Seneca, fays he, who was the sharpest of all the ftoics, how great a veneration bas he for the Almighty! as for instance, difcourfing of a violent death, "Do you "not understand the majefty and the authority of your Judge! He is the fu<< preme Governor of heaven and earth, and the God of all your Gods; and it "is upon him that all thofe powers depend which we worship for deities." Moreover, in his exhortations; "This God, fays he, when he laid the foundations of "the univerfe, and entered upon the greatest and the best work in nature, in the

ordering the government of the world, though he was himself All in All, yet "he fubftituted other fubordinate minifters as the fervants of his command.” Divin. Inftit. 1. 1. c. 1.

"We, fays he, have our Which the acute Seneca faw in his exhortations. dependence elsewhere, and fhould look up to that power to which we are "indebted for all we can pretend to that is good." Ib. c. 2.

An invective (fays Seneca in his exhortations) is the masterpiece of most of our philofophers; and if they fall upon the subject of Avarice, Luft, Ambition, they launch out into fuch excefs of bitterness, as if railing was a mark of their profeffion. They make me think of gallipots in an apothecary's fhop, that have remedies without and poifon within. Ib. 1. 3. c. 15.

He that would know all things, let him read Seneca, the most lively defcriber of public vices, and manners, and the smarteft reprehender of them. Ib. 1. c.

9.

Seneca has it in his books of Moral Philofophy, "He is the brave man, whose "fplendour and authority is the leaft part of his greatnefs; that can look death. "in the face without trouble and furprize; who if his body were to be broken "on the wheel, would be lefs concerned for the pain itself, than for the dignity "of bearing it." Ib. 1. 6. c. 17.

Let no man think himself the fafer in his wickedness for want of a witness; for God is omnifcient, and to him nothing can be fecret. It is an admirable fentence that Seneca concludes his exhortations withal. "God, fays he, is a great (I know not "what) incomprehenfible power. It is to hirm that we live, and to him that we " must approve ourfelves. What avails it that confciences are hidden from men, "when our fouls lie open to God?" What could a Chriftian have faid more to the purpofe in this cafe than this divine Pagan? And again, "What is it that we do? "To what end is it to ftand contriving, and to hide ourselves? We are under "a guard, and there is no efcaping from our keeper. One man may be parted "from:

"from another by travel, death, and fickness; but there is no dividing us from "ourselves. 'Tis to no purpose to creep into a corner where nobody shall see Ridiculous madnefs! Suppofe no mortal eye could find us out; he that "has a confcience gives evidence against himself." Ib. c. 14.

<< us.

It is truly and excellently spoken of Seneca: "Confider, says he, the majesty, "the goodness, and the venerable mercies of the Almighty; a friend that is always at hand. What delight can it be to him, the flaughter of innocent creatures, or the worship of bloody facrifices! Let us purge our minds, and "lead virtuous and honeft lives. His pleafure lies not in the magnificence of "temples made with ftones, but in the piety and devotion of confecrated "hearts." Ib. c. 25.

When Seneca comes to reflect, fays Auguftin, upon the paffages which he himself bad feen in the capitol, he cenfures them with liberty and refolution; and no man would believe that fuch things would be done unless in mockery and phrenzy. What lamentation is there in Ægyptian facrifices for the loss of Ofiris! And then what joy for the finding him again! which he makes himself fport with; for in truth it is all a fiction. And yet thefe people, that neither loft nor found any thing, must exprefs their forrows and their rejoicings in the highest degree. "But there is only "a certain time, fays he, for this treat, and once a year people may be allowed "to be mad. I came into the capitol, fays Seneca, where the feveral deities had "their several fervants and attendants, their lictors, their dreffers, and all in posture and action, as if they were executing their offices; fome to hold the

glass, others to comb out Juno's and Minerva's hair; one to tell Jupiter what "o'clock it is: fome laffes there are, that fit gazing upon the image, and fancy "Jupiter has a kindness for them. All these things, fays Seneca, a wife man " will observe for the law's fake, more than for the gods: and all this rabble "of deities, which the fuperftition of many ages has gathered together, we are "in fuch manner to adore, as to confider the worship rather to be matter of custom, than of confcience." Whereupon Auguftin obferves, that this illuftrious Senator worshipped what he reproved, acted what he difliked, and adored what he condemned.

Extract

Extract of a Letter from Lord Bolingbroke to Dr. Swift. Hawkefworth, Vol. II. p. 179.

