLENESS. Nor has our fatherland produced and brought us up, so that she should derive no advantage from us. or that we should regard it as created for our mere convenience as a place where we may tranquilly while away our useless existence in idleness and sloth. Such is not the proper view in which we should regard our country. She claims from us the mightiest exertions of our mind, and of all our powers, and only gives back for our private use what remains of our stock of time after we have been so employed. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 19) says: " The whole, heaven can be traversed by a bird ; the whole earth is the fatherland of the noble-minded." STATESMEN RESEMBLE THE DIVINE POWERS. Nor is there anything in which the virtue of mankind approaches nearer to the gods than when they are employed in founding new common- wealths, and in preserving those already founded. BOOKS. My books are always at leisure for me, they are never engaged. CICERO. 121 A COMMONWEALTH BOUND BY THE COMPACT OF JUSTICE. A state is the common weal of a people : but a people is not every assembly of men brought together in any way; it is an assembly of men united together by the bonds of just laws, and by common advantages. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE STATE. Every state, every commonwealth is to be gov- erned by prudence, that it may be lasting. DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. When the government is in the hands of one in- dividual, we call such a man a king and the state a kingdom. When it is in the hands of a select body, that form of government is aristocratic. But that state is a republic, so they call it, when everything is dependent on the people. EQUALITY OF DEMOCRACIES. For equality of rights, of which a free people is so fond, cannot be maintained; for the very people themselves, though they are their own masters, and perfectly uncontrolled, give up much power to many of their fellow-citizens, showing cringing respect to men and dignities. That, which is called equality, is most iniquitous in its acts. In no other state except that in which the power of the people is supreme has liberty any abode, than which nothing assuredly can be more delight- ful. 122 CICERO. A FKEE STATE. If the people hold the supreme power, they affirm that no form of government is more excel- lent, more free, more happy, inasmuch as they are the masters of laws, courts, war, peace, leagues, lives, and fortunes of every one. LAWS OUGHT TO BE EQUAL TO ALL. If all cannot be equal in property, if the talents of all cannot be the same, the laws at least should be the same to those who are citizens in the same state. THE WEALTHIEST KEOABDED THE NOBLEST. For riches, great fame, wealth unaccompanied by wisdom and the knowledge of living virtuously and commanding properly, are only the cause of greater disgrace, and of exhibiting insolence in more glaring colors ; nor is there any form of state more disgraceful to men than that in which the wealthiest are regarded the noblest. AUTHORITIES LESS THAN ARGUMENTS. In the eyes of a wise judge, proofs by reasoning are of more value than witnesses. REVOLUTIONARY MADNESS. When a people has once treated with violence a just king, or hurled him from his throne, or even, what has often happened, has tasted the blood of the nobles, and subjected the whole common- wealth to their fury, do not be foolish enough to imagine that it would be easier to calm the most furious hurricane at sea, or flames of fire, than to curb the unbridled insolence of the multitude. CICEEO. 123 CHANGES OF GOVERNMENT LIKE A GAME OF BALL. Then tyrants snatch the government from kings like at a game of ball; from them the nobles or people in their turn, to whom succeed factious parties or tyrants; nor does the same form of government ever remain for any length of time. THE RESULT OF TOO GREAT LICENCE. Excessive licence leads both nations and private individuals into excessive slavery. So Matthew v. 17: " I am not come to destroy the law." KING, LORDS, COMMONS. Since this is so, in my opinion monarchy is by far the best of the three forms; but the monarch- ical is excelled by that which is made up and formed of the three best kinds of government. In a state there ought to be something super-emi- nent and royal; another portion of power ought to be assigned to the nobles, and some ought to be reserved for the lower classes. WHAT PRODUCES CHANGE IN MANNERS. In maritime cities there is a certain corruption and change of habits; for they are intei mingling with new modes of speech and manners, and there are imported not only foreign merchandise but manners also, so there is no fixedness in the in- stitutions of the country. GREATEST NUMBER. In a state this rule ought always to be observed, that the greatest number should not have the predominant power. 124 C1CEUO. A MONARCHICAL FOKM OF GOVERNMENT. A royal form of government is not only not to be found fault with, but I know not whether it is not to be far preferred to other simple forms. JUSTICE ORDERS TO CONSULT THE GOOD OF ALL. Justice commands us to have mercy on all men, to consult for the interests of mankind, to give every one his due, not to commit sacrilege, and not to covet the goods of others. LAW. True law is right reason, in unison with nature, pervading all, never varying, eternal, which sum- mons man to duty by its commands, deters him from fraudulent acts, which, moreover, neither commands nor forbids the good in vain, nor yet affects the bad by commanding or forbidding. It is not allowable to annul this law, nor is it lawful to take anything from it, nor to abrogate it alto- gether; nor are we able to be released from it, either by the senate or by the people; nor is there any other expounder or interpreter to be sought; nor will there be one law at Rome, another at Athens, one now, another hereafter; but one eter- nal and immutable law will rule all natrons, and at all times, and there will be one common, as it were, master and ruler of all namely, God, the Creator, the decider and passer of the law. Who- ever does not obey it will fly from himself, and despises the nature of man, and by that very cir- cumstance will suffer the severest punishments, though he may escape other things which men are wont to regard as punishments. So Psalm xix. 7: " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the sou 1 .: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." CICERO. 12i> RIGORS OF LAW. The path of law is of such a kind in some things that there is no room for favor. INTERCOURSE BY LETTERS. You are aware that there are many kinds of epistolary correspondence, but that alone is the most assured, for the sake of which it was invent- ed namely, to inform the absent, if there be any- thing which it is of importance that they should know, either about our affairs or their own. A MODEST MAX. It is annoying to a modest man to ask anything of value from one on whom he thinks that he has conferred a favor, lest he should seem to demand as a right rather than ask as a favor : and should appear to account it as a remuneration rather than a kindness. It is the feeling of a noble and liberal mind to be willing to owe much to the man to whom you already owe much. ADVICE WISEST FROM YOURSELF. Nobody can give you wiser advice than your- self ; you will never err if you listen to your own suggestions. LETTERS. We write differently when we think that those only to whom we write will read our letters, and in a different style when our letters will be seen by many. WHERE THERE IS A PBECEDEXT, THAT IS THOUGHT RIGHT. Men think that they may justly do that, for which they have a precedent. 126 CICEBO. VICTORY IN CIVIL WAB. Spirit of insolence, which victory in all civil wars never fails to inspire. EMPIRICS. Do not imitate those unskilful empirics, who pretend to cure other men's disorders, but are 1 unable to find a remedy for their own. < GRIEF LESSENED BY TIME. There is no grief which time does not lessen and soften. Philetas of Cos (Fr. 1, S.) says: " But when time has come round, which has been assigned by Jupiter to assuage grief, and which alone possesses a remedy for pains." AndSimonides of Ceos (Fr. 73, S.) says: " Jupiter alone possesses a remedy for all sorrows." SWEET HOME. There is no place so delightful as one's own fireside. TO YIELD TO NECESSITY. To yield to the times, that is, to obey necessity, has always been regarded as the act of a wise man. CIVIL WARS. All civil. wars are full of numberless calamities, but victory itself is more to be dreaded than any- thing else. For though it should decide itself on the side of the more deserving, yet it will be apt to inspire even those with a spirit of insolence and cruelty, and though they be not so by inclination, they at least will be by necessity. For the con- queror must, in many instances, find himself CICERO. 127 obliged to submit to the pressure of those who have assisted him in his conquest. CHANGES SUITED TO AMUSE. There is nothing more suited to amuse the reader than the chants to which \ve are subject and the vicissitudes of fortune. So Cowper ("The Timepiece," bk. ii.): " Variety s the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor." TRUE WISDOM. I regard the greatest praise of wisdom to be, that man should be self-dependent, and to have no doubts as to the proper method of living well or ill. NOTHING TO BE MORE GUARDED AGAINST THAN CRIME. Let us be of that opinion, which reason and vir- tue dictate, that we have nothing to guard against in life except crime; and when we are free from that, we may endure everything else with patience and moderation. EVERY ONE DISSATISFIED WITH HIS CONDITION. Every man is dissatisfied with his own fortune. THE MISERY OF OTHERS. The comfort derived from the misery of others is slight. CONSOLATION UNDER ADVERSITY. It is, indeed, the greatest consolation under adversity, to be conscious of having always meant well, and to be persuaded that nothing but guilt deserves to be considered as a severe evil. 128 CICERO, So Hebrews xiii. 18: " We trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly." ALLEVIATION* OF MISFORTUNE. For to reflect on the misfortunes to which man- kind in general are exposed, greatly contributes to alleviate the weight of those which we ourselves endure. TO BE FBEE FROM FAULTS. To be free from faults is a great comfort. So Proverbs xx riii. 1: " The righteous are bold as a lion." VIHTUE. Nothing, believe me, is more beautiful than vir- tue ; nothing more fair, nothing more lovely. So Psalm cxix. 33. etc.: "Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight: . . . for thy judgments are good: . . . quicken me in thy righteousness." LOVE SOMETIMES COUNTERFEIT. A pretended affection is not easily distinguished from a real one, unless in seasons of distress. For adversity is to friendship what fire is to gold the only infallible test to discover the genuine from the counterfeit. In all other cases they both have the same common marks. FOOLS. All places are replete with fools. So Psalm xciv. 8: " Ye fools, when will ye be wise* " CICERO. 129 VIRTUE AND FORTUNE. Thou hast attained the highest rank, with virtue leading the way and fortune attending thee. TO DESERVE WELL OF ONE'S COUNTRY. Of all human things there is nothing moi-e full of honor or better than to deserve well of one's country. BLUNDERS. For to stumble twice against the same stone is a disgrace, you know, even to a proverb. THE MENACES OF ANY ONE ARE IMPOTENT TO THE FREE. To the free and independent, the menaces of any man are perfectly impotent. THE MISERY OF THE VANQUISHED IN CIVIL WARS. In civil wars these are always the results, that the conquered must not only submit to the will of the victor, but must obey those who have aided in obtaining the victory. THE FIRST APPROACHES OF FRIENDSHIP ARE IMPORTANT. In the formation of new friendships it is of importance to attend to the manner in which the approaches are made, and by whose means the avenues of friendship (if I may so express myself) are laid open. TO BE PRAISED BY ONE PRAISED BY ALL THE WORLD. I am delighted to be praised by one who is praised by all the world. 130 CICERO. A MAN WITHOUT GUILE. A man without guile and deceit. THE POPULACE. The hungry and wretched proletarians, those city leeches that suck dry the public treasury. CONVERSATION IN PRIVATE HOUSES. Conversation in private meetings and dinner parties is more unreserved. VENGEANCE. I hate and shall continue to hate, the man; would that I could take vengeance on him ! But his own shameless manners will be a sufficient punishment. So Romans xii. 19: " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." SADDLING THE WRONG HORSE. The pack-saddle has been put on the ox. THE CAUSES OF EVENTS. The causes of events always excite me more than the events themselves. THERE IS HOPE WHILE THERE IS LIFE. While there is life, there is hope. So Psalm ix. 18: " The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." Theocritus (Idyl. iv. 1. 42) says: " There are hooes in the living, but the dead are without hope." And Gay (" The sick Man and the Angel ") says: " ' While there's life, there's hope,' he cried." The idea is also thus expressed" Dum spiro, spero." CICERO. 131 THE COMMAND OF THE SEA GIVES SUPREME POWER. His plan is evidently that of Themistocles, for he thinks that he who gains the command of the sea must obtain supreme power. A GOOD CONSCIENCE. During the whole of our life we ought not to de- part a nail's Lreadth from a pure conscience. So Acts xxi. 1C: " And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a con- science void of offence toward God and toward men." Tli ere has never been a poet who thought any one else superior to himself. TO-MORROW. To-morrow will give something as food for thought. CHANGE OF PLAN. No wise man has ever said that change of plan is inconstancy. THE VIRTUOUS ARE NOT SUSPICIOUS. For the more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious. THE JUDGMENTS OF POSTERITY. The judgment of those who come after us is truer, because it is freed from feelings of envy and malevolence. HYPOCRISY IN MOST MEN. For every man's nature is concealed with many folds of disguise* and covered as it were with va- rious veils. His brows, his eyes, and very often 132 CLAUJJIAN. his countenance are deceitful, and his speech is most commonly a lie. THE EVILS WHICH AIIE BORNE WITH MOST PAIN. Men ought to tear with greatest difficulty those things which must be borne from their own fault. BAILINGS AND ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. While railing and abusive language are alto- gether unworthy of men of letters and of gentle- manly feeling, they are not less unsuitable to high rank and dignified behavior. SIOROSENESS AND PASSIONATENESS. While passionateness is the mark of a weak and silly mind in the daily intercourse of private life, so also there is nothing so out of place as to ex- hibit moroseness of temper in high command. SELF-LOVE. How much in love with himself, and that with- out a rival. CLAUDIAN. FLOURISHED ABOUT A.D. 400. CLAUDIUS CLAUDIANUS, a Latin poet, flourished during the reigns of Theodosius and his sons Ho- norius and Arcadius, A.D. 395-408. He was cer- tainly a native of Alexandria in Egypt, as he him- self alludes to the fact, though some assert that he was born in Gaul or Spain. We have no inf or- 9 CL AUDI Ay. 133 mation respecting his education, and little regard- ing the circumstances of his life. We know that he spent much time at Rome, and that he ac- companied Stilicho the general of Arcadius, to the North of Italy. Many of his poems are in praise of Stilicho, whose favor and protection he en- joyed. At Rome he acquired such reputation that the senate ordered a statue to be erected to his honor, and in the inscription, which was found in the twelfth centuiy, compared him to Virgil and Homer. Though in some of his writings he speaks favorably of the Christian religion, there seems every reason to believe that he was a pagan, lie left a number of poems, partly epic, partly panegyric, partly lyric. His largest work is enti- tled "De Raptu Proserpince," in three books, but it is unfinished. A BEGGAR OX HORSEBACK. Nothing is more unendurable than a low-born man raised to high estate. WE PITY THOSE WHO SUFFER LIKE OURSELVES. All feel pity for those like themselves. GREAT POWER REQUIRES TO BE ADMINISTERED WITH A FIRM HAND. The administration of public affairs requires a stern heart. THE CAUTIOUS SAILOR. The cautious sailor sees long before the ap- proach of the south-west wind. REPENTANCE AT POINT OF DEATH. What use to confess our faults at the moment 134 CLA UDIAN. the vessel is sinking ? What use are tears which follow the sins we have committed ? HOW BLIND MEN ARE TO THE RESULTS OF VICIOUS CONDUCT. How blind to consequences is the love of vicious indulgence! The future is disregarded; the pres- ent allures us to a short-lived enjoyment, and lust, forgetful of future suffering, hurries us along the forbidden path. MEN EASILY RETURN TO THEIR ORIGINAL HABITS. Nature easily reverts to her original habits. WHAT WILL NOT TIME CHANGE ? What will not length of time be able to change ? THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED. Hence let ages learn that there is nothing insu- perable to the good or safe to the bad. VIRTUE CONCEALED. Virtue when it is concealed is worthless. HONORABLE CONDUCT. Restrain your feelings, and consider not what you may do, but what it will become you to have done, and let the sense of honor restrain your con- duct. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 500, 51.) says: " Honorable habits are a most valuable possession/' THE LIGHT OF FATE. The bright light of fate leaves nothing con- cealed. CLAUDIAN. 135 CLEMENCY. Clemency alone makes us equal -with the gods. HOW THE PEOPLE MAY T!E MADE OBSERVANT OF JUSTICE. The people become more observant of justice, and do not refuse to sul mit io the laws, when they see the enactor of them obeying his own enactments. THE EXAMPLE OF THE REIGNING PRINCE. The people follow the example of their prince, and laws have less influence in moulding their lives than the model which his life exhibits. THE FICKLE PEOPLE. The fickle populace always change with the opinions of the prince. PRIDE. The noblest conduct is stained by the addition of pride. VIRTUE IS ITS OWN REWARD. Virtue indeed is its own reward. VIRTUE. Virtue desires 'no foreign aid; cares not for praise; is full of life by her own resources; not to be moved by any of the chances of life; looks down on the affairs of mortals from her seat aloft. REASON, NOT PASSION, OUGHT TO GUIDE MAN. That man apj roaches the gods, who is ruidcd by reason and not by passion, and who, weighing the facts, can proportion the punishment with discretion. HOW A KINGDOM OUGHT TO BE GOVERN HI). Power will accomplish more by gentle than by violent means, and calmness will best enforce the imperial mandates. NO MAX PERFECT. The man who is fair in face, is often of a dark dye in morals; he who is fair in mind, is deformed in body; this man is distinguished in war, but in private life is disgraced by his vices. MAX OF HONOR. He cherished lofty thoughts from his boyhood, and his high fortune threw its shadow before from his earliest years. Of an erect and bold spirit, he aimed at mighty objects, and was no flatterer of the great. THE EFFECT OF A RULER'S EXAMPLE. Doubtless the example set by rulers insinuates itself into the common herd. AVARICE. Avarice, the mother of every wickedness, which, always thirsting for more, gapes for gold with open jaws. Bion says: " The love of money, the mother of every crime." 1 Timothy vi. 10: " For the love of money is the root of all evil." LUXURY. Nor have you been led astray by luxury, that alluring pest with fair forehead, which, yielding always to the will of the tody, throws a deadening influence over the senses, and weakens the limbs more than tlje drugs of Circe's cup. CLA UDIAN. 137 A PIOUS KING. That man is deceived who thinks it slavery to live under a noble prince. Liberty never appears in a more gracious form than under a pious prince. HEAVEN NOT ALWAYS AT PEACE. Nor is heaven always at peace. EXCESSIVE FURY FAILS IN ITS OBJECT. But excessive fury fails in its object; the joy of the wicked never lasts long. DEATH LEVELS ALL THINGS. Death levels all things. COMMON THINGS AFFECT US LESS. Common calamities affect us more slightly. THE SLIPPERY NATURE OF YOUTH. Alas, the slippery nature of tender youth ! ENVY. Nothing can allay the rage of biting envy. THE LOVES OF PLANTS. Leaves live only to enjoy love, and throughout the forest every tree is luxuriating in affectionate embrace; palm, as it nods to palm, joins in mutual love; the poplar sighs for the poplar; plane whis- pers to plane, and alder to alder. 138 COLUMELLA. COLUMELLA. FLOURISHED A.D. 70. L. Juxirs MODEKATUS CoLUMEi,LA, a celebrated writer on agriculture, was a native of Gades in Spain, and was the contemporary of Seneca, the philosopher, who died A.D. 62 in the reign of Nero. He was the friend of Cornelius Celsus, the author of a book on medicine, and who also wrote on ag- riculture. The work of Columella is entitled De lie Rustica, and is contained in twelve books. He begins by supposing that a person is inclined to in- vest his money in land, and points out the various circumstances that ought to be considered in mak- ing a selection. The healthiness of the surround- ing country, and the sufficiency of water, are two main points to be regarded. He next thinks it necessary to give some advice respecting the qual- ities of the servants and slaves, who ought to be em- ployed in its cultivation. He then enumerates the various kinds of soil, seeds, manure, the proper mode of reaping and thresh ing the grain. He gives a detailed account of everything connected with the vine and various kinds of fruit-trees. All the different varieties of domestic animals are careful- ly enumerated, with their diseases and remedies. The tenth book, on the cultivation of gardens, is in hexameter verse. We possess also a work on trees, De Arboribus, which seems to have been a part of a larger work. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IX AXV lil'SIXESS. The most important part in every affair is to know what is to be done. QUINTUS' CURTIUS RUFUS. 139 PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE. Practice and experience are of the greatest mo- ment in arts, and there is no kind of occupation in which men may not learn by their abortive at- tempts. MASTER'S EYE. He allows very readily that the eyes and foot- steps of the master are things most salutary to the land. HIS OWX TO EACH. We have assigned his own to each. QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS. FLOURISHED ABOUT A.D. 150. QUTXTUS CURTIUS RUFUS, the Roman historian of Alexander the Great, seems to have lived dur- ing the first or second century, but we have no means of fixing the precise period, nor indeed do we know anything of his personal history. 'i A COUNSELLOR OUGHT TO ADVISE WITH SAFETY. No one ought to pay for foolish advice with his life. Counsellors would be wanting if there were danger in giving advice. THE CAUSE OF POVERTY. Honesty is the cause of poverty to many. 140 QU1NTUS CURTIU& KUFUS. THE RESULTS OF FEAR. Fear makes men prone to believe the worst. NECESSITY. Necessity, when threatening, is more powerful than every art. THOSE WHO TRUST IX FORTUNE. Those whom Fortune has induced to trust to her, she makes in a great measure rather desirous of glory than able to seize it. So Psalm bdi. 10: " If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." THE EFFECTS OF SUPERSTITION. Nothing has more power over the multitude than superstition: in other respects powerless, fe- rocious, fickle, when it is once captivated by su- perstitious notions, it obeys its priests better than its leaders. THE TRUE AND FALSE. When the truth cannot be clearly made out, what is false is increased through fear. A COMFORT IN MISFORTUNE. It is often a comfort in misfortune to know our fate. REASON. Nothing can be lasting where reason does not rule. THE VICISSITUDES OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. The fashions of human affairs are short and QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS. 141 changeable, and fortune never remains long in- dulgent to men. When fear has seized upon the mind, man fears that only which he first began to fear. HOW WAR IS CARRIED OK. Wars are carried on with the sword, not with gold; by men, not by the houses of cities; every- thing belongs to the soldiers. NECESSITY AND DESPAIR. Necessity rouses from sloth, and despair is often the cause of hope. HABIT MORE POWERFUL THAN NATUEE. Habit is more powerful than nature. EVERYTHING PREDESTINATED. For my own part I am persuaded that every- thing advances by an unchangeable law through the eternal constitution and association of latent causes, which have been long before predesti- nated. A SMALL, SPARK. Often has a small spark if neglected raised a great conflagration. THE COUNTRY OF THE BRAVE. Wherever the brave man chooses his abode, that is his country. MISFORTUNE. Misfortune is evil-tempered, and he who is real- V 142 QUIETUS CUKTIUS RUFUS. ly guilty, when he is tormented by his own pun- ishment, feels pleasure in that of another. THE WICKED. When the wicked cannot sleep from the stings of conscience, it is because the furies pursue them. THE AFFAIRS OF OTHERS. Every one is more dull in his own affairs than in those of another. A COWARDLY CUR. A cowardly cur barks with more fierceness than it bites. DEEP RIVERS. The deepest rivers have the least sound. Shakespeare (" Henry VI." PartH. act. iii. scene l)says: " Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep." THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS. Posterity pay for the sins of their fathers. So Exodus xxxiv. 7: " Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." THE FOOL. He is a fool who looks up to the fruit of lofty trees and measures not their height. So 2 Thessalonians iii.10: " If any would not work, neither should he eat." DANGER EVEN FROM THE WEAKEST. Nothing is so strong but may be endangered eve by the weakest. EXNIUS. 143 VIRTUE. Nature has placed nothing so high that virtue cannot reach. THE FOOLISH CONDUCT OF MAN. Nature has paid slight attention to the formation of man's mind, inasmuch as we generally think not so much on the future as the past. KINDNESS. That is no lasting possession which we gain by the sword : gratitude for kindnesses is eternal. THE ENVIOUS A TORMENT TO THEMSELVES. The envious are only a torment to themselves. So James iv. 2: " Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and can- not obtain. " DESPAIR. Despair, a great incentive to dying with honor, PROSPERITY. Prosperity is ahle to change the nature of man, and seldom is any one cautious enough to resist the effects of high fortune. ENNIUS. BORN B.C. 239 DIED B.C. 169. Q. ENNIUS, a poet of Hhudise in Calabria, was born B.C. 239, two years after the conclusion of the first Punic war (Str. vi. 281, Gell. xvii. 9.\). 144 ENNIUS. He is said to have been descended from one of those petty princes who once ruled over this por- tion of Italy, but we hear of him first B.C. 204, when ho was thirty-live years of age, serving as a soldier in Sardinia, where he attracted the notice of Cr.to the censor, at that time commander of the island. Ly him he was brought to Koine (Xep. Cat. i. Euscb.), where his high character and lit- erary attainments introduced him to the notice of the distinguished characters of that age. Scipio the Elder was his intimate friend (Cic. Arch. i)). He passed into 2Etolia, B.C. 189, with the consul Fulvius Flaccus, to whose care the war in that country was entrusted (Arch. 11). He seems, however, to have returned to Home, where he died of gout B.C. 1G9, in the seventieth year of his age (Sen. 5, Br. 20). Scipio, before he died, had ex- pressed a wish that their bodies should rest in the same grave, and we know that a statue was erected to his honor on the tomb of the Scipios. Ennius must be considered as the father of Roman epie poetry, and the eminent services he performed for the literature of Rome were fully appreciated by ancient writers. Throughout his works there ran a strain of noble and passionate feeling; the lan- guage, though sometimes rough and unpolished, was full of power and even of sublimity: the. structure of the verse was more regular than that in which his predecessors had sung. The princi- pal work, of which we have numerous fragments, was the Anncile*, an epic poem in eighteen books, in which Ennius sang the history of Rome from its foundation till his own times. In another work, written in catalectic tetrameter, he had cel- ebrated the deeds of the Elder Scipio. Besides, he had composed satires and other minor poems, which seem, however, to have been rather trans- EXNIUS. 145 lations from Greek writers. Edesphdgcticx. or Pha- yctica, in hexameter verse, a gastronomic poem in imitation of Archestratus; Epichannux, a didactic poem on the nature of things, from the Greek of Epicharmus ; a Latin prose translation of the Greek work of Euhemerus on the gods, and several other smaller works. The fragments of Ennius were published by Columna, Napl. 1590, and those of Annales by Spaugenberg, Leips. 1825. THE ANSWER- OF PYEBHUS. " I ask no gold for the captives, nor shall you give me a ransom; we are not making a gainful trade of war; but, quitting ourselves like men, let us determine which of , us shall live with the sword and not with gold. Let us try by valor whether dame Fortune wishes you or me to live and what fate she brings: and hear this, too, I am resolved to give liberty to those whom the fortune of war has spared; I present them, take them away, I give them with the will of the great gods." Sen- timents truly royal, and worthy of the race of the ^Eacidse. We find in Judges v. 19 a similar expression: " The kings came and fought . . . they took no gain of money." THE ROMAN COMMONWEALTH. The Roman commonwealth is firmly stablished on ancient customs and heroes. Of this verse Cicero (De Rep. v. i.} says: ' Ve! brevitate, vel veritate, tamquam ex oraculo mihi quo- dam esse efTatus videtur." TRUE LIBERTY. That is true liberty which has a pure and firm breast. 10 146 HORACE. So Romans viii. 2: " For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." BOHN B.C. 0.; DIED B.C. 8. Q. HORATIUS FLACCCS, son of a freeclman, was born at Venusia, on the confines of Apulia and Lucania, on the 8th December B.C. 65. His father was a collector of indirect taxes at sales by auc- tion, and with the profits of this office he had pur- chased a small farm in the neighborhood of Ve- nusia, where the poet was bom. Dissatisfied with the education to Le procured at this village, he carried his son, probably about his twelfth year, to Eome, to receive the usual education of a knight's or senator's son. Horace speaks always in the highest terms of his father's care in saving him from the dangers and temptations of a disso- lute capital, keeping him not only free from vice, but from the suspicion of it. Horace proceeded in his eighteenth year on a visit to Athens, where he was found by Brutus, and induced to join the Republican party. The battle of Philippi, n.c. 42, put an end to his military career, and he withdrew at once from what his sagacity felt to be a des- perate cause. Having obtained his pardon, he returned to Rome with the loss of his paternal estate, but he seems to have saved enough to buy a clerkship in the quaestor's office, with the profits of which he managed to live with the utmost fru- gality. He was introduced by the poets Varius HORACE. 147 and Yirgil to Maecenas, and was admitted after a short interval to his intimate friendship. Mae- cenas bestowed upon the poet a Sabine farm, sufficient to maintain him in comfort and ease. This estate indeed was not extensive, but it pro- duced corn, olives, and vines, being surrounded by pleasant and shady woods. From this time Ms life glided away in enjoyable repose, mingling with the intellectual society of a luxurious capital. He died on the 17th November B.C. 8, aged nearly fifty-seven years, being buried on the slope of the Esquiline hill, close to his friend and patron Maecenas, who had died before him in the same year. A POET'S VANITY. So proud am I of thy approbation, that I shall strike my head against the starred clusters of heaven. This idea is constantly recurring both in Greek and Roman writers. Thus Euripides (Bacch. 972): " So that thou shalt find fame that reaches heaven." Aristophanes (450): " Thou shalt have fame high as heaven itself." Propertius (i. 8, 43): " Now I may enjoy the highest fortune." And even Cicero introduces the idea, sneering at the chiefs of the state (Ad. Att. 2, 1): " The chiefs of the state think that they can touch heaven with their finger." We may add the following passage from Wordsworth's Sonnet on " Personal Talk: " " Blessings be with them and eternal praise, Who' give us nobler loves and nobler cares: The poets who on earth have made us heira Of truth and pure delight by heavenly lays! Oh might my name be numbered among theirs, Then gladly would I end my mortal days." 148 HORACE. " GOD SAVE THE KING." May thy return to heaven be far distant, and long may thy reign fill this mighty empire with blessings. Ovid (Trist. v. 2, 51) expresses the same idea very beauti- fully: "So mayst thou dwell on earth, so may heaven long have cause to be longing for thy presence; so mayst thou go at some far distant day to the sky, thy predestined place." PRESUMPTION OF MANKIND. Presumptuous man, ready to face every danger, rushes on to crimes of deepest dye forbidden by the laws of nature. Seneca (Q. N. iv. Prsef. ad finem) speaks to the same effect quoting from the poet Menander: " Who is there that has not risen up with all his powers of mind to withstand such conduct, hating with a perfect hatred this unanimity of mankind to do all wickedness greedily? Me- nander says: None are righteous, no, not one, excepting nei- ther young nor old, woman nor man, and adding that not merely individuals or a few have gone astray, but wickedness has covered all, as doth a garment." BOLDNESS OF MAN. Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals : we storm heaven itself in our folly. This character of man is beautifully bodied forth in a frag- ment of the poet Rhianus, who flourished about B.C. 222 (Anal. Br. i. p. 470): " Man forgets why he treads the ground with his feet, and with arrogancy of spirit and wicked thought speaks authori- tatively like Jupiter, or is devising some path to heaven, that he may revel as one of the immortals." And Pindar (Istlnn. vii. 61) says: " If a man looks steadily into the future, he will feel that he is too weak in himself to reach the brazen seats of the gods. 1 ' Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," act ii. sc. 2) says: HORACE. 149 " But man, proud manl Dress'd in a little brief authority; Most ignorant of what he's most assured. His glassy essence like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep." DEATH. Pale Death enters with impartial step the cot- tages of the poor and the palaces of the rich. Donne speaks of this equality in death: "Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal, when it comes. The ashes of an oak in a chimney are no epitaph of that, to tell me how high or how large that was ; it tells me not what flocks it sheltered while it stood, nor what men it hurt when it fell. The dust of great persons' graves is speechless too; it says nothing, it distinguishes nothing. As soon the dust of a wretch whom thou wouldst not, as of a prince whom thou couldst not look upon, will trouble thine eyes, if the wind blow it thither; and when the whirlwind hath blown the dust of the churchyard into the church, and the man sweeps out the dust of the church into the churchyard, who will undertake to sift those dusts again, and to pronounce, ' This is the patrician, this is the noble flour; and this the yeoman, this is the plebe" ian bran.' " SHORTNESS OF LIFE. The short span of life forbids us to l:egin schemes which require a distant future for their accom- plishment. So Shakespeare (' Macbeth," act v. so. 5) says: " Out, out, brief candle 1 Life's but a walking shadow." Simonides, who flourished B.C. 450, speaks thus of the weak- ness of man (Fragrn. 3 !, S.): " Fleeting i ; the strength of man, and vain are all his cares; for a brief space labor succe3ds labor, but inexorable death impends: for the righteous and the wicked have one fate." SIMPLICITY I2T DEESS. Plain in thy neatness. 150 HORACE. This idea is expressed by Ovid (Fast. xi. 7&4) in these words: " I am delighted with her beauty, her fair complexion, and auburn hair and the gracefulness of her person, which is in- creased by no artifice." Ben Jonson (" The Silent Woman," acti. sc. 5) has the same idea: " Give me a look, give me a face, That makes simplicity a grace, Robes loosely flowing, hair as free; Such sweet neglect more takctli me, Than all the adulteries of art; They strike mine eyes but not my heart." We may refer to Milton's description of Eve ("Paradise Lost," b. v. 1. 379) : " But Eve Undeck'd, save with herself, more lovely fair Than wood-nymph, or the fairest goddess feign'd Of three that in Mount Ida naked strove, Stood to entertain her guest from heaven." NEVER DESPAIR. You must never despair under the guidance and auspices of Teucer. The following fragment (Hyps. 9) from Euripides has the same idea: " Nothing is to be despaired of, we must hope all things." EXJOY THE PRESENT. Shun to seek what is hid in the womb of the morrow, and set down as gain in life's ledger what- ever time fate shall have granted thee. Philetserus, who flourished probably about B.C. 330, speaks thus in one of his fragments (Fr. Com. Gr. Ed. p. 042, M.) : " For what, pray, ought you, short-lived being as you are, to do but to pass your time day by day in pleasure, and not to fret yourself as to what will be to-morrow." And Theocritus (Idyl. 13, 4) says: " We are mortals, we may not behold to-morrow." P. Doddridge (' Epigram on his Family Motto ") says: " Live while you live, the epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day; HORACE. 151 Live white you live, the sacred preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it flies." Milton (" Comus," 362) says:- " What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? " And Isaac Watts says: " I am not concerned to know What to-morrow fate will do; 'Tis enough that I can say I 've possessed myself to-day." FLEETNESS OF TIME. How much better is it to submit with patience to whatever may happen! Whether thou art to enjoy many winters or this be the last, which is now weakening the fury of the Tuscan waves by being dashed on the resisting rocks. Be wise, ni- trate thy wines, and curtail distant schemes which the brief span of life may never enable thee to re- alize. While we are talking, envious time will be- gone. Seize the present moment, trusting as lit- tle as possible to the morrow. This idea of the fleetness of time is a favorite with poets of all nations. Thus Herrick, " To the Virgins to make much of Time" (No. 33): " Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower, that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying. Chalmers, the preacher, says: ''Time, with its mighty strides, will soon reach a future generation, and leave the present in death and in forgetful- ness behind it." Moore ("Irish Melodies") says: " This moment's a flower too fair and brief." And again : " Then fill the bowl away with gloom ! Our joys shall always Last : For Hope shall brighten days to come, And Mem'ry gild the past." 152 HORACE. Congreve says: " Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise." And Gray : "We frolic while 'tis May." And Solomon: " Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they be withered." GROWTH OF REPUTATION. The fame of Marcellus grows imperceptibly as a tree in the unmarked lapse of time. The gradual and imperceptible growth of the reputation of a virtuous man is remarked by other poets. Thus Pindar (Nem. viii. C8): " Virtuous deeds expand gradually before the world, as a tree shoots up under the influence of the freshening dew." Homer introduces (II. xviii. 50) Thetis thus speaking of Achilles: " He sprung up rapidly, like a plant: I having brought him up, like a tree in a fertile fleM." And Shakespeare (" Henry V.," act i. sc. 1) says: " Which no doubt Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet creative in its facult}-." "WEDDED LOVE. Thrice happy and more are those who are bound by an iinbroken chain of love, and, un- ruffled by a querulous temper, live affectionately till their latest hour. J. Middleton thus speaks of the delights of a married life: " What a delicious breath marriage sends forth The violet's bed not sweeter! Honest wedlock Is like a banqueting-house. built in a garden, On which the spring flowers take delight To cast their modest odors." Spenser (." Faery Queen," i. 12, 3T) says: " His owne two hands the holy knotts did knitt, That none but death for ever can divide." HORACE. 153 And Thomson: ' Oh happy they! the happiest of their kind ! Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortune, and their beings blend." RESOLUTE IN CONDUCT. Make- every effort to get into port while you may. ANGEB. Thy wrath control. Theognis (335), who flourished B.C. 544, used the expression, Zoje voov, " curb thy temper." WINE AND ITS ADVANTAGES. \vlioever prates of war or want after his wine. This idea is found in Theognis (1129):-- "When I have enjoyed my wine, I care not for the anxieties of mind-racking poverty." Burns says: " John Barleycorn was a hero bold, Of noble enterprise, For if you do but taste his blood, 'Twill make your courage rise ; 'Twill make a man forget his woe, 'Twill heighten all his joy." SELF-LOVE AND INDISCRETION. Blind Self-love, Vanity lifting aloft her empty head, and Indiscretion, prodigal of secrets, more transparent than glass, follow close behind. INNOCENCE OF LIFE. The man whose life has no flaw, pure from guile, needs not for defence either Moorish jave- lins, or bow, or quiver full of poisoned arrows; though his path be along the burning sands of Africa, or over the inhospitable Caucasus, or those 154 HORACE. regions which Hydaspes (the Jhylum), famed in fable, licks languid-flowing. Milton (" Comus," 421) says: " She that has that, is clad in complete steel, And like a quiver'd Nymph, with arrows keen, May trace huge forests and unharbor'd heaths, Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds." DESCRIPTION OF FHIGID AXD TO1ZBII) ZOXES. Place me lone in the barren wastes, where no tree bursts into bloom in the breezes of summer; mist-clad, and with an inclement sky! place me lone where the earth is denied to man's dwelling, in lands too neur the car of the day-god, I still should love my Lalage behold her sweetly smil- ing, hear her sweetly talking. Sappho (Fr. 2, S.) expresses herself much to the same effect: " That man seems to me to be like the gods, who sits beside thee and hears thee sweetly speaking and thy winning laugh : however short a time I see thee, how does my voice fail mel " This idea is found in Cowper's " Table Talk " (1. 294): " Place me where winter breathes his keenest air, And I will sing, if Liberty be there; And I will sing at Liberty's dear feet In Afric's torrid clime, or India's fiercest heat." GEIEF FOK A FKIEXD'S DEATH. Why should we be ashamed to weep, or set bounds to our regret for the loss of so dear a friend ? Lead off with plaintive lays. Melpomene, thou who hast received from thy father a tuneful voice with the music of the lyre. Are then the eyes of Quinctilius scaled in endless sleep! When will modesty and unspotted faith, the sister of justice and unadorned truth, ever find an equal to him ? He is gone, bewailed by many good men, by none more than by thee, O Virgil. HORACE. 155 Byron thus speaks of the loss of friends: " Whac is the worst of woes that wait on age ? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow ? To view each loved one blotted from life's page, And be alone on earth, as I am now. Before the Chastener humbly let me bow, O'er hearts divided, and o'er hopes destroyed." Moschus (iii. 110) thus speaks of death: " We, who are the great, the powerful, and the wise, when we are dead, without hearing in hollow earth, sleep soundly a long, endless sleep, without waking.'' Montgomery thus alludes to loss of friends: " Friend after friend departs, Who hath not lost a friend? There is no union here of hearts, That finds not here an end." This eulogy of Quinctilias reminds us of Ben Jonson's epi- taphs on the Countess of Pe.nbroke and Elizabeth L. H. : EPITAPH ON COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE. " Underneath this marble hearse Lies the subject of all verse Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother. Death, ere thou hast slain another Learn'd and fair and good as she, Tune shall throw his danfc at thee." . EPITAPH ON ELIZABETH L. H. " Underneath this stone doth lie, As much bsauty, as could die. Which in life-did harbor give To more virtus than doth live." PATIENCE. It is hard to bear, but patience renders more tolerable evils to which we can apply no remedy. Archilochus, in a fragment, tlius speaks of the effect of patience (Fragm. 8, S.):-' " But, my fiiend, the gods have given unyielding patience as a medicine for incurable evils." Pindar says somewhat to the same effect (Pyth. ii. 171): " It eases me when I bear with patience the yoke upon my neck." 100 HORACE. There i.i a fragment of Sophocles (Tereus, xi. 2) to the same effect : " But yet it is proper for us, miserable mortals as we ore, to bear patiently what is inflicted on us by the gods." Shakespeare (" Much Ado about Nothing/' act v. sc. 1) says: " Tis all men's office to speak patience To those that wring under the load of sorrow; But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency, To be so moral, when he shall endure The like himself." A POET'S FREEDOM FROM CARE. So long as I am the favorite of the muses, I shall deliver over sadness and fears to be wafted by the boisterous winds to the Cretan sea. Homer (Odyss. viii. 403) speaks of words being carried off by the winds: " If I have uttered a single irritating word, may the winds take it up and hurry it off immediately." Euripides (Her. Fur. 650) says somewhat to the same effect: " I hate old age: may it go to the waves and be drowned." Marlowe (" Lust's Dominion ") says: " Are these your fears: thus blow them into air.' A POET'S POWER. Without the inspiration of the muse my efforts as a poet can do nothing. Virgil (lEo. ix. 446) says somewhat to the same effect: " Fortunate both, if my verses have any power." Moschusiiii. 132) says: " 'f I possessed any power of song, I would raise my voice in presence of Pluto." DANGERS OF LOVE. Unhappy youth! how art thou lost, In what a sea of trouble tost! Anaxilaus, who flourished B.C. 300, in his Neottis (Athen. xiii. 5o8, A.), speaks thus feelingly of such dangers: " The man, who lias ever been enamoured of a mistress, will HORACE. 157 tell you that there is no race more full of wickedness. For what fearful dragon, what Chimaera vomiting fire, or Cha- rybdis, or three-headed Scylla, that sea-dog, or Sphinx, or hydra, or serpent, or winged harpy, or lioness could surpass in voracity that execrable race? " PKAYER FOK HEALTH AND SOUNDNESS OF MIND. Son of Latona, grant me a sound mind in a sound body, that I may enjoy what I possess, and not piss a dishonored old age without the innocent pleasures of music. We may expect that such a prayer as this would be not uncommon, and accordingly we find it in a fragment of Menander (Fr. Com. Or., p. 922, 31.): " Let us pray to all the Olympian gods and goddesses to grant us safety, health, many blessings, and the enjoyment of what we now possess." Cicero, too ( De Ssnect. 20), spaaks feelingly of the retention of all our faculties till death: " This is the best close of life, that the same nature, which has formsd us, s'aould bring us t3 an end, while our mind is sound and all our faculties in full play." In Ecclesiastes v. 19 we find: " Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor: this is the gift of God." The ancients had great enjoyment in music, thus Euripides (Her. Fur. 676) says: " Never may 1 live without the pleasures of music, and ever may I be crowned as a poet. Still do I, an aged bard, cele- brate Mnemosyne." Sir W. Temple speaks of health in these terms: " Socrates used to say that it was pleasant to grow old with good health and a good friend, and he might have reason : a man may be content to live while he is no trouble to himself or his friends ; but after that, it is hard if he be not content to die. I knew and esteemed a person abroad, who used to say, a man must be a mean wretch who desired to live after three- score years old. But so much, I doubt, is certain, that in life as in wine, he that will drink it good must not drain it to the dregs. Therefore men in the health and vigor of their age should endeavor to fill their lives with reading, with travel, with the best conversation and the worthiest actions, either in 158 HORACE. public or private stations, that they may have something agreeable to feed on when they are old, by pleasing remem- brances." APOLLO'S LYKK. Charming shell, grateful to the feasts of Jove, thou softener of every anxious care. This reminds us of what Homer (II. i. 602) says of the lyre: " They feasted and all had an equal share of the feast, enjoy- ing the music of the very beautifi'l lyre on which Apollo played." Gray (" Elegy in-a Churchyard." St. 12) says: ' Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed, Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre." Milton (" Coinus," J. 476): " How charming is divine philosophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose: But musical as is Apollo's lute. And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no rude surfeit reigns." THE CHANGES OF LIFE. God can raise on high the meanest serf and bring low the proudest noble. Fortune, swooping with the dash of an eagle, snatches the imperial diadem from this man, and delights to place it on the head of some other. The vicissitudes of the life of man was a common theme for the poets. In Homer (Odyss. xvi. 9.11) we have: " It is an easy task for the gods, who rule the 'wide heaven, either to raise or cast down mortal man." And, again, Archilochus (Fr. 40, S.): "All things depend on the gods; often do they raise men from misfortunes who are reclining on the dark earth; often do they throw down those who are walking proudly; then many evils come, and they wander in lack of food and out of their senses." And, again, Aristophanes (Lysistr. 772): "The loud-thundering Jupiter shall turn things upside down." HORACE. 159 Spenser (" Faery Queen ") says: " He maketh kings to sit in sovereignty; He maketh subjects to their power obey; He pulleth clown, he setteth up on high; He gives to this, from that he takes away ; For all we have is his: what he will do he may." FORTUXE WORSHIPPED BY ALL. The rude Dacian, the roving Scythian, states and races, the warlike land of Latium, the mothers of barbarian kings and tyrants clothed in purple, dread thce, lest thou with scornful foot shouldst upset the stately pillar of their fortune; or lest the swarming rabble arouse the lazy citizens to arms! to arms! and disturb the public peace. Stern Ne- cessity ever stalks before thee, bearing, in her grasp of bronze, huge spikes and wedges; the clenching cramp and molten lead are also there. SUMMER FRIEXDS. But the faithless herd and perjured harlot shrink back; summer friends vanish when the cask is drained to the dregs, their necks refusing to halve the yoke that sorrow draws. Pindar (Nem. x. 143) has the sama idea: " In the midst of misfortunes few men are so faithful in friendship as to be willing to share the anxieties that are their attendants." Shakespeare (" Troilus and Cressida,'' act iii. sc. 3) expresses tliis idea very beautifully: " Men, like butterflies, Show not their mealy wings but to the summer; And not a man, for being simply man, Hath any honor, but honor, for those honors That are without him, as place, riches, favor, Prizes of accident as oft of merit; Which, when they fall, as being slippery standers, The love that leaned on them as slippery too, Do one pluck down another, and together Die in the fall." ( 160 HORACE. This is our rhyming proverb: " In time of prosperity, friends will be plenty; In time of adversity, not one in twenty." The Greek proverb (Zenob. iv. 12) is: " Boil pot, boil friend- ship." THE AVICKEDNESS OF MANKIND. What crimes have we, the hard age of iron, not dared to commit ? from what has fear of heaven restrained us ? THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER. Search not too curiously where the belated rose lingers. Moore has this idea (' Last Rose of Summer "): " 'Tis the last rose of summer Left blooming alone." DANGER OF GIVING OFFENCE IN WRITING CON- TEMPORARY HISTORY. Thou art employed on a work full of danger and hazard, and art treading upon fires concealed by smouldering ashes. This idea of treading on covered fires is proverbial, and often used both by Greek and Roman writers. Thus Callima- chus (Epigr. 45): ' There is something, by Pan, concealed, yea there is, by Bacchus, some fire under that heap of ashes." The lexicographer Suidas thus explains it: " Thou walkest through the fire: we must say this of those who like to mingle in hazardous matters full of danger." And Propertius (i. 5, 5): " Unhappy! thou art hurrying to a knowledge of the most portentous misfortunes, and in thy misery art walking over hidden fires." Shakespeare (" Henry VI.," Part I. act iii. sc. 1) says: " This late dissension, grown betwixt the peers. Burns under feigned ashes of forged love." HORACE. 161 A GREAT ADVOCATE. Pollio, thou noble advocate of the disconsolate prisoner, and guide of the senate in a dangerous crisis. CHARACTER OF CATO. And see the whole world subdued except the stern soul of Cato. Seneca (De Provid. 2) thus alludes to the character of Cato: " I do not see what more beautiful sight Jupiter has on earth than Cato, while his party is repeatedly defeated, stand- ing upright amidst the ruins of the nation. Though, he says, all things should submit to the rule of one individual, the earth be guarded by his legions, the seas by his fleets, and the sea-ports occupied by the soldiers of Cassar, Cato has a means to free himself from all these." AVARICE REPROVED. There is no brilliancy in silver when hidden in the earth, Crispus Sallustius, thou foe to money, if it does not throw lustre around by moderate use. Seneca (Ep. 94) says something to the same effect: " Wilt thou know how deceitful is the glare that bewitches our eyes? There is nothing more foul or dingy than the ap- pearance of gold and silver, so long as they lie buried in their mould ; there is hothing more shapeless, while they are pass- ing through the fire and being separated from the dross." Shakespeare (" Venus and Adonis '') says: "Foul cankering rust the hidden treasure frets; But gold that's put to use more gold begets." MODERATION. By curbing a griping spirit within thee, thou wilt be the lord of a more extensive domain than if thou wert to join Libya to the remote Gades, and both Carthaginians owned thy sway. 11 162 HORACE. Seneca (Her. Fur. 166) thus describes the avaricious: " This man without a moment's happiness gathers riches, eager for wealth, and is poor in the midst of heaps of gold." And Claudian (In Eufin lib. i. 196) expresses the same idea in these words: " Though both oceans were subject to thee, though Lydia were to open her fountains of gold, though the throne of Cy- rus and the crown of Croesus were in thy possession, thou wilt never be rich, never satiated." Milton (" Paradise Regained," b. ii. 1. 466) has the same idea: " Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king." Proverbs (xvi. 32): " He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." VIRTUE. Virtue teaches the people not to apply false names to things. s Thucydides (iii. Hi) uses an expression of the same kind: " Moreover they changed at their will the usual signification of words for things." And Sallust (Catil. 52) says: " For a long time past we have lost the true appellations for acts." EQUANIMITY RECOMMENDED. Dellius, since thou art doomed to die, fail not to keep a calm spirit when the world frowns, and when it smiles give not thyself up to arrogance. Archilochus expresses the same idea in a fragment (58, S.): "If thou conquerest, do not exult too openly, nor, if thou art conquered, bewail thy fate, lying down in thy house." Spenser (" Faery Queen," v. 5, 33) says: " Yet weet ye well, that to a courage greate, It is no lesse beseeming well to beare The storm of Fortune's frown, or heaven's threat, Than in the sunshine of her countenance cleare Timely to joy, and carrie comely cheere." " A full cup must be earned steadily." HORACE. 103 ENJOY THE PRESENT HOUR. Say for what the tall pine and silver poplar lov- ingly entwine their branches with welcoming shade, wherefore struggles the limpid streamlet to purl in its meandering course; hither order them to bring thee wine and purfumes, and the too short-lived flowers of the fragrant rose, while thy fortune, youth, and the woof of the three sis- ters allow. Milton in " Comus" (1. 188) says: " To lodge Under the spreading favor of these pines. To bring me berries, or such cooling fruit As the kind hospitable woods provide." And Shelley (" Revolt of Islam," Dedication) says: " The woods to frame a bower With interlae&d brandies mix and meet." THE GRAVE. The victim of pitiless Pluto. We are all driven to the same fold : the doom of all is being shaken in the urn, which will issue forth sooner or later, and place us in Charon's boat for eternal banish- ment. Statius (Sylv. II. i. 219) says to the same effect: " Whatever has a beginning has an end: we shall all go to the grave: ^Eacus is shaking the urn in the boundless regions of the dead." Wilson ( " City of the Plague," act ii. sc. 2) says: " In they go, Beggar and banker, porter and gentleman, The cinder- wench and the white-handed lady, Into one pit: oh, rare, rare bedfellows! There they all lie in uncomplaining sleep.'' Also in Ecclesiastes (vi. 6) we find: " Do not all go to one place? " BEAUTIES OF SOUTHERN ITALY. That little corner has more charms for me than I(M HORACE. all the world besides, \Chere the honey does not yield in sweetness to that of Hymettus, and the olive-berry vies with the produce of Venafrum, where nature grants a lengthened spring and mild winters, and Mount Aulon, favorable to the clus- tering vine, envies not the vintage of Faleruus. JOY AT THE RETURX OF A FRIEXD. It is pleasant to indulge in excess of joy when a dear friend has been restored. Anacreon (31) says: " I wish, I wish to be mad." SAFETY OF AN HUMBLE LIFE. Thou wilt live, Licinius, more like a man of sense, if thou art not launching ever too ventur- ously into the deep, nor yet, "when the stormy winds do blow," hugging too closely the treacher- ous shore. The man, who loves the golden mean, is safe from the misery of a wretched hovel, and moderate in his desires, cares not for a luxurious palace, the subject of envy. The tall pine bends oftener to the rude blast; lofty towers fall with a heavier crash, and the lightnings strike more fre- quently the tops of the mountains. A well-bal- anced mind hopes for a change when the world frowns, and fears its approach when it smiles. It is the same Divine Being that brings back and sends away the gloom of winter. Though sorrow may brood over thee just now, a change 'may ere long await thee. At times Apollo tunes his silenjb lyre, and is not always bending his bow. Be of good cheer and firm in the hour of adversity, and when a more favorable gale is blowing, thou wilt do wisely to be furling thy swelling sail. The golden mean is a frequent subject of the poets. Thus HORACE. 165 Phocylides (Fr. 8, S.), who flourished B.C. 580, says, as quoted by Aristotle (Polit. iv. 11): " Many of the best things are placed between extremes; I wish to be in the middle ranks of the city." And Euripides (Ion, 632): " Would that I could live without care in the middle ranks of life." And Pindar (Pyth. xi. 81): " For when I find that the middle condition of life is by far the happiest, I look with little favor on that of princes." Apollodorus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1100, M.) says: " Men, he who is in bad circumstances ought not to despair, but always to look for a favorable change." Shakespeare (" Richard III.," act i. sc. 8) says: " They that stand high have many blasts to shake them." ENJOY THE PUESEXT. Be not too anxious for the few things that life requires; youth is flying rapidly past and beauty is vanishing, while withered age puts to night amorous play and gentle sleep. The flowers of spring do not retain their bloom, nor does the ruddy moon always shine with the same lustre; why, then, O man, dost thou disquiet thyself for- ever with schemes that are far beyond the power of man ? Goldsmith's " Edwin and Angelina" (in " Vicar of Wake- field"): " Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long." Wordsworth in his " Poems on the Affections " says: " Look at the fate of summer flowers, Which blow at daybreak, droop ere even song." DANGERS OF LIFE Man cannot be always on his guard against the dangers that are impending from hour to hour. The vicissitudes of life are a constant theme of the poets; thus Pindar (Pyth. Olymp. vii. 175) says: " In the twinkling of an eye one vicissitude of fortune fol- lows another." 166 HORACE. DEATH. Alas, Postumus, Postumus, how swiftly do fleet- ing years glide past! we must not expect that reverence of the gods will stay the advance of wrinkled old age or the hand of inexorable death. Mimnermus (Fr. 5, S.) who flourished B.C. G34, thus speaks of death: " Youth, that is so highly prized, passes quickly like a dream: sad and wrinkled old age forthwith impends over our head." And JSschylus (Fr. Niobe I. 4) says: " For Death alone of the gods loves not gifts, nor do you need to offer incense or libations: he cares not for altar nor hymn; th3 goddess of persuasion alone of the gods has no power over him. DEATH. Thou must leave thy lands, house, and beloved wife, nor shall any of those trees follow thee, their short-lived master, except the hated cypress. Philistion, who flourished A.D. 7 (apud Stobaeum F. S. 330), says: " Though thou art the lord of ten thousand acres of land, when dead thou shalt become the lord of three or four cubits." And Shakespeare (''Henry VL," Part III. act v. sc. 2) says: " My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, Even now forsake me; and of all my lands Is nothing left me but my body's length." A PEACEFUL LIFE. The man caught by a storm in the wide ^Egean, when the moon is hid by dark clouds, and no star shines to guide him certainly on his way, prays for ease ; the Thracian, fierce in battle, prays for ease ; the quivered Parthians, Grosphus, pray for ease a blessing not to be bought by gems, purple, nor gold. Ease is not venal; for it is not treas- ures, nor yet the enjoyment of high power, that HOE ACE. 167 can still the uneasy tumults of the soul, and drive away the cares that hover around the fretted ceil- ings of the great. Varro (in Anthol. Lat. Burm. i. p. 512) says: " The breast is not freed from cares by the possession of treasures or gold; neither the mountains of the Persians nor the palace of the rich Croesus relieve the mind from anxiety and superstition." Quarles (" Search after Happiness ") says: " One digs to Pluto's throne, thinks there to find Her grace, raked up in gold: another's mind Mounts to the court of kings, with plumes of honor And feather'd hopes, hopes there to seize upon her: A third unlocks the painted gate of pleasure, And ransacks there to find this peerless treasure." So Proverbs xiii. 7 : " There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great ricnes." And Ecclesiastes v. 11 : " The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep." CAKE. Why are we, whose strength is but for a day, so full of schemes ? Why do we change our own for lauds warmed by another sun ? What exile is able to fly from his own thoughts ? Care, the child of vicious indulgence, mounts with us the brazen- beaked galleys, and leaves not the troops of horse- men, fleeter tlian stag and east wind driving the rack before it. Let the mind, which is now glad, hate to carry its care beyond the present, and temper the bitters of life with easy smile. There is no unalloyed happiness in this world. Patrocles, the tragic poet, who flourished B.C. 300 (Stob. iii. 3) says: "Why, pray, do we foolishly occupy our minds with so many projects, pursuing them in quick succession why do we imagine that we can accomplish all things, looking far into the future, while we know not the fate impending close upon us, and see not our miserable end ? " 168 HORACE. Euripides (Alex. Fr. 3) says: " So that there is no man happy in every respect.'' Seneca (De Tranquil. Anira. 2) says: " The sick in mind and body can suffer nothing long, think- ing that mere change of scene will prove a remedy to their illness. For this reason they traverse foreign countries and coast along distant shores, while their changeable disposition, always averse to the present, ransacks sea and land for health. ' Now let us visit Campania.' Then they tire of that luxuri- ous land. ' Let us go to savage regions, the forests of the Bruttii and Lucani.' " Milton ("Paradise Lost," b. iv. L 21) says: " Nor from hell One step no more than from himself can fly By change of place." MAN LIVES CARELESS OF THE FUTURE. I importune the gods for nothing more, nor do I dun my powerful patron for more extensive possessions, quite satisfied with my dear little Sabine farm. Day presses on the heels of day, and new moons hasten to their wane, while thou, forgetful of the tomb on the brink of which thou art standing, continuest to make bargains for marble slabs to adorn the house thou art erecting. Ammianus, the epigrammatist, who flourished probably in the reign of Nero (Anthol. Pal. II. p. 322) says: " One morning follows another, then, while we are heed- less of our coming doom, suddenly the dark one will step in ' ' And Cowley says: " Why dost thou build up stately rooms on high, Thou who art underground to lie ? Thou sowest and plantest, but no fruit must see, For Death himself is reaping thee." i THE GKAVE. The earth opens impartially her bosom to re- ceive the beggar and the prince. Menander says: "All men have a common grave." HORACE. 169 Pindar also (Nem. vii. 27): " Rich and poor hurry on to the grave." HATRED OF THE VULGAR. I hate the uninitiated rabble and drive them far from me. Be silent and listen. FATE. Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking the names of all mankind. Cowper, in the "Tale of the Raven " (1. 30) says: " Fate steals along with ceaseless tread, And meets us oft when least we dread ; Frowns in the storm with threatening brow, Yet in the sunshine strikes the blow." SLEEP. Sleep, gentle that it is, spurns not the humble cots of the peasants and the shady bank. Anacreon (Fr. 88) says: " Without drawing the bolt in his double doors, he sleeps secure." CARES OF LIFE. Fear and the threats of conscience wait every- where on the haughty lord; nor does gloomy care leave him when he lounges in his brazen-beaked galley, or gallops along on his swift steed. Sir Walter Scott says: " Danger, long travel, want, or woe, Soon change the form that best we know; For deadly fear can time outgo, And blanch at once the hair. Hard toil can roughen form and face, And want can quench the eye's bright grace; Nor does old age a wrinkle trace, More deeply than despair." 170 U Oil ACE, DEATH FOB OXE\S COUNTRY. It is sweet and glorious to die for our country; for death pursues even the coward who flies from danger, and shows no quarter to the timid and un- warlike youth. Virtue, that cares not for the honors of this world, shines forth with stainless lustre, taking not up nor laying down the badges of office at the will of a fickle populace. Virtue, that opens the way to heaven for those who de- serve not to die and be forgotten, advances by a path denied to all but the just, despising the vul- gar throng and rising above this dank earth on an untiring pinion. Tyrtosus has the same idea (Fr. 7, S.) : " For it is pleasant for a brave man to die in the front ranks, fighting for his country." Shakespeare (" Coriolanus," act iii. sc. 3) says: " I do love My country's good, with a respect more tender, More holy and profound, than mine own life." Simonides, who flourished B.C. 500 (Fr. 51, Schneider), says: " Death finds out even the coward." Shakespeare cays: " Had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike, I had rather have eleven die nobly for their country, than one voluptuously surfeit out of action." And Addison: " What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country! " THE WICKED. Jupiter, irritated by man's contempt of his laws, often involves the innocent with the guilty; ven- geance, though with halting foot, seldom fails to overtake the villain proceeding on his course of wickedness. We find the same idea in Euripides (Fragm. Incert. 2). " Justice proceeding silently and with slow foot, overtakes the wicked when it can." HORACE. 171 And in ^Eschylus (Sept. c. Theb. 595): " In all state affairs there is nothing worse than bad company. For the good having embarked in the same vessel with the reckless and knavish, perish with this race abhorred by the gods. Or the just, having been caught in the same net with those of their fellow -citizens who ere unscrupulous and regardless of the gods, are destroyed by a stroke which levels all at the same moment." Milton (" Paradise Lost," b. x. 1. 858) says: " But death comes not at call; justice divine Mends not her slowest pace for prayers or cries." THE JUST MAN. The just man, firm to his purpose, is not to be shaken from his fixed resolve by the fury of a mob laying upon him their impious behests, nor by the frown of a threatening tyrant, nor by the dangers of the restless Adriatic, "when the stormy winds do blow," nor by the loud peals of thunder as they rend the sky; even if the universe were to fall in pieces around, the ruins would strike him undismayed. The poet Simonides (Fr. 4, S.) says: , " To become a good man is truly difficult, square as to his hands and feet, fashioned without fault." This metaphor is adopted by Tennyson for the Duke of Wellington: " A tower That stood foursquare to all the winds that blew. " Seneca (De Const. Sap. vi.) says: " As there are certain stones so hard that they cannot be broken by iron, nor can the diamond be cut or filed away, turning the edge of the tools that are applied ; as the rocks fixed in the deep break the waves; so the mind of the wise man is firm and unmoved." And again, Seneca (De Const. Sap. vi.)says: " There is no reason why thou shouldst doubt that mortal man can raise himself above the accidents of life, can look with steady gaze on pains of body, loss of fortune, sores, wounds, and heavy calamities, pressing on every side. Lo, I am ready to prove this to you, that walls may totter under the 172 HORACE. blows of the battering-ram, and lofty towers fall to the ground by mines and hidden sap, yet no engines can be found that can shake a mind firmly fixed." The eight lines of Horace of which a translation is here given are said to have been repeated by the celebrated De Vv'itt while he was subjected to torture. Carlyle says very beautifully: " ' Truth, ' I cried , ' though the heavens crush me for follow- ing her; no falsehood, though a whole celestial Lubberland were the price of apostasy.' " In the Psalms (xlvi. 1 ) we find this sentiment beautifully ex- pressed: " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble; therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling there- of." ^-, =>W. -, ^JX_ 7 ^^l A^f THE VIOLENT 'orce; unaccompanied by prudence, sinks under its own weight.