the whole world, faying, ye play the fool; ye are mistaken; ye doat "on vanities; ye efteem no man for what he can call his own; when

66

ye come to confider patrimony, ye are moft diligent reckoners; and "rate every one according to their abilities, that ye may know where "to lend, and where to give: for this also ye fet down in the account: "fuch a one hath large poffeffions, but he is greatly in debt; and "fuch a one indeed has a very fine house, but he purchased it with "other people's money: you will not eafily find any one, who fhews "fo fplendid a retinue; but he does not pay his debts; was he to fatisfy every creditor, he would not be worth a penny."

66

Now this is what ye ought to do with regard to other things; to examine what a man poffeffeth, that he can properly call his own. You think fuch a one rich, because he carries a load of plate with him, when he travels; because he hath a landed property in many provinces; because he hath a large rent-roll (g); or because he is the landlord of so much ground in the fuburbs, as would almost be envied in the deferts of Apulia. And after all, he is but a poor man. Why fo? because he is in debt. What then, do ye fay, does he owe? Why, all that he has; unless you think it makes a difference whether a man borrows from his neighbour, or from Fortune. What avails it, that his mules are fo fleek and fat, and all of one colour? or that his chariot is finely carved?

- Inftrati oftro alipedes, pictifque tapetis.

Aurca pectoribus demissa monilia pendent;

Tecti auro fulvum mandunt fub dentibus aurum!

The feeds caparifon'd with purple stand,

With golden trappings, curious to behold;

And champ betwixt their teeth the foaming gold. Dryden. These things make not the owner a better man, nor his mules more ferviceable.

Marcus Cato, the Cenfor, (whose birth was truly of as great advantage to the Roman people, as that of Scipio; for as the one waged war against our profeffed enemies, the other fet himself to oppofe the depra

VOL. II.

M

vity

pravity of our morals) Cato, I fay, generally rode upon a gelding, with his bags (b) across, to carry fuch things as were neceffary. O how glad fhould I have been to have feen him meet in the way one of our foppish cavaliers () with running footmen and his blacks (k), driving a cloud of duft before him! Undoubtedly fuch a one would appear more spruce and better attended than Cato; though at the fame time amidst this fplendid equipage he greatly doubts whether he fhall not let himself out to engage with men or beasts at the public fhews (1). But how did it redound to the honour of that age, that a General, who had triumphed, had been Cenfor, nay (what is above all) that a Cato should be contented with a fingle horse, and indeed scarce that, for the bags on either fide took up part of it? And would you not then prefer this one ftrong gelding, which Cato deigned to curry and rub down with his own hands, to all thofe plump eafy pads, Spanish gennets (m), and ambling nags, that are of little other fervice than for mere fhew? But I find I fhould not know when to end this fubject, unless I refolved with myself so to do; and fhall therefore fay no more of these things, which no doubt he forefaw would prove just what they now are, who firft called them, impedimenta, ufelefs incumbrances.

I will now lay before you, Lucilius, a few more questions, as maintained by our sect, in relation to the fufficiency of virtue.. to render life happy. What is good in itself makes men good; as, what is truly good in mufic, makes a man a good mufician. Casual things make not a good man, therefore they cannot be reckoned good. Now in anfwer to this the Peripatetics fay, that our first propofition is false; forafmuch as that which is good, does not always make men good. There is fomething good in mufic, as the flute, the harp, or other inftruments adapted to accompany the voice, but none of these things accomplish a musician. Whereunto we reply, you do not rightly understand the question, with regard to what we fuppofe good in mufic, for we call not that good in mufic which helpeth, or inftructeth, but what completes, the mutician; whereas you confider only the inftruments belonging to the profeffion, and not the profeffion itfelf. Now whatever is good in the art of

But I will

mufic itself, it is that which maketh a good musician. endeavour to make this plainer. That which is good in the art of mufic, is faid to be fo in two refpects; the one as promoting the effect, the other as affifting the art of the musician. Now the inftruments fuch as the flute, the harp, the organ, belong to the effect, and not to the art itself. For without thefe a man may be well killed in mufic, though without them he cannot difplay his powers. But good is not alike twofold in man; for good both of the man and of life is still the fame good. What may befall the most contemptible and vilest of mankind is not good; but riches may fall to the fhare of a bawd, or a prize-fighter; riches therefore in themfelves are not good.

Again, the Peripatetics say, our propofition is falfe: for in Grammar, and in the art of phyfic or of government, we fee that good befalleth even thofe of the lowest rank. Be it so, these arts profefs not any greatness of mind; they rife not above the common pitch; they difdain not casual things; whereas Virtue raiseth a man on high; and even exalts him above all that is dear to mortals; neither anxiously defiring those things that are called good, nor dreading those things that are called evils. Chelidon, one of Cleopatra's eunuchs (n), poffeffed a large estate. And it is not long fince one Natalis (0), a man no less wicked than abominably foul-mouthed, was heir to many, and left many heirs. What then, shall we say that money made him pure, and not rather that he polluted money? which fo falls upon fome, as a piece of filver thrown into the common fhore.

