,,essays ,,of ,,michel ,,de ,,montaigne ,translated by ,charles ,cotton ,edited by ,william ,carew ,hazilitt #ahgg ,,contents ,,of ,,volume #aa4 ,,xiii4 ,of judging of the death of another4 ,,xiv4 ,that the mind hinders itself4 ,,xv4 ,that our desires are augmented by difficulty4 ,,xvi4 ,of glory4 ,,xvii4 ,of presumption4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,of ,,judging ,,of ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,another ,when we judge of another's assurance in death1 which1 without doubt1 is the most remarkable action of human life1 we are to take heed of one thing1 which is that men very hardly believe themselves to have arrived to that period4 ,few men come to die in the opinion that it is their latest hour2 and there is nothing wherein the flattery of hope more deludes us2 ,it never ceases to whisper in our ears1 ,others have been much sicker without dying2 your condition is not so desperate as 'tis thought2 and1 at the worst1 ,god has done other miracles4 ,which happens by reason that we set too much value upon ourselves2 it seems as if the universality of things were in some measure to suffer by our dissolution1 and that it commiserates our condition1 forasmuch as our disturbed sight represents things to itself erroneously1 and that we are of opinion they stand in as much need of us as we do of them1 like people at sea1 to whom mountains1 fields1 cities1 heaven and earth are tossed at the same rate as they are3 ,provehimur portu1 terraeque urbesque recedunt3 ,we sail out of port1 and cities and lands recede4 --,a,eneid1 iii4 #gb4 ,whoever saw old age that did not applaud the past and condemn the present time1 laying the fault of his misery and discontent upon the world and the manners of men8 ,jamque caput quassans1 grandis suspirat arator4 ,et cum tempora temporibus praesentia confert ,praeteritis1 laudat fortunas saepe parentis1 ,et crepat antiquum genus ut pietate repletum4 ,now the old ploughman1 shaking his head1 sighs1 and compares present times with past1 often praises his parents' happiness1 and talks of the old race as full of piety4--,lucretius1 ii4 #aafe4 ,we will make all things go along with us2 whence it follows that we consider our death as a very great thing1 and that does not so easily pass1 nor without the solemn consultation of the stars3 ,tot circa unum caput tumultuantes dens1 ,all the gods to agitation about one man4 --,seneca1 ,suasor1 i4 #d4 and so much the more think it as we more value ourselves4 ,what1 shall so much knowledge be lost1 with so much damage to the world1 without a particular concern of the destinies8 ,does so rare and exemplary a soul cost no more the killing than one that is common and of no use to the public8 ,this life1 that protects so many others1 upon which so many other lives depend1 that employs so vast a number of men in his service1 that fills so many places1 shall it drop off like one that hangs but by its own simple thread8 ,none of us lays it enough to heart that he is but one3 thence proceeded those words of ,caesar to his pilot1 more tumid than the sea that threatened him3 ,italiam si coelo auctore recusas1 ,me pete3 sola tibi causa est haec justa timoris1 ,vectorem non nosce tuum2 perrumpe procellas1 ,tutela secure mea4 ,if you decline to sail to ,italy under the ,god's protection1 trust to mine2 the only just cause you have to fear is1 that you do not know your passenger2 sail on1 secure in my guardianship4 --,lucan1 ,v4 #egi4 ,and these3 ,credit jam digna pericula ,caesar ,fatis esse suis2 tantusne evertere1 dixit1 ,me superis labor est1 parva quern puppe sedentem1 ,tam magno petiere mari2 ,caesar now deemed these dangers worthy of his destiny3 ',what6' said he1 'is it for the gods so great a task to overthrow me1 that they must be fain to assail me with great seas in a poor little bark4'--,lucan1 v4 #fec4 and that idle fancy of the public1 that the sun bore on his face mourning for his death a whole year3 ,ille etiam extincto miseratus ,caesare ,romam1 ,cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit3 ,caesar being dead1 the sun in mourning clouds1 pitying ,rome1 clothed himself4--,virgil1 ,georg41 i4 #dff4 and a thousand of the like1 wherewith the world suffers itself to be so easily imposed upon1 believing that our interests affect the heavens1 and that their infinity is concerned at our ordinary actions3 ,non tanta caelo societas nobiscum est1 ut nostro fato mortalis sit ille quoque siderum fulgor4 ,there is no such alliance betwixt us and heaven1 that the brightness of the stars should be made also mortal by our death4 --,pliny1 ,nat4 ,hist41 ii4 #h4 ,now1 to judge of constancy and resolution in a man who does not yet believe himself to be certainly in danger1 though he really is1 is not reason2 and 'tis not enough that he die in this posture1 unless he purposely put himself into it for this effect4 ,it commonly falls out in most men that they set a good face upon the matter and speak with great indifference1 to acquire reputation1 which they hope afterwards1 living1 to enjoy4 ,of all whom ,i have seen die1 fortune has disposed their countenances and no design of theirs2 and even of those who in ancient times have made away with themselves1 there is much to be considered whether it were a sudden or a lingering death4 ,that cruel ,roman ,emperor would say of his prisoners1 that he would make them feel death1 and if any one killed himself in prison1 ,that fellow has made an escape from me2 he would prolong death and make it felt by torments3 ,vidimus et toto quamvis in corpore caeso ,nil anima lethale datum1 moremque nefandae1 ,durum saevitix1 pereuntis parcere morti4 ,we have seen in tortured bodies1 amongst the wounds1 none that have been mortal1 inhuman mode of dire cruelty1 that means to kill1 but will not let men die4--,lucan1 iv4 i4 #gh4 ,in plain truth1 it is no such great matter for a man in health and in a temperate state of mind to resolve to kill himself2 it is very easy to play the villain before one comes to the point1 insomuch that ,heliogabalus1 the most effeminate man in the world1 amongst his lowest sensualities1 could forecast to make himself die delicately1 when he should be forced thereto2 and that his death might not give the lie to the rest of his life1 had purposely built a sumptuous tower1 the front and base of which were covered with planks enriched with gold and precious stones1 thence to precipitate himself2 and also caused cords twisted with gold and crimson silk to be made1 wherewith to strangle himself2 and a sword with the blade of gold to be hammered out to fall upon2 and kept poison in vessels of emerald and topaz wherewith to poison himself according as he should like to choose one of these ways of dying3 ,impiger4 4 4 ad letum et fortis virtute coacta4 ,resolute and brave in the face of death by a forced courage4 --,lucan1 iv4 #gih4 ,yet in respect of this person1 the effeminacy of his preparations makes it more likely that he would have thought better on't1 had he been put to the test4 ,but in those who with greater resolution have determined to despatch themselves1 we must examine whether it were with one blow which took away the leisure of feeling the effect for it is to be questioned whether1 perceiving life1 by little and little1 to steal away the sentiment of the body mixing itself with that of the soul1 and the means of repenting being offered1 whether1 ,i say1 constancy and obstinacy in so dangerous an intention would have been found4 ,in the civil wars of ,caesar1 ,lucius ,domitius1 being taken in the ,abruzzi1 and thereupon poisoning himself1 afterwards repented4 ,it has happened in our time that a certain person1 being resolved to die and not having gone deep enough at the first thrust1 the sensibility of the flesh opposing his arm1 gave himself two or three wounds more1 but could never prevail upon himself to thrust home4 ,whilst ,plautius ,silvanus was upon his trial1 ,urgulania1 his grandmother1 sent him a poniard with which1 not being able to kill himself1 he made his servants cut his veins4 ,albucilla in ,tiberius time having1 to kill himself1 struck with too much tenderness1 gave his adversaries opportunity to imprison and put him to death their own way4' ,and that great leader1 ,demosthenes1 after his rout in ,sicily1 did the same2 and ,c4 ,fimbria1 having struck himself too weakly1 entreated his servant to despatch him4 ,on the contrary1 ,ostorius1 who could not make use of his own arm1 disdained to employ that of his servant to any other use but only to hold the poniard straight and firm2 and bringing his throat to it1 thrust himself through4 ',tis1 in truth1 a morsel that is to be swallowed without chewing1 unless a man be thoroughly resolved2 and yet ,adrian the emperor made his physician mark and encircle on his pap the mortal place wherein he was to stab to whom he had given orders to kill him4 ,for this reason it was that ,caesar1 being asked what death he thought to be the most desired1 made answer1 ,the least premeditated and the shortest4--,tacitus1 ,annals1 xvi4 #ae-- ,if ,caesar dared to say it1 it is no cowardice in me to believe it4 ,a short death1 says ,pliny1 is the sovereign good hap of human life4 ,people do not much care to recognise it4 ,no one can say that he is resolute for death who fears to deal with it and cannot undergo it with his eyes open3 they whom we see in criminal punishments run to their death and hasten and press their execution1 do it not out of resolution1 but because they will not give them selves leisure to consider it2 it does not trouble them to be dead1 but to die3 ,emodi nolo1 sed me esse mortem nihil astigmia3 ,i have no mind to die1 but ,i have no objection to be dead4 --,epicharmus1 apud ,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 i4 #h4 'tis a degree of constancy to which ,i have experimented1 that ,i can arrive1 like those who plunge into dangers1 as into the sea1 with their eyes shut4 ,there is nothing1 in my opinion1 more illustrious in the life of ,socrates1 than that he had thirty whole days wherein to ruminate upon the sentence of his death1 to have digested it all that time with a most assured hope1 without care1 and without alteration1 and with a series of words and actions rather careless and indifferent than any way stirred or discomposed by the weight of such a thought4 ,that ,pomponius ,atticus1 to whom ,cicero writes so often1 being sick1 caused ,agrippa1 his son-in-law1 and two or three more of his friends1 to be called to him1 and told them1 that having found all means practised upon him for his recovery to be in vain1 and that all he did to prolong his life also prolonged and augmented his pain1 he was resolved to put an end both to the one and the other1 desiring them to approve of his determination1 or at least not to lose their labour in endeavouring to dissuade him4 ,now1 having chosen to destroy himself by abstinence1 his disease was thereby cured3 the remedy that he had made use of to kill himself restored him to health4 ,his physicians and friends1 rejoicing at so happy an event1 and coming to congratulate him1 found themselves very much deceived1 it being impossible for them to make him alter his purpose1 he telling them1 that as he must one day die1 and was now so far on his way1 he would save himself the labour of beginning another time4 ,this man1 having surveyed death at leisure1 was not only not discouraged at its approach1 but eagerly sought it2 for being content that he had engaged in the combat1 he made it a point of bravery to see the end2 'tis far beyond not fearing death to taste and relish it4 ,the story of the philosopher ,cleanthes is very like this3 he had his gums swollen and rotten2 his physicians advised him to great abstinence3 having fasted two days1 he was so much better that they pronounced him cured1 and permitted him to return to his ordinary course of diet2 he1 on the contrary1 already tasting some sweetness in this faintness of his1 would not be persuaded to go back1 but resolved to proceed1 and to finish what he had so far advanced4 ,tullius ,marcellinus1 a young man of ,rome1 having a mind to anticipate the hour of his destiny1 to be rid of a disease that was more trouble to him than he was willing to endure1 though his physicians assured him of a certain1 though not sudden1 cure1 called a council of his friends to deliberate about it2 of whom some1 says ,seneca1 gave him the counsel that out of unmanliness they would have taken themselves2 others1 out of flattery1 such as they thought he would best like2 but a ,stoic said this to him3 ,do not concern thyself1 ,marcellinus1 as if thou didst deliberate of a thing of importance2 'tis no great matter to live2 thy servants and beasts live2 but it is a great thing to die handsomely1 wisely1 and firmly4 ,do but think how long thou hast done the same things1 eat1 drink1 and sleep1 drink1 sleep1 and eat3 we incessantly wheel in the same circle4 ,not only ill and insupportable accidents1 but even the satiety of living1 inclines a man to desire to die4 ,marcellinus did not stand in need of a man to advise1 but of a man to assist him2 his servants were afraid to meddle in the business1 but this philosopher gave them to under stand that domestics are suspected even when it is in doubt whether the death of the master were voluntary or no2 otherwise1 that it would be of as ill example to hinder him as to kill him1 forasmuch as3 ,invitum qui servat1 idem facit occidenti4 ,he who makes a man live against his will1 'tis as cruel as to kill him4--,horat41 ,de ,arte ,poet41 #dfg ,he then told ,marcellinus that it would not be unbecoming1 as what is left on the tables when we have eaten is given to the attendants1 so1 life being ended1 to distribute something to those who have been our servants4 ,now ,marcellinus was of a free and liberal spirit2 he1 therefore1 divided a certain sum of money amongst his servants1 and consoled them4 ,as to the rest1 he had no need of steel nor of blood3 he resolved to go out of this life and not to run out of it2 not to escape from death1 but to essay it4 ,and to give himself leisure to deal with it1 having forsaken all manner of nourishment1 the third day following1 after having caused himself to be sprinkled with warm water1 he fainted by degrees1 and not without some kind of pleasure1 as he himself declared4 ,in fact1 such as have been acquainted with these faintings1 proceeding from weakness1 say that they are therein sensible of no manner of pain1 but rather feel a kind of delight1 as in the passage to sleep and best4 ,these are studied and digested deaths4 ,but to the end that ,cato only may furnish out the whole example of virtue1 it seems as if his good with which the leisure to confront and struggle with death1 reinforcing his destiny had put his ill one into the hand he gave himself the blow1 seeing he had courage in the danger1 instead of letting it go less4 ,and if ,i had had to represent him in his supreme station1 ,i should have done it in the posture of tearing out his bloody bowels1 rather than with his sword in his hand1 as did the statuaries of his time1 for this second murder was much more furious than the first4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,that ,,our ,,mind ,,hinders ,,itself ',tis a pleasant imagination to fancy a mind exactly balanced betwixt two equal desires3 for1 doubtless1 it can never pitch upon either1 forasmuch as the choice and application would manifest an inequality of esteem2 and were we set betwixt the bottle and the ham1 with an equal appetite to drink and eat1 there would doubtless be no remedy1 but we must die of thirst and hunger4 ,to provide against this inconvenience1 the ,stoics1 when they are asked whence the election in the soul of two indifferent things proceeds1 and that makes us1 out of a great number of crowns1 rather take one than another1 they being all alike1 and there being no reason to incline us to such a preference1 make answer1 that this movement of the soul is extraordinary and irregular1 entering into us by a foreign1 accidental1 and fortuitous impulse4 ,it might rather1 methinks1 he said1 that nothing presents itself to us wherein there is not some difference1 how little soever2 and that1 either by the sight or touch1 there is always some choice that1 though it be imperceptibly1 tempts and attracts us2 so1 whoever shall presuppose a packthread equally strong throughout1 it is utterly impossible it should break2 for1 where will you have the breaking to begin8 and that it should break altogether is not in nature4 ,whoever1 also1 should hereunto join the geometrical propositions that1 by the certainty of their demonstrations1 conclude the contained to be greater than the containing1 the centre to be as great as its circumference1 and that find out two lines incessantly approaching each other1 which yet can never meet1 and the philosopher's stone1 and the quadrature of the circle1 where the reason and the effect are so opposite1 might1 peradventure1 find some argument to second this bold saying of ,pliny3 ,solum certum nihil esse certi1 et homine nihil miserius ant superbius4 ,it is only certain that there is nothing certain1 and that nothing is more miserable or more proud than man4--,nat4 ,hist41 ii4 #g4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,that ,,our ,,desires ,,are ,,augmented ,,by ,,difficulty ,there is no reason that has not its contrary1 say the wisest of the philosophers4 ,i was just now ruminating on the excellent saying one of the ancients alleges for the contempt of life3 ,no good can bring pleasure1 unless it be that for the loss of which we are beforehand prepared4 ,in aequo est dolor amissae rei1 et timor amittendae1 ,the grief of losing a thing1 and the fear of losing it1 are equal4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ih4 meaning by this that the fruition of life cannot be truly pleasant to us if we are in fear of losing it4 ,it might1 however1 be said1 on the contrary1 that we hug and embrace this good so much the more earnestly1 and with so much greater affection1 by how much we see it the less assured and fear to have it taken from us3 for it is evident1 as fire burns with greater fury