they call arenin, dialectic, or the art of logic; and the other, propan, rhetorical. Rhetoric is concerned about the fenfe and construction of words; logic, or the dialectic, is divided into two parts, viz. words, and their fignifications; i. e. into things which are spoken of, and the expreffion in which they are delivered. And then follows too great a defcription to be difcuffed at prefent; fo here I fhall conclude the fubject, Et fumma fequar faftigia rerum, And treat on things of higher confequence; Otherwife was I to enter on all the divifions and fubdivifions it would fwell this Epiftle into a large volume of questions (k). I would not however deter you, Lucilius, from reading thofe things, provided you immediately refer whatever you read to the improvement of morals. Study principally to correct thefe: ftir up in you whatever feems languid; bind up the loose; check the stubborn; and thwart, as much as you can, your own irregular defires, and thofe of the public; and fhould the world fay, Will you be always in the fame ftrain of reproof? make anfwer, It is for me rather to fay, Will ye be always giving the fame offence? ye would have the remedies ceafe, while the malady ftill continues: it behoves me fo much the more to speak; and, becaufe ye are obftinate, to perfevere in my reproof. A medicine begins to take effect, when a diftempered body is fenfible of pain, at being touched: refractory as ye are, I will ftill utter fuch things as, I think, will profit you; with words perhaps that may fometimes prove not very smooth and agreeable: and, because ye do not chufe to hear them feverally, and in private, I thus exhort you publickly, and in general. "How far will ye extend the bounds of your poffeffions? A large "tract of land, fufficient heretofore for a whole nation, is fcarce wide. 66 enough now for a fingle Lord! How far will ye enlarge your "arable, not content with the tillage of whole provinces, which ye "hold only as a fingle farm? Famous ftreams running through pri"vate grounds, and great rivers, the boundaries formerly of great. "nations, from their fountain head to their mouth are yours: and " even this is not enough, unless you gird the feas within your eftates; "unleis 66 66 unlefs your bailiff extends his authority beyond the Adriatic, the Ionian, and Egean feas. Nay, unless the islands, the feat of fome great generals, be reckoned as infignificant trifles. But go on; "extend your poffeffions as far as ye pleafe; call it only a country farm, which was once an empire; make all you can get your own; "there will still be fomething left for others." A word or two now with you, whofe luxury is as extensive as the avarice of the former. I afk you, "whether you intend to leave no lake, but what the tops of your villas hang over? No river, whose banks are not covered with your magnificent buildings? Shall wherever any vein of warm water springs up, new baths be erected "to indulge you in luxury? Wherever the winding shore forms itself "into a bay will ye lay a foundation for building; and not content "with the firm ground, unless it be of your own making, drive the "feas before you, by flinging into it numberless loads of rubbish (7) ? "But know, that fplendid and pompous as your houses are, in various places; fome raised on mountains, for a wide profpect over sea and land; and others on the plain, to the height of mountains; build, "I fay, as many as ye will, and as great; ye are still, feverally confidered, but as a fingle perfon, and a little, a very little, body. Of "what use are many tately bedchambers? you yourself can lie but in one; and where you are not, that cannot be called your's.” 66 Lastly, I address myself to you, whose throat is fo deep and insatiable, that every fea and every land must be ranfacked for your provifion. Hence, with great toil and trouble, hooks, and fnares, and va"rious kinds of nets, are continually made ufe of in purfuit of prey. "No living animal can have peace, but fuch as ye are already glutted "with. How little can you relish of those banquets, prepared as they "are by fo many hands, and at so great an expence, when ye fit down "to them, with a mouth already palled with the like dainties? How "little of that wild boar, which was taken with fo much hazard, can "the mafter eat, with a queafy and loathing ftomach? How few of "those shell-fish, brought from afar, can the mouth that never thinks it has enough, devour? How wretched are ye not to know, that your eye, as they fay, is bigger than your belly!" Let fuch be your discourse to others; and while you fpeak, Lucilius, attend to what you fay: and fo write, that what you have wr te, you may read with pleasure. Refer all to Morality, and to calming the rage of the headstrong paffions. Study not still to know more, but, from what you know, to be a better man. (a) They are generally confounded by the philofophers; as when Plato fays, H' de ye pirosppia, /0 Xins, Philofophy is the acquifition of Wisdom: and Ariftotle, exisμn the danddas, the knowledge of Truth.