- The gods give effect to force regulated by wisdom; they pursue with wrath bold unhallowed schemes. . **-* Pindar (Pyth. viii. 19) says: " She puts down in time the proud vaunter by superior force." And Euripides (Fragm. Temenid. 11): " Senseless violence often produces harm." And again (Hel. 903): ' For God hates violence." Milton (" Sams. Agon." 53) says: " But what is strength without a double share Of wisdom ? vast, unwieldy, burdensome, Proudly secure, yet liable to fall." And in " Paradise Lost " (b. vi. 1. 381): " For strength, from truth divided and from just, Illaudable, naught merits but dispraise And ignominy: yet to glory aspires Vain-glorious, and through infamy seeks fame." Jl Oil ACE. 173 COWARDICE. The wool, once stained by a dye, does not re- cover its original color, nor is virtue, when it has left the breast, able to resume its place in the heart of the degraded. "When the stag, that has escaped the hunter's toils, shall turn and fight, then we may expect the man to be brave who has tamely yielded himself prisoner to the enemy. MANKIND BECOME MORE DEGENERATE. What does not wasting time destroy? The age of our parents, worse than that of our grandsires, has brought us forth more impious still, and we shall produce a more vicious progeny. Seneca (De Beneflc. i. 10) says: " Of this our ancestors complained, we ourselves do so and our posterity will equally lament, because goodness has van- ished, evil habits prevail, while human affairs grow worse and worse, sinking into an abyss of wickedness." Aratus (Phsenom. 123) says: " As our sires of the golden age left a worse race, so you too will produce a still worse." Johnson says: " These our times are not the same, Arantius, These men are not the same; 'tis we are base, Poor, and degenerate from th 1 exalted strain Of our great fathers; where is now the soul Of godlike Cato? he that durst be good When Csesar durst be evil ; and had power, Scorning to live his slave, to die his master? Or where's the constant -Brutus, that, being proof Against all charm of the benefits, did strike So brave a blow into the monster's heart That sought unkindly to enslave his country? Oh ! they are fled the light I those mighty spirits Lie rack'd up with their ashes in their urns, And not a spark of their eternal fire Glows in a present bosom. All 's but blaze, Flashes, and smoke, wherewith we labor so, There's nothing Roman in us; nothing good, 174 HORACE. Gallant, or great; 'tis true what Cordus says, Brave Cassius was the last of all the race." So Matthew xix 8: " But from the beginning it was not so." ENJOY THE PRESENT. Enjoy the pleasures of the passing hour, and bid adieu for a time to grave pursuits. Cicero (De Orator, iii. 40) says something to the same effect, quoting from Ennius: " 'Live, Ulysses, while you may: seize the last rays of the sun.' He did not say take nor seek; for that would have had the appearance of one hoping that he would live longer, but seize: that word is suited to the idea." A NOBLE TORGIN. A virgin gloriously false, and thereby ennobled for all time. This curious union of ideas is repeatedly found in the poets: thus JSschylus (Fragm. Incert. xi): " God is not averse to deceit in a just cause." And Sophocles (Antig. 74): "Doing a holy deed in an un- holy way." And Euripides (Helen. 1633): " To commit a noble deed of treachery in a just cause." Cicero also (Pro. Mil. 27) " To lie gloriously." Tacitus (Hist. iv. 50) "A noble lie." Seneca (Ep. 55)" A glorious wickedness." PASSIONS OF YOUTH. In the' warmth of youth, when Plancns was con- sul, I would not have submitted to such treat- ment. So also Ovid (Met. xv. 209) says: " Having laid aside the warmth of youth, he was staid and gentle." POWER OF GOLD. Gold can make its way through the midst of HOB A CE. 175 guards, and break through the strongest barriers more easily than the lightning's bolt. This idea is frequently found in the Greek poets: thus in the fragments of a lyric poet (Fr. Dindorf, p. 135): " O gold, that springest from the earth, with what love thou inflamest men, thou that art mightier than all things, thou that rulest all: thou coutendest with greater power than Mars; thou charmest all; for while trees and senseless beasts followed the melodious strains of Orpheus, the whole earth, the sea, and all-subduing Mars attend on thee." And again (Grotii Exc. p. 941): " Gold opens all things, even the gates of Pluto." Milton (" Paradise Regained," b. ii. 1. 423) says: " Money brings honor, friends, conquest, and realms." AVARICE. Care and the desire of more attend the still in- creasing store. Theocritus (xvi. 64) says: " May he have countless silver: and may the desire of more always possess him." Spenser (" Faery Queen," vi. 9, 21) says: " And store of cares doth follow riches' store." ADVANTAGES OF MODERATION. The more we deny to ourselves, the more the gods supply our wants. So 1 Corinthians ix. 25: " And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all tilings." AVARICE. They are full of wants who covet much. Happy the man to whom God has given enough with stingy hands. Alpheus of Mytilene, who flourished probably under Au- gustus (Anthol. Pal. ii. p. 39) says: "I care not for fields bearing rich crops, nor immense wealth like Gyges. I long for contentment, Macrinus: for everything in excess disgusts me." 176 IlOli ACE. Bacon says: "The desire of power in excess caused angels to fall: the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither can man or angels come into danger by it." Coleridge expresses the same idea thus: " Oh! we are poor querulous creatures! little less Than all things can suffice to make us happy, And little more than nothing is enough To discontent us." So Psalm xxxvii. 16: " A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." PLEASURES OF LIFE. I hate niggardly hands : give us roses in abun- dance. CATO'S CHAKACTER. Even the stern old Cato is said to have been often warmed by wine. PURITY OF LIFE. When the hand of innocence approaches the altar, it is more sure to appease the anger of the gods by the gift of a small cake and a little crack- ling salt, than the wicked with his more costly sacrifice. Euripides Capud Orionem S. p. 55) says to the same effect: " Be assured, when a good man offers sacrifice to the gods, even though it be small, he secures safety. " In Psalm xxvi. 6 we find: "I will wash my hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar. O Lord.' 1 And in Burns (' Cotter's Saturday Night," st. 17): "The Pow'r, incens'd, the pageant will desert, The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole; But haply, in some cottage far apart, May hear, well pleas'd, the language of the soul; And in His book of life, the inmates poor enrol." HORACE. 177 WOMAN'S DO WHY. With them a dowry consists in a father's virtue, and the chastity of a mother, shrinking from the embraces of another, who considers even the look- ing on vice as a thing to be rejected with abhor- rence or else recompensed by death. Oh, for some patriot, who shall be anxious to stop impious slaughter and civic broils. If he shall wish to have inscribed on the pedestals of his statue, "Father of his Country," let him dare to bridle our wild licence, living for this to far distant ages. In a fragment of Hipponax, who flourished about B.C. 520 (apud Stob. Flor. Grot. p. 305), we find the same idea: " The best dowry a wise man can receive with his wife is good principles; for this is the dowry alone which preserves a family. Whoever leads home a woman who is not the slave of luxury, possesses a high-principled help-mate instead of a mistress, a firm aid for his whole life." Shakespeare (' ; Henry VI.," Part III. act iii. sc. ii.) says: " Why, then, mine honesty shall be my dower." So Proverbs xxxi. 10: ' "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." LIVING MERIT. Through envy we hate the noble while they are alive ; dead, we cease not to regret their departure. Stobseus quotes the following lines from Mimnermus: " We are all too apt to envy the illustrious in life and to praise them after death." DionysiusiFr. Com. Gr. p. 731, M.)s:iys: " Every one becomes a friend to the dead, even though he may have been his greatest enemy when alive." Velleius(ii. 92) says: " We pursue the living with envy, the dead we regard with respect; we consider ourselves overshadowed by the former, instructed by the latter." 12 178 HORACE. Shakespeare (" Much Ado," act iv. sc. 1) says: "For it so falls out That, what we have, we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, Why, then we rack the value; then we find The virtue that possession would not show us Whiles it was ours." Thus also Bulwer Lytton: " I know not why we should delay our tokens of respect to those who deservo them, until tb.3 heart, that our sympathy could have gladdened, has ceased to beat. As men cannot read the epitaphs inscribed upon the marble that covers them, so the tombs that we erect to virtue often only prove our re- pentance that we neglected it when with us." MOKAL VIRTUES. What are laws? vain without public virtues to enforce them. Plautus (Trinum. iv. 3, 25) says: " STAS. For nowadays, men care nothing for what is right but only for what is agreeable. Ambition is now sanctioned by usage, and is unbridled by the laws. By the present cus- tom men may throw away their shields and run away from the enemy, and thereby they get honor instead of disgrace. CHARM, (behind) A shameless custom." The same idea is found in the speech of Diodotus (Thucyd. iii. 45): " It is simply impossible, and the height of folly, to suppose that there are any means to deter men from sin, either by power of laws or any other terror, since human nature car- ries us impetuously forward to our ends."" Petronius Arbiter (c. xiv.) says: t " What can laws effect, where money reigns supreme? " POVERTY. Poverty, looked on as a great disgrace, urges us both to do and suffer anything that we may escape from it, and leads us away from the path of virtue, that directs us upward to heaven. HORACE. 179 Euripides (Elect. 375) says: " But poverty possesses this disease ; through want it teaches a man evil." And Lucian (De Merc. Cond. p. 747): "Poverty persuading a man to do and suffer everything that he may escape from it." Addison says: " Poverty palls the most generous spirits; it cows industry, and casts resolution itself into despair." THE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. The germs of sinful desire are to be rooted out; and minds weakened by indulgence must be train- ed by sterner discipline. EICHES DISHONESTLY ACQUIRED. For though the riches of the wicked increase, yet there is always a something wanting to make their store complete. Solon, in a fragment (Fr. 11, 71, S.) says: " There are no bounds that can be set to riches. For those of us, who now possess most of this world's goods, make haste to double them. Who could satisfy the wishes of all? " Goldsmith's ''Traveller" says: " Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill: Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still." THE NOISE AND CROWDS OF A CITY. Cease to admire the smoke, riches, and din of Rome. Fragmenta Com. Anonym. 360, p. 1250, M. : " A great city is a great desert." This expression is found in Strabo (viii. p. 388, xvi. p. 738), and is quoted by Eustathius (p. 302, 15), referring to the city of Megalopolis in Arcadia. FRUGAL SUPPERS. Change of diet is sometimes agreeable to the rich, and the frugal suppers of the poor, under an 180 HOB ACE. humble roof, without purple drapery, can smooth the clouded brow. THE FUTURE. God has wisely hidden the events of the future under a dark veil, and smiles if a mortal is dis- tressing himself beyond what is right. Wherefore enjoy the present hour; the rest is beyond cm- power, and changeful as the waters of the river. Theognis (1075) says tc the same effect: " It is very difficult to know what will be the result of an, act that is unfinished, how God will allow it to end: for dark- ness is stretched over it, the end of the trouble is not to be foreseen by mortals, before the matter has been accom- plished." Pindar (Olymp. xii. 13) says: " The knowledge of the future is dim." Sophocles (Fr. Tereus, v. 1) says: " It is right that mortal man should be humble, knowing that there is no one, except Jupiter, who controls what is to be accomplished." So Bulwer Lytton says: " The veil which covers the face of futurity is woven by the hand of mercy." Shakespeare ("Henry IV.," act iii. sc. 1) says: " O, if this were seen, The happiest youth viewing his progress through, What perils past, what crosses to ensue, Would shut the book, and sit him down and die." Pope (" Essay on Man," i. 85) says: " Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv'n, That each may fill the circle mark'd by heaven." See Gray, "Progress of Poesy," st. i., an imitation of this passage applied to music. WE CANNOT BE DEPRIVED OF PAST ENJOYMKNT. That man alone will live master of himself and joyous, who can say at the close of each clay, " I have lived; to-morrow Jupiter may shroud, if he chooses, the heaven with a dark cloud, or light it up with brightest sunshine, yet he will not be able HORACE. 181 to undo what has gone by, nor change and make void what once the flying hour has carried past. Fortune, exulting in her malice and obstinate in playing her proud game, transfers honors from one to another, kind now to me, now to some one else." This idea is frequently found among the poets: thus Theog- nisG>83): " But what has passed, it is impossible to undo." Simonides (Fr. 55, S.) says: " For what is past will never be undone." Again Palladas ("in Anthol. Pal. ii. 304) says: " The life of man is the plaything of fortune, pitiable, way- faring, oscillating between riches and poverty; bringing some down, she raises them again aloft like a ball, while she brings others down from the clouds to Hades." Cowley, in his Essay "Of Myself," says: " Boldly say each night, To-morrow let my sun his beams display Or in clouds hide them: I have lived to-day." Dryden says: " Be fair or foul, or rain or shine, The joys I have possess'd, in spite of fate, are mine; Not heaven itself upon the past hath power, What has been, has been, and I have had my hour." Chapman thus speaks of the whims of fortune: " Fortune, the great commandress of the world, Hath divers ways to enrich her followers : To some she honor gives without deserving; To other some, deserving, without honor ; Some wit, some wealth, and some wit without wealth; Some wealth without wit ; some nor wit nor wealth, But good smock faces, or some qualities By nature without judgment; with the which They live in sensual acceptation, And make show only without touch of substance." I WRAP MYSELF IN MY OWN INTEGRITY. I commend fortune while she stays: if she flaps her swiftly-moving wings, I resign what she has 182 UOJiAVE. bestowed, and, wrapping myself in the mantle of mine own integrity, seek only honest poverty. The same idea is found in Plutarch (De Tranquill. vol. vii. p. 855, R.): " It is pleasant if thou bringest anything, but little loss if thou failest." And in Seneca (De Tranquill. 11): " Whensoever thy wise man is ordered to give up what he has received, he will not dispute with fortune, but will say: ' Since thou orderest it so, I gratef uljy and willingly give them up. If thou art willing that I should keep anything of thine, I shall still preserve it; if it otherwise please thee, I give up and restore my money and plate, my house and family.' " Shakespeare (" Henry VIII.," act iii. sc. 2) makes Wolsey say: " My robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all I now dare call my own." See Pitt's Life, by Lord Stanhope, for Pitt's quotation of this stanza. Spenser (" Faery Queen," ii. 7, 2) says: " And evermore himself with comfort feeds, Of his own virtues and praiseworthy deeds." THE POET IMMORTAL. I have raised a monument more lasting than brazen statues and higher than the royal pyr- amids, a monument which shall not be destroyed by the wasting rain, the fury of the north wind, by a countless series of years or the flight of ages. Pindar (Pyth. vi. 7) says somewhere to the same effect: " A great collection of songs (in honor of victories at the Pythian games) is kept in the rich valley sacred to Apollo, which neither winter storms, rushing furiously, the impet- uous force of the loud-roaring cloud, nor the wind shall con- vey into the depths of the sea, overwhelmed by the sand carrying all things with it." And again, speaking of those who fell at Thermopylae, says: " Neither rust nor all-subduing time shall obliterate the remembrance of them." II Olt ACE. 1SS And Shakespeare, in one of his sonnets, says: " Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.' Simonides (Fr. 74, S.) says, however: " Time with its teeth quickly gnaws away all things, even the strongest." PKIDE. Assume the pride won by your deserts. Milton (" Paradise Lost," iii. 317) has imitated this line: " All power I give thee ; reign forever, and assume Thy merits." INCREASING AGE. I' am no longer such as I was in the reign of the indulgent Cynara. GOOD EDUCATION, It is training that improves the powers im- planted in us by nature, and sound culture that is the armor of the breast; when moral training fails, the noblest endowments of nature are blem- ished and lost. Euripides (Hec. 600) says:-^ "If thou art brought up honorably, this has indeed .the power of inspiring principles of goodness." And again (Iphig. in Aul. 562): " The education that trains men, contributes much to virtue." Quinctilian (xii. 2) says: "Virtuo, though she may receive some originating force from nature, yet must be brought to perfection by the power of education." So Pope (" Moral Essays," ch. i. 1, 149): li 'Tis education forms the common mind; Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." And Waller says: " 'Tis art and learning that draw forth The hidden seeds of native worth." 184 HORACE. UNYIELDING. Plunged in the ocean, more fair comes forth its star; shouldst thou wrestle and win, it bears the winner down, conquers its conquerors, and wives in safety babble of its wars. Thus Pindar (Pyth. ii. 145) says: " Like a cork, I swim on the surface of the deep without being submerged." LOSS OF FORTUNE. Fallen, fallen is the hope and fortune of our name. LONGING FOR A FRIEND'S RETURN. His fatherland, smit with a fond longing, waits with impatience the return of Caesar. ^Eschylus (Agam. 1174) says: " The god smit by a longing desire." CRIME FOLLOWED BY PUNISHMENT. Punishment follows close on the heels of crime. Coleridge says: " Every crime Has, in the moment of its perpetration. Its own avenging angel, dark misgiving, An ominous sinking at the inmost heart." THE PLEASURES OF PEACE. Every one sees the close of day on his own hills, and weds his vine to the widowed elm. Callimachus (Epigr. 2) says: "We see the sun set in pleasing conversation." Thomson says of the delights of peace: " Fair Peace! how lovely, how delightful thou I By whose wide tie the kindred sons of men Like brothers live, in amity combined, And unsuspicious faith; while honest toil Gives every joy, and to those joys a right, HORACE. 185 Which idle, barbarous rapine but usurps. Beneath thy calm inspiring influence Science his views enlarges, Art refines, And swelling commerce opens all her ports: Bless'd be the man divine who gives us thee! " UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE. Who knows whether the gods will add to-mor- row to the present hour? Anacreon (xv. 9) says: "To-day is my business: who knows what to-morrow will bring forth? While, therefore, it is still fair weather, drink, play, and offer libations to Bacchus." Palladas (xxix. 1, A. Br. ii. 413) says: " It is fated to all men to die, nor does any one know whether he shall live to-morrow: knowing this, O man, eat, drink, and be merry." A POET'S POWER. If the poet be silent, thou wilt not receive a re- ward for your deeds of glory. Pindar (Olymp. x. 109) says thus: " When a man, Agesidemus, after noble daring, goes to the grave without the poet's lay, having labored for naught, he gathers little fruit from his toils." And again (Nem. vii. 20): " We know that there ii only one mirror in which noble deeds can be eflected the heroic songs of the epic poet: here only man finds a reward for his toils by the kindness of the fan- Mnemosyne." And again, in a fragment (Epin. ii. 4, p. 3): " It is the meed due to the brave to be praised by beautiful songs. For that only, which is celebrated in song, approaches the glory of the immortals. A noble deed sunk in forgetful- ness perishes utterly." THE POET. The muse forbids the noble to die; the muse en- thrones him in the sky. 186 HORACE. Ovid (Ep. ex. Pont. iv. 8, 55) thus speaks of the powers of poetry: " The gods even are brought into existence by the power of song, if we may be forgiven for such an expression." THE POET'S POWER. Many brave men lived before Agamemnon, but all unwept and unknown sleep in endless night, because tbey had no bard to sound their praise. Merit hid from the public gaze has little advantage over sloth laid in the grave. Pindar (Nem. ix. 13) says: " There is a certain saying among men that a noble deed ought not to be buried in the silent grave. It is the divine power of song that is suited to it." And again (Nem. vii. 18) : " For great virtues are enveloped in thick darkness, if they are unsung by the poet." Silius Italicus (iii. 145): " In what does a life forgotten differ from death ? " Spenser, in his " Ruines of Tune " (1. 358) says: " How many great ones may remembered be, Which in their daies most famouslie did flourish: Of whom no word we heare, nor sign we see, But as things wipt out with a sponge do perishe, Because they living cared not to cherishe No gentle wits, thro' pride or covetize, Which might their names for ever memorise." Milton ("Paradise Lost," ix. 335) says: " And what is faith, love, virtue unassayed Alone, without exterior help sustained." And again Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," act i., sc. IK " For if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not." Byron says: " Troy owes to Homer what whist owes to Hoyle." And " The present century was growing blind To the great Marlborough's skill in giving knocks Until his late life by Archdeacon Coxe." HORACE. 187 THE HAPPY MAN. It is not the rich man that thou shouldst rightly call happy, but he who knows how to use with wisdom the gifts of the gods, and to bear the an- noyances of poverty with patience, fearing a deed of shame worse than death: such a man is always ready to die for his friends or fatherland. So Cowper (" The Task," book vi. 1. 912) says: " He is a happy man whose life, e'en now, Shows somewhat of that happier life to come ; Who doomed to an obscure but tranquil state, Is pleased with it, and. were he free to choose, Would make his fate his choice ; whom peace, the fruit Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith, Prepare for happiness ; bespeak him one Content indeed to sojourn, while he must, Below the skies, but having there his home. The world o'erlooks him in her busy search Of objects more illustrious in her view; And occupied as earnestly as she, Though more sublimely, he o'erlooks the world; She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not; He seeks not hers, for he has proved them vain." WINE. Wine, that is mighty to inspire new hopes and able to wash away the bitters of care. In a fragment of the Cyprian poems (8 Meiell.) Nestor thus addresses Menelaus: " Menelaus, the gods have made wine for mortals to dissi- pate their cares." ENJOY THE PRESENT. But be up and doing, lay aside thy love for amassing wealth; and remembering the gloomy pile, blend while thou mayest a little folly with thy worldly schemes: it is pleasant to unbend at the proper moment. iss IIOSACK. Seneca (De Tranq. an. 15) says: " Or if we may believe the Greek poet, it is pleasant at times to play the fool." Calmnachus (Ep. 36, 2) says: " And to enjoy himself seasonably over wine." And Theognis (313) says: "Among the foolish, I am the most foolish; among the pious, I am the most pious of all men." FEAB INCREASED BY DISTANCE. \ Beside you, I shall be in less fear, which is al- ways increased when we are absent. THE INHABITANT OF THE COUNTRY. Happy the man who, far from the busy haunts of life, like the ancient race of men, ploughs his paternal fields with his own team, with mind un- ruffled by cares about money: he is not like the soldier roused by the trumpet's loud alarm, nor does he dread the angry storms that harrow up the deep; he abjures the law-courts and the inso- lent thresholds of the great. Aratus (Phaeuom. 108) speaks somewhat to the same ef- fect: " Men did not as yet know the miseries of strife, of con- tentious wranglings. and tumult. Thus they lived happily; the dangers of the sea were untried; it was not ships that brought food from distant countries, but oxen and ploughs that supplied it." Bacchylides (Fr. 10.) thus speaks of the blessings of peace: " There is not the clang of the brazen trumpet, nor is sweet sleep driven from the eyelids." In the following fragment of Aristophanes there is a close parallel to this passage (Stob. Flor. 213): "O fool, fool, all these things are there, to dwell in the country on a small property, away from the business of the forum, possessed of his own yoke of oxen, then to listen to the bleating of his sheep, and the sound of the must put into the tub, and to use for food finches and thrushes, not to wait for little trouts from the market three days old, proved valuable iu the roguish hand of the fishmonger." HORACE. 189 THE PLEASURES OF A COUNTRY LIFE. I am delighted to recline, now under some aged oak, now on the matted grass; meanwhile the brooks glide along within their high banks, the birds mournfully complain in the woods, and the fountains murmur with their purling waters, so as to invite gentle sleep. How beautifully Milton ("HPenseroso," 1. J30) describes the same scene: " And when the sun begins to fling His flaring beams, me, goddess, bring To arched walks of twilight groves, And shadows brown, that Sylvan loves: There in close covert, by some brook, Where no prof aner eye may look, Hide me from day's garish eye; While the bee, with honied thigh, That at her flowery work doth sing, And the waters murmuring, With such consort as they keep, Entice the dewy feathered sleep." Gray, in his "Elegy," says: " There at the foot of yonder nodding beach, That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, His listless length at noontide would he stretch, And pour upon the brook that babbles by." A SCOUNDREL. Though thou walkest in all the insolence of up- start wealth, fortune changes not thy scoundrelly character. Menander (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 960, M.) thinks otherwise of the power of riches: " The possession of great wealth conceals both low birth and a knavish character." NIGHT FOR DEEDS OF DARKNESS. O faithful arbitresses of my deeds, Night, and Diana, who rulest the silence when secret solem- nities are performed, now be present. 190 HORACE. Shakespeare (" Henry VI.," Part II. act i. sc. 4) says: " Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night, The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl, And spirits walk, and ghosts break up their graves; That time best fits the work we have in hand. ENJOY THE PKESENT. My friends, let us seize the moment as it flies, ' and, while our strength is fresh and it becomes our youth, let the clouded brow of sadness be far away. Bring forth the wine-cask stored in the year of my friend the consul Torquatus. Cease to talk of other things : perhaps the Deity will be- nignly change this gloomy hour, aud bring back to you the joys of former days. THE DISCONTENT OF MANKIND. How comes it, Maecenas, that no one lives con- tented with the lot " unto which God hath called him," or which accident has given him, but en- vies the life of those who are following other pur- suits? Maximus Tyrius, who flourished in the time of the Anto- nines. follows out the same idea (Diss. 21, 1): " It is difficult to find a perfect mode of life, as well as man; there is always something wanting even in the best: each hankers after what is his neighbor's, wherever he thinks him- self inferior. You may see the husbandman pronouncing the citizen happy, because he leads a pleasant and joyous life. And again, politicians and lawyers, even the most distin- guished among them, lamenting their lot. and praying that they may spend their lives cultivating their own little prop- erty. Then thou wilt hear the soldier praising the life of the civilian, and the civilian looking with envy on that of the sol- dier. And if any god, having stripped each of his present mode of life, like players on the stage, were to exchange it for that of his neighbor, these same individuals will long for their former mode of life, and bewail their present. So diffi- cult to please is man; very much so; discontented, fearfully peevish, liking nothing that belongs to himself." HORACE. 191 Himerius, who flourished A.D. 350, says (Ed. 30, p. 272) some- what to the same effect: " To follow anything habitually is apt to produce ennui, and in the case of the powerful creates insolence. We, who dwell on land, seek the sea; and again, we who plough the deep, long for the corn fields. The sailor pronounces the husband- man happy; and again, the husbandman thinks the sailor. All these feelings are the pastimes of ennui." DEATH OK VICTORY. The warrior's life is preferable; for why? the battle joins, and in the twinkling of an eye conies speedy death or joyous victory. THE INCONSISTENCY OF MANKIND. If any god were to say, Lo ! I shall now do what you wish; thou who wast lately a soldier shalt be a merchant; thou, lately a lawyer, shall be a farmer: quick, change places, and be gone. Why are you standing? They wouldn't budge. And yet they had it in their power to be happy to their utmost wishes. Must not Jupiter be highly in- dignant, and in his rage puff out both his cheeks, declaring that he will not again be so indulgent as to listen to their prayers. TRUTH, IN JEST. And yet what prevents us from telling the truth in a laughing way? JESTING APART. But yet, laying aside our sportive mood, let us pursue our theme with graver air. WHY HEAP UP RICHES? What good is it to thee fearfully to store up se- cretly in the earth an immense mass of silver and gold? 192 HORACE. Luke xii. 20: " But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shah be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? " THE ANT. As the ant, little though it is, for she is a good example of laborious life, draws with its mouth whatever it can, and adds to the heap which it is gathering, wisely providing for the future wants which it foresees. So Proverb's (vi. 6): " Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise." Titinius, who is supposed to have flourished B.C. 170, thus speaks (apud Nonium, p. 224): " The husbandman by Pollux is very like to the ant." THE MISER. As the story goes of a mean, though rich miser at Athens, who used to despise the taunts of the people and say: "The people hiss me, indeed, but I chuckle at home when I count my money in my chest." The thirsting Tantalus tries to catch the waters retreating from his lips. Why dost thou smile ? Change the name, and the tale is told of thee. Thou sleepest dozing with open mouth over thy sacks of gold, while thy avarice forces thee to spare them, as if they were sacred to the gods, or to gaze on them like pictures. Wouldest thou know the value of money or for what it may be used ? Well, then, thou mayest buy bread, pot- herbs, wine, and all those other comforts, which human nature cannot do without and be happy. Menander (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 921, M.) says to the same effect: " Money appears to you to be a servant able to furnish not only daily necessaries bread, barley, cakes, vinegar, oil but. everything of greater value.'' HORACE. 193 Ben Jonson ( " Every Man out of his Humor," act i.) says: " Poor worms, they hiss at me, whilst I at home Can be contented to applaud myself, . . . with joy To see how plump my bags are and my barns." And Pope ( " Moral Essays," iii. 79) says: " What riches give us, let us then inquire ? Meat, fire, and clothes. What more ? Meat, clothes, and fire. Is this too little ? " Dean Kirwan thus describes the miser: " Through every stage and revolution of life, the miser re- mains invariably the same; or if any difference, it is only this, that as he advances into the shade of a long evening he clings closer and closer to the object of his idolatry; and while every other passion lies dead and blasted in his heart, his de- sire for more pelf increases with renewed eagerness; and he holds by a sinking world with an agonizing grasp, till he drops into the earth with the increased curses of wretched- ness on his head, without the tribute of a tear from cliild or parent, or an inscription on his memory, but that he lived to counteract the justice of Providence, and died without hope or title to a blessed immortality." MAY I BE POOR OF SUCH BLESSINGS. For my part, I should prefer to be always poor in blessings such as these. Spenser, in his " Faery Queen " (ii. 7, 18), says: " Far otherwise (said he) I riches read. And deem them root of all disquietness; First got with guile, and preserved with dread." And Goldsmith in his "Deserted Village," says: "The heart distrusting, asks if this be joy." THE GOLDEN MEAN. There is a mean in all things; there are, in short, certain fixed limits, on either side of which what is right cannot exist. Dry den: "There is a mean hi all things, and a certain measure wherein the good and the beautiful consist, and out of which they never can depart." 18 194 HORACE. ALL MANKIND ANXIOUS TO OUTSTRIP THEIR NEIGHBORS. As when the steed hurries forward the chariot from the barrier, the driver presses on those who have outstripped him, caring nothing for those whom he has distanced. Hence it happens that we can seldom find the man who will say that he has passed a happy life, and content with the time that has gone by, rise like a satisfied guest from the banquet of life. Aristotle (apud Maxim, et Anton, p. 878) says: "It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken." And an anonymous -writer (apud. Stob.): " As I depart from the banquet in no -ways dissatisfied, so also from life when the hour comes." Sir Walter Scott ( " Anne of Geierstein," ch. xvi.) used this metaphor: " Death is dreadful, but, in the first spring-tide of youth, to be snatched forcibly from the banquet to which the individual has but just sat down, is peculiarly appalling." And Pope ("Essay on Man,"Ep. iii. 1, C9) has the same metaphor: " The creature had his feast of life before; Thou, too, must perish when thy feast is o'er! " MOTE IN OUR OWN EYE. While thou lookest on thine own faults as if through a distempered medium, why art thou as sharp-sighted to the defects of thy friends as an eagle or Epidaurian serpent. But be assured that the result of this conduct is that thy own faults, too, are closely scanned. Homer (II. xvii. 674) speaks of the sharp sight of the eagle: "The eagle, which they say is quickest in sight of birds that fly." Sosicrates (apud. Stob. T. 23, 2): "We are quick to seethe evil in another; whem we our selves commit the same, we do not recognize it." HORACE. 195 So Shakespeare ( " Coriolanus," act ii. sc. 1) says: " Oh, that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior survey of your good selves 1 " So Matthew vii. 3-5: " And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." AN UNCOUTH GENIUS. If your friend be somewhat given to passion, not quite suited to the refined taste of the men nowadays, to be laughed at perhaps because his hair is ill-trimmed, his gown hangs awry, and his shoes are too large for his feet. All this may be true; yet he is a good fellow, so that there is no one better; he is your intimate friend, and a mighty miiid lurks under his uncouth body. A NEGLECTED FIELD. For the fern, fit only to be burned, grows up in uncultivated ground. Bishop Hall says: " The best ground untilled soonest runs out into rank weeds. A man of knowledge that is either negligent or uncorrected, cannot but grow wild and godless." Blackmore on the Creation, says: " The glebe untill'd might plenteous crops have borne; Rich fruits and flowers, without the gard'ner's pains, Might every hill have crown'd, have honor "d all the plains." WE MISREPRESENT THE VIRTUES OF OUR FRIENDS. It is this which joins together and keeps friends attached. But instead of following such maxims^ 190 HORACE. we are only too apt to take virtues even for vises, and rejoice to begrime the untainted vessel. Seneca (cle Provid. vi.) says: " This is not a solid and unmixed happiness; it is mere out- ward crust." Shakespeare (" Much Ado," act iii. so. 1) says: " So turns she every man the wrong side out." ALL LOADED WITH FAULTS. How foolishly do we enact laws that are turned against ourselves! For no one is born without faults: he is the most perfect who is subject to the fewest. So Genesis viii. 21 : " For the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS AS WE WISH OUR DEBTS TO BE FORGIVEN. It is only right that he who asks forgiveness for his offences should be prepared to grant it to others. Lord Herbert says: " He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven." And Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," act ii. so. 2): " Alas! alas! Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once; And he that might the vantage best have took Found out the remedy. How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are? O, think on that; And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made." SOCIAL GOOD. The general sense of mankind, and the estab- lished customs of natious and social good, which HORACE. 197 may, as it were, be called the parent of justice and equity, rise up in opposition. THE POETASTER. Too lazy to submit to the labor of writing, I mean of writing well; for as to quantity, I care not for that. THE SATIRIST SPARES NOT HIS FRIEND. He has hay on his horns, avoid him as a furious bull; if he can raise a laugh, he will not spare his best friend, and whatever he has once scribbled on his paper, he will never rest till all, young and old, even the rabble, returning from the oven or well, should be able to repeat it. Pope, in his Imitations of Horace (ii. sat, i. 1. 69) says: " Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet." THE POET. Nor if any one should be able, as we are, to scribble verses closely resembling prose, must thou regard him as a poet. The man who is fired by real genius and divine enthusiasm, expressing himself in noble language, on such an one thou mayest bestow the sacred honors of a poet's name. Shakespeare (" Midsummer Night's Dream ' act v. sc. 1) says: " The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name." THE POET. Thou mayest also find the scattered poet's limbs. 198 HORACE. THE BACKBITES. He who backbites an absent friend, who does not defend him when he is attacked, who seeks eagerly to raise the senseless laugh and acquire the fame of wit, who can invent an imaginary romance, who cannot keep a friend's secret; that man is a scoundrel ! mark him, Koman, and avoid him. George Herbert (" The Temple ") says: " If any touch my friend, or his good name, It is my honor and my love to free His blasted fame From the least spot or thought of blame." Alexis (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 717, M.) says: " Nausinicus, there are two classes of parasites: one common, and introduced in comedies; one the black-hearted." Euripides (Hippol. 1000) expresses the same idea: "I am not the derider of my companions, father, but the same to my friends, when they are not present, and when I am beside them." This character is very much the same as Canning's " Can- did Friend " in the ' Anti-Jacobin" : " Candor, which spares its foes, nor e'er descends With bigot zeal to combat for its friends: Candor, which loves in see-saw strain to tell Of acting foolishly, but meaning well; Too nice to praise by wholesale or to blame, Convinced that all men's motives are the same; And finds, with keen discriminating sight, Black's not so black, nor white so very white, Save, oh save me from the candid friend." FOOLISH JESTIXG. If I said, in idle raillery, that the silly Rufillus smelt of perfumes, and Gorgonius of a goat, must I on that account be regarded by you as backbit- ing and envenomed? HORACE. 199 THE ESSENCE OF MALIGNITY. This is the very essence of rancorous detraction; this is pure malignity. Plutarch (S. N. V. p. 565, 0.) says: " When malice is joined to envy, there is given forth poison- ous and feculent matter, as ink from the cuttle-fish." WOES OF ANOTHER. As the funeral of a neighbor alarms the sick glutton, and compels him to check his appetite for fear of death : so the disgraces of others often deter the youth not yet hardened from yielding to incipient vice. ENOUGH AND MORE THAN ENOUGH. " Enough, you scoundrel." THE GENTLEMAN. A gentleman of the most polished manners, An- tony, and a friend, so that no one is a greater. Tennyson (" In Memoriam," can. x.): " The grand old name of gentleman, Defamed by every charlatan, And soiled with all ignoble use." THE PERFECT MAN. Pure spirits, such as the earth knew none more so, and to whom there is no one more attached than I am. A PLEASANT FRIEND. In my senses I should compare no blessing greater than a pleasant friend. Sophocles (CEd. Tyr. (ill) says: " For to throw off a virtuous friend, I count as bad as to throw away one's own life, which one loves best.'' 200 TELL, THAT TO THE MAKtNES. Let a circumcised Jew believe that. THE FOLLY OF THE MOB. Even the people, whose character as judge thou knowest, asserting this to be the case, the people who often are silly enough to bestow honors on the unworthy, and are slaves to rank, gazing in stupid admiration on a long line of titled ances- tors. How shall we decide, whose ways of think- ing are so far removed from those of the mere vul- gar mob? Shakespeare (Cor. act i. sc. 1) says: " What would you have, you curs, That like nor peace nor war? The one affrights you, The other makes you proud. He that trusts to you Where he should find you lions, Cnds you hares; Wherefores, geese: you are no surer, no, Than is the coal of fire upon the ice Or hailstone in the sun. Your virtue is ' To make him worthy, whose offence subdues him, And curse that justice did it. Who deserves greatness Deserves your hate, and your affections are A sick man's appetite, who desires most that Which would increase his evil. He that depends . Upon your favors, swims with fins of lead, And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye, Trust ye, With every minute you do change a mind; And call him noble that was now your hate, Him vile that was your garland." FAME. But glory, thou wilt say, leads all men, ignoble and noble, captive- at the wheels of her glittering car. Hannah More says: " Glory darts her soul-pervading ray On thrones and cottages, regardless still Of all the artificial, nice distinctions Vain human customs make." HORACE. 201 ALL MUST LABOR. Life is accustomed to give nothing to man with- out a world of toil. Epieharmus (Xen. Mem. ii. 20) says: " The gods sell everything good for labor." Sophocles (Elect. 945) says: " Observe, without labor nothing prospers." Euripides (Fr. Archel. 11) says: " I have told you, my boy, to search for fortune by labors, for see your father is honored." So Genesis iii. 19: " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Shakespeare (" As You Like It," act i. so. 8) says: " Oh, how full of briers is this working-day world! " " It is not with saying ' Honey, honey,' that sweetness will come into the mouth." POWEB OF RIDICULE. Ridicule often cuts the Gordian knot more effec- tively and better than the severity of satire. Cicero also (De Or. ii. 58) says: " The orator often cuts by force of ridicule matters of a vexatious character, which it is not easy to answer by regular argument." Churchill says of Ben Jonson: " His comic humor kept the world in awe, And Laughter frightened Folly more than Law." THE LABORS OF CORRECTION. Correct with care, if thou expect to write any- thing which shall be worthy of a second perusal. AM I TO BE EXCITED BY THE ATTACKS OF FOOLS ? Shall that bug Pantilius move my spleen ? Shall I be tortured when Demetrius abuses me in my absence ? or because the silly Fannius, the friend of Hermogenes Tigellius, finds fault with my verses ? 202 HOE ACE. Antiphanes calls grammarians (Anthol. Palat. xi. 322, 5): " The plague of poets . . . the malicious biting-bugs of the sweet- voiced." The Emperor Adrian (Philistr. V. Sophist. 2, 10) says of the attacks of a malicious slanderer: " We bore all his attacks, calling the abuse of such the stings of bugs." SO MANY MEN, SO MANY MINDS. So many men, so many minds. Sir John Herschel"says: " There is no accounting for the difference of minds or in- clinations, which leads one man to observe with interest the development of phenomena, another to speculate on their causes; but were it not for this happy disagreement, it may be doubted whether the higher sciences could ever have at- tained even their present degree of perfection." THE POET FOND OF PEACE. Jupiter, father and king of men, may my pen be laid aside and consumed with rust, and let no one attack me, who am so desirous of living at peace with all mankind. BEAVARE. Better not touch me, friend, I loud exclaim. A FBIEND TO VIRTUE. Tolerant to virtue alone and her friends. THE POET NOT TO BE ATTACKED WITH IMPUNITY. And while seeking to fix his tooth against some soft skin, he shall break it against my solid armor. FRUGALITY AND MOTHER WIT. My good friends, what and how great a virtue it is to live on the little that the gods provide HOE ACE. 203 (this is not my lesson, but what was taught by that man of mother-wit, Ofellus, an untaught philosopher, and of rough common sense), come learn with me. FALSE APPEARANCES. The mind charmed by false appearances refuses to admit better things. Hooker (E. P. V. ii. 1) says: " How should the brightness of wisdom shine, where the windows of the soul are of very set purpose closed." A BRIBED JUDGE. A judge, when bribed, is ill able to probe the truth. A STOMACH SELDOM HUNGRY. A stomach that is seldom empty despises com- mon food. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 569, M.) says: " Hunger makes everything sweet except itself, for want is the teacher of habits." PLAIN DIET. Now mark, what and how great blessings flow from a frugal diet. In the first place, thou en- joyest good health. ' THE RESULTS OF INTEMPERANCE. Seest thou how pale the sated guest rises from supper, when the appetite is puzzled by varieties ? The body, too, burdened with yesterday's excess, weighs down the soul, and fixes to the earth this particle of divine essence. Plato (Phsed. c. 33) has an idea somewhat to the same ef- fect: " Every pleasure and pain, being as it wore a noil, uaila and 204 HORACE. fastens the soul to the body, making it to resemble the body, as the soul regards those things to be true, which the body asserts to be so." And Seneca (De Brevit. Vit. 2) says: " Vices are every moment assailing us, so that we cannot recover ourselves, nor raise our eyes to examine the truth, but are fastened to the earth by our passions." And again Seneca (Ep. laO) speaks of the mind: " The mind of God, a part of which has passed into the breast of man." ADVANTAGES OF TEMPER AXCE. And yet this abstemious man may on certain occasions have recourse to better cheer, when the returning year brings back some festive day, or the wasted body requires more genial fare, or when years increase and the feebleness of age may claim some kinder treatment. If thou in the prime of life and vigor of health enjoyest the luxuries of the world, what wilt thou be able to add when age and sickness comes ? Milton (" Paradise Lost," xi. 1. 633) says: " If thou well observe The rule of Not too much, by temperance taught, In what thou eat'st and drink'st; seeking from thence Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight, Till many years over thy head return; So mayst thou live; till, like ripe fruit, thou drop Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease Gather'd, not harshly pluck'd, for death mature." Dost thou pay regard to fame as that which charms the ear of man more sweetly than music ? Milton (" Lycidas," 1. 70) says: " Fame is the spin- that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble minds) To scorn delights and live laborious days; But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, HO h ACE. 205 And think to burst out into sudden blaze, Comes the blind Fury, with the abhorr'd shears, And slits the thin-spun life." Sheridan (" Pizarro," act iii. sc. 3) says: " My ears (were framed) to own no music but the thrilling records of his praise." THE USE THAT MIGHT BE MADE OF THE MISER'S MONEY. Why does any man, who deserves not to be poor, live in deep distress, whilst thou art wallowing in riches ? Why are the ancient temples of the gods falling to ruins ? Why, thou wretch, dost thou not spare something of that treasure for thy dear country ? Thinkest thou that thou alone shalt always bask in the sunshine of prosperity ? Thou f uture laughing-stock to thy deadly foe ! NOTHING CERTAIN. For nature has assigned the land as a perpetual inheritance neither to him nor me, nor any one. He turned me out, but his own follies, or the knaveries of the law, or a long-lived heir, shall turn out him at last. The farm now belonging to Umbrenus, lately to Ofellus, will be the lasting property of no one, but the usufruct will pass now to me, now to another: wherefore live with an unyielding spirit, and present a firm breast to the frowns of fortune. We find the same idea (Anthol. Palat. II. p. 27): "I was once the field of Achasmenides, but now of Menip- pus: and again I shall go from one to another. For the for- mer once thought that he possessed me, and now the latter thinks so, yet I am wholly belonging to none but to Fortune." Luciin (De Nigrino, c. 26) says: " Who being in possession of a field not far from the city, did not imagine that he would saunter "over it for many years, 206 HOE ACE. so little so that he did not enter into any legal agreement that he should have authority over it, believing, I suppose, that we are lords of none of these things by nature, but by law and inheritance enjoying the use of them for an uncertain period, are regarded their masters for a short period, and when the fixed time is passed, then some one else receiving it enjoys the title." So 1 Corinthians xvi. 13: "Watch .... quit you like men, be strong." INDOLENCE. Idolence, that dangerous Siren, must be es- chewed, or thou must be content to yield up what- ever thou hast acquired by the nobler exertions of thy life. Chaucer says: " Ydelness, that is the gate of all harmes, An ydil man is like an hous that heth noone walles; The devils may enter on every side." BUSY-BODIES. I attend to the business of other men regardless of my own. ALL, WANDER FROM THE RIGHT PATH. As, in a wood, where travellers stray from the direct path, one to the left, another to the right, all are mistaken, but they are so in different ways. POWER OF GOLD. For everything, virtue, glory, honor, things hu- man and divine, all are slaves to riches. EXPLAINING ONE DIFFICULTY BY ANOTHER. An illustration which solves one difficulty by raising another, settles nothing. HORACE: 207 TWIN BROTHERS. A noble pair of brothers, twins, in truth. WHITE OR BLACK DAY. Days to be marked with chalk or coal. THE ANNOYANCES OF LOVE. In love these are the miseries, now a state of war and then of peace, if any one were to try to give steadiness to such a life which is almost more changeable than the weather and floats about in blind disorder, he would succeed no better than if lie should attempt to play the madman in accord- ance with right reason and rule. TO ADD FUEL TO THE FLAME. To the folly of love add the bloodshed which it often occasions, and stir, as they say, the fire with the sword. A LIKENESS. This image is not very unsuited to thy own con- dition. HIGH BIRTH NOTHING WITHOUT WEALTH. High descent and meritorious deeds, unless united to wealth, are more vile than very sea-weed. Euripides (Fr. Aim. 8) says: "But high birth is nothing compared to riches; for riches place even the basest among the highest." TO LIVE WITH THE GREAT. For thou oughtest to know, seeing thou livest near to the gods. THE PLEASURES OF A COUNTRY LIFE. O country, when shall I behold thee, and be al- 208 HORACE. lowed to drink a sweet oblivion of the cares of life, musing on the works of ancient sages, or in gentle sleep and hours of peaceful abstraction from the world's busy scenes! Oh when shall I have served up to me my frugal supper of beans, re- lated as is said to Pythagoras, and pot-herbs soaked in rich lard! Oh joyous nights and banquets, which the gods themselves might envy ! at which my friends and I regale ourselves by my own fireside, while my petulant slaves enjoy what their master has left. Every guest may drink at dis- cretion, unshackled by absurd laws, the strong- headed draining to the dregs the brimming bumper, while the weak grow mellow on a mod- erate glass. Antiphanes (Ecc. Grot. p. 637) says: " For it is the life of the gods, when thou hast wherewith to sup without thought of the reckoning." In Cowper's "Task " we find (1. 170): " The customary rites Of the last meal commence ; a Roman meal. Discourse ensues, not trivial, yet not dull, Nor such as with a frown forbids the play Of fancy, or proscribes the sound of mirth. Themes of a graver tone, Exciting oft our gratitude and love, While we retrace, with memory's pointing wand, That calls the past to our exact review, The dangers we have 'scaped . . . Oh evenings worthy of the gods: exclaimed The Sabine bard.'' Keats ("Sonnets"') thus expresses the same idea of love of country life: " To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair , And open face of heaven to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament.' 1 ENJOY THE PRESENT. My good friend, come on, take my advice, since HORACE. 209 animals have by heaven's decree no existence af- ter death, and there is no escape from death to great or small, be merry while thou mayest, be mindful of how short a span of life thou hast. Apollodorus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1108, M.) says: " When I was a young man, I pitied those cut off prema- turely; but now when I see the burial of the old, I weep; for this refers to me, and that did not." CHANGEABLENESS OF HITMAN NATURE. A part of mankind pursue one unwearied course of crime, and go on with steady aim; another oscillate backwards and forwards, now gliding along the path of virtue, and then the path of vice. THE STRONG-MINDED. The more consistent a man is in a vicious course, so much is he less wretched and better off than he who one while struggles against his passions and the next instant yields to their violence. THE WISE MAN. Who, then, is free? The wise who can com- mand his passions, who fears not want, nor death, nor chains, firmly resisting his appetites and de- spising the honors of the world, who relies wholly on himself, whose angular points of character have all been rounded off and polished. THE RESULTS OF ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY. Adversity usually reveals the genius of a gen- eral, -\yhile good fortune conceals it. INCREASING AGE. His youth, his genius now no more the same. 12 210 HORACE. Byron says: " My days of love are over: me no more The charms of maid, wife, and still less of widow. Can make the fool of, that they made before; In fact I must not lead the life I do." And again: " Now my sere fancy ' falls into the yellow Leaf,' and imagination droops her pinion: And the sad truth, which hovers o'er my desk, Turns wliat was once romantic to burlesque." THE WORN-OUT STEED. Be wise and release from the chariot in time thy aged steed, lest he become the object of laugh- ter, dragging on behind and show his broken wind. TH"E PURSUIT OF TRUTH. I ponder in deep earnestness, and search out what is true and becoming to man, and my every thought is thus engaged. HTDEPEXBEXCE. Bound by no ties to maintain the tenets of any master, I am borne hither and thither, as my in- clination leads me, without a fixed object; now, like the Stoics, I am a plodding citizen, and live amidst the bustle of public life, the stern guardian and asserter of untainted virtue; now I glide insensibly back to the doctrines of Aris- tippus, and instead of accommodating myself to circumstances, make circumstances bend to me. Pope ('' Essay on Man," ep. iv. 1. 831) says: " Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through nature up to nature's God." HORACE. 211 Shakespeare (" Jul. Cacs." act i. sc. 2) says: " I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself." IT IS SOMETHING TO BE ADVANCING IN THE PATH OF VIKTUE. It is always in our power to advance to a cer- tain point, if it is not allowed us to go farther. ADVANTAGES OF A GOOD EDUCATION. Let a man be ever so envious, passionate, indo- / lent, drunken, amorous, yet there is no one such a slave to passion that he may not be improved, if he would only lend a docile ear to the lessons of wisdom. It is some approach to virtue to try to get rid of vicious propensities, and the highest wisdom is to be free from folly. Thus we find in Brunck (P. Gnom., p. 320): " Education civilizes all men." So Isaiah a. 18): " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." MONEY. Silver yields to gold, gold to virtue. Ye citizens of Rome, folly cries, money ought to be the first object of pursuit, virtue is but a secondary thought, Theognis (699) says: "With most men riches are regarded the prime virtue; with some again they are an object of contempt. " ' Sophocles (Fr. Creusa, iv. 5) says: " All other things in comparison with riches are of second- ary importance with men." 212 HOB ACE. A GOOD CONSCIENCE. Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence to pre- serve a conscience void of offence and never to turn pale with guilt. Shakespeare (" Henry VI.," Part II. act iii. sc. 2) says: "What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just; And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted." And again (" Henry VIH.," act iii. sc. 2): " I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience." MONEY TO BE GOT IN ANY WAY. My friend, put money in thy purse, honestly if thou canst, if not, at any rate put money in thy purse. Johnson ("Every Man in his Humor," act ii. sc. 3): " Get money; still get money, boy; No matter by what means." STEPS NOT RETURNING TERRIFY. For I am terrified by observing all the steps go- ing towards thy den, and none returning. PROTEUS. With what chains shall I be able to bind this ever-changing Proteus. CHANGEABLENESS OF MAN. What dost thou do when the sentiments of my mind are equally as much at variance with each other; it. refuses what it coveted and desires again what it lately rejected ; it is in continual turmoil and inconsistent with itself in the whole tenor of life; it pulls down, builds up. changes squire for HORACE. 213 round; yet thou only reyjardest me as mad in the same way as the rest of the world. VICE AND VIKTUE. Who tells what is becoming, what is base, what is useful, what is the reverse? SUBJECT SUFFERS WHEN KINGS DISPUTE. The Greeks suffer for the follies of their princes. Inside and outside the walls of Troy, sedition, fraud, lust, and violence are everywhere found. THE VULGER HERD. We are mere cyphers, and, like the suitors of Pe- nelope, formed by nature to devour the fruits of the earth, mere effeminate and luxurious subjects of Alcinous, a race too much occupied with the pleasures of the table, whose delight is to sleep till mid-day and sooth our cares with melting airs of music. Euripides (Heracleid. 937) says: " Knowing that thy son was not one of the many, but really a man of note." And again (Troacl. 475): " And I then gave birth to children of distinguished bravery not merely belonging to the mass, but the chiefest among the Phrygians." Shakespeare (" Coriolanus." act iii. sc. l)callsthem: " The mutable rank-scented many. " WISDOM. Unless thou callest for a book and lights before break of day, devoting thy thoughts to honorable pursuits and studies, in thy waking moments thou wilt be the slave of envious or amorous passions. For why dost thou make haste to remove the things which offend the eye, but if any distemper prey upon thy mind, why dost thou delay from year to 214 HORACE. year to apply a remedy? He who has begun, has his work half done. Dare to be wise ; begin. He who puts off from hour to hour the act of living wisely, is like the rustic who sits waiting on the bank till the river floats past, but it does, and will roll on in an unbroken stream till time shall be no more. Sophocles in a fragment says (I. T. Iviii. 2): " If any one has begun a work well, it is likely that he will come to a good ending." Wordsworth ("The Fountain ") says: "No check, no stay this streamlet fears, How merrily it goes ! "Twill murmur on a thousand years And flow as now it flows." And in Tennyson's "iBrook: " " But 1 go on forever." A COMPETENCE. Let him who is blessed with a competence wish for nothing more. PLEASURE, ANGER. Unless the vessel be pure, whatever thou pourest into it grows sour. Despise pleasures; pleasure, bought with pain is hurtful. The avaricious is always poor; set fixed bounds to thy desires. The envious sickens at another's joys; Sicily's ty- rants could not invent a greater torment than envy. He who cannot control his angry passions, will wish undone what mad resentment shall have prompted, while he hastens to gratify his feelings of insatiate hate. Anger is a brief fit of madness; govern thy temper which rules, unless it is under thy control; curb it with bit; bind it in chains. The docile colt is formed by gentle skill to move obedient to the rider's will. The hound is taught to bay in the woods from the time when he has barked at a buck- HORACE. 215 skin hung up in the court-yard. Now in the days of thy youth drink in thy pure breast the words of instruction; put thyself under those who are wiser than thyself. A jar will long retain the odor of the liquor with which, when new, it was first sea- soned. Moore says: " You may break, you may shatter the vase, as you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." BOUNTY OF THE GODS TO MAN. Nature did not form thee a mere senseless clod of earth. The gods have bestowed on thee beauty, riches, and taught thee how to enjoy them. Menander (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 889, M.) says: " Happy the man who has wealth and sense; for he can use it rightly for what is required." AN EPICtTKEAN. What more could an affectionate nurse pray for her dear boy than that he, like thou, be blessed with wisdom, eloquence, public influence, good health, and the comforts of life, with a purse that never fails in time of need? 'Midst hopes and cares, fears and passions, never forget that this may be the last day that shall ever dawn upon thee. The day that comes unlocked for will shine with double lustre. Thou wilt find me fat and sleek, in good plight, whenever thou carest to visit a hog by Epicurus fed. See Bishop Kerr's " Morning Hymn": " Live this day as if the last." FORTUNE. If I am not allowed to use the gifts of fortune, what benefit are they to me when they come ? 216 HORACE. WINE. What can wine not effect ? It brings to the hidden secrets of the soul, gives being to pur hopes, bids the coward fight, drives dull care away, teaches new means for the accomplishment of our wishes: whom have the soul-inspiring cups not made eloquent? Even in the depth of pov- erty, whom has it not relieved? Aristotle (Ethic, iii. 8) says: " This is the case with drunken men; for they become san- guine in hope." Diphilus, as quoted by Athenaeus (ii. 2), says: " O Bacchus, most grateful to the wise and also most wise in thyself, how pleasant thou art ! who alone causest the poor to have lofty thoughts of himself, makest the grave to laugh, the timid to be daring, and the coward to be brave." Alcseus (Fr 44, S.) says: " For wine is a mirror to men." And ^Eschylus (Fr. 13) says: , " Polished brass is the mirror of the body and wine of the mind." Shakespeare (" Othello," act ii. sc. 3) says: " Come, come; good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it." CALMNESS. Not to be startled by anything that appears, is of all means the best to make and keep us happy. There are some men so little under the influence of this feeling that they can look unmoved at yon sun in the firmament, the stars, and the ever-vary- ing changes of the seasons that take place at fixed periods. Plato (Theaet. c. xi.), however, says the very opposite of this: " For wonder is very much the affection of a philosopher; for there is no other beginning of philosophy than this." HORACE. 217 And Aristotle (Metaph. i. 2) says: " It was through the feeling of wonder that men now and at first began to philosophize." Cicero (Tusc. v. 28), however, says: " No wise man ought to wonder at anything, when it happens, so that it should appear to have happened sudden and unexpected to him." We find Dante (Purgat. xxvi. 71) express himself thus: " Amaze. Not long the inmate of a noble heart." Perhaps Horsely, in his " Sermons " (vol. i. p. 237), gives the best idea of this quality; "Wonder, connected with a principle of rational curiosity, is the source of all knowledge and discovery, and it is a principle even of piety; but wonder, which ends in wonder, and is satisfied with wonder, is the quality of an idiot." Jeremiah (x. 2) says: " Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven ; for the heathen are dismayed at them." St. Augustine (Serin. 1500) says: " Tell us, Epicurus, What makes a man happy ? Answer, The pleasure of the senses. Tell us, Stoic, The virtue of the mind. Tell us, Christian, The gift of God. " GOLDEN MEAN. Let the wise be called a fool, the followers of what is right as the opposite, if they both pursue virtue itself beyond the bounds of moderation. Cicero (Tusc. iv. 25) says somewhat to the same effect: " The pursuit even of the best of things ought to be calm and tranquil." TIME. Time will bring to light whatever is hidden ; it will conceal and cover up what is now shining with the greatest splendor. Sophocles (Ajax, 646) says: " Time, the long, the countless, brings to view everything that is hidden, and conceals what is disclosed." Antoninus, in his " Meditations" (ix. 28), says: " The things of this world revolve in a circle up and down," 218 HOB ACE. from age to age; by and by the earth will cover us up, and then it will change us to something else." Euripides (, For my own part, I had rather be esteemed a foolish and dull writer, provided my own faults please me, or at least escape my notice, than be wise and a prey to continual vexation. Pope (" Essay on Man," iv. 260) says: " What is it to be wise ? 'Tis but to know how little can be known; To see all others' faults and feel our own." It is a favorite idea of Goethe, found in his " Torquato Tasso" (i. 2, 85):- " Beloved brother, let us not forget that man can never lay aside his own nature." And in his " Truth and Poetry " (xvi. 4): "A man may turn whither he chooses; he may undertake whatever he may ; but he always will come back to the path which Nature has once prescribed to him.'' Destouches (" Glorieux." v. 3) has the same idea: "I know it only too well: drive out what springs from na- ture, it returns at a gallop." HORACE. 235 And La Fontaine (" Fables," ii. 187): " Let them shut the door in his face, he will get back through the windows." But perhaps Frederick the Great expresses the idea as for. cibly as any of these when he says, in his letter to Voltaire, March 19, 1771 : " Drive prejudices out by the door, they will re-enter by the window." PLEASING DELUSIONS. By Pollux, cruel friends, you have destroyed, not saved me, in taking away this pleasure and robbing me by force of such an agreeable delu- sion. RICHES. But if riches had power to bestow wisdom and render thee less a slave to passions and fears, then indeed thou mightest blush with reason if there were one on earth more covetous than thou. CIIANGEABLENESS OP PROPERTY. What boots it whether the food thou eatest was bought just now from the lands of another, or whether it is the produce of an estate thou bough t- est many years ago ? He who bought some time ago lands close to Aricia or Veii pays as well as thou for the plate of herbs he sups on, though he i may think otherwise ; he boils his pot at night with 'wood that he has bought even as thou dost; and yet lie calls the land his own as far as where a cer- tain poplar fixes the boundary and prevents quar- rels with his neighbor; as if anything can Le called a lasting possession which in the short space of a single hour may change its lord and fall to other hands by coaxing, sale, violence, or certainly at last by death. Since thus no property has a lasting tenure, and heir comes upon heir, as 236 HORACE. wave on wave, what real benefit is there in landed property and ever-increasing hoards ? Antiphanes (in Grotii Exc. p. 637) says: "Whoever thou art, who thinkest that any possession is lasting, thou art much mistaken." So Luke xii. 19, 20: " And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and ba merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ? " GENIUS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL. The cause of the differences in men is only known to that mystic genius who presides at our birth, who directs our horoscope, the god of na- ture, living and dying with each, changeable like each, propitious or malign according as we obey his ' ehests. Menander (Fr. Com. Gr., p. 974) says: " A good genius is present to every man at his birth as the director of his life: for we must not imagine that it can be a bad genius that injures a good life." Spenser, in his "Faerie Queen" (ii. 12, 47), says: " Genius That celestiall powre to whom the care Of life, and generation of all That lives, perteines in charge particulare, Who wondrous things concerning our welfare, And strange phantomes doth lett us ofte foresee, And ofte of secret ills bids us beware; Thai is ourselfe, whom though we do not see, Yet each doth in himself e it well perceive to bee: Therefore a god him sage Antiquity Did wisely make, and good Agdistes call. EITHER IMPROVE YOUR LIFE, OB LEAVE THE STAGE OF LIFE. What boots it to pluck one thorn out of so many ? If thou knowest not how to live sensibly, HORACE. 237 give way to those who do. Thou hast had enough of the pleasures of life, enough of feasting and revellings; it is time for thee to depart, lest the age, on whom mirth and jollity sit well, should laugh at thee as thou reelest, and hoot thee off the stage of life. Pope (" Essay on Man," iii. 70) says: " Thou too must perish when thy feast is o'er." UNIFORMITY RECOMMENDED. So that a beauteous maid above should end in a hideous fish. RIDICULE. My f liends, were you admitted to such a sight, could you refrain from laughter ? DREAMS OF THE SICK MAN. The delusive dreams of the sick man. PAINTERS AND POETS. Painters and poets are granted the same licence. We are aware of this; such indulgence we give and take. Diphilus (Athen. vi. 1) says: " As tragic writers say, who alone have the >~"~'6vov 'destruction's wing.'" VICE. There will be nothing more that posterity can add to our immoral habits; our descendants must have the same desires and act the same follies as their sires. Every vice has reached its zenith. HENCE THE CAUSE OF ANGER. Hence the cause of rage and tears. 