when cold comes to mix with it1 that our will is more obstinate by being opposed3 ,si nunquam ,danaen habuisset ahenea turris1 ,non esses1 ,danae1 de ,jove facta parens2 ,if a brazen tower had not held ,danae1 you would not1 ,danae1 have been made a mother by ,jove4--,ovid1 ,amoy41 ii4 #ai1 #bg4 and that there is nothing naturally so contrary to our taste as satiety which proceeds from facility2 nor anything that so much whets it as rarity and difficulty3 ,omnium rerum voluptas ipso1 quo debet fugare1 periculo crescit4 ,the pleasure of all things increases by the same danger that should deter it4--,seneca1 ,de ,benef41 vii4 #i4 ,galla1 nega2 satiatur amor1 nisi gaudia torquent4 ,galla1 refuse me2 love is glutted with joys that are not attended with trouble4--,martial1 iv4 #cg4 ,to keep love in breath1 ,lycurgus made a decree that the married people of ,lacedaemon should never enjoy one another but by stealth2 and that it should be as great a shame to take them in bed together as committing with others4 ,the difficulty of assignations1 the danger of surprise1 the shame of the morning1 ,et languor1 et silentium1 ,et latere petitus imo ,spiritus3 ,and languor1 and silence1 and sighs1 coming from the innermost heart4--,hor41 ,epod41 xi4 #i4 these are what give the piquancy to the sauce4 ,how many very wantonly pleasant sports spring from the most decent and modest language of the works on love8 ,pleasure itself seeks to be heightened with pain2 it is much sweeter when it smarts and has the skin rippled4 ,the courtesan ,flora said she never lay with ,pompey but that she made him wear the prints of her teeth4--,plutarch1 ,life of ,pompey1 c4 i4 ,quod petiere1 premunt arcte1 faciuntque dolorem ,corporis1 et dentes inlidunt saepe labellis 4 4 4 ,et stimuli subsunt1 qui instigant laedere ad ipsum1 ,quodcunque est1 rabies unde illae germina surgunt4 ,what they have sought they dress closely1 and cause pain2 on the lips fix the teeth1 and every kiss indents3 urged by latent stimulus the part to wound--,lucretius1 i4 #d4 ,and so it is in everything3 difficulty gives all things their estimation2 the people of the march of ,ancona more readily make their vows to ,st4 ,james1 and those of ,galicia to ,our ,lady of ,loreto2 they make wonderful to-do at ,liege about the baths of ,lucca1 and in ,tuscany about those of ,aspa3 there are few ,romans seen in the fencing school of ,rome1 which is full of ,french4 ,that great ,cato also1 as much as us1 nauseated his wife whilst she was his1 and longed for her when in the possession of another4 ,i was fain to turn out into the paddock an old horse1 as he was not to be governed when he smelt a mare3 the facility presently sated him as towards his own1 but towards strange mares1 and the first that passed by the pale of his pasture1 he would again fall to his importunate neighings and his furious heats as before4 ,our appetite contemns and passes by what it has in possession1 to run after that it has not3 ,transvolat in medio posita1 et fugientia captat4 ,he slights her who is close at hand1 and runs after her who flees from him4--,horace1 ,sat41 i4 #b1 #ajh4 ,to forbid us anything is to make us have a mind to't3 ,nisi to servare puellam ,incipis1 incipiet desinere esse mea3 ,unless you begin to guard your mistress1 she will soon begin to be no longer mine4--,ovid1 ,amoy41 ii4 #ai1 #dg4 to give it wholly up to us is to beget in us contempt4 ,want and abundance fall into the same inconvenience3 ,tibi quod superest1 mihi quod desit1 dolet4 ,your superfluities trouble you1 and what ,i want troubles me4--,terence1 ,phoym41 i4 #c1 #i4 ,desire and fruition equally afflict us4 ,the rigors of mistresses are troublesome1 but facility1 to say truth1 still more so2 forasmuch as discontent and anger spring from the esteem we have of the thing desired1 heat and actuate love1 but satiety begets disgust2 'tis a blunt1 dull1 stupid1 tired1 and slothful passion3 ,si qua volet regnare diu1 contemnat amantem4 ,she who would long retain her power must use her lover ill4 --,ovid1 ,amor41 ii4 #ai1 #cc ,contemnite1 amantes3 ,sic hodie veniet1 si qua negavit heri4 ,slight your mistress2 she will to-day come who denied you yesterday4--,propertius1 ii4 #ad1 #ai4 ,why did ,poppea invent the use of a mask to hide the beauties of her face1 but to enhance it to her lovers8 ,why have they veiled1 even below the heels1 those beauties that every one desires to show1 and that every one desires to see8 ,why do they cover with so many hindrances1 one over another1 the parts where our desires and their own have their principal seat8 ,and to what serve those great bastion farthingales1 with which our ladies fortify their haunches1 but to allure our appetite and to draw us on by removing them farther from us8 ,et fugit ad salices1 et se cupit ante videri4 ,she flies to the osiers1 and desires beforehand to be seen going4 --,virgil1 ,eclog41 iii4 #fe4 ,interdum tunica duxit operta moram4 ,the hidden robe has sometimes checked love4 --,propertius1 ii4 #ae1 #f4 ,to what use serves the artifice of this virgin modesty1 this grave coldness1 this severe countenance1 this professing to be ignorant of things that they know better than we who instruct them in them1 but to increase in us the desire to overcome1 control1 and trample underfoot at pleasure all this ceremony and all these obstacles8 ,for there is not only pleasure1 but1 moreover1 glory1 in conquering and debauching that soft sweetness and that childish modesty1 and to reduce a cold and matronlike gravity to the mercy of our ardent desires3 'tis a glory1 say they1 to triumph over modesty1 chastity1 and temperance2 and whoever dissuades ladies from those qualities1 betrays both them and himself4 ,we are to believe that their hearts tremble with affright1 that the very sound of our words offends the purity of their ears1 that they hate us for talking so1 and only yield to our importunity by a compulsive force4 ,beauty1 all powerful as it is1 has not wherewithal to make itself relished without the mediation of these little arts4 ,look into ,italy1 where there is the most and the finest beauty to be sold1 how it is necessitated to have recourse to extrinsic means and other artifices to render itself charming1 and yet1 in truth1 whatever it may do1 being venal and public1 it remains feeble and languishing4 ,even so in virtue itself1 of two like effects1 we notwithstanding look upon that as the fairest and most worthy1 wherein the most trouble and hazard are set before us4 ',tis an effect of the divine ,providence to suffer the holy ,church to be afflicted1 as we see it1 with so many storms and troubles1 by this opposition to rouse pious souls1 and to awaken them from that drowsy lethargy wherein1 by so long tranquillity1 they had been immerged4 ,if we should lay the loss we have sustained in the number of those who have gone astray1 in the balance against the benefit we have had by being again put in breath1 and by having our zeal and strength revived by reason of this opposition1 ,i know not whether the utility would not surmount the damage4 ,we have thought to tie the nuptial knot of our marriages more fast and firm by having taken away all means of dissolving it1 but the knot of the will and affection is so much the more slackened and made loose1 by how much that of constraint is drawn closer2 and1 on the contrary1 that which kept the marriages at ,rome so long in honour and inviolate1 was the liberty every one who so desired had to break them2 they kept their wives the better1 because they might part with them1 if they would2 and1 in the full liberty of divorce1 five hundred years and more passed away before any one made use on't4 ,quod licet1 ingratum est2 quod non licet1 acrius urit4 ,what you may1 is displeasing2 what is forbidden1 whets the appetite4--,ovid1 ,amor41 ii4 #ai4 ,we might here introduce the opinion of an ancient upon this occasion1 that executions rather whet than dull the edge of vices3 that they do not beget the care of doing well1 that being the work of reason and discipline1 but only a care not to be taken in doing ill3 ,latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt4 ,the plague-sore being lanced1 the infection spreads all the more4 --,rutilius1 ,itinerar4 #a1 #cig4 ,i do not know that this is true2 but ,i experimentally know1 that never civil government was by that means reformed2 the order and regimen of manners depend upon some other expedient4 ,the ,greek histories make mention of the ,argippians1 neighbours to ,scythia1 who live without either rod or stick for offence2 where not only no one attempts to attack them1 but whoever can fly thither is safe1 by reason of their virtue and sanctity of life1 and no one is so bold as to lay hands upon them2 and they have applications made to them to determine the controversies that arise betwixt men of other countries4 ,there is a certain nation1 where the enclosures of gardens and fields they would preserve1 are made only of a string of cotton2 and1 so fenced1 is more firm and secure than by our hedges and ditches4 ,furem signata sollicitant 4 4 4 aperta effractarius praeterit4 ,things sealed1 up invite a thief3 the housebreaker passes by open doors4--,seneca1 ,epist41 #fh4 ,peradventure1 the facility of entering my house1 amongst other things1 has been a means to preserve it from the violence of our civil wars3 defence allures attempt1 and defiance provokes an enemy4 ,i enervated the soldiers' design by depriving the exploit of danger and all manner of military glory1 which is wont to serve them for pretence and excuse3 whatever is bravely1 is ever honourably1 done1 at a time when justice is dead4 ,i render them the conquest of my house cowardly and base2 it is never shut to any one that knocks2 my gate has no other guard than a porter1 and he of ancient custom and ceremony2 who does not so much serve to defend it as to offer it with more decorum and grace2 ,i have no other guard nor sentinel than the stars4 ,a gentleman would play the fool to make a show of defence1 if he be not really in a condition to defend himself4 ,he who lies open on one side1 is everywhere so2 our ancestors did not think of building frontier garrisons4 ,the means of assaulting1 ,i mean without battery or army1 and of surprising our houses1 increases every day more and more beyond the means to guard them2 men's wits are generally bent that way2 in invasion every one is concerned3 none but the rich in defence4 ,mine was strong for the time when it was built2 ,i have added nothing to it of that kind1 and should fear that its strength might turn against myself2 to which we are to consider that a peaceable time would require it should be dismantled4 ,there is danger never to be able to regain it1 and it would be very hard to keep2 for in intestine dissensions1 your man may be of the party you fear2 and where religion is the pretext1 even a man's nearest relations become unreliable1 with some colour of justice4 ,the public exchequer will not maintain our domestic garrisons2 they would exhaust it3 we ourselves have not the means to do it without ruin1 or1 which is more inconvenient and injurious1 without ruining the people4 ,the condition of my loss would be scarcely worse4 ,as to the rest1 you there lose all2 and even your friends will be more ready to accuse your want of vigilance and your improvidence1 and your ignorance of and indifference to your own business1 than to pity you4 ,that so many garrisoned houses have been undone whereas this of mine remains1 makes me apt to believe that they were only lost by being guarded2 this gives an enemy both an invitation and colour of reason2 all defence shows a face of war4 ,let who will come to me in ,god's name2 but ,i shall not invite them2 'tis the retirement ,i have chosen for my repose from war4 ,i endeavour to withdraw this corner from the public tempest1 as ,i also do another corner in my soul4 ,our war may put on what forms it will1 multiply and diversify itself into new parties2 for my part1 ,i stir not4 ,amongst so many garrisoned houses1 myself alone amongst those of my rank1 so far as ,i know1 in ,france1 have trusted purely to ,heaven for the protection of mine1 and have never removed plate1 deeds1 or hangings4 ,i will neither fear nor save myself by halves4 ,if a full acknowledgment acquires the ,divine favour1 it will stay with me to the end3 if not1 ,i have still continued long enough to render my continuance remarkable and fit to be recorded4 ,how8 ,why1 there are thirty years that ,i have thus lived4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,of ,,glory ,there is the name and the thing3 the name is a voice which denotes and signifies the thing2 the name is no part of the thing1 nor of the substance2 'tis a foreign piece joined to the thing1 and outside it4 ,god1 who is all fulness in ,himself and the height of all perfection1 cannot augment or add anything to ,himself within2 but ,his name may be augmented and increased by the blessing and praise we attribute to ,his exterior works3 which praise1 seeing we cannot incorporate it in ,him1 forasmuch as ,he can have no accession of good1 we attribute to ,his name1 which is the part out of ,him that is nearest to us4 ,thus is it that to ,god alone glory and honour appertain2 and there is nothing so remote from reason as that we should go in quest of it for ourselves2 for1 being indigent and necessitous within1 our essence being imperfect1 and having continual need of amelioration1 'tis to that we ought to employ all our endeavour4 ,we are all hollow and empty2 'tis not with wind and voice that we are to fill ourselves2 we want a more solid substance to repair us3 a man starving with hunger would be very simple to seek rather to provide himself with a gay garment than with a good meal3 we are to look after that whereof we have most need4 ,as we have it in our ordinary prayers3 ,gloria in excelsis ,deo1 et in terra pax hominibus4 ,we are in want of beauty1 health1 wisdom1 virtue1 and such like essential qualities3 exterior ornaments should1 be looked after when we have made provision for necessary things4 ,divinity treats amply and more pertinently of this subject1 but ,i am not much versed in it4 ,chrysippus and ,diogenes were the earliest and firmest advocates of the contempt of glory2 and maintained that1 amongst all pleasures1 there was none more dangerous nor more to be avoided than that which proceeds from the approbation of others4 ,and1 in truth1 experience makes us sensible of many very hurtful treasons in it4 ,there is nothing that so poisons princes as flattery1 nor anything whereby wicked men more easily obtain credit and favour with them2 nor panderism so apt and so usually made use of to corrupt the chastity of women as to wheedle and entertain them with their own praises4 ,the first charm the ,syrens made use of to allure ,ulysses is of this nature3 ,deca vers nous1 deca1 o tres-louable ,ulysse1 ,et le plus grand honneur don't la ,grece fleurisse4 ,come hither to us1 ,o admirable ,ulysses1 come hither1 thou greatest ornament and pride of ,greece4--,homer1 ,odysseus1 xii4 #ahd4 ,these philosophers said1 that all the glory of the world was not worth an understanding man's holding out his finger to obtain it3 ,gloria quantalibet quid erit1 si gloria tantum est8 ,what is glory1 be it as glorious as it may be1 if it be no more than glory8--,juvenal1 ,sat41 vii4 #ha4 ,i say for it alone2 for it often brings several commodities along with it1 for which it may justly be desired3 it acquires us good-will1 and renders us less subject and exposed to insult and offence from others1 and the like4 ,it was also one of the principal doctrines of ,epicurus2 for this precept of his sect1 ,conceal thy life1 that forbids men to encumber themselves with public negotiations and offices1 also necessarily presupposes a contempt of glory1 which is the world's approbation of those actions we produce in public4--,plutarch1 ,whether the saying1 ,conceal thy life1 is well said4--,he that bids us conceal ourselves1 and to have no other concern but for ourselves1 and who will not have us known to others1 would much less have us honoured and glorified2 and so advises ,idomeneus not in any sort to regulate his actions by the common reputation or opinion1 except so as to avoid the other accidental inconveniences that the contempt of men might bring upon him4 ,these discourses are1 in my opinion1 very true and rational2 but we are1 ,i know not how1 double in ourselves1 which is the cause that what we believe we do not believe1 and cannot disengage ourselves from what we condemn4 ,let us see the last and dying words of ,epicurus2 they are grand1 and worthy of such a philosopher1 and yet they carry some touches of the recommendation of his name and of that humour he had decried by his precepts4 ,here is a letter that he dictated a little before his last gasp3 ,,epicuyus ,,to ,,heymachus1 health4 ,whilst ,i was passing over the happy and last day of my life1 ,i write this1 but1 at the same time1 afflicted with such pain in my bladder and bowels that nothing can be greater1 but it was recompensed with the pleasure the remembrance of my inventions and doctrines brought to my soul4 ,now1 as the affection thou hast ever from thy infancy borne towards me and philosophy requires1 take upon thee the protection of ,metrodorus' children4 ,this is the letter4 ,and that which makes me interpret that the pleasure he says he had in his soul concerning his inventions1 has some reference to the reputation he hoped for thence after his death1 is the manner of his will1 in which he gives order that ,amynomachus and ,timocrates1 his heirs1 should1 every ,january1 defray the expense of the celebration of his birthday as ,hermachus should appoint2 and also the expense that should be made the twentieth of every moon in entertaining the philosophers1 his friends1 who should assemble in honour of the memory of him and of ,metrodorus4--,cicero1 ,de ,finibus1 ii4 #cj4 ,carneades was head of the contrary opinion1 and maintained that glory was to be desired for itself1 even as we embrace our posthumous issue for themselves1 having no knowledge nor enjoyment of them4 ,this opinion has not failed