,,essays ,,of ,,michel ,,de ,,montaigne ,translated by ,charles ,cotton ,edited by ,william ,carew ,hazilitt #ahgg ,,contents ,,of ,,volume #ah4 ,x4 ,of ,managing the ,will4 ,,xi4 ,of ,cripples4 ,,xii4 ,of ,physiognomy4 ,,chapter ,x ,,of ,,managing ,,the ,,will ,few things1 in comparison of what commonly affect other men1 move1 or1 to say better1 possess me3 for 'tis but reason they should concern a man1 provided they do not possess him4 ,i am very solicitous1 both by study and argument1 to enlarge this privilege of insensibility1 which is in me naturally raised to a pretty degree1 so that consequently ,i espouse and am very much moved with very few things4 ,i have a clear sight enough1 but ,i fix it upon very few objects2 ,i have a sense delicate and tender enough2 but an apprehension and application hard and negligent4 ,i am very unwilling to engage myself2 as much as in me lies1 ,i employ myself wholly on myself1 and even in that subject should rather choose to curb and restrain my affection from plunging itself over head and ears into it1 it being a subject that ,i possess at the mercy of others1 and over which fortune has more right than ,i2 so that even as to health1 which ,i so much value1 'tis all the more necessary for me not so passionately to covet and heed it1 than to find diseases so insupportable4 ,a man ought to moderate himself betwixt the hatred of pain and the love of pleasure3 and ,plato sets down a middle path of life betwixt the two4 ,but against such affections as wholly carry me away from myself and fix me elsewhere1 against those1 ,i say1 ,i oppose myself with my utmost power4 ',tis my opinion that a man should lend himself to others1 and only give himself to himself4 ,were my will easy to lend itself out and to be swayed1 ,i should not stick there2 ,i am too tender both by nature and use3 ,fugax rerum1 securaque in otia natus4 ,avoiding affairs and born to secure ease4 --,ovid1 ,de ,trist41 iii4 #b1 #i4 ,hot and obstinate disputes1 wherein my adversary would at last have the better1 the issue that would render my heat and obstinacy disgraceful would peradventure vex me to the last degree4 ,should ,i set myself to it at the rate that others do1 my soul would never have the force to bear the emotion and alarms of those who grasp at so much2 it would immediately be disordered by this inward agitation4 ,if1 sometimes1 ,i have been put upon the management of other men's affairs1 ,i have promised to take them in hand1 but not into my lungs and liver2 to take them upon me1 not to incorporate them2 to take pains1 yes3 to be impassioned about it1 by no means2 ,i have a care of them1 but ,i will not sit upon them4 ,i have enough to do to order and govern the domestic throng of those that ,i have in my own veins and bowels1 without introducing a crowd of other men's affairs2 and am sufficiently concerned about my own proper and natural business1 without meddling with the concerns of others4 ,such as know how much they owe to themselves1 and how many offices they are bound to of their own1 find that nature has cut them out work enough of their own to keep them from being idle4 ,thou hast business enough at home3 look to that4 ,men let themselves out to hire2 their faculties are not for themselves1 but for those to whom they have enslaved themselves2 'tis their tenants occupy them1 not themselves4 ,this common humour pleases not me4 ,we must be thrifty of the liberty of our souls1 and never let it out but upon just occasions1 which are very few1 if we judge aright4 ,do but observe such as have accustomed themselves to be at every one's call3 they do it indifferently upon all1 as well little as great1 occasions2 in that which nothing concerns them2 as much as in what imports them most4 ,they thrust themselves in indifferently wherever there is work to do and obligation1 and are without life when not in tumultuous bustle3 ,in negotiis sunt1 negotii cause1 ,they are in business for business' sake4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #bb4 ,it is not so much that they will go1 as it is that they cannot stand still3 like a rolling stone that cannot stop till it can go no further4 ,occupation1 with a certain sort of men1 is a mark of understanding and dignity3 their souls seek repose in agitation1 as children do by being rocked in a cradle2 they may pronounce themselves as serviceable to their friends1 as they are troublesome to themselves4 ,no one distributes his money to others1 but every one distributes his time and his life3 there is nothing of which we are so prodigal as of these two things1 of which to be thrifty would be both commendable and useful4 ,i am of a quite contrary humour2 ,i look to myself1 and commonly covet with no great ardour what ,i do desire1 and desire little2 and ,i employ and busy myself at the same rate1 rarely and temperately4 ,whatever they take in hand1 they do it with their utmost will and vehemence4 ,there are so many dangerous steps1 that1 for the more safety1 we must a little lightly and superficially glide over the world1 and not rush through it4 ,pleasure itself is painful in profundity3 ,incedis per ignes1 ,suppositos cineri doloso4 ,you tread on fire1 hidden under deceitful ashes4 --,horace1 ,od41 ii4 i1 #g4 ,the ,parliament of ,bordeaux chose me mayor of their city at a time when ,i was at a distance from ,france1--,at ,bagno ,della ,villa1 near ,lucca1 ,september #aeha--;and still more remote from any such thought4 ,i entreated to be excused1 but ,i was told by my friends that ,i had committed an error in so doing1 and the greater because the king had1 moreover1 interposed his command in that affair4 ',tis an office that ought to be looked upon so much more honourable1 as it has no other salary nor advantage than the bare honour of its execution4 ,it continues two years1 but may be extended by a second election1 which very rarely happens2 it was to me1 and had never been so but twice before3 some years ago to ,monsieur de ,lansac1 and lately to ,monsieur de ,biron1 ,marshal of ,france1 in whose place ,i succeeded2 and1 ,i left mine to ,monsieur de ,matignon1 ,marshal of ,france also3 proud of so noble a fraternity-- ,uterque bonus pacis bellique minister4 ,either one a good minister in peace and war4 --,a,eneid1 xi4 #feh4 ,fortune would have a hand in my promotion1 by this particular circumstance which she put in of her own1 not altogether vain2 for ,alexander disdained the ambassadors of ,corinth1 who came to offer him a burgess-ship of their city2 but when they proceeded to lay before him that ,bacchus and ,hercules were also in the register1 he graciously thanked them4 ,at my arrival1 ,i faithfully and conscientiously represented myself to them for such as ,i find myself to be--a man without memory1 without vigilance1 without experience1 and without vigour2 but withal1 without hatred1 without ambition1 without avarice1 and without violence2 that they might be informed of my qualities1 and know what they were to expect from my service4 ,and whereas the knowledge they had had of my late father1 and the honour they had for his memory1 had alone incited them to confer this favour upon me1 ,i plainly told them that ,i should be very sorry anything should make so great an impression upon me as their affairs and the concerns of their city had made upon him1 whilst he held the government to which they had preferred me4 ,i remembered1 when a boy1 to have seen him in his old age cruelly tormented with these public affairs1 neglecting the soft repose of his own house1 to which the declension of his age had reduced him for several years before1 the management of his own affairs1 and his health2 and certainly despising his own life1 which was in great danger of being lost1 by being engaged in long and painful journeys on their behalf4 ,such was he2 and this humour of his proceeded from a marvellous good nature2 never was there a more charitable and popular soul4 ,yet this proceeding which ,i commend in others1 ,i do not love to follow myself1 and am not without excuse4 ,he had learned that a man must forget himself for his neighbour1 and that the particular was of no manner of consideration in comparison with the general4 ,most of the rules and precepts of the world run this way2 to drive us out of ourselves into the street for the benefit of public society2 they thought to do a great feat to divert and remove us from ourselves1 assuming we were but too much fixed there1 and by a too natural inclination2 and have said all they could to that purpose3 for 'tis no new thing for the sages to preach things as they serve1 not as they are4 ,truth has its obstructions1 inconveniences1 and incompatibilities with us2 we must often deceive that we may not deceive ourselves2 and shut our eyes and our understandings to redress and amend them3 ,imperiti enim judicant1 et qui frequenter in hoc ipsum fallendi sunt1 