too much; but if not, the people could not give them too little. He lamented the unprofitableness of good laws, by being in bad men's hands.

him a great cup of wine, he threw it away; for which being blamed, If I had drank it, saith he, not only the wine would have been lost, but I also. One asking him, how he might order himself best? he said, By reproving those things in thyself, which thou blamest in others. Another demanding, what was hardest? he answered, To know ourselves, to whom we are partial. Being asked, what men were most noble? They, saith he, who contemn wealth, honour and pleasure, and endure the contraries, to wit, poverty, scorn, pain and death. To a wicked man, reproaching him for his poverty; I never knew, saith he, any man punished for his poverty, but many for their wickedness. To one bewailing himself that he should not die in his own country; Be of comfort, saith he, for the way to heaven is alike in every place. One day he went backwards; whereat the people laughing, Are you not ashamed, saith he, to do that all your life-time, which you deride in me?

69. DIOGENES was angry with critics, who were nice of words, and not of their own actions; with musicians, who tune their instruments, but could not govern their passions; with astrologers, who have their eyes in the sky, and look not to their own goings; with orators, who study to speak well, but not to do well; with covetous men, that take care to get, but never use their estates; with those philosophers, who despise greatness, and yet court great men; and with those that sacrifice for health, and yet surfeit themselves with eating their sacrifices. Discoursing of the nature, pleasure and reward of virtue, and the people not regarding what he said, he fell a singing; at which every one pressed to hear: whereupon he cried out in abhorrence of their stupidity, "How much more is the world in love with folly, than with wisdom!" Seeing a man sprinkling himself with water, after hav- 70. CRATES, a Theban, famous for his selfing done some ill thing; Unhappy man! saith denial and virtue; descended from the house he, dost thou not know that the errors of life of Alexander, of great estate, at least two are not to be washed away with water? To hundred talents, which he distributed mostly one who said, Life is an ill thing; he an- among the poor citizens, and became a conswered, Life is not an ill thing; but an ill life stant professor of the Cynick philosophy. is an ill thing. He was very temperate, for He exceedingly inveighed against common his bed and his table he found everywhere. women. Seeing at Delphos a golden image, One seeing him wash herbs, said, If thou that Phryne, the courtezan, had set up, by the hadst followed Dionysius, king of Sicily, thou gains of her trade, he cried out, This is a wouldest not have needed to have washed trophy of the Greeks' intemperance. Seeing herbs he answered, If thou hadst washed a young man highly fed, and fat; Unhappy herbs, thou needest not to have followed Dio- youth, saith he, do not fortify thy prison. To nysius. He lighted a candle at noon, saying, another followed by a great many parasites; I look for a man; implying, that the world Young man, saith he, I am sorry to see thee was darkened by vice, and men effeminated. so much alone. Walking one day upon the A luxurious person, who had wasted his exchange, where he beheld people mighty busy means, supping upon olives; he said to him, after their divers callings; These people, saith If thou hadst used to dine so, thou wouldst he, think themselves happy; but I am happy not have needed to sup so. To a young man that have nothing to do with them: for my dressing himself neatly, If this be for the sake happiness is in poverty, not in riches.* Oh! of men, thou art unhappy; if for women, thou men do not know how much a wallet, a mea art unjust. Another time, seeing an effemi- sure of lupins, with security, is worth. Of nate young man; Art thou not ashamed, saith his wife, Hipparchia, a woman of wealth and he, to use thyself worse than nature hath extraction, but nobler for her love to true made thee? she hath made thee a man, but philosophy, and how they came together, thou wilt force thyself to be a woman. To there will be occasion to make mention in one who courted a bad woman; O wretch! its place. said he, what meanest thou, to ask for that which is better lost than found? To one that smelled of sweet unguents, Have a care, saith he, this perfume make not thy life stink. He compared covetous men to such as have the dropsy: Those are full of money, yet desire more these of water, yet thirst for more. Being asked, What beasts were the worst? In the field, saith he, bears and lions; in the city, usurers and flatterers. At a feast, one giving

71. ARISTOTLE, a scholar to Plato, and the oracle of philosophy to these very times, though not so divinely contemplative as his master, nevertheless follows him in this; That luxury should by good discipline be exiled human societies.† Aristotle seeing a youth gazing on his fine cloak, said to him, Why dost thou boast of a sheep's fleece? He

* Laert. + Stob. Strom. 45.