to be the more universally followed1 as those commonly are that are most suitable to our inclinations4 ,aristotle gives it the first place amongst external goods2 and avoids1 as too extreme vices1 the immoderate either seeking or evading it4 ,i believe that1 if we had the books ,cicero wrote upon this subject1 we should there find pretty stories2 for he was so possessed with this passion1 that1 if he had dared1 ,i think he could willingly have fallen into the excess that others did1 that virtue itself was not to be coveted1 but upon the account of the honour that always attends it3 ,paulum sepultae distat inertiae ,celata virtus3 ,virtue concealed little differs from dead sloth4 --,horace1 ,od41 iv4 #i1 #bi4 which is an opinion so false1 that ,i am vexed it could ever enter into the understanding of a man that was honoured with the name of philosopher4 ,if this were true1 men need not be virtuous but in public2 and we should be no further concerned to keep the operations of the soul1 which is the true seat of virtue1 regular and in order1 than as they are to arrive at the knowledge of others4 ,is there no more in it1 then1 but only slily and with circumspection to do ill8 ,if thou knowest1 says ,carneades1 of a serpent lurking in a place where1 without suspicion1 a person is going to sit down1 by whose death thou expectest an advantage1 thou dost ill if thou dost not give him caution of his danger2 and so much the more because the action is to be known by none but thyself4 ,if we do not take up of ourselves the rule of well-doing1 if impunity pass with us for justice1 to how many sorts of wickedness shall we every day abandon ourselves8 ,i do not find what ,sextus ,peduceus did1 in faithfully restoring the treasure that ,c4 ,plotius had committed to his sole secrecy and trust1 a thing that ,i have often done myself1 so commendable1 as ,i should think it an execrable baseness1 had we done otherwise2 and ,i think it of good use in our days to recall the example of ,p4 ,sextilius ,rufus1 whom ,cicero accuses to have entered upon an inheritance contrary to his conscience1 not only not against law1 but even by the determination of the laws themselves2 and ,m4 ,crassus and ,hortensius1 who1 by reason of their authority and power1 having been called in by a stranger to share in the succession of a forged will1 that so he might secure his own part1 satisfied themselves with having no hand in the forgery1 and refused not to make their advantage and to come in for a share3 secure enough1 if they could shroud themselves from accusations1 witnesses1 and the cognisance of the laws3 ,meminerint ,deum se habere testem1 id est 7ut ego arbitror7 mentem suam4 ,let them consider they have ,god to witness1 that is 7as ,i interpret it71 their own consciences4--,cicero1 ,de ,offic41 iii4 #aj4 ,virtue is a very vain and frivolous thing if it derive its recommendation from glory2 and 'tis to no purpose that we endeavour to give it a station by itself1 and separate it from fortune2 for what is more accidental than reputation8 ,profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur3 ea res cunctas ex libidine magis1 quhm ex vero1 celebrat1 obscuratque4 ,fortune rules in all things2 it advances and depresses things more out of its own will than of right and justice4 --,sallust1 ,catilina1 c4 #h4 ,so to order it that actions may be known and seen is purely the work of fortune2 'tis chance that helps us to glory1 according to its own temerity4 ,i have often seen her go before merit1 and often very much outstrip it4 ,he who first likened glory to a shadow did better than he was aware of2 they are both of them things pre-eminently vain glory also1 like a shadow1 goes sometimes before the body1 and sometimes in length infinitely exceeds it4 ,they who instruct gentlemen only to employ their valour for the obtaining of honour3 ,quasi non sit honestum1 quod nobilitatum non sit2 ,as though it were not a virtue1 unless celebrated --,cicero ,de ,offic4 iii4 #aj4 what do they intend by that but to instruct them never to hazard themselves if they are not seen1 and to observe well if there be witnesses present who may carry news of their valour1 whereas a thousand occasions of well-doing present themselves which cannot be taken notice of8 ,how many brave individual actions are buried in the crowd of a battle8 ,whoever shall take upon him to watch another's behaviour in such a confusion is not very busy himself1 and the testimony he shall give of his companions' deportment will be evidence against himself3 ,vera et sapiens animi magnitudo1 honestum illud1 quod maxime naturam sequitur1 in factis positum1 non in gloria1 judicat4 ,the true and wise magnanimity judges that the bravery which most follows nature more consists in act than glory4 --,cicero1 ,de ,offic4 i4 #ai4 ,all the glory that ,i pretend to derive from my life is that ,i have lived it in quiet2 in quiet1 not according to ,metrodorus1 or ,arcesilaus1 or ,aristippus1 but according to myself4 ,for seeing philosophy has not been able to find out any way to tranquillity that is good in common1 let every one seek it in particular4 ,to what do ,caesar and ,alexander owe the infinite grandeur of their renown but to fortune8 ,how many men has she extinguished in the beginning of their progress1 of whom we have no knowledge1 who brought as much courage to the work as they1 if their adverse hap had not cut them off in the first sally of their arms8 ,amongst so many and so great dangers ,i do not remember ,i have anywhere read that ,caesar was ever wounded2 a thousand have fallen in less dangers than the least of those he went through4 ,an infinite number of brave actions must be performed without witness and lost1 before one turns to account4 ,a man is not always on the top of a breach1 or at the head of an army1 in the sight of his general1 as upon a scaffold2 a man is often surprised betwixt the hedge and the ditch2 he must run the hazard of his life against a henroost2 he must dislodge four rascally musketeers out of a barn2 he must prick out single from his party1 and alone make some attempts1 according as necessity will have it4 ,and whoever will observe will1 ,i believe1 find it experimentally true1 that occasions of the least lustre are ever the most dangerous2 and that in the wars of our own times there have more brave men been lost in occasions of little moment1 and in the dispute about some little paltry fort1 than in places of greatest importance1 and where their valour might have been more honourably employed4 ,who thinks his death achieved to ill purpose if he do not fall on some signal occasion1 instead of illustrating his death1 wilfully obscures his life1 suffering in the meantime many very just occasions of hazarding himself to slip out of his hands2 and every just one is illustrious enough1 every man's conscience being a sufficient trumpet to him4 ,gloria nostra est testimonium conscientiae nostrae4 ,for our rejoicing is this1 the testimony of our conscience4 --,corinthians1 i4 ,i4 ,he who is only a good man that men may know it1 and that he may be the better esteemed when 'tis known2 who will not do well but upon condition that his virtue may be known to men3 is one from whom much service is not to be expected3 ,credo ch 'el reste di quel verno1 cose ,facesse degne di tener ne conto2 ,ma fur fin' a quel tempo si nascose1 ,che non a colpa mia s' hor 'non le conto ,perche ,orlando a far l'opre virtuose ,piu ch'a narrar le poi sempre era pronto2 ,ne mai fu alcun' de'suoi fatti espresso1 ,se non quando ebbe i testimonii appresso4 ,the rest of the winter1 ,i believe1 was spent in actions worthy of narration1 but they were done so secretly that if ,i do not tell them ,i am not to blame1 for ,orlando was more bent to do great acts than to boast of them1 so that no deeds of his were ever known but those that had witnesses4--,ariosto1 ,orlando ,furioso1 xi4 #ha4 ,a man must go to the war upon the account of duty1 and expect the recompense that never fails brave and worthy actions1 how private soever1 or even virtuous thoughts-the satisfaction that a well-disposed conscience receives in itself in doing well4 ,a man must be valiant for himself1 and upon account of the advantage it is to him to have his courage seated in a firm and secure place against the assaults of fortune3 ,virtus1 repulsaa nescia sordidx ,intaminatis fulget honoribus ,nec sumit1 aut ponit secures ,arbitrio popularis aura4 ,virtue1 repudiating all base repulse1 shines in taintless honours1 nor takes nor leaves dignity at the mere will of the vulgar4--,horace1 ,od41 iii4 #b1 #ag4 ,it is not for outward show that the soul is to play its part1 but for ourselves within1 where no eyes can pierce but our own2 there she defends us from the fear of death1 of pain1 of shame itself3 there she arms us against the loss of our children1 friends1 and fortunes3 and when opportunity presents itself1 she leads us on to the hazards of war3 ,non emolumento aliquo1 sed ipsius honestatis decore4 ,not for any profit1 but for the honour of honesty itself4 --,cicero1 ,de ,finib41 i4 #aj4 ,this profit is of much greater advantage1 and more worthy to be coveted and hoped for1 than1 honour and glory1 which are no other than a favourable judgment given of us4 ,a dozen men must be called out of a whole nation to judge about an acre of land2 and the judgment of our inclinations and actions1 the most difficult and most important matter that is1 we refer to the voice and determination of the rabble1 the mother of ignorance1 injustice1 and inconstancy4 ,is it reasonable that the life of a wise man should depend upon the judgment of fools8 ,an quidquam stultius1 quam1 quos singulos contemnas1 eos aliquid putare esse universes8 ,can anything be more foolish than to think that those you despise singly1 can be anything else in general4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 v4 #cf4 ,he that makes it his business to please them1 will have enough to do and never have done2 'tis a mark that can never be aimed at or hit3 ,nil tam inaestimabile est1 quam animi multitudinis4 ,nothing is to be so little understood as the minds of the multitude4--,livy1 xxxi4 #cd4 ,demetrius pleasantly said of the voice of the people1 that he made no more account of that which came from above than of that which came from below4 ,he ,cicero says more3 ,ego hoc judico1 si quando turpe non sit1 tamen non esse non turpe1 quum id a multitudine laudatur4 ,i am of opinion1 that though a thing be not foul in itself1 yet it cannot but become so when commended by the multitude4 --,cicero1 ,de ,finib41 ii4 #ae4 ,no art1 no activity of wit1 could conduct our steps so as to follow so wandering and so irregular a guide2 in this windy confusion of the noise of vulgar reports and opinions that drive us on1 no way worth anything can be chosen4 ,let us not propose to ourselves so floating and wavering an end2 let us follow constantly after reason2 let the public approbation follow us there1 if it will2 and as it wholly depends upon fortune1 we have no reason sooner to expect it by any other way than that4 ,even though ,i would not follow the right way because it is right1 ,i should1 however1 follow it as having experimentally found that1 at the end of the reckoning1 'tis commonly the most happy and of greatest utility4 ,dedit hoc providentia hominibus munus1 ut honesta magis juvarent4 ,this gift ,providence has given to men1 that honest things should be the most agreeable4--,quintilian1 ,inst4 ,orat41 i4 #ab4 ,the mariner of old said thus to ,neptune1 in a great tempest3 ,o ,god1 thou wilt save me if thou wilt1 and if thou choosest1 thou wilt destroy me2 but1 however1 ,i will hold my rudder straight4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #he4-- ,i have seen in my time a thousand men supple1 halfbred1 ambiguous1 whom no one doubted to be more worldly-wise than ,i1 lose themselves1 where ,i have saved myself3 ,risi successus posse carere dolos4 ,i have laughed to see cunning fail of success4 --,ovid1 ,heroid1 i4 #ah4 ,paulus ,a,emilius1 going on the glorious expedition of ,macedonia1 above all things charged the people of ,rome not to speak of his actions during his absence4 ,oh1 the license of judgments is a great disturbance to great affairs6 forasmuch as every one has not the firmness of ,fabius against common1 adverse1 and injurious tongues1 who rather suffered his authority to be dissected by the vain fancies of men1 than to do less well in his charge with a favourable reputation and the popular applause4 ,there is ,i know not what natural sweetness in hearing one's self commended2 but we are a great deal too fond of it3 ,laudari metuam1 neque enim mihi cornea fibra est ,sed recti finemque extremumque esse recuso ,euge tuum1 et belle4 ,i should fear to be praised1 for my heart is not made of horn2 but ,i deny that 'excellent--admirably done1' are the terms and final aim of virtue4--,persius1 i4 #dg4 ,i care not so much what ,i am in the opinions of others1 as what ,i am in my own2 ,i would be rich of myself1 and not by borrowing4 ,strangers see nothing but events and outward appearances2 everybody can set a good face on the matter1 when they have trembling and terror within3 they do not see my heart1 they see but my countenance4 ,one is right in decrying the hypocrisy that is in war2 for what is more easy to an old soldier than to shift in a time of danger1 and to counterfeit the brave when he has no more heart than a chicken8 ,there are so many ways to avoid hazarding a man's own person1 that we have deceived the world a thousand times before we come to be engaged in a real danger3 and even then1 finding ourselves in an inevitable necessity of doing something1 we can make shift for that time to conceal our apprehensions by setting a good face on the business1 though the heart beats within2 and whoever had the use of the ,platonic ring1 which renders those invisible that wear it1 if turned inward towards the palm of the hand1 a great many would very often hide themselves when they ought most to appear1 and would repent being placed in so honourable a post1 where necessity must make them bold4 ,falsus honor juvat1 et mendax infamia terret ,quem nisi mendosum et mendacem8 ,false honour pleases1 and calumny affrights1 the guilty and the sick4--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #af1 #hi4 ,thus we see how all the judgments that are founded upon external appearances1 are marvellously uncertain and doubtful2 and that there is no so certain testimony as every one is to himself4 ,in these1 how many soldiers' boys are companions of our glory8 he who stands firm in an open trench1 what does he in that more than fifty poor pioneers who open to him the way and cover it with their own bodies for fivepence a day pay1 do before him8 ,non quicquid turbida ,roma ,elevet1 accedas2 examenque improbum in illa ,castiges trutina3 nec to quaesiveris extra4 ,do not1 if turbulent ,rome disparage anything1 accede2 nor correct a false balance by that scale2 nor seek anything beyond thyself4 --,persius1 ,sat41 i4 #e4 ,the dispersing and scattering our names into many mouths1 we call making them more great2 we will have them there well received1 and that this increase turn to their advantage1 which is all that can be excusable in this design4 ,but the excess of this disease proceeds so far that many covet to have a name1 be it what it will4 ,trogus ,pompeius says of ,herostratus1 and ,titus ,livius of ,manlius ,capitolinus1 that they were more ambitious of a great reputation than of a good one4 ,this is very common2 we are more solicitous that men speak of us1 than how they speak2 and it is enough for us that our names are often mentioned1 be it after what manner it will4 ,it should seem that to be known1 is in some sort to have a man's life and its duration in others' keeping4 ,i1 for my part1 hold that ,i am not1 but in myself2 and of that other life of mine which lies in the knowledge of my friends1 to consider it naked and simply in itself1 ,i know very well that ,i am sensible of no fruit nor enjoyment from it but by the vanity of a fantastic opinion2 and when ,i shall be dead1 ,i shall be still and much less sensible of it2 and shall1 withal1 absolutely lose the use of those real advantages that sometimes accidentally follow it4 ,i shall have no more handle whereby to take hold of reputation1 neither shall it have any whereby to take hold of or to cleave to me2 for to expect that my name should be advanced by it1 in the first place1 ,i have no name that is enough my own2 of two that ,i have1 one is common to all my race1 and indeed to others also2 there are two families at ,paris and ,montpellier1 whose surname is ,montaigne1 another in ,brittany1 and one in ,xaintonge1 ,de ,la ,montaigne4 ,the transposition of one syllable only would suffice so to ravel our affairs1 that ,i shall share in their glory1 and they peradventure will partake of my discredit2 and1 moreover1 my ancestors have formerly been surnamed1 ,eyquem1--,eyquem was the patronymic4--a name wherein a family well known in ,england is at this day concerned4 ,as to my other name1 every one may take it that will1 and so1 perhaps1 ,i may honour a porter in my own stead4 ,and besides1 though ,i had a particular distinction by myself1 what can it distinguish1 when ,i am no more8 ,can it point out and favour inanity8 ,non levior cippus nunc imprimit ossa8 ,laudat posteritas6 ,nunc non e manibus illis1 ,nunc non a tumulo fortunataque favilla1 ,nascentur violae8 ,does the tomb press with less weight upon my bones8 ,do comrades praise8 ,not from my manes1 not from the tomb1 not from the ashes will violets grow4--,persius1 ,sat41 i4 #cg4 but of this ,i have spoken elsewhere4 ,as to what remains1 in a great battle where ten thousand men are maimed or killed1 there are not fifteen who are taken notice of2 it must be some very eminent greatness1 or some consequence of great importance that fortune has added to it1 that signalises a private action1 not of a harquebuser only1 but of a great captain2 for to kill a man1 or two1 or ten3 to expose a man's self bravely to the utmost peril of death1 is indeed something in every one of us1 because we there hazard