ne errent4 ,for the ignorant judge1 and therefore are oft to be deceived1 less they should err4--,quintil41 ,inst4 ,orat41 xi4 #ag4 ,when they order us to love three1 four1 or fifty degrees of things above ourselves1 they do like archers1 who1 to hit the white1 take their aim a great deal higher than the butt2 to make a crooked stick straight1 we bend it the contrary way4 ,i believe that in the ,temple of ,pallas1 as we see in all other religions1 there were apparent mysteries to be exposed to the people2 and others1 more secret and high1 that were only to be shown to such as were professed2 'tis likely that in these the true point of friendship that every one owes to himself is to be found2 not a false friendship1 that makes us embrace glory1 knowledge1 riches1 and the like1 with a principal and immoderate affection1 as members of our being2 nor an indiscreet and effeminate friendship1 wherein it happens1 as with ivy1 that it decays and ruins the walls it embraces2 but a sound and regular friendship1 equally useful and pleasant4 ,he who knows the duties of this friendship and practises them is truly of the cabinet of the ,muses1 and has attained to the height of human wisdom and of our happiness1 such an one1 exactly knowing what he owes to himself1 will on his part find that he ought to apply to himself the use of the world and of other men2 and to do this1 to contribute to public society the duties and offices appertaining to him4 ,he who does not in some sort live for others1 does not live much for himself3 ,qui sibi amicus est1 scito hunc amicum omnibus esse4 ,he who is his own friend1 is a friend to everybody else4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #f4 ,the principal charge we have is1 to every one his own conduct2 and 'tis for this only that we here are4 ,as he who should forget to live a virtuous and holy life1 and should think he acquitted himself of his duty in instructing and training others up to it1 would be a fool2 even so he who abandons his own particular healthful and pleasant living to serve others therewith1 takes1 in my opinion1 a wrong and unnatural course4 ,i would not that men should refuse1 in the employments they take upon them1 their attention1 pains1 eloquence1 sweat1 and blood if need be3 ,non ipse pro caris amicis ,aut patria1 timidus perire3 ,himself not afraid to die for beloved friends1 or for his country4--,horace1 ,od41 iv4 #i1 #ea4 but 'tis only borrowed1 and accidentally2 his mind being always in repose and in health2 not without action1 but without vexation1 without passion4 ,to be simply acting costs him so little1 that he acts even sleeping2 but it must be set on going with discretion2 for the body receives the offices imposed upon it just according to what they are2 the mind often extends and makes them heavier at its own expense1 giving them what measure it pleases4 ,men perform like things with several sorts of endeavour1 and different contention of will2 the one does well enough without the other2 for how many people hazard themselves every day in war without any concern which way it goes2 and thrust themselves into the dangers of battles1 the loss of which will not break their next night's sleep8 and such a man may be at home1 out of the danger which he durst not have looked upon1 who is more passionately concerned for the issue of this war1 and whose soul is more anxious about events than the soldier who therein stakes his blood and his life4 ,i could have engaged myself in public employments without quitting my own matters a nail's breadth1 and have given myself to others without abandoning myself4 ,this sharpness and violence of desires more hinder than they advance the execution of what we undertake2 fill us with impatience against slow or contrary events1 and with heat and suspicion against those with whom we have to do4 ,we never carry on that thing well by which we are prepossessed and led3 ,male cuncta ministrat ,impetus4 ,impulse manages all things ill4--,statius1 ,thebaid1 x4 #gjd4 ,he who therein employs only his judgment and address proceeds more cheerfully3 he counterfeits1 he gives way1 he defers quite at his ease1 according to the necessities of occasions2 he fails in his attempt without trouble and affliction1 ready and entire for a new enterprise2 he always marches with the bridle in his hand4 ,in him who is intoxicated with this violent and tyrannical intention1 we discover1 of necessity1 much imprudence and injustice2 the impetuosity of his desire carries him away2 these are rash motions1 and1 if fortune do not very much assist1 of very little fruit4 ,philosophy directs that1 in the revenge of injuries received1 we should strip ourselves of choler2 not that the chastisement should be less1 but1 on the contrary1 that the revenge may be the better and more heavily laid on1 which1 it conceives1 will be by this impetuosity hindered4 ,for anger not only disturbs1 but1 of itself1 also wearies the arms of those who chastise2 this fire benumbs and wastes their force2 as in precipitation1 festinatio tarda est1--haste trips up its own heels1 fetters1 and stops itself3 ,ipsa se velocitas implicat4--,seneca1 ,ep4 #dd ,for example1 according to what ,i commonly see1 avarice has no greater impediment than itself2 the more bent and vigorous it is1 the less it rakes together1 and commonly sooner grows rich when disguised in a visor of liberality4 ,a very excellent gentleman1 and a friend of mine1 ran a risk of impairing his faculties by a too passionate attention and affection to the affairs of a certain prince his master2--,probably the ,king of ,navarre1 afterward ,henry ,,iv4--which master has thus portrayed himself to me2 that he foresees the weight of accidents as well as another1 but that in those for which there is no remedy1 he presently resolves upon suffering2 in others1 having taken all the necessary precautions which by the vivacity of his understanding he can presently do1 he quietly awaits what may follow4 ,and1 in truth1 ,i have accordingly seen him maintain a great indifferency and liberty of actions and serenity of countenance in very great and difficult affairs3 ,i find him much greater1 and of greater capacity in adverse than in prosperous fortune2 his defeats are to him more glorious than his victories1 and his mourning than his triumph4 ,consider1 that even in vain and frivolous actions1 as at chess1 tennis1 and the like1 this eager and ardent engaging with an impetuous desire1 immediately throws the mind and members into indiscretion and disorder3 a man astounds and hinders himself2 he who carries himself more moderately1 both towards gain and loss1 has always his wits about him2 the less peevish and passionate he is at play1 he plays much more advantageously and surely4 ,as to the rest1 we hinder the mind's grasp and hold1 in giving it so many things to seize upon2 some things we should only offer to it2 tie it to others1 and with others incorporate it4 ,it can feel and discern all things1 but ought to feed upon nothing but itself2 and should be instructed in what properly concerns itself1 and that is properly of its own having and substance4 ,the laws of nature teach us what justly we need4 ,after the sages have told us that no one is indigent according to nature1 and that every one is so according to opinion1 they very subtly distinguish betwixt the desires that proceed from her1 and those that proceed from the disorder of our own fancy3 those of which we can see the end are hers2 those that fly before us1 and of which we can see no end1 are our own3 the poverty of goods is easily cured2 the poverty of the soul is irreparable3 ,nam si1 quod satis est homini1 id satis esse potesset ,hoc sat erat3 nunc1 quum hoc non est1 qui credimus porro ,divitias ullas animum mi explere potesse8 ,for if what is for man enough1 could be enough1 it were enough2 but since it is not so1 how can ,i believe that any wealth can give my mind content4--,lucilius aped ,nonium ,marcellinum1 ,v4 sec4 #ih4 ,socrates1 seeing a great quantity of riches1 jewels1 and furniture carried in pomp through his city3 ,how many things1 said he1 ,i do not desire6--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 ,v4 #cb4--,metrodorus lived on twelve ounces a day1 ,epicurus upon less2 ,metrocles slept in winter abroad amongst sheep1 in summer in the cloisters of churches3 ,sufficit ad id natura1 quod poscit4 ,nature suffices for what he requires4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ij4 ,cleanthes lived by the labour of his own hands1 and boasted that ,cleanthes1 if he would1 could yet maintain another ,cleanthes4 ,if that which nature exactly and originally requires of us for the conservation of our being be too little 7as in truth what it is1 and how good cheap life may be maintained1 cannot be better expressed than by this consideration1 that it is so little that by its littleness