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is but a needy flave, that hath five bushels of corn and five deniers for his pay (b): and he that fo proudly boafts his ftrength, faying,

Quòd nifi quieris, Menelae hac dextrâ occides,

Be fatisfied, Menelaus, or this hand

Shall Strike thee dead—

is but a poor weak wretch, that hath his daily allowance, and lies upon a truckle bed in a garret (i). We may fay the fame of all thofe delicate minions, who are carried on a litter above the heads of the people, and the gazing mob. Their felicity is all perfonated, you would utterly defpise them were you to take off the mask. When you would buy a horse, you ftrip it of the faddle and furniture (k): you likewise order the flave you would purchase to be turned out naked; left any blemish of the body should be concealed: and do you estimate a man in all his trappings? nothing is more common than for jockeys and dealers of this kind to hide by fome artful fleight, whatever might difcredit the thing upon fale: therefore all external ornaments are to be fufpected by the buyer. Should you fee a leg or an arm bound up, you would immediately defire it to be unswathed, that you may inspect the whole body. Behold that King of Scythia or Samaria, with the royal diadem glittering on his head; would you know him thoroughly, take off his diadem, and you will find much mischief and cruelty beneath it. But why speak of others? If you would duly weigh yourfelf, throw afide your wealth, your fine feat and outward dignity: confider yourself within: you now trust to others, who do not fo well know you, and therefore cannot fhew you, what you

are.

ANNOTATIONS,

&c.

(a) Sphæromachiam] not the common play at ball, like our fives, which would fcarce have drawn a concourse of people together, but Sphyromachiam, as Pincian writes it, i. e. calcium et talorum pugnam, inf. foot-ball. Vid. Steph. Epift. ad Dalech. 34. P. Fab. 1. 1. c. 6. Agonift. Polluc. 1. 9. Præf. Stat. Silv.

4.

(6) They generally fought in pairs, but fometimes a mixed battle, or what we call a battle royal; which is here alluded to.

(c) So Cicero, Pugiles inexercitati, etiamfi pugnos et plagas ferre poffint, folem tamen fæpe ferre non poffunt. Boxers, not thoroughly exercised, may endure thumps and blows, when they cannot bear the violent beat of the fun.

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(d) This

(d) This is the true liberty; the end of all philofophy; and to which alludes that paradoxical decree, Solum fapientem liberum effe; that the wife man only is free.

(e) Auguftus is faid, when dying, to have asked, Whether he was thought to have acted his part well on the stage of life.

Σκηνὴ πᾶς ὁ βίος, και παιγνιον, και μαθε παίζειν,

Τὴν σποδὴν μεταθεὶς, ή φερέ τὰς ἰδυνας. Anthol.
Life is a farce; hence learn to play thy part;

Be chearful; and defpife a gloomy heart.

It is impoffible here not to be reminded of the wretched if not wicked Epitaph, bestowed on the late Mr. Gay in Westminster Abbey.

Life is a farce, &c.

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(f) Laertius in Zenone; Ewai yap user tã ajadi imompoty x. T. λ. The wife man is like a good actor, who whether he reprefents Thefirtes or Agamemnon, is alike careful to play his part well. (g) Taken f.om the Atreus of Attius.

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Sic Macrob. Saturn. i. 11. Quemadmodum ftultus eft, qui empturus equum, non ipfum infpicit, fed ftratum ejus et frænum. Sic eft Qui hominem ex vefte aut conditione, quæ modo veftis nobis circumdata eft, æftimandum putat. As a man is a fool, who when he is to buy a horse examines no further than the bridle or faddle; he is no less who eftimates a man by his outward appearance and condition in life.

EPISTLE LXXXI.

Of Ingratitude.

You complain, Lucilius, that you have met with an ungrateful man. If this is the first time, you ought to thank either your good fortune, or your own care and diligence. But care and diligence can do little or nothing in this respect, unless it were to make you malevoVOL. II. lent.

F

you

lent. For in order to shun this danger, you must never confer a benefit while live. And fo left benefits fhould be loft upon others, you will yourself lose the fatisfaction of conferring them. However, it would be better they were never recompenfed, than not conferred. The husbandman must fow again, though he had a bad crop last year. Oftentimes the plenty of one year makes up for the long unfruitfulness of a barren foil. It is worth while, to make trial of ungrateful men, in order to find one grateful. No one is fo certain in the benefits he is pleased to confer, but that fometimes he may be deceived. They must often miss a mark, ere they hit it (a). Men venture again to sea after a shipwreck. The ufurer ftill lends his money, though he hath fuffered lofs by a bankrupt. Life would foon grow dull and stupid in fruitless indolence were we to meet with no rubs in our way. But let this very accident make you kind and generous. For where the event of any thing is uncertain, frequent effays must be made if you defire an happy iffue.