all2 but for the world's concern1 they are things so ordinary1 and so many of them are every day seen1 and there must of necessity be so many of the same kind to produce any notable effect1 that we cannot expect any particular renown from it3 ,casus multis hic cognitus1 ac jam ,tritus1 et a medio fortunae ductus acervo4 ,the accident is known to many1 and now trite2 and drawn from the midst of ,fortune's heap4--,juvenal1 ,sat41 xiii4 #i4 ,of so many thousands of valiant men who have died within these fifteen hundred years in ,france with their swords in their hands1 not a hundred have come to our knowledge4 ,the memory1 not of the commanders only1 but of battles and victories1 is buried and gone2 the fortunes of above half of the world1 for want of a record1 stir not from their place1 and vanish without duration4 ,if ,i had unknown events in my possession1 ,i should think with great ease to out-do those that are recorded1 in all sorts of examples4 ,is it not strange that even of the ,greeks and ,romans1 with so many writers and witnesses1 and so many rare and noble exploits1 so few are arrived at our knowledge3 ,ad nos vix tenuis famx perlabitur aura4 ,an obscure rumour scarce is hither come4--,a,eneid1 vii4 #fdf4 ,it will be much if1 a hundred years hence1 it be remembered in general that in our times there were civil wars in ,france4 ,the ,lacedaemonians1 entering into battle1 sacrificed to the ,muses1 to the end that their actions might be well and worthily written1 looking upon it as a divine and no common favour1 that brave acts should find witnesses that could give them life and memory4 ,do we expect that at every musket-shot we receive1 and at every hazard we run1 there must be a register ready to record it8 and1 besides1 a hundred registers may enrol them whose commentaries will not last above three days1 and will never come to the sight of any one4 ,we have not the thousandth part of ancient writings2 'tis fortune that gives them a shorter or longer life1 according to her favour2 and 'tis permissible to doubt whether those we have be not the worst1 not having seen the rest4 ,men do not write histories of things of so little moment3 a man must have been general in the conquest of an empire or a kingdom2 he must have won two-and-fifty set battles1 and always the weaker in number1 as ,caesar did3 ten thousand brave fellows and many great captains lost their lives valiantly in his service1 whose names lasted no longer than their wives and children lived3 ,quos fama obscura recondit4 ,whom an obscure reputation conceals4--,a,eneid1 v4 #cjb4 ,even those whom we see behave themselves well1 three months or three years after they have departed hence1 are no more mentioned than if they had never been4 ,whoever will justly consider1 and with due proportion1 of what kind of men and of what sort of actions the glory sustains itself in the records of history1 will find that there are very few actions and very few persons of our times who can there pretend any right4 ,how many worthy men have we known to survive their own reputation1 who have seen and suffered the honour and glory most justly acquired in their youth1 extinguished in their own presence8 ,and for three years of this fantastic and imaginary life we must go and throw away our true and essential life1 and engage ourselves in a perpetual death6 ,the sages propose to themselves a nobler and more just end in so important an enterprise3 ,recte facti1 fecisse merces est3 officii fructus1 ipsum officium est4 ,the reward of a thing well done is to have done it2 the fruit of a good service is the service itself4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #h4 ,it were1 peradventure1 excusable in a painter or other artisan1 or in a rhetorician or a grammarian1 to endeavour to raise himself a name by his works2 but the actions of virtue are too noble in themselves to seek any other reward than from their own value1 and especially to seek it in the vanity of human judgments4 ,if this false opinion1 nevertheless1 be of such use to the public as to keep men in their duty2 if the people are thereby stirred up to virtue2 if princes are touched to see the world bless the memory of ,trajan1 and abominate that of ,nero2 if it moves them to see the name of that great beast1 once so terrible and feared1 so freely cursed and reviled by every schoolboy1 let it by all means increase1 and be as much as possible nursed up and cherished amongst us2 and ,plato1 bending his whole endeavour to make his citizens virtuous1 also advises them not to despise the good repute and esteem of the people2 and says it falls out1 by a certain ,divine inspiration1 that even the wicked themselves oft-times1 as well by word as opinion1 can rightly distinguish the virtuous from the wicked4 ,this person and his tutor are both marvellous and bold artificers everywhere to add divine operations and revelations where human force is wanting3 ,ut tragici poetae confugiunt ad deum1 cum explicare argumenti exitum non possunt3 ,as tragic poets fly to some god when they cannot explain the issue of their argument4--,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 i4 #bj4 and peradventure1 for this reason it was that ,timon1 railing at him1 called him the great forger of miracles4 ,seeing that men1 by their insufficiency1 cannot pay themselves well enough with current money1 let the counterfeit be superadded4 ',tis a way that has been practised by all the legislators3 and there is no government that has not some mixture either of ceremonial vanity or of false opinion1 that serves for a curb to keep the people in their duty4 ',tis for this that most of them have their originals and beginnings fabulous1 and enriched with supernatural mysteries2 'tis this that has given credit to bastard religions1 and caused them to be countenanced by men of understanding2 and for this1 that ,numa and ,sertorius1 to possess their men with a better opinion of them1 fed them with this foppery2 one1 that the nymph ,egeria1 the other that his white hind1 brought them all their counsels from the gods4 ,and the authority that ,numa gave to his laws1 under the title of the patronage of this goddess1 ,zoroaster1 legislator of the ,bactrians and ,persians1 gave to his under the name of the ,god ,oromazis3 ,trismegistus1 legislator of the ,egyptians1 under that of ,mercury2 ,xamolxis1 legislator of the ,scythians1 under that of ,vesta2 ,charondas1 legislator of the ,chalcidians1 under that of ,saturn2 ,minos1 legislator of the ,candiots1 under that of ,jupiter2 ,lycurgus1 legislator of the ,lacedaemonians1 under that of ,apollo2 and ,draco and ,solon1 legislators of the ,athenians1 under that of ,minerva4 ,and every government has a god at the head of it2 the others falsely1 that truly1 which ,moses set over the ,jews at their departure out of ,egypt4 ,the religion of the ,bedouins1 as the ,sire de ,joinville reports1 amongst other things1 enjoined a belief that the soul of him amongst them who died for his prince1 went into another body more happy1 more beautiful1 and more robust than the former2 by which means they much more willingly ventured their lives3 ,in ferrum mens prona viris1 animaeque capaces ,mortis1 et ignavum est rediturae parcere vitae4 ,men's minds are prone to the sword1 and their souls able to bear death2 and it is base to spare a life that will be renewed4 --,lucan1 i4 #dfa4 ,this is a very comfortable belief1 however erroneous4 ,every nation has many such examples of its own2 but this subject would require a treatise by itself4 ,to add one word more to my former discourse1 ,i would advise the ladies no longer to call that honour which is but their duty3 ,ut enim consuetudo loquitur1 id solum dicitur honestum1 quod est populari fama gloriosum2 ,as custom puts it1 that only is called honest which is glorious by the public voice4--,cicero1 ,de ,finibus1 ii4 #ae4 their duty is the mark1 their honour but the outward rind4 ,neither would ,i advise them to give this excuse for payment of their denial3 for ,i presuppose that their intentions1 their desire1 and will1 which are things wherein their honour is not at all concerned1 forasmuch as nothing thereof appears without1 are much better regulated than the effects3 ,qux quia non liceat1 non facit1 illa facit3 ,she who only refuses1 because 'tis forbidden1 consents4 --,ovid1 ,amor41 ii4 #d1 #d4 ,the offence1 both towards ,god and in the conscience1 would be as great to desire as to do it2 and1 besides1 they are actions so private and secret of themselves1 as would be easily enough kept from the knowledge of others1 wherein the honour consists1 if they had not another respect to their duty1 and the affection they bear to chastity1 for itself4 ,every woman of honour will much rather choose to lose her honour than to hurt her conscience4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,of ,,presumption ,there is another sort of glory1 which is the having too good an opinion of our own worth4 ',tis an inconsiderate affection with which we flatter ourselves1 and that represents us to ourselves other than we truly are3 like the passion of love1 that lends beauties and graces to the object1 and makes those who are caught by it1 with a depraved and corrupt judgment1 consider the thing which they love other and more perfect than it is4 ,i would not1 nevertheless1 for fear of failing on this side1 that a man should not know himself aright1 or think himself less than he is2 the judgment ought in all things to maintain its rights2 'tis all the reason in the world he should discern in himself1 as well as in others1 what truth sets before him2 if it be ,caesar1 let him boldly think himself the greatest captain in the world4 ,we are nothing but ceremony3 ceremony carries us away1 and we leave the substance of things3 we hold by the branches1 and quit the trunk and the body2 we have taught the ladies to blush when they hear that but named which they are not at all afraid to do3 we dare not call our members by their right names1 yet are not afraid to employ them in all sorts of debauchery3 ceremony forbids us to express by words things that are lawful and natural1 and we obey it3 reason forbids us to do things unlawful and ill1 and nobody obeys it4 ,i find myself here fettered by the laws of ceremony2 for it neither permits a man to speak well of himself1 nor ill3 we will leave her there for this time4 ,they whom fortune 7call it good or ill7 has made to1 pass their lives in some eminent degree1 may by their public actions manifest what they are2 but they whom she has only employed in the crowd1 and of whom nobody will say a word unless they speak themselves1 are to be excused if they take the boldness to speak of themselves to such as are interested to know them2 by the example of ,lucilius3 ,ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim ,credebat libris1 neque si male cesserat1 usquam ,decurrens alio1 neque si bene3 quo fit1 ut omnis1 ,votiva pateat veluri descripta tabella ,vita senis2 ,he formerly confided his secret thoughts to his books1 as to tried friends1 and for good and evil1 resorted not elsewhere3 hence it came to pass1 that the old man's life is there all seen as on a votive tablet4--,horace1 ,sat41 ii4 ,i1 #cj4 he always committed to paper his actions and thoughts1 and there portrayed himself such as he found himself to be3 ,nec id ,rutilio et ,scauro citra fidem2 aut obtrectationi fuit4 ,nor was this considered a breach of good faith or a disparagement to ,rutilius or ,scaurus4--,tacitus1 ,agricola1 c4 ,i4 ,i remember1 then1 that from my infancy there was observed in me ,i know not what kind of carriage and behaviour1 that seemed to relish of pride and arrogance4 ,i will say this1 by the way1 that it is not unreasonable to suppose that we have qualities and inclinations so much our own1 and so incorporate in us1 that we have not the means to feel and recognise them3 and of such natural inclinations the body will retain a certain bent1 without our knowledge or consent4 ,it was an affectation conformable with his beauty that made ,alexander carry his head on one side1 and caused ,alcibiades to lisp2 ,julius ,caesar scratched his head with one finger1 which is the fashion of a man full of troublesome thoughts2 and ,cicero1 as ,i remember1 was wont to pucker up his nose1 a sign of a man given to scoffing2 such motions as these may imperceptibly happen in us4 ,there are other artificial ones which ,i meddle not with1 as salutations and congees1 by which men acquire1 for the most part unjustly1 the reputation of being humble and courteous3 one may be humble out of pride4 ,i am prodigal enough of my hat1 especially in summer1 and never am so saluted but that ,i pay it again from persons of what quality soever1 unless they be in my own service4 ,i should make it my request to some princes whom ,i know1 that they would be more sparing of that ceremony1 and bestow that courtesy where it is more due2 for being so indiscreetly and indifferently conferred on all1 it is thrown away to no purpose2 if it be without respect of persons1 it loses its effect4 ,amongst irregular deportment1 let us not forget that haughty one of the ,emperor ,constantius1 who always in public held his head upright and stiff1 without bending or turning on either side1 not so much as to look upon those who saluted him on one side1 planting his body in a rigid immovable posture1 without suffering it to yield to the motion of his coach1 not daring so much as to spit1 blow his nose1 or wipe his face before people4 ,i know not whether the gestures that were observed in me were of this first quality1 and whether ,i had really any occult proneness to this vice1 as it might well be2 and ,i cannot be responsible for the motions of the body2 but as to the motions of the soul1 ,i must here confess what ,i think of the matter4 ,this glory consists of two parts2 the one in setting too great a value upon ourselves1 and the other in setting too little a value upon others4 ,as to the one1 methinks these considerations ought1 in the first place1 to be of some force3 ,i feel myself importuned by an error of the soul that displeases me1 both as it is unjust1 and still more as it is troublesome2 ,i attempt to correct it1 but ,i cannot root it out2 and this is1 that ,i lessen the just value of things that ,i possess1 and overvalue things1 because they are foreign1 absent1 and none of mine2 this humour spreads very far4 ,as the prerogative of the authority makes husbands look upon their own wives with a vicious disdain1 and many fathers their children2 so ,i1 betwixt two equal merits1 should always be swayed against my own2 not so much that the jealousy of my advancement and bettering troubles my judgment1 and hinders me from satisfying myself1 as that of itself possession begets a contempt of what it holds and rules4 ,foreign governments1 manners1 and languages insinuate themselves into my esteem2 and ,i am sensible that ,latin allures me by the favour of its dignity to value it above its due1 as it does with children1 and the common sort of people3 the domestic government1 house1 horse1 of my neighbour1 though no better than my own1 ,i prize above my own1 because they are not mine4 ,besides that ,i am very ignorant in my own affairs1 ,i am struck by the assurance that every one has of himself3 whereas there is scarcely anything that ,i am sure ,i know1 or that ,i dare be responsible to myself that ,i can do3 ,i have not my means of doing anything in condition and ready1 and am only instructed therein after the effect2 as doubtful of my own force as ,i am of another's4 ,whence it comes to pass that if ,i happen to do anything commendable1 ,i attribute it more to my fortune than industry1 forasmuch as ,i design everything by chance and in fear4 ,i have this1 also1 in general1 that of all the opinions antiquity has held of men in gross1 ,i most willingly embrace and adhere to those that most contemn and undervalue us1 and most push us to naught2 methinks1 philosophy has never so fair a game to play as when it falls upon our vanity and presumption2 when it most lays open our irresolution1 weakness1 and ignorance4 ,i look upon the too good opinion that man has of himself to be the nursing mother of all the most false opinions1 both public and private4 ,those people who ride astride upon the epicycle of ,mercury1 who see so far into the heavens1 are worse to me than a tooth-drawer that comes to draw my teeth2 for in my study1 the subject of which is man1 finding so great a variety of judgments1 so profound a labyrinth of difficulties1 one upon another1 so great diversity and uncertainty1 even in the school of wisdom itself1 you may judge1 seeing these people could not resolve upon the knowledge of themselves and their own condition1 which is continually before their eyes1 and within them1 seeing they do not know how that moves which they themselves move1 nor how to give us a description of the springs they themselves govern and make use of1 how can ,i believe them about the ebbing and flowing of the ,nile8 ,the curiosity of knowing things has been given to man for a scourge1 says the ,holy ,scripture4 ,but to return to what concerns myself2 ,i think it would be very difficult for any other man to have a meaner opinion of himself2 nay1 for any other to have a meaner opinion of me than of myself3 ,i look upon myself as one of the common sort1 saving in this1 that ,i have no better an opinion of myself2 guilty of the meanest and most popular defects1 but not disowning or excusing them2 and ,i do not value myself upon any other account than because ,i know my own value4 ,if there be any vanity in the case1 'tis superficially infused into me by the treachery of my complexion1 and has no body that my judgment can discern3 ,i am sprinkled1 but not dyed4 ,for in truth1 as to the effects of the mind1 there is no part of me1 be it what it will1 with which ,i am satisfied2 and the approbation of others makes me not think the better of myself4 ,my judgment is tender and nice1 especially in things that concern myself4 ,i ever repudiate myself1 and feel myself float and waver by reason of my weakness4 ,i have nothing of my own that satisfies my judgment4 ,my sight