it escapes the gripe and shock of fortune71 let us allow ourselves a little more2 let us call every one of our habits and conditions nature2 let us rate and treat ourselves by this measure2 let us stretch our appurtenances and accounts so far2 for so far1 ,i fancy1 we have some excuse4 ,custom is a second nature1 and no less powerful4 ,what is wanting to my custom1 ,i reckon is wanting to me2 and ,i should be almost as well content that they took away my life as cut me short in the way wherein ,i have so long lived4 ,i am no longer in condition for any great change1 nor to put myself into a new and unwonted course1 not even to augmentation4 ',tis past the time for me to become other than what ,i am2 and as ,i should complain of any great good hap that should now befall me1 that it came not in time to be enjoyed3 ,quo mihi fortunas1 si non conceditur uti8 ,what is the good fortune to me1 if it is not granted to me to use it4--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #e1 #ab4 so should ,i complain of any inward acquisition4 ,it were almost better never1 than so late1 to become an honest man1 and well fit to live1 when one has no longer to live4 ,i1 who am about to make my exit out of the world1 would easily resign to any newcomer1 who should desire it1 all the prudence ,i am now acquiring in the world's commerce2 after meat1 mustard4 ,i have no need of goods of which ,i can make no use2 of what use is knowledge to him who has lost his head8 ',tis an injury and unkindness in fortune to tender us presents that will only inspire us with a just despite that we had them not in their due season4 ,guide me no more2 ,i can no longer go4 ,of so many parts as make up a sufficiency1 patience is the most sufficient4 ,give the capacity of an excellent treble to the chorister who has rotten lungs1 and eloquence to a hermit exiled into the deserts of ,arabia4 ,there needs no art to help a fall2 the end finds itself of itself at the conclusion of every affair4 ,my world is at an end1 my form expired2 ,i am totally of the past1 and am bound to authorise it1 and to conform my outgoing to it4 ,i will here declare1 by way of example1 that the ,pope's late ten days' diminution ,gregory ,,xiii41 in #aehb1 reformed the ,calendar1 and1 in consequence1 in ,france they all at once passed from the #ith to the #bjth ,december4 has taken me so aback that ,i cannot well reconcile myself to it2 ,i belong to the years wherein we kept another kind of account4 ,so ancient and so long a custom challenges my adherence to it1 so that ,i am constrained to be somewhat heretical on that point incapable of any1 though corrective1 innovation4 ,my imagination1 in spite of my teeth1 always pushes me ten days forward or backward1 and is ever murmuring in my ears3 ,this rule concerns those who are to begin to be4 ,if health itself1 sweet as it is1 returns to me by fits1 'tis rather to give me cause of regret than possession of it2 ,i have no place left to keep it in4 ,time leaves me2 without which nothing can be possessed4 ,oh1 what little account should ,i make of those great elective dignities that ,i see in such esteem in the world1 that are never conferred but upon men who are taking leave of it2 wherein they do not so much regard how well the man will discharge his trust1 as how short his administration will be3 from the very entry they look at the exit4 ,in short1 ,i am about finishing this man1 and not rebuilding another4 ,by long use1 this form is in me turned into substance1 and fortune into nature4 ,i say1 therefore1 that every one of us feeble creatures is excusable in thinking that to be his own which is comprised under this measure2 but withal1 beyond these limits1 'tis nothing but confusion2 'tis the largest extent we can grant to our own claims4 ,the more we amplify our need and our possession1 so much the more do we expose ourselves to the blows of ,fortune and adversities4 ,the career of our desires ought to be circumscribed and restrained to a short limit of the nearest and most contiguous commodities2 and their course ought1 moreover1 to be performed not in a right line1 that ends elsewhere1 but in a circle1 of which the two points1 by a short wheel1 meet and terminate in ourselves4 ,actions that are carried on without this reflection--a near and essential reflection1 ,i mean--such as those of ambitious and avaricious men1 and so many more as run point-blank1 and to whose career always carries them before themselves1 such actions1 ,i say2 are erroneous and sickly4 ,most of our business is farce3 ,mundus universus exercet histrioniam4 --,petronius ,arbiter1 iii4 #h4 ,we must play our part properly1 but withal as a part of a borrowed personage2 we must not make real essence of a mask and outward appearance2 nor of a strange person1 our own2 we cannot distinguish the skin from the shirt3 'tis enough to meal the face1 without mealing the breast4 ,i see some who transform and transubstantiate themselves into as many new shapes and new beings as they undertake new employments2 and who strut and fume even to the heart and liver1 and carry their state along with them even to the close-stool3 ,i cannot make them distinguish the salutations made to themselves from those made to their commission1 their train1 or their mule3 ,tantum se fortunx permittunt1 etiam ut naturam dediscant4 ,they so much give themselves up to fortune1 as even to unlearn nature4--,quintus ,curtius1 iii4 #b4 ,they swell and puff up their souls1 and their natural way of speaking1 according to the height of their magisterial place4 ,the ,mayor of ,bordeaux and ,montaigne have ever been two by very manifest separation4 ,because one is an advocate or a financier1 he must not ignore the knavery there is in such callings2 an honest man is not accountable for the vice or absurdity of his employment1 and ought not on that account refuse to take the calling upon him3 'tis the usage of his country1 and there is money to be got by it2 a man must live by the world2 and make his best of it1 such as it is4 ,but the judgment of an emperor ought to be above his empire1 and see and consider it as a foreign accident2 and he ought to know how to enjoy himself apart from it1 and to communicate himself as ,james and ,peter1 to himself1 at all events4 ,i cannot engage myself so deep and so entire2 when my will gives me to anything1 'tis not with so violent an obligation that my judgment is infected with it4 ,in the present broils of this kingdom1 my own interest has not made me blind to the laudable qualities of our adversaries1 nor to those that are reproachable in those men of our party4 ,others adore all of their own side2 for my part1 ,i do not so much as excuse most things in those of mine3 a good work has never the worst grace with me for being made against me4 ,the knot of the controversy excepted1 ,i have always kept myself in equanimity and pure indifference3 ,neque extra necessitates belli praecipuum odium gero2 ,nor bear particular hatred beyond the necessities of war4 for which ,i am pleased with myself2 and the more because ,i see others commonly fail in the contrary direction4 ,such as extend their anger and hatred beyond the dispute in question1 as most men do1 show that they spring from some other occasion and private cause2 like one who1 being cured of an ulcer1 has yet a fever remaining1 by which it appears that the ulcer had another more concealed beginning4 ,the reason is that they are not concerned in the common cause1 because it is wounding to the state and general interest2 but are only nettled by reason of their particular concern4 ,this is why they are so especially animated1 and to a degree so far beyond justice and public reason3 ,non tam omnia universi1 quam ea1 quae ad quemque pertinent1 singuli carpebant4 ,every one was not so much angry against things in general1 as against those that particularly concern himself4 --,livy1 xxxiv4 #cf4 ,i would have the advantage on our side2 but if it be not1 ,i shall not run mad4 ,i am heartily for the right party2 but ,i do not want to be taken notice of as an especial enemy to others1 and beyond the general quarrel4 ,i marvellously challenge this vicious form of opinion3 ,he is of the ,league because he admires the graciousness of ,monsieur de ,guise2 he is astonished at the ,king of ,navarre's energy1 therefore he is a ,huguenot2 he finds this to say of the manners of the king1 he is therefore seditious in his heart4 ,and ,i did not grant to the magistrate himself that he did well in condemning a book because it had placed a heretic --,theodore de ,beza4--amongst the best poets of the time4 ,shall we not dare to say of a thief that he has a handsome leg8 ,if a woman be a strumpet1 must it needs follow that she has a foul smell8 ,did they in the wisest ages revoke the proud title of ,capitolinus they had before conferred on ,marcus ,manlius as conservator