But I have faid enough of this in my treatife on benefits. Our present enquiry, in a point not as yet, I think, fufficiently difcuffed, feems to be this, whether he that hath done us fome fervice, and afterwards injured us, hath not balanced the account between us, and releafed us of our debt? Suppofe likewise this, if you please, that he hath done us more prejudice than be ever did us good.

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If you apply to the judgement of one somewhat rigid in his dispofition, he will release them respectively; and will fay, though the injury done preponderates, yet what is over and above on this fide, "must be given to the benefit. He hath indeed hurt you, but here"tofore he was ferviceable to you. The time therefore of either must

you,

"be brought to the account. And it is too manifest to need any par"ticular admonition, that you ought to enquire, how willingly he served and how willingly he did any thing to your prejudice. For "both injuries and benefits are to be measured by the intention. You may fay, perhaps, I fhould not have been fo bountiful, but I was pre"vail'd upon through fear of fhame, or by the pertinacy of the im66 portunate

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portunate fupplicant, or by hope. Every obligation arifes from "the mind with which a benefit is confer'd: nor is the greatness of "it confider'd, but the will of the perfon conferring it. Let all conjecture now be laid aside, and in the cafe before put, the benefit will appear as fuch, and all beyond it, an injury; but a good man in settling the account, will condefcend to cheat himself, by adding to "the benefit, and subtracting from the injury."

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A more candid judge in this matter would act, as I should chufe to do in the like cafe; forget the injury, and be always mindful of the benefit. "It is certainly, he will fay, confonant to justice, to

give every one their own, to repay a favour, to retaliate an affront, or at least to take it ill". All this will be true, where one man does an injury, and another confers a favour; but where they both come from the same man, the strength of the injury is extinguished in the benefit. For if it is generous to forgive a man, even though he has not really deferv'd it by any past favours, somewhat more than pardon is due to him who hath injured us, after having confer'd a benefit upon us. I estimate not both alike; but take more notice of a benefit than of an injury. Few know how to repay a kindnefs gratefully. Even an ignorant rude and vulgar fellow can return a favour, when he hath received one, upon the fpot, and in fome measure recompenfe the fame; but he knows not his obligation (b). It is the wife man alone, who knows what value is to be fet upon every thing: the fool I was fpeaking of, however good his will may be, either repays not as much as he owes, or does it so awkardly or at fuch an improper time or place as lavishly to throw away the intended recompense.

There is a wonderful propriety in certain words, and the ufage of the antient form of speech points out fome things in the moft fignificant and inftructive terms. We are wont to fay, Ille illi gratium retulit, fuch a one hath requited a favour. Now, referre, to requite, is to give voluntarily what you owe. We do not fay, gratiam reddidit, he hath reftored a thing given; for they may restore a thing, who are demanded fo to do, or unwillingly, or just when they please, or by another hand: neither

do we fay, Repofuit beneficium aut folvit, he hath remitted or repaid kindness; for no word that fignifies the payment of a debt, as of money, pleaseth me in this refpect. Referre, to requite, is gratefully to bring fomewhat to him, from whom you have received: it fignifies a voluntary retribution. He that hath requited another, hath appealed to, and fummoned himself.

A wife man will weigh every circumftance with himself. He will confider what he hath received, from whence it came, when, where, and in what manner. And therefore we deny, that any one, fave a wife man, knows how truly to requite a favour. As indeed no one but a wife man knows how to confer a benefit; he, in truth, who rejoyceth more in what he gives, than another does in what he receives. This fome perhaps will reckon among thofe pofitions that are thought strange and extravagant, and by the Greeks called Пapadoğa, Paradoxes; and they will fay, what, does no one but a wife man know, how to requite a good turn? you may as well fay, that no one but the wife man, knows how to pay a just debt; or, when he buys a thing, to pay a just price for it? That no blame however may be laid upon us for advancing this feeming paradox, know, that Epicurus fays the fame thing; and Metrodorus exprefsly, folum fapientem referre gratiam fcire, that the wife man alone knows how to love (c) affectionately; and no one but a wife man can be a true friend. But it is undoubtedly a part of love and friendship to requite a benefit. They may likewife wonder at our faying, that fidelity is only to be found in the wife man; as if they themfelves did not fay the fame thing. Do you think a man can poffibly be faithful, who knows not how to requite a courtesy? Let them ceafe therefore to defame us as if we had advanced what is not credible: and let them know that all that is great and honourable is to be found in the wife man; and nothing but the resemblance and appearance of it in the vulgar.

No one, I fay, knows how to requite a good turn, fave the wife man. A fool indeed may do the fame to the best of his knowledge, and ability: when knowledge rather may be wanting than good will: for good will is natural and not acquired. The wife man will compare all things

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