there are little and superficial circumstances that strike us, the vain, useless husks that fall off from those subjects, Folliculos ut nunc teretes æstate cicadæ Linquunt; 1 "Such as the hollow husks or shells we find In summer, grasshoppers do leave behind." Even Plutarch himself laments his daughter for the little apish tricks of her infancy.2 The remembrance of a farewell, of a particular action or grace, of a last recommendation, afflicts us. The sight of Cæsar's robe troubled all Rome, which was more than his death had done. Even the sound of names ringing in our ears, as "My poor master!" or "My valued friend!" "Alas! my dear father!" or "My sweet daughter!" makes us melancholy and sad. When these repetitions torment me, and that I examine them a little nearer, I find them but a grammatical and verbal complaint; I am wounded with the word and tone; as the exclamations of preachers very often work more upon their auditory than their reasons, and as the mournful eyes and voice of a beast killed for our service; without my weighing or penetrating at the same time into the true and real essence of my subject:His se stimulis dolor ipse lacessit; 8 "With these incitements grief itself provokes;" these are the foundations of our mourning. The obstinacy of the stone has sometimes thrown me into so long a suppression of urine, for three or four days together, and so near death, that it had been folly to have hoped to evade it; and it was much rather to have been desired, considering the miseries I endure in those cruel fits. Oh, how great a master in the art of hangmanship was that worthy emperor, who caused criminals to be tied in such a manner, that they might die for want of making water! Finding myself in this condition, I considered by how many light 1 Lucret. v. 801. 2 In his Consolation to his Wife. 3 Lucret. ii. 42. 4 Tiberius. Suetonius, in Vitâ, c. 69. causes and objects imagination nourished in me the regret of life; and of what atoms the weight and difficulty of this dislodging was composed in my soul; and to how many idle and frivolous thoughts we give way in so great an affair; a dog, a horse, a book, a glass, and what not, were considered in my loss; in others, their ambitious hopes, their money, their knowledge, not less foolish considerations in my opinion than mine. I look upon death carelessly, when I look upon it universally as the end of life. I insult over it in gross; but in retail it domineers over me; the tears of a footman, the disposing of my clothes, the touch of a friendly hand, an ordinary phrase of consolation, discourages and melts me. Thus do the complaints in poetry infect our souls with grief; and the sorrows of Dido and Ariadne touch with compassion even those that don't believe in them, in Virgil and Catullus. It is an example of an obstinate and obdurate nature to be sensible of no emotion; as 'tis reported for a miracle of Polemon; but then he did not so much as alter his countenance at the biting of a mad dog, that tore away the calf of his own leg.1 And no wisdom proceeds so far as to conceive so lively and entire a cause of sorrow by judgment, that it suffers no increase by presence, where the eyes and ears have their share; parts that are not to be moved but by vain accidents. the comedian Is it reason that even the arts themselves should make an advantage of our natural imbecility and weak- The orator and ness? The orator, says rhetoric, in the farce touched to the of his pleading, shall be moved with the sound quick by acting their parts, of his own voice and feigned emotions, and suf- though in fiction. fer himself to be imposed upon by the passion he represents; he will imprint in himself a true and real grief by means of the part he plays, to transmit it to the judges, who are yet less concerned than he; as they do who are hired at funerals to assist in the ceremony of sorrow, who sell their tears and mourning by weight and measure. For although they act in 1 Laertius, in Vità. a borrowed form, nevertheless by habituating themselves, and settling their countenances to the occasion, 'tis most certain they are often really affected with a true and real sorrow. I was one, among several other of his friends, who conveyed the body of Monsieur de Grammont1 to Soissons, from the siege of la Fere, where he was slain; I observed that in all places we passed through we filled the people with tears and lamentations, by the mere solemn pomp of our convoy, for there the name of the deceased was not so much as known. Quintilian reports to have seen players so deeply engaged in a mourning part, that they could not give over weeping when they came home; and of himself, that having undertaken to stir up that passion in another, he himself espoused it to that degree as to find himself surprised not only into tears, but even with paleness, and the port of a man really overwhelmed with grief. A pleasant method grief. 