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quire me to collect whatever traditionary proofs and deductions they have advanc'd, to confirm this their opinion: which, was I to undertake, I should be oblig'd to send you a book, instead of an Epiftle. I again and again protest that I am no admirer of such kind of fyllogiftical reasoning. I am afhamed to enter the lifts, in behalf of a caufe that concerns both heaven and earth, armed only with a bodkin: as thus:

He that is prudent is temperate;
He that is temperate is conftant;
He that is conftant is undisturb'd;

He that is undifturb'd knows no forrow;
He that knows no farrow, is an happy man;

Therefore The prudent man is happy; and prudence alone is fufficient to the attainment of an happy life.

Now, this collective fyllogifm (c) is answer'd by fome of the Peripatetics in this wife: they conceive, that, when we talk of a man, undifturb'd, conftant and forrowless, a man is undisturb'd who is disturb'd very feldom, or in a fmall degree, not one, who is never disturb'd at all: and that a man may be faid to be forrowless, who is fo circumftanc'd as in a great measure to be free from forrow; nor is often, or in any great degree fubject to this paffion: for, fay they, it would be to deny the nature of man, to fuppofe the mind of any one to be abfolutely free from forrow. They grant that though a wife man may not be overcome with grief and pain, yet it is impoffible that he should not feel it. Such are the allegations of thefe philofophers, and of all who espouse their sect: They take not away the affections, but only moderate them. But how little honour do we pay the wise man, if we only suppose him ftronger than the weakest; merrier than the most disconfolate; more temperate than the libidinous; and greater than the meanest. What if Ladas (d) was proud of his own swiftnefs, when he only compared himself with the lame and weak?

Illa vel intactæ fegetis per fumma volaret
Gramina, nec curfu teneras læfiffet ariftas,
Vel mare per medium, fluctu fufpenfa tumenti

Ferret iter, celeres nec tingeret æquore plantas (e).

Laf

most vile and abject, yet to attain them is still a difficult and arduous task. The way to the fummit of dignity is rough and craggy. But would you climb the Hill of Wisdom, to which I invite you, and to which fortune submits with all her treasures, you fhall fee all those things, which are in highest estimation lie beneath you, nor fhall you complain of having reach'd the top, but by a smooth and easy path.

(a) See Ep. 15.

ANNOTATIONS,

&c.

(b) See the following as tranfcribed by Macrob. Saturnal. 1.

(c) Strabo l. 15. It is faid they extract honey from the reeds, where they have no bees. But this is to be understood of what we call, by the ARABIC name, faccharum, fugar.

Quique bibunt tenera dulces ab arundine fuccos. Luc. 3. 237.

Who quaff rich juices from the luscious cane.

(d) See Sir John Hawkins on Mufic, vol. iv. p. 272.

le() In comeffationibus noftris] In our feafts. But Lipfius thinks it stretching the point a little too far, to say, that in their feasts they had more fingers, than the ancient theatres had fpectators. He therefore reads it as here tranflated, in comiffionibus noftris fc. ludorum. Lipf. Epift. Qu. iii. 9. At tuba comiffos medio canit aggere ludos.-Virg. iii. 113.

The trumpet's clangor then the feaft proclaims;

And all prepare for the appointed games. Dryden.

(ƒ) Magno aggeftu suspensa vestibula]—aggeftu (Spoliorum fc. quæ poftibus affigi folent.) Lipf. But Gronovius more rightly understands it of the structure itself.

EPISTLE LXXXV.

I

Virtue alone fufficient to make Life happy.

HAVE hitherto spared you, Lucilius, and not troubled you, with fuch points as feem'd knotty and difficult; contenting myself with only giving you a tafte (a) of the arguments, alledg'd by the Stoics to prove, that virtue alone is fufficient to procure an happy life. But now you re

quire me to collect whatever traditionary proofs and deductions they have advanc'd, to confirm this their opinion: which, was I to undertake, I should be oblig'd to send you a book, instead of an Epistle. I again and again protest that I am no adınirer of such kind of fyllogiftical reafoning. I am afhamed to enter the lifts, in behalf of a caufe that concerns both heaven and earth, armed only with a bodkin: as thus:

He that is prudent is temperate;
He that is temperate is conftant;
He that is conftant is undisturb'd;

He that is undisturb'd knows no forrow;
He that knows no farrow, is an happy man;

Therefore The prudent man is happy; and prudence alone is fufficient to the attainment of an happy life.