250 JUVENAL. HYPOCRISY. Who pretend to be Curii and live the life of Bacchanals. HYPOCRISY. Trust not to outward show. THE GRACCHI. Who could endure the Gracchi if they were to rail at the seditious mob ? Who would not con- found heaven with earth and sea with heaven, if Verres were to pretend to hate a thief. Milo a murderer ? If Clodius were to decry adultery, Catiline accuse Cethegus of factious views ? If Sylla's three pupils were to declaim against Sylla's proscriptions ? THE BAD. There is wonderful unanimity among the disso- lute. THE POWERFUL ARE ACQUITTED. The verdict acquits the raven, but condemns the dove. The Germans say:- " We hang the paltry thief, but let the big go free." " One man may steal a horse, while another may not look over the hedge." A WICKED MAN. No one ever reached the climax of vice at one leap. So Psalm Ixix. 27: " Add iniquity unto their iniquity." JUfENAL. 251 Beaumont and Fletcher (" A King and no King," act v. sc. 4) says: " There is a method in man's wickedness, It grows up by degrees." And Sir P. Sydney (" Arcadia," bk. i.) : " There is no man suddenly either excellently good or ex- tremely evil." ATHEISM. That there are departed spirits and subterranean regions below Charon's pole, and filthy frogs in the Stygian pool, that so many souls are ferried across in one frail boat not even boys believe, except they be so young as not to be charged for their bath. CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS, What could I do at Home ? I cannot teach my lips to lie. If a book be bad, I cannot praise it and beg a copy. 1 am no astrologer ; I neither will nor can promise a father's death: I have never exam- ined the entrails of & toad for poison. FREEDMEN. Minions, then lords of every princely dome. THE GREEKS. Bid the hungry Greek go to heaven! He'll go. So Johnson: " All sciences the hungry Monsieur knows, And bid him go to hell to hell he goes." A FLATTERER. This nation, deeply versed in flattery, praises the conversation of an ignoramus, the face of a supremely ugly friend. THE GREEKS. There every man is an actor. Do you smile ? 252 JUVENAL. His sides burst with laughter; if he spies a tear in a friend's eye, he melts in tears, though in reality he feels no grief. If at mid-winter you ask for a little fire, he calls for his great-coat. If you say I am hot, he breaks into a sweat. MONEY. In proportion to the money a man keeps in his chest is credit given to him. POVERTY. Cheerless poverty has no greater evil than that it makes man the contempt and laughter of his fellows. POVERTY. Those with difficulty emerge from obscurity whose noble qualities are depressed by narrow means at home; but at Rome for such like the at- tempt is still more hopeless ; it is only at an exor- bitant rate that a wretched lodging can be got, a mean attendance, and frugal cheer. APING OUR BETTERS. This is a fault of which we are all guilty. Here we all in the midst of poverty ape our betters. Why should I take up your time? Everything at Home is very dear. A MAN'S OWN 18 PRECIOUS, HOWEVER SMALL,. It is something in any place and in any retreat whatever to have made oneself master even of a single lizard. THE POOR. Mark the prelude of this miserable fray, if fray it can be called, where he only cudgels and I only JUVENAL. 253 bear. He stands in front of you and orders you to stand. Obey you must. For what can you do, when he who gives the orders is maddened with wine and at the same time stronger than you. "Whence do you come?" he thunders out. " With whose vinegar or beans are you stuffed? What cobbler has been feasting with you on chopped leek or boiled sheep's head? Don't you answer? Speak or be kicked ! Say where do you hang out, or in what beggar's stand shall I find you?" Whether you attempt to speak or retire in silence is all the same. They beat you and then in ike you to find hail to answer for the assault. This is a poor man's libei'ty. ANOTHER CRISPINUS. Once more behold Crispinus, and often shall I have to summon him to the stage. THE GUILTY. What matters it, then, in what long colonnades he tires his mules? through what extensive glades his rides extend? how many acres near to the Fo- rum, and what palaces he has bought? Peace visits not the guilty mind. So Psalm xxxii.10 : " Many sorrows shall be to the wicked." A TYRANT. For tyrant's ears, alas! are ticklish things. THE COWARDLY. He never attempted to swim against the current, nor was he a citizen who dared speak with bold freedom and sacrifice his life for truth. This last expression was a favorite saying of Rousseau. 254 JWENAL. THE GREAT AND GOOD. Would that he had devoted to such trifles as these all those years of cruelty, during which he robbed the city of those mighty and illustrious spirits unchecked, and with none to avenge the dead ! GENEROSITY. No one looks for such gifts as Seneca, Piso, or Cotta used to send to their humble friends; for in days of old, generosity was of higher value than birth or power. THE SELFISH. Be, as many now are, luxurious when alone, parsimonious to your guests. A BARKEN WIFE. A barren wife procures The kindest, truest friends ; such, then, be yours. A GOOD DINNER. He fliinks you a vile slave, drawn by the smell of his warm kitchen. And 'twas her dower that winged the unerring dart. DESCRIPTION OF A RICH AND NOBLE WIFE. A very phoenix upon earth, and rare as a black swan who could endure a wife in which all excel- lencies are united? I would rather, far rather, marry a country girl of Venusia, than thee, O Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if along with thy mightiness thou broughtest a proud and disdain- JUVENAL. 255 f ul spirit, and countest as part of thy dower the- innumerable triumphs of thy family. Away, I beg, with thy Hannibal and Syphax conquered in his camp troop, with the whole of thy Carthage. GREEK LANGUAGE. Everything is in Greek, while surely it is more disgraceful not to know our mother-tongue. LET MY WILL STAND FOE A REASON. When a man's life is in debate, no deliberation is too long. Fool, so a slave is a man ! He may have done nothing deserving of death ; I grant it, I will it, I insist on it! My will; let that, sir, for a reason stand. WOMEN. There is scarcely a single cause in which a woman is not in some way engaged in fomenting the suit. " Women's jars breed men's wars." CURTAIN LECTURES. The marriage-bed is still the scene of strife and mutual recriminations; there quiet never comes, that comes to all. CROCODILE TEARS. With tears in abundance, ever at her call and ready, only waiting her orders which way to flow. EVILS OF PEACE. Now we are suffering all the evils of long peace. Luxury more terrible than war, broods over Rome and avenges the conquered world. 256 JUVENAL. THE KEEPERS. " Pur on a lock ; keep her in confinement." But who is to keep the keepers themselves? ITCH OF SCRIBBLING. An incurable itch of scribbling clings to many, and grows inveterate in their distempered breast. TO PAINT A CHARACTER. Such an one as I cannot paint in words, though I can body him forth in my mind's eye. REPETITION. It is repetition, like hashed cabbage served for each repast, that wears out the schoolmaster's life. Shakespeare (" King John," act iii. sc. 4) says: " Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." ALL WISH TO KNOW. All wish to know ; but none the price will pay. A WHITE CROW. Yet he indeed was lucky, a greater rarity than a white crow. TEACHERS. Lightly lie the turf, ye gods, and void of weight, on our grandsires ? shades, and round their urn may the fragrant crocus bloom and eternal spring, who maintained that a tutor should have the place and honor of a revered parent. PEDIGREE. What are the wondrous merits of a pedigree? JUVENAL. 257 What boots it, Ponticus, to be accounted of an ancient line and to display the painted faces of your ancestors? A GENTLEMAN. Though all the heroes of thy line bedeck thy halls, believe me, virtue alone is true nobility. Be a Paulus, Cossus, Drusus in moral character. Let the bright examples of their lives be placed before the images of thy ancestors. Let that, when thou art consul, take the place of thy rods. Oh give me inborn worth ! If thou really merit the character of blameless integrity, of staunch love of justice both in words and deeds, then I recog- nize thy right to be esteemed a gentleman. Tennyson (" Lady Clara Vere de Vere '"): " Howe'er it be, it seems to me 'Tis only noble to be good; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." THE IGNOBLY BORN. "You are the populace," he says, "the very dregs of the people; not a man of you can tell me where his father was born but I am a Cecropid ! " "Long life to thee, and mayest thou revel in the delights of such a descent! Yet from the lowest of the people thou wilt find a Roman distinguished for his eloquence. It is he that usually defends the suits of the ignorant nolle. From the toga'd crowd will come one that can solve the knotty points of law and the enigmas of the statutes." COMMON SENSE. For in that high state a perception of the wants and wishes of others rarely shall we find. 17 258 JUVENAL. Seneca (De Benef. i. 12) says: " In the conferring of kindnesses let there be a due percep- tion of the wants of others; let time, place, and parties be- taken into consideration." TO BUILD ON THE FAME OF OTHERS. It is sad to build on another's fame, lest the whole pile fall to the ground when the supporting pillars are withdrawn. Stretched on the ground, the vine's weak tendrils try to clasp the elms they drop from. Prove thyself brave, a faithful guard- ian, an incorruptible judge. If ever thou be sum- moned witness in a dubious and uncertain cause, though Phalaris himself command thee to for- swear thyself, and dictate the perjuries with his b.ull placed before thy eyes, deem it the highest crime to prefer existence to honor, and sacrifice for life life's only end. So Matthew xvi. 26: " For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in ex- change for his soul? " VICE IN HIGH PLACES. Vice glares more strongly in the public eye as he who sins is high in power or place. SIGNS OF YOUTH. Brief let our follies be; and youthful sin Fall with the firstlings of the manly chin. PENECA AND NERO. Who, Nero, so depraved, if choice were free, To hesitate 'twixt Seneca and thee? ANCESTORS. I had rather that vile Thersites were thy sire, so thou wert like Achilles, and couldst wield JUVENAL. 259 Vulcanian arms, than that Achilles should be thy father, and thou be like to vile Thersites. And yet, however far thou tracest thy descent and name back, thou dost but derive thy origin from the infamous sanctuary. The first of thy ances- tors, whoever he was, was either a shepherd or else what I would rather not mention. THE TONGUE. The tongue is the vile slave's vilest part. YOUTH. For the short-lived bloom and contracted span of brief and wretched life is fast fleeting away! While we are drinking and calling for garlands, ointments, and women, old age steals swiftly on with noiseless step. It is thus translated by Gifford: " The noiseless foot of Time steals swiftly by, And ere we dream of manhood age is nigh." BLINDNESS OF MAN. In every clime, from Gades to Ganges' distant stream, few can distinguish between what is really a blessing and its opposite, freed from the clouds of mental error. For what is there that we either seek or shun from the dictates of reason ? What is there that thou beginnest so auspiciously that thou dost not repent of thy undertaking and the accomplishment of thy wishes ? Too indulgent heaven has overturned whole families by grant- ing their owners' prayers. We beg for what will injure us in peace and injure us in war. To many a full and rapid flow of eloquence has proved fatal. Even strength itself is fatal. Milo, trust- ing to his muscles, mot his death. 2GO JUVENAL. Cicero (De Fin. i. 13) says: "The granting of desires has overthrown not only single individuals but whole families." And Shakespeare says: " We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good: so find we profit By losing of our prayers." And Roscommon thus tells the story of Milo : " Remember Milo's end Wedged in the timber which he strove to rend." THE POOR. It is rarely that a marauder pays his visit to a garret. GOLD. The traveller with empty pockets will sing even in the bandit's face. The prayers that are gener- ally first offered up and best known in our temples, are that our riches and wealth may increase, that our money-chest be the largest in the whole Forum. But no aconite is drunk from earthen- ware. Then is the time to dread it when thou quaffest from jewelled cups and the ruddy Setine glows in the broad gold. Ovid (Nux. 43) says to the same effect: " Thus the traveller who knows that he possesses anything of value is afraid of being waylaid: the empty-handed goes on his journey in safety." A VERBOSE EPISTLE. A huge, wordy letter came to-day From Capreae. PUBLIC CORRUPTION. Ever since we sold our votes to none, the people have thrown aside all anxiety for the public weal. For that sovereign people that once gave away JUVENAL. 261 military commands, consulships, legions, every- thing, now bridles its desires, and anxiously prays only for two things bread and the games of the circus. LOVE OF POWER. 'Tis nature this; even those who want the will Pant for the dreadful privilege to kill. HIGH FORTUNE. For he, who wished for excessive honors and prayed for excessive wealth, was raising, stage above stage, a tottering tower, only that the fall might be the greater, " with hideous ruin and combustion down." Johnson says: " What gave great Villiers to th' assassin's knife, And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life ? What murder'd Wentvvorth, and what exiled Hyde, By kings protected and to kings allied ? What but the wish indulged in courts to shine, And power too great to keep or to resign." CICEB AND DEMOSTHENES. " How fortunate a natal day was thine, In that late consulate, O Rome, of mine! " He might have scorned the swords of Antony if he had uttered nothing better than this. I had rather write poems, a common jest, than thee, di- vine Philippic, of distinguished fame, that second scroll! A cruel fate, too, carried him off, whom Athens used to admire, while his eloquence over- awed the fierce democracy and "f'ulmined over Greece." With inauspicious gods and adverse fate was he born, whom his father, blear-eyed with the grime of the glowing mass sent from the coal, the pincers, sword-forging anvil, and sooty Viilcan, to study rhetoric. 262 JUVENAL. Milton ("Paradise Regained," bk. iv. 1. 367) says of Demos- thenes: " Thence to the famous orators repair, Those ancients, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce democraty." FAME. So much greater is the thirst for fame than gen- erous deeds. For who is willing to embrace vir- tue herself, if thou takest away its reward? And yet, in former days, this desire of a few for glory has been the ruin of their native land; that long- ing for immortality and those monumental in- scriptions to grace the marble that guard their ashes; though to rend these the destructive strength of the barren tig-tree is sufficient. Since even to sepulchres themselves fate hath fore-or- dained their day of doom. Weigh the dust of Hannibal. How many pounds wilt thou find in that mighty general! Yet this is he who will not be confined within the limits of Africa, lashed by the Mauritanian ocean, and stretching even to the steaming Nile, and then again to the races of the CEthiopes and their tall elephants. Byron thus expresses the same idea: " Weighed in the balance, hero dust Is vile as vulgar clay; Thy scales, Mortality ! are just To all that pass away." GLORY. What then ensued? Oh glory! this self-same man is conquered, and flying with headlong haste to exile, sits, a mighty and strange suppliant, at the palace door of the Bithynian king till his ma esty be pleased to wake. That soul, whose frown alarmed the world, shall be put an end to neither by swords, nor stones, nor javelins, but a ring will JUVENAL. 263 be the avenger of Cannae's fatal field and its mighty carnage. Fly, madman, climb the rugged Alps that them mayest please the rhetoricians and be a theme at school! One world was too small for the youth of Pella. He gasps for breath within the narrow limits of the universe, poor soul, as though immured in Gyaros' small rock or tiny fee- riphos. When, however, he shall have entered within Babylon's brick walls, he will be content with a sarcophagus. Death alone proclaims the true dimensions of our puny frames. Valerius Maximus (viii. 14) puts these words into the mouth of Alexander: " Ah me miserable ! that I have not yet got possession of one world." DESCRIPTION OF OLD AGE. "Life, length of life! give many years, O Jupi- ter." This thou prayest for whether sick or well. But with what unceasing and grievous ills is old age loaded? First of all, a face hideous and ghastly, changed from its former self ; for a smooth skin, a hide with scruff overgrown, and flabby cheeks, and such wrinkles as many a grandam ape is seen to scrape in her wizened jowl in Tabraca's thick woods. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 48) "Oh old age, in what hopes of pleasure thou indulges!? Every man wishes to reach thee: and having made trial, re- pents: as there is nothing worse in mortal life." Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Or. p. 570, M.) says: "Our life much resembles wine; when there is only a little remaining, it becomes vinegar: for all the ills of human na- ture crowd to old age as if it were a workshop." Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 514, M.) says: "Oh old age, how much desired and blest thou art by all men, then when thou art present, how sad and full of misery 1 no one speaks well of thee, but every one, who speaks wisely, speaks ill of thee. " 264 JUVENAL. Compare Hamlet's speech to Polonius, and "As You Lake It" (.actii. sc. 7): " His big manly voice, Turning again towards childish treble, pipes And whistles in its sound." Mrs. Thrale (" Three Warnings "): " The tree of deepest root is found Least willing still to quit the ground; 'Twas therefore said, by ancient sages, That love of life increased with years So much, that in our later stages When pains grow sharp, and sickness rages, The greatest love of life appears." BEAUTY AND MODESTY. For rarely do we meet in one combined A beauteous body and a virtuous mind. PRAYEK TO THE GODS. Must, then, men pray for nothing? If thou take my advice, thou wilt allow the gods themselves to decide what is best for us and most suitable for our circumstances. For instead of our imaginary bliss, the gods will give us real good. In truth, man is dearer to the gods than to himself. Led on by the impulse of our feelings, by blind and head- long passion, we petition for wife and children; but they alone know what kind of wife and chil- dren they will prove. That, however, you may have something to pray for and may present at their shrines thy pious offerings, be this thy prayer: Vouchsafe me health of body and peace of mind; pray for a firm soul, proof against the threats of death, that reckons the closing scene of life among nature's kindly boons, that can patiently endure the labors of life, that is able to restrain anger and desire alike, and counts the cares and toils of Hercules to be far preferable to the wan ton nights, rich banquets, and downy couch of Sardanapalus. JUVENAL. 205 I teach thee what blessings thou canst bestow on thyself. The only certain road to peace of mind is through a virtuous life. If we were wise, we should see, O Fortune, nothing divine in thee; it is we ourselves that have made thee a goddess, and placed thy throne in heaven. Socrates hi Plato (Alcib. ii. 5) : " That poet, Alcibiades, was not far from being a wise per- son, who, finding himself connected with some senseless friends, doing and praying for things which it would be bet- ter for them to be without, though they thought otherwise, made use of a prayer in common for all to this eifect: 'O Jupiter, our king, grant to us whatever is good, whether we pray for it or not: but avert what is evil, even though we offer our prayers to obtain it.' " And in respect to children, Socrates says (Alcib. ii. 5): " And in regard to children, you will find in the same way how that some persons, after having prayed that they might be blessed with them, have, when they are born, found them- selves overwhelmed in the greatest calamities and miseries. For some, whose children ' are given over to work all unclean- ness with greediness,' have passed their whole lives in sorrow: while others, though their children were well-behaved, having lost them, have felt the sorrows of life not less acutely than the others, wishing that their children had never been born." Shakespeare (" Antony and Cleopatra," act ii. sc. 1): " We ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us for our good; so find we profit, By losing of our prayers." " Health of body and peace of mind." This is what Epi- curus prayed for (Diog. Laert. vi. 131): " Neither to have pain in body, nor to be troubled in spirit." So Jeremiah vi. 16: " Ask where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." KNOW THYSELF. I should with reason despise that man who knows how much Atlas soars above all other mountains in Africa, and yet is ignorant how much a small purse differs from an iron-bound 266 JUVENAL. chest. " Know thyself " came down from heaven to be impressed in living characters upon thy heart, and even pondered in thy thoughts. KNOW THYSELF. In great concerns and small, one must know one's own measure even when "going to buy a fish; lest thou shouldst long for a mullet, when thou hast only money for a gudgeon in thy purse. What is to be the end of thee if thy throat widens as thy pockets shrink; when thy patri- mony and whole fortune is squandered on thy belly, that deep abyss, which can hold everything, land, cattle, horses, silver, gold. PLEASURES. Our very sports by repetition tire, But rare delight breeds ever new desire. AVARICE. Some men do not make fortunes for the sake of living, but, blinded by avarice, live for the sake of money only. REMORSE. Man, wretched man, whene'er he stoops to sin, Feels, with the act, a strong remorse within. CONSCIENCE. By the verdict of his own breast no guilty man is ever acquitted. MODERATION. Let us lay aside all inordinate complaints. A man's grief ought never to show itself beyond due bounds, but be proportioned to the blow it has received. JUVENAL. 267 WISDOM BY EXPERIENCE. Yet we deem those too happy who, with daily life for their instructress, have learnt of old ex- perience to endure the inconveniences of life and not shake off the yoke. So Milton says: "To know That which before us lies in daily life, Is the prime wisdom." THE GOOD. THE GOOD, ALAS, ARE FEW! "The valued file," Less than the gates of Thebes, the mouths of Nile ! So Genesis xviii. 32: "And he said, . . . Peradventure, ten shall be found there And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." THE GODS AS WITNESSES. For 'tis so common, in this age of ours, So easy, to contemn the Immortal Powers, That, can we but elude man's searching eyes, We laugh to scorn the witness of the skies. SLOWNESS OP PUNISHMENTS AND FATES OF MEN. All powerful though the wrath of the gods may be, yet certainly it is slow-paced. If, therefore, they prepare to punish all the guilty, when will they come to me? But, besides, I may perchance find that the divinity may be appeased by prayers: it is not unusual with him to pardon such perju- ries as these. Many commit the same crimes with results widely different. One man is crucified as a reward of his villany, another ascends a throne. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 2) says: " Vengeance advancing boldly will not strike you be not afraid in front, nor any other wicked man, but creeping 268 JUVENAL. silently and with slow foot, will grasp the scoundrels when she falls in with them." Young says: " One to destroy is murder by the law, And gibbets keep the lifted hand hi awe; To murder thousands takes a specious name, War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame." MONEY. And money is bewailed with deeper sighs, Than friends or kindred, and with louder cries. PHILOSOPHY. Divine philosophy weeds from our breast, by degrees, full many a vice and every kind of error. She is the first to teach us what is right: for re- venge is ever the abject pleasure of au abject mind. Be assured of this, since no one delights more in revenge than poor weak womankind. Yet why should you imagine that those have escaped whom their mind, weighed down by a sense of guilt, keeps in constant terror and lashes with an invisible thong, while conscience, as their tormentor, plies a scourge unmarked by human eyes? Nay, fearful is their punishment, and far more terrible than those which the sanguinary Caeditius invents or Rhadamanthus; bearing, as they do, in their own breast, day and night, a witness against themselves. WICKEDNESS DEVISED IS DONE. For, IN THE EYE OF HEAVEN, a wicked deed Devised, is done. Shakespeare (" King John," activ. sc. 2 ) says: " The deed which both our tongues held vile to name." Byron says : " What is the sin which is not Sin in itself? Can circumstances make sin Or virtue? " " Man punishes the action, but God the intention." JUVENAL. 269 THE NATURE OF "WICKED MEN. The nature of the wicked is in general fickle and variable. While they are engaged in their evil deeds, they have resolution, and more than enough. When they have accomplished their foul acts, then it is that they begin to 'feel the difference between right and wrong. NATURE FIXED. Incapable of change, Nature still Recurs to her old habits. HEAVEN NEITHER DEAF NOB BLIND. Thou wilt exult in the bitter punishment of the hated scoundrel, and at length with joy confess that no one of the gods is either deaf or blind like Tiresias. A PETTY TYRANT. Who, the stern tyrant of his small domain, The Polypheme of his domestic train. PATERNAL EXAMPLE. The examples of vice that we witness at home corrupt us more speedily and sooner when they in- sinuate themselves into our minds sanctioned by those on whom our earliest thoughts dwell. Such practices may, perhaps, be spurned by one or two youths whose hearts have been formed by God with kindlier art and moulded of a purer clay. But their sire's footsteps, though they deserve to be shunned, lead on the rest, and the path of in- veterate profligacy that has long been pointed out to them lures them on. So 2 Timothy iii. 18 : " But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, de- ceiving, and being deceived." 270 JUVENAL. YOUTH. Since we are all too ready to follow the example set by the depraved and wicked: a Catiline thou mayest see in any people under any sky, but a Brutus or a Cato thou wilt nowhere find. Let no immodest sight or word approach the doors which close upon your child. CHILDREN. His child's unsullied purity demands the deepest reverence at a parent's hand. When thou art con- templating some base deed, forget not thy child's tender years, but let the presence of thy infant son act as a check on thy headlong course to sin. So Ephesians vi. 4: " And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." EVIL EXAMPLE. With what front canst thou exercise the powers of a'father, thou who thyself, though tottering on the verge of the grave, dost worse than this ? THE JEWS. Some, whose fate it is to have a father^who rev- erences the Sabbath, bow down to nothing except the clouds and the Divinity of heaven; regarding with equal loathing the flesh of man and swine, fol- lowing the tradition of their fathers. Soon, too, they submit to circumcision. Taught to deride the Roman ritual, they study, observe, and rever- ence those Jewish statutes found in the mystic volume of Moses such as never point the road or make the fountain known except to the circum- cised alone. But their bigot father taught them this, who whiled away each seventh revolving day in sloth, and kept aloof from life's daily duties. JUVENAL. 271 AVAKICE. " What does the world say ! How sounds the loud trumpet of slanderous fame ? " " What mat- ters that to me ?" says he; "I had rather have a lupin's pod added to my store than that the whole neighborhood should praise me, if I am to be cursed with the scant produce of a small estate." Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1091, M.) says: " If it were not for the love of grasping, there would not be a single wicked man in the world. That shows the real love of money, when, forgetting to look at what is just, thou art altogether the slave of gain." RICHES. For he who wishes to become rich, wishes to be- come so speedily. So Proverbs xxviii. 20: " He that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent." Gain smells sweet from any source. Let this saying be always on thy tongue worthy of the gods, and even of Jove himself No one asks thee how thou gettest it, but get it thou must. This alludes to Vespasian's answer to Titus (Suet. Vesp. 23). VICE. No one thinks it enough to sin just so much as thou allowest, they go far beyond the limit as- signed them. WEALTH. Wretched is the guardianship of a large fortune. NATUBE AND WISDOM. Nature and wisdom never are at strife. 272 JUVENAL. SUPERSTITION. Oh holy nations ! Sacro-sanct abodes ! Where every garden propagates its gods. BIGOTKY. On both sides a deadly hate arises on this ac- count, because each hates its neighbor's gods, be- lieving those only to be gods which itself wor- ships. THE WICKED. Now earth, grown old and frigid, rears with pain A pigmy brood, a weak and wicked train. FEELIXG HEARTS. Nature proclaims that she has given mankind feeling hearts by giving us tears. This is the greatest boon that she has bestowed upon us. In this way she bids us sympathize with the misfort- unes of a sorrowing friend, bewail the prisoners fate or the misery of the orphan, compelled to summon his guardian to court that he may recover his inheritance, so soft his tresses and so bedewed with tears that thou wouldst doubt his sex and take him for a girl. It is as Nature bids, when we mourn some young maiden conveyed to the grave before her time, or some infant just shown on earth and hurried to the tomb. For what good man, who that is worthy of the mystic torch, such an one as Ceres' priest would have him be, ever deems the woes of others not his own? This it is that distinguishes us from the brute creation, and therefore we alone, gifted with superior powers and capable of things divine, fitted for the prac- tice and reception of every useful art, have re- ceived from high heaven a moral sense denied to LIVY. 273 creatures prone and downward bent. In the be- ginning the Almighty Creator of this vast fabric breathed life in them, a reasoning soul in MS, that mutual kindness might be lighted up in our hearts to return the good which others did us. BEAKS AGREE. Bears, savage to others, are yet at peace among themselves. Theocritus (Idyll ix. 31) says, in like manner: "Cicala is dear to cicala, ant to ant, hawks to hawks; but to me the Muse and song." It is the common proverb " Birds of a feather flock together." So Ecclesiasticus xiii. 16: "All flesh consorteth according to kind, ayd a man will cleave to his like." And again (xxvii. 10) : " The birds will return to their like." LIVY. BORN B.C. 59 DIED A.D. 17. LIVIUS, the celebrated Roman historian, born at Patavium, the modern Padua, B.C. 59, in the con- sulship of Caesar and Bibulus, spent the greater part of his life at Rome, where his literary talents gained him the patronage and friendship of Au- gustus. He must have enjoyed great influence at the imperial court, and became so distinguished that a Spaniard, as Pliny (Ep. ii. 3) tells us, trav- elled from Cadiz to Rome solely for the purpose of seeing him, and when he had satisfied his curi- 274 LIVT. osity, immediately returned home. He was mar- ried, and left at least two children. These are all the particulars that have come down to us respect- ing him. The only extant work of Livy is a His- tory of Rome, extending from the foundation of the city to the death of Drusus, B.C. 9, which was comprised in 142 books, of these only 35 have de- scended, though we possess summaries of the rest. CHILDKEN. Children, a bond of union than which the hu- man heart feels none more endearing. WOMEX. To these persuasions was added the soothing behavior of their husbands themselves, who urged, in extenuation of the violence they had been tempted to commit, the excess of passion and the force of love: arguments than which there can be none more powerful to assuage the irritation of the female mind. f THE IJAT>. Evil is fittest to consort with its like. FATHERLAND. Affection for the soil itself, which, in length of time, is acquired from habit. A KING. A king was a human being; from him a request might be obtained, whether right or wrong; with him there was room for favor, and for acts of kind- ness; he could be angry, and he could forgive; he knew a distinction between a friend and an enemy. LIVY. 275 LAW. Law is deaf, inexorable, calculated rather for the safety and advantage of the poor than of the rich, and admits of no relaxation or indulgence, if its bounds are transgressed. Men being liable to so many mistakes, to have no other security but innocence is a hazardous situation. FACTION. A spirit of faction, and men's regard to their own private interests, things which ever did, and ever will impede the public counsels. So Matthew xxiv. 12: " And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." CIVIL DISSENSIONS. Civil dissensions, the only infection, the only poison that operated, so as to set limits to the duration of great empires. HONOR DECLINED. So true it is, that honor prudently declined, often comes back with increased lustre. So Matthew xviii. 4: " Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." GRATIFICATION OF WISHES. The gratification of their wishes, as is generally the case, instantly begat disgust. PRESENT SUFFERINGS. Men feel more sensibly the weight of present sufferings than of such as exist only in apprehen- sion. 276 LIVY. GREAT ANIMOSITIES. Great contests generally excite great animosi- ties. PRIDE. That the punishments which attended pride and cruelty, though they might come late, were not light, LIBERTY. So difficult is it to preserve moderation in the asserting of liberty, while, under the pretence of a desire to balance rights, each elevates himself in such a manner as to depress another ; for men are apt, by the very measures which they adopt to free themselves from fear, to become the objects of fear to others, and to fasten upon them the burden of injustice which they have thrown off from their own shoulders, as if there existed .in nature a perpetual necessity either of doing or of suffering injury. PRIVATE INTEREST. It results from the nature of the human mind, that he, who addresses the public with a view to his own particular benefit, is studious of rendering himself more generally agreeable than he who has no other object but the advantage of the public. A GOOD NAME. The loss of reputation and the esteem of man- kind are of importance beyond what can be esti- mated. FACTIONS. Factions which have proved, and will ever con- tinue to prove, a more deadly cause of downfall to L1VY. 277 most states than either foreign wars, or famine, or pestilence, or any other of those evils, which men are apt to consider as the severest of public calamities and the effects of divine vengeance. NECESSITY. Necessity is the last and strongest weapon. REWARDS. There was nothing which men would not under- \j take, if for great attempts great rewards were ' proposed. Success, as on many other occasions, attended merit. PUBLIC FAVORS. Honors and public favors sometimes offer them- selves the more readily to those, who have no am- bition for them. PLEASURE. Toil and pleasure, in their natures opposite, are yet linked together in a kind of necessary connec- tion. THE BRAVE MAN. It is generally the case, that the man who is most ready on every occasion to undertake the largest share of toil and danger, is the least active in plundering. WAR. War has its laws as well as peace. \ . 278 LIVY. FORTUNE. When Fortune is determined upon the ruin of a people, she can so blind them as to render them insensible to danger even of the greatest magni- tude. WOE. Woe to the vanquished! ADVEIiSITY. Adversity reminds men of religion. So Psalm Ixxviii. 3: 'I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed." WOMAN. The merest trifles will often affect the female mind. THOSe ON A LEVEL WITH US. It is certain that scarcely any man can bear to be surpassed by those nearest their own level. As it frequently happens that men, by endeav- oring to shun their fate, run directly upon it. THE BBAVE. The event afforded a proof that fortune assists the brave. ENVY. Envy, like flame, soars upwards. THE FAVOR OF GOD. The issue of every human undertaking depends chiefly on men's acting either with or without the favor of the gods. LIVY. 279 KINGS. Kings being not only free from every kind of impediment, but masters of circumstances and sea- sons, make all things subservient to their designs, themselves uncontrolled by any. THE GAULS. In their first efforts they are more than men, yet in their last they are less than women. THE ASSAILANT. He who makes the attack has ever more confi- \ dence and spirit than he who stands on the def en- ' sive. DEPRESSING THE SUPERIOR. The practice of depressing the merit of his su- perior a practice of the basest nature, and which has become too general, in consequence of the fa- vorable success so often attending it. A MILD GOVERNMENT. A mild and equitable government than which there is no stronger bond of loyalty. A GOOD COMMANDER. To a good commander fortune is a matter of slight moment; wisdom and prudence control and govern all things. THE FOOL. He is the first man, in point of abilities, who of himself forms good counsels; the next is he who submits to good advice ; he who can neither him- self form good counsels nor knows how to comply with those of another is of the very lowest capac- ity. 280 LIVY. PLANS OF MEN. Men's plans ought to be regulated by circum- stances, and not circumstances by their plans. THE FOOL. Fools only judge by events. TRUTH. It is commonly said that truth is often eclipsed, but never extinguished. Milton ("The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce ") says: " Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam." So Acts v. 39: - " If this work be of God, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." FAME. He who slights fame shall enjoy it in its purity. HASTINESS. There is nothing seen clearly and certainly by the man in a hurry; hastiness is improvident and blind. This is the GreeK proverb (Zenob. ii. 14): " The fisherman stung will gain experience." This proverb arose from the saying of a fisherman, who, in his over-anxiety to ascertain the contents of his net, got stung from the stray scorpion. EVIL. The evil with which men are best acquainted is the most tolerable. LIBERTY. The words liberty restored a sound ever de- lightful to the ears. LIVY. 2S1 GREAT FORTUNE. It is easy at any moment to resign the possession of a great station; to arrive at and acquire it is difficult and arduous. THE POPULACE. Such is the nature of the populace; they are either abject slaves or tyrannic masters. Liberty, which consists in a mean between these, they either undervalue or know not how to enjoy with moderation; and in general there are not wanting agents disposed to foment their passions, who, working on minds which delight in cruelty, and know no restraint in the* practice of it, exasperate them to acts of blood and slaughter. GOOD MANAGEMENT. Many things, difficult in their nature, are made easy by good management. Euripides (Fr. Antiop. 31) says: "For cities and households are well managed by the pru- , dence of man, and it is of great power in war, for one wise \ / counsel is superior to many hands; whereas ignorance with a crowd is a greater evil." FOREBODING OF EVIL. A melancholy kind of silence and tacit forebod- ing; such a presage of evil as the mind is apt to feel when looking forward with anxiety. SPIRITED COUNSELS. . In cases of difficulty and when hopes are small, \/ the most spirited counsels are the safest. REPUBLIC OF PHILOSOPHERS. A republic of philosophers, such as speculative \ 282 LIVY. men are fond of forming in imagination, but which was never known. GREAT EVENTS FKOM TRIFLING CIRCUMSTANCES. Events of great consequence spring from trifling circumstances. THE GODS. To the gods people have recourse with supplica- tions for redress, when they can no longer endure the violence and injustice of men. So Psalm cxlv. 18: " The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." SUPERSTITION. A foolish superstition introduces the influence of the gods even in the smallest matters. So Romans i. 21 : " They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." FEAR. Fear, which always represents objects in the worst light. SLIGHT INCIDENTS. Incidents of light moment frequently impel men's minds to hope or fear. FIDELITY OF BARBARIANS. The fidelity of barbarians depends on fortune. A ROMAN CITIZEN. By a severe example to establish it as a maxim to ah future ages, that no Roman citizen or sol- dier in any state of fortune should be injured with impunity. LIVY. 283 PALLIATING GUILT. Men's minds are generally ingenious in palliat- ing guilt in themselves. So Luke xiv. 18: " And they all with one consent began to make excuse." WOUNDS. Wounds, unless they are touched and handled, \J cannot be cured. A MULTITUDE. * Every multitude, like the sea, is incapable of moving itself ; the winds and gales put it in mo- tion. WICKEDNESS. No wickedness proceeds on any ground of reason. So Proverbs xxix. 7: " The wicked regardeth not to know it." KASHNESS. Rashness is not always fortunate. IIYPOCKISY. Hypocrisy, by acquiring a foundation of credit in smaller matters, prepares for itself the oppor- tunity of deceiving with greater advantage. THE UNKNOWN. People's apprehensions are greater in proportion as things are unknown. FAULTS. Some men's natural disposition is such that they rather a dislike to the commission of faults 2S4 LIVY. than sufficient resolution to punish them when committed. So Matthew xxvi. 41 : " The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." TEMPERANCE. He, who has reined in and curbed his pleasures by temperance, has procured for himself much greater honor and a greater victory than when he conquers an enemy. Genesis iv. 7: "If thou doestwell, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at tb.e US MAN, NO, NOT ONE." Through so many ages, so many eventful years, so many wars and variety of labors, even dur- ing peace, though Fortune searches carefully for honor, she finds it scarcely anywhere. But what a mass of wickedness in all times, and on earth what a load of envy, for which we can find no excuse ! THE SUBJECT. Satisfied to instruct, it refuses every ornament. TIME. Time stands with impartial law. THE MIXTURE OF GOOD AND BAD. There is a warp of evil woven into the woof of good, and tears follow close on success : for does Fortune keep an even tenor to all, so tangled in the yarn, and so mingled does she flow; never con- tinuing constant; men lose confidence in her from turning all things upside down. THE UNLIKENESS OF ONE YEAR TO ANOTHER. Years do not always agree with years, nor MAN1LIUS. 321 months with months, and even one day will be in search of itself, and one hour is not similar to another. THE COVETOUS. Every one is the poorer in proportion as he has , more wants, and counts not what he has, but ^ wishes only what he has not. THE END OF OUB LIFE IS LINKED TO THE BEGIN- NING. We begin to die at the moment we are born, and the end is linked to the beginning. This line and idea have been made use of by Jeremy Taylor in the "Holy Dying" (c. iii. s. 1): " When man fell, then he began to die: the same day (so said God, and that must needs be true); and therefore it must mean, that upon that very day he fell into an evil and danger- ous condition, a state of change and affliction, and then death began that is, the man began to die by a natural diminution and aptness to disease and misery." Pope also ("Essay on Man," Ep. ii. 1. 133) says somewhat to the same effect: " As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, Receives the lurking principle of death, The young disease, that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth and strengthens with his strength." And Young ("Night Thoughts," Night V. 1. 717): " While man is growing, life is in decrease, And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb ; Our birth is nothing but our death begun." FATE. His fate must be borne by every one. DEATH NOT TO BE BOUGHT OFF BY BICHES. Man's fate is not to be bought off by immensity of riches, but fortune carries off the dead from 21 822 MARTIAL. the proud palace, raising the pile and the tomb for the highest of the earth. LABOR. Labor even is pleasant. Longfellow says: " No endeavor is in vain; Its reward is in the doing. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. Is there a doubt that a God dwells in our breast, and that souls return to heaven and reach it ? MAN IS THE IMAGE OF GOD. Every one is in a small degree the image of God. ALWAYS BEGINNING TO LIVE. We are always beginning to live, but we are never living. SENSUAL PLEASURE. Virtue never, but lust often, leads to loss, and loathsome pleasure is bought even with death. MARTIAL. BOEN A.D. 43 DIED ABOUT A.D. 104. M. VALERIUS MARTIALIS, a celebrated epigra- matist, born at Bilbilis in Spain A.D. 43, came to Rome in the reign of Nero, A.D. 60, where he re- sided for thirty-live years, returning again to the place of his birth A.D. 100. in the third year of the reign of Trajan. He was a special favorite of the MAETIAL. 323 emperors Titus and Domitian, his works being eagerly sought for not only in the city, but also in 'Gaul, Germany, Britain, Getica, and the stormy regions of the north. These are the chief particu- lars that are known respecting him. The extant works of Martial are a collection of short poems, entitled Epigrammata, upwards of 1500 in number, divided into fourteen books. He was a base flatterer, and is a most indecent writer. WIT IS QUICK IN STRAITS. How quick a wit is found in sudden chances 1 INNOCENT JOKES. The censorship may allow innocent jokes. HOW FAME IS TO BE ACQUIRED. I do not like the man who squanders life for V fame: give me the man who, living, makes a name. A PRETTY MAX. Thou wishest, Cotta, to appear a pretty and a / great man at the same time; but he whp is a v pretty man is a very little man. JOYS ABIDE NOT. Cares and linked chains of trouble await thee, joys abide not, but are ever on the wing. TO-MdRROW. 'Tis not, believe me, the act of a wise man to say "I will live. 5 ' To-morrow's life is too late; live to-day. 324 MARTIAL. SOME GOOD, SOME BAD. Some are good, some are middling, the greater part are bad. GLORY TOO LATE. Glory comes too late when paid only to our ashes. DISLIKE WITHOUT A JUST REASON. I do not love thee, Sabidius, nor can I say why; I can only say this, I do not love thee. Dr. Fell, Dean of Christ Church, afterwards Bishop of Ox- ford, who died in 1686, agreed to cancel a decree of expulsion against Tom Brown, if that humorist could translate on the spot Martial's epigram, and which he did to the Dean's sur- prise, in the following well-known lines: " I do not love thee, Doctor Fell, The reason why I cannot tell ; But this I'm sure I know full well, I do not love thee, Doctor Fell." This is the same idea that appears in Seneca (Thyest. ii. 261):- " I am hurried on by love, I know not how; but I am hur- ried on." FORCED TEARS. Gellia does not weep for her deceased father, when she is alone; but if any one be there, the tears start obedient from her eyes. He mourns not, Gellia, who seeks to be praised ;\ he is the true mourner who mourns without a witness. \ Shakespeare (" Twelfth Night," act ii. sc. 4) says: " She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek; she pin'd in thought." A RICH SOIL. Steers are unwilling to carry their yoke into MARTIAL. 325 barren fields: a rich soil fatigues, but then the labor bestowed on it is rewarded. PEBFUME. He smells not well whose smell is all perfume. A FRIEND WHO IS HIMSELF IN SERVICE. It is useless, believe me, to hope for service from a friend, who is himself in service. Let him be a free man, who wishes to be my master. LAUGH AND BE WISE. Be merry if you are wise. A-I OF BEGGARS. So poor, that my friend Publius does not surpass him in tattered garments, nor Codrus himself, the prince of beggars. REMEMBER DEATH. Prepare the couches; call for wine; crown thy- self with roses; perfume thyself with odors; the god himself bids thee remember death. AWAY WITH DELAY. Come, away with this delay; how much longer are we to await your decision ? While thus you hesitate what to be, you will be unfit to be any- thing at all. TO KILL ONE'S SELF TO ESCAPE DEATH. This I ask, whether it is not the veriest mad- ness to kill thyself that thou mayest escape death. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 567, M.) : " My dearest, who is not the hireling of death, who, for the sake of life, is about to die ? " 328 MARTIAL. LABOR EXPENDED ON TRIFLES. It is disgraceful to a poet to make one's amuse- ment difficult; and labor expended on trifles is childish. TO HASTE TO LIVE. Forgive me that I, though poor, yet not useless to my generation, make haste to enjoy life, no one is in sufficient haste to do so. SIMPLE TASTES. My humble desires are satisfied with a quiet fireside, a house that is not spoiled by smoke, a living spring, and the natural green sod. May these be mine a well-fed slave, a wife not over- learned, nights with sleep, days without strife. THE GREATER EVIL. The defect that is attempted to be concealed is thought to be greater than it is. A BEAU. A beau is one who arranges his curled locks with nicest care, who ever smells of balm and cinnamon; who repeats with humming lips the songs of the Nile and Cadiz; who tosses his sleek arms in vari- ous attitudes; who idles away from mom to even his whole time, where ladies meet, ever whisper- ing some nothing in some fair one's ear ; who reads little billets-doux from this one and that, scrib- bling in return; who shrinks from rubbing against the coarse dress of a neighbor's guest ; who knows who flirts with .whom, and flutters from feast to feast; who can recount most accurately the pedi- gree of the race-horse "Hirpinus." What do you tell me ? is this a beau ? Then a beau, Cotilus, is a very trifling thing. MARTIAL. 327 EAEITY GIVES A CHARM. Rarity gives a charm ; thus early fruits are most esteemed ; thus winter roses obtain a higher price : thus coyness sets off an extravagant mistress: a door ever open attracts no young suitor. TO KNOW THOROUGHLY. I know all that as well as my own name. DEATH. From no place can you exclude the fates. So Heber (" At a Funeral ") : " Death rides on every passing breeze, | He lurks in every flower." A BUSYBODY. There is nothing more unbecoming than an old busybody. METHOD SURMOUNTS DIFFICULTIES. Thus divided, the work will become short. A HYPOCRITE. Thou mayest deceive others by thy words and smiling countenance; to me thou wilt be hence- forth an unmasked deceiver. How shall I say it happens that living writers receive no honor in their own time, and are seldom read by their contemporaries '? Doubtless, Regu- lus, this is the characteristic of envy, that it re- jects the moderns for the ancients. GLORY AFTER DEATH. If fame is only to come after death, I am in no hurry for it. , 328 MARTIAL. ANY ONE MAY BE LIKE TO THEE. Such are thou and I ; but what I am thou canst not be ; what thou art any one of the multitude may be. GIFTS. Gifts are like fish-hooks : for who is not aware that the greedy char is deceived by the fly which he swallows ? TIME PLACED TO OUR ACCOUNT. Now neither of us lives for himself, but, alas! sees the best of his days flee from him and vanish; days which are ever being lost to us, and are set down to our account. THE UNHAPPY. I believe that man to be wretched whom none can please. GIFTS. What is bestowed on our friends is beyond the reach of fortune ; the riches that thou hast given away are the only riches that thou really possess- est. BEAGGING. Believe me, Posthumus, gifts, however great, lose their value when the donor boasts of them. TO-MORROW. To-morrow thou wilt live, didst thou say, Pos- thumus ? to-day is too late : he is the wise man who lived yesterday. GREAT GIFTS. Whoever makes great presents, wishes great presents to be madt^to him in return. MARTIAL. 329 THE RICH. Riches are now given to none but the rich. LOVE. That thou mayest be loved, love. THINGS DOTED ON. Short is the life of those who possess great accomplishments, and seldom do they reach a good old age. Whatever thou lovest, pray that thou mayest not set too high a value on it. NO SMELL. \ I would rather smell of nothing than of scents. IMMORTAL WRITINGS. Something else is required to give immortality to writings. A book that is destined to live must have genius. A VULTURE. To what vulture will this carcass fall ? - - GOOD HEALTH. He who thinks that the lives of Priam and Nes- tor are to be counted long, is greatly deceived and mistaken. Life consists not in living, but in the feeling of enjoyment. LIVE AS IF YOU WERE RESCUED FROM DEATH. Live as if you were rescued from death, and seize fleeting enjoyments, and thus your recovered life will not have lost a single day. HOME. He dwells just nowhere that dwells everywhere. 330 MARTIAL. " MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES." Hasten to take it; the opportunity for gain is short. This is the same idea as " Strike while the iron is hot." THE DUTY OF A PRINCE. It is a prince's highest duty to be acquainted with his own subjects. WHAT A FRIEND WILL DO AND NOT DO. Gold, wealth, and a piece of landed property many a friend will give, but to find the man who will consent to yield the palm in wit and genius, will be difficult. THE IDOLATER. It is not he who forms divine images in gold or marble that makes them gods, but he who kneels before them. HYPOCRISY. It matters much whether you are really good or merely wish to appear so. PATRONS. If there be patrons like Maecenas, there will not, Flaccus, be wanting poets like Virgil. LOVE AND HATE. Thou wishest to marry Prisons: I am not sur- prised, Paula: thou art wise. Priscus does not wish to marry thee, and he is wise. MARTIAL. 331 There is a well known epigram by Leigh Hunt, which is described as " from the French of Tabouret," and which runs thus: "Abel fain would marry Mabel; Well, it's very wise of Abel, But Mabel won't at all have Abel; Well, it's wiser still of Mabel." Tabouret had evidently been inspired by Martial. THE VALUE OF A BOOK ENHANCED BY BEING PRESENTED BY ITS AUTUOK Your coming from the author will give value to the present. It makes a great difference, believe me, whether a draught be drawn from the fount- ain-head or from the stagnant waters of a sluggish pool. WRITINGS IMPROVED BY TIME. VAs for writings, thieves cannot destroy them, and they are improved by time ; they are the only monuments that are proof against death. A MORALIST. My every page is an essay on man. A GOOD MAN. A good man doubles the length of his existence; to have lived so as to look back with pleasure on our past existence is to live twice. TO SATIRIZE VICES, NOT INDIVIDUALS. It has been my constant aim in all my writings \ to lash vice, but to spare persons. Du Lorens (Sat. vii. 14V) says somewhat to the same effect: "I do not attack fools, but folly." It is said that this Latin quotation was once repeated to Donne, "Thunder against vices, but spare the vicious." " What," said he, "condemn cards, and pardon the sharper ! " So Isidorus says: " Preserve the guns, but destroy the gunners." 332 MARTIAL. WHAT MAKES LIFE HAPPY. The things that make life happy, dearest Mar- tian, are theiju; Wealth, not gained bQlie sweat of our brow, but by inheritance ; lands jhat make a goT^nTTEurn ; a~riresicie always comfortable ;_no_ need of lawyers; no dress for business; a mind at ease ; a vigorousjf rame ; a healthyconstitutioh . prudence without cunning ; i'rienrts^equal both in yeju-s^ and fame; plcasaiit social intercourse-. ^ table without pretence; nights not drunken, but free from care ; a bed not without connubial rllftjisrnvps^ sWj wlnp|| makes the darkness seem short; to be what you are, and no wish for change ; and neither to fear death nor seek it. "~ So Milton ("Paradise Lost," xi. 5531 says:-- " Nor l He was or- dered, A.D. 8, to transport himself to Tomi, a town on the shores of the Black Sea near the mouth oi the Danube. The greater part of a year seems to have been consumed in the voyage, but he beguiled the time by the exercise of his poet- ical talent, several of his poems having been writ- ten on shipboard. It was a great change from the luxury of Rome to the mean abode and inhospita- ble soil of that remote region. Here he remained ten years in exile, and was never allowed to re- turn, dying at Tomi A.D. 18, a year which was also remarkable for the death of Livy. CREATION OF MAN. A being of a more exalted nature, and of higher intellectual powers, that should rule and direct all other animals, was still wanting. It was then that man was brought into being, whether the mighty Architect of the universe, having devel- oped a nobler world, made him of divine particles, or whether the new-sprung earth, only lately with- drawn from contact with heaven, still retained the skyey influences. Prometheus, mingling these 22 338 OVID. original seeds with living streams, formed man after the image of God, who rules the universe. Thus, while the mute creation bend downward, man looks aloft, and with erect countenance turns his eyes to heaven and gazes 011 the stars. DESCRIPTION OF GOLDEN AGE. The golden age was first produced; honor and uprightness then sprung up spontaneously in man, without the aid of law or the commands of the lawgiver. The dread of punishment was un- known, nor were the menacing words of human statutes required to keep man to his duty. The stern looks of the judge did not then strike terror into suppliant crowds, but all lived in safety with- out the protection of law. GOLDEN AGE. No trumpet's angry sound was heard, no helmet nor sword gleamed, but all nations passed in se- curity a life of ease, unmolested by a rude soldiery. THE SEASONS IN THE GOLDEN AGE. There was a never-ending spring, and flowers unsown were kissed by the warm western breeze. Then the unploughed land gave forth corn, and the ground year after year, was white with full ears of grain. Rivers of milk, rivers of nectar ran, and the yellow honey continued to pour from the ever-green oak. DESCRIPTION OF Tttft IKON AGfi. Next burst forth the iron &ge with its unright- eous deeds; modesty, truth, and honor forsook the earth* and ih thfeiv place succeeded fraud, de* ceit, plots, violence, and the unholy lust of gold. OVID. 339 GOLD DUG FROM THE EARTH. But men penetrated into the bowels of the earth, and the precious ore, the allurement to every evil, was dug up, though placed by the gods down close to Pluto's realm. JUSTICE RETURNS TO HEAVEN. Filial affection lies on the ground in mournful garb, and the virgin Astraea was the last of the heavenly deities to leave the earth dripping with human gore. JOVE. Jove seated aloft, leaning on an ivory sceptre, shook three and four times the terrific locks of his head, with which he moved the earth, the sea, and the stars. INCURABLE WOUND. Every remedy was first tried, but a gangrened limb must be lopt off, lest the healthy part should be affected. CONFLAGRATION OF THE WORLD. He remembers, too, that it was decreed by Fate that a time would come when the sea, the earth, and the palace of heaven would be seized by fire and burnt, and the laboriously-wrought fabric of the universe be in danger of perishing. St. Peter (2 Peter iii. 10) says: " But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up." MAN BORN TO LABOR. From this circumstance we are a hardy race, 340 OVID. able to endure a laborious life, and show from what origin we are sprung. FRIENDLY DISCOKD. Agreeing to differ with friendly discord. LOVE. Ah me ! that no herbs can cure the love-sick. EFFECTS OF HOPE AND FEAR. The one is quick from hope, the other from fear. ARGUS. Argus had his head encircled with a hundred eyes; two of them took rest, while the rest watched and stood on guard. JUST REPROACHES. I am ashamed that these reproaches can be justly cast at us, and cannot be refuted. EXCELLENCE. The work of the artist far surpassed even the beauty of the material. LIKENESS OF SISTERS. Doris and her daughters were here carved, some of whom are seen swimming, others, sitting on a rock, are drying their sea-green hair, others gliding on fishes' backs. All have not the same features, nor yet can you say that they are different, but such as sisters ought to be. THE SEASONS. Here stood fresh Spring, bound with flowery chaplet, Slimmer was unclothed, and bore a OVID. 341 wheaten garland; Autumn also was there, be- smeared with trodden grapes; and icy Winter, rough with hoaiy locks. Worsley (" Phaethon ") thus describes the seasons: " Spring flowery -zoned, and Summer wreathed with corn, Autumn with wine-blood splashed from heel to thigh, And Winter bending over beard of snow." MAN AND HIS ASPIRATIONS. Thy destiny is that of man, thy aspirations are those of a god. Lamartine in his second meditation " L'Homme," dedicated to Lord Byron, has r ,his sublime verse- " Bounded in his nature, infinite in his desires, man is a fallen god who has a recollection of heaven.'' Ana Voltaire (' La Liberte ") says. " Thy destiny is that of man. and thy desires are those of a god." EXERTTON. I steer against them, nor has the force, to which all others must yield, any effect on me ; I move on in a direction contrary to the rapid-whirling world. PRAYERS NOT TO BE GRANTED. Choose some gift from heaven, earth, or sea, and thou shalt have it. This one thing only I de- cline to grant; it is an evil not a good thou askest, Phaethon, thou askest what will prove a misfort- une instead of happiness. GOLDEN MEAN. Mounting higher, thou wilt fire the heaven it- self; descending lower, the earth; the middle way is safest. GREAT UNDERTAKINGS. If he did not succeed in his attempt, yet he failed in a glorious undertaking. 342 OVID. HABIT. Habit had produced the custom. GUILT BETRAYED IX THE COUNTENANCE. Alas! how difficult it is not to betray guilt by our countenance ! DESCRIPTION OF ENVY. Minerva sees within Envy gorging herself with flesh of vipers, to nourish her vicious propensities, and when she saw, she turned away her eyes in loathing; while Envy, rising slowly from the ground, leaves the fragments of half-eaten ser- pents, and stalks on with sullen step. When she beheld the beauteous goddess clad in armor, she heaved a sigh, and groaned from the bottom of her breast. Her face was pallid and her body emaciated. Her eye never looked straight before her; her teeth were brown with rust; her breast overflowed with gall, and from her tongue dripped drops of poison. She never smiles except when the wretched weep; nor does she enjoy rest; ever kept moving by her sleepless cares, she sees with evil eye the success of men, and pines away as she beholds; she distresses others, and is her- self distressed, and bears her own tormentor in her breast. A STATE FLOURISHING IN' PEACE. She looks upon the citadel flourishing in arts, wealth, and joyous peace. KINGLY DIGNITY. Kingly dignity and love do not well agree, nor do they remain together. OVID. 343 SPIRIT. A spirit superior to every hostile weapon.. NO MAN BLESSED BEFORE HE DIES. But in truth we must always wait for the last day of man's life: no one is to be considered blest before he die, and has received the last funeral rites. A BLUSH. The hue given back by the clouds from the re- flected rays of the sun or the purple morn, such was the countenance of Diana when she was discovered unclothed. AN UMPIRE. He was chosen umpire in this sportive contest. ECHO. That tuneful Nymph, the babbling Echo, who has not learnt to conceal what is told her, nor yet is able to speak till another speaks. DEATH A RELIEF FROM PAIN. Death is not grievous to me, who am about to lay aside my pains by death, A COWARD. It is the act of a cowaid to wish for death. THE CAUSE. The cause is secret, but th' effect is known. A LESSON FROM AN ENEMY. The foe teaches me what to do ; it is allowable to be taught even by an enemy. 344 OVID. DESCRIPTION OF STYX. The sluggish Styx exhales its fogs; those just dead, who have enjoyed funeral rites, descend hither: paleness and wintry cold inhabit this dreary place ; ghosts newly arrived know not the road that leads to grim Pluto's palace, nor where is the metropolis of hell. This mighty city has a thousand avenues and gates forever open. And as the rivers flow all into the ocean, so this vast city receives all the shades; nor is there ever want of room, nor is it ever crowded. The disem- bodied spirits roam bloodless; and in imitation of their life on earth, some frequent the courts of law, others the court of hell's tyrant, others prac- tise various arts, and others suffer the punishment due to their crimes. TANTALUS. Tantalus, no water is caught by thee, and the tree, which overhangs thy head, eludes thy grasp. UNCEASING LABOR. Thou, Sisyphus, either pursuest or pushest for- ward the stone, that is destined to fall back again. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. No sooner was she seen than she was beloved and carried off by Pluto. BEYOND FORTUNE. I am on a higher pinnacle than fortune can reach. COMMON RIGHTS. Why do you debar me from water ? surely this is a common right; nature hath given no man a OVID. 345 peculiar property in sun, air, or water: I have come to crave a bounty that is shared by all. A CUP OF COLD WATER. A cup of cold water will be nectar to me, and I shall confess that I have received life with it; you will have given me life by the water. BLINDNESS OF MANKIND. O ye gods ! what thick encircling darkness blinds the minds of men ! THE EVIL THAT I WOULD NOT, THAT I DO. If it were in my power, I would be wiser, but a newly-felt power carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my understanding leads me another. I see and approve the right, and yet the wrong pursue. POETRY. For what cannot poetry accomplish ? PLEASURE FOLLOWED BY GRIEF. No* one enjoys pure, unalloyed pleasure; there is always some bitter mingled with the sweet. Euripides (Fr. Antig. 14) says: " Be not willing to grieve thyself, knowing that grief often brings joy afterwards, and evil is the proximate cause of good." CONTAGION. Contagion is hurtful by breath, and is carried thereby to a distance. PESTILENCE:. The nearer one is to the sick, and the more faithfully he is watched, the quicker the watcher 843 OVID. approaches death. The hope of safety has van- ished, and they see the end of the disease in the deaths around. THE EFFEMINACY OF MAN. They indulge themselves and care not for what is useful. THE CIJEDULJTY OF LOVE. Love is a credulous thing. FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE. Every one without doubt becomes his own god to lead him on to fortune: that goddess listens not to the prayers of the slothful. MURDER. Death is to be expatiated by death. CONQUER AT ALL HAZARDS. You will with difficulty conquer, but conquer you must ! THE POWER OF HEAVEN. The power of heaven is immeasurable and boundless, accomplishing whatever it wills. So 1 Chronicles xxix. 12: " Thou reignest over all; and in Thine hand is power and might." THE RIGHTEOUS. The pious are cared for by the gods, and those are attended to, who have attended to their duties to the gods. So Hebrews xiii. 4: " The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto inft." OVID. 347 FKIGID ZONE. There is an icy zone on the extreme borders of Scythia, a melancholy waste, barren and treeless; there dwell sluggish cold, pallid looks, trembling ague, and pining want. DESCRIPTION OF FAMINE. There she found Famine in a stony field, scratch- ing up a few roots with her talons and teeth. Her locks were matted, her eyes were sunken; paleness overspread her face; her lips were wan from want, her teeth brown with rust; her skin was hard, and through it the entrails were seen to move ; the sapless bones seemed to start from her bent loins, and for a belly was a belly's space. Thou wouldst have supposed that her breast was bung up and tacked to her body only by the chine of the back. Her joints were protuberant from leanness, the orbits of her knees bunched out, while her ankle bones jutted to undue propor- tions. THE POWER OF RECOLLECTION. The power of recollection is a part of our pain. THE GRAVE. I entreat you by the horrors of these realms, this vast chaos and kingdom where silence reigns, give back Eurydiee, weave again her quick-spun thread. All our possessions are but loans from you, and after a little space, sooner or later we hasten to one bourn ; we are all going the same road, this is our last home ; you hold an endless empire over the human race. She, too, when she shall have reached a ripe old age, must be yours again. 348 OVID. TIME PASSES RAPIDLY. Swift flying time glides on unmarked and un- perceived; nothing passes more quickly than years. Dryden says: " Old age creeps on us, ere we think it nigh." And Moore : " Oh, sweet youth, how soon it fades! i Sweet joys of youth how fleeting ! " BLACK LOOK WHITE, AND WHITE LOOK BLACK. Skilled in every artifice, no degenerate son of his father, he could at will make white look black and black look white. This is the description of Belial by Milton (" Paradise Lost," book ii): " All was false and hollow ; though his tongue Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels; for his thoughts were low: To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds Timorous and slothful." THE SEVERITY OF WINTER. The violence of winter increases, and on all sides fierce winds struggle and clash the indignant waves. DESCRIPTION OF SLEEP. Near the Cimmerians there is a deep cavern in the hollow of a mountain, where dwells the drowsy god of sleep; whose gloomy mansion is never visited by the rising, mid-day, nor setting sun. Dark fogs rise, and a perpetual twilight pre- vails around. No crowing cock with crested head wakes the morn, nor is the silence broken by the bark of watchful dog, or the cackling of more wakeful geese. No beast, wild or tame, no trees OVID. 3*9 rocked by tempest, nor reproachful sound of hu- man voice, strike upon the ear. Mute silence has its habitation here. Yet from the bottom of a rock xssues forth the rivulet of Lethe ; the waters of which, flowing with soft murmur over the rum- bling pebbles, invite to sleep, Around its entry nodding poppies grow and herbs without number, from whose milky sap night drains their sleepy virtue, and scatters it in dew over the silent plains No door on creaking hinges was in the w'bole house; no watch was there to guard the entrance. But in the middle was a bed, raised aloft on black ebony, stuffed with feathers, of one color, with a dark coverlet, where lies the god himself with his limbs stretched out at ease. Around him everywhere fantastic dreams, imitat- ing, various shapes, lie numerous as the ears of grain, the leaves on trees, or sand on the sea- shore. DESCRIPTION OF FAME. tfame has her seat of power on the summit of a lofty tower; entrances without number, and a thousand avenues lead to her palace, while no closed doors prevent approach; night and day they stand open. It is wholly built of rattling brass, rumbling and giving back echoes on echoes. Quiet there is none within, nor silence, nor yet is there clamorous noise, but a low murmur of hum- ming voices, like the hollow roar of the ocean's waters or the sound of distant thunders, when Jupitei- clashes the dark clouds together. A crowd occupies the halls, a light throng entering or issuing forth: a thousand rumors, mixed with truth, wander through the air, and a confused sound of words rolls around. Some fill the ears with empty sounds; others eagerly repeat what 350 OVID. they have heard, amplifying the lie they are re- lating, while every story-teller adds some embel- lishment. Here sit vain credulity, rash error, foolish joys, panic fears, sudden sedition, and whispers of uncertain origin. Fame sits aloft, be- holding what is done in heaven, sea, and earth, and searching through the whole world. Pope, in his " Temple of Fame," says: " Like broken thunders that at distance roar, Or billows murmuring on the hollov shore." THE UKN. Now he is nothing but ashes, and of the mighty Achilles there remains only some little dust, which cannot so much as fill an urn : yet his fame still lives so as to fill a whole world. This is the meas- ure that corresponds with such a hero; in this Achilles. is equal to himself, nor has Tartarus with its empty shades any effect on him. THE GODS. The gods look on the affairs of men with the eyes of justice. DEEDS OF ANCESTORS. Let not this eloquence of mine, if I really pos- sess any, now speaking in defence of its master, and which has often been used for you, be deemed a fault ; let not any one decline to use what is his own. For high descent, a lon^r line of ancestors and those deeds which we ourselves have not per- formed, I can scarcely call our own. Ben Jonson ("Every Man in his Humor," act i.) adopts this idea. " I would have you Not stand so much on your gentility, Which is an airy and mere borrow'd thing OVID. a^i From dead men's dust and bones' and none of yours Except you make and hold it " And Young (" Love of Fame," Sat. i. 1. 