of religion and the public liberty1 and stifle the memory of his liberality1 his feats of arms1 and military recompenses granted to his valour1 because he1 afterwards aspired to the sovereignty1 to the prejudice of the laws of his country8 ,if we take a hatred against an advocate1 he will not be allowed the next day to be eloquent4 ,i have elsewhere spoken of the zeal that pushed on worthy men to the like faults4 ,for my part1 ,i can say1 ,such an one does this thing ill1 and another thing virtuously and well4 ,so in the prognostication or sinister events of affairs they would have every one in his party blind or a blockhead1 and that our persuasion and judgment should subserve not truth1 but to the project of our desires4 ,i should rather incline towards the other extreme2 so much ,i fear being suborned by my desire2 to which may be added that ,i am a little tenderly distrustful of things that ,i wish4 ,i have in my time seen wonders in the indiscreet and prodigious facility of people in suffering their hopes and belief to be led and governed1 which way best pleased and served their leaders1 despite a hundred mistakes one upon another1 despite mere dreams and phantasms4 ,i no more wonder at those who have been blinded and seduced by the fooleries of ,apollonius and ,mahomet4 ,their sense and understanding are absolutely taken away by their passion2 their discretion has no more any other choice than that which smiles upon them and encourages their cause4 ,i had principally observed this in the beginning of our intestine distempers2 that other1 which has sprung up since1 in imitating1 has surpassed it2 by which ,i am satisfied that it is a quality inseparable from popular errors2 after the first1 that rolls1 opinions drive on one another like waves with the wind3 a man is not a member of the body1 if it be in his power to forsake it1 and if he do not roll the common way4 ,but1 doubtless1 they wrong the just side when they go about to assist it with fraud2 ,i have ever been against that practice3 'tis only fit to work upon weak heads2 for the sound1 there are surer and more honest ways to keep up their courage and to excuse adverse accidents4 ,heaven never saw a greater animosity than that betwixt ,caesar and ,pompey1 nor ever shall2 and yet ,i observe1 methinks1 in those brave souls1 a great moderation towards one another3 it was a jealousy of honour and command1 which did not transport them to a furious and indiscreet hatred1 and was without malignity and detraction3 in their hottest exploits upon one another1 ,i discover some remains of respect and good-will3 and am therefore of opinion that1 had1 it been possible1 each of them would rather have done his business without the ruin of the other than with it4 ,take notice how much otherwise matters went with ,marius and ,sylla4 ,we must not precipitate ourselves so headlong after our affections and interests4 ,as1 when ,i was young1 ,i opposed myself to the progress of love which ,i perceived to advance too fast upon me1 and had a care lest it should at last become so pleasing as to force1 captivate1 and wholly reduce me to its mercy3 so ,i do the same upon all other occasions where my will is running on with too warm an appetite4 ,i lean opposite to the side it inclines to2 as ,i find it going to plunge and make itself drunk with its own wine2 ,i evade nourishing its pleasure so far1 that ,i cannot recover it without infinite loss4 ,souls that1 through their own stupidity1 only discern things by halves1 have this happiness1 that they smart less with hurtful things3 'tis a spiritual leprosy that has some show of health1 and such a health as philosophy does not altogether contemn2 but yet we have no reason to call it wisdom1 as we often do4 ,and after this manner some one anciently mocked ,diogeries1 who1 in the depth of winter and quite naked1 went embracing an image of snow for a trial of his endurance3 the other seeing him in this position1 ,art thou now very cold8 said he4 ,not at all1 replied ,diogenes4 ,why1 then1 pursued the other1 what difficult and exemplary thing dost thou think thou doest in embracing that snow8 ,to take a true measure of constancy1 one must necessarily know what the suffering is4 ,but souls that are to meet with adverse events and the injuries of fortune1 in their depth and sharpness1 that are to weigh and taste them according to their natural weight and bitterness1 let such show their skill in avoiding the causes and diverting the blow4 ,what did ,king ,cotys do8 ,he paid liberally for the rich and beautiful vessel that had been presented to him1 but1 seeing it was exceedingly brittle1 he immediately broke it betimes1 to prevent so easy a matter of displeasure against his servants4 ,in like manner1 ,i have willingly avoided all confusion in my affairs1 and never coveted to have my estate contiguous to those of my relations1 and such with whom ,i coveted a strict friendship2 for thence matter of unkindness and falling out often proceeds4 ,i formerly loved hazardous games of cards and dice2 but have long since left them off1 only for this reason that1 with whatever good air ,i carried my losses1 ,i could not help feeling vexed within4 ,a man of honour1 who ought to be touchily sensible of the lie or of an insult1 and who is not to take a scurvy excuse for satisfaction1 should avoid occasions of dispute4 ,i shun melancholy1 crabbed men1 as ,i would the plague2 and in matters ,i cannot talk of without emotion and concern ,i never meddle1 if not compelled by my duty3 ,melius non incipient1 quam desinent4 ,they had better never to begin than to have to desist4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #gb4 ,the surest way1 therefore1 is to prepare one's self beforehand for occasions4 ,i know very well that some wise men have taken another way1 and have not feared to grapple and engage to the utmost upon several subjects these are confident of their own strength1 under which they protect themselves in all ill successes1 making their patience wrestle and contend with disaster3 ,velut rupes1 vastum quae prodit in aequor1 ,obvia ventorum furiis1 expostaque ponto1 ,vim cunctam atque minas perfert coelique marisque2 ,ipsa immota manens4 ,as a rock1 which projects into the vast ocean1 exposed to the furious winds and the raging sea1 defies the force and menaces of sky and sea1 itself unshaken4--,virgil1 ,a,eneid1 x4 #fic4 ,let us not attempt these examples2 we shall never come up to them4 ,they set themselves resolutely1 and without agitation1 to behold the ruin of their country1 which possessed and commanded all their will3 this is too much1 and too hard a task for our commoner souls4 ,cato gave up the noblest life that ever was upon this account2 we meaner spirits must fly from the storm as far as we can2 we must provide for sentiment1 and not for patience1 and evade the blows we cannot meet4 ,zeno1 seeing ,chremonides1 a young man whom he loved1 draw near to sit down by him1 suddenly started up2 and ,cleanthes demanding of him the reason why he did so1 ,i hear1 said he1 that physicians especially order repose1 and forbid emotion in all tumours4 ,socrates does not say3 ,do not surrender to the charms of beauty2 stand your ground1 and do your utmost to oppose it4 ,fly it1 says he2 shun the fight and encounter of it1 as of a powerful poison that darts and wounds at a distance4 ,and his good disciple1 feigning or reciting1 but1 in my opinion1 rather reciting than feigning1 the rare perfections of the great ,cyrus1 makes him distrustful of his own strength to resist the charms of the divine beauty of that illustrous ,panthea1 his captive1 and committing the visiting and keeping her to another1 who could not have so much liberty as himself4 ,and the ,holy ,ghost in like manner3 ,ne nos inducas in tentationem4 ,lead us not into temptation4--,st4 ,matthew1 vi4 #ac4 ,we do not pray that our reason may not be combated and overcome by concupiscence1 but that it should not be so much as tried by it2 that we should not be brought into a state wherein we are so much as to suffer the approaches1 solicitations1 and temptations of sin3 and we beg of ,almighty ,god to keep our consciences quiet1 fully and perfectly delivered from all commerce of evil4 ,such as say that they have reason for their revenging passion1 or any other sort of troublesome agitation of mind1 often say true1 as things now are1 but not as they were3 they speak to us when the causes of their error are by themselves nourished and advanced2 but look backward--recall these causes to their beginning--and there you will put them to a nonplus4 ,will they have their faults less1 for being of longer continuance2 and that of an unjust beginning1 the sequel can be just8 ,whoever shall desire the good of his country1 as ,i do1 without fretting or pining himself1 will be troubled1 but will not swoon to see it threatening either its