is clear and regular enough1 but1 at working1 it is apt to dazzle2 as ,i most manifestly find in poetry3 ,i love it infinitely1 and am able to give a tolerable judgment of other men's works2 but1 in good earnest1 when ,i apply myself to it1 ,i play the child1 and am not able to endure myself4 ,a man may play the fool in everything else1 but not in poetry2 ,mediocribus esse poetis ,non dii1 non homines1 non concessere columnae4 ,neither men1 nor gods1 nor the pillars 7on which the poets offered their writings7 permit mediocrity in poets4 --,horace1 ,de ,arte ,poet41 #cgb4 ,i would to ,god this sentence was written over the doors of all our printers1 to forbid the entrance of so many rhymesters6 ,verum ,nihil securius est malo poetae4 ,the truth is1 that nothing is more confident than a bad poet4 --,martial1 xii4 #fc1 #ac4 ,why have not we such people8--,as those about to be mentioned4-- ,dionysius the father valued himself upon nothing so much as his poetry2 at the ,olympic games1 with chariots surpassing all the others in magnificence1 he sent also poets and musicians to present his verses1 with tent and pavilions royally gilt and hung with tapestry4 ,when his verses came to be recited1 the excellence of the delivery at first attracted the attention of the people2 but when they afterwards came to poise the meanness of the composition1 they first entered into disdain1 and continuing to nettle their judgments1 presently proceeded to fury1 and ran to pull down and tear to pieces all his pavilions3 and1 that his chariots neither performed anything to purpose in the race1 and that the ship which brought back his people failed of making ,sicily1 and was by the tempest driven and wrecked upon the coast of ,tarentum1 they certainly believed was through the anger of the gods1 incensed1 as they themselves were1 against the paltry ,poem2 and even the mariners who escaped from the wreck seconded this opinion of the people3 to which also the oracle that foretold his death seemed to subscribe2 which was1 that ,dionysius should be near his end1 when he should have overcome those who were better than himself1 which he interpreted of the ,carthaginians1 who surpassed him in power2 and having war with them1 often declined the victory1 not to incur the sense of this prediction2 but he understood it ill2 for the god indicated the time of the advantage1 that by favour and injustice he obtained at ,athens over the tragic poets1 better than himself1 having caused his own play called the ,leneians to be acted in emulation2 presently after which victory he died1 and partly of the excessive joy he conceived at the success4 ,diodorus ,siculus1 xv4 #g4--,the play1 however1 was called the ,ransom of ,hector4 ,it was the games at which it was acted that were called ,leneian2 they were one of the four ,dionysiac festivals4 ,what ,i find tolerable of mine1 is not so really and in itself1 but in comparison of other worse things1 that ,i see well enough received4 ,i envy the happiness of those who can please and hug themselves in what they do2 for 'tis an easy thing to be so pleased1 because a man extracts that pleasure from himself1 especially if he be constant in his self-conceit4 ,i know a poet1 against whom the intelligent and the ignorant1 abroad and at home1 both heaven and earth exclaim that he has but very little notion of it2 and yet1 for all that1 he has never a whit the worse opinion of himself2 but is always falling upon some new piece1 always contriving some new invention1 and still persists in his opinion1 by so much the more obstinately1 as it only concerns him to maintain it4 ,my works are so far from pleasing me1 that as often as ,i review them1 they disgust me3 ,cum relego1 scripsisse pudet2 quia plurima cerno1 ,me quoque1 qui feci1 judice1 digna lini4 ,when ,i reperuse1 ,i blush at what ,i have written2 ,i ever see one passage after another that ,i1 the author1 being the judge1 consider should be erased4--,ovid1 ,de ,ponto1 i4 #e1 #ae4 ,i have always an idea in my soul1 and a sort of disturbed image which presents me as in a dream with a better form than that ,i have made use of2 but ,i cannot catch it nor fit it to my purpose2 and even that idea is but of the meaner sort4 ,hence ,i conclude that the productions of those great and rich souls of former times are very much beyond the utmost stretch of my imagination or my wish2 their writings do not only satisfy and fill me1 but they astound me1 and ravish me with admiration2 ,i judge of their beauty2 ,i see it1 if not to the utmost1 yet so far at least as 'tis possible for me to aspire4 ,whatever ,i undertake1 ,i owe a sacrifice to the ,graces1 as ,plutarch says of some one1 to conciliate their favour3 ,si quid enim placet1 ,si quid dulce horninum sensibus influit1 ,debentur lepidis omnia ,gratiis4 ,if anything please that ,i write1 if it infuse delight into men's minds1 all is due to the charming ,graces4 ,the verses are probably by some modern poet4 ,they abandon me throughout2 all ,i write is rude2 polish and beauty are wanting3 ,i cannot set things off to any advantage2 my handling adds nothing to the matter2 for which reason ,i must have it forcible1 very full1 and that has lustre of its own4 ,if ,i pitch upon subjects that are popular and gay1 'tis to follow my own inclination1 who do not affect a grave and ceremonious wisdom1 as the world does2 and to make myself more sprightly1 but not my style more wanton1 which would rather have them grave and severe2 at least if ,i may call that a style which is an inform and irregular way of speaking1 a popular jargon1 a proceeding without definition1 division1 conclusion1 perplexed like that ,amafanius and ,rabirius4--,cicero1 ,acad41 i4 #b4--;,i can neither please nor delight1 nor even tickle my readers3 the best story in the world is spoiled by my handling1 and becomes flat2 ,i cannot speak but in rough earnest1 and am totally unprovided of that facility which ,i observe in many of my acquaintance1 of entertaining the first comers and keeping a whole company in breath1 or taking up the ear of a prince with all sorts of discourse without wearying themselves3 they never want matter by reason of the faculty and grace they have in taking hold of the first thing that starts up1 and accommodating it to the humour and capacity of those with whom they have to do4 ,princes do not much affect solid discourses1 nor ,i to tell stories4 ,the first and easiest reasons1 which are commonly the best taken1 ,i know not how to employ3 ,i am an ill orator to the common sort4 ,i am apt of everything to say the extremest that ,i know4 ,cicero is of opinion that in treatises of philosophy the exordium is the hardest part2 if this be true1 ,i am wise in sticking to the conclusion4 ,and yet we are to know how to wind the string to all notes1 and the sharpest is that which is the most seldom touched4 ,there is at least as much perfection in elevating an empty as in supporting a weighty thing4 ,a man must sometimes superficially handle things1 and sometimes push them home4 ,i know very well that most men keep themselves in this lower form from not conceiving things otherwise than by this outward bark2 but ,i likewise know that the greatest masters1 and ,xenophon and ,plato are often seen to stoop to this low and popular manner of speaking and treating of things1 but supporting it with graces which never fail them4 ,farther1 my language has nothing in it that is facile and polished2 'tis rough1 free1 and irregular1 and as such pleases1 if not my judgment1 at all events my inclination1 but ,i very well perceive that ,i sometimes give myself too much rein1 and that by endeavouring to avoid art and affectation ,i fall into the other inconvenience3 ,brevis esse laboro1 ,obscurus fio4 ,endeavouring to be brief1 ,i become obscure4 --,hor41 ,art4 ,poet41 #be4 ,plato says1 that the long or the short are not properties1 that either take away or give value to language4 ,should ,i attempt to follow the other more moderate1 united1 and regular style1 ,i should never attain to it2 and though the short round periods of ,sallust best suit with my humour1 yet ,i find ,caesar much grander and harder to imitate2 and though my inclination would rather prompt me to imitate ,seneca's way of writing1 yet ,i do nevertheless more esteem that of ,plutarch4 ,both in doing and speaking ,i simply follow my own natural way2 whence1 peradventure1 it falls out that ,i am better at speaking than writing4 ,motion and action animate words1 especially in those who lay about them briskly1 as ,i do1 and grow hot4 ,the comportment1 the countenance2 the voice1 the robe1 the place1 will set off some things that of themselves would appear no better than prating4 ,messalla complains in ,tacitus of the straitness of some garments in his time1 and of the fashion of the benches where the orators were to declaim1 that were a disadvantage to their eloquence4 ,my ,french tongue is corrupted1 both in the pronunciation and otherwise1 by the barbarism of my country4 ,i never saw a man who was a native of any of the provinces on this side of the kingdom who had not a twang of his place of birth1 and that was not offensive to ears that were purely ,french4 ,and yet it is not that ,i am so perfect in my ,perigordin3 for ,i can no more speak it than ,high ,dutch1 nor do ,i much care4 ',tis a language 7as the rest about me on every side1 of ,poitou1 ,xaintonge1 ,angoumousin1 ,limousin1 ,auvergne71 a poor1 drawling1 scurvy language4 ,there is1 indeed1 above us towards the mountains a sort of ,gascon spoken1 that ,i am mightily taken with3 blunt1 brief1 significant1 and in truth a more manly and military language than any other ,i am acquainted with1 as sinewy1 powerful1 and pertinent as the ,french is graceful1 neat1 and luxuriant4 ,as to the ,latin1 which was given me for my mother tongue1 ,i have by discontinuance lost the use of speaking it1 and1 indeed1 of writing it too1 wherein ,i formerly had a particular reputation1 by which you may see how inconsiderable ,i am on that side4 ,beauty is a thing of great recommendation in the correspondence amongst men2 'tis the first means of acquiring the favour and good liking of one another1 and no man is so barbarous and morose as not to perceive himself in some sort struck with its attraction4 ,the body has a great share in our being1 has an eminent place there1 and therefore its structure and composition are of very just consideration4 ,they who go about to disunite and separate our two principal parts from one another are to blame2 we must1 on the contrary1 reunite and rejoin them4 ,we must command the soul not to withdraw and entertain itself apart1 not to despise and abandon the body 7neither can she do it but by some apish counterfeit71 but to unite herself close to it1 to embrace1 cherish1 assist1 govern1 and advise it1 and to bring it back and set it into the true way when it wanders2 in sum1 to espouse and be a husband to it1 so that their effects may not appear to be diverse and contrary1 but uniform and concurring4 ,christians have a particular instruction concerning this connection1 for they know that the ,divine justice embraces this society and juncture of body and soul1 even to the making the body capable of eternal rewards2 and that ,god has an eye to the whole man's ways1 and wills that he receive entire chastisement or reward according to his demerits or merits4 ,the sect of the ,peripatetics1 of all sects the most sociable1 attribute to wisdom this sole care equally to provide for the good of these two associate parts3 and the other sects1 in not sufficiently applying themselves to the consideration of this mixture1 show themselves to be divided1 one for the body and the other for the soul1 with equal error1 and to have lost sight of their subject1 which is ,man1 and their guide1 which they generally confess to be ,nature4 ,the first distinction that ever was amongst men1 and the first consideration that gave some pre-eminence over others1 'tis likely was the advantage of beauty3 ,agros divisere atque dedere ,pro facie cujusque1 et viribus ingenioque2 ,nam facies multum valuit1 viresque vigebant4 ,they distributed and conferred the lands to every man according to his beauty and strength and understanding1 for beauty was much esteemed and strength was in favour4--,lucretius1 ,v4 #aaji4 ,now ,i am of something lower than the middle stature1 a defect that not only borders upon deformity1 but carries withal a great deal of inconvenience along with it1 especially for those who are in office and command2 for the authority which a graceful presence and a majestic mien beget is wanting4 ,c4 ,marius did not willingly enlist any soldiers who were not six feet high4 ,the ,courtier has1 indeed1 reason to desire a moderate stature in the gentlemen he is setting forth1 rather than any other1 and to reject all strangeness that should make him be pointed at4 ,but if ,i were to choose whether this medium must be rather below than above the common standard1 ,i would not have it so in a soldier4 ,little men1 says ,aristotle1 are pretty1 but not handsome2 and greatness of soul is discovered in a great body1 as beauty is in a conspicuous stature3 the ,ethiopians and ,indians1 says he1 in choosing their kings and magistrates1 had regard to the beauty and stature of their persons4 ,they had reason2 for it creates respect in those who follow them1 and is a terror to the enemy1 to see a leader of a brave and goodly stature march at the head of a battalion3 ,ipse inter primos praestanti corpore ,turnus ,vertitur arma1 tenens1 et toto vertice supra est4 ,in the first rank marches ,turnus1 brandishing his weapon1 taller by a head than all the rest4--,virgil1 ,a,eneid1 vii4 #ghc4 ,our holy and heavenly king1 of whom every circumstance is most carefully and with the greatest religion and reverence to be observed1 has not himself rejected bodily recommendation1 ,speciosus forma prae filiis hominum4 ,he is fairer than the children of men4--,psalm xiv4 #c4 ,and ,plato1 together with temperance and fortitude1 requires beauty in the conservators of his republic4 ,it would vex you that a man should apply himself to you amongst your servants to inquire where ,monsieur is1 and that you should only have the remainder of the compliment of the hat that is made to your barber or your secretary2 as it happened to poor ,philopoemen1 who arriving the first of all his company at an inn where he was expected1 the hostess1 who knew him not1 and saw him an unsightly fellow1 employed him to go help her maids a little to draw water1 and make a fire against ,philopoemen's coming2 the gentlemen of his train arriving presently after1 and surprised to see him busy in this fine employment1 for he failed not to obey his landlady's command1 asked him what he was doing there3 ,i am1 said he1 paying the penalty of my ugliness4 ,the other beauties belong to women2 the beauty of stature is the only beauty of men4 ,where there is a contemptible stature1 neither the largeness and roundness of the forehead1 nor the whiteness and sweetness of the eyes1 nor the moderate proportion of the nose1 nor the littleness of the ears and mouth1 nor the evenness and whiteness of the teeth1 nor the thickness of a well-set brown beard1 shining like the husk of a chestnut1 nor curled hair1 nor the just proportion of the head1 nor a fresh complexion1 nor a pleasing air of a face1 nor a body without any offensive scent1 nor the just proportion of limbs1 can make a handsome man4 ,i am1 as to the rest1 strong and well knit2 my face is not puffed1 but full1 and my complexion betwixt jovial and melancholic1 moderately sanguine and hot1 ,unde rigent setis mihi crura1 et pectora villis2 ,whence 'tis my legs and breast bristle with hair4 --,martial1 ii4 #cf1 #e4 my health vigorous and sprightly1 even to a well advanced age1 and rarely troubled with sickness4 ,such ,i was1 for ,i do not now make any account of myself1 now that ,i am engaged in the avenues of old age1 being already past forty3 ,minutatim vires et robur adultum ,frangit1 et in partem pejorem liquitur aetas3 ,time by degrees breaks our strength and makes us grow feeble4 --,lucretius1 ii4 #aaca4 what shall be from this time forward1 will be but a half-being1 and no more me3 ,i every day escape and steal away from myself3 ,singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes4 ,of the fleeting years each steals something from me4 --,horace1 ,ep41 ii4 #b4 ,agility and address ,i never had1 and yet am the son of a very active and sprightly father1 who continued to be so to an extreme old age4 ,i have scarce known any man of his condition1 his equal in all bodily exercises1 as ,i have seldom met with any who have not excelled me1 except in running1 at which ,i was pretty good4 ,in music or singing1 for which ,i have a very unfit voice1 or to play on any sort of instrument1 they could never teach me anything4 ,in dancing1 tennis1 or wrestling1 ,i could never arrive to more than an ordinary pitch2 in swimming1 fencing1 vaulting1 and leaping1 to none at all4 ,my hands are so clumsy that ,i cannot even write so as to read it myself1 so that ,i had rather do what ,i have scribbled over again1 than take upon me the trouble to make it out4 ,i do not read much better than ,i write1 and feel that ,i weary my auditors otherwise 7,i am7 not a bad clerk4 ,i cannot decently fold up a letter1 nor could ever make a pen1 or carve at table worth a pin1 nor saddle a horse1 nor carry a hawk and fly her1 nor hunt the dogs1 nor lure a hawk1 nor speak to a horse4 ,in fine1 my bodily qualities are very well suited to those of my soul2 there is nothing sprightly1 only a full and firm vigour3 ,i am patient enough of labour and pains1 but it is only when ,i go voluntary to work1 and only so long as my own desire prompts me to it3 ,molliter austerum studio fallente laborem4 ,study softly beguiling severe labour4 --,horace1 ,sat41 ii4 #b1 #ab4 otherwise1 if ,i am not allured with some pleasure1 or have other guide than my own pure and free inclination1 ,i am good for nothing3 for ,i am of a humour that1 life and health excepted1 there is nothing for which ,i will bite my nails1 and that ,i will purchase at the price of torment of