147) says: Thoy that on glorious ancestors enlarge, Produce their debt instead of their discharge." Tennyson says: ' Fall back upon a name ? rest, rot in that ? Nor keep it nobls, make it nobler ? Fools ! " " He is the best gentleman who is the son of his OWE deserts." MIXD IS THE MAN. Thy right arm indeed is powerful in war; it is thy mind that requires our guidance. Brawn without mind is thine, but it is mine to look be- fore and after. Thy province is to fight ; the king takes counsel with me, when and how the battle is to be conducted. Thy body only is of profit; it is my mental powers that are regarded. By how much more the ship owes her safety to him that steers than him who only rows, by how much more the captain merits praise than he who fights, so much greater is my worth than thine. It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigor is in our immortal spirit. Vatt's (" Horas Lyricae," bk. ii., " False Greatness "): - " The mind's the standard of man." And Burns ("Is there for Honest Poverty "): " The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that." And Wycherley ("The Country Wife," act i. sc. 1): '' 1 weigh the man, not his title; 'tis not the king's stamp can make the metal better." And Goldsmith (" The Traveller," 1. 372): " For just experience tells in every soil, That those that think must govern those that toil." GEIEF. Grief conquers the unconquered man. 352 OFID. THE POOB MAN. It is the proof of a poor man when ha can count his herds. THE MIND'S EYE. His mind penetrated to the immortal gods, though far remote in heaven, and what nature denied to his visual orhs, he was able to overtake by his mind's eye in the depth of his breast. DEATH AN IDLE THING. O race of man, affrighted by the thoughts of cold death ! What do you find to dread in Styx, the darkness of the grave, all an empty name, mere themes for poets, and fables of a world that never was ! Whether the body be consumed by fire or moulder away in the ground, think not that it suf- fers. It is the soul that is undying, which, when it has left its former habitation, dwells forever in new abodes, and repeats new life in other forms. THE SOTJL. All things are subject to change, but nothing dies. The disembodied spirit wanders at large, here and there, lodging in any body, from beast pasing into man, from man to beast and never perishing. And as the softened wax rceives new impressions, remaining not as it was, nor always retaining the same forms, though the wax is still the same material, so it is with the soul. TIME IN PEKPETUAL FLUX. There is nothing in the world that remains un- changed. All things are in perpetual flux, and every shadow is seen to move. Even time itself glides on in constant movement, like the waters OVID. 353 of a river. For the stream stops not, nor yet the flying hour ; and as wave is impelled by wave, the one behind pressing on that before, so do the minutes run and urge the predecessor minutes, still moving, ever new; for what was before is set aside, and becomes as it had not been, and every moment innovates on what preceded it. Nicostratus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 639, M.) says: " Old things become again new through time: there is noth- ing more difficult to please than Time: the same things never please this god." Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr.p. 1087, M.) says: "Time is a workman in the state, my friend: it takes pleasure to change all things for the worse." The first Napo- leon, when writing on the subject of the poor laws to his Min- ister of the Interior, said: "It is melancholy to see Time passing away without being put to its full value. Surely in a matter of this kind we should endeavor to do something, that we may say that we have lived, that we have not lived in vain, that we may leave some impress of ourselves on the sands of Time." Longfellow, in one of iiis poems, has the same expression, " Footsteps on the sands of Time." And the French say very beautifully: " More inconstant than the wave and the cloud, time flies: why regret it? " THE SEASONS. What! perceivest thou not that the year has its four seasons, in imitation of human life? For the fresh Spring, like infancy, is tender and full of milky juice. Then the green herb swells, though weak and without substance, yet feeding the farmer's eyes with hope. All things put on beau- teous attire, and universal nature crowned with flowerets laughs with joy: and yet there is no strength in the leaves and stems. Next in suc- cession comes Summer of maturer age, ripening into man; no age is more powerful, more replete with the juices of life, or where the heat of youth 23 354 OVID. is more exciting. Then conies Autumn, staid and sober, midway between youth and old age, with brown locks mixed with gray. Last of all Winter creeps along with palsied step, with bald pate or white locks, if there be any. Even our own bodies are daily changing, and without a moment's pause, nor shall we be to-morrow what we have been and are. TIME. Devouring Time and envious Age, all things yield to you, and with lingering death you destroy step by step with venomed tooth whatever you attack. Spenser, in his " Faerie Queen " (iv. 2, 23), says: " But wicked Time, that all good thoughts doth waste, And works of noblest wits to naught outwear, That famous monument hath quite defaced, And robb'd the world of treasure endless dear, The which might have enriched all us here, Oh cursed eld, the canker-worm of writs! How may these rhymes, so rude as doth appear, Hope to endure, sith works of heavenly wits Are quite devour'd, and brought to naught by little bits I " DEATH. To be born is to begin to be some other thing that we were not formerly, and to die is to cease to be the thing we were before, while those very elements, which we partook alive, are transferred to other bodies when we are dead, and the ele- ments of others are transferred to us, yet all sub- stances endure forever. NATIONS. So we see that nations are changed by time; they flourish and decay; by turns command, and in their turns obey. OVID. 355 A PBAYEB FOE A FBIEXD'S LIFE. May the day of thy death arrive slowly, and be later than cur time. FAME OF POET. My work is done, impervious to Jove's ire, fire, war, or wasting age. Let the day, which has no power except over this body of mine, close my life when it will, yet my nobler part, my fame, shall soar aloft to the skies, and to distant ages my name shall nourish, and wherever Rome's un- bounded power holds sway, there I shall pass from mouth to mouth, and adown all time shall live my deathless fame, if it is allowed for poets to divine. Byron (" Childe Harold," cant, iv., st. 9) says: " I twine My hopes of being remember'd in my line With my land's language; if too fond and far These aspirations in their scope incline, If my fame should be as my fortunes are, Of hasty growth and blight, and dull oblivion bar My name from out the temple where the dead Are honor'd by the nations let it be And light the laurels on a loftier headl And be the Spartan's epitaph on me, ' Spartan hath many a worthier son than he.' " THE LUST OF RICHES. Wealth has accumulated and the maddening lust of wealth, and however much man possess they still long for more. They vie with each other to acquire what they may lavish, and when they have lavished their possessions they try to obtain them again; and the very vicissitudes of life form food for their vices. 1 Timothy vi. 9 : " But they that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, 356 OVID. and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." MOXEY. Money nowadays is in high repute: money con- fers offices of state, money procures friendship: everywhere the poor man is despised. Timocles (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 810, M.) says: "Money is the blood and life of men: whoever has it not nor has been able to get it, is like a dead man walking among the living." JUSTICE. The wickedness of man had not yet put Justice to flight; she was the last of the heavenly deities to forsake the earth. ASTRONOMERS. Happy souls, the first who studied these mighty themes and mounted to the celestial regions! We may well believe that they soared far above hu- man vices and this lower world. Neither love nor wine exercised disturbing influences, nor yet the anxieties of the Forum, nor the labors of warfare; their mind was free from vain ambition and the desire of fame got at the cannon's mouth and the envy of boundless riches. They brought far dis- tant stars within our' ken, and the heaven itself was made subject to our understanding: in this way men attain to heaven. A LOVER. Her he wishes, for her he longs, for her alone- he sighs: he makes signs to her by nods, and tries to attract her attention by gestures. A DISDAINFUL BEAUTY". Cold disdain is found in the fair, and a haughty OVID. 357 demeanor is the accompaniment of beauty. By her looks she despises and scorns him. CONSCIENCE. According as the conscience suggests to each man, so hope and fears start up from his deeds. THE BRAVE MAN. The brave find a home in every land, as fish possess the sea and birds the air. Nor does tem- pestuous weather always last: believe me, the warmth of spring will again reappear. PEACE. Wars lie long confined in adamantine chains beneath our feet. Our oxen now again may plough the land, and the yellow corn wave over our fields. It is peace that brings plenty. Plenty is the foster-child of Peace. ATONEMENT. Ah! weak beings, who think that the deep stains of murder can be washed out by the multitu- dinous waters of the ocean ! THE STATESMAN WHO IMAGINES THAT HE CAN COMMAND THE CHANNEL FLEET. What hast thou to do with the sword? Steers- man, look to the veering bark: these are not the instruments that suit thy hands. THE PIOUS. God regards the works of the righteous. So Genesis iv. 4: " And tlie Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering." 358 OVID. THE NOD OF JOVE. Jove had nodded ; both poles trembled at his nod, and Atlas felt the weight of heaven. MAN'S STATE OF LIFE. Remain in that state of life, in which God hath placed thee. WORDS AND REALITY. There is no use of words; believe what is be- fore your eyes. BLIND TO MISFORTUNES. What ignorance attends the human mind ! THE SWALLOW. Are we deceived ? or is the swallow come the harbinger of spring ? DELAY. Put off: a short delay is of great advantage. PICTURE OF RURAL HAPPINESS. The peasants gather together and enjoy them- selves over a joyous glass of wine, lying at ease on the green grass, each with his sweetheart. SCHOOLMASTERS CHEATED OF THEIR PAY. Neither do you, schoolmasters, a set too often cheated of your wages, despise the goddess Mi- nerva; it is she that brings you new pupils. FALSE REPORTS. The mind, conscious of innocence, laughs to scorn false reports that throw suspicion on our fame : but we are all of us a set only too ready to lend an ear to scandal about our neighbors. OVID. 359 MAN UNLUCKY FOR MARRIAGE. For tliis reason, if you listen to proverbs, let me tell you that the vulgar say, Unlucky are the wives that wed in May. HALF MORE THAN THE WHOLE. Divide the heaven, which thou givest to me alone, between us both: the half will be more than the whole. INSPIRATION. A god has his abode within our breast; when he rouses us, the glow of inspiration warms us; this holy rapture springs from the seeds of the divine mind sown in man. HOW SLEEP IS INDUCED. Sleep is induced by time, movements, and wine. TIME PASSES QUICKLY. Time rolls 011 and old age creeps upon us in the unmarked lapse of years : days rush on without a rein to check them. So Jobxiv. 1: " Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." LIFE THE GIFT OF GOD. I reckon this also, that I live, to be the gift of God. MAY I DIE IN MY HOME. May it be granted to die in my native home. THE DUTIES OF A JUDGE. The judge's duty is to weigh the circumstances as well as the times. 360 OVID. WHAT THE POET EEQUIKE8. The writer of poetry requires the quiet of re- tirement from the world. A BURNT CHILD DREADS THE FIRE. The dove, that has once been wounded by thy talons, O hawk, is frightened by the least move- ment of the wing. The deeds of men never escape the all-seeing eyes of the Almighty. THE FAVOB OF GOD. If God be my friend I cannot be wretched. FALSE FRIENDS. For as yellow gold is tried by fire, so do mo- ments of adversity prove the strength of friend- ship. While fortune is friendly and smiles with serene countenance, crowds surround the rich; but when heaven's thunder rolls, they vanish, nor has he one who knows him, though lately en- circled by troops of boon companions. So 1 Peter i. 6, 7: " Though now for a season ... ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire." A FRIEND TO MY FORTUNE, NOT TO ME. The rest of the crowd were friends to my fort- une, not to me. Claude-Mennet says very beautifully: " The friends of the present day are of the nature of melons; we must try fifty before we meet with a good one." OVID. 361 NUMEROUS AS THE STAKS OF HEAVEN. I have suffered as many woes as there are stars in heaven, or as atoms in the dry dust. FRIENDSHIP'S SACRED NAME. Is the holy and revered name of friendship de- spised by thee and trodden under foot ? PROSPERITY. % Whilst thou art favored, by fortune, thou shalt have troops of friends; when storms blow, thou shalt find thyself alone. Thou seest how doves flock to new-built houses, while the tower in ruins is shunned. Never do ants frequent the empty barn; no friend comes to him that is in want. As the shadow attends the sun and disappears when it is clouded, so do the fickle mob attend on fortune's light, but pass away when clouds over- cast the sky. THE TRUE MODE OF PROPHECY. Reason is my only means of knowing and pre- dicting the future; by it I have divined and ac- quired my knowledge. IMAGES OF DEATH. Wherever I look, there is nothing seen but the images of death. THE TERRORS OF THE DEEP. The land has more objects of fear than the boisterous ocean. SINNERS. If Jupiter were to hurl his thunderbolt as oft as men sinned, he would soon have no thunderbolt to hurl. 362 OVID. So Psalm ciii. 8: " The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." THE WIDOW'S MITE. But yet as God is propitiated by the blood of a hundred bulls, so also is He by the smallest offer- ing of incense. ADVERSITY. When a house, with loosened foundations, begins to sink, the whole weight rests on the portion that has given way; all things totter, when fortune has once made 11 opening. The very house some- times falls under its own weight. GOD. Jupiter has no time to attend to unimportant matters. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 86) says: " For God attends to important matters, the small He leaves to fortune." THE ADVANTAGEOUS MAY ALSO BE INJURIOUS. There is nothing advantageous which may not also be injurious. EVERY BLESSING MAY BE ABUSED. What is more useful than fire? And yet, if any one prepares to burn a house, it is with fire that he arms his rash hands. MEDICINE. Medicine sometimes destroys, sometimes gives health : it shows the herb that assists and that which hurts. OVID. 363 THE SWORD MAY BE USED FOB A GOOD OB BAD PURPOSE. Both the robber and the wary traveller gird themselves with the sword : the one carries it for the purposes of crime, and the latter as his means of defence. THE BAD. All things can lead astray those ill-inclined. AN INOFFENSIVE POET. I have lampooned no one in satirical verse, nor do my poems hold up any one to ridicule. FLY HIGH THINGS. Live to thyself, and fly far from high fortune. PBEFER AN OBSCUKE LIFE. The lowest yards escape the winter's storms, while flowing sails are the cause of greater fear. A QUIET LIFE IS BEST. Believe me, he who has passed a quiet inoffen- sive life, unknown to the world, has lived well; each man ought to be satisfied with the lot as- signed him. So 1 Timothy vi. 8: 1 ' And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. ' ' Live thou unenvied and spend joyous years un- known to fame, and have friends such as are suit- able to thee. THOUGHTS OF A DISTANT HOME. Before my mind's eye flit my home, the city, 864 OVID. and each well-known spot: and to each place I at- tach what is naturally occurring. THE NOBLE-MINDED. The greatest men are placable in wrath : a gen- erous mind is less easily excited to anger. The noble-minded lion spares the prostrate ; the fight is at an end when his enemy lies before him. But the wolf and the vile bear trample on the dying, and every animal, that is mean and treacherous, does the same. OLD AGE. "Wasting old age will place its hand on beauty, advancing with noiseless step. THE BODY SUFFERS FROM THE MIND. The diseases of the mind impair the bodily pow- ers. ELOQUENCE. In easy matters every one can speak; little strength is required to break the bruised reed. To throw down towers and walls that stand, shows innate force. Even the feeble can push over what totters. MUSIC LIGHTENS LABOR. Even the miner, while clanking his chains, sings as he lightens his labor with untaught music: he too sings, who bending low on the oozy sand, drags the slow barge against the stream. PUBLIC INTERESTS ARE ABOVE PRIVATE. Public interests will outweigh those of private individuals. OVID. 365 TEARS, It is some relief to weep ; grief is satisfied and carried off by tears. Euripides (Fr. CEnon, 5) says: " But there is even in misfortunes a pleasure to mortals while they weep and shed tears. This assuages grief, and is wont to relieve the excessive pangs of the heart." And in the notes of Eustathius to Iliad (i. 349) we find this Greek proverb: " The good are full of tears." MAN'S CHARACTER MADE KNOWN BY ADVERSITY. Who would have heard of Hector, if Troy had been fortunate ? Noble conduct has an oppor- tunity of display when surrounded by misfort- unes. SICK MIND. The mind is more sick than the sick body, and at contemplation of its sufferings becomes hope- less. THE WRESTLEB. The wrestler, who enters young into the yellow- sanded arena, feels stronger than he whose arms are worn out by the slow approach of age. THE FUTURE OF LIFE NOT TO BE FORESEEN. Thus, as I did not foresee what was to come, I used to wish that I might become old with all the tranquil joys around me. FATE INIMICAL. The fates were inimical. RUIN AT THE END OF LIFE. Not far from the goal, which I thought I had #56 OVID. almost reached, heavy ruin overtook me on my course. NOTHING ABOVE GOD. Nothing is so high nor above the dangers of life that it is not below and placed under God. MEN RISE UNDER ADVERSITIES. The oak, struck by the lightning of Jove, often sprouts anew. PLEASURES OF POETRY. Thanks to thee, my Muse, for it is thou that affordest me solace; thou art a respite to my cares, thou art an antidote to all my ills. SUPPRESSED GRIKF. Suppressed grief suffocates raging within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength. THE LOVE OF FAME. The love of fame usually puts spurs to the mind. WHERE SHALL I LOOK FOR SAFETY. Whither shall I go ? Whence shall I seek com- fort in my calamities ? No anchor any longer holds our vessel. THERE IS NO CERTAINTY OF PEACE. Sometimes there is peace, but never a certainty of its continuance. INEXORABLE FATE. The iron-hearted and inexorable fate of life weighed heavily upon him. OVID. 367 THE GOOD UNDER ADVERSITY. No doubt the righteous under the stroke of ad- versity has substantial grounds for glorying in the sadness of their fate. THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE. Fearest thou not the divine power of Fortune, as she stands on her unsteady wheel, that goddess who abhors all vaunting words ? FICKLENESS OF FORTUNE. Fortune wanders around with doubtful steps, remaining sure and fixed in no place; but now is joyful, now puts on a sorrowful countenance, and is only constant in its fickleness. A FADING BLOOM. We also have bloomed, but it was a fading flower. HAPPY MORE NUMEROUS THAN UNHAPPY DAYS If thou countest the sunshine and cloudy days of the whole year, thou wilt find that the bright predominate. A BARBARIAN. I am a barbarian here, because I am not under- stood by any. WHAT THE POET REQUIRES. The poet's labors are a work of joy, and require peace of mind. RESULT OF IDLENESS. Besides my vein of genius, rusted by long tor- por, grows dull, and is much less strong than it 868 OVU). was before. The field, if it be not regularly tilled, will produce nothing but coarse grass and thorns. The horse that has been long confined will run badly, and will come in last among the steeds that left the starting point. So Proverbs xiii. 11 : "Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase." LOVE OF GLORY. In short, the love of glory gives no small strength to the mind, and the desire of praise in- spires men with eloquence. THE RESULT. The result is a small ember of my exertions. THE RICH. The shade of the rich man will carry nothing to the grave. DESERT NOT THE UNFORTUNATE. When God thunders, not to withdraw ourselves from the storm is proof of reverential awe and of affection for our friends. MERIT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FORTUNE. Rare indeed is the merit not under the influence of fortune. THE OLIVE BRANCH OF PEACE. In war the olive branch of peace is of use. TO HAVE DESERVED PUNISHMENT. It is less to suffer punishment than to have de- served it. OVID. 369 PUNISHMENT. The punishment may be remitted; the crime will be forever. DREAMS. Dreams alarm me that portray my real misfort- unes, and my waking senses are ever aliva to my sorrows. A wound may perhaps be closed in time, but freshly inflicted, it shrinks from the touch. LOVE OF COUNTRY. Love of country more powerful than reason it- self. THE PHYSICIAN'S SKILL NOT OMNIPOTENT. It is not always in the power of the physician to relieve the patient: sometimes the disease is be- yond the reach of art. CARE. Neither gout nor dropsy can be removed by the power of medicine. Care, too, is at times beyond the reach of art, or is only to be assuaged by length of time. FATHERLAND. Our fatherland charms us with delights that we cannot express, and never allows us to forget that we owe to it our birth. A FRAIL BARK. We have ploughed the vast .ocean in a frail bark. 24 870 OVID. SLOTH. Thou seest how sloth wastes the sluggish body, as the water is corrupted unless it is moved. Proverbs xxi. 25: " The desire of the slothful killethhim; for his hands refuse to labor." PUKSUITS. Every one is fond of his own pursuits, and de- lights to spend time in his accustomed art. THE GLADIATOR. The wounded gladiator forswears all fighting, 1'ut soon, forgetful of his former wound, he re- sumes his arms. USELESS ARTS. Nothing is more useless to man than those arts which have no utility. INGENUOUS ARTS. The heart of man is softened by ingenuous arts, to which thou art specially devoted, and churlishness flies away. HOPE. Hope causes the shipwrecked mariner, when no land appears around, to strike out in the midst of the waves. The skill of the physician has often confessed itself baffled, but hope still lingered while life was ebbing. The prisoner hopes for safety in his prison; while the man hanging on the cross offers up prayers for release. St. Basil, writing to Gregory of Nazianzus (Epist. xiv. p. 03) calls " Hopes the waking dreams of men." And Pope (" Essay on Man," Ep. i. 1. 95)speaks of it thus: " Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never Is but always to be blest." OVID. 371 And Prior, to the Hon. Charles Montague: " Our hopes, like tow' ring falcons, aim At objects in an airy height; The little pleasure of the game Is from afar to view the flight." And Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," iii. 1): " The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope." And ("Two Gentlemen of Verona," iii. 1): " Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that, And manage it against despairing thoughts." And Goldsmith (song from the "Captivity "): " The wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies, And every pang that rends the heart Bids expectation rise. Hope like the glimmering taper's light, Adorns and cheers the way; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray." TKUE NOBILITY. It is not wealth nor ancestry, but honorable conduct and a noble disposition, that make men great. " TAKES." As often as Jove sends showers to refresh the fields, the clinging bur springs up amidst the wheat. Shakespeare (" Richard HI." ii. 4): " Sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste." BAD FORTUNE. The most miserable fortune is safe for there is no fear of anything worse. THE TONGUE. My tongue, be silent; not another word must be said. 372 OVID. THE UPWARD PATH OF VIRTUE. It is a difficult path, I confess, but virtue mounts upward, and so much greater will be the fame de- rived from such meritorious exertions. THE MERCIFUL JUDGE. Who, when he has come to a sad decision, is himself sad, and who almost feels the infliction of the punishment as if it were inflicted on himself. Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," iii. 2): " He who the sword of heaven will bear, Should be as holy as severe; Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go; More nor less to others paying, Than by self-offences weighing, Shame to him, whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking." POPULACE. The vulgar throng estimates friends by the ad- vantage to be derived from them. VIRTUE ITS OWX REWARD. Thou wilt scarcely find one in a thousand who will regard virtue as its own reward. Honor it- self possesses no charms if it is unattended by recompense ; and we are ashamed to be good, if we are not to be compensated. So Home. (" Douglas " act iii. sc. 1): " Amen! and virtue is its own reward! " SELF-INTEREST. Nowadays every one looks after his own inter- ests, and calculates on his anxious fingers what may turn out useful to himself. OVID. 373 So Churchill (" The Conference," 1. 107): " Explore the dark recesses of the mind, In the soul's honest volume read mankind. And own, in wise and simple, great and small, The same grand leading principle in all, . . . And by whatever name we call The ruling tyrant, Self is all in all." PKOSPERITY. Nobody is loved except the man to whom fort- une is favorable; when she thunders, she drives away all that are near. THE THORN AND THE ROSE. The prickly thorn often bears soft roses. Anonymous (" To Fielding, on the revival of the Intriguing Chambermaid "): " Where the sharp thistle springs, implant the corn, And graft the rose upon the spring thorn." VIRTUE REQUIRES NO REWARD. In thy judgment virtue, without the aid of out- ward advantages, stands in no need of reward, and must be sought for her own sake. DIFFERENT PURSUITS, BUT BOTH LIBERAL. Our pursuits indeed differ, but they are derived from the same source; ; both of us are devoted to a liberal art. A FUTURE AGE. A coming age will admire. THE NERVOUS. The wounded limb shrinks even from the gent- lest touch, and to the nervous the smallest shadow excites alarm. 374 OVID. A DROP. Stones are hollowed by constant drops of water. Shakespeare (" Henry VI.," Part III., act iii. sc. 2): " Much rain wears the marble." INGENUOUS ARTS. Many seek glory by ingenuous arts. THE WOLF. The wolf rushes on a flock of sheep that it may carry off one. EXILE. The place makes banishment more bearable. AGRICULTURE. It is pleasant to pass one's time in the cultiva- tion of the fields. PURE WATER. There is in pure water no small pleasure. THE MIND. The mind conquers everything; it gives even strength to the body. Of the power of the mind Pope (" Essay on Man," Ep. ii. 1. 104) thus speaks: " But strength of mind is exercise, not rest; The rising tempest puts in act the soul, Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole. On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card, but passion is the gale." A PLEASING COUNTENANCE. A pleasing countenance is no slight advantage to man. OVID. 875 THE MISERABLE. Believe me, it is noble to aid the afflicted, and is worthy of such a mighty potentate as thou art. So Matthew xx. 25, 26: " Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise domin- ion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." HIGH POWER. Royal power is never seen in a better cause than as often as it does not allow prayers to be offered to no effect. MERCY. It is a pleasure proper for man to save a fellow- creature, and gratitude is better acquired in no other way. Shakespeare (" Merchant of Venice," act iv. sc. 1) says: " It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; An earthly power doth then show likest God's, When mercy seasons justice." RESULT OF EDUCATION. To be thoroughly imbued with the liberal arts refines the manners, and makes men to be mild and gentle in their conduct. Pope (" Moral Essays," I. Part ii.) says: " 'Tis education forms the common mind, Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd." POETS HAVE COMMON TIES. Yet between poets there are certain common ties, though we, each of us, pursue our respective paths. 376 OVID. THE ADVANTAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT. The spirited steed, which will contend of its own accord for the victory, will run still more swift if thou givest encouragement. DESIKE OF SUCCESS. To wish is of slight moment; thou oughtest to desire with earnestness to be successful, and this anxiety should shorten thy hours of rest. TEABS. Tears are sometimes equal in weight to words. Hood (" Song of the Shirt "): " My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders my needle and thread." And Scott: " The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears." THE EFFECT OF THE THUNDERBOLT. Though the thunderbolt strikes only one, it is not only one that it alarms. Envy, the meanest of vices, does not enter the minds of the noble, but creeps on the ground like a hidden serpent. Sheridan ("The Critic," act i. sc. 1): " There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy." GREAT POETS. Great poets do not require an indulgent reader; they charm any one, however much against his will, and however difficult to please. OVID. 377 THE RESULT OF THE APPLAUSES OF THE PUBLIC. Every genius may feel elated at the applauses of the public and its joyous acclamation. ' NOVELTY. Novelty in everything is most pleasing; and gratitude is refused to a kindness which is slow in coming. THE LAST ROSE. It makes not the least difference whether thou be the first to pluck the rose, or they be the last on the bush. THE FATE OF WRITINGS AFTER DEATH. Writings generally begin to please from the mo- ment of a man's death, for spite assails the living, and carps at him with unjust tooth. BAD LIFE. To lead a dissipated life may be called a kind of death. GOODAVILL IS SOMETIMES SUFFICIENT. Though the power be wanting, yet the mere de- sire to assist is worthy of praise. GOD. There is a divinity in our breast. Cato (act v. sc. 1) says: " 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man." FRESH FRUIT ON THE TREE. It is more delightful to pull down a branch, and 378 OVID. pluck a fresh apple, than to pick one from a carved dish. THE AFFLICTED. The gods, believe me, spare the afflicted, and do not always oppress the unfortunate. Pomfret, to his friend under affliction: " Heaven is not always angry when he strikes, But most chastises those whom most he likes." THE AUTHOR. An author is pleased with his own work. DISEASES. The art of perceiving diseases and of removing them is not the same: perception exists in all; but it is by skill alone that diseases are cured. COALS TO NEWCASTLE. To send verses to him was to add leavss to a wood. THE PROSPEROUS. While my ship was supported with a strong keel, thou wast the first to be willing to sail along with me. THE UNCERTAINTY OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. All human things hang on a slender thread, and the strongest fall with a sudden crash. So Jeremiah ix. 23: " Neither let the haughty man glory hi his might." LOVE OF FAME. The love of fame gives an immense stimulus. OVID. 379 THE GOBS. Heaven makes sport of the affairs of men, and we know not what a day may bring forth. UNCERTAINTY OF HUMAN EVENTS. Consider that the things which seem joyful to thee while thou speakest may become a source of grief. MISFORTUNE. Bad fortune has made no lot so miserable that a respite of the evil does not bring some relief. THE MIND'S EYE. Though absent, I shall see you with my mind's eye. Shakespeare ("Hamlet," i. 2): " In my mind's eye, Horanto." THE WIDOW'S MITE. But he who gives all that he can is abundantly grateful, and his return has reached its natural limit; nor is the incense which the poor man offers from his tiny censer of less avail with the gods than what is given from the rich man's bowl. POETKY. By verse the virtuous are made immortal, and, secure from death, they are handed down to the latest posterity. THE IMPORTANCE OF WRITINGS. What is written survives the lapse of years ; it is by writings that you know Agamemnon, and who fought for or against him. 380 THE MIND. The mind alone cannot be sent into exile. THE GIVER. The gift derives its value from the rank of the giver. THE DROP. The drop hollows out the stone; the ring is Avoru by use; and the crooked ploughshare is rubbed away by the earth. RENEWING GRIEF. When length of time has assuaged the wounds of the mind, he, who reminds us of them unseason- ably, brings them up afresh. PRUDENCE FORSAKES THE WRETCHED. Believe me, that it is prudence that first forsakes the miserable. LOVE. Love is full of anxious fears. LOVERS. If thou wert to count the hours as we lovers do, we do not complain before we ought. We were slow to hope ; we do not quickly believe what is injurious if true. FALSE PROMISES. Demophoon, thou hast given both words and sails to the winds; what I complain of is, that thy sails are iiever to return, and that thy promises are false. OVID. 881 BROKEN FAITH. Where now are the laws of thy country, thy pledged word, thy right hand joined to right hand? And the gods so often invoked by thy false tongue. CREDULITY. We foolishly believe those oaths thou swearest, of which thou wast libei'al enough; we trusted the honor of thy race and high birth; we trusted thy tears; are these also able to be simulated? Have these, too, their guile and flow as they are bid? I wish that whoever thinks that deeds are to be regarded according to their result, may never en- joy success. MAY I BE SWALLOWED UP BY THE EARTH. I pray that I may be first swallowed up by the sudden gaping of the earth, or be burnt by the ruddy flash of the thunderbolt. WORDS OF NO WEIGHT. But my words are of no weight. LOVE. It is not safe to despise what Cupid bids; he reigns supreme, and rules over the mightiest gods. INITIATION IN CRIMES FROM EARLY YEARS. When there is initiation in crime from earlies' years, they become a part of nature. MISFORTUNES THAT ARE UNDESERVED. We ought to bear with patience what befalls us 882 OVID. according to our deserts ; it is the unmerited evil that is to be regarded with sorrow. CHASTITY. Chastity once lost, cannot be recalled ; it goes only once. LIGHTNESS OF CHARACTER. Thou art lighter than leaves at the time when, being without the weight of juice, dried up, they fly about by the ever-moving winds ; and there is less weight in thee than in the topmost part of the grain which is hardened by the constant heat of the sun. Love is credulous. Would that I could be called rash for having accused my husband of crimes of which he was guiltless ! A WOUND FROM AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER. I have received a wound from an unexpected quarter. LOVE. Love is to be acquired by beauty of mind and body. THE HAKD-HEARTED. Thou hast been begotten by a stone, and mount- ains and oaks growing on lofty rocks, and savage beasts. THE SEA. Yet the wide expanse of sea witnesses many sad OVID. 383 THE SAME FATE TO THE END OF LIFE. The fate which attended me before, continues to the end, and follows me to the last moment of my life. THE WICKED. The right hand of the wicked cannot offer due homage to the gods. So James iv. 8: " Cleanse your hands, ye sinners." THE BEGINNING BETTER THAN THE END. Thou heginnest better than thou endest; the last is inferior to the first. MAKBY YOUR EQUAL. If thou wishest to marry wisely, marry thy equal. "Like blood, like good, and like age, make the happiest marriage." LOVE AND WAR. Let others wage wars; let Protesilaus have the enjoyments of love. It is thought that this may be the origin of the often-cited expression: " Bella gerant alii; tu felix Austria nube." THE LAST FAREWELL. And the tongue said with low murmurs, Fare- well! BEAUTY. If but to one that's equally divine, None you'll incline to, you'll to none incline. 884 OVID. USE IS SECOND NATUHE. Pursuits become habits. Shakespeare (" Two Gentlemen of Verona," act v. sc. 4) says: " How use doth breed a habit ha a man." FIKE. For who can conceal fire, which always betrays itself by its own light ? A GIFT. We like the gift, when we the giver prize. DO NOT EXCITE THE WKATH OF A KING. Knowest thou not that kings have long arms ? This is the Greek proverb: " He who sups with the devil must have a long spoon." A FLAME NEWLY KAISED. A flame newly raised is extinguished by a little water. HOPE. Good hope is often deceived in its predictions. THE MIND. And I am borne in spirit whither I am not able in body. HOPE AND REALITY. Hopes are not always realized, but they are ever present. JOYS. Every delay is regarded as long which puts off our joys. OVID. 385 A BURDEN. "Tis patience that makes a burden light. So Matthew xi. 29: " Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and -ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." THE POWER OF RAGE. Eage assists hands, however feeble. TIME. Life steals on and time escapes from us like the swift river that glides on with rapid stream. Shakespeare (" All's Well that Ends Well," act v. sc. 3): " The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time." And Chaucer (" The Clerk's Tale ") says: " For tho' we slepe or wake, or rome or ride, Ay fleeth the time, it will no man bide." So Psalm xc. 5: "Thou carriest them away as with a flood." NECESSITY OP INDUSTRY. Vessels of bronze become bright by use ; mag- nificent dresses are made to be worn: houses abandoned to long neglect grow hoary with age. NOBLE TO GIVE. It is a noble thing to give generously. MANY A LITTLE MAKES A MUCKLE. If they shall beg a few things from a great num- ber, by and by a great heap will be accumulated from their gleanings. MEDICATED POISON. Deadly poisons sometimes lurk under sweet honey. 25 386 OVID. Watt says ; " The rills of pleasure never run sincere, (Earth has no unpolluted spring;) From the cursed soil some dang'rous taint they bear, So roses grow on thorns, and honey wears a sting." EVERY LOVER IS A SOLDIER. Every lover is a soldier. LOVE IS A CAUSE OF GREAT ANXIETY. Let the man who does not wish to be idle fall in love. THANKS. Thanks are justly due for things got without purchase. FAME FROM POETRY. The honors which poetry will confer will be never-dying. THE SUPREMACY OF POETRY. Let kings and the triumphs of kings give way to verse. ENVY. Envy feeds on living merit; it ceases after death, when a man's real character defends each accord- ing to his actual deserts. THE MAN THAT IS FEARED. Every one is desirous that the man should per- ish of whom he is afraid. TO ACKNOWLEDGE ONE'S FAULTS. I would not presume to defend my dissolute habits, and to throw a false glare over my mis- deeds. OVID. 387 PATIENCE. Let those who have deserved it suffer punish- ment with patience. COALS TO NEWCASTLE. Why dost thou add leaves to trees, stars to the crowded sky, water to the vast ocean ? SLEEP. Thou fool, what is sleep but the image of cold death ? Fate will give an eternity of rest. THE SHIP. It is too late to look with wistful eyes to the shore, when the rope has been loosed, and the rounded keels sweeps through the boundless deep. THE WOBDS OF A OIEL. The words of younger girls are lighter than the falling leaves; the wind and the waves bear them without effort wherever they choose. WHAT IS EASILY GOT IS LITTLE CARED FOR. What maybe got is despised; what cannot, is eagerly desired. THE CHASTENING OF THE LOUD. Be firm and endure; this pain will hereafter be for thy good : a bitter draught often brings relief to the sick. DEATH. Death, who will take no refusal, profanes every- thing sacred ; it lays its hands silently on all. 388 OVID. COALS TO NEWCASTLE. Thou pourest fire iuto fire, water into the sea. THE POWER OF COMMITTING SIX. He, who has it in his power to commit sin, is less inclined to do so. The very idea of being able weakens the desire. THE FORBIDDEN. We are ever hankering after the forbidden, and covet what is refused us: thus the dropsical long for the water they must not touch. So Genesis iii. 1: "And the serpent said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden " WE COVET WHAT IS CAREFULLY GUARDED. We are apt to covet the more whatever is guarded; the very care invokes the thief. Few care for what they may have. WEALTH GIVES HONORS. Parliament is closed to the poor; it is wealth, that confers honors. Sophocles (Philoct. 304) says: " Not hither are the voyages of the prudent among men." GENIUS IN OLDEN TIMES. Genius in olden times was more precious than gold, but the barbarism of the present day puts no account on it. THE CRETANS ARE LIARS. The Cretans do not always tell lies. THE LICENCE OF POETS. The unbridled licence of poets ranges " from OVID. 389 earth to heaven," nor are his words subject to historic truth. THE SECRETS OF NIGHT. What madness it is to confess in the day what is concealed by the darkness of night, and to relate openly what thou hast done secretly ! THE ADVANTAGES OF ART. Ships are moved with rapidity by art, sails, and oars; the light chariot is moved by art; and love is governed by the assistance of art. TO SEE AND BE SEEN. They come to see ; they come to be seen. LIGHT SERVICE. Light service charms light minds. HEAVENLY GENIUS. Heavenly genius springs up more quickly than its years, and submits, with regret, to the losses brought by slow time. "Wine prepares the mind, and makes it ready to be inflamed; care flies, and is drowned in plente- ous draughts. SIMPLICITY. Simplicity most rare in our age. NIGHT COVERS ALL DEFECTS. Xight covers all blemishes, and every flaw is forgiven. 390 OVID. OUR NEIGHBOR. The crop seems always more productive in our neighbor's field, and our neighbor's cow has a larger supply of milk. So Luke xv. 29, 30: " Yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." ANGER IS ASSUAGED BY TIME. Like brittle ice anger passes away by time. So Psalm cxxx. 5 : " For His au^er endured but a moment." THE RESULT. The result is doubtful. A LOVER OF BARGAINS. A woman who is always buying. EFFECT OF PRAYER. An angry God is propitiated by words of entreaty. So Psalm ciii. 9: " He will not always chide; neither will He keep his anger forever." NO HARM IN PROMISING. Take care to promise liberally; for what harm is there in promising ? Any one can be rich in promises. A SPEAKING COUNTENANCE. A silent countenance often expresses words and sounds. THE BOLD. Fortune and love befriend the bold. OVID. 'Ml THE ELOQUENCE OF A LOVER. See only that tliou beginnest; eloquent words will flow spontaneously. THE PEACOCK. The bird of Juno displays her feathers, which thou praisest; if thou look at her in silence, she conceals her beauty. PERJURIES OF LOVERS. Jupiter, from on high, laughs at the perjuries of lovers, and orders the winds to scatter them abroad. ARTIFICERS OF DEATH. For there is no law more just than this, that the workman should be hoisted by his own petard. CROCODILE TEARS. If tears fail thee, for they do not always come at the wished-for moment, wipe thy eyes with thy moistened hand. THE SWARTHY SAILOR. A fair complexion is unbecoming a sailor; he ought to be swarthy from the waters of the sea and the rays of the sun. A MAN'S OWN c; RATIFICATION. His own gratification is the object of eacli. MORE MERIT IN KEEPINO THAN IN GETTING RICHES. There is no less merit in keeping what we have got than in first acquiring it. Chance has some- 392 OVID. thing to do with the one, while the other will always be the effect of skill. BE AMIABLE. Be amiable that thou mayst be loved. BEAUTY. Beauty is a frail good. EDUCATION. And let it be no slight care to cultivate the mind with the liberal arts, and to learn thoroughly the two languages of Greece and Rome. THE HAWK ALWAYS IX ARMS. Churlishness excites hatred and bitter taunts; hatred excites the hawk, who always lives in arms. " Churlishness and bitter taunts excite hatred." THE SWALLOW. But the swallow has no fear of man, because it is of a gentle nature. THE BITTER TONGUE. Let strife be at a distance, and the railings of a bitter tongue. Gentle love is to be fed by affec- tionate words. TO SWIM AGAIXST THE CUBREXT. Thou canst not get the better of the stream, if thou swimmest against the current. SUBMISSION. Submit, thou couquerest; serve, and thou' It command. OVID. 393 GOLD. This is now truly the golden age; the highest honors are bought with gold; even love is pur- chased with gold. AN AVARICIOUS AGE. Though thou shouldst come attended hy the Muses, Homer, if thou bringest nothing with thee, Homer, thou wilt be put out of doors. THE KESULTS OF BAD AIR. Sickness seizes the body from bad ventilation. CUSTOM. Nothing is stronger than habit. A FIELD LONG FALLOW. Give rest; a field long at rest makes a plentiful return." THE BIVEE. The river is small at its source, but gains strength as it advances, and wherever it passes receives many streamlets. PROSPERITY. The passions often run riot amidst prosperity, nor is it an easy task to bear it with evenness of mind. A DIFFICULT TASK. I attempt a difficult task, but there is nothing noble that is not arduous. SILENCE. It is but a slight excellence to be silent, but it 394 OVID. is a grievous fault to speak of things that ought to be concealed. So Ecclesiastes iii. 7: " A time to keep silence, and a time to speak." ENJOY THE PRESENT. While youth and years allow it, put thy hand to the plough, soon bent old age will creep on with silent foot. Euripides (Fr. Antiop. 44) says: "Such is the life of wretched men : they are neither alto- geUur happy nor unhappy, they are prosperous and again are unprosperous. Why, pray, as we walk through the world in uncertain bliss, do we not live as pleasantly as we may, not yielding to grief." WHY IS THERE EVIL IN THE WORLD? Some of the vulgar throng will say, Why is there poison in the serpent? And why give up the sheep to the ravenous wolf? LAY NOT THE FAULTS OF THE FE\V ON THE MANY. Do not lay the blame on the multitude that is due to the few. OLD AGE. Be mindful even now of old age which is ap- proaching; thus no moment will pass without profit. TIME. We must make use of time : time flies with rapid foot. ENJOY THE PRESENT. Our advantages fly away . gather flowers while ye may. OVID. 385 CONSTANT CROPPING. A field gets exhausted by constant cropping. NEATNESS OF PEBSQN. We are charmed by neatness of person ; let not thy hair be out of order. BASE DEEDS. Many deeds, which are base in being committed, when done please. THE BAD PREDOMINATE. And there are always more bad than good. HYPOCRISY EVEN IN TEARS. To what point does not art reach? Some learn even to weep with grace. MUSIC OUGHT TO BE LEARNED BY LADIES. Music is a pleasing accomplishment; let the fair learn to sing. ' FAME OF A POET. Perhaps even my name will be mingled with theirs, nor shall my writings be given over to ob- vion. THE UNKNOWN. What is hid is unknown ; for what is unknown there is not desire. So Romans vii. 7: " For I had not knowa lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." LET YOUR HOOK ALWAYS BE BEADY. Chance is always powerful: let your hook al- 396 OVID. ways be cast. In a pool where you least expect it there will be a fish. PEACE. Fair peace becomes mankind; fury belongs to wild beasts. GOD IN MAX. A God resides in us, and we have intercourse with heaven. This spirit within us comes from the eternal abodes. SWEET AND BITTER. We do not bear the sweet; we are recruited by a bitter potion. GIFTS. Gifts, believe me, gain over both gods and men; even Jupiter is soothed by gifts. Plato (De Republ. Consult, i. 3) says: " Gifts persuade the gods, gifts persuade even the noblest kings." THE EARTH. The earth produces wholesome and unwhole- some plants; the rose is found often next to the nettle. So Psalm civ. 14: " He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth." EFFECTS OF TIME. For time gives strength; time ripens the young grapes, and changes into a farm stack, what was before a green blade. OVID. 397 THE BEGINNINGS. Resist the beginnings of evil; it is too late to apply medicine when the mischief has gained strength by inveterate habit. "He that corrects not youth, controls not age." TO-MORROW. He, who is not prepared to-day, will be less so to-morrow. MADNESS. When madness is in full flight, give way to it in its course; every impulsive feeling is difficult to be met. AN IMPATIENT SPIKIT. An impatient and untutored spirit regrets and hates words of instruction. MEDICAL ART. Time is generally the best doctor. Philippides (FT. Com. Or. p. 1123, M.) says: " Time, the common physician, will heal thee." HOW LOVE IS TO BE CONQUERED. If thou wishest to put an end to love, attend to business, love gives way to employments: then thou art likely to be safe. HOW CARE IS TO BE DISSIPATED. The country, companions, and the length of the journey will afford a thousand solaces for your cares. TO BURST THE CHAINS OF LOVE. He is the best assertor of his liberties, who has 398 Or ID. burst the chain that galls his breast, and has once for all got rid of the cause of his pain. VIRTUE AND VICE NEARLY ALLIED. The bad is often too near akin to the good: by confounding the one with the other, virtue has often borne the blame for vice. DBESS. We are captivated by dress. TO RULE WITH A FIRM HAND. It is something to hold the sceptre with a firm hand. ENVY. Envy depreciates the genius of mighty Homer. ENVY. Envy assails the noblest; the wind howls round the highest peaks. THE SMALL NOT TO BE DESPISED. . A boar is often held by a dog of no large size. There are a thousand forms of evil, there will be a thousand f orms of remedy. ACUTE REMEDIES. Some bodies are with difficulty healed by a surgeon's knife; many are benefited by potions and herbs. GRIEF. And who has not a thousand causes of grief ? OVID. 399 AN ILL-TEMPERED MAN. All his words bristled with passionate threats. PUT SPUES TO TIIE MIND. And thou wilt be able if thou choosest; now thou must push on steadily ; now put spurs to the swift steed. DEEDS OF GLOBY. It is deeds of high renown that give age to man; these are what ought to be counted; time is to be filled with these and not with years of idleness. So P. J. Bailey (" Festus "): "We live in deeds, not years: in thoughts, not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." Sheridan (" Pizarro," act iv. sc. 1): " A life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line by deeds, not years." Herbert (" lacula Prudentum"): " Words are women, deeds are men." Dr. Johnson (" The Preface to his Dictionary"): "I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven." LIFE IS LENT TO US. Life is given to us for use ; it has been given to us as a loan without interest, and not to be payed back on any fixed day. Fortune distributes time in unequal portions at her will; she hurries off the young; she props up the old. 400 PXBSIUS. PERSIUS. BORN A.D. 34 DIED A.D. 62. AULUS PERSIUS FLACCUS, born at Yolaterrae in Etruria, during the consulship of L. Vitellius and Fabius Pei'sicus, A.D. 34, received the- first rudi- ments of his education at his native town, remain- ing there till the age of twelve, when he proceeded to Rome and studied under Remmius Palaemon and Yerginius Flavius. When he approached man- hood he received lessons of philosophy from Cor- nutus the Stoic, to whom he became much attached. He was the friend of Lucan and Caesius Bassus the lyric poet. He died A.D. 62, before he had com- pleted his twenty-eighth year. The extant works of Persius consist of six short satires, extending in all to 650 hexameter lines, and were left in an imperfect state. AN IGNORAMUS QUOTING FOREIGN LANGUAGES. Who made the parrot so ready with his " How d'ye do? " THE BELLY. The belly, master he of all art, the bounteous giver of genius. VANITY OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. Oh the cares of men! Oh how much emptiness there is in human affairs. THE WISE MAN. Whatever Rome in its perverted judgment may disparage, do not thou subscribe to its verdict, nor by that scale of theirs try to correct thy own 401 false balance, nor seek beyond thy own breast for rules to guide thy conduct. THAT'S HE. Is then thy knowledge of no value, unless another know that thou possessest that knowl- edge? But it is a fine thing to be pointed at with the finger, and to have it said, " That's he!" PUBLIC APPLAUSE. Lives there the man with soul so dead as to dis- own the wish to merit the people's applause, and having uttered words worthy to be kept by cedar oil to latest times, to leave behind him rhymes that dread neither herrings nor frankincense. PBAISE. When I write, if anything by chance be ex- pressed correctly (though this, I must confess, is a rare bird), yet if anything be expressed correctly, I would not shrink from being praised; for my breast is not made of horn: but I deny that that " excellently " and " beautifully " of yours is the end and object of what is right. PRAYEKS. Thou at least dost not with mercenary prayers ask heaven for what thou wouldst not dare to name to the gods, unless in some corner. But then the greater part of the nobles offer libations silently. I allow they do, for it is not every one that can in the temple do away with the low mut- tered whispers and offer up prayers in the open face of heaven. " A clear conscience, a good name, integrity," for these he prays loudly, that all at hand may hear. But in his inmost breast, and with bated breath, he murmurs, " Oh that my 26 402 PERSIl'x. uncle would evaporate! What a splendid funeral! Would by the favor of Hercules that a pot of gold would ring against my rake! or, would I could wipe out my ward, to whom I am next heir! For he is scrofulous, and swollen with acrid bile." GOD DOES NOT FORGET THE WICKED. Thinkest thou that God has forgiven thee, be- cause, when He thunders, the holm-oak is rather riven with His sacred bolt than thou and thy house? Iu Ecclesiastes (viii. 11) we find the same idea: ' Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." UPRIGHTNESS. Why do we not offer that to the gods, which the blear-eyed progeny of great Messala cannot give from his high-heaped charger, Piety to God and Justice to man enshrined within the heart; the soul's inmost cell free from pollution; a bosom imbued with generous honor? Give me these to present at the altar, and I shall gain what I ask even with a little meal. Gifford translates it thus: " No: let me bring the immortals, what the race Of great Messala, now depraved and base, On their huge charger, cannot: bring a mind, Where legal and where moral sense are join'd With the pure essence; holy thoughts that dwell In the soul's most retired and sacred cell; A bosom dyed in honor's noblest grain, Deep-dyed ; with those let me approach the fane, And Heaven will hear the humble prayer I make, Though all.my offering be a barley cake." There is a fragment in the " Mimes of Laberius " like this: "God looks with complacency on pure, not full, hands." , PERSIUS. 403 EDUCATION. Thou art now clay, moist and pliant; even now must thou be hastily moulded and fashioned un- interruptedly by the rapid wheel. HYPOCRISY. Show these trappings to the rabble ; I know thee intimately inside and out. TYRANTS. O mighty father of the gods ! when once dire lust, dyed with raging poison, has fired their minds, vouchsafe to punish cruel tyrants in no other way than this, that they see virtue and pine away at having forsaken her. This passage is thus paraphrased by Wyatt (" Ep. to Poynes"): " None other payne pray I for them to be, But, when the rage doth lead them from the right, That, looking backward, Vertue they may see E'en as she is, so goodly faire and bright 1 And while they claspe their lustes in arms acrosse, Graunt them, good Lord, as thou maist of thy might, To fret inwarde for losing such a losse! " Milton (" Paradise Lost," iv. 84C) says: " Abashed the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her own shape how lovely ; saw And pined his loss." THE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE. Meet with preventive skill the disease coming to attack you. Of what use is it to offer mount- ains of gold to Craterus? Learn, hapless youths, and investigate the causes of things what we are and for what purpose born what station of life is assigned us how delicate the turning round the goal and whence the starting poiut what bounds 404 PJERSIUS. the love of property requires what it is lawful to wish how far the genuine use of wealth extends what are the just claims of country and dear re- lations what kind of being heaven would have us be, and where our stand iu the human common- wealth. THE MAN OF PLEASTJKE. Here some shag-haired captain may bellow forth, "I have enough of wisdom to satisfy me: I care not to be what Arcesilas was and dismal So- lons, with head awry and leaden eye that loves the ground, while they mutter within themselves or are moodily silent, poising every word on pro- truded lips, moping o'er sick men's dreams, ' that nothing can be generated from nothing; nothing can return to nothing.' Is it over such stuff as this that you grow pale? Is it for this that one should go without his dinner? " At this the peo- ple laugh, and with wrinkling nose the brawny youth convulsively re-echo loud peals of laughter. SELF-KNOWLEDGE. How is it that no one tries to descend into him- self? But our eyes are fixed on the loaded back that walks before us. < So Romans xi. 1 : " Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thoucou- demnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." SELF-KNOWLEDGE. Retire into thyself, and thou wilt blush to find how poor a stock is there. PJERS1US. 405 Air-blown trifles, fit only to give weight to smoke. DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. Countless are the various species of mankind, and the shades that separate mind from mind. Each has his will, and each pursues his own. TO-MORROW. In midnight study, seek, ye young and old, a specific object for your mind and supply for your miserable old age. " It shall be done to-morrow." " To-morrow, thou wilt make the same answer." "What, dost thou look upon one day as such a precious gift?" "But when that other day has dawned, we have already spent yesterday's to- morrow. For see, another to-morrow wears away our years, and will always be a little beyond thee. For though it is so near thee, and guided by the self-same pole, thou wilt in vain try to overtake the felloe that revolves before thee, since thou art the hinder wheel, and on the second axle." So Shakespeare (" Macbeth," act v. sc. 5) says: "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time ; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death." And Cowley: " Our yesterday's to-morrow now is gone, And still a new to-morrow does come on, We by to-morrows draw out all our store, Till the exhausted well can yield no more." FREEDOM. Is any one else, then, a freeman but he that may live as he pleases? 406 PERXIU8. HYPOCRISY. Though thy face is glossed with specious art, thou retainest the cunning fox beneath thy vapid breast. Milton (" Paradise Lost," bk. iii. 1. 633) thus describes hy- pocrisy: " For neither Man nor Angel can discern Hypocrisy, that only evil that walks Invisible, except to GfCd alone, By His permissive will, through Heaven and Earth." Shakespeare (" Measure for Measure," act iii. sc. 2): " O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! " EBAY A FOOL IN A MORTAR. But there is no incense offered to the gods by which thou canst gain, this boon, that one short half-ounce of Eight can be infixed in fools. To bray these things together is an impossibility. THE MIND. Within and in thy morbid breast there spring up masters. ENJOY THE PRESENT. Indulge thyself ! let us pluck the sweets of life ! that thou really livest is my boon : thou wilt soon become ashes, a ghost and a gossip's tale. Live mindful of death. Time presses: this very word I speak is subtracted from it. So Gifford thus paraphrases the lines; " Oh rather cultivate the joys of sense, And crop the sweets which youth and health dispense ; Give the light hours to banquets, love, and wine ; These are the zest of life, and these are mine ! PETEONIUS AEBITEE. 407 Dust and a shade are all you soon must be; Live, then, while yet you may. Time presses. See ! Even while I speak, the present is become The past, and lessens still life's lit.le sum." DIFFERENT DISPOSITIONS IN THE SAME FAMILY. The star that presides over the natal hour pro- duces twins with widely-differing' dispositions. GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER. Well, ask me who my great-great-grandfather was! I could tell you certainly, but not -very readily. Go yet a step farther back and one more: you will find he is a son of earth I PETEONIUS ARBITER. FLOURISHED A.D. 50. CAIUS PETRONIUS, a celebrated voluptuary at the court of Nero, is called by Tacitus (Ann. xvi. 18, 19) arbiter elegant-ice. He passed his days in slumbers and his nights in revelry. He was con- sul A.D. 01, when he is said to have discharged his official duties with energy. He then relapsed to his former habits, and was admitted among the few chosen companions of the prince. Being sus- pected, however, of being implicated in the con- spiracy of Scsevinus, he put himself to death by opening his veins in a warm bath A.D. 66. He is believed to be the author of what bears the title of Petronii Arbitri Satyr icon, a prose narrative in- terspersed with numerous pieces of poetry, a kind of comic romance, in which the adventurers of cer- 408 PETROXIU8 ARBITER. tain parties enable him to hold up to ridicule the folly and dishonesty of all classes of the commu- nity in the country in which the scene is laid. The coarseness and olscenity of the descriptions, are a proof of the pollution of the age in which it was written. SPAEE NOT THE ROD. Parents are worthy of reproof who are unwilling to do good to their children by severe discipline. So Proverbs xiii. 24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." LAUGHTER. He burst his sides with immoderate laughter. NOT A MAN, BUT A MEKE SHADOW. A mere phantom, not a man. This is like what Shakespeare ("Macbeth," act iii. sc. 1) says: Mur. We are men, my liege. Mac. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men." A PHYSICIAN. A physician is nothing else than a satisfaction to the mind. NOT A MAN, BUT PEPPER ITSELF. Pungent as pepper, and not a human being. ALL ARE SINNERS. Every one of us is a sinner. We are men, not gods. So Romans iii. 3: " For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." PETRONIUS ARBITER. 409 HYPOCRISY WILL BE DETECTED. Our natural countenance returns, the assumed one passes away. CHANGE OF FORTUNE. While Fortune is steady, you have a gay coun- tenance, my friends; when she vanishes, you dis- appear basely in flight. POVERTY. Poverty is closely allied to a sound mind. Euripides (Fr. Polyid. 10) says: "Poverty is wont to acquire wisdom through misfortune." BEAUTY AND WISDOM. Beauty and wisdom are rarely conjoined. Homer (Odyss. xvii. 454) expresses the same idea: " Thou hast not wisdom with thy fair form." ANGER. In rugged and uncultivated countries the snow lies longer on the ground, but when it has been subject to the plough, it speedily disappears; whilst thou art speaking, the light hoar-frost van- ishes; in the same way anger affects our breast; it fixes itself in the uneducated, but in the minds that have been under cultivation it quickly sub- sides. MIND IN SLEEP. When repose steals over the limbs, extended in sleep, and the mind disports without restraint. LOST OPPORTUNITIES. The mind longs for what it has lost, and is wholly intent upon the past. ' Can a mill go with the water that's pa: t -. " 410 PETRONIUS ARBITER. ENVY AND LUXURY. The vulture, which gnaws the liver and distracts the breast, is not that which the poets imagine, but the diseases of the heart, envy and luxurious habits. ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE. Almost the whole world practises the art of the player. So Shakespeare (" As You Like It," act ii. sc. 1) says: " All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." In the Greek Anthology we have " This life, a theatre we well may call, Where every actor must perform with art, Or laugh it through, and make a farce of all, Or learn to bear with grace his tragic part." BLAND. So Massinger (" The Roman Actor," act i. sc. 3): Aretinus. Are you on the stage, You talk so boldly ? Paris. The whole world being one, This place is not exempted. FEAR FIRST MADE GODS. It was fear that first introduced gods into the world. BLABBERS OF SECRETS. Men could more easily hold fire in their mouths than keep secrets. Whatever you utter at court gets abroad, and excites the world with sudden reports. PH^EDRUS. 411 PH^DRUS. FLOURISHED PROBABLY ABOUT A.D. 20. PH^EDRUS is the writer of ninety-seven fables in Latin iambic verse, divided into five books. Lit- tle of his personal history is known. He was originally a slave, being brought up from Thrace or Macedonia, and from the title of his work we may infer that he belonged to Augustus, who be- stowed on him his freedom. THE POWERFUL. A partnership with men in power is never safe. BRAINS. Oh, what a rare head-piece if only it had brains ! ADVICE. Not to attend to our own affairs, but to be em- ployed in giving advice to our neighbors, is the act of a fool. A CHEAT. Whoever has once become notorious for deceit, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief. So Jeremiah ix. 4, 5: ' ; Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. And they will de- ceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary them- selves to commit iniquity." A BRAGGART. A coward who brags of his courage, may de- 412 PH^EDBUS. ceive strangers, but is the laughing-stock of those who know him. REPENTANCE. He who takes pleasure in flattering words, gen- erally pays for his folly by repentance, though it be late. THE POOR. In a change of government, the poor seldom change anything except the name of their master. LIARS. Liars are wont to pay the penalty of their guilt. So Psalm v. 6: " Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful mau. SMOOTH SPEECHES. The fair speeches of the wicked are full of treachery. Milton says: " All was false and hollow, though his tongue Drops manna, and could make the worst appear The better reason." And Hood: " ' Rogue that I am,' he whispers to himself, ' I lie, I cheat do anything for help, But who on earth can say I am not friar ? ' " AN ILL- JUDGED PLAN. An ill-judged plan is not only profitless, but also leads men to destruction. LOST DIGNITY. Whoever has fallen from his former high estate is in his calamity the scorn even of the base. PH^DRUS. 413 SUDDEN LIBERALITY. A man that is generous all at once may dupe the fool, but it is in vain that he prepares snares for the wise. THE POOK IMITATING THE GREAT. The poor, when he tries to ape the powerful, comes to ruin. Cowper says: " Dress drains our cellar dry. And keeps our larder lean." TO GIVE BAD ADVICE TO THE WISE. Those who give bad advice to the prudent, both lose their pains and are laughed to scorn. PUNISHMENT. Every one ought to bear with patience the fruits of his own conduct. THE EXALTED. Men, however exalted may be their sphere, ought to be on their guard against the lowly, for skill and address may enable them to take revenge. FOOLS RAISING A LAUGH. Fools often, while they try to raise a silly laugh, provoke by their insulting language, and bring themselves into serious danger. SUBJECTS SUFFER. Men of low degree suffer when the powerful dis- agree. THE SUCCESS OF THE WICKED. The success of the wicked is a temptation to many. 414 PH^DRUS. BUST-BODIES. Idly bustling here and there, with much ado doing nothing. OUR OWN AFFAIRS. The master (as the tale declares) Looks sharpest to his own affairs. TRUTH. It is dangerous alike to give or withhold assent; therefore we ought to investigate strictly the truth rather than allow an erroneous impression to per- vert our judgment. WHAT IS TRULY DISGRACEFUL. That only is really disgraceful to a man which he has deserved to suffer. GLORY. Unless what we do be useful, vain is our glory. APPEARANCES. Things are not always what they seem to be; first appearances deceive many. So John vii. 34, says: " Judge not according to the appearance." THE MOTE IN OUR OWN EYE. Hence we are not able to see our own faults: when others transgress, we are lynx-eyed to see theirs. RICHES. Riches are deservedly despised by a man of honor, because a well-stored chest intercepts the truth. PLA UTUS. 415 GRIEVANCES. It is dangerous for a man of humble birth to grumble in public. THE LEARNED MAX. The learned man has always riches within him- self. EACH MAN HAS PECULIARITIES. Since each has a turn of thinking of his own and a tone peculiar to himself. ADDING INSULT TO INJURY. What wilt thou do to thyself, who hast added insult to injury. RASHNESS. Eashness brings luck to a few, misfortune to many. PLAUTUS. BORN PROBABLY ABOUT B.C. 254 DIED B.C. 184. T. MACCIUS PLAUTUS, the most celebrated comic poet of Rome, a native of Sarsina, was of humble origin, being employed at first as a workman in the service of the actors of the st^age. In this way he accumulated a small sum of money, but, having lost it in trade, he was obliged to gain a liveli- hood by working a hand-mill, grinding corn for a baker. He commenced to write plays a few years 416 PLAUTUS. before the breaking out of the Second Punic War, and continued his literary labors for about forty years. We possess only twenty comedies of Plautus, though in the time of Varro there were 130 plays which bore his name. THE SEASONABLE AND UNREASONABLE. From the reasonable to ask what is not reason- able is not right; from the unreasonable to ask what is reasonable is mere madness. MEEIT. We should try to succeed by merit, not by favor. He, who acquits himself well, will always have enough of patrons. TIME STANDS STILL. I believe this night the god of Night has gone to bed drunk, for neither do the Seven Stars move in any direction in the sky, nor does the moon change her position, but is where she rose; nor does Orion, or the Evening Star, or the Pleiades set. So entirely stock-still are the stars standing, and the night is yielding not a peg to the day. PLEASURES AND SORROW OF LIFE. Are not the pleasures of life and of our exist- ence scanty in comparison with our troubles? Such is the lot of man. Thus it has pleased heaven that Sorrow should tread on the heels of Pleasure and be her companion; for if aught of good befall us, more of trouble and ill forthwith attend us. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1089) says: " There is no life that does not meet with some evils, grief, sorrows, plundering, torture, diseases: death appe-ari.ijj li^e PL A UTUS. 417 a physician releases the afflicted from all these, causing them to cease by sleep." VALOB. Valor is the best reward ; it is valor assuredly that surpasses all things else; our liberty, safety, life, estate, parents, country, too, and children are by this preserved and defended: valor comprises everything in itself ; all blessings await the man who is possessed of valor. WOMAN'S DOWRY. I do not consider that to be my portion which is called so, but chastity and modesty, subdued de- sires, reverence of the gods, affection for my parents, and friendship with my kindred that I should be obedient to you, bounteous to the good, and ever ready to assist the virtuous. JEST. If anything is spoken in jest, it is not fair to turn it to earnest. LIFE OF MAN. For in the life of men many things fall out in this f wise men take their fill of pleasure, then again of misery. Quarrels spring up, and again they are reconciled; but when these kind of quar- rels arise between loving souls, if they are recon- ciled, they are doubly friends that they were before. TO FOLLOW ONE'S INCLINATION. He does right, inasmuch as ho follows his incli- nation, a thing that all men ought to do, so long as it is done in a proper manner. 27 418 PLAUTUS. TRUSTING IS GOOD FOK NAUGHT. I do not purchase with money day-light, water, sun, nor moon, nor night; what else we want we buy for ready money. If we want bread from the bakers, wine from the vaults, if money be sent, they give the goods. We act in the same way. Our hands are always full of eyes; they only credit what they see. It is an old saying, " Money down's the thing." Do you understand me ? I'll say no more. GAIN. He who would seek for gain, must be at some expense. This is our proverb: " Nothing venture, nothing win." This expression is said to have been often in the mouth of Louis XII. of France. FORTITUDE. He who endures misfortune with firmness, after- wards enjoys good fortune. Tennyson says: " He shall find the rugged thistle bursting Into glossy purples, that outredden All voluptuous garden roses." And Young: " Life's cares are comforts; such by heaven design'd; He that lias none, must make them or be wretched." MAN A WOLF TO MAN. Man is like a wolf to man. This is the German proverb: " One man is the devil of the other." It is intended to recommend caution. PLAUTUS. 419 THE PET LAMB. The shepherd, mother, who tends another's sheep, has some few for himself that are his pets. ALL, THINGS NOT EQUALLY SWEET TO ALL PER- SONS. Be assured that all things are not equally sweet to all persons. MODESTY. It well becomes a young man to be modest. La Bruyere says: " Modesty is to merit what shade is to the figures in a pict- ure: it gives it force and relief." WOMAN. I know that we women are all justly accounted praters; they say in the present day that there never was in any age such a wonder to be found as a dumb woman. * Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 568, M.) says: " What dost thou say? Seeking to conceal a matter, will you really tell it to a woman ? Where, pray, is the difference between this and proclaiming it by all the heralds in the market-place?" DAGGERS. You speak daggers. Shakespeare (" Hamlet," act iii. sc. 2) says: " I will speak daggers to her, but use none." CONTENT. If you are but content, you have enough to live upon with comfort. 420 PLAUTU3. BBEAD. And so he thinks to ' tice me like a dog, By holding bread in one hand, and a stone, Ready to knock my brains out, in the other. KINDNESS TO A POOE MAN. I trust no rich man who is officiously kind to a poor man. UNITE YOURSELF WITH THE VIBTUOUS. The more closely you can unite yourself with the virtuous, so much the better. A WOMAN WITH GOOD PRINCIPLES. Provided a woman be well principled, she has dowry enough. TO EQUIVOCATE. But I understand in what way you, rich people, equivocate; an agreement is no agreement, no agreement is an agreement, just as it suits you. FEAST TO-DAY. Feast to-day makes fast to-morrow. DRESS ACCORDING TO YOUR MEANS. Those who have display proportioned to their means and splendor according to their circum- stances, remember whence they are sprung. So Shakespeare (" Hamlet," act ii. sc. 3): " Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy." Montesquieu says: "In the matter of dress, one should always keep below one's ability." PLAUTUS. 421 BALLS. The gods hold us mortal creatures but as balls to band about in sport. UNINTENTIONAL GOOD. And so it happens oft In many instances; more good is done Without our knowledge than by us intended. INSIGNIFICANCY OF MAN. When I reflect upon it, what creatures are we men! how insignificant! FKEEMEN KATHER THAN SLAVES. Doubtless we all are freemen more willingly than we live the life of slaves. GOOD. Then at length we come to know our good, when we have lost it. GREAT GENIUSES. How greatest geniuses oft lie conceal'd! FORTITUDE. Our best support and succor in distress is forti- tude of mind. STRATAGEM. A stratagem is no stratagem if it be not artfully planned. DECEITFULNESS OF MEN. This is too oft the way with most men ; while they are suing for a favor, they are gracious; but 422 1'LAUTUS. when once they have got it, from gracious they become surly and ready to take every advantage over you. THE CAUTIOUS ABE OFTEN TEICKED. And the most cautious, even when he thinks He's most upon his guard, is often trick'd. FORTUNE. Fortune moulds and fashions human heings as she chooses. GOD. There is indeed a God, that hears and sees what- e'er we do. So Hebrews iv. 13: " All things are naked and open unto tlio eyes of Him with whom we have to do." LOSS AT TIMES TO BE PREFERRED TO GAIN. I do not regard every kind of gain as service- able to man. I know that gain has raised many to high eminence. There are times, however, when loss should be preferred to gain. KINDNESS TO THE GOOD. The kindnesses that are done to the good, thanks for the same, are pregnant with blessings. HIS OWN DEAR TO EVERY ONE. Mine to me is dear; Dear is his own to every one. THE WRETCHED. Wretched is the man who is in search of some- thing to eat and linds that with difficulty, but PLAUTU8. 423 more wretched is lie who both seeks with diffi- culty and finds nothing at all; most wretched is he who, when he desires to eat, has not that which he may eat. THE POOR. 'Tis the nature of the poor to hate and envy men of property. f Thomson says: " Base envy withers at another's joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach." THE PEASANT. For countrymen always harrow before they weed. DEATH. Death I esteem a trifle, wben not merited by evil actions. VIBTUE. He who dies for virtue's sake, does not perish. SUKE AS DEATH. To die is not more certain. DEATH. There is no evil I need dread in death when death is over. Though I were to survive to the utmost age of man, yet the space of time to bear the hardships, with which you threaten me, would be short. FATTED LAMB. And bid them bring forthwith a fatted lamb. 424 PLAUTU8. TOO LATE. Go, fool, you come too late. MAN REGARDLESS OF THOSE FROM WHOM NO FAVOK IS TO BE RECEIVED. It is the usual way with men not to remember v or know the man whose favor is worth nothing. NO RUMOR IS WITHOUT FOUNDATION. Flame follows very close on smoke. The Spaniards say: " Where fire is made, smoke arises." LABOR ATTENDS EVERY PURSUIT. He who would eat the kernel, must crack the ~ shell. LOVE. It is good to love in a moderate degree; to dis- traction, it is not good. BLESSINGS. No blessing lasts forever. A REASONABLE LOVER. Find me a reasonable lover against his weight ' in gold. THE PROVIDENT. i The man who has got rich speedily, must speed- ily be provident or speedily will starve. Queud^ille, in his translation, says that this was a favorite maxim of Louis XII. of France. ABUSE. If abuse be uttered against those who do not de- PLAUTUS. 425 serve it, that I consider to be abuse; but if it be uttered against those who are deserving, it is fair censure, in my way of thinking, at least. So Shakespeare ("Romeo and Juliet," a^t ii. sc. 3): " Nor auglit so good, but, strained from that fair use, Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse." AN UNLUCKY DAY. Upon my word, this day certainly has turned out both perverse and adverse for me. A MADMAN. The world calls me mad, when they are all mad together. DEATH. Food for death. A LOVER INSENSIBLE TO EVERYTHING BUT LOVE. He that is in love, faith, if he be hungry, is not hungry at all: LOVE. Love has both its gall and honey in abundance; it has sweetness to the taste, but it presents bit- terness also to satiety. NO BLISS PERPETUAL. Such is the state of all things human, that no ' bliss of man is perpetual. SAIL SHIFTED ACCORDING TO THE WIND. Whichever way the wind blows at sea, in that direction the sail is shifted. 426 PLAUTU8. WISDOM. "Pis better for one to know more than he utters. A FKIEND IN NEED. The man that comforts a desponding friend With words alone, does nothing. He's a friend Indeed, who proves himself a friend in need. USELESS TO BE BOUNTEOUS IN WORDS. What does it signify your being bounteous in words, if all real aid be dead and gone? I HAVE NO INTEREST IN THE MATTER. There is neither sowing nor reaping for me in this matter. A GOOD LAWYER. He will be able to take all due precautions, who understands the laws and ordinances. THE MIND. It were right that a man should hold up a mir- ror not only to his face, but to his mind; that he might see the very heart of his discretion, and judge its power and extent. OLD MEN. But truth it is, we old folks sometimes dote, A FRIEND IN NEED. There is nothing more desirable to a man than a friend in need. MENTAL AGONY. If there be any misery for which a man ought to be pitied, it is when the malady is in his mind. PL A UTUS. 427 This I experience when many shapes of ill assail me: many forms of sorrow, poverty, fear, alarm my innocent mind. SMELL. Puppies have one smell, pigs quite another. TO REAP EVIL FOB GOOD. How hard it is, when you reap a harvest of evil for good that you have done. COAXING IS MERE BIRD-LIME. Your coaxing is mere bird-lime. MAN PROPOSES. Man proposes, God disposes. A FRIEND. A man, your friend, who is a friend such as the name imports except the gods nothing does ex- cel him. THE UNGRATEFUL. For, by Pollux ! nothing is, in my opinion, more base than an ungrateful man. It is better that a thief should escape, than that a generous friend should be forsaken. It is better to be extravagant, than to be called ungrateful. Good men will praise that, even bad men will condemn the latter. MODESTY. For him I reckon lost, who's lost to shame. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1003, M.) says:- "There is no creature more bold than the shameless." FALSE FRIENDS. There are many of such life and manners, who, 428 PLAUTUS. when you think them friends, are found most false, profuse in promises, sparing in deeds, of in- firm faith. There are none of them who do not envy those whom fortune prospers: by their in- dolence they take good care to escape all envy. A WORTHLESS MAN. I set little value on the esteem of a worthless man. DEATH IN YOUTH. He whom the gods love dies young, while he is in health, has his senses and his judgment sound. Theognis (425) says: ' It is indeed the best thing of all for mortals not to be born nor to see the rays of the bright sun; but if born to enter as speadily as possible the gates of Pluto, and [to lie down with much earth heaped upon him." TKOUBLES. 1 Know this, that troubles come on us swifter much than things we wish. TBUTH. I love truth, and wish to have it always spoken to me : I hate a liar. THINGS UNHOPED FOR. ! Things we hope not for oftener come to pass , than things we wish for. " TO WHITEN A BLACKAMOOR." It is the same as if you were to try to whiten ivory with ink. This is applied to those whose design is good, but marred in the execution. PLAUTUS. 429 WOMAN'S BEST SMELL. A woman's Lest smell is to smell of nothing. For these your anointed hags, who still new vamp themselves, and hide their wrinkles with paint, / when once the sweat and perfume mix. will stink worse than the greasy compound, when a cook pours all his broths together. MISCONDUCT. Ill conduct soils the finest ornaments worse than dirt. PROCRASTINATION IS BAD. It is a miserable thing to be digging a well at the moment when thirst has seized your throat. STEADINESS. It does not matter a feather whether a man be supported by patron or client, if he himself wants steadiness and courage. GUILTY CONSCIENCE. Nothing so wretched as a guilty conscience. - A LIE. By Hercules ! I have often heard that your pip- ing-hot lie is the best of lies : what the gods dictate, that is right. MASTERS AND SERVANTS. As servants wish their masters to be, such is he wont to be. Masters are good to the good, severe to him who is~bad. 430 PLAUTUS. DANGEROUS TO GO TO LAW. You little know what a ticklish thing it is to go to law. ADVICE FROM SACRED TEMPLES. Counsels are of higher sanction when taken in sacred places. A HANDSOME MAN. 'Tis really a very great plague to be too hand- some a man. WOMAN FULL OF WILES. She has a lying tongue, a wit that is ripe for mischief, an undaunted assurance; she has at home within herself a mind fraught with false words, false actions, and false oaths. For a woman, if she is bent on ill, never goes begging to the gardener for material; she has a garden at home and a stock of her own for all mischievous con- trivances. IGNORANCE IS SOMETIMES BEST. Know not what you know, and see not what you , see. Kirke White says: " Oh Ignorance Thou art fallen man's best friend." GOOD COUNSEL. For a well-devised plan is very often filched away, if the place for speaking be not chosen with care and caution; for if the enemy learn your plans, they can tie your tongue and bind your hands with your own counsel, and do the same to you that you intended to do to them. PL A UTU8. 431 JUST AND GOOD. The sway is easy o'er the just and good. - GREEN OLD AGE. What though his hair be gray, he is not old in mind. HE WHO FINDS FAULT WITH THE GODS. He who would blame the designs of the gods, must be foolish and ignorant. A GUEST. No one can be such a welcome guest in the house of a friend, that he will not become a bore when he has stayed three continuous days. WISDOM. Every man, however wise, requires the advice of some sagacious friend in the affairs of life. WOMAN. If a woman lias any malicious mischief to do, in that case her memory is immortal in remembering it forever; if any good or honorable deed is to be done, it will fall out that those same women become oblivious that instant and cannot remem- ber. TO DROWN HIS VOICE BY TALKING. You drown his voice by your talking. WHAT WE ARE ASHAMED OF. We bear with more ease what we are ashamed of, than what we are vexed at. 432 PL A UTUS. CO5IPLAIN TO YOUR STEPMOTHER. Complain to your stepmother. This is a hard hit at stepmothers. LABOR LOST. All we say is just like pouring water into a sieve. Our labor is all in vain. TALE-BEAKEBS. Tour tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good will, should all be hanged the former by their tongues, the latter by the ears. COURAGE IN A DANGEROUS CRISIS. Courage in danger is half of the crisis got over. TO SEE THROUGH A CLOUD DARKLY. There are some things respecting which we wish to question you, which we ourselves know and have heard imperfectly as through a cloud. THE MOTE IN YOUR OWN EYE. Do you never look back at yourself, when you abuse another person ? FORTUNE. It is the goddess Fortune alone that gets the better of a hundred wise heads; and there is truth in this, that according as each takes advantage of her, he advances in life, and hence we all declare that such an one is a man of sense: when we hear of a man being successful, that, in our eyes, is a proof of wisdom; when he fails, he is a fool. Fools that we are, when we pray the gods to grant us PLA UTUS. 433 what we wish, we know not, or if we do, it is in vaiii, what will be to our advantage. We lose a certainty and grasp a shadow. What follows, but that in the midst of labors and sorrows, death creeps upon us in the interim. WINE TRIPS us UP. This is the great fault in wine: it first trips up the feet, it is a cunning wrestler. The man, who wants to be fully employed, should procure a woman and a ship ; for no two things produce more trouble if perchance you begin to rig them, these two things can never be rigged enough. GOLDEN MEAN. In everything the golden mean is best: all things in excess are a plague. EXCESSIVE OUTLAY. For no profits can arise, if the outlay exceeds them. A GOOD DISPOSITION. A good disposition I far prefer to gold; for gold is the gift of fortune ; goodness of disposition is the gift of nature. I prefer much rather to be called good than fortunate. EVIL, HABITS. Evil habits soil a fine dress more than mud; good manners^ by their deeds, easily set off a lowly garb. 28 434 PL A UTUS. GOOD WINE REQUIRES NO BUSH. To unsaleable wares we must try to entice the buyer; good wares easily find a purchaser, al- though they be hid in a corner. A TARDY FRIEND. Nothing is more annoying than a tardy friend. YOU ARE AS SLOW AS A SNAIL. You have surpassed a snail in slowness. A GUIDE. The man who does not know his way to the sea, should always take a river for his guide. TO DO GOOD TO THE BAD. To do good to the bad is a danger just as great as to do bad to the good. If thou doest good to ' the bad, the benefit is lost. RICH MEN. t But such is the disposition of all those rich peo- ple of ours: serve them, their thanks are lighter : than a feather; offend them, their vengeance falls like lead. ILL GOT, ILL SPENT. For what is ill got is ill spent. Great Jove! who dost preserve and guard man- kind, by whom we live and breathe this vital air, on whom depends the hope of human life, grant this day to be prosperous to my fortunes. PLAUTUS. 435 THE GREATEST FAULT OF WOMEN. Many are the faults of women ; but of the many, this one is the greatest, to please themselves too much and to give their attention too little to pleasing the men. THE UNGRATEFUL. Thou lovest nothing at all, when thou art in love with one, who does not return it. DISGEACE ADDED TO POVERTY. If 'disgrace be added to poverty, poverty must be more unendurable, our character more frail. SLANDER. For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took its rise. DISGRACE. Disgrace is immortal, and lives when one would think it dead. ATTENTION. If thou attendest to any matter with steadiness or with good management, it usually succeeds to thy satisfaction. THE GODS. The man to whom the gods are propitious, they throw some profit in his way. EXPERIENCE. It is sweeter to gain wisdom from other's woes, than others should learn from curs. 436 PLAUTUS. THE WORTHLESS. For worthless is the man, who knows how to receive a kindness, and knows not how to return it. REGISTER OF GOOD AND EVIL DEEDS. Jove, supreme sovereign of gods and men, scat- ters us among nations to mark the people's ac- tions, manners, piety, and faith, that each may find reward according to his virtues; those who suborn false witnesses to gain a villanous suit in law, who shuffle off due payments by false swear- ing, their names written down, we return to Jove: each day he is informed of those that call for vengeance. Euripides (Fr. Melan. 12) says: " A. Do you think that the wicked deeds ot men fly on wings up to the gods, there to be written down in the port- folio of Jove, and that Jove looks at them assigning punish- ment for each? Why, the whole of heaven would not be able to contain the sins of mankind, so numerous are they, nor would he be able to read and affix the penalty to each ; but 1 vengeance dwells very close to us,uf we will only look. B. O woman, the gods inflict punishment on those whom they hate, since wickedness is not agreeable to them." WICKED MEN. Wicked men fondly imagine that they can ap- pease Jove with gifts and sacrifice, losing both their labor and their money: this is so; because no petition of the perjured is acceptable to him. The good will sooner find pardon from above, in praying to the gods, than he that is wicked. OTHERS' MISFORTUNES. The storied miseries of men's mishaps (How sad soe'or relation sets them forth), PLA UTUS. 437 Are far less sharp than those we know and feel Ourselves from sore experience. UNEXPECTED GOOD. For I know good oft befalls us when we least expect it : and true it is, that when we trust in hope, we are often disappointed. EQUANIMITY. A well-balanced mind is the best remedy against affliction. THE GODS MAKE SPORT OF MEN. In wondrous ways the gods make sport of men, and in wondrous fashions they send dreams in sleep. UNEXPECTED GOOD. For I know that much good befalls many con- trary to expectation. THE SLOTHFUL. Most worthless is the man that is slothful, and most detestably do I hate that kind of man. It behoves him to be vigilant who wishes to do his duty in good time. THE SEA. The sea is assuredly common to all. WHEN A WOMAN'S GOOD DISPOSITIONS ABE DIS- COVERED. When is it best di seemed a woman has good dispositions ? When she, who has the power of doing ill, refrains from doing it. 438 PLAUTUS. THE BUSY-BODY. For the busy-body is ever ill-natured. PKIDE. High airs befit prosperous fortune. PKOSPEKITY. According as men thrive, their friends are true ; , if their affairs go to wreck, their friends sink with them. Fortune finds friends. \ EVIL MANNERS. Evil manners, like well-watered plants, have shot up in abundance. EVIL KNOWN IS BEST. Keep what you've got: the evil that we know is best. Euripides (Fr. Antiop. 7) says: " I feel what I suffer, and that is no small evil: for not to feel that you are ill has some pleasure: \ ignorance of misfort- unes has some advantage." THE GOOD OUGHT TO KEEP SUSPICION FKOM THEMSELVES. It becomes all good men and women to be on their guard, and keep even the suspicion of guilt away. FRIENDS. There are, I know are friends; there are, I think so; there are, whose dispositions and minds lean- not know, or whether to enrol them among my friends or foes. But you I hold of all my fast friends the most steadfast. PLAUTUfi. 439 BUSY-BODIES. In truth there is nothing more foolish or more stupid, nothing more lying, or indeed more tat- tling, more self-conceited, or more forsworn, than those men of the city everlastingly gossiping about, whom they call husy-bodies. And I too should rank with them, who have been the swal- lower of the false tales of those who pretend that they know everything, and yet know nothing. They know, forsooth, your thoughts present and future. They know what the king whispered in the ear of the queen: that which neither is, nor is likely to be, do these fellows know. Love gives bitters enough to create disgust: love shuns the bustle of the bar, drives off relations, and drives himself away from his own contempla- tion. There is no man who would woo him as his friend: in a thousand ways is love to be held a stranger, to be kept at a distance, and wholly ab- stained from. For he, who plunges into love per- ishes more dreadfully than if he leapt from a rock. Love, get thou gone, then: I divorce thee from me, and utterly repudiate thee. Love, never be thou friend of mine. Go, torture those that are bound to thee. I am determined hence- forth to apply my mind to my advancement in life, though in that the toil be great. Good men wish these things for themselves, gain, credit, honor, glory, and esteem : these are the reward of the upright. It is my choice, then, to herd with the upright rather than with the deceitful spreader of lies. Shakespeare has a somewhat similar passage in "Romeo and Juliet " (act i. sc. 1): 440 PLAUTUS. " But all so soon as the all-cheering sun Should in the further East begin to draw The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, Away from light steals home my heavy son, And private in his chamber pens himself; Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night. 11 BAD AND ENVIOUS MEN. I know what the manners of this age arc. The bad would fain corrupt the good and make them like themselves: our evil manners confound, dis- order everything. The greedy, the envious, turn what is sacred to profane, the public good to pri- vate interest. PASSIONS. If you have vanquished your inclination and not been vanquished by it, you have reason to rejoice. THE TJPKIGHT. He is upright who does not repent that he is upright; he who seeks only self-gratification is not the upriri.l; man, nor is he really honest: the man who thinks but meanly of himself, shows that there is a just and honest nature in him. WHAT IS YOTJKS IS MINE. For what is yours is mine, and mine is yours. BE NOT OVEK-GENEKOUS. I warn you before hand, that you have compas- sion on others in such a way that others may not have cause to "have compassion on you. PLAUTUS. 441 THE WISE MAN. A wise man, in truth, is the maker of his own fortune, and unless he be a bungling workman, little can befall him which he would wish to change. Euripides (Fr. Incert. 72) says: " I hate the wise man who is not wise for himself." ~ EAT ONE'S CAKE AND HAVE IT. You cannot eat your cake and have it too, unless you think your money is immortal. Too late and : unwisely a caution that should have been used before after he has eaten up his substance, he reckons the cost. BEST WISHES. Best wishes ! What avails that phrase, unless Best services attend them. NO ONE OUGHT TO BE BASHFUL AT TABLE. At table no one should be bashful. WILD OATS. Besides that, when elsewhere the harvest of wheat is most abundant, there it comes up less by one-fourth than what you have sowed. x There methinks it were a proper place for men to sow their wild oats where they would not spring up. \ LOVE. It is with love as with a stone whirled from a balista; nothing is so swift or that flies so di- rectly: it makes the manners of men both foolish and froward. What you would persuade him to, he likes not, and embraces that from which you 442 PLAUTU8. would dissuade him. Wliat there is lack of, that will he covet; when it is in his power, he will have none of it. Whoso bids him to avoid a thing, invites him to it; he interdicts, who recommends it.\ It is the height of madness ever to take up your abode with love. \ RELATIONS. Never will he be respected by others who makes , himself despised by his own relatives. THE POOR. 'Tis worthy of the gods to have respect Unto the poor. ABSEXT FRIEXD. You should not speak ill of an absent friend. THE BELL. The bell doth never clink of itself; unless it is handled and moved, it is dumb. LEXDERS. What you lend is lost; when you ask for it back, you may find a friend made an enemy by your kind- ! ness. If you begin to press him further, you have the choice of two things either to lose your loan or lose your friend. Axionicus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. TO, M.)says: " When a good man lends money to the wicked, he receives grief for interest." COAT NEARER THAN CLOAK. My coat, Dear sir, is nearer to me than my cloak. FLAUTUS. 443 This is the common proverb: " Charity begins at home." And in the Greek proverb (Athen. ix. 330): " The knee is nearer than the calf of the leg." Shakespeare (" Two Gentlemen of Verona," act ii. sc. 6) says: ' I to myself am dearer than a friend." MOTE IX OUR OWX EYE. Because those, who twit others with their faults, should look at home. THE HEART. Tour tongues and talk are steeped in honey and ' milk; your hearts are steeped in gall and sour vin- egar. You give us sugared words. THE VICISSITUDES OF LIFE. Man's fortune is usually changed at once; life is changeable. WOMAN. Whenever a woman once begins a fraud, unless see perfects it, she will find pain and grief and misery. If she begins to do what is right, how soon will she be weary. How .few are tired with acting wrong; how very few carry it out, if they have commenced to do anything aright. A wo- man finds it a much easier task to do an evil than a virtuous deed. SEEIXG IS BELIEVIXG. One eye-witness weighs more than ten hear-says. ' Those who hear, speak of what they have heard; those who see, know beyond mistake. 444 PL A UTUS. VALOR. The valiant profit more their country than the finest, cleverest speakers. Valor once known will soon find eloquence to trumpet forth her praise. ELOQUENCE WITHOUT VALOR. Without valor an eloquent citizen is like a hired mourner, who praises other people for that which she cannot do herself. ENVY. For to envy because it goes well with another and goes badly with yourself, is misery, v Those who envy, pine in poverty; they who are envied, abound in wealth, v TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS. If you thump a goad with your fist, your hands are hurt the most. To vent your rage against her who does not care a straw is folly. THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL. . Why, the weakest always goes to the wall. THE MOUSE. Consider the little mouse, how wise a creature it , is, which never entrusts its life to one hole only; for . when it finds one entrance blocked up, it has some other outlet. NO GOOD UNMIXED. Tell me, was ever good without some little ill? or where you must not endure labor when you wish to enjoy it ? PLA UTU3. 445 OLD AGE IS SECOND CHILDHOOD. When a man reaches the last stage of life, " Sans sense, sans taste, sans eyes, sans every- thing," they say that he has grown a child again. EVERYTHING AWRY. Never, I verily believe, was man so miserable as myself, nor one who had more everlasting crosses. Is it not the fact, that whatever thing I have com- menced falls not out as I desire ? <> Some evil _ fortune comes across me still, destroying my best laid plans. \ TO BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH. It is a tiresome way of speaking, when you should dispatch the business, to beat about the bush. A DEFORMED MAN. Just this: bald-pated, bandy-legged, pot-bellied, Wide-mouth' d, short, blear-eyed, lanthorn-jaw'd, splay-footed. BAD NEIGHBORS. A bad neighbor brings bad fortune with him. - LEARN EXPERIENCE FROM OTHERS. He gets wisdom in a fortunate way, who gets wisdom at another's expense. This is the Scotch proverb: " Better learn frae your neebor's scathe than frae your ain." This passage is from the interpolated scene in the " Merca- tor," supposed to have been written by Hermolaiis Barbaras. LABOR IN YOUTH FOR ENJOYMENT IN OLD AGE. When thou art young, then, when thy blood flows quickly, is the time to lay up wealth: at 446 PLINY THE ELDER. length -when thou art old, enjoy thyself whilst thou may; that thou livest is then sufficient gain. OPPOSITE PATHS. If you would hasten in this direction, as you are hastening in that, you would be wiser; this way the wind is prosperous, only tack about. Here is a fair western breeze, and there the south heavy with rain. This spreads a peaceful calm, the other stirs up all the waves. Make towards the land, Charinus! Don't you see right opposite? Black clouds and showers are coming on. Look now to the left, how full the heaven is of bright- ness. Don't you see right opposite? NO TRICKS OX TKAVELLEBS. No, no; no tricks on travellers. MEN OF KANK. Whene'er men of rank are ill-disposed, their evil disposition stains that rank. PLINY THE ELDER. BORN A.D. 23 DIED A.D. 79. CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS was born at Comum, or, as others think, at Verona, A.D. 23. After being educated at Rome, he went to Germany, A.D. 46, where he served under L. Pomponius Secun- dus, being appointed to the command of a troop of cavalry. Towards the end of the reign of Nero he was procurator in Spain, where he was A.D. PLINY THE ELDER. 447 71, when his brother-in-law died, leaving his son, the younger Pliny, to his guardianship. He re- turned to Rome in the reign of Vespasian, A.D. 72, when he adopted his nephew. He became the friend of the emperor, and was appointed admiral of the fleet The circumstances of his death are graphically described in a letter of the younger Pliny to Tacitus (Ep. vi. 16). He was overwhelmed and suffocated by the sulphureous exhalations from the eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, whither he had gone to examine the extraordinary phe- nomenon. TO ASSIST MAN IS TO BE A GOD. For man to assist man, is to be a god ; this is the path to eternal glory. WHAT GOD CANNOT DO ACCORDING TO THE IDEA OF THE ANCIKNTS. One of the chief comforts to man for the imper- fection of his nature is, that God cannot do all things. For He cannot give death to Himself, even if He wished, the best thing He has bestowed upon man amidst the many calamities of life; nor yet can He give immortality to man, or recall them to life ; nor bring it about that he who has lived, should not have lived, or he who has borne honors, should not have borne them; nor has He any power over the past except that of oblivion. GOOD FOB MAN THAT THERE IS A BELIEF IN GOD. It is advantageous that the gods should be be- lieved to attend to the affairs of man, and the pun- ishment for evil deeds, though sometimes late, is never fruitless. 448 PLINY THE ELDER. MAN RETURNS TO THE EARTH. The earth receives us a^ our birth, nourishes and always continues to support us during our life, embracing us at last in her bosom. So Genesis (iii. 19): " In the sweat of thy faee shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground." NATURE A PARENT OR STEPMOTHER TO MAN. So that it is not possible to determine whether (Nature) is a kind parent or harsh stepmother to man. MAN PRONE TO TEARS. No other of so many animals is more prone to tears. A Greek proverb quoted by Eustathius (II. i. 319) says: " The good are prone to tears." Shakespeare (" Much Ado about Nothing," act i. sc. 1) says: " Leonato. Did he break out into tears? Messenger. In great measure. Leonato. A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces truer than those that are so washed." MAN IS THE ONLY ANIMAL THAT FIGHTS WITH HIS LIKE. Other animals live affectionately with their like ; we see them crowd together and stand against those that are dissimilar; fierce lions do not fight with each other; serpents do not attack serpents, nor do the wild monsters of the deep rage against their like. But, by Hercules, very many calami- ties arise to man from his fellow-man. THE MIGHTY POWER OF NATURE. The power and majesty of the nature of things PLINY THE ELDER. 449 fail to receive credit at all times, if one merely Jooks at its parts and do not embrace the vast whole in our conceptions. NO ONE IS WISE AT ALL TIMES. No one is wise at all times. BLESSINGS OF LIFE NOT EQUAL TO ITS ILLS. The blessings of life are not equal to its ills, though the number of the two may be equal; nor can any pleasure compensate for the least pain. But Menander (884) says: " In everything you will find annoyances, but you ought to consider whether the advantages do not predominate." NOTHING BETTER THAN A SHORT LIFE. Nature has given to man nothing of more value than shortness of life. AN OLD HEAD ON YOUNG SHOULDERS. That an old head on young shoulders was the sign of premature death. MAN IS NOT IMMORTAL. His last day places man in the same state as he was before he was born: nor after death has the body or soul any more feeling than they had be- fore birth. THE BRAIN. Men have the brains as a kind of citadel of the senses : here is what guides the thinking principle. MAN DESIROUS OF NOVELTY. Man is by nature fond of novelty. 29 450 FLINT THE YOUNGER. A MAN'S OWN. His own pleases each, and wherever we go the same story is told. CHANCE IS A SECOND MASTEB. Chance is a second master. A MASTEB' s EYE. Our ancestors used to say that the eye of the master was the best manure for the field. WISDOM OVERSHADOWED BY WINE. It has passed into a proverb, that wisdom is overshadowed by wine. PLINY THE YOUNGER. BOBN A.D. 61. C. PLINIUS C^ECILIUS SECUNDTJS was the son of C. Csecilius and Plinia, the sister of C. Plinius, the author of the " Natural History." He wr s born at Comum on Lake Larius, and was educated at Rome under the care of his uncle, who adopted him after the death of his father. He filled many offices in succession, was praetor A.D. 93, and consul A.D. 100. During the reign of Trajan he was proconsul of Asia, and it was then that he consulted the emperor respecting the punishment of the Christians. It is found in the tenth book (Ep. 97), with the emperor's answer (Ep. 98). Nothing is known as to the time of his death. PLINY THE YOUNGER. 451 LITERARY STUDIES. Are you enjoying the pleasures of literary study in that calm and rich retreat of yours? That should be the employment of your idle as well as serious moments; that should be at once your business and amusement; on that should be be- stowed your waking as well as sleeping thoughts. Create and bring forth something which shall be really and forever your own; all your other posses- sions will pass from you to some other heir; this alone, if once yours, will remain yours forever. Thomas Hood says: "Experience enables me to depone to the comfort and blessing that literature can prove in seasons of sickness and sorrow; how powerfully intellectual pursuits can help in keeping the head from crazing and the heart from breaking." FEAR OF STRONGER EFFECT THAN LOVE. He is feared by many, a feeling which is gen- erally stronger than love. POPULARITY OF THE BAD. The popularity of the bad is as little to be de- pended on as he is himself. REWARD OF VIRTUE. Besides, I am convinced how much more noble it is to place the reward of good conduct in the silent approbation of one's own breast, than in the applause of the world. \Fame ought to be the consequence, not the motive of our actions; and though it should not attend the worthy deed, yet it is by no means the less meritorious for not having received the applause it deserves. Gay (Epist. iv.) says: " Why to true merit should they have regard? ! They know that virtue is its own reward." 452 PLINY THE YOUNGER. CEXSOBIOUSNESS. For the disposition of men is that, if they are not able to obliterate an action, they find fault with its vanity. Thus, whether you perform what might be passed over without notice, or draw attention to your own praiseworthy deeds, in either way you incur blame. Addisonsays: " Censure, says an ingenious author, is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent. It is a folly for an eminent man to think of escaping it and a weakness to be affected by it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and, indeed, of every age of the world, have passe 1 through this fiery perse- cution. There is no defence against reproach but obscurity; it is a kind of concomitant to greatness, as satires and invec- tives were an essential part of a Roman triumph." SOLITUDE. I converse only witli myself and books. Honest and guileless life! sweet and honorable repose, more perhaps to be desired than any kind of em- ployment.'. Thou sea and shore, solemn and soli- tary scene for contemplation, with how many noble thoughts hast thou inspired me 1 \ Milton ("Paradise Lost," ix. 1. 230) says: " Solitude sometimes is best society, And short retirement urges sweet return." Byron (" Childe Harold," cant. iv. st. 178) says: " There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea. and music in its roar." Sir P. Sidney ("Arcadia," b. l)says: " They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts." DOUBT. Though you may think it more safe to pursue this maxim, to which every prudent man attends, PLINY THE YOUNGER. 453 never do anything concerning the wisdom of which you are in doubt. CONSCIENCE. Such is his greatness of mind that he placed no part of his happiness in vain-glory, but referred everything to the secret approbation of his con- science, seeking the reward of his good conduct not from popular applause, but from the simple feeling of having acted virtuously. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 566, M.) says: " For to be conscious of no crime during one's life is a great pleasure." Shakespeare (" Henry VIII.," act iii. sc. 2) says: " I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience." A DEAR BARGAIN. For a dear bargain is always annoying, particu- larly on this account, that it is a reflection on the judgment of the buyer. DEATH. He died full of years and of honors, equally il- lustrious by those he refused as by those he ac- cepted. THE LIVING VOICE. Besides, as is usually the case, we are much more affected by the words which we hear, for though what you read in books may be more pointed, yet there is something in the voice, the look, the carriage, and even the gesture of the speaker, that makes a deeper impression upon the mind. 454 PLINY THE YOUNGER. INVITATIONS TO DINNER. I receive all my guests with equal honor. For they are invited to supper, and not to be labelled according to rank. I make every man on a level ' with myself whom I admit to my table. PUBLIC STATUES MEMOBIALS OF GLORY. For if our grief is alleviated by gazing on the pictures of departed friends in 6ur houses, how much more pleasure is there in looking on those public representations of them, which are memo- rials not only of their air and countenance, but of the honor and esteem with which they were re- garded by their fellow-citizens. FRAILTY OF HUMAN MONUMENTS. Recollect how fleeting are all human things, and that there is nothing so likely to hand down your name as a poem : all other monuments are frail and fading, passing away as quickly as the men whose memory they pretend to perpetuate. THE RIGHT OF A QUESTION CANNOT BE DISCERNED IN A CROWDED MEETING. The real gist of the question can only be clearly seen when you are separated from the clamors of a confused meeting. VOTES. The majority were swayed the other way; for votes go by numbers and not weight, nor can it be otherwise in such public assemblies where noth- ing is more unequal than that equality which pre- vails in them; for, though every individual has the same right of suffrage, every individual has not the same strength of judgment to direct it. PLINY THE YOUNGER. 455 AN OBJECT IN POSSESSION. An object in possession seldom retains the same charms which it had when it was longed for. A STORY. Give me a penny, and I will tell you a story worth gold. LIFE OF MAN. The life of man contains mysterious depths and skeleton closets. Dickens says: " There are chords in the human heart strange varying strings which are only struck by accident; which will re- main mute and senseless to appeals the most passionate and earnest, and respond at last to the slightest casual touch. In the most insensible or childish minds, there is some train of reflection, which art can seldom lead, or skill assist, but which will reveal itself, as great truths have done, by chance, and when the discoverer has the plainest and simplest end in vie w. " FAVOR REFUSED CANCELS ALL YOU HAVE CON- FERRED. For however often a man may receive an obli- gation from you, if you refuse a request, all former favors are effaced by this one denial. SE.NSE OF INJURY. A strong sense of injury often gives point to the expression of our feelings. THE BALLOT. The elections have been lately carried on with excessive corruption, they have had recourse to the ballot, no doubt in the meanwhile a remedy, for it was new and suddenly adopted. Still I am afraid lest in process of time it should introduce 456 PLINY THE YOUNGER. new inconveniences; for there is danger lest shameless conduct should creep in under the cover of secret voting. For how few are there who pre- serve the same delicacy of conduct in secret as when exposed to the view of the world? The truth is, that many more men pay regard to the opinion of the world than to conscience. MODESTY. Modesty weakens the exertions of genius, while effrontery gives strength to the wrong-headed. Johnson says: " Modesty id a man is never to be allowed as a good quality, but a weakness, if it suppresses his virtue, and hides it from the world when he has at the same time a mind to exert him- self." GENIUS THE GIFT OF HEAVEN. But it is no doubt true that honors bestowed by man may be conferred on me and many others, whereas genius, which is the gift alone of heaven, is both difficult to attain and even too much to hope for. Dryden (" To Congreve on the Double Dealer ") says: " Time, Place, and Action may with pains be wrought, But genius must be born; and never can be taught." MEN FOND OF PRAISE EVEN FBOM INFERIORS. Those who are excited by a desire of fame, are fond of praise and flattery, though it comes from their inferiors. A WIDESPREAD REPUTATION. For I know not how it is but men are generally more pleased with a widespread than a great rep- utation. PLINY THE YOUNGER. 457 DISEASES IN THE STATE. It is in the body politic, as in the natural, those disorders are most dangerous that flow from the head. TO NAME THE MAN. After I have named the man, I need say no TIME. If you compute the time in which those revolu- tions have happened, it is but a few years; if you number the incidents, it seems an age; and it is a lesson that will teach us to check both our despair and our presumption, when we observe such a variety of events rapidly revolving in so narrow a circle. Shakespeare ("As You Like It," act iii. sc. 2) says: "Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. He ambles with a priest that lacks Latin, and a rich man that hath not the gout: for the one sleeps easily because he can- not study; and the other lives rnez'rily, because he feels no pain : the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learn- ing; the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury. These Time ambles withal. He trots hard with a young maid, between the contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnized; if the interim be but a se'nnight. Time's pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven years. He gallops with a thief to the gallows: for though he goes as softly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon there He stays still with lawyers in the vacation: for they sleep between term and term, and th^n they perceive not how Time moves." Euripides (Fr. Autiop. 41) says: " Alas, alas, how many are the varieties and forms of the miseries of mankind; one could not reach the end of them/' DEATH. Death is ever, in my opinion, bitter and prema- ture to those who are engaged on some immortal 458 PLINY THE YOUNGER. work. For those who live from clay to day im- mersed in pleasure, finish with each day the whole purpose of their existence ; while those *who look forward to posterity, and endeavor by their exer- tions to hand down their name to future gener- ations, to such death is always premature, as it ever carries them off from the midst of some un- finished design. Epictetus (iii. 10) speaks in a different strain: " At what employment would you have death find you? For my part, I would have it in some humane, beneficent, public-spirited, noble action. But if I cannot be found doing any such great things, yet at least I would be doing what I cannot 'be restrained from, what is given me to do cor- recting myself, improving that faculty which makes use of the phenomena of existence to produce tranquillity, and render to the several relations of hfe then- due; and if I am so fortunate, advancing still further in the security of judging right. If death overtakes me in such a situation, it is enough for me if I can stretch out niy hands to God and say, ' The opportunities I have received from Thee of comprehending and obeying Thy administration I have not neglected. As far as in me lay, I have not dishonored Thee. See how I have used my perceptions ; how my convictions. Have I at any time found fault with thee? Have I been discontented with Thy dispensations, or wished them otherwise? Have I transgressed the relations of life? I thank Thee that thou hast brought me into being. I am satisfied with the time I have enjoyed the things thou hast given me. Receive them back again, and distribute them as thou wilt. For they were all Thine and thou gavest them me.' " THE LIVING VOICE. For the sense of the speaker is determined by the countenance, the gesture, and even the tone of the voice; whereas a letter, being destitute of these advantages, is more liable to the malignant construction of those who are inclined to misinter- pret its meaning. PLINY THE YOUNGER. 459 Shakespeare (" Coriolanus," act iii. sc. 2) says: " For in such business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant More learned than their ears." HISTORY. It appears to me a noble employment to rescue from oblivion those who deserve to be eternally remembered, and by extending the reputation of others, to advance at the same time our own. LOVE OF FAME. Nothing, I allow, excites me so much as the de- sire of having my name handed down to posterity; a passion highly worthy of the human breast, especially of his who, not being conscious of any crime, fears not to be known to future generations. So Milton (" Lycidas," 1. 70): " Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise." OKATOKY AND POETRY. Oratory and poetry are of little value, unless they reach the highest perfection ; but history, in whatever way it may be executed, is a source of pleasure. t LIBERALITY. Generosity, when once she is set forward, knows not how to stop, and the more familiar we are with the lovely form, the more enamored we become of her charms. Shakespeare ("Antony and Cleopatra," act v. sc. 2) says: " For his bounty. There is no winter in't; an autumn 'twas, That grew the more by reaping." 460 PLINY THE YOUNGER. GRIEF. For a fresh wound shrinks from the hand of the surgeon, then gradually submits to and even calls for it; so a mind under the first impression of a misfortune shuns and rejects all comfort, but at length, if touched with tenderness, calmly and willingly resigns itself. ELOQUENCE AND LOQUACITY. Eloquence is indeed the talent of very few, but that faculty which Candidus calls loquacity is common to numbers, and generally attends im- pudence. Samuel Bishop says: " On Folly's lips eternal tattlings dwell: Wisdom speaks little, but that little well." ACTION RIGHT OB WRONG ACCORDING TO SUCCESS. It is the usual custom of the world (though a very unequitable rule of estimation) to pronounce an action to be either right or wrong, as it is at- tended with good or ill success; and accordingly you shall hear the very same conduct attributed to zeal or folly, to liberty or licentiousness, as the event happens to prove. OPPORTUNITY AND FRIENDS REQUIRED FOR RISING IN THE WORLD. For no man possesses so commanding a genius as to be able at once to merge from obscurity un- less some subject present itself and an oppor- tunity when he can display his talents, with a friend to promote his advancement. HUMAN ACTIONS. How much does the reputation of human actions depend upon the position of those who perform PLINY THE YOUNGER. 461 them ! For the very same acts, according as they proceed from a person of high or low rank, are either much extolled or left unnoticed. PROSPERITY. Time passes more speedily in proportion as it is happy. THE OPINION OF THE MULTITUDE. The reason, I believe, is that there is a large ; collective wisdom in a multitude; though individ- ually their judgment may he of little weight, united it becomes of great importance. PUBLIC INTEREST. But the interest of the public ought always to supersede every private consideration, as what is eternal is to be preferred to what is mortal; and a man of true generosity will study in what man- ner to render his benefaction most advantageous, rather than how he may bestow it with least ex- pense. MODESTY. How many of the learned are concealed from view by modesty, or an unwillingness to have their name brought before the public. Yet, when we are going to speak or recite our works in crowded assemblies, it is the judgment only of those who possess ostentatious talents of whom we stand in awe : whereas we ought rather to re- vere the decisions of those who form their opin- ions of works of genius in their closets, undis- turbed by the noise of public assemblies. COUNTKY GENTLEMEN. In short, his conversation has increased rny 462 PLINY THE YOUNGER. solicitude concerning my works, and taught me to revere the judgment of these studious country gentlemen, as much as that of more known and distinguished literati. Let me persuade you to consider them in the same light; for,\helieve me, upon a careful observation you will often find in the literary as well as military world, most power- ful abilities concealed under a rustic garb. \ SICKNESS. When a man is laboring under the pain of any distemper, it is then that he recollects there are gods, and that he himself is but a man: no mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or his contempt, and having no malice to gratify, the tales of slander excite not his attention. History ought to be guided by truth; and worthy actions require nothing more. EQUITY. I hold it particularly worthy of a man of honor to be governed by the principles of strict equity in his domestic as well as public conduct; in small, as in great affairs; in his own concerns, as well as in those of others: and if every devia- tion from rectitude is equally criminal, every approach to it must be equally laudable. FOREBODING OP EVIL. For there is very little difference between the enduring and fearing a danger, except this much, indeed, that there are some bounds to the feeling but none to the apprehending of it. For you can suffer only as much as you have actually suffered, PLINY THE YOUNGER. 463 but you may apprehend all that may possibly happen. A WILL. It is a mistaken maxim too generally advanced, that a man's will is a kind of mirror wherein one may clearly discern his genuine character. THINGS NEAR AT HAND OVEBLOOKEt). Those works of art or nature which are usually the motives of our travels, are often overlooked and neglected if they happen to lie within our reach; whether it be that we are naturally less in- quisitive concerning those things which are near us, while our curiosity is excited by remote ob- jects; or because the easiness of gratifying a desire is always sure to damp it; or, perhaps, that we defer from time to time viewing, whilst we have an opportunity of seeing whatever we please. FORGIVENESS. The highest of characters, in my estimation, is his, who is as ready to pardon the moral errors of mankind, as if he were every day guilty of some himself; and at the same time as cautious of com- mitting a fault as if he never f orgave one. So Ephesians iv. 82: " And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. " AFFECTION. Ill, believe me, is power proved by -insult; ill can terror command veneration, and far more efficacious is affection in obtaining one's purpose than fear. For terror operates no longer than its object is present, but love produces its effects 4&4 PLINY THE YOUNG Ell. when the object is at a distance, and as absence changes the former into hatred, it raises the latter into respect. Milton (" Paradise Lost,'' 1. 533) says to the same effect: ' Who overcomes By force, hath overcome but half his foes." LIBERTY AND GOVERNMENT. For, what is more becoming our social nature than well regulated government, or more valuable than liberty? How ignominious, then, must his conduct be, who turns the first into anarchy and the last into slavery? HAPPINESS. Mankind differ in their notions of supreme hap- piness; but in my opinion he truly possesses it who lives in the conscious anticipation of honest fame, and the glorious figure he shall make in the eyes of posterity. EQUALITY. However, I cannot forbear adding a caution to my praise and recommending it to you, to conduct yourself in such a manner as to preserve the / proper distinction of rank and dignity. V For to level and confound the different orders of society is far from producing an equality among mankind ; it is, in fact, the most unequal thing imaginable. * SUMMER FRIENDS. Far different from those who love, or rather, I should more properly say, who counterfeit love to none but the living. Nor indeed even that any longer than they are the favorites of fortune: for the unhappy are no more the object of their re- membrance than the dead. PLINY THE YOUNGEE. 465 G. Herbert (" The Answer "): "Like summer friends, Flies of estates and summorehinc.' 1 ' DELIB EE AT1OIT. Experience having taught me never to advise with a person concerning that which we have already determined, where he has a right to ex- pect that one shall be decided by his judgment. A MEMORIAL STONE. The erection of a monument is useless : the re- membrance of us will last, if we have deserved it by our lives. INQTIISITIVENESS. Nothing raises the inquisitive disposition of mankind so much as to defer its gratification. MEDIOCRITY. As it is better to excel in any single art than to arrive only at mediocrity in several, so a moderate skill in several is to be preferred where one cannot attain to perfection in any. TRUE BENEFICENCE. The first and fundamental principle of genuine beneficence is to be contented with one's own; .and after that to cherish and embrace all the most indigent of every kind in one comprehensive circle of general benevolence. AVARICE. The lust of avarice has so totally seized upon mankind, that their wealth seems rather to pos- sess them, than they to possess their wealth. 30 466 PLINY THE YOUNGER. THE LONGEST DAY COMES TO AN END. The longest day soon comes to an end. THE LIFE OF A PRINCE. The life of a prince is a calling of other men's lives to an account. INNOCENCE. I observe that the gods themselves are propiti- ated not so much by prayers as by innocence and sanctity of life; and that those are regarded with more favor who bring into their temples a pure and chaste mind, than the man who repeats a pre- pared prayer. So Matthew xv. 8: " This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." VICISSITUDES. Such is the changeful condition of mankind, that adversity arises from prosperity, and pros- perity from adversity. God hides in obscurity the causes of both, and frequently the reasons of the good and evil that bef als man lies concealed under ' both. Simonides of Ceos (Fr. 29, S.) thus speaks of life: " There is no evil that may not be expected by men: in a short time God turns all things upside down." So 1 Corinthians ii. 7: " We speak the hidden wisdom of God." PBOSPERITY AND ADVERSITY. Prosperity tries the fortunate, adversity the great. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 560, M.) says: " Riches are what test a man's character." PBOPEBTIUS. 467 POWER OF DECEIVING. No one has been able to deceive the whole world, nor has the whole world ever deceived any one. PKOPERTIUS. BORN PROBABLY ABOUT B.C. 51 DIED ABOUT B.C. 15. SEXTUS AURELIUS PROPERTIUS was born, it is supposed, at Hispellum or Assisium, but there are no satisfactory materials for his personal history. He is believed to have been deprived of his pater- nal property during the civil wars, and then was thrown upon his wits for a livelihood, becoming " the man of wit and pleasure about town." He was patronized by Maecenas, and this is probably all that can be said with certainty respecting him. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE IN LOVE. So much do prayers and generous deeds avail in love. TRUE LOVE. True love yields not to high rank. - GRIEF IS THE CAUSE OF LOVE ELEGIES. I do not write so much from the impulse of gen- ius as to soothe the cares of love, and to bewail life's unabating woe. Petrarch seems to have had this passage in view (Sonn. 252): " Assuredly all iny desire at that time was to relieve my 468 PROPERTIUS. heart in some way, not to acquire fame. I sought to weep, not honor from my grief." THOU SEEKEST WATER AMIDST WATER. Thou madly seekest water in the midst of the river. This is the Greek proverb: " In the sea thou seekest water." LOVE ENJOYS THE TEAB. Love enjoys the falling tear. Thus Tasso, in his " Amyntas " (i. 2) says beautifully: " The lamb feeds on the herbage, the wolf on the lamb; but . sad love feeds on tears, nor is ever satisfied." CYNTHIA, MY FIRST AND LAST LOVE. I can neither love another nor depart from her: Cynthia first charmed, and last shall claim my heart. IMPASSIONED LOVE NEVER ENDS. Impassioned love passes over the shores even of death. TIME SPENT WITH OUR LOVE NEVER APPEARS LONG. Then let us enjoy short-lived pleasures while we may: an age of passion seems but as a day. EVERY ONE TALKS OF HIS OWN TRADE. The sailor talks of the winds; the ploughman of his bulls ; the soldier counts his wounds ; the shep- v herd his sheep. BUSINESS. Let every man employ himself in the business with which he is best acquainted. PUOPERTIU8. 469 THE AVEAKEST ANIMAL TURNS ON ITS ASSAILANT. Not only does the bull attack its enemy with its crooked horns, but even the sheep if injured butts its assailant. WOMAN EASILY COUNTERFEITS WORDS AND AC- TIONS. It is easy for you to counterfeit words and ac- tions; every woman is adapted for such work. The quicksands are not more easily changed by the wind, nor are the leaves more readily whirled by the winter's blast, than woman veers in her wrath, whether the cause of her excitement be se- rious or trivial. BOLDNESS. But if strength fail, boldness at least will be de- serving of praise; in great enterprizes to have even attempted is enough. LOVE. Love blinds mankind. COQUETBY. Coquetry has always been of advantage to the beautiful. A QUERULOUS DISPOSITION. Never-ceasing complaining has caused hatred to many. THE NATURAL IS LIKED. Every form is approved, as nature has given it. THE ABSENT. Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent. 470 PEOPEETIUS. CONSTANCY. My last feeling will be like my first. A BESETTING SIN IN EVERYTHING CREATED. Nature has given a besetting sin to everything 1 created. CONSTANCY IN LOVE. Love is benefited much by a feeling of confi- dence and constancy ; he who is able to give much, is able also to love many things. FUTURITY. But you, O men, are anxious to know the hidden hour of death, and in what way you shall die, what star is propitious, and what fatal to man. Beauty is fading, nor is fortune stable ; sooner or later death comes to all. Euripides (Fr. Hypsip. 6) says: " There is no one of mortals not subject to grief; he buries his children and begets others; he himself dies and men grieve over him. bearing dust to dust: the life of all must be reaped like the ears of corn: this man lives and this man dies. Why grieve about things which take place according to the laws of nature? For there is nothing to which men must submit by necessity that ought to be regarded as grievous." Aristophanes (Fr. Com. Gr. I. p. 309, M.) says: "For to fear death is great folly: since it is fated to all of us to die." So Job xv. 5: " Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee; Thou hast appointed his bounds that he can- not pass." EVERYTHING MAGNIFIED BY DEATH. Time magnifies everything after death; a man's PEOPEETIUS. 471 fame is increased as it passes from mouth to mouth after his burial. THE POET IMMORTAL. Fame obtained from the endowments of the mind will never perish ; eternal honor awaits the noble. Shakespeare (" Taming of the Shrew," act iv. sc. 3) says: "For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich; And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, So honor peereth in the meanest habit." KICHES. O fool, thou shalt carry no riches beyond the grave ; Thou shalt be ferried over naked in Charon's boat. J DEATH AT A SUITABLE MOMENT. The day of death is best which comes seasonable at a mature day. POETRY IN YOUTH. I am delighted that I cultivated poetry in my early youth, and joined hands with the hands of the Muses. MONEY. O money, thou art the fruitful source of cares; thou leadest us to a premature grave; thou afford- est support to the vices of men; the seeds of evil spring up from thee. ALL THINGS. All things are not equally suited to all. 472 PROPERTIUS. A MAX'S OWN NATUKE. Every one follows the principles of his own na- ture. LET THIS DAY BE UNCLOUDED. Let this day be without a cloud; the winds be hushed, and the waves lay aside their threatening appearance. THE SAILOK. The sailor can predict the weather of the ap- proaching night: the soldier has learned to dread the pain of wounds. All now worship gold to the neglect of the gods ; by gold good faith is banished; justice is sold for I gold, the law follows gold, and soon the modest woman will be without the protection of the laws. ENJOY YOUB YOUTH. While thy blood is warm, and thou art without wrinkles, enjoy thyself. A GOOD CAUSE IN WAR. It is the cause that casts down or encourages the soldier; unless it be just, shame unnerves his hands. SOMETHING BEYOND THE GBAVE. \ There is something beyond the grave; death does not put an end to everything, the dark shade ' escapes from the consumed pile. A KOAD DIFFICULT BUT GLOBIOUS. I am climbing a difficult road, but the glory that attends success gives me strength for the labor. PUB LIU 'S SYRUS. 473 THE GATE OF DEATH. The gloomy door of death is unlocked to the prayers of no one. PUBLIUS SYEUS. FLOURISHED B.C. 45. PUBLIUS SYRUS, a slave brought to Rome some years before the downfall of the Republic; was designated Syrus from the country of his birth. Of his personal history nothing is known, except that at the games exhibited by Caesar, B.C. 45, he challenged all the dramatists of the day to contend with him in improvising upon any given theme, and carried off the palm from every competitor. A compilation of pithy sayings under the title of Publii Syri Sententiae, extending to upwards of a thousand lines in Iambic and Trochaic measures, is now extant. The following are a selection from these sayings. A DRUNK MAN. He who contends with the drunken, injures the absent. This is the common proverb: " He that is drunk is gone from home." A HASTY DECISION. He who decides hastily, will soon repent of his decision. " Marry in haste, repent at leisure." 474 PUSLIUS SYRUS. SUSPICION. The losing side is full of suspicion. Shakespeare (" Henry VI." Part III. act v. sc. 6) says: " Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bush an officer." And ("Othello," act iii. sc. 3): " Trifles, light as ah-, Are, to the jealous, confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ." DEBTS. A slight debt produces a debtor; a heavy one an enemy. PROPERTY. That which belongs to another pleases us most; while that which is ours, is more pleasing to ' others. DEBT. Debt is grievous slavery to the free born. LOVE. To love, and at the same time to be wise, is scarcely granted even to a god. A FRIEND. It is not allowable, even in jest, to injure a friend. A FRIEND. To lose a friend is the greatest of all losses. LOVE. To love is in our power, but not to lay it aside. PUB LIU S SYBUS. 475 PASSIONS. The wise man is the master of his passions, the / fool is their slave. THE OLD WOMAN. When the old crone frolics, she flirts with death. BELAXATION. Straining breaks the bow, and relaxation the mind. A WOMAN. i K A woman either loves or hates; she knows no - - ~\ medium. UNION. Union gives strength and firmness to the humb- lest. A KINDNESS. Accept a favor and you sell your freedom. " He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing." THE BENEVOLENT. The beneficent ever looks out for a reason to - confer favors. TO DIE. It is to die twice, to die at the will of another. KINDNESS. Spontaneous kindness is always most acceptable. A CONQUEROR. He conquers twice who conquers himself in vic- tory. 476 PUBLlUfi SYRUS. GOOD THINGS. The continuance of prosperity is prejudicial. THE GOOD. He hurts the good who spares the bad. " He who spares vice wrongs virtue." MISFORTUNES OF OTHERS. It is good to see in the misfortunes of others what we should avoid. DANGER. f He is most safe from danger who, even when , safe, is on his guard. Burke says: " Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions than ruined by too confident a security." " The way to be safe -is never to feel secure." REPENTANCE. Take care not to begin anything of which you may repent. " Consideration is the parent of wisdom." DANGER. . . Danger arrives the sioner when it is despised. " Who looks not before finds himself behind." LOVER. Tou should force a lover to be angry, if you wish her to love. COMPANION. A pleasant companion causes you not to per. ceive the length of the journey. PUBLTUS 8YRU8. 477 Shakespeare says: " And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar, Making the hard way sweet and delectable." RELATIONSHIP. ' Unity of feelings and affections is the strongest relationship. PRUDENCE. You conquer better by prudence than by passion. THE FORTUNATE. Even God can scarcely get the better of the for- - tunate. REPUTATION. The gain which is made at the expense of repu- tation should be set down as a loss. OPPORTUNITY. While we are deliberating, the opportunity is often lost. Young says: "Be wise to-day; 'tis madness to defer." DELIBERATION. That should be considered long which can be ,' decided but once. ACCUSATIONS. We should not lend an easy ear to accusations. ~" DAYS. Each succeeding day is the scholar of that ' which preceded. 478 PUB LI US SYR US. WAR. Preparations for war are to be made for a long time before, that you may more quickly conquer. PAIN. The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of " the body. TO FORGET. It is sometimes expedient to forget what you know, i " The wise man does not hang his knowledge on a hook." A WOUND. - Even after a wound is healed the scar remains. DIGNITY. It is more easy to obtain an accession of dignity, than to acquire it in the first instance. TKIAL,. He who flies from trial confesses his crime. PHOSPEKITY. Prosperity is the nurse of passion. FAITH. Trust, like the soul, never returns when it has once gone. COUNTENANCE. A pleasing countenance is a silent commenda- 1 tion. PUBLIUS SYRUS. FOBTUNE.' ' \x Fortune, when she _cares_ses a man too much, " x^T makes him a fool: - FOBTUNE. Fortune is brittle as glass ; at the very time she shines, she is broken. PATIENCE. . t^. Patience, when too often_putraged, is converted *\ info'madhess. Dryden (" Absalom and Ach.," pt. i. 1. 1005) says: " Beware the fury of a fiaMent man. It's enough to make a parson swear, or a Quaker kick his mother." \ REMEDIES. Some remedies are worse than the disease. Seneca (Med. 435) expresses this idea thus : " God has often found for us remedies worse than the dan- t gers in which we are involved." HABIT. The power of habit is very strong. HEIB. The weeping of an heir is laughter under a mask. GI/OBY. How difficult, alas! is it to maintain the glory we have inherited. PASSION. A man is beside himself when he is in a passion. MAN. Man has been lent to life, not given over to it. 480 PUBLIUS STEU8. THE TIMES. He who yields to the exigencies of the times, acts wisely. HATE. Take care that no one hate you justly. FORGIVE. Forgive others many things, yourself nothing. UNGRATEFUL. One ungrateful man does an injury to all who are wretched. INJURIES. The best remedies for injuries is to forget them. Ben Jonson (" Catiline," act iii. sc. 1) says: . " Whprft it (yinr^rns himself, yf-. Who's angry at a slander, makes it true." KINDNESS. He confers a kindness twice on a poor man who gives quickly*" , . \ MADMAN. Every madman^thinks ; all other men mad. FAULT. ft. --->f" He who overlooks one fault, invites the com- mission of another. THE JUDGE. The judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted. MAGNANIMITY. Magnanimity becomes a great fortune. PUBLIUS SYRUS. 