own ruin1 or a no less ruinous continuance2 poor vessel1 that the waves1 the winds1 and the pilot toss and steer to so contrary designs6 ,in tam diversa magister ,ventus et unda trahunt4 ,he who does not gape after the favour of princes1 as after a thing he cannot live without1 does not much concern himself at the coldness of their reception and countenance1 nor at the inconstancy of their wills4 ,he who does not brood over his children or his honours with a slavish propension1 ceases not to live commodiously enough after their loss4 ,he who does good principally for his own satisfaction will not be much troubled to see men judge of his actions contrary to his merit4 ,a quarter of an ounce of patience will provide sufficiently against such inconveniences4 ,i find ease in this receipt1 redeeming myself in the beginning as good cheap as ,i can2 and find that by this means ,i have escaped much trouble and many difficulties4 ,with very little ado ,i stop the first sally of my emotions1 and leave the subject that begins to be troublesome before it transports me4 ,he who stops not the start will never be able to stop the course2 he who cannot keep them out will never1 get them out when they are once got in2 and he who cannot arrive at the beginning will never arrive at the end of all4 ,nor will he bear the fall who cannot sustain the shock3 ,etenim ipsae se impellunt1 ubi semel a ratione discessum est2 ipsaque sibi imbecillitas indulget1 in altumque provehitur imprudens1 nec reperit locum consistendi4 ,for they throw themselves headlong when once they lose their reason2 and infirmity so far indulges itself1 and from want of prudence is carried out into deep water1 nor finds a place to shelter it4--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 iv4 #ah4 ,i am betimes sensible of the little breezes that begin to sing and whistle within1 forerunners of the storm3 ,ceu flamina prima ,cum deprensa fremunt sylvis et caeca volutant ,murmura1 venturos nautis prodentia ventos4 ,as the breezes1 pent in the woods1 first send out dull murmurs1 announcing the approach of winds to mariners4--,a,eneid1 x4 #ig4 ,how often have ,i done myself a manifest injustice to avoid the hazard of having yet a worse done me by the judges1 after an age of vexations1 dirty and vile practices1 more enemies to my nature than fire or the rack8 ,convenit a litibus1 quantum licet1 et nescio an paulo plus etiam quam licet1 abhorrentem esse3 est enim non modo liberale1 paululum nonnunquam de suo jure decedere1 sed interdum etiam fructuosum4 ,a man should abhor lawsuits as much as he may1 and ,i know not whether not something more2 for 'tis not only liberal1 but sometimes also advantageous1 too1 a little to recede from one's right4 --,cicero1 ,de ,offic41 ii4 #ah4 ,were we wise1 we ought to rejoice and boast1 as ,i one day heard a young gentleman of a good family very innocently do1 that his mother had lost her cause1 as if it had been a cough1 a fever1 or something very troublesome to keep4 ,even the favours that fortune might have given me through relationship or acquaintance with those who have sovereign authority in those affairs1 ,i have very conscientiously and very carefully avoided employing them to the prejudice of others1 and of advancing my pretensions above their true right4 ,in fine1 ,i have so much prevailed by my endeavours 7and happily ,i may say it7 that ,i am to this day a virgin from all suits in law2 though ,i have had very fair offers made me1 and with very just title1 would ,i have hearkened to them1 and a virgin from quarrels too4 ,i have almost passed over a long life without any offence of moment1 either active or passive1 or without ever hearing a worse word than my own name3 a rare favour of ,heaven4 ,our greatest agitations have ridiculous springs and causes3 what ruin did our last ,duke of ,burgundy run into about a cartload of sheepskins6 ,and was not the graving of a seal the first and principal cause of the greatest commotion that this machine of the world ever underwent8 --,the civil war between ,marius and ,sylla2 see ,plutarch's ,life of ,marius1 c4 #c4--;for ,pompey and ,caesar were but the offsets and continuation of the two others3 and ,i have in my time seen the wisest heads in this kingdom assembled with great ceremony1 and at the public expense1 about treaties and agreements1 of which the true decision1 in the meantime1 absolutely depended upon the ladies' cabinet council1 and the inclination of some bit of a woman4 ,the poets very well understood this when they put all ,greece and ,asia to fire and sword about an apple4 ,look why that man hazards his life and honour upon the fortune of his rapier and dagger2 let him acquaint you with the occasion of the quarrel2 he cannot do it without blushing3 the occasion is so idle and frivolous4 ,a little thing will engage you in it2 but being once embarked1 all the cords draw2 great provisions are then required1 more hard and more important4 ,how much easier is it not to enter in than it is to get out8 ,now we should proceed contrary to the reed1 which1 at its first springing1 produces a long and straight shoot1 but afterwards1 as if tired and out of breath1 it runs into thick and frequent joints and knots1 as so many pauses which demonstrate that it has no more its first vigour and firmness2 'twere better to begin gently and coldly1 and to keep one's breath and vigorous efforts for the height and stress of the business4 ,we guide affairs in their beginnings1 and have them in our own power2 but afterwards1 when they are once at work1 'tis they that guide and govern us1 and we are to follow them4 ,yet do ,i not mean to say that this counsel has discharged me of all difficulty1 and that ,i have not often had enough to do to curb and restrain my passions2 they are not always to be governed according to the measure of occasions1 and often have their entries very sharp and violent4 ,but still good fruit and profit may thence be reaped2 except for those who in well-doing are not satisfied with any benefit1 if reputation be wanting2 for1 in truth1 such an effect is not valued but by every one to himself2 you are better contented1 but not more esteemed1 seeing you reformed yourself before you got into the whirl of the dance1 or that the provocative matter was in sight4 ,yet not in this only1 but in all other duties of life also1 the way of those who aim at honour is very different from that they proceed by1 who propose to themselves order and reason4 ,i find some who rashly and furiously rush into the lists and cool in the course4 ,as ,plutarch says1 that those who1 through false shame1 are soft and facile to grant whatever is desired of them1 are afterwards as facile to break their word and to recant2 so he who enters lightly into a quarrel is apt to go as lightly out of it4 ,the same difficulty that keeps me from entering into it1 would1 when once hot and engaged in quarrel1 incite me to maintain it with great obstinacy and resolution4 ',tis the tyranny of custom2 when a man is once engaged2 he must go through with it1 or die4 ,undertake coolly1 said ,bias1 but pursue with ardour4 ,for want of prudence1 men fall into want of courage1 which is still more intolerable4 ,most accommodations of the quarrels of these days of ours are shameful and false2 we only seek to save appearances1 and in the meantime betray and disavow our true intentions2 we salve over the fact4 ,we know very well how we said the thing1 and in what sense we spoke it1 and the company know it1 and our friends whom we have wished to make sensible of our advantage1 understand it well enough too3 'tis at the expense of our frankness and of the honour of our courage1 that we disown our thoughts1 and seek refuge in falsities1 to make matters up4 ,we give ourselves the lie1 to excuse the lie we have given to another4 ,you are not to consider if your word or action may admit of another interpretation2 'tis your own true and sincere interpretation1 your real meaning in what you said or did1 that you are thenceforward to maintain1 whatever it cost you4 ,men speak to your virtue and conscience1 which are not things to be put under a mask2 let us leave these pitiful ways and expedients to the jugglers of the law4 ,the excuses and reparations that ,i see every day made and given to repair indiscretion1 seem to me more scandalous than the indiscretion itself4 ,it were better to affront your adversary a second time than to offend yourself by giving him so unmanly a satisfaction4 ,you have braved him in your heat and anger1 and you would flatter and appease him in your cooler and better sense2 and by that means lay yourself lower and at his feet1 whom before you pretended to overtop4 ,i do not find anything a gentleman can say so vicious in him as unsaying what he has said is infamous1 when to unsay it is authoritatively extracted from him2 forasmuch as obstinacy