2 In a place near our mountains the women play Priest Martin; for as they augment the regret of the of diverting one's deceased husband, by the remembrance of the good and agreeable qualities he was master of, they also at the same time make a register of and publish his imperfections; as if of themselves to enter into some compensation, and so divert themselves from compassion to disdain; and yet with much better grace than we do, who, when we lose an old acquaintance, strive to give him new and false praises, and to make him quite another thing when we have lost sight of him, than he seemed to be when we had him; as if regret was an instructive thing, or as if tears enlightened our understanding by washing it. For my part I renounce all favourable testimonies men would hereafter give of me, not because I shall be worthy of them, but because I shall be dead. 1 Philibert, Count of Grammont and Guiche, husband of La Belle Corisande, already referred to. He was killed in 1580, at the siege of la Fere, undertaken on the part of the League by the Marshal de Matignon. 2 Instit. Orat. vi. 2. 3 A proverb, founded on the story of a priest, named Martin, who himself acted as both parson and clerk. mere imagina determine the Whoever shall ask a man, "What interest have you in this siege?" "The interest of example," he will Vain objects of say, "and of common obedience to my prince; tions, without I pretend to no profit by it; and for glory, I reality, strike and know how small a part can reflect upon such a human mind. private man as I am; I have here neither passion nor quarrel in it." And yet you shall see him the next day, quite another man, chafing and red with fury, ranged in battle for the assault; 'tis the glittering of so much steel, the fire and noise of our cannons and drums, that have infused this new rancour and fury into his veins. A frivolous cause, you will say how a cause? There needs none to agitate the soul; a mere whimsey, without body and without subject, will rule and sway it. Let me set about building castles in the air, my imagination suggests to me conveniences and pleasures with which my soul is really tickled and pleased. How often do we torment our mind with anger or sorrow by such shadows, and engage ourselves in fantastic passions that alter both the soul and body? What astonished, fleering, and confused grimaces does this raving put our faces into ! What sallies and agitation, both of members and voices, does it occasion! Does it not seem that this individual man has false visions from a crowd of other men with whom he has to do, or that he is possessed with some internal demon that persecutes him? Enquire of yourself, where is the object of this mutation? Is there any thing but us in nature that nullity sustains, over which nullity has power? Cambyses, for having dreamt that his brother should be one day king of Persia, put him to death; a brother whom he tenderly loved, in whom he had always confided.1 Aristodemus, king of the Messenians, killed himself out of a fancy of ill omen, from I know not what howling of his dogs; 2 and King Midas did as much upon account of some foolish dream he had. "Tis to prize life at its just value to abandon it for a dream. 1 Herod. iii. 30. 2 Plutarch, On Superstition, c. 9. 3 Id. ib. Hear how our soul triumphs over the body, and the weakness that exposes it to every injury and alteration; truly, she has just reason to laugh at it! O prima infelix fingenti terra Prometheo! "O, 'twas for man a most unhappy day, Did indiscreetly the main thing neglect. To form the mind, the first and noblest part." CHAPTER V. UPON SOME VERSES OF VIRGIL. In proportion as useful thoughts are full and solid, so are they also more cumbersome and heavy; vice, death, poverty, disease, are grave and grievous subjects. A man must have his soul instructed in the means to sustain and to contend with evil, and in the rules of living and believing well; he must likewise often rouse it up, and exercise it in this noble study. But in a vulgar soul, it must be by intervals, and with moderation; it will otherwise grow besotted, if continually intent. When I was young, I had need of frequent self-solicitations and admonitions to keep me to my duty; gayety and health, it is said, do not so well agree with those grave and serious meditations; I am at present in another condition; the indispositions of age do but too much advertise and preach to me. From the excess of sprightliness I am fallen into that of 1 Propertius, iii. 5, 7. |