mind and constraint3 ,tanti mihi non sit opaci ,omnis arena ,tagi1 quodque in mare volvitur aurum4 ,i would not buy rich ,tagus sands so dear1 nor all the gold that lies in the sea4--,juvenal1 ,sat41 iii4 #ed4 ,extremely idle1 extremely given up to my own inclination both by nature and art1 ,i would as willingly lend a man my blood as my pains4 ,i have a soul free and entirely its own1 and accustomed to guide itself after its own fashion2 having hitherto never had either master or governor imposed upon me3 ,i have walked as far as ,i would1 and at the pace that best pleased myself2 this is it that has rendered me unfit for the service of others1 and has made me of no use to any one but myself4 ,nor was there any need of forcing my heavy and lazy disposition2 for being born to such a fortune as ,i had reason to be contented with 7a reason1 nevertheless1 that a thousand others of my acquaintance would have rather made use of for a plank upon which to pass over in search of higher fortune1 to tumult and disquiet71 and with as much intelligence as ,i required1 ,i sought for no more1 and also got no more3 ,non agimur tumidis velis ,aquilone secundo1 ,non tamen adversis aetatem ducimus ,austris ,viribus1 ingenio1 specie1 virtute1 loco1 re1 ,extremi primorum1 extremis usque priores4 ,the northern wind does not agitate our sails2 nor ,auster trouble our course with storms4 ,in strength1 talent1 figure1 virtue1 honour1 wealth1 we are short of the foremost1 but before the last4 --,horace1 ,ep41 ii4 #b1 #bja4 ,i had only need of what was sufficient to content me3 which nevertheless is a government of soul1 to take it right1 equally difficult in all sorts of conditions1 and that1 of custom1 we see more easily found in want than in abundance3 forasmuch1 peradventure1 as according to the course of our other passions1 the desire of riches is more sharpened by their use than by the need of them3 and the virtue of moderation more rare than that of patience2 and ,i never had anything to desire1 but happily to enjoy the estate that ,god by ,his bounty had put into my hands4 ,i have never known anything of trouble1 and have had little to do in anything but the management of my own affairs3 or1 if ,i have1 it has been upon condition to do it at my own leisure and after my own method2 committed to my trust by such as had a confidence in me1 who did not importune me1 and who knew my humour2 for good horsemen will make shift to get service out of a rusty and broken-winded jade4 ,even my infancy was trained up after a gentle and free manner1 and exempt from any rigorous subjection4 ,all this has helped me to a complexion delicate and incapable of solicitude1 even to that degree that ,i love to have my losses and the disorders wherein ,i am concerned1 concealed from me4 ,in the account of my expenses1 ,i put down what my negligence costs me in feeding and maintaining it2 ,haec nempe supersunt1 ,quae dominum fallunt1 quae prosunt furibus4 ,that overplus1 which the owner knows not of1 but which benefits the thieves--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #fde ,i love not to know what ,i have1 that ,i may be less sensible of my loss2 ,i entreat those who serve me1 where affection and integrity are absent1 to deceive me with something like a decent appearance4 ,for want of constancy enough to support the shock of adverse accidents to which we are subject1 and of patience seriously to apply myself to the management of my affairs1 ,i nourish as much as ,i can this in myself1 wholly leaving all to fortune to take all things at the worst1 and to resolve to bear that worst with temper and patience2 that is the only thing ,i aim at1 and to which ,i apply my whole meditation4 ,in a danger1 ,i do not so much consider how ,i shall escape it1 as of how little importance it is1 whether ,i escape it or no3 should ,i be left dead upon the place1 what matter8 ,not being able to govern events1 ,i govern myself1 and apply myself to them1 if they will not apply themselves to me4 ,i have no great art to evade1 escape from or force fortune1 and by prudence to guide and incline things to my own bias4 ,i have still less patience to undergo the troublesome and painful care therein required2 and the most uneasy condition for me is to be suspended on urgent occasions1 and to be agitated betwixt hope and fear4 ,deliberation1 even in things of lightest moment1 is very troublesome to me2 and ,i find my mind more put to it to undergo the various tumblings and tossings of doubt and consultation1 than to set up its rest and to acquiesce in whatever shall happen after the die is thrown4 ,few passions break my sleep1 but of deliberations1 the least will do it4 ,as in roads1 ,i preferably avoid those that are sloping and slippery1 and put myself into the beaten track how dirty or deep soever1 where ,i can fall no lower1 and there seek my safety3 so ,i love misfortunes that are purely so1 that do not torment and tease me with the uncertainty of their growing better2 but that at the first push plunge me directly into the worst that can be expected ,dubia plus torquent mala4 ,doubtful ills plague us worst4 --,seneca1 ,agamemnon1 iii4 #a1 #bi4 ,in events ,i carry myself like a man2 in conduct1 like a child4 ,the fear of the fall more fevers me than the fall itself4 ,the game is not worth the candle4 ,the covetous man fares worse with his passion than the poor1 and the jealous man than the cuckold2 and a man ofttimes loses more by defending his vineyard than if he gave it up4 ,the lowest walk is the safest2 'tis the seat of constancy2 you have there need of no one but yourself2 'tis there founded and wholly stands upon its own basis4 ,has not this example of a gentleman very well known1 some air of philosophy in it8 ,he married1 being well advanced in years1 having spent his youth in good fellowship1 a great talker and a great jeerer1 calling to mind how much the subject of cuckoldry had given him occasion to talk and scoff at others4 ,to prevent them from paying him in his own coin1 he married a wife from a place where any one finds what he wants for his money3 ,good morrow1 strumpet2 ,good morrow1 cuckold2 and there was not anything wherewith he more commonly and openly entertained those who came to see him than with this design of his1 by which he stopped the private chattering of mockers1 and blunted all the point from this reproach4 ,as to ambition1 which is neighbour1 or rather daughter1 to presumption1 fortune1 to advance me1 must have come and taken me by the hand2 for to trouble myself for an uncertain hope1 and to have submitted myself to all the difficulties that accompany those who endeavour to bring themselves into credit in the beginning of their progress1 ,i could never have done it3 ,spem pretio non emo4 ,i will not purchase hope with ready money1 7or71 ,i do not purchase hope at a price4 --,terence1 ,adelphi1 ii4 #c1 #aa4 ,i apply myself to what ,i see and to what ,i have in my hand1 and go not very far from the shore1 ,alter remus aquas1 alter tibi radat arenas3 ,one oar plunging into the sea1 the other raking the sands4 --,propertius1 iii4 #c1 #bc4 and besides1 a man rarely arrives at these advancements but in first hazarding what he has of his own2 and ,i am of opinion that if a man have sufficient to maintain him in the condition wherein he was born and brought up1 'tis a great folly to hazard that upon the uncertainty of augmenting it4 ,he to whom fortune has denied whereon to set his foot1 and to settle a quiet and composed way of living1 is to be excused if he venture what he has1 because1 happen what will1 necessity puts him upon shifting for himself3 ,capienda rebus in malis praeceps via est3 ,a course is to be taken in bad cases4 7or71 ,a desperate case must have a desperate course4 ---,seneca1 ,agamemnon1 ii4 #a1 #dg4 and ,i rather excuse a younger brother for exposing what his friends have left him to the courtesy of fortune1 than him with whom the honour of his family is entrusted1 who cannot be necessitous but by his own fault4 ,i have found a much shorter and more easy way1 by the advice of the good friends ,i had in my younger days1 to free myself from any such ambition1 and to sit still3 ,cui sit conditio dulcis sine pulvere palmae3 ,what condition can compare with that where one has gained the palm without the dust of the course4--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 ,i1 #ea4 judging rightly enough of my own strength1 that it was not capable of any great matters2 and calling to mind the saying of the late ,chancellor ,olivier1 that the ,french were like monkeys that swarm up a tree from branch to branch1 and never stop till they come to the highest1 and there shew their breech4 ,turpe est1 quod nequeas1 capiti committere pondus1 ,et pressum inflexo mox dare terga genu4 ,it is a shame to load the head so that it cannot bear the burthen1 and the knees give way4--,propertius1 iii4 #i1 #e4 ,i should find the best qualities ,i have useless in this age2 the facility of my manners would have been called weakness and negligence2 my faith and conscience1 scrupulosity and superstition2 my liberty and freedom would have been reputed troublesome1 inconsiderate1 and rash4 ,ill luck is good for something4 ,it is good to be born in a very depraved age2 for so1 in comparison of others1 you shall be reputed virtuous good cheap2 he who in our days is but a parricide and a sacrilegious person is an honest man and a man of honour3 ,nunc1 si depositum non inficiatur amicus1 ,si reddat veterem cum tota aerugine follem1 ,prodigiosa fides1 et ,tuscis digna libellis1 ,quaeque coronata lustrari debeat agna3 ,now1 if a friend does not deny his trust1 but restores the old purse with all its rust2 'tis a prodigious faith1 worthy to be enrolled in amongst the ,tuscan annals1 and a crowned lamb should be sacrificed to such exemplary integrity4--,juvenal1 ,sat41 xiii4 #faa4 and never was time or place wherein princes might propose to themselves more assured or greater rewards for virtue and justice4 ,the first who shall make it his business to get himself into favour and esteem by those ways1 ,i am much deceived if he do not and by the best title outstrip his competitors3 force and violence can do something1 but not always all4 ,we see merchants1 country justices1 and artisans go cheek by jowl with the best gentry in valour and military knowledge3 they perform honourable actions1 both in public engagements and private quarrels2 they fight duels1 they defend towns in our present wars2 a prince stifles his special recommendation1 renown1 in this crowd2 let him shine bright in humanity1 truth1 loyalty1 temperance1 and especially injustice2 marks rare1 unknown1 and exiled2 'tis by no other means but by the sole goodwill of the people that he can do his business2 and no other qualities can attract their goodwill like those1 as being of the greatest utility to them3 ,nil est tam populare1 quam bonitas4 ,nothing is so popular as an agreeable manner 7goodness74 --,cicero1 ,pro ,ligar41 c4 #ab4 ,by this standard ,i had been great and rare1 just as ,i find myself now pigmy and vulgar by the standard of some past ages1 wherein1 if no other better qualities concurred1 it was ordinary and common to see a man moderate in his revenges1 gentle in resenting injuries1 religious of his word1 neither double nor supple1 nor accommodating his faith to the will of others1 or the turns of the times3 ,i would rather see all affairs go to wreck and ruin than falsify my faith to secure them4 ,for as to this new virtue of feigning and dissimulation1 which is now in so great credit1 ,i mortally hate it2 and of all vices find none that evidences so much baseness and meanness of spirit4 ',tis a cowardly and servile humour to hide and disguise a man's self under a visor1 and not to dare to show himself what he is2 'tis by this our servants are trained up to treachery2 being brought up to speak what is not true1 they make no conscience of a lie4 ,a generous heart ought not to belie its own thoughts2 it will make itself seen within2 all there is good1 or at least human4 ,aristotle reputes it the office of magnanimity openly and professedly to love and hate2 to judge and speak with all freedom2 and not to value the approbation or dislike of others in comparison of truth4 ,apollonius said it was for slaves to lie1 and for freemen to speak truth3 'tis the chief and fundamental part of virtue2 we must love it for itself4 ,he who speaks truth because he is obliged so to do1 and because it serves him1 and who is not afraid to lie when it signifies nothing to anybody1 is not sufficiently true4 ,my soul naturally abominates lying1 and hates the very thought of it4 ,i have an inward shame and a sharp remorse1 if sometimes a lie escapes me3 as sometimes it does1 being surprised by occasions that allow me no premeditation4 ,a man must not always tell all1 for that were folly3 but what a man says should be what he thinks1 otherwise 'tis knavery4 ,i do not know what advantage men pretend to by eternally counterfeiting and dissembling1 if not never to be believed when they speak the truth2 it may once or twice pass with men2 but to profess the concealing their thought1 and to brag1 as some of our princes have done1 that they would burn their shirts if they knew their true intentions1 which was a saying of the ancient ,metellius of ,macedon2 and that they who know not how to dissemble know not how to rule1 is to give warning to all who have anything to do with them1 that all they say is nothing but lying and deceit3 ,quo quis versutior et callidior est1 hoc invisior et suspectior1 detracto opinione probitatis3 ,by how much any one is more subtle and cunning1 by so much is he hated and suspected1 the opinion of his integrity being withdrawn4 --,cicero1 ,de ,off41 ii4 #i4 it were a great simplicity in any one to lay any stress either on the countenance or word of a man who has put on a resolution to be always another thing without than he is within1 as ,tiberius did2 and ,i cannot conceive what part such persons can have in conversation with men1 seeing they produce nothing that is received as true3 whoever is disloyal to truth is the same to falsehood also4 ,those of our time who have considered in the establishment of the duty of a prince the good of his affairs only1 and have preferred that to the care of his faith and conscience1 might have something to say to a prince whose affairs fortune had put into such a posture that he might for ever establish them by only once breaking his word3 but it will not go so2 they often buy in the same market2 they make more than one peace and enter into more than one treaty in their lives4 ,gain tempts to the first breach of faith1 and almost always presents itself1 as in all other ill acts1 sacrileges1 murders1 rebellions1 treasons1 as being undertaken for some kind of advantage2 but this first gain has infinite mischievous consequences1 throwing this prince out of all correspondence and negotiation1 by this example of infidelity4 ,soliman1 of the ,ottoman race1 a race not very solicitous of keeping their words or compacts1 when1 in my infancy1 he made his army land at ,otranto1 being informed that ,mercurino de' ,gratinare and the inhabitants of ,castro were detained prisoners1 after having surrendered the place1 contrary to the articles of their capitulation1 sent orders to have them set at liberty1 saying1 that having other great enterprises in hand in those parts1 the disloyalty1 though it carried a show of present utility1 would for the future bring on him a disrepute and distrust of infinite prejudice4 ,now1 for my part1 ,i had rather be troublesome and indiscreet than a flatterer and a dissembler4 ,i confess that there may be some mixture of pride and obstinacy in keeping myself so upright and open as ,i do1 without any consideration of others2 and methinks ,i am a little too free1 where ,i ought least to be so1 and that ,i grow hot by the opposition of respect2 and it may be also1 that ,i suffer myself to follow the propension of my own nature for want of art2 using the same liberty1 speech1 and countenance towards great persons1 that ,i bring with me from my own house3 ,i am sensible how much it declines towards incivility and indiscretion but1 besides that ,i am so bred1 ,i have not a wit supple enough to evade a sudden question1 and to escape by some evasion1 nor to feign a truth1 nor memory enough to retain it so feigned2 nor1 truly1 assurance enough to maintain it1 and so play the brave out of weakness4 ,and therefore it is that ,i abandon myself to candour1 always to speak as ,i think1 both by complexion and design1 leaving the event to fortune4 ,aristippus was wont to say1 that the principal benefit he had extracted from philosophy was that he spoke freely and openly to all4 ,memory is a faculty of wonderful use1 and without which the judgment can very hardly perform its office3 for my part ,i have none at all4 ,what any one will propound to me1 he must do it piecemeal1 for to answer a speech consisting of several heads ,i am not able4 ,i could not receive a commission by word of mouth without a note-book4 ,and when ,i have a speech of consequence to make1 if it be long1 ,i am reduced to the miserable necessity of getting by heart word for word1 what ,i am to say2 ,i should otherwise have neither method nor assurance1 being in fear that my memory would play me a slippery trick4 ,but this way is no less difficult to me than the other2 ,i must have three hours to learn three verses4 ,and besides1 in a work of a man's own1 the liberty and authority of altering the order1 of changing a word1 incessantly varying the matter1 makes it harder to stick in the memory of the author4 ,the more ,i mistrust it the worse it is2 it serves me best by chance2 ,i must solicit it negligently2 for if ,i press it1 'tis confused1 and after it once begins to stagger1 the more ,i sound it1 the more it is perplexed2 it serves me at its own hour1 not at mine4 ,and the same defect ,i find in my memory1 ,i find also in several other parts4 ,i fly command1 obligation1 and constraint2 that which ,i can otherwise naturally and easily do1 if ,i impose it upon myself by an express and strict injunction1 ,i