481 MISCHIEF. He who wishes to do mischief is never without a reason. EMPIRE. The greatest empire may be .lost Jar ,the ^misrule of its governors. Thus Euripides (Suppl. 190) says: " For it possesses thee as an able ruler, through want of which many cities have perished from lack of a general." MALEVOLENT. The malevolent have secret teeth. The master, who dreads his servants, is lower than a servant. FORTUNE. \^ That fortune is most wretched, which is without an'enemy. TO CONCEAL. It is miserable to be compelled to conceal what you wish jo proclaim. "~ DELAY. Every delay is hateful, but it gives wisdom. - ^BEATH. It is fortunate to die before you call upon death. FEAE. He who is feared by many must fear many. - 31 482 PUBLIUS SYR US. NECESSITY. Necessity imposes law, does not herself receive , it. Simonides of Ceos (Fr. 4, 23, S.) says: " Not even the gods contend with necessity. " HIGH STATION. No one has arrived at high station without un- dergoing some hazard. WICKEDNESS. Wickedness is its own punishment. TRUTH. *-"- / In excessive alterca&on truth is lost, i TO PLEASE. j Do not care how many, but whom you please. GAIN. There is no gain so certain as that which arises from sparing what you have. OPPORTUNITY. I A good opportunity is seldom presented, and is easily lost. LIFE. [ O life ! long to the miserable, short to the happy ! Apollodorus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1106, M.) says: " For to the care-worn and those in grief, every night ap- pears to be long." 7 ' WICKEDNESS. he wickedness of a few brings calamity on all. PUB LI US SYRUS. 483 . God looks to pure and not to full hjmds. GOOD MAN. No good man ever became suddenly rich. FRIENDS. Admonish your friends secretly, praise them openly^ TO PERISH. It is a great consolation to perish with all the world. TO FEAK. It is foolish to fear what you cannot avoid. H^ MISER. The miser is in as much want of that which he has as of that which he has not. HASTY COUNSELS. Hasty counsels arc quickly followed by repent- ance. TO BE KNOWN. You wish to be known to all; you will know no one. FLATTERY. Flattery, which was formerly a vice, is now a custom. SHIPWRECK. That man foolishly blames the sea who is a sec- ond time shipwrecked. "If a man deceive me once, shame on him; if he deceive me twice, shame on me.'' 484 QUINTILIAN. BANKS. Unless ranks are observed, the highest place is safe to no one. TO LIVE. You should not live one way in private and an- i other in public. I regret often that I have spoken, never that I . have been silent. Amphis (Fr. Com. Gr. 655, M.) says: " There is nothing better than silence." The conversation is the image of the mind. As the man, so is his mode of talking. If you wish to arrive at the highest, begin from the lowest. QUINTILIAN. BOEN A.D. 40 DIED ABOUT A.D. 118. MARCUS FATSIUS QUINTILIANUS, the most cele- brated of Eoman rhetoricians, was a native of Cal- agurris (Calahorra), in the upper valley of the Ebro. Though educated at Koine, he seems to have returned to Spain, as we find him accompa- nying Galba to Rome A.D. 68. He acquired some reputation at the bar, though he was chiefly dis- QUINTILIAN. 485 tinguished as a teacher of eloquence. Among his pupils were Pliny the younger, and the two grand- nephews of Domitian. By this emperor he was adorned with the insignia of the consulship, and was the first public instructor, who received a reg- ular salary from the imperial exchequer. The great work of Quintilian is a complete system of rhetoric, in twelve books, entitled "De Institu- tione Oratoris Libri XII.," dedicated to his friend Harcellus Victorius. OBATOR. Now, according to my definition, no man can be a complete orator unless he is a good man. GENIUS. One thing, however, I must premise, that with- out the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy. DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE MIND. \f As birds are provided by nature with a propen- sity to fly, horses to run, and wild beasts to be sav- age so the working and the sagacity of the brain is peculiar to man; and hence it is that his mind is supposed to be of divine original. THE DULL. The dull and the indocile are in no other sense the productions of nature than are monstrous shapes and extraordinary objects, which are very rare. YOUTH TENACIOUS OF WHAT IT IMBIBES. By nature we are very tenacious of what we im- bibe in the dawn of life, in the same manner as 486 qUINTILIAN. new vessels retain the flavor which they first drink in. VThere is no recovering wool to its^ native whiteness after it is dyed^ \ SMATTERERS. For nothing is more nauseous than men who, having just got a smattering^n learning, vainly persuade themselves that they are"men of knowl- edge. AN INDULGENT EDUCATION. That effeminate education, which we call indul- gence, destroys all the strength both of mind and body. A FIRST-KATE TEACHER, t, Every first-rate teacher rejoices in the number of his pupils, and thinks himself worthy of a larger audience. HANDWRITING. Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practice of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accom- plishment. THE SCHOOLMASTER. A master, let him have but a moderate tincture of learning, will for his own credit cherish appli- cation and genius, wherever he finds them. AMBITION. Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues. qUINTILIAN. 487 MIMICKY. I have no great opinion of any boy's capacity, ' whose whole aim is to raise a laugh by his talent ' of mimicry. PREMATURITY OF GENIUS. It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity. A BOY OF GENIUS. Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits wlieiThe is encouraged, and who cries when ho is defeated. Such a boy will be fired !>y ambition; he will be stung by reproach, ahcf ani- mated by preference : never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy. EVIL HABITS. For evil habits, when they once settle, are more easily broken than mended. SHOULD CHILDREN BE WHIPPED ? I am by no means for whipping boys who are learning in the first place, because the practice is unseemly and slavish ; and in the next place, if the boy's genius is so dull as to be proof against re- proach, he will, like a worthless slave, become in- sensible to blows likewise. CUSTOM. The common usage of learned men, however, is the surest director of speaking; and language, like money, when it receives the public stamp, ought to have currency. 488 qUINTILIAN. USAGE OF LANGUAGE. I, therefore, look upon the general practice of ' the learned to be the usage of language, in like , manner as the general practice of the virtuous is to be considered as the usage of life. MUSIC. For every man, when at work, even by himself, has his own song, however rude it may be, that softens his labor. R. Gilford's " Contemplation ": " Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound; All at her work the village maiden sings, Nor while she turns the giddy wheel around, Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things." THE ILLITERATE. In short it has become a proverb amongst the Greeks, that the illiterate has no acquaintance with the muses and the graces. THE MINI). Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetite. ELOQUENCE. But give me the reader who figures in his mind the idea of eloquence, all divine as she is, who, with Euripides, gazes upon her all-subduing charms; who seeks not his reward from the venal fee for his voice, but from that reflection, that im- agination, that perfection of mind, which time cannot destroy, nor fortune affect. Fenelon says of Demosthenes: "He uses language as a modest man does his coat as clothing, not as ornament." QUINTILIAN. 489 REASONS FOR SLOTH. We make a pretext of difficulty for our sloth. _ EXPERIENCE. For in almost every art, experience is more ser- / viceable than precepts. TO MAKE THE WORSE APPEAR THE BETTER REASON. For comic writers charge Socrates with making the worse appear the better reason. Milton (" Paradise Lost," ii. 113) says: " Though his tongue Dropt manna, and could make the worse Appear the better reason." God, that all-powerful Creator of nature, andP Architect of the world, has impressed man withl no character so proper to distinguish him from! other animals, as by the faculty of speech. WHAT ART CAN EFFECT. In short, nature supplies the material, art works upon it. Art can effect nothing without material, yet there is an inherent value in the material, though untouched by the art of man. Perfection of art is superior to the best material. WHAT IS BORN. Everything comes to an end which has a begin- ning. A JEST. Let all malice be removed, and let us never 490 QUINTILIAN. adopt that maxim. Eather to lose our friend than our jest. A LAUGH. A laugh is too dearly bought, when purchased at the expense of virtue. RIDICULING THE MISERABLE. > For it is unfeeling to ridicule the wretched. WHAT MAKES A MAN ELOQUENT. It is the heart and mental energy that inspires eloquence. BRILLIANT THOUGHTS IN ORATORY. Brilliant thoughts are, I consider, as it were, the eyes of eloquence ; but I would not that the body were all eyes, lest the other members should lose their proper functions. AN OATH. To swear, except when it is positively necessary, ( is unbecoming a man of honor. So Matthew v. 34-37: " But I say unto you, Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is His foot- stool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your com- munication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." MISERY. The prosperous can with difficulty form a right idea of misery. WHAT RENDERS A MAN ELOQUENT. For it is strength and energy that render a man qUINTILIAN. 491 eloquent. As a proof of this, we see that the most ignorant person, when his passions are suf- ficiently roused, has words at will. A WICKED CONSCIENCE. For there is nothing so distracted, of such dif- ferent forms, so cut up and tortured by many and various apprehensions, as a wicked conscience. For while it is contriving the ruin of another, it- self is under the torture of uncertainty, anxiety, and dread. Nay, even when it is successful in in- iquity, it is tormented with disquiet, remorse, and the expectation of the most dreadful punishments. SEARCH AFTER TRUTH. While we are seai'ching all tilings, sometimes we find the truth where we least expected it. So Isaiah Iv. 6: "Seek ye the Lord while He maybe found, call ye upon Him while He is near." TO DESTROY ONE'S NEIGHBOR. For it would have been better that man should have been born dumb, nay, void of all reason, rather than that he should employ the gifts of Providence to the destruction of his neighbor. VIRTUE MUST RECEIVE A FINISHING-STROKE FROM LEARNING. Virtue, though she in some measure receives her beginning from nature, yet gets her finishing excellencies from learning. EASY TO BE VIRTUOUS. s formed us with honest and when we are so inclined, it is so very easy to Nature has formed us with honest inclinations, : 492 SALLUST. be virtuous, that, if we seriously reflect, nothing is more astonishing than to see so many wicked. OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. Cultivate innocence, and think not that your deeds, because they are concealed, will be unpun- ished ; you have committed them under the canopy of heaven there is a more powerful witness. DANGER OF SUDDEN CHANGE OF FORTUNE. Nothing is more dangerous among men than a sudden change of fortune. FEAR OF THE FUTURE. The fear of the future is worse than the fortune of the present moment. FORBIDDEN PLEASURES. Things forbidden alone are loved immodei-ately . . . when they may be enjoyed, they do not ex- cite the desire. SATIETY OF PLEASURE. Satiety is close on continued pleasures. SALLUST. BORN B.C. 86 DIED B.C. 34. C. SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS was born B.C. 86, at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines. In B.C 52 we find him tribunus plebis, and two years afterwards he was ejected from the senate by the censors, on account of immoral conduct. How- SALLUST. 493 ever, he seems to have been restored to his rank, as he was praetor in B.C. 47. Next year he accom- panied Csesar in his African war, and was there left governor of Xumidia. Here he is accused of having amassed immense riches by the oppression of the people, and many scandalous tales are told respecting him. On returning from Africa he re- tired into private life, and passed quietly through the troublesome period after Caesar's death, dy- ing B.C. 34. MIND AND BODY. Our whole strength resides in the powers of the mind and body; while we are willing to submit to the directions of the former, we are anxious to render the body subservient to our will. The one is common to us with the gods; the other with the lower animals. MIND. The glory derived from riches and beauty is fleeting and frail: the endowments of the mind form the only illustrious and lasting possession. > Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 570, M.) says: "We must have our mind rich: the riches of this world are merely outward show, that veil the real character." FORETHOUGHT. Before one begins, there is need of forethought, and after we have carefully considered, there is need of speedy execution. MIND. All the operations of agriculture, navigation, and architecture depend for their success on the endowments of the mind. 494 SALLUST. ACTIVE LIFE. He and he alone seems to me to have the full enjoyment of his existence, who, in whatever em- ployment he may be engaged, seeks for the repu- tation arising from some praiseworthy deed, or the exercise of some useful talent. But in the great variety of employments, nature points out differ- ent paths to different individuals. So Wordsworth ("Tintern Revisited"): " Our acts our angels are, or good or fll, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still." CATILINE. Greedy of the possessions of others, lavish of his own, eager in his pursuits, fluent enough in language, but possessed of little common sense. MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO BECEIVE. (The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than re- ceiving kindnesses. Acts xx. 35: " And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." FORTUNE. But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raises to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well regulated principle. AMBITION. Ambition hath made many men hypocrites; to have one thing concealed in the breast, and an- other ready on the tongue; to estimate friendships and enmities not from their real worth but from 8ALLUST. 495 motives of private advantage ; and to have a fair outside rather than an honest heart. THE GOOD AND THE BAD. The virtuous and unprincipled are equally anx- ious for glory, honor, and command; but the one strives to attain them by honorable means, the other aims at the attainment of his object by knavery and deceit, because good arts fail him. PROSPERITY. c/~ The truth is, prosperity unhinges the minds of 1 the wise; much less could they, with their corrupt habits, be expected to refrain from abusing their victory. THE MALEVOLENT. He was malevolent and cruel, without any views of private advantage, lest his hands should get stiff through want of practice. FRIENDSHIP. (^ For to have the same predilections and the same aversions, that and that alone is the surest bond of friendship. FORTUNE. \/ Behold that, that liberty, for which you have ' so often panted ; besides, riches, honor, glory, are placed before your eyes. Fortune hath given every reward to the conquerors. THE POOR. For always in a state, those who have no re- \ sources of their own look with an evil eye on the higher classes of their fellow-citizens; elevate to 496 SALLl'ST. office those who are the same stamp with them- selves; hate old things and desire new; are anx- ious for change from dislike of their own; are supported by public disturbance without any ap- prehension for themselves, since poverty is upheld easily without loss. MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE. All who deliberate on matters of importance, ought to be uninfluenced with feelings of hatred, friendship, anger, or compassion. THE LOW AND THE HIGH. Those who pass their lives sunk in obscurity, if they have committed any offence through the im- pulse of passion, few know of it; their reputation and fortune are alike: those, who are in great command and in an exalted station, have their deeds known to all men. Thus,Vn the highest condition of life there is the least freedom_of ac- tion. Tliey ought to show neither partiality nor hatred, but least of all resentment ; \what in others is called hastiness of temper is in those invested with power styled haughtiness and cruelty. \ Eespecting punishment, we may surely say that which the case warrants; in grief and misery death is a reprieve from the sorrows of life, not a pun- ishment; it puts a termination to all the ills of mankind: beyond the grave there is room for neither care nor joy. Euripides (Fr. Antig. 17) says: " For death is the end of troubles to men, for what is better to men than this? For who wounding a rocky cliff with a spear will cause it pain? Who can dishonor the dead if they feel nothing? " 8ALLUST. 497 .Eschyl. (Fr. Philoct.) says: " O Death, thou deliverer, do not slight me coming to thee: for thou alone art the physician of incurable ills: no grief reaches the dead." THE GODS. The aid of the gods is procured not by vows and womanish supplications; all things turn out well by watching, activity, and good counsel. When you have given yourself up to sloth and idleness, it is in vain to implore the gods; they are angry and hostile to you. GOODNESS. He preferred to be good in reality, rather than to seem so. THE SLOTHFUL,. The man who is roused neither by glory nor by danger, it is in vain to exhort; terror closes the ears of the mind. Euripides (Fr. Archel. 8) says: " For a young man ought always to be daring: for no sloth- ful man becomes famous; but it is labor that procures glory. " COWARDS. For to hope for safety in flight, when you have turned your arms, with which the body is pro- tected, from the enemy, that indeed is folly. In battle the greatest cowards are in greatest danger; boldness is the best defence. The mind is the leader and director of mankind ; when it aims at glory by a virtuous life, it is suffi- ciently powerful, efficient, and noble; it stands in no need of the assistance of Fortune, since it can 32 498 SALLUST. neither give nor take away integrity, industry, nor other praiseworthy qualities. THE MIND. Personal beauty, great riches, strength of body, and all other things of this kind, pass away in a short time ; but the noble productions of the mind, like the soul itself, are immortal. In fine, as there is a beginning, so there is an end of the advantages of person and fortune; all things that rise must set, and those that have grown must fade away: the mind is incorruptible, eternal, the governor of the human i-ace, directs and overrules all things, nor is itself under the power of any. OPPORTUNITY. Opportunity leads even moderate men astray from the path of duty by the hope of self-aggran- dizement. CONCORD. Neither armies nor treasures are the bulwarks of a kingdom ; but friends whom you can neither command by force, nor purchase by gold : they are gained by kind offices, and by the exercise of fidelity. Who ought to be more friendly than a brother to a brother ? or what stranger will you find to be faithful, if you be an enemy to your own connections ? I indeed deliver to you a king- dom, which is strong, if you are good; weak if you are bad. For a small state increases by con- cord; the greatest state falls gradually to ruin by dissension. ROME. I3iit after he had left Home, he is said, often SAL LUST. 499 looking back in silence, to have exclaimed, " Ah, / venal city! destined soon to perish, could it but find a purchaser." A GOOD MAN. It is better for a good man to be overcome by his opponents than to conquer injustice by uncon- stitutional means. A BOASTEB. Impatient of labor and of danger, more ready to boast of their valor than to display it. ANCESTORS. The glory of ancestors sheds a light around pos- \ terity; it allows neither their good nor bad quali- ' ties to remain in obscurity. ANCESTORS. But proud men are very much mistaken. Their ancestors have left all things which are in their power to them riches, images, the noble recol- lection of themselves; they have not left their virtue, nor were they able : it alone can neither be , presented as a gift, nor received. CHILDREN. No one has become immortal by sloth, nor has any parent prayed that their children should live forever; but rather that they should lead an hon- orable and upright life. KINGS. In general the desires of kings, though impetu- ous, are unstable, and often inconsistent. 500 SENECA. EVERY ONE THE AETIFICER OF HIS OWN FORTUNE. Every one is the artificer of his own fortune. Shakespeare (" Jul. Caes." act i. sc. 2) says: " Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." SENECA. BORN ABOUT A.D. 1 DIED A.D. 65. L. ANN^EUS SENECA, son of M. Annseus Seneca, was born at Corduba, and brought to Home by his parents when he was a child. He was educated at Eome, and acquired distinction at an early age as a pleader of causes, exciting the hatred of Caligula from the ability he displayed in conducting a cause before him. In the first year of the reign of Clau- dius, A.D. 41, he was ordered to retire in exile to Corsica, where he resided for eight years, being recalled by the influence of Agrippina, A.D. 49. He then obtained the praetorship, and became tu- tor to the emperor Nero. His pupil did him no credit, but it would be unjust to blame him for the subsequent conduct of Nero. He did not, in- deed, make him a good or a wise man ; his natural disposition, however, was probably irreclaimable. For some years he was the chief minister of Nero, but, falling into disgrace, he received notice to die, and suffocated himself in a vapor bath, A.D. 65. SENECA. 601 NONE BUT HIMSELF EQUAL TO IIIMSELF. Do you seek a match for the descendant of Al- caeus ? There is no one but himself. Louis Theobald (" The Double Falsehood ") says: " None but himself can be his parallel." THE MOB. The mob more restless than the waves of the ' sea. ENJOY THE PRESENT. Few enjoy the pleasures of peaceful repose, who consider how swiftly time passes that is never to return. While the fates allow, eat, drink, and be merry.' Life hurries forward with rapid step, and the wheel of time rolls 011 in its ceaseless round. MIGHT MAKES RIGHT, Successful crime is dignified with the name of virtue; the good become the slaves of the impious; might makes right; fear silences the power of the law. Wordsworth (" Rob Roy's Grave," st. 9): " Because the good old rule Sufficeth them, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can." And Sir John Harrington (" Epig." bk. iv. Ep. 3): " Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason." Beilby Porteus (" Death," 1. 154): " One murder made a villain, millions a hero. Princes were privileged To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime." Young (" Love of Fame," Sat. vii. 1. 55): " One to destroy is murder by the law; And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe; 502 SENECA. To murder thousands takes a specious name, War's glorious art, and gives immortal fame." THE MISERABLE EASILY GIVE CREDIT TO FEAR. The miserable easily give- credit to that which they wish. Nay, they are apt to believe that what they fear can never be got rid of. Fear is ever credulous of evil. THE PITCHER GOES ONCE TOO OFTEN TO THE WELL. Adverse fortune seldom spare men of the noblest virtues. No one can with safety expose himself often to dangers. The man who has often escaped is at last caught. " The pitcher doth not go so often to the well, but' it comes home broken at last." TO BOAST OF ONE'S PEDIGREE. j/ He who boasts of his descent, praises what [> belongs to another. SAFETY IN THE SWORD. The sword is the protection of all. SOVEREIGNTY. When thou occupiest the throne of another, thy power is insecure. ENVY OF THOSE IN POWER. To be able to endure odium, is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power. THE PROUD. The avenging God follows close on the haughty. So Psalm v. 5: "The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." SENECA. 503 THE FUKY OP WAR. There is no moderation in arms, nor can the drawn sword easily be stopped or put into the scabbard: war delights in bloodshed. DIE RATHER THAN ACT AGAINST THE WILL. The man who can be forced to act against his '/ will knows not how to die. THE ASCENT TO HEAVEN IS NOT EASY. The ascent to heaven from this earth is not easy. So Proverbs xv. 24: " The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath." MISERY THE LOT OF HUMANITY. Whenever thou seest a fellow-creature in dis- tress, know that thou seest a human being. So Luke x. 37: " He that showed mercy on him was his neighbor." THE WRETCHED FATE OF THE GOOD. O Fortune, that en vies t the brave, what unequal rewards thou bestowest on the righteous I HUMBLE FORTUNE. In humble fortune there is great repose. THE FEAR OF WAR. The fear of war is worse than war itself. TRUE LOVE. True love hates delays and does not submit to them. 504 SENECA. NO FATE OF LIFE IS LONG. Man's fate never continues long the same, sor- row and pleasure alternate; pleasure is more brief. A few moments raise the lowest of mankind to the highest pinnacle of honor. THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY. Every monarch is subject to a mightier power. REMEMBRANCE OF WHAT WAS DIFFICULT 18 PLEASANT. What was difficult to endure is pleasant to call to remembrance. THE GUILTY OVERWHELMED BY HIS OWN ACTS. Man suffers for his deeds: crime finds out its author, and the guilty is overwhelmed by his own acts. WE ARE DYING FROM THE FIRST MOMENT OF OUR BIRTH. The first moment which gives us birth begins to take life from us. THE HEAVY-LADEN. Let the weary and heavy-laden at length enjoy repose. ONE CRIME BEGETS ANOTHER. While one crime is punished, it begets another. THE ADVANTAGE ENJOYED BY A MONARCH. This is the highest advantage to be derived by a monarch, that his people is obliged not only to submit to but to praise the deeds of their monarch. SENECA. 505 THE HUMBLE OFTEN RECEIVE GREAT PRAISE. The humble and lowly-born often receive true praise. THE EXAMPLE OF THE HIGH-BORN. p The king should wish what is honorable, and every one will wish the same. DESPOTISM. Atr. Wherever a ruler is subject to the law, his power is of precarious tenure. Sat. Nay, rather, where neither modesty nor re- spect for the law or gods, piety nor faith, hold sway, there power is unstable. Atr. My opinion is, that respect for the gods, piety and faith are merely virtues of men in pri- vate stations. Let kings be unshackled in their authority. A BAD BROTHER NOT TO BE INJURED. Consider it impious to injure even a bad brother. So Genesis xiii. 8: " And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and tbee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen ; for we be brethren." THE YOUNG EASILY PERVERTED. The young readily listen to evil counsels; they < will practise against you, their father, what you \ have taught them against their uncle. Crimes have recoiled on those who gave the first lesson. So Psalm cxvi. 10 : "Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape." 506 SENECA. HOW SILENCE IS TAUGHT. Silence is taught by many misfortunes in life. A COUNTENANCE BETRAYING FEAB. A countenance full of fear usually betrays many crimes. GREAT COUNSELS BETRAYED BY THE COUN- TENANCE. Great counsels betray even the man who is un- willing that his plans should be discovered. IT IS THE MIND THAT GIVES A KINGDOM. An honest heart possesses a kingdom. Percy's " Reliques of English Poetry " (vol. i. p. 307): " My mind to me a kingdom is, Such perfect joy therein I find, As far exceeds all earthly bliss, That God and nature hath assign'd. Though much I want that most would have, Yet still my mind forbids to crave." RETIREMENT TO BE PREFERRED. He is a king who is subject to neither fears nor desires. Every one can confer this on himself. Let whosoever chooses walk along the slippery paths of the court, I prefer peaceful repose, and, resigned to the obscurity of a humble life, shall enjoy the pleasures of retirement. WHO LIVES FOR OTHERS, NOT FOR HIMSELF. Death broods heavily over the man who dies more known to others than to himself. THE GIVER TO BE LOOKED AT. While you look at what is given, look also at the giver. SENECA. 507 THE POOR ENJOY A SECURE KEPAST. What pleasure it is to stand in the way of no one, to be able to enjoy a secure repast! Crimes do not enter into the cottages of the poor; we may eat our food with safety on an humble table; poison is quaffed from golden cups. I speak from experience: an obscure life is preferable to one spent in a high station. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. - . 1092, M.) says: " No one is more fortunate than the poor man : he has no change for the worse to look for." BROTHERLY AFFECTION. ' Affection usually returns whence it has been removed, and love that is just repairs its lost strength. It is too late to be on our guard when we are in the midst of misfortunes. So Genesis xli. 9: " I do remember my faults this day." AFFECTION. There is no power greater than true affection. TRUE AFFECTION. Whomsoever true affection has possessed, it will continue to possess. TO-MORROW. Nobody has ever found the gods so much his friend that he can promise himself another day. LOVE OF LIFE. That man must be enamoured of life, who is not willing to -die when the world reaches its last day. 508 SEX EC A. THE MISEUAHLE. This is the peculiarity of the wretched, that they can never believe that happiness will last. Even though good fortune returns, yet they re- joice in fear and trembling. PASSIONS ENCOURAGED BY YIELDING. He who has fostered the sweet poison of love by fondling it, finds it too late to refuse the yoke which he has of his own accord assumed. PANGS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE ABE NEVER AT REST. What never-ending pain are the pangs of a guilty conscience, a mind o'erburdened with crimes, and fearful of itself? Some may sin with- out suffering from man, none may do so and feel secure. Shakespeare (" Henry VI.." Part III., act v. sc. 6): "Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bush an officer. " WHAT PASSION CAUSES. Passion forces man to follow the worse course. His mind knowingly leads him to a precipice and again draws back, in vain desiring what is good. THE PROSPEROUS. Whoever is too proud of his prosperous circum- stances and abounds in luxury, is always desirous of what is unusual. THE GREAT IN POWER. The high in power are often desirous of Impos- sibilities. SENECA. 509 A REMEDY. It is some part of a cure to feel a desire to be cured. KEPORT. Report seldom adheres to the truth, favorable to | the man who deserves the worst and unfavorable , to the good. THE COUNTENANCE BETRAYS THE FEELINGS. Angry feelings are betrayed by the countenance, though they are concealed. MODES OF DEATH. How many kinds of death hurry off and gradu- ally destroy mankind the sea, the sword, and treachery ! But say we were not subject to these laws of fate, yet of ourselves we hasten to our life's end, to the dark shades of Styx. Massinger (" A Very Woman," act v. sc. 4) says: " Death hath a thousand doors to let out life, I shall find one." THE ADVANTAGES OF A COUNTRY LIFE. There is no mode of life more independent and free from vice, following more closely the ancient manners, than that which, abandoning cities, loves the woodlands. THE HAPPY LIFE OF THE LOWLY. A more undisturbed sleep attends the man who r reclines securely on a hard couch. A BAD EXAMPLE. No wickedness has been without a precedent. *"" 510 SENECA. A TIMID BEGGAR COURTS A DENIAL. He who begs timorously courts a refusal. i SUCCESSFUL CKIMES. Success gilds some crimes with an honorable title. Ben Jonson says: " Let them call it mischief; When it is past and prospered 'twill be virtue." And Thomson: " It is success that colors all in life. Success makes fools admir'd, makes villains honest." "Nation " newspaper: " Where crime is crowned, where guilt is glory." LIGHT GRIEFS. Trifling annoyances find utterance, deeply-felt pangs are dumb. Sponsor in his " Faerie Queen " (i. 7, 41) thus expresses the same idea: " ' Oh! but,' quoth she, ' great grief will not be told, ""* And can more easily be thought than said.' " And Byron ("The Corsair," cant. iii. st. 22): " No words suffice the secret soul to show, For truth denies all eloquence to woe." In the Hesperus (12) of Franz Paul Richter is found the fol- lowing beautiful paragraph: " For those wounds which can be disclosed are not deep: that grief which a man's friendly eye can discover, a soft hand alleviate, is but small; but the woe which a friend must not see, because he cannot take it away that woe which sometimes rises into our eye in the midst of blessedness, in the form of sudden trickle, which the averted face smothers this hangs in secret more and more heavily on the heart, and at last*breaks it and goes down with it under the healing sod ; so are iron balls tied to man, when he dies on the sea, and they sink with him more quickly into his vast grave." SENECA. 511 Wilhelm von Humboldt (Lett. ii. 18) has the same idea: " The sorrow which calls for help is not the greatest, nor does it come from the depths of the heart." Thucydides (vii. 75) in his description of the sorrowful de- parture of the Athenian forces from Syracuse uses the ex- pressions: "Having suffered greater sorrows than can be expressed by tears," which is sorrow but resembling what Herodotus (iii. 14) says of the woes of Psammenitus : " Greater woes than tears can express." This is thus paraphrased by Bode : '.' The sad philosophy of grief, Taught in misfortune's school. Hails the eye's dew a sweet relief, The burning heart to cool. " For common sorrows tears may flow, Like these that stain my cheek; But, prince, there is a depth of woe, That tears can never speak. " To see my comrade's cheerless state, The friend of happier years, I weep but oh ! rny children's fate Lies all too deep for tears. " Far in the heart's most secret shrine, Those springs of sorrow sleep: Who bends 'neath woes as dark as mine Must grieve he cannot weep." Shakespeare describes silent grief forcibly when he says in "Winter's Tale": " There is a grief which burns Worse than tears drown." And Ford's " Broken Heart ": " They are the silent griefs that cut the heart-strings." Talfourd gives an echo of this in " Ion ": " They are the silent sorrows that touch nearest." EXORMOU.S WICKEDNESS. What waters of the Don "will cleanse me ? or what sea of Asoph with its barharous waters 612 SENECA. bending over the Black Sea ? Not Neptune him- self with his multitudinous waters will be able to expiate such wickedness. CRIME. One crime has to be concealed by another. BEAUTY. Beauty, a doubtful good to man, the fleeting gift of a short-lived hour, how swiftly dost thou flit away ! Not so quickly do the hot rays of sum- mer despoil the fresh meadows of the green with which the late spring has clothed them, when the meridian sun rages at the solstice, and short nights wheel rapidly past, when the pale lilies languish and the sweet rose droops, not so quickly, I say, as beauty, which beams from tender cheeks, vanishes, from which every day steals some spoil away. Beauty is a fleeting joy; what wise man would place his trust in such a frail toy ? Whilst thou mayest, enjoy it. Time, with silent march, will undermine thee, and each succeeding hour is worse than what is past. Shakespeare in his poem entitled " The Passionate Pilgrim " (st. 11) thus speaks of Beauty: " Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good, A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly. A flower that dies, when first it 'gins to bud, A brittle glass that's broken presently. A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, Lost, faded, broken, dead, within an hour." SECRECY. If you would wish another to keep your secret, first keep it yourself. SENECA. 513 THE HUMBLE. Fortune rages less against the lowly, and heaven strikes with gentle hand the humble. THE SWIFTNESS OF TIME. The swift hour flies on double wings. DEATH AND LIFE. Any one may take life from man, but no one death : a thousand gates stand open to it. So 1 Samuel xx. 3: " There is but a step between me and death." ENDURE RATHER THAN COMMIT WICKEDNESS. When it is necessary to deceive or to be deceived by our friends, we should endure rather than com- mit wickedness. So Matthew v. 39: "But I say unto you, That' ye resist not evil ; but whoso- ever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." SLAVERY. To sink from a throne into slavery is misery. WAR. The fortune of war is always doubtful. A GOVERNMENT HATED. A government that is hated seldom lasts. * FORTUNE. It is not manly to turn our back on Fortune. 514 SENECA. THE UNCERTAINTIES OF LIFE. When the joyful mingled with the sad leaves us in doubt, the uncertain mind, when it desires to know, is overwhelmed with fear. THE AFFLICTED. He who offers doubtful safety to the afflicted re- fuses it. THE BLIND. A great part of what is real is concealed from the man, who is blind. DESPERATE MISFORTUNES. Evils that are desperate usually make men safe. THE POWER OF SILENCE. The power of silence is often more injurious to a king and his kingdom than even the use of lan- guage. MODERATION TO BE SHOWN BY THOSE WHO AS- PIRE TO SUPREME POWER. To the man who aspires to supreme power, it is the wisest policy to show himself enamoured of moderation, and to speak of nothing but the pleasure of quiet retirement. Rest is often as- sumed by the restless. VAIN FEARS. He, who dreads vain fears, deserves those that are real. TERROR IS THE PROPER GUARD OF A KINGDOM. I He, who dreads hatred too much, knows not ' f SENECA. 5iu how to reign. Terror is the proper guard of a , kingdom. LET BYGONES BE BYGONES. Leave in concealment what has long been con- cealed. THE TRUTH. Truth hates any delay in its disclosure. EXCESS HAS AN UNSTABLE FOUNDATION. Everything that exceeds the bounds of modera- tion has an unstable foundation. SUFFERINGS OF MANKIND FROM ON HIGH. Whatever mankind suffers or does, comes from on high. WHAT AWAITS MAN. Many have reached their fated end, while they are dreading their fate. GUILT. Nobody becomes guilty by fate. - SORROW. There is no day without sorrow. MODERATION MAKES A THRONE STAND SURE. We must first learn that whatever the conqueror chooses to do, to that the conquered must submit. No one has long maintained power, if exercised with violence; moderation ensures its continu- ance; and the higher Fortune has lifted and placed the power of man, the more ought he to conceal 516 SENECA. his happiness, to dread the turns of chance, ever fearing that heaven may be too propitious. I have learnt that in a moment the greatest state may be brought low by conquest. . A CRIME. He, who does not prevent a crime, when it is in his power, encourages it. So 1 Timothy v. 30: "Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." MERCY SOMETIMES IN GIVING DEATH. Mercy is often shown in inflicting death. A KING. A king ought to prefer the good of his country to that of his children. MORAL FEELINGS. Man is restrained by moral feelings from doing that against which there may be no legal enact- ment. So Matthew T. 8: " Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." HOW GREAT POWER OUGHT TO BE USED. One who possesses great power, ought to use it with gentle hand. DOES THE SOUL PERISH WITH THE BODY? Is it a truth? or fiction binds Our fearful mind? That when to earth we bodies give, Souls yet to live? That when the wife hath closed with cries The husband's eyes, SENECA. 51V When the last fatal day of light Hath spoil' d our sight, And when, to dust and ashes turn'd, Our bones are urn'd Souls stand yet in no need at all Of funeral, But that a longer life with pain They still retain? Or die we quite ? nor aught we have Survives the grave ? . When like to smoke unmix' d with skies The spirit flies ; And funeral tapers are applied To the naked side. As smoke, which springs from fire, is soon Dispersed and gone ; Or clouds which we but now beheld, By winds dispell'd; The spirit, which informs this clay, So fleets away. Nothing is after death; and this, Too, nothing is: The goal or the extremest space Of a swift race. The covetous their hopes forbear; The sad, their fear. Ask'st thou, whene'er thou com'st to die, Where thou shalt lie '? Where lie the unborn? Away, time rakes us, Then chaos takes us. Death's individual: like kind To body or mind. Whate'er of Tsenarus they sing, And hell's fierce king, How Cerberus still guards the port O' th' Stygian court; 618 SENECA. All are but idle rumors found, And empty sound; Like the vain fears of melancholy, Dreams and fabulous folly. TO FEAB. It is the worst of ills still to fear when hope has left us. NOBILITY. High rank, a heavy burden, weighs him down. THE FIRST CHARGE. The first charge of the victor's fury is the worst. GKIEF. Grief is an unjust valuer of things. FEAR OF DEATH. Death, when brought near, puts an end to vaunt- ing words. NECESSITY. Necessity has greater power than affection. TBUTH. ^ Truth never perishes. So Matthew xxiv. 35: " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass a way." IMPRESSIONS ONCE MADE ARE NOT EASILY ERASED. The mind is slow to unlearn what it has been long in learning. " It is not easy to straighten in the oak the crook that grew ' in the sapling." SENECA. 519 TO EXTEND OTTB CHAItlTY TO THE MISEEABLE. Whatever we give to the wretched, we lend to fortune. GEIEF. Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself. TO DIE WITHOUT FEAR OF DEATH IS DESIRABLE. To die without fear of death is to be desired. TO BE COMPELLED TO COMMIT A CRIME. The guilt of enforced crimes lies on those who impose them. SLAVERY. I am ashamed of the master, not of servitude. XONE MISERABLE BUT BY COMPARISON. Nobody refuses to submit to the fate to which all are subject. In a common woe no one thinks himself unfortunate, though he be so. Take hence the happy, lay the rich aside, remove those who plough wide fields with a hundred oxen, the poor will raise their drooping heads. There is no one miserable except by comparison. To those who are seated amidst the ruins of their fortune, it is pleasant to see none wearing a cheerful look. THE MOB. Most of the giddy vulgar hate the act they come to see. THE MOB. The vulgar stand in stupid amazement, and almost all praise most those things they are going to lose. 520 SENECA. THE BRA.VE. All are moved by the brave spirit, ready to face death. ANGER CONCEALED IS DANGEROUS. Resentment concealed is dangerous; hatred avowed loses the opportunity of revenge. THE GBIEF IS SLIGHT WHICH CAN TAKE COUNSEL. The grief is slight which can take counsel and conceal itself; great evils cannot be hid. FORTUNE TRAMPLES ON THE COWARD. Med. Fortune fears the valiant, but tramples on the coward. Nurse. Then valor is to be approved of when there is room for its display. Med. There is always room for valor. Nurse. Hope points out no path in adverse cir- cumstances. Med. He who hopes nothing, should despair of nothing. So Luke x. 36, 37: "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him." FORTUNE. Fortune may deprive us of wealth, but not of a firm mind. So Matthew vi. 20: " But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." A JUDGE. If thou be a judge, investigate; if thou be a ruler, command. SENECA. 521 POWER FOUNDED ON INJUSTICE. A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts for- \ ever. So Isaiah xxxii. 1 : "Behold a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." HEAB THE OTHER SIDE. He who decides a question without hearing the other side, though he decide with justice, cannot be considered just. This is probably the origin of the common expression, " Audiatur et altera pars." THE PREROGATIVE OF KINGS. This noble and grand prerogative kings possess, ! of which they cannot be deprived, to aid the un- ( fortunate and protect the suppliant. THE BAD. No time is too short for the wicked to injure their neighbors. TRUE LOVE. True love can be afraid of no one. So 2 Timothy i. 7: " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." THE POWERFUL NOT TO BE ATTACKED WITH SAFETY. None can with safety attack the powerful. A DESPOT'S WRATH. The wrath of kings is heavy. ... \ 522 SENECA. THE GAINER IS THE AUTHOR OF THE ILL. He who profits by the villany, is the author of it. This is the " Cui bono ? " of Cassius: " The receiver is as bad as the thief." THE GUILTT. Let that man be innocent in thy eyes who does commit a crime in thy defence. THE MISFORTUNES OF KINGS. Fortune turns on her wheel the fates of kings. THE COURTS OF KINGS. Laws and modesty and the sacred pledge of wedlock fly from royal courts. THE GOLDEN MEAN. The higher the pinnacle to which fortune raises man, he falls with a heavier crash. Things mod- erate are of longer duration. Happy the man who quietly, in the midst of the crowd, passes along the shore with a safe breeze, and, fearful to trust his bark to the sea, hugs the shore. MODESTY NEVER RETURNS. Pure morals, justice, honor, piety, and faith have disappeared, and modesty, which never re- turns, when it has once gone. ONE CRIME LEADS TO ANOTHER. The sure way to wickedness is always through wickedness. TIME OFTEN HEALS. Time often heals what reason cannot. SENECA. 52S EXTREME REMEDIES. No one has eyer tried extreme remedies in the first place. REPENTANCE NEVER TOO LATE. It is never too late to turn from the error of our ways : He who repents of his sins is almost innocent. So Matthew xx. 6, 7: "And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard." And 1 John i. 9: " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." THE COURT. Faith never enters within the threshold of kings. FIDELITY. Fidelity that is bought with money may be overcome by money. Every delay, however trifling, seems too long to a man in haste. DEATH. Fear of death drives the wretched to prayer. CARES.* Those whom secret cares torment suffer most. PROSPERITY. Prosperity asks for fidelity, but adversity im-, peratively demands it. 524 SENECA. DEATH. That tyrant is foolish who inflicts death as a punishment. El. Is there anything beyond death ? Life, if you desire to die. MISERY OF DEATH. He is equal to the gods whose life and fortune close at the same moment; he feels the misery of death whose life is protracted amidst misery. Whosoever has trampled under foot Fate and the boat of Charon, will not allow his arms to be bound in chains, nor to be led in triumph. That man can never be miserable, who finds it easy to die. DEATH. O Death! thou followest the happy and fliest the wretched. Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 512, M.) says: " No one ever, O master, being anxious to die has died, but those who are eager to live Charon drags by the legs unwill- ingly to his ferry-boat, and carries them off in the full enjoy- ment of all the good things of life. But hunger is the means to induce a man to gain immortality." VICISSITUDES. Happy the man who can endure the highest and N. the lowest fortune. He, who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity, has deprived mis- fortune of its power. THINGS UNLAWFUL ARE PREFEEEED. What is unlawful is preferred; whatever one may do is little cared for. Misfortune only in- flames love the more. SENECA. 525 Moore says: " Bliss itself is not worth having If we're by compulsion blest." ANGER OF THE GODS. Those whom the anger of Heaven attacks it ren- ders miserable. So Romans i. 18: " For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness." THE SPLENDOR OF A COURT. Few pay homage to kings and not to their power. It is the splendors of a court that excite the desires of most. THE BREASTS OF THE RICH. Golden palaces break man's rest, and purple robes cause watchful nights. Oh, if the breasts of the rich could be seen into, what terrors high fort- une places within! THE POOR. The poor lives securely. THE PROSPEROUS. When God has once begun to throw down the prosperous, He overthrows them altogether: such is the end of the mighty. THE WRETCHED. The wretched hasten to hear of their own mis- eries. THE GUILTY. He is not guilty who is not guilty voluntarily. 526 SENECA. DEATH. Sometimes death is a punishment, but often a gift : it has been a matter of favor to many. VIRTUE. Virtue advances to heaven, fear to death. THE SHADE OF A GREAT NAME. Preserved for grief alone, I remain the shade of a great name. FORTUNE. Why, O Fortune, did you allure me on by your deceitful countenance, and raise me aloft when I was satisfied with my own humble lot? Was it that I might fall with a heavier crash, and be the subject of many fears? THE VICES OF PAST AGES. IThe vices collected through so many ages for a long time past flow in upon us. FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. It is higher praise for the father of his country to preserve his fellow-citizens. THE INDOLENT. It is the act of the indolent not to know what he may lawfully do. It is praiseworthy to do what is becoming, and not merely what is lawful. "Do not all you can, spend not all you have; believe not all you hear; and tell not all you know." FAITH. The sword protects the prince. Sen. Faith better. SENECA. 527 HIGHEST VIRTUE. It is honorable to excel amongst illustrious men, to consult for the good of one's country, to spare the afflicted, to refrain from savage slaughter and anger, to give peace to the world. This is the highest virtue : by this heaven is reached. THE VIRTUES OF THE MIND. The virtues of the mind and soul, subject to no one, alone remains forever. THE NOBLE. The people always require the best example to be set by the noblest in station. THE MOB. That government is ill conducted, when the mob rules its leaders. THE FAVOR OF THE MOB. Fatal and cruel has been the favor of the people to many ! THE POOR AND THE RICH. Contented poverty lies hid happily in an humble cottage. Storms shake often, or Fortune over- turns lofty palaces. THE COUNTENANCE BETRAYS THE PASSIONS. Nor am I ignorant that other affections also are scarcely concealed that lust, fear, and boldness show themselves, and may be known beforehand. For there is no strong inward thought that does not betray itself in the countenance. So Roman's xii. 19: " Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give 528 SENECA. place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." MAN BORN TO ASSIST EACH OTHEB. Man has been born to assist each other. THE BEGINNINGS OF THINGS. The beginnings of some things are in our power; those that are farther from us hurry us forward by their own force, and allow no return. THE SINNEK. He, who has committed a fault, is to be corrected both by advice and by force, kindly and harshly, and to be made better for himself as well as for another, not without chastisement, but without passion. WHAT HAS GROWN WITHOUT FOUNDATION. The things that have grown up without founda- 'tion, are ready to sink in ruin. LIFE IS LIKE A SCHOOL OF GLADIATORS. Life is like a school of gladiators, where men \ live and fight with each other. MAN SUBJECT TO DISEASES OF THE MIND AS WELL AS OF THE BODY. We have been born under these conditions, that we should be animals liable to no fewer diseases of the mind than of the body. FEAR. He must necessarily fear many, whom many fear. SENECA. -S29 THE POWER OF THE HUMAN MIND. There is nothing so difficult and arduous, which the mind of man does not overcome, and which continued meditation does not bring into familiar- ity. PERSEVERANCE. An obstinate resolution gets the better of every obstacle, and shows that there is no difficulty to him who has resolved to be patient. A HAPPY LIFE. The path leading to a happy life is easy : only enter upon it boldly with the favor of the gods. So Psalm xxv. 10: " All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth." TIIE EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. Education requires great diligence, which will be very profitable. For it is an easy matter to fashion tender minds; evil habits are with diffi- culty rooted out, which have grown up with our growth. A LITTLE PLEASURE. Moderate pleasure relaxes the spirit and moder- ates it. NATURE. It is difficult to change nature. ~ TRUTH. Time discovers ti uth. FALSE THINGS. Some things false bear the appearance of truth. 34 530 SENECA. ANGER. What is more mad than to vent the wrath which has been collected against men on things devoid of sense ? MAN NOT THE CAUSE OF THE REVOLUTION OF SUMMER AND WINTER. For we are not the cause why summer and win- ter return in regular succession: these seasons have their own laws, and have their order ar- ranged by heaven. INNOCENCE. What a slight foundation for innocence it is, to be good only from fear of the law ! So Romans xiii. 10: " Love is the fulfilling of the law." VICES OF OTHEKS. Other men's sins are before our eyes; our own, behind our back. MEN ANGRY WITH THE SINNER, NOT WITH THE SIN. The greater part of mankind are angry with the -sinner and not with the sin. TIME. Time is the greatest remedy for anger. PUNISHMENT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE. We will not punish a man because he hath of- fended, but that he may offend no more; nor does punishment ever look to the past, but to the fu- ture; for it is not the result of passion, but that the same thing may be guarded against in future. SENECA. 531 REVENGE. Revenge is an inhuman word. So Deuteronomy xxxii. 35: " To me belongeth vengeance and recompence." THINGS CONTRARY TO HOPE. We are most affected by those things which have happened contrary to hope and expectation. TO DISSEMBLE. It has often been better to pretend not to see an insult than to avenge one's self. HATRED. Those minds, whom fortune hath made insolent, have this bad quality, that they hate those whom they have harmed. IT REQUIRES TWO SIDES FOB A QUARREL. A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by the one party : there is no battle unless there be two. INJURY. He who has injured thee was either stronger or | / weaker if weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare V / thyself. FORTUNE. Fortune is not so bound to any man that it everywhere answers his expectations if he engages in much business. MEASURE YOUR OWN STRENGTH. As often as thou engagest in any enterprise, :>:',-2 SENECA. measure thyself with those things which thou at- temptest and to which thou addressest thyself. A MAN IS KNOWN BY HIS COMPANY. Manners are acquired from those with whom ve live familiarly: and as the body receives disease from contagion, so the mind is affected by the vicious propensities of others. PATIENCE. There is one alleviation in misfortunes to endure and to submit to necessity. TIME. When time is lost, it is a great loss in great affairs. REPENTANCE A SEVERE PUNISHMENT. The severest punishment a man can receive who has injured another, is to have committed the in- jury: and no man is more severely punished than he who is subject to the whip of his own repent- ance. "THERE is NO ONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE." We are all wicked. Therefore, whatever we blame in another, we shall find in our own bosom. Let us then be forgiving to one another, for, being of evil inclinations ourselves, we live in an evil world. One thing alone can enable us to live at peace, mutual forgiveness. Solon (Fr. 13, Schneidewin) says: " There is no man happy, but all are wicked, whom the sun shines upon.'' SENECA. 533 WE ARE ANGRY WITH THE GODS BECAUSE ANY ONE SURPASSES US. We are angry with the gods because any one is superior to us, forgetting how many are beneath us. IT IS A PLEASURE TO HAVE SOMETHING TO HOPE FOR. Among other pleasures it is no small one to see that there is something remaining for which thou mayest hope. ART. Life is short, but art is long. Hipparchus (Fr. Com Gr. p. 1097, M.)says: " By far the most precious possessions to all men is skill in the art of living: for both war and the changes of fortune may destroy other things, but skill is preserved." Longfellow (" A Psalm of Life ") says: " Art is long and Tune is fleeting." LIFE SHORT AND UNCERTAIN. With the exception of a very few, life deserts the rest at the very entrance of life. LIFE IS LONG ENOUGH. Life, if thou knowest how to use it, is long enough. SHORTNESS OF LIFE. Short is that part of life which we really live. . So Genesis xlvii. 9: " Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." LENGTH OF LIFE. And, therefore, never say that this man hath 534 SENECA. lived long, as his white head and wrinkled face show.' he hath not lived long, but has only been long in existence. Prince Metternich, in a letter to Alexander Von Huraboldt (17th Sept., 1849), congratulating him on reaching his eightieth year, says: " Naitre est peu de chose; utiliser la vie estbeaucoup. Vous comptez parmi les plus riches et vous avez fait uii bien noble usage de votre fortune morale." TIME PAST NEVER RETURNS. No one will restore the years gone past, no one will return thee to thyself. Thy days will go on as they have done hitherto, nor canst thou recall nor cause them to halt: they will move on without noise and without warning these of their speed : they will glide on with silent step. WE MUST MAKE USE OF TIME. Thou must strive against the swiftness of time by the speed in using it, and draw from it as thou wouldst water from a rapid torrent, which is not always to flow. GREAT FORTUNE. How much does great prosperity overspread the mind with darkness ! WISDOM. Those things, which wisdom has consecrated, cannot be injured : no time present can consume them, nor time to come diminish them. A HUNGRY PEOPLE. A hungry people listens not to reason, nor cares i for the laws of equity, nor can be bent by any prayer. SENECA. 535 THE EBROB OF ONE MAN CAUSES ANOTHEB TO EBR. As of ten happens in a great crowd of men, when the people press against each other, no one falls without drawing another after him, and the fore- most are the cause of the ruin of those that fol- low : so it is in common life ; there is no man that erreth to himself, but is the cause and author of other men's error. A MULTITUDE. Human affairs are not so happily arranged that the best things please the most men. V It is the proof of a bad cause when it is applauded by the mob. \^ WHO ABE THE VULGAB ? The vulgar are found in all ranks, and are not to be distinguished by the dress they wear. NATUBE IS THE BEST DIBECTBESS. Wisdom consists in not wandering from the na- ture of things, and in forming ourselves according to her law and example. ADMIBE THOSE ATTEMPTING GBEAT THINGS. If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great enterprises, even though they fail. CONSCIENCE. I will do all things, not for opinion, but for con- science' sake: I shall believe that it is done in the sight of all men, whatsoever I do with my own knowledge. 536 SENECA. KINDNESS TO MAN. Wherever a man is, there is an opportunity tor doing a kindness. So 1 Corinthians iv. 20: " For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." NOT AN EASY MATTER TO GIVE. He deceives himself who thinks it an easy thing to give. There is great difficulty in it, provided it is given with judgment and not scattered by chance and rashly. INJURIES LEAVE A DEEPER IMPRESSION THAN KINDNESSES. It has been so provided by nature that injuries make a more lasting impression than kindnesses, and while the latter quickly are forgotten, the former are retained with a most tenacious mem- ory. A KINDNESS. A benefit is acknowledged according to the in- tent with which it is given. GOOD DEEDS. Nobody registers his good deeds in his book of debtors. TO BESTOW A FAVOR. To bestow a favor in hope to receive another is a contemptible and base usury. IN WHAT A BENEFIT CONSISTS. A benefit consists not in that which is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer. SENECA. 537 A CHEERFUL GIVEB. Disagreeable is the kindness which lias long stuck betwixt the fingers of the man who bestows it, so that he seems with difficulty to part with it and to give it as if he were robbing himself. So 2 Corinthians ix. 7: " God loveth a cheerful giver." NOTHING COSTS SO MUCH AS WHAT IS BOUGHT BY PRAYERS. Nothing costs so much as what is bought with prayer. THE TIME BEFORE PUNISHMENT. The time that precedes punishment is the sever- est part of it. BENEFITS. We ought never to disclose that which we have given: he that upbraids a courtesy asks it back. We must not importune; we ought never to refresh the memory by a former kindness, except it be to second it by another. A BENEFIT. Let him that hath done the good office conceal it; let him that hath received it disclose it. So 1 Thessalonians v. 18: "In everything give thanks." THE eRATi:r"Tv. Let the man who is about to be grateful think about repaying the kindness even at the moment he is receiving it. 538 SENECA. THE GOODNESS OF GOD TO MAN. Whoever thou art that dost so undervalue man's fortune and chance, consider what great blessings our sovereign parent hath given us. So many vir- tues have we received, so many arts, such a mind and spirit, that at the very instant wherein it in- tends a thing, it attains it; finally, such a plenty of fruit, such store of wealth, and such abundance of things heaped on upon another. The gods love us most dearly. THE UNGRATEFUL. He is ungrateful who denies that he has received a kindness which has been bestowed upon him ; he is ungrateful who conceals it; he is ungrateful who makes no return for it; most ungrateful of all is he who forgets it. THE NOBLE. It is the property of a generous and noble mind to aid and do good to others; he who conferreth benefits, imitates the gods; he who demands them back is like the usurers. So Luke vi. 36: ; 'Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." VIRTUE TO BE FOUND IN ALL CLASSES. Virtue is shut out from no one; she is open to all, accepts all, invites all, gentlemen, freedmen, slaves, kings, and exiles: she selects neither house nor fortune : she is satisfied with a human being without adjuncts. So Luke xiv. 16, 23: " A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." SENECA. 539 THE SUN SHINES ON THE WICKED. The sun shines even on the wicked. So Matthew v. 45: " For He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.' 1 THE OKIGIN OF ALL THE SAME. All men have the same beginning and the same origin : no one is more noble than another except the man of lofty genius, with talents fitted for the successful pursuit of the higher objects of life. Those who range their ancestral images in their halls, and engrave in the entrance of their palaces the names of their illustrious forefathers in a long line and their pedigree in all its ramifi- cations, may be regarded as known to the world rather than noble. The world is the parent of us all, whether we trace our origin through a series of nobles or plebeians. THE KINDNESS OF GOD. Who is so wretched, so forgotten by heaven, who is of so hard a fate and born to trouble that he has not experienced the great liberality of the gods ? Look on those very men who are con- stantly bewailing their misfortunes and are discon- tented. Thou shalt find not one of the whole of these destitute of the favors of heaven, and that there is no man on whom have not fallen some drops from this gracious fountain. So Psalm Ixii. 2: " Truly my soul waiteth upon God. from Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defence: I shall not be greatly moved." And Psalm x. 17: " Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble." 540 SENECA. NATURE IS GOD. What else is nature but God, and divine reason residing in the whole world and its parts ? FATE. As Fate is an immutable ordinance, which holds all causes chained together, God is the first cause of all, he on whom all the rest depend. GOD AND NATURE THE SAME. Wherefore it availeth thee nothing, thou most ungrateful of men, to avow that thou art in no way indebted to God, but art under obligation to nature ; for neither is nature without God nor God without nature: both these are the same and dif- fer in nothing. If thou shouldst confess that thou owest to Annans or Lucius that which Seneca had lent thee, thou wouldst only change the name but not the creditor. For whether thou callest him by his name or surname, he would be the same man. Call him as thou pleasest, nature, fate, or fortune, it matters not, because they are all the names of the self-same God, who makes use of His divine providence diversely. THE HUMAN RACE. God has given certain gifts to the whole human race, from which nobody is excluded. THE GOOD AND BAD. It is better to bestow kindnesses even on the bad for the sake of the good than to be wanting to the good on account of the bad. GOD SENDETH EA1N ON THE JUST AND THE UNJUST. Neither was a law able to be imposed on the SENECA. 541 falling showers, that they should not water and overflow the fields of the wicked and unjust. GREAT VIRTUES . It is not without reason that there is a sacred recollection of great virtues. THE USE OF ADVERSITY. Many beufefits have a sad and rough countenance, as to burn and cut in order to healing. So Shakespeare (" As You Like It," act vi. sc. 1): " Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head." A TEACHER. Thou buyest from thy instructor in the liberal arts an inestimable treasure, liberal studies, and the cultivation of thy mind. Therefore, he is paid not the price of the thing, but of his labor, be- cause he is withdrawn from his own business, and devotes himself to thy service. He receives the reward, not of his merits, but of his occupation. So Hebrews xiii. 17: " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your- selves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account." GOD NEVER REPENTS. God never repents of what He has first resolved upon. So Numbers xxiii. 19: " God is not a man, that He should lie ; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? " THE GODS. There is nothing external to them that can con- 542 SENECA. strain the gods, their eternal and inviolable will is a law to them. They have established that which they do not intend to alter. Doubtless they can- not stand still or run a contrary course, because it is not possible for them to err from the best course, and because they have determined so to go. i \VHAT 18 TO MAKE US BETTER LIES BEFORE US. Whatever is to make us better and happy, God has placed either openly before us or close to us. TO HAVE AT COMMAND A FEW PKECEPTS OF WISDOM. It is more profitable for thee, if thou hast a few precepts of wisdom, that they should be ready at thy command rather than thou shouldest learn many things, but shouldest not have them for immediate use. MAN A SOCIAL ANJMAL. Man is a social animal, and born to live to- gether so as to regard the world as one house. So John xiv. 2: " In my father's house are many mansions." TKUTH. v Truth lies wrapped up and hidden in the depths. Dr. Walcott (" Birthday Ode ") says: " The sages say, Dame Truth delights to dwell Strange mansion in the bottom of a well. THE GOODNESS OF GOD TO MAN. Like the best of parents, who smile at the pas- sionate words of their children, the gods cease not to heap kindnesses on those who look with SENECA. 543 suspicion on their author ; but having alone the power to do good, they scatter with an impartial hand their kindnesses on all peoples and nations. They pour rain on the fields at the proper time, they raise the waves of the sea with the wind, mark the seasons by the rising and setting of the stars, moderate winter and summer by a gentler temperature. So Acts xiv. 17: " Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful sea- sons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." AN OLD MAN. There is nothing more disgraceful than that an \ old man should have nothing to produce as a proof > that he has lived long except his years. A GOOD CITIZEN. The aid of a good citizen is never without a beneficial effect; for he assists by everything he does, by listening, by looking on, by his presence, by his nod of approbation, even by obstinate si- lence, and by his very gait. TO I,ABOB AGAINST NATURE IS VAIN. Where the mind is acting under constraint the results are seldom good: when nature is reluctant the labor is lost. A TRUSTY FRIEND A REMEDY FOR A TROUBLED MIND. What a great blessing is a friend, with a breast so trusty that thou mayest safely bury all thy secrets in it, whose conscience thou mayest fear less than thine own, who can relieve thy cares by his conversation, thy doubts by his counsels, thy 544 SENECA. sadness by his good humor, and whose very look gives comfort to thee ! Xenophon (Memor. n. iv. l)says: "For what horse or what chariot is so useful as a useful friend." BOOKS. A large library is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner; it is much better to confine thyself to a few authors than to wander at random over many. Milton (" Paradise Regained," iv. 310) says of books: " However, many books, Wise men have said, are wearisome, who reads Incessantly, and to his reading brings not A spirit and judgment equal or superior, (And what he brings what needs he elsewhere seek?) Uncertain and unsettled still remains Deep versed in books and shallow in himself." CUSTOM. The greatest blessing we have received from nature is that, foreseeing to what sorrows we would be subject in this world, she found out habit as a remedy to soothe us, making thereby the greatest calamities quickly familiar and sup- portable. No one could endure it, if adversity continued to be as bitter as it is at its first ap- proach. We are all chained to fortune; some of us have a golden and loose chain, others a tight and base one. PATIENCE UNDER SUFFERINGS. There is nothing so disagreeable for which a patient mind may not find some comfort. So Jeremiah xxxi. 13: "I will turn their mourning into joy." SENECA. 545 And 2 Corinthians iv. 8: " We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair." SOME RELAXATION TO BE GIVEN TO THE MIND. Some relaxation must be given to our minds: rest makes them better and more active. As we must not overwork our fertile fields, for in that way we shall soon exhaust them, so uninterrupted labor destroys the power of men's minds. NO GKEAT WIT WITHOUT A SPICE ^>F FOLLY. No great wit has ever existed without a spice of madness. So Dryden ("Absalom and Achitophel," Part 1. 1. 163): _ " Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And their partitions do their bounds divide." Aristotle (Problemata xxx. 1) says: "Why, all who are born illustrious either in philosophy, political life, poetry or arts, appear to have a spice of mad- ness in them." A GREAT FORTUNE IS A GREAT SERVITUDE. A great fortune is a great servitude. THE SOUL. Now the soul of rny brother, released as it were from a lengthened imprisonment, at length rejoices to be its own master, enjoying the view of the nature of things, and looking down from on high on all human things, while it looks more closely at divine things, the reason of which it had long sought in vain. FIRMNESS OF SPIRIT. Not to feel our misfortunes is not to be a man, and not to submit to them is not to be a man of spirit. 546 SENECA. PROOF OF A CREATOR. It would be labor lost to show at present that this mighty frame of the world could not be main- tained without some governor, and that this regu- lar course of the stars is not directed by chance. So Psalm Ixxiv. 16: " The day is Thine, the night also is Thine: Thou hast pre- pared the light and the sun." THE PATERNAL AFFECTION OF GOD. Between gflod men and God there is a friendship which virtue conciliates; a friendship, 'do I say? yea, a kindred and similitude; for that a good man is God's disciple and imitator, and His true offspring, whom that magnificent Father, no softly exacter of virtue, doth after the manner of severe parents educate hardly. VIRTUE. Virtue withers away if it has no opposition. THE CHASTISEMENT OF GOD. Are you surprised if God, who is most loving of the good, and who wishes that they should be as good and excellent as possible, gives them that kind of fortune by which they are tried? So Hebrews xii. 6: " For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." A MAN STRUGGLING WITH ADVERSITY. Behold a spectacle to which God may worthily turn his attention; behold a match worthy of God, a brave man hand-in-hand with adverse fortune, at least if he has challenged the combat. SENECA. 