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YOU call Tully names to revenge Cato's quarrel. I am ready to fall foul on Seneca. You churchmen have cried him up for a great faint; and, as if you imagined, that to have it believed he had a month's mind to be a Chriftian, would reflect fome honour on Christianity, you employed one of thofe pious frauds fo frequently practifed in the days of primitive fimplicity, to impofe upon the world a pretended correfpondence between him and the great Apoftle of the Gentiles *. Your partiality in his favour fhall bias me no more than the pique which Dion Caffius and others fhew against him. Like an equitable judge I fhall only tax him, with avarice in his profperity, adulation in adverfity, and affectation in every state of life t. Was I confiderable enough to be banished from my country, methinks I would not purchase my restoration at the expence of writing fuch a letter to the Prince himself, as your Chriftian Stoic wrote to the Emperor's flave Polybius §. Thus I think of the man, and yet I read the author with

It confifts of thirteen letters, which feemed to Jerom, Auguftin, and before them to Pope Linus, to have been genuine. Johannes Sarifbenienfis more boldly: Defipere videntur, qui non venerantur eum (Senecam) quem apoftolicam familiaritatem meruiffe conftat: They feem to me to be very filly, who reverence not the man that was thought worthy of apoftolical converfe. But Du Pin acknowledges that the letters, now exhibited under this character, contain nothing worthy of the Apoftle or Philofopher and have not the least resemblance to the style of either. This is likewife the judgment of the most learned among the modern critics. However I propofe to give a tranflation of them, for the fatisfac tion of the curious reader.

So in Letter 14. "The founder of your feet, that noble original, whom you think it fo great "an honour to resemble, (Seneca) was a flave to the worst part of the world, the court. And all "his big words were the language of a flighted lover, who defired nothing fo much as a reconciliation, and feared nothing fo much as a rupture." This, I think, is going a little too far at the distance of near 2000 years from the time of Seneca. And I was not a little pleased to find a change of this kind fo judiciously anfwered by the learned Lipfius.

His Lordship certainly was confiderable enough to be, at leaft, felf-banifhed for fome years; which were eminently employed, as they will think, who can diftinguish the grain from the chaff; and are candid enough to impute the latter to an unhappy prejudice and partiality; contracted in a country notorious for Voltairifm, and levity.

§ This treatife is fufpected by Litfius. And if it be genuine, fays he, Pudet, pudet. Inimicus Senecæ fuit, et gloriæ ejus, quifquis vulgavit. I am so much ashamed of it, as to declare, that whoever published it, was no friend to Seneca or his honour、

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pleafure;

pleafure; though I join in condemning those points, which he introduced into the Latin ftyle, those eternal witticifins, ftrung like beads together, and that impudent manner of talking to the paffions before he has convinced the judgment; which Erafmus*, if I remember right, objects to him. He is feldom inftructive †, but is perpetually entertaining: and when he gives you no new idea, he reflects your own back upon you with new lustre..

An Extract from an After-thought, by Sir R. L'Estrange..

-IN few words, Seneca was a man made för meditation. He was undoubtedly a mafter of choice thoughts, and he employed the vigour of them. upon a most illustrious fubject. Beside that, this ranging humour of his (as Mr.. Hobs expreffes it) is accompanied with fo wonderful a felicity of lively and pertinent reflections, even in the most ordinary occurrences of life; and his applications fo happy alfo, that every man reads him over again within himself, and feels and confeffes in his own heart the truth of his doctrine.. What can be done more toward establishing of a right principle? For there is no teft of the truth and reafon of things, like that which has with it the affent of universal nature. As Seneca was much given to thinking, fo he wrote principally for thinking men.. The periods that he lays most stress upon, are only fo many detachments, of one · felect thought from another; and every fresh bint furnishes a new text to work upon. So that the reading Seneca, without reading upon him, does but the one. half of our business: for his innuendoes are infinitely more inftructive than his words at length; and there is no coming at him in those heights without a ferious reflection.

P. S. Books and dishes of meat have this common fate; there never was any one of either of them, that pleased all palates. And in truth, it is a thing as little to be wifhed for, as expected: for an univerfal applaufe is at least two

* Quin ubique plurimus videtur jocorum affectator, etiam in rebus maximè feriis. Erafm. de Sen... Perhaps fo, to a man of Lord Bolingbroke's fpirit, learning and knowledge of the world. But.

I flatter myself, that many of a lower clafs, for whom this work is principally calculated, will, upon a perufal of these sheets, (with an humble and well-difpofed mind,) find and acknowledge their fatisfaction, and, it may be, improvement, in the best of all knowledge, the knowledge of moral. duty.

thirds of a fcandal. So that though I deliver up thefe papers to the prefs, I invite no man to the reading of them: and whofoever reads and repents, it is his own fault. In fhort, as I made this compofition principally for myself (fome years ago,) fo it agrees exceeding well with my conftitution; and yet if any man has a mind to take part with me, he has free leave and welcome: but let him carry this confideration with him, that he is a very unmannerly guest, that presses upon another body's table, and then quarrels with his dinner.