Now, this collective fyllogifm (c) is answer'd by fome of the Peripatetics in this wife: they conceive, that, when we talk of a man, undisturb'd, conftant and forrowless, a man is undisturb'd who is disturb'd very feldom, or in a small degree, not one, who is never disturb'd at all: and that a man may be faid to be forrowlefs, who is fo circumftanc'd as in a great measure to be free from forrow; nor is often, or in any great degree Subject to this paffion: for, fay they, it would be to deny the nature of man, to fuppofe the mind of any one to be abfolutely free from forrow. They grant that though a wife man may not be overcome with grief and pain, yet it is impoffible that he should not feel it. Such are the allegations of thefe philofophers, and of all who espouse their fect: They take not away the affections, but only moderate them. But how little honour do we pay the wise man, if we only suppose him stronger than the weakest; merrier than the most disconfolate; more temperate than the libidithan the meanest. What if Ladas (d) was proud of nous; and greater his own swiftnefs, when he only compared himself with the lame and weak?

Illa vel intactæ fegetis per fumma volaret

Gramina, nec curfu teneras læfiffet ariftas,
Vel mare per medium, fluctu fufpenfa tumenti

Ferret iter, celeres nec tingeret æquore plantas (e).

Laft

-Laft from the Volfcians fair Camilla came-
Outftript the winds in speed upon the plain;
Flew o'er the fields, nor hurt the bearded grain;

And while her course fhe bends o'er raging waves,

Her nimble feet no faucy billow laves.-Dryden. Lauderdale. This is fwiftness indeed, confider'd in itself, and not estimated from a comparison with the flow of foot. What if you call him found who has a flight fever? a gentle fit is by no means found health. But fays the Peripatetic, a wife man is faid to be undisturb'd; as we fay, fruit is not ftony, or unkernell'd, (f) not because it has no kernels but because it has only a few, and thofe not hard. This is false, for in a good man, I do not fuppofe a diminution of evil, but an entire exemption from it; there ought, I fay, to be none: not the least imaginable: for if there be any, they may poffibly encrease, and give him trouble. As a large and confirm'd cataract quite blinds the eye, so a small film darkens it. If you allow paffions to the wife man, it is poffible that reason may not be able to master them, and he may be carried away by them, as with a torrent; especially when you suppose him struggling, not with one paffion only, but with a tribe of them: be they as small as they will, the strength of a multitude can do more, than one alone, however great and violent (g). He is covetous, but in a moderate degree; he is ambitious, but not very eager: he his paffionate, but foon appeased; he is inconftant, but not vague and roving; he is libidinous, but not furious; be it fo, he however is more cafily managed, who is subject to one vice alone, though entire and in full force, than one, who is subject to every vice, though in a light degree. But in truth, it fignifies not how great or little the paffion is, when it knows not how to obey, nor will admit any counfel; as no four-legg'd animal, be it wild or ever fo domeftic and tame, will attend to the voice of reafon; it is the nature of them to be deaf to perfuafion; fo is it with the paffions, they will not hear you, however weak they are in degree. Tygers and Lions throw not off entirely their natural fierceness, though they fometimes fubmit; and when you leaft expect it, their ferocity, however foften'd for a while, is exasperated.

Moreover

Moreover, if reafon prevails, paffions will never rife; and where they rise against reason, they will persevere against it. For it is much easier to check their beginning than to restrain their courfe, when they have once fet out. Their mediocrity therefore with regard to paffion, is falfe and useless: it is the fame as if we should fay a man is moderately mad, or moderately fick.

Virtue alone is fubject to government; and not any evils of the mind; which it is much easier to get rid of, than to govern. Can there be any doubt, that the inveterate, and harden'd vices of the human heart, which we call the diseases of the foul, (b), fuch as covetoufness, cruelty, unruliness, impiety, and the like, want moderation? therefore the paffions also are immoderate and exceffive, for by these are we led to the former. If you give any loofe to forrow, fear, bafe defire, and other vicious and depraved affections, they are no longer governable. And why? because the things whereby they are provoked and enflamed are without us: therefore they encrease more or lefs, according to the caufes of incitement. Fear, for inftance, encreaseth, when it beholds the dreaded object either greater than as at first imagin'd, or nearer: defire is more eager, as the object of its hope seems more valuable. If· it be not in our power to be abfolutely free from paffions, neither is it in our power to say how far they will you have once fuffer'd go: if them to begin; they will proceed, being urged on by their causes, and will rife in proportion, to any degree whatever. Add then, that how fmall foever you fuppofe them, they are liable to be made greater; destructive things never observe a mean. Though flight the beginning of diseases, they grow upon us; and fometimes the leaft acceflion of illness, quite finks the diseased body. What madness is it to think that the ends of fuch things are in our power, whofe beginnings are uncertain? how is it pofiible for me to put an end to that which it was not in my power to prevent at first? it is much easier to exclude than fupprefs an unmanageable guest.

Some distinguish after this manner; a temperate and moderate man is calm in the difpofition and habit of his mind, though not fo in the event; VOL. II.

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