547 TO CONQUER WITHOUT DANGER. He knows that the man is overcome ingloriously, who is overcome without danger. Corneille (Cid. ii. 2) says: "We triumph without glory when, we conquer without danger." THE MAN UNTRIED BY ADVERSITY. There is no one more unfortunate than the man who has never been unfortunate, for it has never been in his power to try himself. So Proverbs i. 32: " The prosperity of fools shall destroy them." CALAMITY. Calamity is an .opportunity to show one's virtue. So 2 Timothy iii. 12: " Yea, and all that will li ve godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." ADVERSITY. Great men rejoice in adversity just as brave sol- diers triumph in war. So 2 Corinthians vii. 4: " I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." CONTEMPT OF DANGER. Constant exposure to danger will inspire con- tempt for it. MISERY. Fire tries gold, misery tries brave men. Beaumom. and Fletcher (" The Triumph of Honor," sc. 1) says: " Calamity is man's true touchstone.' 1 So Siratjh ii. 5: " For jrjold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the fur- nace of adversity." 548 SENECA. THE FATE OF ALL APPOINTED BY GOD. He that is the former and creator of all has ap- pointed their fates. So Psalm cxxxix. 16: " Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continu- ance wer,e fashioned, when as yet there were none of them." CLEMENCY BECOMES A PRINCE. Clemency becomes no one more than a king or prince. A GREAT MIND. A great mind becomes a great fortune. SIN. Although a man has so well purged his mind that nothing can trouble or deceive him any more, yet he reached his present innocence through sin. THE POWERFUL. Even as lightning causes danger to few, but fear to all ; so' the punishments of mighty poten- tates are more full of fear than of evil, and not without reason. For in him that has power, all men considers not what he does, but what he may do. THE AFFECTION OF SUBJECTS. ' The love of subjects is an invincible protection. \ SEVERITY. | Severity, if it be too frequently used, loses its authority, which is its chief use. SENECA. 549 THE DIVINITY. The divinity requires no aid, and is not able to be injured. THE LIFE OF MAN. The whole life of man is nothing else than a journey towards death. So Jeremiah xxi. 8: " I set before you the way of life and the way of death." A BEGINNING AND END TO EVEBYTHING. Whatever begins also ends. So 1 Corinthians vii. 31 : "The fashion of this world passeth away." AVARICE. Nothing is too much to the avaricious mind, even a little is enough for nature. So Ecclesiastes v. 10: " He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.'' WHAT IS MAN? What is man? A weak and frail body. What is man? Only a broken vessel, and easily broken by the slightest movement. So Psalm viii. 4: " What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? " DEATH. Death is the close and release from all the pains of life. So 2 Timothy iv. 8: % " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and not to mo only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." 560 SENECA. DEATH. Death is to be wished for by the most prosper- ous. THE PAST. In the great inconstancy and crowd of events 1 nothing is certain except the past. I TIME. Some portion of our time is taken from us by force; another portion is stolen from us; and an- other slips away. But the most disgraceful loss is that which arises from our own negligence ; and if thou wilt seriously observe, thou shalt perceive that a great part of life flits from those who do evil, a greater from those who do nothing, and the whole from those who do not accomplish the bus- iness which they think that they are doing. So Psalm xc. 9: 4i We spend our years as a tale that is told." TIME. While life is frittered away, it is passing on. WHEN ECONOMY IS TOO LATE. *"""* When we have reached the end of our property, it is too late then to become economical. Hesiodus ('E/jj'ra, 309) says: " Sparingness is too late at the bottom." THE MAX THAT IS REALLY POOR. "** It is not the man who has little, but he who de- sires more, that is poor. A FREQUENT CHANGE IS NOT GOOD. \ The plant which is often transferred does not prosper. SENECA. 551 THE MAN WHO IS EVERYWHERE. The man who is everywhere is nowhere. WHAT TO ADMIRE. Let the man, who shall enter our house, admire ourselves rather than our furniture. NO SATISFACTION WITHOUT A COMPANION. There is no satisfaction in any good without a companion. PRECEPTS CONTRASTED WITH EXAMPLE. The road by pi'ecepts is tedious, by example short and efficacious. So a Corinthians ix. :i: " Your zeal has provoked very many." MEN LEARN BY TEACHING OTHERS. Men, while they teach, learn. THE WEAKNESS OF MAN. I indeed acknowledge my weakness. What hap- pens to the sick, that befalls us whose souls are recovered after a long disease. So Psalm xxxii. 5: "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. 1 said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." LOVE. If thou wishest to be loved, love. So Proverbs viii. 17: " I love them that love me." THE MIND My all I carry with me. - 552 SENECA. HOW TO LIVE. Live with men as if God saw you; converse with God as if men heard you. WITHOUT EVIL, DESIRES. Then know that thou art freed from all evil de- sires, when thou hast reached that point that thou askefct nothing of God except what thou canst ask openly. So Romans xii. 3: " And be not conformed to this world ; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." THE EXAMPLE OF THE GOOD. We must choose some good man, and place him always before our eyes, that we may live as if he were looking at us, and do all as if he saw us. We should have some one to whose manners we may conform our own. So 1 Peter ii. 21 : " Leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps." VICES NOT TO BE REMOVED BY WISDOM. *v No wisdom can remove the natural vices of the body or mind ; what is infixed or inbred may be \ allayed by art, not subdued. V> \ WE CANNOT BE DEPRIVED OF PAST ENJOYMENT. When we retire to rest, let us joyfully and con- tentedly say: "I have lived and finished the course which Fortune had given me." If God grant us to-morrow, let us receive it with thank- fulness. Thrice happy is he, and thoroughly master of himself, who can look forward to to- morrow without anxiety. Whoever has said, "I have lived," rises daily to the acquisition of gain. SENECA. 553 " SUFFICIENT TO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF." Be not wretched before the time; since the things which thou thinkest to be impending per- haps will never happen, at all events have not yet happened. Therefore some things torment us more than they ought; some things torment us before they ought; some things torment us when they ought not to do it at all. So Matthew vi. 31 : " Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the mor- row shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." FOLLY. Among other ills, folly has this also, that it is always beginning to live. HOW TO LIVE. If thou live according to nature, thou wilt never be poor; if according to the opinions of the world, thou wilt never be rich. DEBT. A slight debt makes a man a debtor, a heavy one an enemy. MEN OF GENIUS. There will come after us a long course of ages; a few men of great genius will raise their heads, and though by and by about to sink into the same silent tomb, they will resist the forgetfulness of mankind, and keep themselves a long time in reputation. Of men of genius, Lowell in his poem " An Incident in a Railroad Car," written in 1842, thus speaks : " It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three 554 KENECA. High souls, like those far stars that come in sight Once in a century ; But better far it is to speak One simple word, which now and then Shall waken their free nature in the weak And friendless sons of men." BEGINNING TO LIVE. It is a tedious thing to be always beginning life: they live badly who always begin to live. It is base to speak one thing and to think another : how much more base is it to write one thing and think another. SELF-BESPECT. When thou hast profited so much that thou respectesl; even thyself, thou mayest let go thy tutor. Pope ("Essay on Man, 1 ' Ep. iv. 1. 255) speaks thus ot self-respect: " One self -approving hour whole years outweighs Of stupid starers and of loud huzzas." DEATH. It is uncertain in what place death may await thee: therefore expect it in every place. i Truth is open to all men, she is not yet alto- ' gether laid hold of; much is still left to futurity. FRIENDSHIP. Friendship always does good, love also some- times is injurious. AN OLD MAN. It is an absurd and base thing to see an old SENECA. 555 man at his A, B, C. We should lay up in our youth what we are to make use of in our old age. MANNEKS. .Fortune has no power over manners. PRECEPTS. Precepts are much the same as seed; though small at first, they effect much. So Matthew xiii. 31 : " The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed." , THE NOBLE-MINDED. A noble mind has this excellence in it, that it is incited to honorable deeds. There is no high- minded man that is delighted with base and con- temptible things ; the very appearance of mighty objects invites him and rouses his faculties. So Ezekiel xxxvi 26, 27: " A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart or' flesh. And 1 will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." A VICIOUS AGE. What were vices once are now the fashion. THAT WHICH IS HASTY. 1 Xothing is well ordered which is h^sty and pre- cipitate. GOD 18 IN US. God is nigh to thee, He is with thee, He is in thee; I tell thee, O Lucilius, a holy spirit resideth within us, an observer and guardian of our good and our bad doings, who, as He hath been dealt 556 SENECA. with by us, so He dealeth with us ; no man is good without God. So Romans viii. 9: " If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." THE MIND. A great and sacred spirit talks indeed within us, but cleaves to its divine original. So 1 John iv. 16: " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." PUNISHMENT OF WICKEDNESS. There is no greater punishment of wickedness than that it is dissatisfied with itself and its deeds. NOTHING GREAT IN ITSELF. Whatever is high in the places near it is great there where it rises up : for greatness has no cer- tain measure, comparison either raises or depresses it. GOOD CONSCIENCE. A good conscience may have a crowd around, a bad is even in solitude anxious and care-worn. If thou dost what is honorable, all may know; if thou actest basely, what boots it that no one knows, when thou thyself knowest. O miserable man, if thou despisest such a witness. PEDIGREE. If there is anything good in philosophy, it is this, ^ that it does not regard nobility. All, if we look i back to their first origin, are sprung from the gods. \ SENECA. 557 THE GENTLEMAN". Who is the gentleman? He that is well prepared by nature for virtue. It does not make a noble- man to have his court full of smoky images. No man lived for our glory, neither is that which was before us ours. The mind makes the nobleman, which enables us to rise from the basest condition above fortune. Spenser, in his " Faerie Queen " (vi. 3, 1), thus speaks of the man of gentle manners: " True is, that whilome that good poet said, The gentle mind by gentle deeds is known, For a man by nothing is so well bewray'd As by his manners." Tennyson (" In Memoriam," cant, x.) says: " The grand old name of gentleman Defamed by every charlatan, And soil'd with all ignoble use." BOOKS. It is not how many books thou hast, but how good; careful reading profiteth, while that which is full of variety delighteth. Milton (Areopagitica) says: " A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." VICES UNDER THE NAME OF VIRTUES. Vices creep upon us under the name of virtues. So Ephesians vi. 11 : ' To stand against the wiles of the devil." TO-MOKKOW. Examine each individual, and consider the i whole world, and you will find that there is no , man's life that is not aiming at to-morrow. 558 SENECA. DBESS. He is very silly who values a man either by his dress or by his condition, which is wrapped about him like a garment. MANNERS. Each giveth himself manners : chance bestoweth his office in life. THE GOOD AND THE BAD. Good habits have this advantage among other things, that they give pleasure to those who pos- sess them, and are an enduring possession; where- as the evil-inclined are fickle, often changing, ne v er for the better, but to something else. LOVE. Love cannot be mingled with fear. THE SELFISH. No man can live happily who regards himself alone, who turns everything to his own advantage ; thou must live for another if thou wishest to live for thyself. So Qalatians v. 14: " Thou sha.lt love thy neighbor as thyself." SWIFTNESS OF TIME. The swiftness of time is infinite, as is still more evident when we look back upon the past. Young says: " We take no note of time But from its loss." LANGUAGE OF TRUTH. The language of truth is simple. JCsehylus (Fr.) says: " For the words of truth are simple." SENECA. 559 ORIGINAL SIN. To no man comes a good mind before an evil. LIBERTY. Thou inquirest what liberty is? To be slave to nothing, to.no necessity, to no accidents, to keep Fortune at arm's length. SELF-SUFFICIENT. Nobody is sufficient of himself to escape from the difficulties of life; some one must lend a help- ing hand, some one must bring us out. So Matthew viii. 17: " Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." And Luke xix. 10: " For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was "Oit." THE STRUGGLE OF THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT. What is this, Lucilius, that draggeth us one way when we wish to go another, and urges us to the point whence we wish to recede? What is it that struggles with our souls, and does not allow us to will anything once? So Romans vii. 18: . " For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." OLD AGE. None of us is the same in old age that we were in youth. FORTUNE. Fortune cannot take away that which she has not given. 660 SENECA. SELF-INSPECTION. The ancients thought that self-inspection was particularly necessary f or repentance, particularly as without it the life of man was not possible. So Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and res if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." DEATH. Before old age I took care to live well, in old age I took care to die well; but to die well is to die willingly. TO DO A THING WILLINGLY. I maintain that he who willingly submits to an- other man's command has escaped from the most cruel part of servitude, that is to say, to do tliat which he is unwilling to do. The most miserable man is not he that has a command put upon him, but the man that does it against his will. RICHES. The shortest road to riches is by the contempt of riches* So Matthew vi. 33: " But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous- ness; and all these things shall be added unto you." NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE. Let us think, therefore, dearest Lucilius, that we shall soon arrive at that place whither we grieve that he has reached. And perhaps (if only the idea of the wise is correct and some place or other receives us) he, whom we imagine to be lost, has only gone before us. SENECA. 5(5 1 OUB PREDECESSORS. Those who have been before us have done much, but have not finished anything; yet they are te be looked up to and worshipped as gods. A GREAT MAN MAY ISSUE FROM A COTTAGE, A great man may spring from a cottage; a vir. tuous and great soul may be enclosed in a de- formed and mean body. VIRTUE LOOKS NOT BACK. It is not allowed to virtue to go back. - So Luke ix. 62: " And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." TO LIVE. Mere life is not a blessing, but to live well. FEAR OF DEATH. It is folly to die from fear of death. THE ERRORS OF THE HUMAN MIND. Our mind is darkened to perceive the truth. So Ephesians iv. 18: " Having the understanding darkened because of the blind- ness of their heart." WISDOM NOT TO BE ACQUIRED EASILY. As wool imbibes at once certain colors and others it does not, unless it has been frequently soaked and doubly-dyed: so there are certain kinds of learning which, on being acquired, are thoroughly mastered ; but philosophy, unless she sinks deeply into the soul and has long dwelt there, and has not given a mere coloring but a 30 562 SENECA. deep dye, performs' none of the things which she had promised. TEACHERS. The young venerate and look up to their teach- ers. So Hebrews xiii. 7: " Remember them that have the rule over you." GOD IN MAN. The gods stretch out their hand to those that ascend. Dost thou wonder that man goes to the gods ? God comes to men, nay, what is nearer ; comes into men. There is not any soul that is good without God. THY WILL I5E DONE. Let that please man which has pleased God. So Matthew vi. 10: " Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." SINCERITY. Let us speak what we feel, let us feel what we speak, let our conversation be in accordance with our life. TAKE CARE LEST THOU FALL. There is nobody outside the danger of vice, ex- cept the man who has wholly driven it from him. So 1 Corinthians x. 12: " Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." TO LEARN. Thou must learn as long as thou art ignorant, and, if we give credit to the proverb, so long as thou livest. SENECA. 563 WISDOM. It has happened to no one to be wise by chance. TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD. Truth will never be tedious to him that travels through the nature of things ; it is falsehood that gluts us. OUR GENIUS. To each of us a god is given to be our guide through life, not indeed of the higher kind, but one of a lower degree. So Matthew xvii. 10: " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." FALSEHOOD. Falsehood is of slight texture; it is pellucid, if thou lookest closely at it. GOODNESS. It is not goodness to be better than the very bad. WE SHALL ALL MEET AGAIN. There will come some time, which will join and place us together. So John v. 28, 29. " For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life." WHAT IS HONORABLE. If what thou doest be honorable, let all know it. 564 SENECA. So Matthew v. 15 : " Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." THE DIVINITY OF THE SOUL. Our soul will have wherewith to congratulate it- self, when, emerging from this darkness in which it is involved, it shall behold no dim light, but the brightness of day, and be restored to its own heaven, recovering the place which it enjoyed at the moment of its birth. Its first origin summons it aloft. So John xvii. 5 : "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." TKCTH ALWAYS THE SAME. Truth is always the same in every part of it. THE POOK MAN. The poor man laughs of tener and more securely. THE WIDOW'S MITE. Often what is given is small, the result from it is great. So Mark xii. 43 : " This poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury." A GOOD MAN. No man expresses such a respect and devotion to virtue as he does, who forfeits the repute of be- ing a good man, that he may not lose the con- sciousness of being such. SENECA. 565 RETIREMENT. Retirement without study is death, and the grave - of a living man. GOD 18 EVERYWHERE PRESENT. Of what consequence is it that anything should be concealed from man? nothing is hidden from God: He is present in our minds and comes into the midst of our thoughts. Comes, do I say? as if He were ever absent! So Deuteronomy xxxi. 21 : "I know their imagination." . DRUNKENNESS. Drunkenness is nothing else than voluntary madness. HIGH HONORS. The path to the honors of life is rough and stormy. NATURE. Nature does not bestow virtue; to become good : is an art. THE WORLD. The world is the mighty temple of the gods. So Isaiah xvi. 1 : " The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool : where is the house that ye build unto me ? and where is the place of my rest ? " THE WORSE TO BE GOVERNED BY THE BETTER. For it is the arrangement of nature that the worse should 1-c ruled by the bett "r. 566 SENECA. TIME. | Time will destroy all traces even of those states, which thou now callest magnificent and noble. So Matthew xxiv. 2 : " There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." FATES. It is tedious to recount all the ways of the fates. FOLLY. I It is rashness to condemn that of which thou art ' ignorant. THE FREEMAN.. No man is free who is a slave to the flesh. So Romans vi. 12 : "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." LIFE. This man lived not, but merely had an abode in this life : he died not lately, but long ago. THE POWERS OF THE MIXI). The powers of the mind are nourished and in- creased by precepts. THE EFFECTS OF PROSPERITY. We become wiser by adversity, prosperity de- stroys the idea of what is right. NOBODY ^:RRS FOR HIMSELF. i Nobody errs for himself alone, but scatters his folly among his neighbors and receives theirs in return. SENECA. 567 So Luke vi. 39: " Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch." GOOD PRECEPTS. Good precepts, if they are often found in thy mind, are equally profitable as good, examples. RESPECT OF PARENTS. Respect of parents curbs the spirit and restrains vices. So Proverbs x. 1: " A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother." LOVE CASTETH OUT FEAR. It is enough for God that He is worshipped and loved; love cannot be mingled with fear. So 1 Johniv. 18: " There is no fear in love: but perfect love castoth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us." HOW GOD IS TO BE PROPITIATED. Dost thou wish to propitiate the gods? Be good. Whoever has imitated them, has shown sufficient reverence. So I Samuel xv. 22: " Behold to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." And Ephesians v. 1: " Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children." And Hosea vi. 6: " For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings." GOD REQUIRES NOT SERVANTS. God requires not servants; He is the servant of mankind, is everywhere, and assists all. 568 SENECA. So Jeremiah xxiii. 23: " Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off." THE UNION OF THE HUMAN RACE. The society of man is like a vault of stones, which would fall if the stones did not rest on one another; in this way it is sustained. So Ephesians ii. 20, 21: " And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord." "DEAL THY BREAD TO THE HUNGRY." It is praiseworthy for a man to be kind to his fellow-men. Shall we command him to succor the shipwrecked, to show the wanderer his road, to share his bread with the hungry ? So Isaiah Iviii. 7: "Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that art cast out to thy house." LIFE IS A WARFARE. But life is a warfare. So jEschylus (E im. 149) says: " Reproach springing from my dreams has struck deep into my heart and soul, like the charioteer's firmly-grasped whip; I feel horror, chill horror, creep over me from the never-pity- ing scourge.'' VICE. Thou art mistaken if thou thinkest the vices are born with us; they have supervened, they have come upon us. EVERY AGE WILL PRODUCE A CLODIUS. We shall find Clodii in every age, seldom Catos. SENECA. 569 We are prone to evil, because we are never with- out a leader or companion on our downward way. WHAT IS THE PUNISHMENT OF TRANSGRESSORS ? The first and severest punishment of sinners is the feeling of having sinned; the second is to be always afraid, to be in constant dread, to have no feeling of security. We must confess that evil deeds are lashed by conscience, and that the greatest torture arises on this account, because never-resting remorse oppresses and scourges the mind, no confidence being placed in the vouchers of its security. THE GUILTY. It belongs to the guilty to tremble. _ So Job xv. 20: " The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days." VICE ALWAYS EXISTS. Thou art mistaken if thou thinkest luxury and the neglect of good manners, and other things, which every man finds in the age in which he lives, are the imperfections of our age. It is the men, not the times, that are the cause of this. No age has been free from vice. So Romans v. 13: " Shi is not imputed when there is no law." PROSPERITY IS A FKEBLE REED. He leans on a feeble reed who takes pleasure on what is external to himself. A MIND ANXIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE. The mind that is anxious about the future is wretched. 570 SENECA. Swain says: " Let to-morrow take care of to-morrow, Leave things of the future to fate; What's the use to anticipate sorrow? Life's troubles come never too late." And Moore: " Bound, round, while thus we go round, The best thing a man can do, Is to make it at least a merry-go-round, By sending the wine round too." THE MIND IS SUPERIOR TO EVERY KIND OF FORTUNE. The mind is the master over every kind of fort- une : itself acts in both ways, being the cause of its own happiness and misery. ANTICIPATION OF EVIL. There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it in your expecting evil before it arrives? THE FRAILTY OF MAN. Every day, every hour, shows how insignificant we are, and by a fresh proof warns us if we forget our frailty. DIGNITY. Dignity increases more easily than it begins. What a foolish thing it is to promise ourselves a long life, who are not masters of even to-morrow ! How mad are they who live on long hopes! MAKE HASTE TO LIVE. Make haste to life, and consider each day as a life. SENECA. 571 THE HUMAN MIND. The mind of man is great and noble ; it allows ; no bounds to be put to it except what is common ' and with God. THE EXAMPLE OF THE GOOD. Think what advantage there is in a good exam- ple; thou wilt know that the presence not less than the memory of good men is useful. So John viii. 12: " He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." TIME. This day, which thou fearest as thy last, is the birthday of eternity. So 1 Peter i. 3: " Bles jai be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." EVERY AGE FERTILE IN GENIUS. No age is shut against great genius. - DIFFICULT THINGS. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare to attempt them, but they are difficult be- cause we do not dare to do so. HOW TO GET RID OF OUR EVIL PROPENSITIES. If thou wishest to get rid of thy evil propensi- | ties, thou must keep far from evil companions. So Proverbs i. 10: " My son. if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." 572 SENECA. A BAD CONSCIENCE. In a bad conscience some things may make a man safe, but nothing secure. So Isaiah Ivii. 21: " There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." RECONCILIATION. Let thy reconciliation be both easy and un- doubted. So Matthew v. 25: " Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him." HOW TO ESCAPE ENVY. Thou shalt escape envy if thou makest no show, if thou boastest not of thy fortunes, if thou know- est how to enjoy them thyself. WHY WE LEARN. We acqtiire learning not that we may improve our lives, but for the sake of learned disputation. THE NOBLE-MINDED. The noble spirit is that which gives itself up to God, whereas he is recreant and mean who strug- gles against and thinks ill of the government of the world, and prefers to amend the gods than himself. So 1 Peter iv. 19: " Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.'' FATE LEADS THE WILLING. Fate leads the willing and drags the unwilling. This idea of Seneca is found in a fragment of Cleanthes: "Lead me, O Jupiter, both thou and Fate; wheresoever! SENECA. 573 am directed by you I shall follow without hesitation. Even if I am unwilling, being recalcitrant, nevertheless I shall ba obliged to follow." OLD AGE. Old age is an incurable disease. '-- SOME PASSIONS ABE MORE EASILY CUT OFJ THAN KEGULATED. Some passions cannot be regulated but must be entirely cut off. LIKE SPEECH, LIKE LIFE. Men's conversation resembles their kind of lives. THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE. Nothing will assist thee more in acquiring tem- perance in all tilings than the constant recollection how short-lived thou art, and how uncertain too life is. LOVE OF MONEY. From the time that money began to be regarded ; with honor, the real value of things was forgotten. , Plato says of the rich (Leg. v. 743): "To be very good and very rich is Impossible; the very - rich are not good." So Luke xviii. 24: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God." CARE OF OUR HEALTH. Nature has committed to us the care of what be- longs to us, but if thou attend.est too much to this it is a fault. So Ephesians v. 29: " For no man ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.'' 574 SENECA. YOUNG MEN OUT OP A BAND-BOX. You know some young men, with beard and hair so trimmed, as if they had stepped out of a band- box, but you could expect nothing great from sucli / parties. The conversation is the index of the mind. MONEY FROM ANY SOUKCE. They do not inquire why and whence, but only - how much thou possessest. THE BEING OF GOD PROVED. We are wont to attribute much to what all men presume; with us it is an argument of truth that anything seems true to all, as that there are gods, we hence collect, for that all men have engrafted in them an opinion concerning gods, neither is there any nation so void of laws or good manners, that it does not believe that there are some gods. THE BODY. This body is not a home, but a place of enter- tainment, and that for a short period. So Psalm cxix. 19: " I am a stranger in the earth." NATURE. Nature has given to us the seeds of knowledge, \ not knowledge itself. TO STRIVE AGAINST NATURE. The life of those who strive against nature is no otherwise than theirs who strive against the stream. THE CAUSE OF OUR MISFORTUNES. One of the causes that leads us to misfortune is, SENJUCA. 575 that we live according to the example of others, and are unwilling to submit to reason, but are led astray by custom. So Jeremiah xiii. 23: " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." TALE-BEARERS. Tale-bearers were reputed the Avorst sort of men ; but some there are who spread vices. The speech of these sort of men is productive of much mischief' for although it hurts not instantly, yet it leaves some seeds in the mind, and it follows us even when we have left them, likely hereafter to enkindle in us a new evil. VOYAGE TO INDIA WESTWARD. The inquisitive examiner who looks around him despises the narrow limits of this world in which he dwells. For how short, after all, is the distance that intervenes between the remote shores of Spain and the Indies! a space passed over in a very few short days if a favorable wind fills his sails. PROOF OF THE DIVINITY OF THE SOUL. The soul has this proof of its divine origin, that divine things delight it. TRUTH AND ERROR. There is an end to truth: error is never-endimv. i DISEASE NOT REMOVED BY THE SPLENDOR AROUND. It matters not whether you place the sick man on a wooden bed or one of gold; wherever you lay him, he carries his disease along with him. 676 SENECA. GOD LOVETH NOT TEMPLES MADE WITH IIANI>S. God is not to be worshipped with sacrifices and blood: for what pleasure can He have in the slaughter of the innocent? but with a pure mind, a good and honest purpose. Temples are not to be built for Him with stones piled on high: God is to be consecrated in the breast of each. GOD. The same being whom we call Jupiter, the wisest men regard as the keeper and protector of the universe, a spirit and a mind, the Lord and Maker of this lower world, to whom all names are suitable. Wilt thou call him Destiny? Thou wilt not err. On him depend all things, and all the causes of causes are from him. Wilt thou call him Providence? Thou wilt say well. For it is his wisdom that provides for this world that it be without confusion and proceed on its course with- out change. Wilt thou call him Nature? Thou wilt not commit a mistake. For all things have had their beginning from him, in whom we live and move and have our being. Wilt thou call him the World? Thou wilt not be deceived. For he is all that thou seest, wholly infused into his parts and sustaining himself by his own power. The following is the scholium annexed to the principia of Newton (Cambridge, 1713), which may be. considered as the germ of the celebrated argument a priori for the existence of God: "God is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, He endures from everlasting to everlasting, and is present from infinity to infinity. He is not eternity nor in- finity, but eternal and infinite. He is not duration or space, but he endures and is present. He endures always and is present everywhere, and by existing always and everywhere, constitutes duration and space." SENECA. 577 ALL MUST DIE. We are all reserved for death. All this people, whom thou seest, whom thou thinkest to be any- where, nature will speedily recall and bury; nor is there any question about the thing, but about the day. FATE. Fate goes its round, and if it has missed one thing for a long time, it at last finds it out. It afflicts some more rarely, others more often, but leaves nothing exempt and free from evil. FEAR. If you wish to fear nothing, think that every- thing is to be feared. NO TEMPEST OF LONG DURATION. N"o tempest continues for a long time : the more ( strength storms have, the less time they last. THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD. It was the act of a lofty spirit to examine the hidden places of the nature of things, and not con- tent with their exterior to look into, and descend into, the deep things of God. So 1 Corinthians ii. 10: "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." 37 578 SILIUS 1TALICUS. SILIUS ITALICUS. BORN A.D. 25 DIED A.D. 100. C. SILIUS ITALICUS, born about A.D. 25, became famed at an early age as a pleader at the bar. He was raised to the consulship A.D. 65, the year in which Nero perished. He passed through a pros- perous life amidst very exciting scenes, and at last determined to retire from the busy world that he might enjoy the tranquillity of a literary life. He passed his time chiefly near Puteoli, at the favor- ite villa of Cicero, called Academia. Here he lived happily for many years, till falling into an incurable disease he determined to leave life, which he did by starving himself A.D. 100. He wrote an heroic poem in seventeen books, entitled " Pu- nica," which has reached us entire. DILIGENCE IN WAK. In time of war we must be speedy in execution, and advance to honor through the path of danger. SENATE OF ROME. The consul summons a solemn council; men distinguished by unstained poverty, whose names are known for triumphs in war, a senate that equals the gods in virtue. Valiant deeds and a sacred regard of right raise them aloft; unshorn hair, a simple diet, hands familiar with the crooked plough; content with little, hearts whom no desire of wealth torments, who often retired to their small cottage in triumphal cars. FAITH. Nowhere does faith remain long to mortals when fortunes fails them. SILIUS ITALICUS. 579 TKUE VIRTUE. True virtue advances upwards through difficul- ties, go on to obtain that praise which is not easily gained by the bulk of mankind, and is little known. DEATH MUST COME IN PEACE OR WAR. In peace as well as war an end to life must at last come; our first day gave being to our last; a mighty spirit bestows on few a never-ending name, on those only whom the father of the gods des- tines for the blessed abodes above. SLOTH. Valor, when it has been gradually overpowered by the delicious poison of sloth, grows torpid. ADVERSE FORTUNE IMPROVES MAX. Adversity tries men, and virtue undaunted climbs by rough paths upward to glory. SHORT IS THE CHANCE OF SUCCESS. Away with delay; short-lived is the chance of high fortune. THE WHEEL OF TIME. The wheel of time rolls downward through various chances. GLORY. Glory is a torch to kindle the noble mind, and confidence in the uncertain results of Mars is fool- ish. PATIENCE. It is not so honorable to avoid misfortunes by 580 8ILIUS ITALIC US. our vigilance as to overcome them by noble pa- tience. Euripides (Aiol. FT. 20) says: " Distresses must be endured ; whoever bears with patience the inflictions of the gods, that man is wise." MISERY REMINDS MAX OF GOD. When we are in misery then springs up a rever- ence of the gods : the prosperous seldom approach the sacred altar. TO IN JUKE OUR COUNTRY. Hear and keep this fixed forever in thy breast; to be incensed against thy country is impious, nor is there any sin more heinous that conducts man to the grave. THE GAULS. Besides the Gauls began to look toward home, a people fierce at the first onset, but unsteady; a race boastful in words, and of a light, inconstant mind; they grieved to see a war carried on with- out slaughter (a thing to them unknown), and that their right hands, while they stood in arms, should grow stiff and dry from blood. ADVERSITY GROWS GREATER THROUGH FEAR. The frowns of fortune are deepened to the timid when there is no resistance, and adverse circum- stances go on increasing by yielding to fear. ADVERSITY. For brave men ought not to be cast down by adversity. FAITH TO BE KEPT IN DISTRESS. It is noble, and regarded as the noblest both SILIUS ITALICUS. 581 among nations and individuals, to keep faith in adversity. TRUE KINDNESS. Then is the time to give proof of kindly feel- ings, -when prosperity has fled, and misfortunes call for aid : for to show kindness to the fortunate in no way does honor to the noble. PEACE. Peace is the best of things known to mortals; peace brings greater honor than innumerable tri- umphs: peace that is able to keep the common safety, and to make all citizens equal to each other. DEATH. Every honor is ended by death. LABORS OF LIFE. Overcome every labor by virtuous conduct. VIRTUE HER OWN REWARD. Virtue herself is her noblest reward; yet it is pleasant in the world to come, when life continues among the gods, and oblivion does not destroy glory. BE DARING IN AVAR. Supineness in war is disgraceful. It is by dar- ing that thou mayest bring wars to a successful result. Sloth never yet raised herself to the stars. Hasten on thy mighty deeds; black death impends over thee in the midst of thy labors. THE JOYS OF LIFE. How many things God has formed for joyous 532 8TATIUS. purposes, and has distributed pleasures with a full right hand. SECOND BIBTH. A man cannot be born twice. So John iii. 4: " How can a inau be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? " THE DWELLING OF VIRTUE. My house is chaste and my household gods stand on a lofty hill ; a steep path up a rocky de- clivity leads to it: at first toilsome labor attends it, for I will not deceive : he who wishes to enter must exert all his energy: by and by high above thou shalt behold beneath thee the race of men. This is not unlike the following passage from Milton " On Education ": " I will point out to you the right path of a virtuous and noble education; laborious, indeed, at the first ascent, but al- so so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospects and melo- dious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming." So Psalm xxxvii. 34: " Wait on the Lord and keep His ways." STATIUS. BORN ABOUT A.D. 61 DIED ABOUT A.D. 96. P. PAPINIUS STATIUS was the son of P. Papinius Statius, the preceptor of Domitian, being born at Naples. Of his personal history little is known, as he is mentioned by no ancient author except Juvenal. He gained the prize three times at the STATIUS. 583 Alban games (Suet. Dom. 4). He is said to have been stabbed with a stilus by Domitian. Several of his works are extant. THE DEMAGOGUE. Then one whose nature was to attack the noble with the poisonous slander of his tongue, and who was unwilling to submit to the leaders placed over him, rose up to speak. A TIGER. As the tiger, when he hears the sound of the approaching huntsmen, rustles his spotted skin, shaking off his lazy sleep; he wakes to the com- bat, expands his jaws and points his claws; then bounds into the midst of the bands, and bears off his reeking prey, food for his bloody whelps. THE DESEBVING. A just fortune awaits the deserving. ENVY. There is one above all others, who always acts opposed to the rest of the world, and therefore with difficulty reaches the gods above, prone to insult and sickening at another's joys. Thomson ("The Seasons " " Spring," 1. 283) says: " Base envy withers at another's joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach." AMBITION. O blinded counsels of the guilty ! O wickedness, always full of fearful forebodings ! FEAK. Then fear, the very worst prophet in misfort- unes, anticipates many evils. 584 STATIUS. TO-MORROW. It is unlawful for men to know what may be to- morrow. Simonides of Ceos (Fr. 28, S.) says much to the same ef- fect: " Being a mortal, do not pretend to say what to-morrow will bring forth, nor when you see a man happy, how long he will be so; for the change is quicker than that of a long- winged fly." BLINDNESS OF MAN. O Chance, and the minds of men blind to futu- rity! MERCY. It is a noble act to bestow life on the vanquished. PEACE. Peace is sought for by the cruelty of war. LOVE OF LIFE. The love of life, the last that lingers in the hu- man breast. SLEEP. Beside the cloudy confines of the western night and the distant Ethiopians, there is a musty grove, impenetrable to the brightest star, and under the hollow rocks an immense cave descends into the bowels of the mountain, where sluggish Nature has placed the halls of lazy Sleep and the drowsy god. Motionless Best and dark Oblivion stand on guard, and torpid Sloth with never wakeful eye. At the porch sits Ease, and speechless Silence with close contracted wiiii^s, driving the murmuring winds from the roof, forbidding the foliage to rus- tle, or the birds to twitter: here no roaring of the XT ATI US. 585 ocean, though all the shores resound, no crashing of the thunder: the stream itself, gliding along the deep valleys close to the grotfco, rolls silently between the rocks and cliffs: the sable herds and flocks recline at ease on the ground: the newly-sprung grass withers, and the vapor makes the herbage languid. Glowing Vulcan had formed a thousand statues of the god within : close by it is wreathed Pleasure; here, in attendance, is Toil inclined to rest: here the same couch receives Love and Wine: deep, deep within, he lies with his twin-brother Death, a sad image to none. Be- neath the dew-bespangled cavern, the god himself, released from cares, crowned with drowsy flow- ers, lay on tapestry: his dress sends forth exhala- tions, his couch is warm with his lazy body, and above the bed a dark vapor rises from his half- shut mouth. The one hand sustains his hair hanging over his left temple, the other has dropped the horn unheeded. TAKE TIME. Give not reins to your inflamed passions : take time and grant a little delay: impetuosity man- ages affairs badly. MUSING ON THE BELOVED DEAD. Do thou soothe thy troubled breast, do thou for- bid tears to flow down thy cheeks, and fill the blessed night with pleasing musings, and thy countenance if still alive. Tennyson (In Mem. cxv.) imitates this: " The face will shine Upon me, while I muse alone; And that dear voice I once have known, Still speaks to me of me and mine ! '' 586 TACITUS. THE GODS ABE SUBJECT TO LAAV. The gods also are subject to law, the rapid choir of stars, the moon is subject, nor does the sun fol- low its appointed course without having been so ordained. So Sophocles (Ajax, 669) says: " For all that is dreadful and all that is mightiest giveaway to law. First snow-faced winters yield to fruitful summers, and the orb of murky night gives place to the day with his white steeds to kindle his light, and the blast of the dreadful winds hath lulled the roaring main, nay, all o'erpowering sleep looses where he has bound, nor always holds us cap- tive." Again Shakespeare ("Troilus and Cressida," act i. ac. 3) says: " The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, Observe degree, priority, and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office, and custom, in all line of order." TACITUS. BOBX ABOUT A.D. 59 DIED ABOUT A.D. 120. P. COBNELIUS TACITUS is supposed by some to have been born at Interamna, the modern Terni, but this is doubtful. We find him advanced to office by Vespasian, and to have been a favorite of his sons Titus and Domitian. He married the daughter of C. Julius Agricola, who was consul A.D. 77. He was praetor A.D. 8, and in the reign of Xerva, A.D. 97, he was appointed consul suffec- tus in the place of T. Verginius Rufus, who had died in that year. He was the intimate friend of Pliny the younger, and in the collection of Pliny's TACITUS. 587 Letters we find eleven addressed to Tacitus. The precise time of his death is unknown, nor is it certain whether he left any family, though the Emperor Tacitus claimed to be descended from the historian. PRIVATE HATRED. It is lawful to bury private hatred when it is for the public advantage. So Romans (xiv. 19) : " Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." TRAITORS. Traitors are hateful even to those who gain by their treason. HATRED. Sowing the seeds of hatred, which would lie hid for a long period, and gathering strength would spring up at some distant day. INSTABILITY OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. Alleging the instability of human affairs, and the danger always increasing in proportion to the eminence which a man reaches. PRUDENCE. 1 We accomplish more by prudence than by vio- lence. DOMESTIC EXPENSES. In domestic expenses, such as slaves, plate, and what is necessary for life, there is nothing in it- self excessive, nothing mean but what is made so by the circumstances of the parties. The only 588 TACITUS. reason why the fortune of a senator should differ from the qualification of a knight is not that they are different in nature, hut that they should ex- cel each other in station, rank, and honors, and those other things which are for the recreation of the mind and the health of the body. Unless per- haps you are inclined to maintain that the most illustrious ought to submit to weightier anxieties and greater dangers, while they are without the means to soothe their anxieties and dangers. FALSE COMPASSION. If we yield to false compassion, industry will go to ruin, sloth will predominate, if man has nothing to hope or fear from his own exertions; all being secure of sul sistence, will look to their neighbors for support, being idle in their own business and a burden to the public. Truth is brought to light by time and reflection, Avhile falsehood gathers strength from precipita- tion and bustle. HOW THE DEAD AKE TO BE REVERENCED. The chief duty of friends is not to attend the remains of the dea 1 with unavailing lamentation, but to remember his wishes and execute his com- mands. So Proverbs (x. 7) : " The memory of the just is blessed." FALSE GRIEF. Kone grieve with so much ostentation as those v ho in their hearts rejoire at the event. TACITUS. 589 DAY OF MOURNING. On the day that the remains of Augustus were conveyed to the tomb, there was dreary desolation with passionate sorrow. THE COMMONWEALTH. Whatever be the fate of noble families, the com- monwealth is immortal. FORTUNE TUKNS EVERYTHING TO A JEST. When we review what has been doing in the world, is it not evident that in all transactions, whether of ancient or of modern date, some strange caprice of fortune turns all human wisdom to a jest? LAWS IN A CORRUPT STATE. When the state is most corrupt, the laws are most numerous. Even war is preferable to a wretched and dis- honorable peace. Franklin (Letter to Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773) says: " There never was a good war or a bad peace." And S. Butler (Speeches in the Rump Parliament) says: " It hath been said that an unjust peace is to be preferred before a just war." DISTEMPERS OF THE BODY AND MIND. Chronic diseases of the body thou canst not cure except by harsh, and violent remedies; the heart, too, sick to the very core with vice, corrupted and corrupting, requires an antidote as strong as the poison that inflames our passions. So Matthew (xviii. 8) : " Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them 590 TACITUS. off, and cast them from thee: it Is "better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." SAYING OF TIBERIUS. We are informed by tradition that Tiberius, as often as he went from the Senate-house, used to exclaim in Greek, " Devoted men, how they rush headlong into bondage!" CONSPICUOUS BY ABSENCE. He shone with the greater splendor because he was not seen. This expression is the French " Briller par son absence." CHASTITY. When a woman has lost her chastity, she will shrink from no crime. Scott says: "We hold our greyhound in our hand, Our falcon on our glove; But where shall we find leash or band For dame that loves to rove? " " Where the heart is past hope, the face is past shame." KINDNESSES. Obligations are only then acknowledged, when it seems in our power to requite them; if they exceed our ability, gratitude gives way to our hatred. INFORMERS. In this way informers, a race of men the bane and scourge of society, never having been suffi- ciently curbed by punishment, were drawn forth by the wages of iniquity. TACITUS. 591 THINGS SLIGHT IN APPEARANCE MEEIT ATTEN- TION. it would lie not without advantage to examine these things, slight indeed in appearance, but which are often the secret springs of the most im- portant events. THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. In all . nations the supreme authority is vested either in the people, the nobles or a single indi- vidual. A constitution composed of these three simple forms may, in theory, be praised, but can never exist in fact, or if it should, it will be but of short duration. EXAMPLE. Few are able by their own reflection to draw the line between vice and virtue, or to separate the useful from that which is the opposite ; many learn experience by what happens to others. THE LAST OF THE ROMANS. Cremutius Cordus is accused of a new and, till that time, unheard-of crime, that, having pub- lished a series of annals, he eulogized Brutus, he had styled C. Cassius the last of the Romans. CALUMNY. Calumny when disregarded is soon forgotten by the world; if you get in a passion, it seems to have a foundation of truth. POSTERITY. Posterity gives to every man his true value and proper honor. 5; TAdTl'S. TALENTS PROSCBIBED BY TYRANTS. Wherefore we may well laugh at the folly of those who think that they are able by an arbitrary act to extinguish the light of truth and prevent it reaching posterity. For genius triumphs under oppression; persecute the author and you enhance the value of his work. Foreign tyi-ants, and all who have adopted this barbarous policy, have done nothing but record their own disgrace, and give the author a passport to immortality* So Matthew xxiv. 35: " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." PRAYER OF A GOOD MAN. Piles of stones when the judgment of posterity rises to execration are mere charnel houses. I now, therefore, address myself to thy allies of the empire, the citizens of Rome, and the immortal gods : to the gods it is my prayer that, to the end of life, they may grant the blessing of an undis- turbed, clear, collected mind, with a due sense of laws, both human and divine. Of mankind I re- quest, that, when I am no more, they will do jus- tice to my memory, and with kind acknowledg- ments, record my name and the actions of my life. A MIND ENFEEBLED. When the mind of man is enfeebled by misfort- unes, he bursts into tears. TYRANTS. So true is the saying of the great philosopher, the oracle of ancient wisdom, that if the minds of tyrants were laid open to our view, we should see them gashed and mangled with the whips and TACITUS. 593 stings of horror and remorse. By blows and stripes the flesh is made to quiver; and in like manner, cruelty and inordinate passions, malice and evil deeds, become internal executioners, and, with increasing torture, goad and lacerate the heart. PLANS OF REFORMATION. Like most plans of reformation, it was embraced at first with ardor; but the novelty ceased, and the scheme ended in nothing. THE MOB. Things are neither good nor bad, as they appear to the judgment of the mob. MAN OF FORTITUDE. There are many who encounter adversity, that are happy ; while some in the midst of riches are miserable: everything depends on the fortitude with which the former bear their misfortune, and on the manner in which the latter employ their wealth. CAPACITY FOR BUSINESS. Not for any extraordinary talents, but because he had a capacity of a level for business, and not above it. DEMOCRACY. A regular democracy holds too much of civil liberty; while the domination of the few differs but little from absolute monarchy. ' PRECEDENTS. The measure which I now defend by examples 38 594 TACITUS. will, at a future day, become another precedent. It is now a new regulation; in time it will be his- tory. EMBELLISHMENT OF A STORY. A story embellished merely to create astonish- ment. STOLEN WATERS. Things forbidden have a secret charm. POPULAR OPINION. In human affairs there is nothing so unstable jvrid fluctuating as the fancied pre-eminence which depends on popular opinion, when there is no solid foundation to support it. LOVERS' QUARRELS. Then there is the usual scene when lovers' are excited with each other, quarrels, entreaties, re- proaches, and then fondling reconcilement. HOW PROJECTS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE ARE FRUSTRATED. Projects of great importance are frequently frustrated by envy and fear. THE APPEARANCE OF NATURE REMAINS. The everlasting hills are not changed like the faces of men. DOING EVIL THAT GOOD MAY COME. Every striking example has some injustice mixed up with it: individuals suffer while the public derive benefit. TACITUS. 595 THE AGENTS IN EVIL ACTIONS. The assistants in the commission of crimes are always regarded as if they were reproaching the act. NEW BROOMS. Magistrates discharge their duties best at the beginning, and fall off at the conclusion. THE DESIEE OF PERSONAL SAFETY. The desire of personal safety is always against every great and noble enterprise. LUST OF POWER. The lust of power is the strongest in the human breast. Shakespeare (" Henry VIII.," act iil. sc. 2) says: " Fling away ambition ; By that sin angels fell." THE DESIRE OF POWER. The desire of power is stronger than all other feelings. THE BOLD. Even the bravest men are not proof against a surprise. THE SLOTHFUL. Many enterprises succeed by trying, which seem impracticable to little minds. CUTTING JOKES. He had often made the prince the subject of his raillery; and raillery, when seasoned with truth, never fails to leave a sting that festers in the mem- ory. 596 TACITUS. EFFECT OF INDOLENCE. While other men have been advanced to emi- nence by industry, this man succeeded by mere sluggishness and indolence. ARBITER OF TASTE. Being in favor at court, and cherished as the companion of Nero in his select parties, he was allowed to be the arbiter of taste and elegance. CALUMNY. Spleen and calumny are devoured with a greedy ear. Flattery wears a badge of servitude: while in detraction and invective there appears an un- real kind of liberty. NO CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. Through the rare felicity of the times, you are permitted to think what you please, and to publish what you think. So John xviii. 23: " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me? " SELF-INTEREST. Self-interest, the bane of all true affection. KOMAN PEOPLE. For it is not here as in other nations subject to monarchy that a hereditary despotism exists in a single family and slavery in all the rest; but you are destined to bear sway over a nation, who are equally incapable of entire slavery and of entire frfeedom. A SUCCESSOR. The man whom the public voice has named for TACITUS: 597 the succession is sure to be suspected by the reign- ing prince. THE MOB READY TO APPLAUD ANY PRINCE. The mob have neither judgment nor principle, ready to bawl for the reverse of what they desired in the morning. To be ready with shouts and vociferations, let who will be the reigning prince, has been in all ages the zeal of the vulgar. CRIMES. Crimes succeed by sudden despatch, honest counsels gain vigor by delay. So Romans vi. 12: " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." TO MEET DANGER WITH FORTITUDE. If a man must fall he should manfully meet the danger. THE COWARD IS A BOASTER AFTER BATTLE. Every coward, who showed his timidity in the hour of danger, was lavish of words and playing the braggart with his tongue after the battle. DELAY. There is no room for hesitation in any enterprise which cannot be justified unless it be successful. FOREBODING OF A STORM. A deep and sullen silence prevailed. The very rabble was hushed. Amazement sat on every face. Their eyes watched every motion, and their ears caught every sound. The interval was liig with terror; it was neither a tumult nor a settled calm, but rather s-uch an awful stillness as always indicates mighty terror and mighty fury. 598 TACITUS. NOT TO COME UP TO EXPECTATIONS. While no higher than a private citizen, his merit was thought superior to his rank; and the suf- frages of mankind would have pronounced him worthy of empire, had he never made the experi- ment. Shakespeare ("All's Well that Ends Well," act ii. sc. 1) says: " Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises." THE WICKED. The wicked find it easier to coalesce for sedi- tious purposes than for concord in peace. DANGEROUS ENTERPRISES. Each man, as is usual in dangerous enterprises, expecting the bold example of his comrades, ready to second the insurrection, yet not daring to begin it. FICKLENESS. He had the address to soothe the minds of the soldiers, who (such is the nature of the multitude) are easily inflamed, and with a sudden transition shift to the opposite extreme. PROSPERITY. In the hour of prosperity, even the most illustri- ous generals become haughty and insolent. THE ELEVATION OF NEW MEN. Such is the nature of the human mind, disposed at all times to behold with jealousy the sudden elevation of new men, and to demand that he who has been known in an humble station should know TACITUS. 599 how to rise in the world with temper and modest dignity. A DISSOLUTE SOLDIERY. A slothful and listless soldiery, debauched by the circus and theatres. THE TIMID AND THE BRAVE. The brave and energetic stand a siege even against adversity, the timid and the cowards rush to despair caused by their fears. So Jeremiah xlviii. 10; " Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully." CONTEST FOB EMPIRE. When the contest is for sovereign power, there is no middle course. POPULACE. The populace as usual, knowing neither truth nor falsehood, and indifferent about both, paid their tribute of flattery with noise and uproar. They pressed him to accept t.ie title of Augustus; he declined it for somo time; but the voice of the rabble prevailed. He yielded to their importu- nity; but the compliance was useless, and the honor was of short duration. So 1 Thessaloniaas ii. 5: " Tor noiiher at any tima use;! we flattering words." TOWER. Power is never stable when it exceeds all bounds. CHANGE. New men succeeded, but the measures were still tho same. 600 TACIT is. QUALITIES OF A GENERAL. The proper qualities of a general are forethought and prudence. INCONSIDERATE ACTIONS. All enterprises which are begun inconsiderately are violent at the beginning, but soon languish. TUMULT. In seasons of tumult and public distraction the bold and desperate take the lead; peace and good order are the work of virtue and ability. RETALIATION. So true it is that men are more willing to retali- ate an injury than to requite an obligation; obli- gation implies a debt, which is a painful sensation ; by a stroke of revenge, something is thought to be gained. So 1 Thessalonians v. 13: " See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever f oliow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." LOVE OF FAME THE LAST TO BE RESIGNED BV THE WISE. The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign. Thus Milton in " Lycidas " 0- 70): " Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble mind) To scorn delights and live laborious days." Massinger (" A Very Woman," v. 4) says: " Though the desire of fame be the last weakness, Wise men put off." Plato (" Athen." xi. 507, D.) says: " The love of fame is the last virtue which we throw off at death." TACITUS. 601 LIBERTY. Liberty, that best gift, dealt out by the impartial hand of Nature, even to the brute creation. PROVIDENCE ON THE SIDE OF THE GREAT BATTALIONS. That the gods were on the side of the stronger. So Voltaire to M. le Riche (Feb. 6, 1770): "It is said that God is always for the big battalions." Some one in presence of Napoleon asserted this, but the Emperor remarked, "Nothing of the kind, Providence is always on the side of the last reserve.'' THE COWARD. The most forward in seditious proceedings are cowards in action. THE POOR. The populace who have never more than one day's provision dreaded an approaching famine. Of all that concerns the public, the price of grain is their only care. FAMILY UNION. Fleets and armies are not always the strongest bulwarks; the best resources of the sovereign are in his own family. Friends moulder away; time changes the affections of men; views of interest form new connections; the passions fluctuate; desires arise that cannot be gratified; misunder- standings follow, and friendships are transferred to others ; but the ties of blood still remain in force; -and in that bond of unity consists the secu- rity of the emperor. In his prosperity numbers partiripat.': in the day of trouble, who, except his ivlati >ns. tikes a share in his misfortunes? 602 TACITUS. CONTESTS BETWEEN RELATIVES. The hatreds of relatives are most violent. " The greatest hate springs from the greatest love." RIGHTS OP MAN ALWAYS A SPECIOUS PRETEXT FOR DEMAGOGUES. But the rights of man and such specious lan- guage are the pretext; this has always been the k.n'jfuage of those who want to usurp dominion over them. AN ARMED PEACE IS THE BEST GUARANTEE AGAINST WAR. For the repose of nations cannot be maintained without arms, arms without pay, nor pay without taxes. VICES AS LONG AS THERE ARE MEN. There will be vices as long as there are men. THE JEWS. The Egyptians worship various animals, and also certain symbolical representations, which are the work of men. The Jews acknowledge one God only, and Him they see in the mind's eye, and Him they adore in contemplation, condemning as impious idolators all who, with perishable mate- rials, wrought into the human form, attempt to give a representation of the Deity. The God of the Jews is the great governing Mind that directs and guides the whole form of nature, eternal, in- finite, and neither capable of change nor subject to decay. In consequence of this opinion, no statue was to be seen in their city, much less in their temple. TACITUS. . 603 VIRTUOUS CHARACTERS. Thus virtuous characters are most valued in those times to which they are most congenial. EASIER TO DESTROY THAN REVIVE THE LOVE OF LETTERS. Yet from the infirmity natural to man, the rem- edies are slower in operation than the disease ; and as the growth of bodies is slow and progressive, their destruction rapid and instantaneous, so you will much more easily destroy genius and the love of letters than you will recall them into existence. For even idleness itself possesses charms, which insensibly grow upon us; and sloth at first disliked is afterwards embraced with affection. FAME. Fame, in which even the good often indulge. Common fame does not always err: it sometimes even points out the man to be elected. A HOUSEHOLD. Beginning with himself and his friends, he first reformed his own household a work often at- tended with not less difficulty than the adminis- tration of a province. THE EVILS OF A LUXURIOUS AGE. By degrees man passes to the enjoyments of a vicious life, porticoes, baths, and elegant banquets : this by the ignorant was called a civilized mode of living, though in reality it was only a form of slavery. G04 TACITUS. PLACABILITY. His passion soon passed away and left no trace behind : you had no reason to fear his concealed ill-will. He thought it more honorable to give open offence than to indulge in secret hatred. DEFEAT AND SUCCESS. And those who had lately prided themselves on their prudence and wisdom, were after the success- ful result ardent and full of boasting. This is the unfair tax which commanders of armies must al- ways pay all claim a share of success, while a bad result is ascribed to the commander alone. THE UNKNOWN. Everything unknown is magnified. Longfellow says: " The mighty pyramids of stone That wedge-like cleave the desert airs, When nearer seen, and better known, Are but gigantic flights of stairs." PEACE. To rob, toi-avage, and to murder, in their impos- ing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace. Fear and awe are only weak chains to secure love; when these fetters are broken, the man who forgets to fear will begin to show the effects of his hatred. INJUIUES. It is the property of the human mind to hate those whom we have injured. TACITUS. 605 Dryden ("The Conquest of Granada," Part II. act i. sc. 2) ays: " Forgiveness, to the injured does belong; But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong." Herbert (" Jacula Prudentum ") says: " The offender never pardons." And he, though can-led off in the prime of life, had lived long enough for glory. DOMITIAN. Even Nero had the grace to turn away his eyes from the horrors of his reign. He commanded deeds of cruelty, but never was a spectator of the scene. Under Uomitian it was our wretched lot to behold the tyrant, and to be seen by him, while he kept a register of our sighs and groans. With that fiery visage, of a dye so red that the blush of guilt could never color his cheek, he marked the pale languid countenance of the unhappy victims who shuddered at his frown. THE DEAD. If in another world there is a pious mansion for the blessed; if, as the wisest men have thought, the soul is not extinguished with the body, mayest thou enjoy a state of eternal felicity ! From that station behold thy disconsolate family; exalt our minds from fond regret and unavailing grief to the contemplation of thy virtues. Those we must not lament; it were impiety to sully them with a tear. To cherish their memory, to embalm them with our praises, and if our frail condition will permit, to emulate thy bright example, will be the truest mark of our respect, the best tribute thy family can offer. 606 TERENCE, Young (" Night Thoughts," Night ii. 1. 24): " He mourns the dead who lives as they desire." THE MIND. For in the mind as in a field, though some things may be sown and carefully brought up, yet what springs naturally is most pleasing. ENVY. From the maliciousness of human nature we are always praising what has passed away, and depre- ciating the present. ELOQUENCE. It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, motion to excite it, and it brightens as it burns. TERENCE. BORN B.C. 195 DIED B.C. 159. P. TERENTIUS AFER, born at Carthage, B.C. 195, became the slave of P. Terentius Lucanus, a Ro- man senator. He gave him a good education, and subsequently manumitted him, upon which he assumed, according to the usual practice, his patron's name. The success of his play " The Andria," B.C. 166. introduced him to the most re- fined and intellectual circles of Rome. He is said to have received assistance in the composition of his plays from Scipio and Laelius, who treated him more as a friend than a dependent. As he was a foreigner, and the pure idioms of the Latin TERENCE. 607 language could be little known to him, it is not at all improbable that his plays should have been submitted to the revision of his friends. The ca- lumnious attacks of his rivals are said to have driven him from Italy, when he took refuge in Greece, from which he never returned. Accord- ing to one story, after embarking at Brundisium, he was never heard of more; according to others, he died in some city of the Peloponnesus. He left a daughter, but nothing is known of his family. IGNORANCE. Faith! by too much knowledge they bring it about that they know nothing. OBSCURE DILIGENCE. He prefers to emulate the negligence of the one, rather than the obscure diligence of the other. KINDNESS. But this annoys me; for this reminding me of your kindness is as it were a reproaching me of ingratitude. Shakespeare (" Troilus and Cressicla," act iii. sc. 3) says: " Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion, A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour'd As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done." EXCESS. For I hold this to be the golden rule of life, " Too much of anything is bad." 008 TERENCE. COMPLIANCE. Obsequiousness procures friends, plain dealing breeds hatred. BAD HEABT. From bad dispositions arise bad designs. A SIMPLETON. I am a simple Davus, who can understand plain talk very well, but I have not the sagacity of an CEdipus to fathom the enigma which you propose. , DOTAKDS. This is a beginning of dotards, not of doting. This has been shortened to " amantes, amentes," " in love, a fool." It is translated alliteratively thus in an old transla- tion (1641): "For they are fare as they were lunaticke and not love-sick." " By biting and scratching cats and dogs come together." A WISH. Since the thing you wish cannot be had, wish for that which you can have. THE SICK. We all, when we are well, give good advice to the sick. Sophocles (Trachin. 731): " Not he who shares in the grief may suggest comfort, but he to whom there is no anxiety at home." Shakespeare (" Much Ado About Nothing," act iii. sc. 2) says: " Every one can master a grief but he that has it." And (" Romeo and Juliet," act ii. sc. 2): " He jests at scars that never felt a wound." TERENCE. 009 THAXKS. I do not by any means think it the act of an honorable man, when he has done nothing to merit favor, to require that thanks should be giv- en him. SELF-LOVE. Is there no faith in the affairs of men! It is an old saying, and a true one too, "Of all mankind, each loves himself the best." Menander says: " No one loves another better than himself." SAFETY. My vessel is in harbor, reckless of the troubled sea. LOVEKS. Quarrels of lovers but renew their love. MALICE. Is it to be believed or told that there is such mal- ice in men as to rejoice in misfortunes, and from another's woes to draw delight? Menander says: " Never rejoice at the misfortunes of your neighbor." CHARITY AT HOME. Here, then, is their shameless hnpudence: they cry, Who, then, are you? What are you to me? Why should I give my property to you? Hark ye, I have a right to be my own best friend. INCLINATION. I know it; thou art constrain'd by inclination. 39 610 TEEENCE. FROM THE HEART. Dost thou think that there is little difference whether thou dost a thing from the heart, as na- ture suggests, or with a purpose? AS WE CAN. As we can, according to the old saying, when we cannot, as we would. SAFETY. All is now secure. GRAVITY. A grave severity is in his face, And credit in his words. TO HEAR WHAT IS DISPLEASING. If he persists in saying whatever he pleases, he will hear what is displeasing. This seems to be a translation of a line of Alcaeus (Fr. 62, S.):- "If thou sayest what thou wishes t, thou will hear what thou wishest not." Or of Homer (H. xx. 250): " Whatever words thou shalt say, the same shalt thou hear." ILLS OF LIFE. It happens, as is usual among men, that my ills should reach thy ears before thy joys reach mine. Milton (" Samson Agonistes," 1. 