said, It was the duty of a good man to live under laws, as he would do if there were none.*

72. MANDANIS, a great and famous philosopher of the Gymnosophists, whom Alexander the great required to come to the feast of Jupiter's son, meaning himself, declaring, That if he came he should be rewarded; if not, he should be put to death. The philosopher contemned his message, as vain and sordid; he first told them, That he denied him to be Jupiter's son, a mere fiction. Next, That as for his gifts, he esteemed them nothing worth; his own country could furnish him with necessaries; beyond which he coveted nothing. And lastly, As for the death he threatened, he did not fear it; but of the two, he wished it rather; in that, saith he, it is a change to a more blessed and happy state.†

73. ZENO, the great Stoic, and author of that philosophy, had many things admirable in him; which he not only said, but practised. He was a man of great integrity, and so reverenced for it by the Athenians, that they deposited the keys of the city in his hands, as the only person fit to be entrusted with their liberties: yet by birth a stranger, being of Psittacon in Cyprus.‡

He would say, That nothing was more unseemly than pride, especially in youth, which was a time of learning. He therefore recommended to young men modesty in three things; in their walking, in their behaviour, and in their apparel: often repeating those verses of Euripides, in honour of Capaneus:

He was not puft up with his store;
Nor thought himself above the poor.
Seeing a man very finely dressed, stepping
lightly over a kennel; That man, saith he,

doth not care for the dirt, because he could
not see his face in it. He also taught, that
people should not affect delicacy of diet, not
even in sickness. Seeing a friend of his taken
too much up with the business of his land;
Unless thou lose thy land, saith he, thy land
will lose thee. Being demanded, Whether a
man that doth wrong, may conceal it from
God? No, saith he, nor yet he who thinks it.
Which testifies to the omnipresence of God.
Being asked, Who was his best friend? he
answered, My other self; intimating the divine
part that was in him. He would say, The
end of man was not to live, eat and drink;
but to use this life so, as to obtain an happy
life hereafter. He was so humble, that he
conversed with mean and ragged persons;
whence Timon thus:

And for companions gets of servants store, Of all men the most empty, and most poor. He was patient and frugal in his household Laertius saith, he had but one expenses. servant Seneca avers, he had none. He was mean in his clothes; and his diet is thus described by Philemon :

He water drinks, then broth and herbs doth eat;
Teaching his scholars almost without meat.
His chastity was so eminent, that it became a
proverb; As chaste as Zeno. When the news
of his death came to Antigonus, he broke
forth into these words, What an object have I
lost? And being asked, Why he admired him
so much? Because, saith he, though I be-
stowed many great things upon him, he was
never exalted or dejected therewith. The
Athenians, after his death, by a public decree,
erected a statue to his memory; it runs thus:
"Whereas, Zeno, the son of Mnaseas, a Scy-
thian, has professed philosophy about fifty-
eight years in this city, and in all things
raging those young men, who applied them-
performed the office of a good man, encoù-
selves to him, to the love of virtue and tempe-
rance, leading himself a life suitable to the
doctrine which he professed; a pattern to the
best to imitate; the people have thought fit to
do honour to Zeno, and to crown him with a
of his virtue and temperance, and to build a
crown of gold, according to law, in reward
tomb for him, publicly in the Ceramick," &c.
These two were his epitaphs, one by Antipater:

Here Zeno lies, who tall Olympus scal'd;
Not heaping Pelion on Ossa's head:
Nor by Herculean labours so prevail'd;

But found out virtue's paths, which thither led.

The other by Xenodotus, the Stoic, thus:—

Zeno, thy years to hoary age were spent,
Not with vain riches, but with self-content.

74. SENECA, a great and excellent philosopher, who, with Epictetus, shall conclude the testimonies of the men of their character, hath so much to our purpose, that his works are but a kind of continued evidence for us: he saith, Nature was not so much an enemy, as to give an easy passage through life to all other creatures, and that man alone should not live without so many arts: she hath commanded us none of these things. We have made all things difficult to us, by disdaining things that are easy: houses, clothes, meats, and nourishment of bodies, and those things which are now the care of life, are easy to come by, freely gotten, and prepared with light labour: for the measure of these things is necessity, not voluptuousness: but we have made them pernicious and they must be sought with art

and skill. Nature sufficeth to that which she requireth.