cannot do it4 ,even the members of my body1 which have a more particular jurisdiction of their own1 sometimes refuse to obey me1 if ,i enjoin them a necessary service at a certain hour4 ,this tyrannical and compulsive appointment baffles them2 they shrink up either through fear or spite1 and fall into a trance4 ,being once in a place where it is looked upon as barbarous discourtesy not to pledge those who drink to you1 though ,i had there all liberty allowed me1 ,i tried to play the good fellow1 out of respect to the ladies who were there1 according to the custom of the country2 but there was sport enough for this pressure and preparation1 to force myself contrary to my custom and inclination1 so stopped my throat that ,i could not swallow one drop1 and was deprived of drinking so much as with my meat2 ,i found myself gorged1 and my1 thirst quenched by the quantity of drink that my imagination had swallowed4 ,this effect is most manifest in such as have the most vehement and powerful imagination3 but it is natural1 notwithstanding1 and there is no one who does not in some measure feel it4 ,they offered an excellent archer1 condemned to die1 to save his life1 if he would show some notable proof of his art1 but he refused to try1 fearing lest the too great contention of his will should make him shoot wide1 and that instead of saving his life1 he should also lose the reputation he had got of being a good marksman4 ,a man who thinks of something else1 will not fail to take over and over again the same number and measure of steps1 even to an inch1 in the place where he walks2 but if he made it his business to measure and count them1 he will find that what he did by nature and accident1 he cannot so exactly do by design4 ,my library1 which is a fine one among those of the village type1 is situated in a corner of my house2 if anything comes into my head that ,i have a mind to search or to write1 lest ,i should forget it in but going across the court1 ,i am fain to commit it to the memory of some other4 ,if ,i venture in speaking to digress never so little from my subject1 ,i am infallibly lost1 which is the reason that ,i keep myself1 in discourse1 strictly close4 ,i am forced to call the men who serve me either by the names of their offices or their country2 for names are very hard for me to remember4 ,i can tell indeed that there are three syllables1 that it has a harsh sound1 and that it begins or ends with such a letter2 but that's all2 and if ,i should live long1 ,i do not doubt but ,i should forget my own name1 as some others have done4 ,messala ,corvinus was two years without any trace of memory1 which is also said of ,georgius ,trapezuntius4 ,for my own interest1 ,i often meditate what a kind of life theirs was1 and if1 without this faculty1 ,i should have enough left to support me with any manner of ease2 and prying narrowly into it1 ,i fear that this privation1 if absolute1 destroys all the other functions of the soul3 ,plenus rimarum sum1 hac atque iliac perfluo4 ,i'm full of chinks1 and leak out every way4 --,ter41 ,eunuchus1 ii4 #b1 #bc4 ,it has befallen me more than once to forget the watchword ,i had three hours before given or received1 and to forget where ,i had hidden my purse2 whatever ,cicero is pleased to say1 ,i help myself to lose what ,i have a particular care to lock safe up3 ,memoria certe non modo ,philosophiam sed omnis vitae usum1 omnesque artes1 una maxime continet4 ,it is certain that memory contains not only philosophy1 but all the arts and all that appertain to the use of life4 --,cicero1 ,acad41 ii4 #g4 ,memory is the receptacle and case of science3 and therefore mine being so treacherous1 if ,i know little1 ,i cannot much complain4 ,i know1 in general1 the names of the arts1 and of what they treat1 but nothing more4 ,i turn over books2 ,i do not study them4 ,what ,i retain ,i no longer recognise as another's2 'tis only what my judgment has made its advantage of1 the discourses and imaginations in which it has been instructed3 the author1 place1 words1 and other circumstances1 ,i immediately forget2 and ,i am so excellent at forgetting1 that ,i no less forget my own writings and compositions than the rest4 ,i am very often quoted to myself1 and am not aware of it4 ,whoever should inquire of me where ,i had the verses and examples1 that ,i have here huddled together1 would puzzle me to tell him1 and yet ,i have not borrowed them but from famous and known authors1 not contenting myself that they were rich1 if ,i1 moreover1 had them not from rich and honourable hands1 where there is a concurrence of authority with reason4 ,it is no great wonder if my book run the same fortune that other books do1 if my memory lose what ,i have written as well as what ,i have read1 and what ,i give1 as well as what ,i receive4 ,besides the defect of memory1 ,i have others which very much contribute to my ignorance2 ,i have a slow and heavy wit1 the least cloud stops its progress1 so that1 for example1 ,i never propose to it any never so easy a riddle that it could find out2 there is not the least idle subtlety that will not gravel me2 in games1 where wit is required1 as chess1 draughts1 and the like1 ,i understand no more than the common movements4 ,i have a slow and perplexed apprehension1 but what it once apprehends1 it apprehends well1 for the time it retains it4 ,my sight is perfect1 entire1 and discovers at a very great distance1 but is soon weary and heavy at work1 which occasions that ,i cannot read long1 but am forced to have one to read to me4 ,the younger ,pliny can inform such as have not experimented it themselves1 how important an impediment this is to those who devote themselves to this employment4 ,there is no so wretched and coarse a soul1 wherein some particular faculty is not seen to shine2 no soul so buried in sloth and ignorance1 but it will sally at one end or another2 and how it comes to pass that a man blind and asleep to everything else1 shall be found sprightly1 clear1 and excellent in some one particular effect1 we are to inquire of our masters3 but the beautiful souls are they that are universal1 open1 and ready for all things2 if not instructed1 at least capable of being so2 which ,i say to accuse my own2 for whether it be through infirmity or negligence 7and to neglect that which lies at our feet1 which we have in our hands1 and what nearest concerns the use of life1 is far from my doctrine7 there is not a soul in the world so awkward as mine1 and so ignorant of many common things1 and such as a man cannot without shame fail to know4 ,i must give some examples4 ,i was born and bred up in the country1 and amongst husbandmen2 ,i have had business and husbandry in my own hands ever since my predecessors1 who were lords of the estate ,i now enjoy1 left me to succeed them2 and yet ,i can neither cast accounts1 nor reckon my counters3 most of our current money ,i do not know1 nor the difference betwixt one grain and another1 either growing or in the barn1 if it be not too apparent1 and scarcely can distinguish between the cabbage and lettuce in my garden4 ,i do not so much as understand the names of the chief instruments of husbandry1 nor the most ordinary elements of agriculture1 which the very children know3 much less the mechanic arts1 traffic1 merchandise1 the variety and nature of fruits1 wines1 and viands1 nor how to make a hawk fly1 nor to physic a horse or a dog4 ,and1 since ,i must publish my whole shame1 'tis not above a month ago1 that ,i was trapped in my ignorance of the use of leaven to make bread1 or to what end it was to keep wine in the vat4 ,they conjectured of old at ,athens1 an aptitude for the mathematics in him they saw ingeniously bavin up a burthen of brushwood4 ,in earnest1 they would draw a quite contrary conclusion from me1 for give me the whole provision and necessaries of a kitchen1 ,i should starve4 ,by these features of my confession men may imagine others to my prejudice3 but whatever ,i deliver myself to be1 provided it be such as ,i really am1 ,i have my end2 neither will ,i make any excuse for committing to paper such mean and frivolous things as these3 the meanness of the subject compells me to it4 ,they may1 if they please1 accuse my project1 but not my progress3 so it is1 that without anybody's needing to tell me1 ,i sufficiently see of how little weight and value all this is1 and the folly of my design3 'tis enough that my judgment does not contradict itself1 of which these are the essays4 ,nasutus sis usque licet1 sis denique nasus1 ,quantum noluerit ferre rogatus ,atlas2 ,et possis ipsum to deridere ,latinum1 ,non potes in nugas dicere plura mess1 ,ipse ego quam dixi3 quid dentem dente juvabit ,rodere8 carne opus est1 si satur esse velis4 ,ne perdas operam2 qui se mirantur1 in illos ,virus habe2 nos haec novimus esse nihil4 ,let your nose be as keen as it will1 be all nose1 and even a nose so great that ,atlas will refuse to bear it3 if asked1 ,could you even excel ,latinus in scoffing2 against my trifles you could say no more than ,i myself have said3 then to what end contend tooth against tooth8 ,you must have flesh1 if you want to be full2 lose not your labour then2 cast your venom upon those that admire themselves2 ,i know already that these things are worthless4--,mart41 xiii4 #b4 ,i am not obliged not to utter absurdities1 provided ,i am not deceived in them and know them to be such3 and to trip knowingly1 is so ordinary with me1 that ,i seldom do it otherwise1 and rarely trip by chance4 ',tis no great matter to add ridiculous actions to the temerity of my humour1 since ,i cannot ordinarily help supplying it with those that are vicious4 ,i was present one day at ,barleduc1 when ,king ,francis ,,ii41 for a memorial of ,rene1 king of ,sicily1 was presented with a portrait he had drawn of himself3 why is it not in like manner lawful for every one to draw himself with a pen1 as he did with a crayon8 ,i will not1 therefore1 omit this blemish though very unfit to be published1 which is irresolution2 a very great effect and very incommodious in the negotiations of the affairs of the world2 in doubtful enterprises1 ,i know not which to choose3 ,ne si1 ne no1 nel cor mi suona intero4 ,my heart does not tell me either yes or no4--,petrarch4 ,i can maintain an opinion1 but ,i cannot choose one4 ,by reason that in human things1 to what sect soever we incline1 many appearances present themselves that confirm us in it2 and the philosopher ,chrysippus said1 that he would of ,zeno and ,cleanthes1 his masters1 learn their doctrines only2 for1 as to proofs and reasons1 he should find enough of his own4 ,which way soever ,i turn1 ,i still furnish myself with causes1 and likelihood enough to fix me there2 which makes me detain doubt and the liberty of choosing1 till occasion presses2 and then1 to confess the truth1 ,i1 for the most part1 throw the feather into the wind1 as the saying is1 and commit myself to the mercy of fortune2 a very light inclination and circumstance carries me along with it4 ,dum in dubio est animus1 paulo momento huc atque ,illuc impellitur4 ,while the mind is in doubt1 in a short time it is impelled this way and that4--,terence1 ,andr41 i4 #f1 #cb4 ,the uncertainty of my judgment is so equally balanced in most occurrences1 that ,i could willingly refer it to be decided by the chance of a die3 and ,i observe1 with great consideration of our human infirmity1 the examples that the divine history itself has left us of this custom of referring to fortune and chance the determination of election in doubtful things3 ,sors cecidit super ,matthiam4 ,the lot fell upon ,matthew4--,acts i4 #bf4 ,human reason is a two-edged and dangerous sword3 observe in the hands of ,socrates1 her most intimate and familiar friend1 how many several points it has4 ,i am thus good for nothing but to follow and suffer myself to be easily carried away with the crowd2 ,i have not confidence enough in my own strength to take upon me to command and lead2 ,i am very glad to find the way beaten before me by others4 ,if ,i must run the hazard of an uncertain choice1 ,i am rather willing to have it under such a one as is more confident in his opinions than ,i am in mine1 whose ground and foundation ,i find to be very slippery and unsure4 ,yet ,i do not easily change1 by reason that ,i discern the same weakness in contrary opinions3 ,ipsa consuetudo assentiendi periculosa esse videtur1 et lubrica2 ,the very custom of assenting seems to be dangerous and slippery4--,cicero1 ,acad41 ii4 #ba4 especially in political affairs1 there is a large field open for changes and contestation3 ,justa pari premitur veluti cum pondere libra1 ,prona1 nec hac plus pane sedet1 nec surgit ab illa4 ,as a just balance1 pressed with equal weight1 neither dips nor rises on either side4--,tibullus1 iv4 #da4 ,machiavelli's writings1 for example1 were solid enough for the subject1 yet were they easy enough to be controverted2 and they who have done so1 have left as great a facility of controverting theirs2 there was never wanting in that kind of argument replies and replies upon replies1 and as infinite a contexture of debates as our wrangling lawyers have extended in favour of long suits3 ,caedimur et totidem plagis consumimus hostem2 ,we are slain1 and with as many blows kill the enemy 7or71 ,it is a fight wherein we exhaust each other by mutual wounds4 --,horace1 ,epist41 ii4 #b1 #ig4 the reasons have little other foundation than experience1 and the variety of human events presenting us with infinite examples of all sorts of forms4 ,an understanding person of our times says3 ,that whoever would1 in contradiction to our almanacs1 write cold where they say hot1 and wet where they say dry1 and always put the contrary to what they foretell2 if he were to lay a wager1 he would not care which side he took1 excepting where no uncertainty could fall out1 as to promise excessive heats at ,christmas1 or extremity of cold at ,midsummer4 ,i have the same opinion of these political controversies2 be on which side you will1 you have as fair a game to play as your adversary1 provided you do not proceed so far as to shock principles that are broad and manifest4 ,and yet1 in my conceit1 in public affairs1 there is no government so ill1 provided it be ancient and has been constant1 that is not better than change and alteration4 ,our manners are infinitely corrupt1 and wonderfully incline to the worse2 of our laws and customs there are many that are barbarous and monstrous nevertheless1 by reason of the difficulty of reformation1 and the danger of stirring things1 if ,i could put something under to stop the wheel1 and keep it where it is1 ,i would do it with all my heart3 ,numquam adeo foedis1 adeoque pudendis ,utimur exemplis1 ut non pejora supersint4 ,the examples we use are not so shameful and foul but that worse remain behind4--,juvenal1 viii4 #ahc4 ,the worst thing ,i find in our state is instability1 and that our laws1 no more than our clothes1 cannot settle in any certain form4 ,it is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection1 for all mortal things are full of it3 it is very easy to beget in a people a contempt of ancient observances2 never any man undertook it but he did it2 but to establish a better regimen in the stead of that which a man has overthrown1 many who have attempted it have foundered4 ,i very little consult my prudence in my conduct2 ,i am willing to let it be guided by the public rule4 ,happy the people who do what they are commanded1 better than they who command1 without tormenting themselves as to the causes2 who suffer themselves gently to roll after the celestial revolution6 ,obedience is never pure nor calm in him who reasons and disputes4 ,in fine1 to return to myself3 the only thing by which ,i something esteem myself1 is that wherein never any man thought himself to be defective2 my recommendation is vulgar1 common1 and popular2 for who ever thought he wanted sense8 ,it would be a proposition that would imply a contradiction in itself2 'tis a disease that never is where it is discerned2 'tis tenacious and strong1 but what the first ray of the patient's sight nevertheless pierces through and disperses1 as the beams of the sun do thick and obscure mists2 to accuse one's self would be to excuse in this case1 and to condemn1 to absolve4 ,there never was porter or the silliest girl1 that did not think they had sense enough to do their business4 ,we easily enough confess in others an advantage of courage1 strength1 experience1 activity1 and beauty1 but an advantage in judgment we yield to none2 and the reasons that proceed simply from the natural conclusions of others1 we think1 if we had but turned our thoughts that way1 we should ourselves have found out as well as they4 ,knowledge1 style1 and such parts as we see in others' works1 we are soon aware of1 if they excel our own3 but for the simple products of the understanding1 every one thinks he could have found out the like in himself1 and is hardly sensible of the weight and difficulty1 if not 7and then with much ado7 in an extreme and incomparable distance4 ,and whoever should be able clearly to discern the height of another's judgment1 would be also able to raise his own to the same pitch4 ,so that it is a sort of exercise1 from which a man is to expect very little praise2 a kind of composition of small repute4 ,and1 besides1 for whom do you write8 ,the learned1 to whom the authority appertains of judging books1 know no other value but that of learning1 and allow of no other proceeding of wit but that of erudition and art3 if you have mistaken one of the ,scipios for another1 what is all the rest you have to say worth8 ,whoever is ignorant of ,aristotle1 according to their rule1 is in some sort ignorant of himself2 vulgar souls cannot discern the grace and force of a lofty and delicate style4 ,now these two sorts of men take up the world4 ,the third sort into whose hands you fall1 of souls that are regular and strong of themselves1 is so rare1 that it justly has neither name nor place amongst us2 and 'tis so much time lost to aspire unto it1 or to endeavour to please it4 ',tis commonly said that the justest portion ,nature has given us of her favours