Virtue is feated far above these things; fhe reckons them not among her treasures; but rates every thing as herself is rated, according to its real worth; not judging any of these things good, fall they how or where they will; whereas phyfic and politics blend these things together, and forbid not their profeffors the pursuit of them. He that is not a good man, may yet be a physician, a pilot or a Grammarian, as well indeed as a cook. You will not rank him among others, who hath some quality which others have not (p). What any man hath in poffeffion, fuch is the man. The exchequer is rich according to what

it has; yet all that it hath is but adventitious: no one fets any price upon a full bag, but upon what is contained therein. The fame happens to the owner of a large estate: it is ftill but an acceffion or appendix to the man. Why then is a wife man great? Because he hath a great foul; and not on the account of any external things. It is therefore true, that what may befall even the most contemptible of men, is not to be called good. Accordingly I will not allow freedom from pain and forrow a good thing; fince this is no more than what a grafshopper or a gnat may enjoy. Nor will I affirm that reft, and having nothing to trouble us, are good, fince what can be more free from trouble than a worm? Do you afk then what it is that conftitutes a wife man? The fame that conftitutes a God (q); you must grant him something divine, heavenly and truly noble. Good falls not to every one's share, nor is indifferent to every poffeffor. Obferve,

Et quid quæque ferat regio, et quod quæque recufat.
Hic fegetes, illic veniunt felicius uvæ;

Arborci fœtus alibi; atque injufsa virescunt

Gramina, nonne vides croceos ut Tmolus odores

India mittit ebur, molles fua tura fabæi?

At Chalybes nudi ferrum.

The culture fuiting to the feveral kinds

Of feeds and plants; and what will thrive, and rife,
And what the genius of each foil denies:
This ground with Bacchus, that with Ceres fuits;,
Another loads the tree with happy fruits;

A fourth with grafs, unbidden, decks the ground:
Thus Tmolus is with yellow faffron crown'd:

India black ebon, and white ivory bears,

And foft Idume weeps her od'rous tears.-Dryden.

Now these wares are diftributed in different countries, that men might be constrained to traffick; as one wants what another enjoys. The chief good hath alfo its proper feat. It springeth not where ivory or iron is found. Would you know its fituation? It is in the mind. this be pure and holy, it is not fit for the refidence of God (r).

Unless

Good

Good cometh not of evil: riches fpring from covetousness: riches therefore are not good. But fome one will fay, It is not true that good cometh not of evil; for money is got by theft or facrilege. However bad then theft or facrilege may be, it is therefore bad only as it doth more evil than good; for it procureth gain, though it be with fear, anxiety, and torment both of body and mind. Whoever faith this, must admit, that as facrilege is bad, because it doth many bad things; so likewise it is good, because it doth some good: but can there be a more monftrous opinion, than to rank facrilege or theft, or adultery, among good things? certainly not yet how many are there who are not ashamed of theft, and even glory in adultery? for small facrileges are feverely punished, while great procure a triumph (s). Add moreover, that if in any wife facrilege be good, it must also be a fit and commendable action, for it is a man's own act and deed: but furely this is what no mortal can admit ; therefore I conclude that good cannot come of evil; for if, as you fay, facrilege is only on this account evil, because it bringeth much evil; if you remit the punishment, and promise fecurity, it will be altogether good. By no means: for the greatest punishment of evil deeds lies in the deeds themselves. You err, I fay, if you put them off to the executioner or the jailer. They are punished immediately, as foon as they are done; nay, while they are doing. Good therefore fpringeth not from evil, any more than a fig from an olive-tree. Every leaf and fruit answers its own feed: that which is good cannot degenerate as what is fit and honourable cannot rife from what is wrong and vile; fo neither can good spring from evil: for fit and good is the fame thing (†).

Some of the Stoics anfwer this as follows: Suppofe money to be good in itself, come how it will; it follows not that it hath facrilege in it, though it be taken by facrilege: as thus, in the fame urn are both gold and a viper; if you take the gold from the urn, it follows not that the urn giveth gold, because it hath a viper; but it giveth gold, though it also contains a viper. In like manner, gain cometh from facrilege, not as facrilege is vile and wicked, but as gain attends it; as in the urn, the viper is a bad thing, not the gold, which lies with the viper; fo in facrilege, the heinoufness of the fact is bad, but not the gain. To which it is replied, the cafes are by

no