in others. These things below, whereat we gaze, and whereat we stay, and which one man with admiration shows unto another, do outwardly shine, but are inwardly empty. Let us seek out somewhat that is good, not in appearance, but solid, united and best, in that which least appears: let us discover this. Neither is it far from us; we shall find it, if we seek it. For it is wisdom, not to wander from that immortal nature, but to form ourselves according to his law and example. Blessed is the man who judgeth rightly: blessed is he who is contented with his present condition: and blessed is he who giveth ear to that immortal principle, in the government of his life."

not the colours of the garments, wherewith their bodies are clothed; I trust not mine eyes Appetite hath revolted from nature, which to inform me what a man is; I have a better continually inciteth itself, and increases with and truer light, whereby I can distinguish the ages, helping vice by wit. First, it began truth from falsehood. Let the soul find out to desire superfluous, then contrary things; the good of the soul. If once she may have last of all, it sold the mind to the body, and leisure to withdraw into herself, oh! how will commanded it to serve the lusts thereof. All she confess, I wish all I have done were unthese arts, wherewith the city is continually done, and all I have said, when I recollect it; set at work, and maketh such a stir, do centre I am ashamed of it, when I now hear the like in the affairs of the body, to which all things were once performed as to a servant, but now are provided as for a lord. Hence the shops of engravers, perfumers, &c., of those that teach effeminate motions of the body, and vain and wanton songs: for natural behaviour is despised, which satisfied desires with necessary help now it is clownishness and illbreeding, to be contented with as much as is requisite. What shall I speak of rich marbles, curiously wrought, wherewith temples and houses do shine? what of stately galleries and rich furniture? These are but the devices of most vile slaves, the inventions of men, not of wise men: for wisdom sits deeper; it is the mistress of the mind. Wilt thou know what things she hath found out, what she hath made? Not unseemly motions of the body, nor variable singing by trumpet or flute; nor yet weapons, wars, or fortifications; she endeavoureth profitable things; she favours peace, and calls all mankind to an agreement; she leadeth to a blessed estate; she openeth the way to it, and shows what is evil from what is good, and chaseth vanity out of the mind; she giveth solid greatness, but debaseth that which is puffed up, and would be seen of men; she bringeth forth the "Image of God to be seen in the souls of men ;" and so from corporeal, she translateth into incorporeal things. Thus in the ninetieth epistle to Lucilius:

To Gallio he writes thus: "All men, brother Gallio, are desirous to live happy; yet blind to the means of that blessedness, as long as we wander hither and thither, and follow not our guide, but the dissonant clamour of those that call on us to undertake different ways. Our short life is wearied and worn away amongst errors, although we labour to get us a good mind. There is nothing therefore to be more avoided, than following the multitude without examination, and believing anything without judging. Let us inquire what is best to be done, not what is most usually done; and what planteth us in the possession of eternal felicity; not what is ordinarily allowed of by the multitude, which is the worst interpreter of truth. I call the multitude as well those that are clothed in white, as those in other colours: for I examine

An whole volume of these excellent things hath he written. No wonder a man of his doctrine and life, escaped not the cruelty of brutish Nero, under whom he suffered death; as also did the apostle Paul, with whom, it is said, Seneca had conversed. When Nero's messenger brought him the news that he was to die; with a composed and undaunted countenance he received the errand, and presently called for pen, ink and paper, to write his last will and testament; which the captain refusing, he turned towards his friends, and took his leave thus: Since, my loving friends, I cannot bequeath you any other thing in acknowledgment of what I owe you, I leave you at least the richest and best portion I have, that is, The image of my manners and life; which doing, you will obtain true happiness. His friends showing great trouble for the loss of him, where, saith he, are those memorable precepts of philosophy; and what is become of those pro isions, which for so many years together we have laid up against the brunts and afflictions of providence? Was Nero's cruelty unknown to us? What could we expect better at his hands, who killed his brother, and murdered his mother, but that he would also put his tutor and governor to death? Then turning to his wife, Pompeja Paulina, a Roman lady, young and noble, he besought her, for the love she bore him and his philosophy, to suffer patiently his affliction; For, saith he, my hour is come, wherein I must show, not only by discourse, but by death, the fruit I have reaped by my meditations.

I embrace it without grief; wherefore do not ous conversation it requires, and of which he dishonour it with thy tears. Assuage thy is become our captain and example; then, oh! sorrow, and comfort thyself in the knowledge thou hast had of me, and of my actions; and lead the rest of thy life with that honest industry thou hast addicted thyself to. And dedicating his life to God, he expired.