is more excusable in a man of honour than pusillanimity4 ,passions are as easy for me to evade1 as they are hard for me to moderate3 ,exscinduntur facilius ammo1 quam temperantur4 ,they are more easily to be eradicated than governed4 ,he who cannot attain the noble ,stoical impassibility1 let him secure himself in the bosom of this popular stolidity of mine2 what they performed by virtue1 ,i inure myself to do by temperament4 ,the middle region harbours storms and tempests2 the two extremes1 of philosophers and peasants1 concur in tranquillity and happiness3 ,felix1 qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas1 ,atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum ,subjecit pedibus1 strepitumque ,acherontis avari6 ,fortunatus et ille1 ,deos qui novit agrestes1 ,panaque1 ,sylvanumque senem1 ,nymphasque sorores6 ,happy is he who could discover the causes of things1 and place under his feet all fears and inexorable fate1 and the sound of rapacious ,acheron3 he is blest who knows the country gods1 and ,pan1 and old ,sylvanus1 and the sister nymphs4--,virgil1 ,georg41 ii4 #dij4 ,the births of all things are weak and tender2 and therefore we should have our eyes intent on beginnings2 for as when1 in its infancy1 the danger is not perceived1 so when it is grown up1 the remedy is as little to be found4 ,i had every day encountered a million of crosses1 harder to digest in the progress of ambition1 than it has been hard for me to curb the natural propension that inclined me to it3 ,jure perhorrui ,lath conspicuum tollere verticem4 ,i ever justly feared to raise my head too high4 --,horace1 ,od41iii4 #af1 #ah4 ,all public actions are subject to uncertain and various interpretations2 for too many heads judge of them4 ,some say of this civic employment of mine 7and ,i am willing to say a word or two about it1 not that it is worth so much1 but to give an account of my manners in such things71 that ,i have behaved myself in it as a man who is too supine and of a languid temperament2 and they have some colour for what they say4 ,i endeavoured to keep my mind and my thoughts in repose2 ,cum semper natura1 tum etiam aetate jam quietus2 ,as being always quiet by nature1 so also now by age4 --,cicero1 ,de ,petit4 ,consul41 c4 #b4 and if they sometimes lash out upon some rude and sensible impression1 'tis in truth without my advice4 ,yet from this natural heaviness of mine1 men ought not to conclude a total inability in me 7for want of care and want of sense are two very different things71 and much less any unkindness or ingratitude towards that corporation who employed the utmost means they had in their power to oblige me1 both before they knew me and after2 and they did much more for me in choosing me anew than in conferring that honour upon me at first4 ,i wish them all imaginable good2 and assuredly had occasion been1 there is nothing ,i would have spared for their service2 ,i did for them as ,i would have done for myself4 ',tis a good1 warlike1 and generous people1 but capable of obedience and discipline1 and of whom the best use may be made1 if well guided4 ,they say also that my administration passed over without leaving any mark or trace4 ,good6 ,they moreover accuse my cessation in a time when everybody almost was convicted of doing too much4 ,i am impatient to be doing where my will spurs me on2 but this itself is an enemy to perseverance4 ,let him who will make use of me according to my own way1 employ me in affairs where vigour and liberty are required1 where a direct1 short1 and1 moreover1 a hazardous conduct are necessary2 ,i may do something2 but if it must be long1 subtle1 laborious1 artificial and intricate1 he had better call in somebody else4 ,all important offices are not necessarily difficult3 ,i came prepared to do somewhat rougher work1 had there been great occasion2 for it is in my power to do something more than ,i do1 or than ,i love to do4 ,i did not1 to my knowledge1 omit anything that my duty really required4 ,i easily forgot those offices that ambition mixes with duty and palliates with its title2 these are they that1 for the most part1 fill the eyes and ears1 and give men the most satisfaction2 not the thing but the appearance contents them2 if they hear no noise1 they think men sleep4 ,my humour is no friend to tumult2 ,i could appease a commotion without commotion1 and chastise a disorder without being myself disorderly2 if ,i stand in need of anger and inflammation1 ,i borrow it1 and put it on4 ,my manners are languid1 rather faint than sharp4 ,i do not condemn a magistrate who sleeps1 provided the people under his charge sleep as well as he3 the laws in that case sleep too4 ,for my part1 ,i commend a gliding1 staid1 and silent life3 ,neque submissam et abjectam1 neque se efferentem2 ,neither subject and abject1 nor obtrusive4 --,cicero1 ,de ,offic41 i4 #cd my fortune will have it so4 ,i am descended from a family that has lived without lustre or tumult1 and1 time out of mind1 particularly ambitious of a character for probity4 ,our people nowadays are so bred up to bustle and ostentation1 that good nature1 moderation1 equability1 constancy1 and such like quiet and obscure qualities1 are no more thought on or regarded4 ,rough bodies make themselves felt2 the smooth are imperceptibly handled3 sickness is felt1 health little or not at all2 no more than the oils that foment us1 in comparison of the pains for which we are fomented4 ',tis acting for one's particular reputation and profit1 not for the public good1 to refer that to be done in the public squares which one may do in the council chamber2 and to noon day what might have been done the night before2 and to be jealous to do that himself which his colleague can do as well as he2 so were some surgeons of ,greece wont to perform their operations upon scaffolds in the sight of the people1 to draw more practice and profit4 ,they think that good rules cannot be understood but by the sound of trumpet4 ,ambition is not a vice of little people1 nor of such modest means as ours4 ,one said to ,alexander3 ,your father will leave you a great dominion1 easy and pacific2 this youth was emulous of his father's victories and of the justice of his government2 he would not have enjoyed the empire of the world in ease and peace4 ,alcibiades1 in ,plato1 had rather die young1 beautiful1 rich1 noble1 and learned1 and all this in full excellence1 than to stop short of such condition2 this disease is1 peradventure1 excusable in so strong and so full a soul4 ,when wretched and dwarfish little souls cajole and deceive themselves1 and think to spread their fame for having given right judgment in an affair1 or maintained the discipline of the guard of a gate of their city1 the more they think to exalt their heads the more they show their tails4 ,this little well-doing has neither body nor life2 it vanishes in the first mouth1 and goes no further than from one street to another4 ,talk of it by all means to your son or your servant1 like that old fellow who1 having no other auditor of his praises nor approver of his valour1 boasted to his chambermaid1 crying1 ,o ,perrete1 what a brave1 clever man hast thou for thy master6 ,at the worst1 talk of it to yourself1 like a councillor of my acquaintance1 who1 having disgorged a whole cartful of law jargon with great heat and as great folly1 coming out of the council chamber to make water1 was heard very complacently to mutter betwixt his teeth3 ,non nobis1 domine1 non nobis1 sed nomini tuo da gloriam4 ,not unto us1 ,o ,lord1 not to us3 but unto ,thy name be the glory4 --,psalm cxiii4 ,i4 ,he who gets it of nobody else1 let him pay himself out of his own purse4 ,fame is not prostituted at so cheap a rate3 rare and exemplary actions1 to which it is due1 would not endure the company of this prodigious crowd of petty daily performances4 ,marble may exalt your titles1 as much as you please1 for having repaired a rod of wall or cleansed a public sewer2 but not men of sense4 ,renown does not follow all good deeds1 if novelty and difficulty be not conjoined2 nay1 so much as mere esteem1 according to the ,stoics1 is not due to every action that proceeds from virtue2 nor will they allow him bare thanks who1 out of temperance1 abstains from an old blear-eyed crone4 ,those who have known the admirable qualities of ,scipio ,africanus1 deny him the glory that ,panaetius attributes to him1 of being abstinent from gifts1 as a glory not so much his as that of his age4 ,we have pleasures suitable to our lot2 let us not usurp those of grandeur3 our own are more natural1 and by so much more solid and sure1 as they are lower4 ,if not for that of conscience1 yet at least for ambition's sake1 let us reject ambition2 let us disdain that thirst of honour and renown1 so low and mendicant1 that it makes us beg it of all sorts of people3 ,quae est ista laus quae3 possit e macello