is that of sense2 for there is no one who is not contented with his share3 is it not reason8 whoever should see beyond that1 would see beyond his sight4 ,i think my opinions are good and sound1 but who does not think the same of his own8 ,one of the best proofs ,i have that mine are so is the small esteem ,i have of myself2 for had they not been very well assured1 they would easily have suffered themselves to have been deceived by the peculiar affection ,i have to myself1 as one that places it almost wholly in myself1 and do not let much run out4 ,all that others distribute amongst an infinite number of friends and acquaintance1 to their glory and grandeur1 ,i dedicate to the repose of my own mind and to myself2 that which escapes thence is not properly by my direction3 ,mihi nempe valere et vivere doctus4 ,to live and to do well for myself4 --,lucretius1 v4 #iei4 ,now ,i find my opinions very bold and constant in condemning my own imperfection4 ,and1 to say the truth1 'tis a subject upon which ,i exercise my judgment as much as upon any other4 ,the world looks always opposite2 ,i turn my sight inwards1 and there fix and employ it4 ,i have no other business but myself1 ,i am eternally meditating upon myself1 considering and tasting myself4 ,other men's thoughts are ever wandering abroad1 if they will but see it2 they are still going forward3 ,nemo in sese tentat descendere2 ,no one thinks of descending into himself4 --,persius1 iv4 #bc4 for my part1 ,i circulate in myself4 ,this capacity of trying the truth1 whatever it be1 in myself1 and this free humour of not over easily subjecting my belief1 ,i owe principally to myself2 for the strongest and most general imaginations ,i have are those that1 as a man may say1 were born with me2 they are natural and entirely my own4 ,i produced them crude and simple1 with a strong and bold production1 but a little troubled and imperfect2 ,i have since established and fortified them with the authority of others and the sound examples of the ancients1 whom ,i have found of the same judgment3 they have given me faster hold1 and a more manifest fruition and possession of that ,i had before embraced4 ,the reputation that every one pretends to of vivacity and promptness of wit1 ,i seek in regularity2 the glory they pretend to from a striking and signal action1 or some particular excellence1 ,i claim from order1 correspondence1 and tranquillity of opinions and manners3 ,omnino si quidquam est decorum1 nihil est profecto magis1 quam aequabilitas universae vitae1 tum singularum actionum1 quam conservare non possis1 si1 aliorum naturam imitans1 omittas tuam4 ,if anything be entirely decorous1 nothing certainly can be more so than an equability alike in the whole life and in every particular action2 which thou canst not possibly observe if1 imitating other men's natures1 thou layest aside thy own4--,cicero1 ,de ,of41 i4 #ca4 ,here1 then1 you see to what degree ,i find myself guilty of this first part1 that ,i said was the vice of presumption4 ,as to the second1 which consists in not having a sufficient esteem for others1 ,i know not whether or no ,i can so well excuse myself2 but whatever comes on't ,i am resolved to speak the truth4 ,and whether1 peradventure1 it be that the continual frequentation ,i have had with the humours of the ancients1 and the idea of those great souls of past ages1 put me out of taste both with others and myself1 or that1 in truth1 the age we live in produces but very indifferent things1 yet so it is that ,i see nothing worthy of any great admiration4 ,neither1 indeed1 have ,i so great an intimacy with many men as is requisite to make a right judgment of them2 and those with whom my condition makes me the most frequent1 are1 for the most part1 men who have little care of the culture of the soul1 but that look upon honour as the sum of all blessings1 and valour as the height of all perfection4 ,what ,i see that is fine in others ,i very readily commend and esteem3 nay1 ,i often say more in their commendation than ,i think they really deserve1 and give myself so far leave to lie1 for ,i cannot invent a false subject3 my testimony is never wanting to my friends in what ,i conceive deserves praise1 and where a foot is due ,i am willing to give them a foot and a half2 but to attribute to them qualities that they have not1 ,i cannot do it1 nor openly defend their imperfections4 ,nay1 ,i frankly give my very enemies their due testimony of honour2 my affection alters1 my judgment does not1 and ,i never confound my animosity with other circumstances that are foreign to it2 and ,i am so jealous of the liberty of my judgment that ,i can very hardly part with it for any passion whatever4 ,i do myself a greater injury in lying than ,i do him of whom ,i tell a lie4 ,this commendable and generous custom is observed of the ,persian nation1 that they spoke of their mortal enemies and with whom they were at deadly war1 as honourably and justly as their virtues deserved4 ,i know men enough that have several fine parts2 one wit1 another courage1 another address1 another conscience1 another language3 one science1 another1 another2 but a generally great man1 and who has all these brave parts together1 or any one of them to such a degree of excellence that we should admire him or compare him with those we honour of times past1 my fortune never brought me acquainted with2 and the greatest ,i ever knew1 ,i mean for the natural parts of the soul1 was ,etienne ,de la ,boetie2 his was a full soul indeed1 and that had every way a beautiful aspect3 a soul of the old stamp1 and that had produced great effects had his fortune been so pleased1 having added much to those great natural parts by learning and study4 ,but how it comes to pass ,i know not1 and yet it is certainly so1 there is as much vanity and weakness of judgment in those who profess the greatest abilities1 who take upon them learned callings and bookish employments as in any other sort of men whatever2 either because more is required and expected from them1 and that common defects are excusable in them1 or because the opinion they have of their own learning makes them more bold to expose and lay themselves too open1 by which they lose and betray themselves4 ,as an artificer more manifests his want of skill in a rich matter he has in hand1 if he disgrace the work by ill handling and contrary to the rules required1 than in a matter of less value2 and men are more displeased at a disproportion in a statue of gold than in one of plaster2 so do these when they advance things that in themselves and in their place would be good2 for they make use of them without discretion1 honouring their memories at the expense of their understandings1 and making themselves ridiculous by honouring ,cicero1 ,galen1 ,ulpian1 and ,st4 ,jerome alike4 ,i willingly fall again into the discourse of the vanity of our education1 the end of which is not to render us good and wise1 but learned1 and she has obtained it4 ,she has not taught us to follow and embrace virtue and prudence1 but she has imprinted in us their derivation and etymology2 we know how to decline ,virtue1 if we know not how to love it2 if we do not know what prudence is really and in effect1 and by experience1 we have it however by jargon and heart3 we are not content to know the extraction1 kindred1 and alliances of our neighbours2 we desire1 moreover1 to have them our friends and to establish a correspondence and intelligence with them2 but this education of ours has taught us definitions1 divisions1 and partitions of virtue1 as so many surnames and branches of a genealogy1 without any further care of establishing any familiarity or intimacy betwixt her and us4 ,it has culled out for our initiatory instruction not such books as contain the soundest and truest opinions1 but those that speak the best ,greek and ,latin1 and by their fine words has instilled into our fancy the vainest humours of antiquity4 ,a good education alters the judgment and manners2 as it happened to ,polemon1 a lewd and debauched young ,greek1 who going by chance to hear one of ,xenocrates' lectures1 did not only observe the eloquence and learning of the reader1 and not only brought away1 the knowledge of some fine matter1 but a more manifest and more solid profit1 which was the sudden change and reformation of his former life4 ,whoever found such an effect of our discipline8 ,faciasne1 quod olim ,mutatus ,polemon8 ponas insignia morbi ,fasciolas1 cubital1 focalia2 potus ut ille ,dicitur ex collo furtim carpsisse coronas1 ,postquam est impransi correptus voce magistri8 ,will you do what reformed ,polemon did of old8 will you lay aside the joys of your disease1 your garters1 capuchin1 muffler1 as he in his cups is said to have secretly torn off his garlands from his neck when he heard what that temperate teacher said8 --,horace1 ,sat41 ii4 #c1 #bec ,that seems to me to be the least contemptible condition of men1 which by its plainness and simplicity is seated in the lowest degree1 and invites us to a more regular course4 ,i find the rude manners and language of country people commonly better suited to the rule and prescription of true philosophy1 than those of our philosophers themselves3 ,plus sapit vulgus1 quia tantum1 quantum opus est1 sapit4 ,the vulgar are so much the wiser1 because they only know what is needful for them to know4--,lactantms1 ,instit4 ,div41 iii4 #e4 ,the most remarkable men1 as ,i have judged by outward appearance 7for to judge of them according to my own method1 ,i must penetrate a great deal deeper71 for soldiers and military conduct1 were the ,duc de ,guise1 who died at ,orleans1 and the late ,marshal ,strozzi2 and for men of great ability and no common virtue1 ,olivier and ,de l',hospital1 ,chancellors of ,france4 ,poetry1 too1 in my opinion1 has flourished in this age of ours2 we have abundance of very good artificers in the trade3 ,d',aurat1 ,beza1 ,buchanan1 ,l',hospital1 ,montdore1 ,turnebus2 as to the ,french poets1 ,i believe they raised their art to the highest pitch to which it can ever arrive2 and in those parts of it wherein ,ronsard and ,du ,bellay excel1 ,i find them little inferior to the ancient perfection4 ,adrian ,turnebus knew more1 and what he did know1 better than any man of his time1 or long before him4 ,the lives of the last ,duke of ,alva1 and of our ,constable de ,montmorency1 were both of them great and noble1 and that had many rare resemblances of fortune2 but the beauty and glory of the death of the last1 in the sight of ,paris and of his king1 in their service1 against his nearest relations1 at the head of an army through his conduct victorious1 and by a sudden stroke1 in so extreme old age1 merits methinks to be recorded amongst the most remarkable events of our times4 ,as also the constant goodness1 sweetness of manners1 and conscientious facility of ,monsieur de la ,noue1 in so great an injustice of armed parties 7the true school of treason1 inhumanity1 and robbery71 wherein he always kept up the reputation of a great and experienced captain4 ,i have taken a delight to publish in several places the hopes ,i have of ,marie de ,gournay le ,jars1 ,she was adopted by him in #aehh4 ,see ,leon ,feugere's ,mademoiselle de ,gournay3 ',etude sur sa ,vie et ses ,ouvrages'4 my adopted daughter2 and certainly beloved by me more than paternally1 and enveloped in my retirement and solitude as one of the best parts of my own being3 ,i have no longer regard to anything in this world but her4 ,and if a man may presage from her youth1 her soul will one day be capable of very great things2 and amongst others1 of the perfection of that sacred friendship1 to which we do not read that any of her sex could ever yet arrive2 the sincerity and solidity of her manners are already sufficient for it1 and her affection towards me more than superabundant1 and such1 in short1 as that there is nothing more to be wished1 if not that the apprehension she has of my end1 being now five-and-fifty years old1 might not so much afflict her4 ,the judgment she made of my first ,essays1 being a woman1 so young1 and in this age1 and alone in her own country2 and the famous vehemence wherewith she loved me1 and desired my acquaintance solely from the esteem she had thence of me1 before she ever saw my face1 is an incident very worthy of consideration4 ,other virtues have had little or no credit in this age2 but valour is become popular by our civil wars2 and in this1 we have souls brave even to perfection1 and in so great number that the choice is impossible to make4 ,this is all of extraordinary and uncommon grandeur that has hitherto arrived at my knowledge4 ,,etext ,,editor',s ,,bookmarks3 ,a generous heart ought not to belie its own thoughts ,a man may play the fool in everything else1 but not in poetry ,against my trifles you could say no more than ,i myself have said ,agitated betwixt hope and fear ,all defence shows a face of war ,almanacs ,an advantage in judgment we yield to none ,any old government better than change and alteration ,anything becomes foul when commended by the multitude ,appetite runs after that it has not ,armed parties 7the true school of treason1 inhumanity1 robbery7 ,authority to be dissected by the vain fancies of men ,authority which a graceful presence and a majestic mien beget ,be on which side you will1 you have as fair a game to play ,beauty of stature is the only beauty of men ,believing ,heaven concerned at our ordinary actions ,better at speaking than writing4 ,motion and action animate word ,caesar's choice of death3 the shortest ,ceremony forbids us to express by words things that are lawful ,content3 more easily found in want than in abundance ,curiosity of knowing things has been given to man for a scourge ,defence allures attempt1 and defiance provokes an enemy ,desire of riches is more sharpened by their use than by the need ,difficulty gives all things their estimation ,doubt whether those 7old writings7 we have be not the worst ,doubtful ills plague us worst ,endeavouring to be brief1 ,i become obscure ,engaged in the avenues of old age1 being already past forty ,every government has a god at the head of it ,executions rather whet than dull the edge of vices ,fear of the fall more fevers me than the fall itself ,folly to hazard that upon the uncertainty of augmenting it4 ,for who ever thought he wanted sense8 ,fortune rules in all things ,gentleman would play the fool to make a show of defence ,happen to do anything commendable1 ,i attribute it to fortune ,having too good an opinion of our own worth ,he should discern in himself1 as well as in others ,he who is only a good man that men may know it ,how many worthy men have we known to survive their reputation ,humble out of pride ,i am very glad to find the way beaten before me by others ,i find myself here fettered by the laws of ceremony ,i have no mind to die1 but ,i have no objection to be dead ,i have not a wit supple enough to evade a sudden question ,i have nothing of my own that satisfies my judgment ,i would be rich of myself1 and not by borrowing ,ill luck is good for something ,imitating other men's natures1 thou layest aside thy own ,immoderate either seeking or evading glory or reputation ,impunity pass with us for justice ,it is not for outward show that the soul is to play its part ,knowledge of others1 wherein the honour consists ,lessen the just value of things that ,i possess ,license of judgments is a great disturbance to great affairs ,lose what ,i have a particular care to lock safe up ,loses more by defending his vineyard than if he gave it up4 ,more brave men been lost in occasions of little moment ,more solicitous that men speak of us1 than how they speak ,my affection alters1 my judgment does not ,no way found to tranquillity that is good in common ,not being able to govern events1 ,i govern myself ,not conceiving things otherwise than by this outward bark ,not for any profit1 but for the honour of honesty itself ,nothing is more confident than a bad poet ,nothing that so poisons as flattery ,obedience is never pure nor calm in him who reasons and disputes ,occasions of the least lustre are ever the most dangerous ,of the fleeting years each steals something from me ,office of magnanimity openly and professedly to love and hate ,old age3 applaud the past and condemn the present ,one may be humble out of pride ,our will is more obstinate by being opposed ,overvalue things1 because they are foreign1 absent ,philopoemen3 paying the penalty of my ugliness4 ,pleasing all3 a mark that can never be aimed at or hit ,poets ,possession begets a contempt of what it holds and rules ,prolong his life also prolonged and augmented his pain ,regret so honourable a post1 where necessity must make them bold ,sense3 no one who is not contented with his share ,setting too great a value upon ourselves ,setting too little a value upon others ,she who only refuses1 because 'tis forbidden1 consents ,short of the foremost1 but before the last ,souls that are regular and strong of themselves are rare ,suicide3 a morsel that is to be swallowed without chewing ,take all things at the worst1 and to resolve to bear that worst ,the age we live in produces but very indifferent things ,the reward of a thing well done is to have done it ,the satiety of living1 inclines a man to desire to die ,there is no reason that has not its contrary ,they do not see my heart1 they see but my countenance ,those who can please and hug themselves in what they do ,tis far beyond not fearing death to taste and relish it ,to forbid us anything is to make us have a mind to't ,voice and determination of the rabble1 the mother of ignorance ,vulgar reports and opinions that drive us on ,we believe we do not believe ,we consider our death as a very great thing ,we have not the thousandth part of ancient writings ,we have taught the ladies to blush ,we set too much value upon ourselves ,were more ambitious of a great reputation than of a good one ,what a man says should be what he thinks ,what he did by nature and accident1 he cannot do by design ,what is more accidental than reputation8 ,what1 shall so much knowledge be lost ,wiser who only know what is needful for them to know