79. CORNELIA, also a noble Roman matron, and sister to Scipio, was esteemed the most famous and honourable personage of her time, not more for the greatness of her birth, than her exceeding temperance. History particularly mentions, as one great instance of her virtue, for which she was so much admired, That she never was accustomed to wear rich apparel, but such attire as was very plain and grave; rather making her children, whom her instructions and example had made virtuous, her greatest ornaments: a good pattern for the vain and wanton dames of the age.

could her relations or suitors, by all their what Sextus had done, whose flagitious life wealth, nobility and beauty, dissuade her from they equally hated with his father's tyranny; being his companion: Upon this strange reso- and their sense of both, aggravated by the lution, they all betook themselves to Crates, be- reverence they conceived for the chaste and seeching him to show himself a true philoso- exemplary life of Lucretia, betook themselves pher, in persuading her to desist: which he to their arms; and headed by her father, her strongly endeavoured by many arguments; husband, Brutus and Valerius, they drove out but not prevailing, went his way, and brought the Tarquin family in which action the all the little furniture of his house, and showed hand of Brutus avenged the blood of Lucreher: This, saith he, is thy husband; that, the tia upon infamous Sextus, whom he slew in furniture of thy house: consider on it, for thou the battle. canst not be mine, unless thou followest the same course of life; for being rich above twenty talents, which is more than fifty thousand pounds, he neglected all, to follow a retired life: All this had so contrary an effect, that she immediately went to him, before them all, and said, I seek not the pomp and effeminacy of this world, but knowledge and virtue, Crates; and choose a life of temperance, before a life of delicacies: for true satisfaction, thou knowest, is in the mind; and that pleasure is only worth seeking, which lasts for ever. Thus she became the constant companion both of his love and life, his friendship and his virtues, travelling with him from place to place, and performing the public exercises of instruction with Crates, wherever they came. She was a most violent enemy to all impiety, but especially to wanton men and women and those whose garb and conversation showed them devoted to vain pleasures and pastimes: effeminacy rendering the like persons not only unprofitable, but pernicious to the whole world. Which she as well made good by the example of her exceeding industry, temperance and severity, as those are wont to do by their intemperance and folly: for ruin of health, estates, virtue, and loss of eternal happiness, have ever attended, and ever will attend, such earthly minds.

80. PONTIA was another Roman dame, renowned for her singular modesty: for though Octavius attempted her with all imaginable allurements and persuasions, she chose rather to die by his cruelty, than be polluted. So he took her life, though he could not violate her chastity.

81. ARRIA, wife to Cecinna Pætus, is not less famous in story for the magnanimity she showed, in being the companion of her husband's disgraces, who thrust herself into prison with him, that she might be his servant.

82. POMPEIA PLAUTINA, wife to Julianus the emperor, commended for her compassion of the poor, used the power her virtue had given her with her husband, to put him upon all the just and tender things that became his charge, and to dissuade him from whatsoever seemed harsh to the people: particularly, she diverted him from a great tax which his flatterers advised him to lay upon the people.

78. LUCRETIA, a most chaste Roman dame, whose name and virtue is known by the tragedy that follows them. Sextus, the son of Tarquin the proud, king of Rome, hearing it was her custom to work late in her chamber, did there attempt her, with his sword in his hand, vowing he would run her through; and 83. PLOTINA, the wife of Trajan, a woman, put one of his servants in the posture of lying saith a certain author, adorned with piety, with her, on purpose to defame her, if she chastity, and all the virtues that a woman is would not yield to his lusts. Having forced capable of. As an instance of her piety; his wicked end, she sent for her father, then When her husband was proclaimed emperor, governor of Rome, her husband and her she mounted the capitol after the choice; friends, to whom having revealed the matter, where, in a religious manner, she said, "Oh and with tears lamented her irreparable calamity, she slew herself in their presence; that it might not be said Lucretia out-lived her chastity, even when she could not defend it. I praise the virtue but not the act. But God soon avenged this, with other impieties, upon that wicked family; for the people hearing VOL. I.-No. 8.

that I may live under all this honour, with the same virtue and content that I enjoyed before I had it!"

84. POMPEIA PAULINA, a Roman lady of youth and beauty, descended of the most noble families of Rome, fell in love with Seneca, for the excellency of his doctrine, and the

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