peti8 ,what praise is that which is to be got in the market-place 7meat market78 ,cicero1 ,de ,fin41 ii4 #ae4 by abject means1 and at what cheap rate soever3 'tis dishonour to be so honoured4 ,let us learn to be no more greedy1 than we are capable1 of glory4 ,to be puffed up with every action that is innocent or of use1 is only for those with whom such things are extraordinary and rare3 they will value it as it costs them4 ,the more a good effect makes a noise1 the more do ,i abate of its goodness as ,i suspect that it was more performed for the noise1 than upon account of the goodness3 exposed upon the stall1 'tis half sold4 ,those actions have much more grace and lustre1 that slip from the hand of him that does them1 negligently and without noise1 and that some honest man thereafter finds out and raises from the shade1 to produce it to the light upon its own account1 ,mihi quidem laudabiliora videntur omnia1 quae sine venditatione1 et sine populo teste fiunt1 ,all things truly seem more laudable to me that are performed without ostentation1 and without the testimony of the people4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 ii4 #bf4 says the most ostentatious man that ever lived4 ,i had but to conserve and to continue1 which are silent and insensible effects3 innovation is of great lustre2 but 'tis interdicted in this age1 when we are pressed upon and have nothing to defend ourselves from but novelties4 ,to forbear doing is often as generous as to do2 but 'tis less in the light1 and the little good ,i have in me is of this kind4 ,in fine1 occasions in this employment of mine have been confederate with my humour1 and ,i heartily thank them for it4 ,is there any who desires to be sick1 that he may see his physician at work8 and would not the physician deserve to be whipped who should wish the plague amongst us1 that he might put his art in practice8 ,i have never been of that wicked humour1 and common enough1 to desire that troubles and disorders in this city should elevate and honour my government2 ,i have ever heartily contributed all ,i could to their tranquillity and ease4 ,he who will not thank me for the order1 the sweet and silent calm that has accompanied my administration1 cannot1 however1 deprive me of the share that belongs to me by title of my good fortune4 ,and ,i am of such a composition1 that ,i would as willingly be lucky as wise1 and had rather owe my successes purely to the favour of ,almighty ,god1 than to any operation of my own4 ,i had sufficiently published to the world my unfitness for such public offices2 but ,i have something in me yet worse than incapacity itself2 which is1 that ,i am not much displeased at it1 and that ,i do not much go about to cure it1 considering the course of life that ,i have proposed to myself4 ,neither have ,i satisfied myself in this employment2 but ,i have very near arrived at what ,i expected from my own performance1 and have much surpassed what ,i promised them with whom ,i had to do3 for ,i am apt to promise something less than what ,i am able to do1 and than what ,i hope to make good4 ,i assure myself that ,i have left no offence or hatred behind me2 to leave regret or desire for me amongst them1 ,i at least know very well that ,i never much aimed at it3 ,mene huic confidere monstro6 ,mene salis placidi vultum1 fluctusque quietos ,ignorare8 ,should ,i place confidence in this monster8 ,should ,i be ignorant of the dangers of that seeming placid sea1 those now quiet waves8 --,virgil1 ,aeneid1 ,v4 #hdi4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,of ,,cripples ',tis now two or three years ago that they made the year ten days shorter in ,france4--,by the adoption of the ,gregorian calendar4--,how many changes may we expect should follow this reformation6 it was really moving heaven and earth at once4 ,yet nothing for all that stirs from its place my neighbours still find their seasons of sowing and reaping1 the opportunities of doing their business1 the hurtful and propitious days1 dust at the same time where they had1 time out of mind1 assigned them2 there was no more error perceived in our old use1 than there is amendment found in the alteration2 so great an uncertainty there is throughout2 so gross1 obscure1 and obtuse is our perception4 ',tis said that this regulation might have been carried on with less inconvenience1 by subtracting for some years1 according to the example of ,augustus1 the ,bissextile1 which is in some sort a day of impediment and trouble1 till we had exactly satisfied this debt1 the which itself is not done by this correction1 and we yet remain some days in arrear3 and yet1 by this means1 such order might be taken for the future1 arranging that after the revolution of such or such a number of years1 the supernumerary day might be always thrown out1 so that we could not1 henceforward1 err above four-and-twenty hours in our computation4 ,we have no other account of time but years2 the world has for many ages made use of that only2 and yet it is a measure that to this day we are not agreed upon1 and one that we still doubt what form other nations have variously given to it1 and what was the true use of it4 ,what does this saying of some mean1 that the heavens in growing old bow themselves down nearer towards us1 and put us into an uncertainty even of hours and days8 and that which ,plutarch says of the months1 that astrology had not in his time determined as to the motion of the moon2 what a fine condition are we in to keep records of things past4 ,i was just now ruminating1 as ,i often do1 what a free and roving thing human reason is4 ,i ordinarily see that men1 in things propounded to them1 more willingly study to find out reasons than to ascertain truth3 they slip over presuppositions1 but are curious in examination of consequences2 they leave the things1 and fly to the causes4 ,pleasant talkers6 ,the knowledge of causes only concerns him who has the conduct of things2 not us1 who are merely to undergo them1 and who have perfectly full and accomplished use of them1 according to our need1 without penetrating into the original and essence2 wine is none the more pleasant to him who knows its first faculties4 ,on the contrary1 both the body and the soul interrupt and weaken the right they have of the use of the world and of themselves1 by mixing with it the opinion of learning2 effects concern us1 but the means not at all4 ,to determine and to distribute appertain to superiority and command2 as it does to subjection to accept4 ,let me reprehend our custom4 ,they commonly begin thus3 ,how is such a thing done8 ,whereas they should say1 ,is such a thing done8 ,our reason is able to create a hundred other worlds1 and to find out the beginnings and contexture2 it needs neither matter nor foundation3 let it but run on1 it builds as well in the air as on the earth1 and with inanity as well as with matter3 ,dare pondus idonea fumo4 ,able to give weight to smoke4--,persius1 v4 #bj4 ,i find that almost throughout we should say1 there is no such thing1 and should myself often make use of this answer1 but ,i dare not3 for they cry that it is an evasion produced from ignorance and weakness of understanding2 and ,i am fain1 for the most part1 to juggle for company1 and prate of frivolous subjects and tales that ,i believe not a word of2 besides that1 in truth1 'tis a little rude and quarrelsome flatly to deny a stated fact2 and few people but will affirm1 especially in things hard to be believed1 that they have seen them1 or at least will name witnesses whose authority will stop our mouths from contradiction4 ,in this way1 we know the foundations and means of things that never were2 and the world scuffles about a thousand questions1 of which both the ,pro and the ,con are false4 ,ita finitima sunt falsa veris1 ut in praecipitem locum non debeat se sapiens committere4 ,false things are so near the true1 that a wise man should not trust himself in a precipitous place--,cicero1 ,acad41 ii4 #ba4 ,truth and lies are faced alike2 their port1 taste1 and proceedings are the same1 and we look upon them with the same eye4 ,i find that we are not only remiss in defending ourselves from deceit1 but that we seek and offer ourselves to be gulled2 we love to entangle ourselves in vanity1 as a thing conformable to our being4 ,i have seen the birth of many miracles in my time2 which1 although they were abortive1 yet have we not failed to foresee what they would have come to1 had they lived their full age4 ',tis but finding the end of the clew1 and a man may wind off as much as he will2 and there is a greater distance betwixt nothing and the least thing in the world than there is betwixt this and the greatest4 ,now the first that are imbued with this beginning of novelty1 when they set out with their tale1 find1 by the oppositions they meet with1 where the difficulty of persuasion lies1 