1538) expresses the same idea:- " For evil news rides post, while good news bates." NOTHING NEW. Nothing's said now, but has been said before. TERENCE. Oil St. Jerome relates that his preceptor Donatus, explaining this passage, railed severely at the ancients for taking from him Ms best thoughts, saying: " Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt." See Wharton in his " Essay on Pope," in a note i. 88. Tennyson says: " And o \ her lover's arm. she leant, And round her waist she felt it fold, And far across the hills they went, In that new world that is the old." LOVE. In love there are all these ills: wrongs, suspi- cions, quarrels, reconcilements, war, and peace again. If thou wouldst try to do things thus un- certain ly a certain method, thou wouldst act as wisely as if thou wert to run mad with reason as thy guide. FLATTEKEBS. There is a kind of men who wish to Le at the head of everything, and are not: these I attend; not to make them laugh, like the buffoon, but I laugh with them, and wonder at their parts. Whatever they say, I praise: if they refuse the praise, I praise that also. Does any deny ? I too deny; affirm? I too affirm. In a word, I have brought myself to assent to everything. That now is the best of all professions. In all things. CHANGE. There is, alas, a change OF WIT. They, who have the wit that is in you, often transfer to themselves the glory got by others' care and toil. 612 TEKENCE. SILENCE. This is illustrated by the sublime saying of Soanen, Bishop of Senez, when he was proceeding to exile: " La silence du peuple est la legon des rois." Without good eating and drinking love grows cold. THE WAYS OF WOMEN. Nay, certainly, I know the ways of women : they won't, when thou wilt, and when thou won't, they are passionately fond. Shakespeare (" Hamlet,'' act i. sc. 2) says: " Frailty, thy name is woman 1 " NEIGHBORHOOD. Yet either thy austere life, or else near neigh- borhood, which I consider to be the first step to friendship, causes me to warn thee boldly and as a friend, that thou seemest to me to be acting in a way unsuited to thy age, and otherwise than thy income requires. HUMANITY. Me. Chremesl Ijast thou such leisure from thy own affairs thatthou canst lavish time on those of others, and on matters which don't concern thee? C%.)l am a human being: I consider none of the incidents which befall my fellow-creatures to be matters of unconcern to me. "1 ^J THE MIND. What now prevents his having every earthly TERENCE. 613 blessing that man can possess ? Parents, a pros- perous country, friends, high birth, relatives, riches ? Yet all these take their value from the color of the mind. To him who knows their proper use, -they are blessings: to him who mis- uses them, they are curses. Spenser, in his " Faerie Queen " (vi. 9, 30) speaks thus of the mind of man: " It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor: For some, that hath abundance at his will, Hath not enough, but wants in greatest store; And other, that hath little, asks no more, But in that little is both rich and wise: For wisdom is most riches: fools therefore They are, which do by vows devise; Sith each unto himself his life may fortunise." EXPERIENCE FROM OTHERS' MISFORTUNES. Remember this maxim, to draw from others' misfortunes a profitable lesson for thyself. WOMEN TAKE TIME FOR ADORNMENT. Dost thou not know that her house is a long way off. And then thou knowest the ways of women: while they are setting themselves off and tricking out their persons, it is an age. SIMPLICITY IN DRESS. We found her dressed without gold or trinkets, as ladies who are dressed only for themselves, set off with 110 female paints and pastes. NO FAMOUS DEED WITHOUT DANGER. No great and famous deed is accomplished without danger. 614 TERENCE. A LOVER. I know thee, how little command thou hast over thyself; no double meanings, turning thy neck round to leer, sighs, hems, coughs, or tittering. LICENSE. Ah! what an opening for profligacy thou wilt make! so that in process of time life itself will be a burden. "For we all become worse from too much liberty. \ Whatever comes into his head, he will have, nor will he consider whether it be right or wrong. NATURE OF MANKIND. Gods! that the nature of mankind should be such that they have more wisdom, and determine better in the affairs of others than in their own! Does this superior wisdom arise because, where our own interest is concerned, we are prevented from judging properly either by excessive joy or grief ? How much more wisely does my neighbor here think for me than I do for myself. TRIFLES. She'll take mighty pains To be delivered of some mighty trifle. INDUSTRY. Nothing so difficult but may be won by industry. Herrick (" Seek and Find ") says: " Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out." Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 500, M.) says: " Everything yields to industry." TERENCE. 015 AN IF. Suppose, as some folks say, the sky should fall ? STRICT LAW. For 'tis a common saying and a true, That strictest law is oft the highest wrong. , AGAINST THE GRAIN. There is nothing so easy in itself but grows dif- ficult when it is performed against one's will. HABIT. How many unjust and wicked things are done from mere habit ! HOPE. So we do but live, There's hope. A FATHER'S FEARS. What a world of fears now possess me, because my son has not returned ! And with what appre- hensions am I even now distracted lest he should have taken cold, or had a fall, or broken a limb ! That any human being should entertain in his mind, or by his acts provide, a thing which should be dearer than he is to himself. CHILDREN. For he who has acquired the habit of lying or de- ceiving his father, will do the same with less re- morse to others. N I believe that it is better to bind your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness than by fear. \ 616 TERENCE. KINDNESS. The man is very much mistaken, in my opinion at least, who fancies that authority is more firm and stable that is founded on force than what is built on friendship. This is my way, this is my idea; he who does his duty, driven to it by sever- ity, while he thinks his actions are observed, so long only is he on his guard; if he hopes for se- crecy, he goes back to his own ways again. He whom you have made your own by kindness, does it of good will, is anxious to make a due return, acting present or absent evermore the same. Vriiis, then, is the duty of a father, to make a son embrace a life of virtue rather from choice than from terror or constraint. \ Ben Jonson ("Every Man in his Humor," acti.1 thus ex- presses the idea: " There is a way of winning more by love, And urging of the modesty than fear; Force works on servile natures, not the free. He that's compell'd to goodness may be good; But 'tis but for that fit; where others, drawn By softness and example, get a habit." TO DESPISE MONEY IS GAIN. To seem upon occasion to slight money, Proves, in the end, sometimes the greatest gain. HOPE. San. I never purchase hope with ready money. Syr. Thou'lt never make a fortune: away with thee, thou dost not know how to ensnare men, Sannio. San. Well, perhaps thy way is best; yet I was never so cunning, but I had rather, when it was in my power, receive prompt payment. TERENCE. 617 TRUE WISDOM. That is to be wise to see not merely that which lies before your feet, but to foresee even those things which are in the womb of futurity. Thou, from head to foot, art nought but wis- dom's self: he a mere dotard. Wouldst thou ever permit thy boy to do such things ? Dem. Permit him ? I ? Or should I not much rather smell him out six months before he did but dream of it ? CHILDREN. As fathers form their children, so they prove. Euripides (Fr. Antiop. 17) says: " I announce to all men, that noble children are sprung from noble sires." HOME EDUCATION. He need not go from home for good instruction. EDUCATION. I spare no pains, neglect no means; in a word, I bid him look into the lives of all, as into a mirror, and thence draw from others an example for him- self. "Do this." Syr. Good. Dem. "Fly that." Syr. Very good. Dem. " This deed is highly commendable." Syr. That's the thing. Dem. " That's reprehensible." Syr. Most excellent. EDUCATION. I perceive that the things which we do are silly: 618 TERENCE. but what can one do ? According to men's habits and dispositions, so one must yield to them. LAW. Grant her, then, freely what law else will claim. KESULT OF INDULGENCE. But this immoderate indulgence must assuredly produce some terrible misfortune in the end. SPEAK OF THE DEVIL. The wolf i' th' fable. I AM A FKAIL MAN. Do you not remember that I am a frail human being ? and therefore I have erred. This is probably the origin of the phrase "en-are huma- num est," which first appears in the " Antilucretius sive de deo natura, ' a didactic poem of the Cardinal de Poliguac (Paris, 1747). It is found in bk. v. 1. 59. THE POOH AKE SUSPICIOUS OF NEGLECT. All whose fortunes are less prosperous, are, I know not how, the more suspicious; they take everything as if insult were intended : on account of their peculiar state of indigence, they always think themselves to be slighted. A BLUSH. He blushes. All's safe, I find. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1091, M.) says: " The man that neither blushes nor fears, has the initiative to every kind of shamelessness." Young (" Night Thoughts " Night vii. 496): " The man that blushes is not quite a brute." TERENCE. 619 LIFE OF MAN LIKE A GAME AT DICE. The life of man is like a game at dice: if the favorable throw be not cast, that which chance sends you must try to amend by skill. Alexis (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 697, M.) says: "Such a life is like dice: the same throws do not always turn up, nor does the same form remain to life, but it has changes." PROVIDENCE UNABLE TO SAVE SOME MEN. 'Tis not in the power Of Providence herself, howe'er desirous, To save from ruin such a family. TWO DOING THE SAME THING. When two persons do the self-same thing, it oftentimes falls out that in the one it is criminal, in the other it is not so, not that the thing itself is different, but he who does it. BULE OF LIFE CHANGED BY EXPERIENCE. Never did man lay down so wise a rule of life but fortune, age, experience made some change in it, and taught you that those things which you thought you knew you did not know; and the I things which you deemed your chief perfections from experience you threw by. GENTLENESS. I have found by dear experience that there is nothing so advantageous f-or man as mildness and a forgiving disposition. So Zechariafi vii. 9: ' Show mercy and compassions every man to his brother." 620 TERENCE. OLD MEN. It is the common failing of old men To be too much intent on worldly matters. TO FOIL A MAN AT HIS OWN WEAPONS. I foil him at his own weapons. MISFOHTUNE. For when mischance befalls us, all the interval between its happening and our knowledge of it may be esteemed clear gain. WOMEN ARE WEAK OF SOUL. For often a trifling cause, which would not move another's spleen, makes the choleric man your most bitter enemy. For how slight causes chil- dren squabble ! Why? Because they are governed by a feeble mind. Women, like children, are im- potent and weak of soul. A single word perhaps has kindled all this enmity between them. WE RISE OR FALL ACCORDING TO OUR FORTUNE. All of us, according as our affairs prosper, are elated or cast down. MEN OF PLEASURE. He was his whole lifetime a man of pleasure, , and those who are so do not much enrich their ( heir; yet they leave this praise behind them, " While he lived he lived well." PAYMENT OF DEBTS. As times go now, things are come to such a pass that, if a man pays you what he owes, you are much beholden to him. TERENCE. 621 MOUNTAINS OF GOLD. Promising mountains of gold. This proverbial expression is found in Sallust (Cat. 23), be- ing derived from the Persians boasting of mountains of gold, as that metal abounded with them. TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS. For what a foolish task To kick against the pricks! PATIENCE. Whate'er chance brings, I will patiently endure. Alexis (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 753, M.) says: " For it is the part of a wise man to bear the buffets of for- tune with patience." And Hurdis says: " The noblest fortitude, is still to bear Accumulated ills and never faint." DISCONTENT. We are almost all of this disposition, that we are never satisfied with our own. FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE. Fortune favors the brave. ALL ALIKE. De. See all alike ! the whole gang hangs together : know one, and you know all. Ph. Nay, it is not so. De. One is in fault, the other is at hand to bear him out: when the other slips, he is ready; each in their turn. 622 TEEENCE. BORROWING EASILY SAID. Ge. It was not the reckoning, but money that was wanting. De. He might have borrowed. Ge. Have borrowed it! easily said. FLEECE THE SIMPLE. Because the net is not stretched to catch the hawk or kite, who do us wrong: it is laid for those who do us none at all. In them there is some- thing to be got, in these it is mere labor lost. FIRST ATTACK. The first attack's the fiercest. PEDIGREE. If he had left behind him a property of some ten talents. De. Out upon you. Ph. Then you would have been the first to trace your descent from grandsire and great-grandsiie. A MATTER SETTLED. Oh! that matter is all settled.' Think on't no more. MANY MEN, MANY MINDS. Many men, many minds. Euripides (Fr. Rhadam. 1) says: "Various are the inclinations of man: this one longs for high descent: to this other there is no such thought, but he wishes to be called the master of much wealth in his house: this other, who can speak nothing sensible, tries to persuade his neighbors with sheer shamelessness: some men seek base gam before what is honorable, in such various ways do men stray. I, however, wish none of these, but would desire to have the glory of high fame." TERENCE. 623 TO HARP ON THE SAME STRING. You are harping on the same string. GIVE PLACE TO YOUR BETTERS. I have found a ready paymaster, no sniveller: give place then to your betters ! WORDS TO THE WISE. A word to the wise. TWO STRINGS TO MY BOW. I think it better to have two strings to my bow. A HANGING MATTER. Nothing indeed remains for me but that I should hang myself. A TALE. Many a tale is spoilt in telling, Antipho. FORTUNE. How often Fortune blindly brings about More than we dare to hope for! KNAVERY. Knavery's now its own reward. 624 TIBULLUS. TIBULLUS. BORX ABOUT B.C. 59 PIED ABOUT B.C. 18. ALBIUS TIBULLUS was bom about B.C. 59, of equestrian rank, but of his youth and education we know nothing. His property was situated at Pedum, between Tibur and Praeneste, and, like many others, in consequence of the civil wars, he was deprived of a large portion of it. He accom- panied his patron, Messala, when he was de- spatched by Augustus to suppress a formidable insurrection which had broken out in Aquitania, a province of Gaul, and subsequently proceeded with Messala on his way to the East, whither he was sent to reorganize that part of the empire. Being taken ill, he was obliged to remain at Cor- cyra (Corfu), whence he returned to Rome, and thus ended the active life of Tibullus. He spent the remainder of his short life in composing those poetical effusions which have come down to us. Delia, be not afraid to elude thy guards: thtm must be courageous: Vtnus herself aids the ad- venturous maiden. PERJURIES OF LOVERS. Fear not to swear; the winds carry the perjuries of lovers without effect over land and sea, thanks to Jupiter; the father of the gods himself has de- nied effect to what foolish lovers in their eager- ness have sworn. PASSAGE OF TIME. But if thou delayest, thou wilt be wrong: how TIBULLUS. 625 swiftly time passes ! the day moves not sluggishly nor goes back. How quickly the earth loses its gay colors ! how quickly the white poplar its leafy honors ! how slothf ully lies the horse, which flew when young in the Olympic course, when it is un- nerved by age ! I have seen the youth, whom age has come upon, bewail the days he has passed in folly. Ye cruel gods! the serpent strips off his years and renews his youth : fate allows no delay to beauty. Apollo and Bacchus are the only gods that know no change : their locks are ever unfad- ing. WINE. Bacchus causes country swains oppressed with cares to forget themselves in joys: Bacchus gives respite to the wretch's pains, though his legs be galled with rattling chains. Pindar (Fr. Incert. 61) says something to the same effect: " When the wearying cares of men fly from their breasts, and we all alike sail in the sea of gold-abounding plenty to a false shore: the poor become rich, the rich abound still more, with their minds under the influence of wine." BE DILIGENT IN YOUTH. But thou, while the summer of life is in bloom, enjoy it, it passes away with rapid step. So Ecclesiastes (xi. 6): " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." DECEIT. Ah wretch ! even though one may be able at first to conceal his perjuries, yet Punishment creeps on, though late, with noiseless step. DECEIT. When thou art preparing to commit a sin, think 40 626 TIBULLU8. not that thou wilt conceal it; there is a God that forbids crimes to be hidden. Plutarch (Dem. 42) says: " There is nothing so becoming a king as just dealing." Deuteronomy (xvi. 19): "Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous." 1 Peter ii. 1 : " Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hy- pocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." EARLY AGES. This vice proceeds from greedy thirst of gold : there were no wars when draughts were quaffed from beechen cups ; then there were no towers, no ramparts; the shepherd slept secure amidst his numerous flocks, PLEASURES OF COUNTRY LIFE. How much more wise the man who, surrounded by his children, spends his old age in some small cottagel He tends the sheep, his son the lambs; while his wife prepares warm water for his weary feet. Such may I be, and may I with hoary locks i-elate in my old age the deeds of earlier times. .i?' r " DEATH* What madness is it to summon gloomy death by wars ? It is always impending and advancing se- cretly with noiseless step. In the regions below there are no corn-fields, no clustering vines, but fierce Cerberus and the filthy ferryman of the stygian waters* PEACE. Meanwhile may Peace cultivate the fields. It T1BULLUS. 627 was auspicious Peace that first instructed the oxen to draw the crooked plough. It was Peace that planted the vines and gave juice to the grapes, that the paternal jar may furnish wine to cheer the son. In piping times of Peace the rake and the plough ply with diligence, while rust eats into the gloomy arms of the fierce soldiers in darkness. Aristophanes (Fr. Com. Gr. I. p. 284 M.) says: "A. The faithful nurse, housekeeper, co-operator, guar- dian, daughter, sister of Peace, the friend of all men, all these names are used by me. B. What is your name? A. What? Agriculture." AN EPITAPH. And at departure he will say, " Mayest thou rest soundly and quietly, and may the light turf lie easy on thy bones." HAPPY FAMILY. Warmed by wine, he will kindle heaps of light straw and leap across the sacred flames; the moth- er will bring forward her children, and the child, seizing his father by the ears, will snatch kisses. And the grandsire will delight to watch his little grandchild, and in his old age will lisp words to the boy. HOPE. I would long ere this have quenched my sor- rows in death, had not flattering hope cherished life, and always whispered that to-morrow would be happier day. It is hope that cheers the peas- ant, hope that intrusts the seed to the furrows to be returned with abundant interest. It is hope that catches birds with gins, fishes with the rod, when the bait has conceal' d the slender hook. 628 TIBULLUS. Hope also comforts the prisoner bound in chains; his legs rattle with the fetters, but he sings in the midst of his work. Shakespeare (" Richard III.," act v. sc. 2): " True hope is swift, and flies with swallows' wings, Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings." WINE. The joyous god enlarges the soul: he subdued the stubborn hero (Hercules), and made him sub- servient to his mistress. He overcame Armenian tigresses and tawny lionesses, giving a soft heart to the ungovernable. FORCED LAUGHTER. Ah, me! how difficult it is to imitate false mirth; how difficult to mimic cheerfulness with a sad heart : a smile suits not well a countenance that belies it; nor do drunken words sound well from an anxious mind. WOES OF ANOTHER. Happy thou who canst learn to guard against thy own ills by observing those of another. PERJURIES OF LOVERS. Though she shall boldly swear by her eyes, by Juno and her Venus, there is nothing in it: Jupi- ter laughs at the perjuries of lovers, and throws them idly to the winds. A LOVER'S PRAYER. How could I, blest with thee, long nights employ? And how with thee the longest day enjoy! VAEBO. 629 THE WILL FOR THE DEED. Let the will be taken for the deed, nor refuse the gift of my humble muse. VAERO. BORN B.C. 116 DIED B.C. 28. M. TERENTIUS VARRO, the most learned of the Romans, was born B.C. 116, being ten years young- er than Cicero. He received his early education from L. ^Elius Stilo Prseconinus, who was fond of antiquarian, pursuits, and from him no doubt he imbibed his literary tastes, which makes St. Au- gustine remark, " That he had read so much that it is astonishing he should have found time to write anything, and he wrote so much that it is difficult to believe that any one could find time to read all that he had written." In what way he rose in the service of the State has not been hand- ed down to us, but he was employed in the wars against the pirates and Mithridates. He was at- tached to the party of the senate, and shared its fortunes at the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 48. He submitted to the clemency of the conqueror, and was received into favor by Ca3sar, though not before Antony had plundered and destroyed his villa, with all his books, at Casinum, which Cicero bitterly laments. He was proscribed in the second triumvirate, though he was more lucky than Cicero, as he contrived to conceal himself till he had secured the favor of Augustus. From this time he devoted himself to the seclusion of 1't- 630 VABRO. erary life, and employed himself in composing works, which amounted at last to four hundred and ninety books. They are nearly all lost. TO PACK UP OUR BAGGAGE AT END OF LIFE. For my eightieth year warns me to pack up my baggage before I leave life. ' THAT MAN OUGHT TO BE COGNOSCED. He who overlooks a healthy spot for the site of his house is mad, and ought to be handed over to the care of his relations and friends. GOD MADE THE COUNTRY, MAN THE TOWN. Nor is it surprising, because it is Providence that has given us the country and the*art of man that has built the cities. Cowper (" The Task," 1. 745) has appropriated this idea: " God made the country, and man made the town." Cowley ("The Garden," Essay v.): " God the first garden made, and the first city Cain." And Bacon (" Essays," " Of Gardens "): " God Almighty first planted a garden." 'llE AVIIO RUNS MAY HEAD." Thou hast read what I have written, I may say, running and playing. Habakkuk ii. 2, says: " Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." THE CHILD. For the midwife delivers the child, the nurse brings it up, the attendant slave forms its man- ners, and tin 1 master teaches it. VIRGIL. 631 EVEKY FAMILY OUGHT TO WORSHIP GOD. As a state ought to acknowledge God in its pub- lic capacity, so ought each individual family. So Joshua xxiv. 15 : " As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord." VIKGIL. BORN B.C. 70 DIED B.C. 19. P. VIRGILJUS MARO was born on the 18th of October B.C. 70, at Andes, a small village near Mantua in. Cisalpine Gaul. His father had a small estate which he cultivated; his mother's name was Maia. Virgil was educated at Cremona and Mediolanum (Milan), and is said to have studied subsequently at Naples under Parthenius, a native of Bithynia. It is evident from his writings that he had received a learned education, but his health was feeble, and he did not attempt to rise to eminence by any of those means by which a Ro- man earned distinction. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, B.C. 42, the inhabitants of the north of Italy were deprived of their property that the victorious soldiery might be provided with land, and among others Virgil suffered. Through the intervention, however, of his friends at Rome, his property was restored, and the iirst eclogue is supposed to have been written to com- memorate his gratitude to Augustus. When Au- gustus was returning from Samos, where he had spent the winter of B.C. 20, he met Virgil at Ath- ens. It is said that the poet had intended to make 632 VIRGIL. a tour of Greece, but he accompanied the emperor to Megara and thence to Italy. His health, which had been long declining, was now completely broken down, and he died soon after his arrival at Brundisium, on the 22d September B.C. 19. His remains were transferred to Naples, which had been his favorite residence, and placed on the road from Naples to Puteoli, where his tomb is still shown. EXILE. We are leaving our country and its sweet fields. Euripides (Fr. Aiol. 28) says : " But yet it is a sad life to leave the fields of our native country." So Shakespeare ("Richard II.," act i. sc. 3) says : "Then England's ground, farewell ! sweet soil, adieu; My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet ! Where'er I wander, boast of this I can, Though banish'd, yet a true-born Englishman." ENVY. For my part I have no feeling of envy at your fortune ; I rather am surprised at your luck. COMPARISONS. Thus I knew that whelps were like to their sires, kids to their mothers; so I used to compare great things with small. BRITAIN. And Britons wholly separated from the rest of the world. CIVIL DISCORD. Shall some barbarian plant and sow these fields ? See to what a state civil discord has brought wretched citizens! VIRGIL. 633 COUNTRY LIFE. This night, at least, you might remain with me on the green leaves; we have plenty of excellent apples, soft chestnuts, with curds and cream; sec, too, the curling smoke is rising from the cottages, and the lofty mountains are throwing out their lengthening shadows. TRUST NOT TO BEAUTY. Though he was black and thou art heavenly fair, O fair boy, trust not too much to thy beauty. EACH FOLLOWS HIS OWN PLEASURE. Alexis, thou art chased by Corydon; every one pursues his own pleasure. EVENING. See, the steers are bringing back the ploughs suspended from the yoke; and the setting sun is doubling the lengthening shadows; yet still I am burned by love; what bounds can be set to love ? SERVANTS. What would their masters do when their knavish servants prate at such a rate I SPRING. And now every field is clothed with grass, every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms; now the year assumes its gayest attire. So Shakespeare (" Winter's Tale," act iv. sc. 3) says: " O Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frightened, thou lett'st fall From Dis's wagon ! daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty ; violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, 034 VIRGIL. Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried, ere they can behold Bright Phoebus in his strength, a malady Most incident to maids: bold oxlips, and The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one ! " Spenser (" Faerie Queen," vi.): " So forth issued the seasons of the year: First lusty spring all dight in leaves of flowers, That freshly -budded and new blooms did bear, In which a thousand birds had built their bowers, That sweetly sung to call forth paramours. BAD TASTE. Let him who does not hate Bavius love thy verses. Maevius; and let him join foxes in the yoke and milk he-goats,. THE SECRET SNAKE. Ye boys, who are gathering flowers, and low- growing flowers, fly hence, a cold snake is lurking among the grass. DECISION DIFFICULT. It does not belong to us to settle such a mighty dispute. O divine poet, thy poetry is as charming to our ear as sleep to the weary swain, as to the feverish traveller the crystal stream with which he quenches his thirst. Theocritus (Idyl. viii. 77) says to the same effect: " Sweet is it in summer to sleep in the open air beside run- ning water." POET'S FAME. While the boar delights in the mountain tops, VIRGIL. 635 the fish in the rivers, while the bees feed on thyme, so long will the glory of thy name and thy praise remain. TO SEEM IS ENOUGH. Loose me, boys; it is enough that you have seemed able to overpower me. ARCADIANS. Both in the flower of their age, both Arcadian swains, able to sing and to answer in alternate verses. Byron (" Don Juan," cant. iv. st. 93) thus uses the expres- sion: " Arcades ambo," id est. Blackguards both. BEAUTIES OF COUNTRY. The ash is the fairest tree in the woods, the pine in the gardens, the poplar by the brooks, the lir on the high mountains; but, O fair Lycidas, if thou wilt oft visit me, the ash in the woods shall yield to thee, and the pine in the gardens. DIFFEKENCE OF POWERS. We are not all able to accomplish the same things. MANTUA. Ah Mantua too near to the wretched Cremona! A GOOSE. The goose gabbles 'midst the melodious swans. TIME. Time destroys all things, even the powers of the mind. 636 VIKGIL. LOVE IS NEVER SATISFIED. Love is never satisfied with tears, sooner are the meadows with the waters of the rivulets, the bees with the cytisus, and the goats with leaves. LOVE CONQUERS ALL THINGS. Love conquers all; and we must yield to Love. MAN. Whence men, a hard, laborious kind, were born. INDUSTRY. The father of the gods himself did not desire that the art of cultivating the ground should be easily acquired; he was the first to turn up the soil by skill, whetting human industry by care, nor did he allow his reign to grow torpid by slug- gishness. NECESSITY MOTHER OF INVENTION. Jove added venom to the black vipers, commis- sioned wolves to gather their prey, and the sea to be lashed by the raging storms; honey he shook from the leaves, removing from human reach the cheerful fire, and stopping the wine which ran in rivulets, that man might gradually through expe- rience explore useful arts, raising corn from the furrows, and forcing the hidden fire from the clashing flints. INDUSTRY. Then various arts succeeded each other; perse- vering labor overcomes everything and pressing want in the midst of hard penury. Franklin says: "S! >rh makes all things difficult, but Industry all easy; VIRGIL. 637 and 'he that riseth ,late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes him." DEGENERACY OF MANKIND. Thus all things by the decree of Fate are turned to worse and carried back, just as the rower, who stems the current, if he but slack his arm, is borne down the channel with headlong haste. THUNDER-STORM. The father of the gods himself, shrouded in dark storms, darts his fiery bolts with flashing right hand, making the mighty earth to tremble ; the wild beasts fly; dark horror seizes every hu- man breast; Athos, Khodope, and lofty Ceraunus topple down from their old foundations; the winds redouble their fury; woods and shores roar, lashed by the furious winds*. CUSTOM. So much power has custom over tender minds. This is the advice of Solomon (Proverbs xxii. 6) ; " Train up a child in. the way he should go." Pope (." Moral Essays," i. pt. 2) says: " Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd." COMPETENCY. Praise spacious vineyards, but be content to cultivate those of less extent. COUNTRY IIFE. O too happy swains, if they only knew their happy state, who, far removed from civil broils, enjoy the fruits poured forth by Nature's bounty. Though no lofty palace with spacious gates sends f jrth crowds of early visitants from every entrance, 638 VIRGIL. with eager eyes devouring variegated posts of beautiful tortoise-shell, gold-embroidered dresses, figures of Corinthian brass, arras purple-dyed, and the smell of costly perfumes, yet he enjoys easy quiet, a harmless life that knows not to de- ceive, rich in home-bred plenty, the joys of a wide- extending country, grots, and crystal lakes, cool, groves, the lowing of cattle, and sweet repose at night; woods abounding in untamed beasts; there we find youth inured to labor and accustomed to homely fare, sacred shrines and sires of venerable age; here Astraea, as she left the earth, showed the last traces of her departing steps. THE HAPPY MAN. / Happy the man who has been able to dive into Nature' slaws, and has trampled underfoot fears and unyielding Fate, laughing at the approach of all-subduing death. THE VARIOUS LIVES OF MAN. Some pass their lives at sea, some in the camp, others frequent the palace and courts of kings; another aims at the destruction of the city and its gods, that he may get riches to enable him to drink from bowls enchased with gems, and stretch his limbs on Tyrian purple; another hides his wealth, brooding over his buried store ; this man is fond of popular praise, the applause of lords and commoners delighting his ear from both benches. Some take pleasure in the slaughter of their brethren, exchanging their sweet homes for exile, and seeking lands that lie beneath another sun. FAME. I must attempt new ways, by which I may raise VIRGIL. 639 myself from the ground and wing my flight to fame. Theognis has the same idea (1. 237) : " I have given myself wings . . . re-echoed from the mouths of many." Milton (" Tract of Education ") says: " Inflamed with the study of learning and the admiration of virtue; stirred up with higli hopes of living to be brave men and worthy patriots, dear to god and famous to all ages." LIFE OF MAN. Youth, the best part of life, flies quickly from miserable mortals; diseases succeed, sad old age, anxious labors, and death's inexorable doom hurry them off. Diphilus (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 1078 M.) says: "Man may look for trouble, for we fall in with woes day after day." NO BEST. No stop, no stay. EDUCATION. : Begin early the course of education, while the mind is pliant and age is flexible. LOVE. Thus every creature on earth, man and beast, fish, cattle, and birds with variegated plumage, rush into the fire of love; Love is the lord of all. Sir W. Scott (" The Lay of the Last Minstrel," cant. iii. St. 1) thus paraphrases the idea: "In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed : In halls, in gay attire is seen ; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove. And men below, and saints above ; For love is heaven, and heaven is love." 640 VIRGIL. LOVE EXEMPLIFIED BY LEANDER. What did the youth Leander, whom love's un- erring dart transfixed; alone, by night amidst the tempest's roar, he swims across the strait; over him the rolling thunder rattles, and around him the billows dashed against the rocks roar; neither can his miserable parents call him back nor the virgin (Hero) doomed to die on the sad pile. TIME. Time flies not to be recalled. VICE. The vice is fed and gathers strength by its very concealment. PLEASURES OF COUNTRY LIFE. What avails their well-deserving toil? to turn up the sluggish soil; but no draughts of Massic wine nor undigested feasts injure their stomachs; they live on salad and simple food; their drink is the crystal springs and the running stream; no care deprives them of healthful sleep. LABOB. Slight is the subject but the praise not small. MIGHTY SOULS. They have mighty souls in tiny bodies. THE GRAVE. All this commotion of spirit and this deadly fray will soon rest under a few h&ndf ills of dust, scattered over their bodies. VIRGIL. 641 THE STUDIES OF INGLORIOUS EASE. Indulging in the pursuits of inglorious ease. RESENTMENT IN HEAVENLY MINDS. Is there so great wrath to be found in the breasts of the heavenly gods? Milton (" Paradise Lost," book vi. 788) says: "In heavenly Spirits could such perverseness dwell?" SECEET RESENTMENT CHERISHED. The decision of Paris, and the affront offered to her slighted beauty, remain deeply treasured up in her mind. HERE AND THERE. A few appear swimming here and there amid \ the vast and roaring abyss, arms of men, pictures \ _/ of Trojan treasure are seen scattered over the waves. / A TUMULT. And as in a mighty crowd, when a tumult has arisen, and the shouting varletry rage, firebrands and stones fly, their fury supplies them with arms ; then, if it chances that they see some man of great influence by his piety and merits, they are silent and stand with listening ears; he directs them by his words, and soothes their angry mood. SCENERY. There is a place at the bottom of a deep recess ; an island forms a secure harbor by the jutting out of its sides, against which every wave from the deep is broken, and divides itself into receding curves. On this side and on that are vast rocks, and twin-like cliffs raise their threatening heads 41 C42 VIRGIL. towards the sky, at the base of which the waters far and wide lie unruffled and calm: then again, crowning the high grounds, is a wall of foliage, formed of waving trees, while a grove, dark with gloomy shade, hangs threatening over. Beneath the brow, as it fronts the view, there is a cave amid hanging cliffs; within sweet water and seats in the natural rock, the dwelling of the Nymphs. THE LONGEST DAY COMES TO AN END. O my companions, O ye who have endured greater hardships (for we are not unacquainted with previous ills), God will put an end to these too. PAST MISFORTUNES REMEMBERED WITH PLEASURE. You, too, know the rocky shore, where dwell the Cyclops. Resume your courage and away with gloomy fear. Perhaps it will delight us here- after to recall to mind even the present dangers. PERSEVERANCE. Be of stout heart, and preserve yourselves for better times. DISSIMULATION. And sick at heart with mighty cares, he assumes an appearance of hope in his look, keeping deep sorrow down in his breast. Shakespeare (" Macbeth," act i. sc. 5) says:-^ " To beguile the time, Look like the tune ; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it." ROMANS. Nay, the harsh spirited Juno herself, who now VIRGIL. 64C wearies out, by the fears she excites, the sea, the earth, and the heaven, shall change her counsels for the better, and shall cherish with me the Ro- mans, the lords of the world and the gowned na tion. THE GOLDEN AGE SHALL, KETUEN. The Faith of the good old times, Vesta, Romu- lus, with his brother Remus, shall administer jus- tice: the cruel gates of War shall be closed with bolts and iron bars: impious Fury within, seated on savage arms and bound with a hundred brazen chains, shall roar horribly with blood-stained mouth. VENUS. She said, and, turning away, flashed on the view with her rosy neck, and from her head the ambro- sial locks breathed a heavenly odor* her robes de- scended to the ground in a sweep, and in her gait the true goddess was displayed to view. Such toil is theirs, as that of bees, beneath the rays of the sun, throughout the flowery fields, in the beginning of summer, when they lead forth their grown-up offspring, or when they stow away the liquid honey and fill the cells with sweet nec- tar; or receive the loads of the bees coming in. or, forming a band, drive from the hives the lazy drones: the work goes busily forward, and the fragrant honey is redolent of thyme. Shakespeare (" Henry V.," act i. sc. 2) says: " So work the honey bees; Creatures, that by a rule in nature teach The art of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts; (U4 VIKGIL. Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; Which pillage they with merry march bring home, To the tent-royal of their emperor; Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The siiiKing masons building roofs of gold; The civil citizens kneading up the honey; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate; The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o'er to. executors pale The lazy yawning drone."' So Homer (II. ii. 87) says: "As the swarms of thick -flying bees, issuing ever fresh from a hollow rock, fly in clusters on the vernal flowers: in crowds here and in crowds there." Milton, too ("Paradise Lost,'' i. 74S), says: " As bees In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive In clusters: they among fresh dews and flowers, Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw-built citadel, Now rubb'd with balm, expatiate and confer Their state affairs." TEAKS. See, here is our Priam.' Even here has praise- worthy conduct its reward; even here are tears for misfortunes, and human affairs exert a touching influence on the heart. Away with fear ; this fame of our deeds of glory \viil bring safety. Thus he speaks and dotes on the unreal picture. THE (sous AI:K JUST. , I If you pay no attention to the opinion which men will have of such conduct, and despise the vengeance which they may seek to inflict, at least recollc < t that the gods ;i:r mindi'ul of right and wn>n 045 TROJAN AND TYIUAN. Trojan and Tyrian shall be treated by me with- out distinction. AENEAS. There stood /Eneas and shone forth in full effulgence, in visage and in shoulders like a god: for his mother herself had breathed upon her son beautiful locks and the bright light of youth, kindling up sparkling graces in his eyes; such beauty as the hand of the artist imparts to ivory or silver or Parian marl Je. when the skill of the artist has been expended upon them. ETERNAL FAME. May the gods give thee a just reward, if there be any gods that have a regard to the pious, if justice and a mind conscious to itself of rectitude be anywhere aught save an empty name. What times so fortunate have produced thcc? what so illustrious parents have brought thee forth? As long as the rivers shall ilow into the sea, as long as the shadows of the mountains shall traverse their projecting sides, as long as heaven shall feed the stars, thy honor, thy name, and praises shall ever survive, in whatever land I may be fated to live. TO PITY OTHERS' WOES FROM HAVING FELT THEM. Not ignorant of misfortune, I learn from my own woes to succor the wretched. Gray (" Hymn to Adversity "): " What sorrow was, tliou luul'st her know, And from her own. she Icnrn'd to melt at other's woe." Campbell .(" Gertrude of Wyoming 1 ," part i. v. 23): "He soorn'd his own, who felt .'mothers' woe." 646 VIRGIL. Garrick ("Prologue on Quitting the Stage in 1776) says: "Their cause I plead, plead it in heart and mind; A fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind." And Burton (" Anatomy of Melancholy "): "I would help others out of a fellow-feeling." DESTRUCTION OF TROY. Queen, thou orderest me to renew unutterable woe; to tell how the Greeks overthrew the Trojan power and kingdom, as well as those sad scenes which I myself beheld, and in which I personally took a conspicuous share. Who of the Myrmidons or Dolopians, or what soldier of the cruel Ulysses could refrain from tears as he relates such things? And now dewy night rushes downward and the sinking stars invite to repose. But if thou art really anxious to become acquainted with our mis- fortunes, and to hear briefly the last sad fate of Troy, though my mind shudders at the remem- brance and shrinks back through grief, I never- theless will begin. THE VULGAR. The wavering populace are divided into con- flicting opinions. THE GREEKS. 1 dread the Greeks even when bringing gifts. Sophocles (Ajax, 065) says to the same effect: " The gifts of enemies are no gifts and pernicious.'' And Milton (" Paradise Regained," book ii. 1. 391) expresses the same idea: " Thy pompous delicacies I contemn, And count thy precious gifts no gifts, but guiles. INFATUATION OF MAN. If our own minds had not been infatuated. VIRGIL. 647 A SAMPLE. Listen now to the treachery of the Greeks, and from one instance of their wicked conduct learn the character of the whole nation. INSINUATIONS. ^f~* From this time they begin to spread ambig- uously-worded rumors among the crowd. ALL, PLEASED THAT THE THREATENED DANGER SHOULD FALL ON ANOTHER. Those very things which each feared would happen to himself, he endured with patience when he saw that they were to effect the ruin of another. Ah me, how he looked ! how changed from that Hector who returned from the battle-field arrayed in the spoils of Achilles. Wordsworth (" Poems of the Imagination," xxix.) adopts this idea: " Like but oh: how different." And Milton: " How fallen, how changed From him, who, in the happy realms of light, Clothed with transcendent brightness, did'st outshine Myriads, though bright." DESCRIPTION OF FIRE AND TORMENTS. As when fire has seized on a field of standing corn, while the wind rages, or a rapid mountain torrent lays waste the fields, the joyous crops, and the labors of the oxen, carrying down with it the woods, the astonished shepherd listens to the loud uproar from the top of some rock. 648 VIRGIL. A NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE ON FIRE. The house of Ucalegon that is next catches fire. PATRIOTISM. I madly seize my arms; and yet there was little sense in doing so: I burn, however, to gather a band for the conflict, and to dabh with my associ- ates into the- citadel. Fury and passion urge me forward, and I feel that it is honorable to die in arms. DESTRUCTION OF TROY. The last day and doom of Troy has come. We were once Trojans; Troy once stood and the mighty glory of the Trojans. DESPAIR OF LIFE. The only safety that remains for the vanquished is to expect no safety. Corneille says: " Le courage cst souvent un effet de la peur. ' DESCRIPTION OF BATTLE. At times courage returns even to the breasts of the vanquished; and the victorious Greeks bite the ground: everywhere you see sad lamentation, everywhere consternation and many a form of death. FORTUNE SMILES. Thus fortune on our first endeavor smiled. AN ENEMY. Whether it be deceit or bravery, who inquires in the case of an enemy? VIRGIL. WJ THE GODS UNWILLING. Alas! no one need feel confidence when the gods are opposed. THE GODS. Heaven thought not so. THESE TIMES WANT OTHER AIDS. O most wretched husband, why has so fearful a resolution urged thee to array thyself in these arms ? or whither rushest thou ? she says. The crisis requires not such aid nor such defenders, as thou art. A FEEBLE WEAPON. A feeble weapon inflicting no wound. DEATH OF PRIAM. Such was the close of Priam's life: this was his doom to see Troy in flames and her houses in ruins, the proud queen of Asia over so many na- tions and lands. He lies on the shore a huge trunk, his head torn from his shoulders and a nameless body. PUNISHMENT OF A WOMAN. For though there be no glory in the punishment of a woman, nor is there in such a victory any cause for joy, yet I shall be lauded for having got rid of an abandoned wretch, and exacted from her well-merited punishment, and I shall be de- lighted to have sated my burning desire of ven- geance, and rendered full atonement to the ashes of my countrymen. 650 VIRGIL. THE WANT OF A GRAVE. To be without a grave matters little. DANGER. Whatever may be our lot, there is one common danger. PACES UNEQUAL. And with unequal paces tript along. A SPECTRE. While I was searching and rushing unceasingly through the houses of the city, the unhappy spec- tre and shade of Creusa herself rose before my eyes and her image larger than life. I was aston- ished, my hair stood on end, and my tongue clung to the roof of my mouth. GOLD. Cursed craving for gold, what dost thou not force mortals to perpetrate. Angot, in his "Pistolles, ou Tin jure du sidcle," one of his satires, says: " Si le diable etoit or, il deviendroit monnoie." Hood says: "Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold." ADMONITIONS. Admonished let us follow better counsels. THE SIBYL. Thou shalt behold a wild, raving prophetess, who, in a deep cavern, reveals the decrees of fate, and commits her oracles to leaves. Whatever VIRGIL. 651 oracular responses she has placed on leaves, she arranges in order and leaves them shut up in her cave. They remain immovable nor issue from the order in which they have been placed. And yet these same, when, on the hinge being turned, a slight current of air has set them in motion, and the opening door hath disturbed the tender leaves, she never afterwards cares to arrest, as they flut- ter through the hollow cave, or to restore their former positions nor connect once more her pre- dictions. They who apply depart in this way without a response, and hate the habitation of the Sibyl. FORTUNE. Live happy ye, the course of whose fortune is now completely run; we are summoned from one fate to another. But .(Etna thunders close by with frightful crushings, and sometimes bursting, it sends forth a black cloud to the air, smoking with pitchy whirlwind and glowing ember; and raises fire- balls, licking the stars; sometimes with loud ex- plosions it casts up rocks and the torn bowels of the mountain; and with a deep internal roar, it "neaps up melted stones high in air, and boils vio- lently from its lowest bottom. A MOXSTER. A horrid monster, misshapen, huge, from whom sight had been taken away. A pine-tree in his hand, lopped of its branches, guides and steadies his steps. Woolly sheep accompany him; that is the only pleasure and solace for his misfortune. 652 VIRGIL. TBACES OF ANCIENT FLAME. I again feel the flame of love as I formerly felt it. THE MAXES. Do you think that the ashes of the dead, or the manes laid at rest in the tomb, care for that ? LOVE. The hidden wound keeps rankling in the breast. LOVE. The fatal dart sticks in her side. ASCANIUS. But the boy Ascanius, in the midst of the valley, delights in his spirited steed, and passes now these, now those in the course, and wishes a foam- ing boar to be given to his prayers amid the uu- warlike herds, or that a tawny lion should descend from the mountain. BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTION OF FAME. Forthwith a rumor passes through the mighty cities of Libya: rumor, an evil, than which there is no gi'eater; she nourishes by her very activity, and gains strength as she moves along, small at first through fear; by and by she raises herse.h' into the air, stalking upon the ground, and at the same time hiding her head among the clouds. Parent Earth, incensed at the anger of the gods, brought her forth the youngest sister, as they say, to Coeus and Enceladus, quick in feet and wings. A monster, horrible and huge, to whom, as many feathers as there are upon her body, so VIEGIL. 653 many sleepless eyes are there beneath, wonderful to be said, so many tongues, so many mouths bab- ble forth, so many ears she pricks up. By night she flies midway between heaven and earth through the gloom, with a rushing sound of her pinions, nor does she close her eyes in sweet sleep. By day she sits as a spy, either on the top of some lofty house, or some high tower, terrifying mighty cities: as tenacious of what is false and wicked, as an announcer of what is true. TO CHOOSE THE SOFTEST HOURS. That he meanwhile, since the generous Dido is ignorant of what is passing, and does not imagine that such love can be broken, will try gentle ave- nues of approach to her feelings, and what may be the most fitting moments for addressing her; what mode of proceeding may be most favorable. Tennyson says: " When his heart is glad Of the full harvest I will speak to him." JEALOUSY. But the queen had a presentiment of their hidden projects (for who can deceive a lover?) and was the first to discover their intended movements, fearing all things, though they seemed to be safe. A HAEDEXEI) WUKTCH. No goddess was thy mother nor Dardanus thy forefather, thou traitor; but Caucasus, in horror drest with its flinty rocks, gave thec being, 'and the Hyrcanian tigress gave thee suck. FAITHLESSNESS. Nowhere is there faith on earth. 654 VIRGIL. ANTS. As when ants plunder a large heap of grain, mindful of winter, and lay it up in their nests; the black column issues into the fields, carrying their booty through the grass in a narrow track; some struggling, push forward with their shoul- ders large piles of corn ; others keep together the column of march and chastise the dilatory: the whole path glows with industrious labor. All-powerful Love, to what dost thou not force mortals. DESCRIPTION OF NIGHT. It was night, and weary mortals were enjoying quiet rest on earth, the woods and murmuring seas were still; it was when the stars were rolling in mid-course, when the whole country was silent, cattle and parti-colored birds, both those which occupy the liquid lakes, and those which haunt the fields rough with bushes; luried in sleep during the silent night, they were lulling to rest their cares, and their hearts were now forgetful of toils. This is in imitation of ApolloniusEhodius (Argon, iv. 1058): " Sleep-bringing night had spread itself ovei*the crowds of weary men, and had given rest to the whole earth." Milton (" Paradise Regained," i., at the end): " Now began Night with her sullen wings to double-shade The desert: fowls in their clay nests were couch'd, And now vriM beaste came forth, the woods to roam," WOMAN". Come away! break through all delays ; woman is a fickle and changeful thing. VIRGIL. 655 END OF LIFE. I have lived and finished the course which fort- une had given me; now a mighty fame of me shall spread through the earth. So 2 Timothy iv. 7: " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." AN ANNIVERSARY OF A FATHER'S DEATH. The day is at hand which I shall reckon forever sad, forever dear, so it has willed the gods. RAINBOW. As the bow in the clouds sends forth a thousand varied colors from the reflection of the sun's rays. FLY DANGERS. Keep close to the shore, let others launch into the main. THE DOVE. As the dove, suddenly roused from her covert, whose home and beloved nest are in some rock full of hiding-places, rushes flying into the fields, and scared from her abode, gives forth a loud flapping with her wings ; by and by gliding through the still air, she skims along her liquid way nor moves her swift wings. A CONQUEROR. These are indignant should they not retain their own glory and the honors already in their grasp, willing to barter life for fame. Those success feeds with fresh hopes; they are able to conquer, because they seem to be able. NEXT, BUT AT A LONG INTERVAL. Next, but at a long interval. And merit appearing more beautiful in a beau- teous form. A BOXER. Having drawn back bis right band, be levelled from on high his bard gauntlet between the horns, and drove it into the bones, dashing the brains out; the ox, quivering, falls lifeless. TO RETIRE FROM ACTIVE LIFE. From this time I lay aside my gauntlets and renounce my profession. PATIENCE. Let us follow withersoever the fates lead us. Whatever shall befall us, every kind of fortune is to be surmounted Ly patiently enduring it. COWARDS. They enrol mothers for the city, and set apart the people that wished it, souls that dare not hazard life for future fame. Euripides (Fr. Archel. 9) says: " Is it not right for me to endure toils? Without toils what man has become glorious: 1 Who that is a craven has reached the highest fame? " VALOR. Few in number, but ardent for war. SKA TREACHEROUS. Dost thou bid me be ignorant of the aspect of VIEGIL. 657 the calm sea and of its quiet waters? Shall I trust this treacherous appearance? FROWNS OF FORTUNE. Do not yield to misfortunes, but advance against them with a bolder front in whatever way fortune shall permit thec. TRUTH CONCEALED. Some truths reveal'd, in terms involv'd the rest. PLUTO'S PORTALS ALWAYS OPKX. He was entreating thus, and kept clinging to the horns of the altar, when the prophetess thus began to speak: O thou that art sprung from the blood of the gods, Trojan son of Anehisas, the descent to the world below is easy, the gate of gloomy Pluto lies open night and day, but to re- trace one's steps and reach again the upper air,' this is the real labor, this is the true difficulty. A few, whom the favor of heaven or brilliant merit hath exalted to the skies, sous of the gods, have been able to effect it. TIIK BRANCH OF GOLD. The fair Proserpine has ordained that this gift lie brought as one peculiarly dear. One branch being plucked, another golden one occupies its place, and a twig of similar metal puts forth leaves. THE PROFANE. Far hence be souls profane! NOW THERE IS NEED OF FIRMNESS. Now there is need of courage, ^Eneas, now of a firm purpose. 42 (558 VIRGIL. SHADES DELOAV. Ye gods, who preside over the souls of the dead, and silent shades, Chaos and Phlegethon, places wrapped in silent night, let me be allowed to tell what I have heard; may it be allowed me, by your divine permission, to disclose things hidden in the depth of the earth and in darkness. They moved along, amidst the gloom of night's dark pall, through the empty halls of Pluto and solitary kingdom; as men journey in woods by the un- steady rays of the moon, beneath the faint ,nd glimmering light when Jupiter obscures the heaven in clouds, and gloomy night has robbed surrounding objects of their hue. THE VESTIBULE OF PLUTO'S REALMS. Before the porch itself, within the jaws of Hell, Grief and avenging Cares have placed their couch- es; there dwell pale Diseases, sorrowing Age, Despondency, and ill-prompting Hunger, and loathsome Want, shapes terrible to see: Death, and Labor, and Sleep, twin-born with Death, and the criminal Lusts of the heart, and death- 1 'ringing War near the opening door; and the iron bedchambers of the Furies and maddening Dis- cord, her viper's tresses bound up with bloody fillets. OLD AGE. Though advanced in years, the god has a fresh and green old age. Dryden (CEdipus. act iii. sc. 1) says: " His hair just grizzled As in a green old age.' 1 LEAVES IX AUTUMN. Thick as leaves that fall in the woods on the VIRGIL. 659 first cold of autumn, or dense as birds that flock to the land from the troubled deep, when frigid winter sends them across the sea to sunny climes. SHADES BELOW. Son of Anchises, undoubted offspring of the gods, thou seest the streams of Cocytus and Sty- gian marsh, whose divinity the gods fear to swear by, and fail in their oath. All that thou seest, is a wretched unburied crowd: yon ferryman is Charon; those who are being ferried across have obtained the rites of burial : for it is not allowed to carry them across these fearful banks or hoarse- sounding waters before their bones have rested in the grave; they wander about for one hundred years and hover about these shores: then at length being admitted into the boat, they behold the much-wished-for waters. FATES INEXORABLE. Cease to think that the fixed decrees of heaven can be changed by prayers. KETKIBUTIVE JUSTICE. Warned by my fate, learn to ol serve justice and not to despise the gods. This man sold his coun- try for gold. ELYSIUM. They reached pleasant spots, the delightful verd- ure of the Fortunate graves, and abodes of the happy. A freer and purer sky here clothes the fields with resplendent light; they enjoy their own sun, their own stars. Some are exercising their limbs in grassy plains, are contending in play and struggling on the yellow sand: some are 660 VIRGIL. striking the ground with their feet in the loud ic- sounding dance and singing songs. Miltou at the end of " Comus " thus beautifully expres^-e - the idea: " To the ocean now I fly, And these happy climes, that lie Where day never shuts his eye." ABODES OF THE BLESSED. Behold be sees some right and left feasting e forest by its lowest root it was separated from the mother-tree, and stripped of its foliage and twigs by the axe; once a tree, now the skill of the artificer hns sur- rounded it with ornamental brass, and given it to be borne bv the Latin fathers. VllUHL. 669 EDUCATION. f.oy. icar.i from me the lesson of duty and pa- .-''' jiire iinder afflictions, the pursuit of fortune irom others. WHIRLWIND. As when a storm bursting forth rushes over the riea to land, the wretched husbandman, alas! pre- scient of danger from alar, shudders: it will up- root the trees and lay low the corn, destroying all things far and wide: the winds fly before, carry- ing the sound to the shores. SWALLOWS. As when the black swallow flics through the great courts of a rich lord, traversing the loity halls, gathering scanty food and nutriment for its chirping young, and now it twitters through the empty porticoes, now around the marshy pools. A HERO. Shall this land see Turnus flying from his foe ? Is it such a wretched thing to die? Ye gods of the lower world be propitious; since the gods above are unwilling to save me, I shall go clown to you, a pure spirit and unsullied with the shame of flight, never unworthy of my mighty sires. A BULL FIGHT. As in the lofty mountains of Sila or Taburmis, when two bulls rush with hostile fronts to battle, the frightened herdsmen fly. the whole herd stand mute with fear, the cows faintly low, doubting who shall command the pasture ground, which of them the herds shall follow; they inflict wounds on each other with great force, and, struggling, 670 VIRGIL. fix their horns in each other, bathing their necks and shoulders in streams of blood; the whole for- est re-echoes with their bellowing. THE BALANCE OF HEAVEN. Jove himself hangs up two scales equally bal- anced, and places in them the fates of the two, to I see which is to succeed and which is to meet death. Milton (" Paradise Lost," iv. 995) imitates this: " Had not soon Th' Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray, Hung forth in heav'n His golden scales." HEAVEN-TEXIPEKED SWORD. After it reached the arms formed by the god Vulcan, the mortal sword, like brittle ice, shiv- ered at the stroke, and its fragments glitter in the yellow sand. Milton C" Paradise Lost," vi. 830) says: " But the sword Of Michael, from the armory of God, Was given him temper 'd so, that neither keen Nor solid might resist that edge : it met The sworcl of Satan with steep force to smite Descending, and in half -cut sheer." SUPPLEMENT. THE following passages are of a later date ; but, as they have become " household words," they deserve to be connected with the " Great Thoughts" of classic authors. I have given their origin so far as they have as yet been able to be traced; others I have added without being able to fix the source from which they are derived. I have to express my obligations to correspondents in that valuable publication, " Notes and Que- ries," for tracing the origin of many of them. TIMES ARE CHANGED. All things are changed, we too are changed with them; the one has certain changes, the other has its own. In the "Deliciae Poetarum Germanorum," 1. 685, we have the poems of Matthias Borbonius, and there we find the words in the mouth of Lotharius I., who flourished about A.D. 830. In Pope (" Moral Essays," ep. i. 1. 172) we have the same idea: " Manners with fortunes, humors turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times." TKUTH. Truth is great and will prevail. This is found in the Apocrypha (1 Esdras iv. 41) : " And he ceased to speak, and all the people cried out and said, ' Truth is great and will prevail.' " 672 SUPPLEMENT. THE MAN OF ONE BOOK. " The man of one book." This expression is said to belong originally to St. Thomas Aquinas. TO DO A DEED BY THE HAND OF ANOTHER. He who docs a deed by the hand of another is the same as if he did it himself. This is one of the maxims of Boniface VIII. (Sexti Decret. lib. v. tit. 13, de Reg. Jur. c. 72), derived according to the glos- sary from the maxim of Paulus (.Digest, lib. i. tit. 17, de Div. Reg. Jur. i. 180). LOVE OF TRUTH. Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth is a friend that I value above both. A TIIIKD (iEXERATION. A third heir seldom enjoys property dishonestly got. These words are found, with a slight variation, in Bellochii Praxis Moralis Theologian, de casibus reservatis, etc. A WISE QUESTION. A wise questioning is the half-way towards knowledge. This is found in Bacon, " De Augmentis Scientiarum," lib. v. cap. 116. PLEASING RECOLLECTION. Alas! how much less delightful it is to live with those that survive, than it is to cherish a recollec- tion of you. This is Shenstone's epitaph on Miss Dolmen at the Leasowes. Moore ( il I saw Thy Form ") imitates this idea: "To live with thorn is far less sweet Than to remember tln-c." D lo*^^ o-r ^T - SUPPLEMENT. 673 "-'*-' UNITY, LIBERTY, CHARITY.-ST. AUGUSTINE. Unity in things necessary, liberty in what is doubtful, charity in all things. THUS PASSES AWAY THE GLORY OF THIS WORLD. O Holy Father, thus passes away the glory of the world. The master of the ceremonies at the Pope's inauguration hears two dried reeds, whereof the one hath on the top a candle to kindle th other, crying aloud unto the Pope, THE SCOTCH. The fiery genius of the Scotch. This occurs in the Jesuita Vapulans of Andreas Rivetus, a Calvinistic minister and professor of theology at Leyden in the middle of the seventeenth century. The phrase is found in the folio wing passage:" These books I will in some things no otherwise commend than Andreas Rivetus, professor of Leyden, did the doctrine of Buchanan and Knox: whose rashness he ascribed prsefervido Scotorum ingenio et ad audendum prompto." Sir T. Urquhart's Tracts. Edin. 1764, p. 131. LOOK TO THE END. Look to the end is in the last line but one of the fable " De Accipitre et Columbis," in " Anouy- mi Fabulae^Esopicae," Fabuloe Variorum Auctorum, p. 503. Fraiicof. 1500. OUR PREDECESSORS IN LEARNING. May those perish who have anticipated us in our knowledge. This phrase was used by ^Elius Donatus, the commentator on Terence and Virgil. A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE. Small draughts of knowledge lead to atheism, but larger bring man back to God. This is a saying of Bacon. 43 674 SUPPLEMENT. . THE DEAD. Of the dead nothing should be said except what ' is good. This is a saying of Solon in Plutarch. THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. The voice of the people is the voice of God. This is No. 97 among the Aphorismi Politic! ex Ph. Cominseo per Lambertura Daneeum collect!, Lugd. Bat. 1609. THE PEOPLE. The people wish to be deceived, let it be de- ceived. It was Paul IV.'s legate, Cardinal Carafa. that spoke thus of the devout Parisians: " Quandoquidem populus decipi vult, decipiatur. V See Matthias Prideaux's " Easy and Compendious Introduc- tion for Reading all Texts of Histories, ' ' 6th ed. Oxford, 1 682. SCYLLA AXD CHARYBDIS. You fall into Scylla, desiring to avoid Charyb- dis. This line is from the " Alexandreis '' of Philippe Gaultier. The following are the lines: " Darius, having found a horse, flies away from the field bedewed with the blood of his men. Whither, O king doomed to die. dost thou fly in so cowardly a way ? Alas', lost man, thou knowest not whom thou fliest; thou runnest into the midst of enemies, whilst thou fliest the enemy, thou tallest into Scylla, while thou avoidest Chary bdis." RIDICULE. He chastises mannei-s by ridicule. This was improvised by Santeuil for the Harlequin Domi- nique. SUPPLEMENT. 675 CERTAINTY. It is certain because it is impossible. This is from the fifth chapter of Tertullian, De Game Christi. MAN. Man is a god or a brute. This is from Aristotle, Polit. lib. i. c. 2. A HARBOR OF SAFETY. I have found a harbor; hope and fortune, fare- well; you have made sufficient sport of me, sport with others now. This is a version of a Greek epigram in the Anthologia; TO FORTUNE. " Hope and fortune, a long farewell: I have found a harbor: you and I have no further dealings: make sport of those with me." DECEIT. Deceit is safe to no one in any lurking place. THE UNLEARNED AND LEARNED. The unlearned may here learn, and the learned may reflect on what they knew before. This is a verse of Renault, made by him for the motto of his " Abrege Chronologique de 1'Histoire de France." It is a translation of two lines of Pope's (1. 740, 741) " Essay on Criticism:" " Content, if hence the unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew." BOOKS HAVE THEIR FATE. Little books have their fates according to the taste of the reader. This line is found in a didactic poem of Terentianus Mau- rus. /o h^' r v 070 SUPPLEMENT. A WICKED ACT. A thing forbidden becomes little thought of when it is allowed. This is found in the elegies (iii. v. 77) of C. Cornelius Gallus. TO KEJOICE IN CRIME. Wretched are those who take pleasure in their crimes. This is found in Pseudo-Gallus (i. 180) in the collection of six elegies published under the name of C. Cornelius Gallus, by Poihponius Gauricus. Venice, 1501, 4to. DIFFERENT THINGS DELIGHT DIFFERENT PEOPLE. Different things are required to give pleasure to different tastes; all things do not suit all ages. TO BE IN THE UTMOST MISERY. He who lies on the ground cannot fall. This phrase is found in the Liber Parabolarurn (Opera Moralia, 1654, p. 434) of Alanus de Insulis. Butler C" Hudibras," Part I. cant. iii. 1. 877) has adopted this idea: " I am not now in fortune's power: He that is down can fall no lower." THE CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENT OF KINGS. The conclusive argument of kings. Louis XIV. caused these words to be inscribed on his can- JUPITER. Whom God wishes to destroy He first deprives of his senses. In a note on a fragment of Euripides there is the following proverb: " When God is contriving misfortunes for man. He first de prives him of his reason." 8 UPPL EMEN T. 677 Words and nothing more. This saying is found in Plutarch's Laconic Apothegms (" Plutarchi Opera Mortalia," ed. Dan. Wyttenbach, vol. i. p. 649). Philemon Holland has turned it into English thus: " Another Laconian having plucked all the feathers off from a nightingale, and seeing what a little body it had ' Surely,' quoth he, ' thou art all voice, and nothing else.' " TO STAND ON THE OLD WAYS. To stand on the old ways. This is a sentence of Jeremiah vi. 16, which is often quoted by Lord Bacon in his " Essay on Innovations." It is found in the Vulgate, and is thus rendered in our English version: "Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein." QUESTION SOLVED. The question is solved by walking. This is Aldrich's first answer to the ancient sophism of Achilles and the tortoise. LEISURE. Leisure along with dignity. This is found in Cicero, in Or. P. Sextio, 45. PASSAGES FROM UNKNOWN AUTHORS. GEXTLE AND RESOLUTE. Gentle in manner, resolute in deed. This is the motto of Earl Newburgh. MISERY. Respect is clue to the sufferings of the wretched : 6^8 . SUPPLEMENT. do not add to my miserable fate: sacrilegious hands have always spared the tomb. La Fontaine has imitated this idea with consummate skill : " On devient innocent quand on est malheureux." TO KNOW WHERE YOU CAN FIND A THING. To know where you can find a thing is in reality the best part of learning. WORDS AND LETTERS. The word that is heard passes away, the letter that is written remains. TO BE HIS OWN MASTER. Let no man be the servant of another who can be his own master. TO LIVE WELL. He has lived long enough, who has lived well for the period of a short life; the slothful count by time, the good by deeds deserving praise. JUSTICE. Let justice be done, though heaven fall. This expression is first found at pp. & and 838 of William Watson's " Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions," etc. (1602); and flat enim justitia, etc., at p. 196 of the same work. The presence of enim seems to point to a context which awaits discovery. LAW. To observe law, that is to reign. PEN, WAX, AND PARCHMENT. Pen, wax, and parchment govern the world. The line is quoted in Howell's " Letters " (book ii. let. 2). SUPPLEMENT. 679 ABOVE GRAMMATICAL RULES. I am king of the Romans and above grammar. This was a saying of the Emperor Sigismund, who, at the Council of Constance, thus addressed the Council; "Right Reverend Fathers, See that this infamous schism (refanda schisma) be rooted out," intent on having the Bohemian schism ended which he reckons to be of the feminine gen- der. To which a cardinal mildly replying, " sohisma is neu- ter, your majesty." Sigismund loftily replied, "I am king of the Romans and above grammar." - 1