-Clemens Alexandrinus, more agreeable to our author, As the Liberal Sciences refer to Philosophy, which is their mistress, so does Philofophy herself to Wisdom. And he adds, ἐσι γὰρ ἡ μὲν φιλοσοφία, επιτήδευσις, ἡ σοφία δὲ, επισήμη θείων και ανθρωπίνων, Philofophy is Study and meditation; but Wisdom the knowledge of things divine and human; and their causes. Plutarch, Οἱ μὲν Στωικὸς ἔφασαν, σοφίαν εἶναι θείων και ανθωπινων επισήμην, The Stoics faid, that Wisdom was the knowledge of things divine and human. Where we may obferve, he with Seneca omits the causes. See other definitions, Lipf. Physiol. p. 698. (b) Many excellent paffages, to this purpose, we meet with in Cicero's Tufculan Difputations: Philofophy is the culture of the mind, and plucketh up vice by the roots; it is the medicine of the foul, and healeth the minds of men; that from thence, if we would be good and happy, we may draw all proper helps and affiftances for leading virtuous and happy lives.-O Philofophy, thou guide of life! the Searcher out of virtue, and expeller of vice! what should we be, nay, what would human life be without thee! Thou calledst us together into focial life; to thee we owe the invention of laws! thou teacher of manners and difcipline! From thee we beg affiftance: and one day spent according to thy precepts is preferable to an immortality spent in fin.-Some of the moderns have come little behind the antients, in the admiration they have expressed for the Heathen moral Philofophy. See Leland, vol. ii. p. 72, (c) Fabius Doffennus, al. Dorfennas, a writer of comedies, (Atellanarum fc. fabularum) Quantus fit Dorfennus edacibus in parifitis. Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 173. How great is Dorfenn when he writes Of all-devouring parifites! See Plin. xiv. 13. where you will find feme quotations from him, (d) There is the fame divifion in Macrobius, (Somn. Scip.) but differently explained: Moralis, quæ docet morum elimatam perfectionem; Naturalis, quæ de divinis corporibus difputat; Rationalis, cùm de incorporibus fermo eft, quæ mens fola complectitur, &e. 1. ii. Moral, which teacheth the perfection of moral behaviour; Natural, which treats of the heavenly bodies; and Rational, concerning things incorporeal, which the mind only can comprehend. (ε) As fuperfluous] Laertius, τὴν διαλεκτικὴν ὡς παρέλκεσαν ἀποδοκίμαζεσι. (f) Al. 7ò navovındy, canonical] And this, as it forms, and prepares the mind, is faid to be, wepi apiτnpix, nas áρxйs, nas σTOIXHÁTaTov, Of the criterion, beginning and elementary. Vid. Laert. in Epicurus. (g) He was cotemporary with Zeno, and one of the difciples of the founder of the Stoical fect. He published several philofophical treatises, by which he acquired the reputation of an agreeable and elegant, rather than of a folid and judicious writer. See Melmoth, on Cicero's Cato, N. 5. Laertius fays of him, τὸν τε φυσικὸν τοπον καὶ τὸν λογικὸν ἀνήρες, λέγων τὸν μὲν εἶναι ὑπὲρ ἡμας, Tòv dè ¿dèv æpès ĥuas. He took away from the common divifion, both the natural and the rational part, faying, this was far above us, and that nothing to us. (b) Sc. Thy Tapaveтny See Ep. 94. (i) i. e. God; or, as the Stoics fpeak fometimes, His Reafon, or Wifdom: and by elements, we understand, the first and constituent principles of things, as derived from him. (k) Lipfius obferves that in fome books, this is the beginning of another Epiftle. (1) Hor. Carm. iii. I. 34. Contracta pifces æquora fentiunt Iaétis in altum molibus. Huc frequens Camenta remittit redemptor Cum famulis, dominufque terræ Faftidiofus. The fish that in the ocean rang'd Perceive their territories chang'd. The moles thrown in extend the fore; The Lord grown weary of the land, New builds upon the fettled fand, And fcorns the bounds that Nature fix'd before. Salluft. Bell. Cat. Quid ea memorem, quæ nifi his qui vidêre, nemini credibilia funt? A privatis compluribus fubverfos montes, maria conftrata, &c. What need I mention other things, that will hardly meet with credit from those who have been eyewitnesses of their truth? fuch as levelling hills and mountains, and raifing palaces in the fea itself by private men for the purposes of pleasure, &c. See alfo Suetonius in Caligula, c. 37. Petronius, 1. ii. -Afpice latè Luxuriam fpoliorum, et cenfum in damna furentem Edificant auro fedefque ad fidera mittunt. Expelluntur aquæ faxis; mare nafcitur arvis Et permutatâ rerum ftatione rebellant. See, all around luxurious trophies lie, Summovere littora, Parum locuples continente ripâ. - The moles and thy encroaching mounds But But as fome read in Seneca, arva, instead of maria, we may apply the words that follow in Horace: On Philofophy, and the Invention of Arts. WHO can doubt, my Lucilius, but that it is from the bleffing and gift of the immortal Gods that we live; but from Philofophy that we live well (a)? that confequently we owe more to this than to the Gods; inafmuch as a good life is better than mere existence. Undoubtedly we ought to think fo, unless Philosophy itself might be also thought the gift of the Gods (b), the knowledge whereof they have given to no one, but the ability of acquirement to all. For if they had vouchfafed this as a common good, and we had been all born good, wisdom would have loft what is of greatest account therein, that it is not to be reckoned among cafual things: for it hath this most precious and noble quality, that it comes not accidentally; that every one owes it to himself, an acquifition not to be fought for elsewhere *. What would there be in Philofophy worthy admiration, if it was holden of the donor? One of her principal offices is to search out truth, in things both divine and human: juftice, piety, religion, and the whole train of virtues, that are in perfect union with one another, are all attendant upon her the teacheth us to worship God, and to love our neighbour (c); that government is the prerogative of heaven; and the focial virtues neceffary upon earth; which for fome time remained |