and so caulk up that place with some false piece2 ,voltaire says of this passage1 ,he who would learn to doubt should read this whole chapter of ,montaigne1 the least methodical of all philosophers1 but the wisest and most amiable4 --,melanges ,historiques1 xvii4 #fid1 ed4 of ,lefevre4 besides that3 ,insita hominibus libido alendi de industria rumores1 ,men having a natural desire to nourish reports4 --,livy1 xxviii4 #bd4 we naturally make a conscience of restoring what has been lent us1 without some usury and accession of our own4 ,the particular error first makes the public error1 and afterwards1 in turn1 the public error makes the particular one2 and thus all this vast fabric goes forming and piling itself up from hand to hand1 so that the remotest witness knows more about it than those who were nearest1 and the last informed is better persuaded than the first4 ',tis a natural progress2 for whoever believes anything1 thinks it a work of charity to persuade another into the same opinion2 which the better to do1 he will make no difficulty of adding as much of his own invention as he conceives necessary to his tale to encounter the resistance or want of conception he meets with in others4 ,i myself1 who make a great conscience of lying1 and am not very solicitous of giving credit and authority to what ,i say1 yet find that in the arguments ,i have in hand1 being heated with the opposition of another1 or by the proper warmth of my own narration1 ,i swell and puff up my subject by voice1 motion1 vigour1 and force of words1 and moreover1 by extension and amplification1 not without some prejudice to the naked truth2 but ,i do it conditionally withal1 that to the first who brings me to myself1 and who asks me the plain and bare truth1 ,i presently surrender my passion1 and deliver the matter to him without exaggeration1 without emphasis1 or any painting of my own4 ,a quick and earnest way of speaking1 as mine is1 is apt to run into hyperbole4 ,there is nothing to which men commonly are more inclined than to make way for their own opinions2 where the ordinary means fail us1 we add command1 force1 fire1 and sword4 ',tis a misfortune to be at such a pass1 that the best test of truth is the multitude of believers in a crowd1 where the number of fools so much exceeds the wise3 ,quasi vero quidquam sit tam valde1 quam nil sapere1 vulgare4 ,as if anything were so common as ignorance4 --,cicero1 ,de ,divin41 ii4 ,sanitatis patrocinium est1 insanientium turba4 ,the multitude of fools is a protection to the wise4 --,st4 ,augustine1 ,de ,civit4 ,dei1 vi4 #aj4 ',tis hard to resolve a man's judgment against the common opinions3 the first persuasion1 taken from the very subject itself1 possesses the simple1 and from them diffuses itself to the wise1 under the authority of the number and antiquity of the witnesses4 ,for my part1 what ,i should not believe from one1 ,i should not believe from a hundred and one3 and ,i do not judge opinions by years4 ',tis not long since one of our princes1 in whom the gout had spoiled an excellent nature and sprightly disposition1 suffered himself to be so far persuaded with the report made to him of the marvellous operations of a certain priest who by words and gestures cured all sorts of diseases1 as to go a long journey to seek him out1 and by the force of his mere imagination1 for some hours so persuaded and laid his legs asleep1 as to obtain that service from them they had long time forgotten4 ,had fortune heaped up five or six such-like incidents1 it had been enough to have brought this miracle into nature4 ,there was afterwards discovered so much simplicity and so little art in the author of these performances1 that he was thought too contemptible to be punished1 as would be thought of most such things1 were they well examined3 ,miramur ex intervallo fallentia4 ,we admire after an interval 7or at a distance7 things that deceive4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #aah1 #b4 ,so does our sight often represent to us strange images at a distance that vanish on approaching near3 ,nunquam ad liquidum fama perducitur4 ,report is never fully substantiated4 --,quintus ,curtius1 ix4 #b4 ',tis wonderful from how many idle beginnings and frivolous causes such famous impressions commonly1 proceed4 ,this it is that obstructs information2 for whilst we seek out causes and solid and weighty ends1 worthy of so great a name1 we lose the true ones2 they escape our sight by their littleness4 ,and1 in truth1 a very prudent1 diligent1 and subtle inquisition is required in such searches1 indifferent1 and not prepossessed4 ,to this very hour1 all these miracles and strange events have concealed themselves from me3 ,i have never seen greater monster or miracle in the world than myself3 one grows familiar with all strange things by time and custom1 but the more ,i frequent and the better ,i know myself1 the more does my own deformity astonish me1 the less ,i understand myself4 ,the principal right of advancing and producing such accidents is reserved to fortune4 ,passing the day before yesterday through a village two leagues from my house1 ,i found the place yet warm with a miracle that had lately failed of success there1 where with first the neighbourhood had been several months amused2 then the neighbouring provinces began to take it up1 and to run thither in great companies of all sorts of people4 ,a young fellow of the place had one night in sport counterfeited the voice of a spirit in his own house1 without any other design at present1 but only for sport2 but this having succeeded with him better than he expected1 to extend his farce with more actors he associated with him a stupid silly country girl1 and at last there were three of them of the same age and understanding1 who from domestic1 proceeded to public1 preachings1 hiding themselves under the altar of the church1 never speaking but by night1 and forbidding any light to be brought4 ,from words which tended to the conversion of the world1 and threats of the day of judgment 7for these are subjects under the authority and reverence of which imposture most securely lurks71 they proceeded to visions and gesticulations so simple and ridiculous that--nothing could hardly be so gross in the sports of little children4 ,yet had fortune never so little favoured the design1 who knows to what height this juggling might have at last arrived8 ,these poor devils are at present in prison1 and are like shortly to pay for the common folly2 and ,i know not whether some judge will not also make them smart for his4 ,we see clearly into this1 which is discovered2 but in many things of the like nature that exceed our knowledge1 ,i am of opinion that we ought to suspend our judgment1 whether as to rejection or as to reception4 ,great abuses in the world are begotten1 or1 to speak more boldly1 all the abuses of the world are begotten1 by our being taught to be afraid of professing our ignorance1 and that we are bound to accept all things we are not able to refute3 we speak of all things by precepts and decisions4 ,the style at ,rome was that even that which a witness deposed to having seen with his own eyes1 and what a judge determined with his most certain knowledge1 was couched in this form of speaking3 it seems to me4 ,they make me hate things that are likely1 when they would impose them upon me as infallible4 ,i love these words which mollify and moderate the temerity of our propositions3 peradventure2 in some sort2 some2 'tis said1 ,i think1 and the like3 and had ,i been set to train up children ,i had put this way of answering into their mouths1 inquiring and not resolving3 ,what does this mean8 ,i understand it not2 it may be3 is it true8 so that they should rather have retained the form of pupils at threescore years old than to go out doctors1 as they do1 at ten4 ,whoever will be cured of ignorance must confess it4 ,iris is the daughter of ,thaumas2 ,that is1 of ,admiration4 ,she 7,iris1 the rainbow7 is beautiful1 and for that reason1 because she has a face to be admired1 she is said to have been the daughter of ,thamus4 --,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 iii4 #bj4 admiration is the foundation of all philosophy1 inquisition the progress1 ignorance the end4 ,but there is a sort of ignorance1 strong and generous1 that yields nothing in honour and courage to knowledge2 an ignorance which to conceive requires no less knowledge than to conceive knowledge itself4 ,i read in my younger years a trial that ,corras1 ,a celebrated ,calvinist lawyer1 born at ,toulouse2 #aeac1 and assassinated there1 #dth ,october #aegb4 a councillor of ,toulouse1 printed1 of a strange incident1 of two men who presented themselves the one for the other4 ,i remember 7and ,i hardly remember anything else7 that he seemed to have rendered the imposture of him whom he judged to be guilty1 so wonderful and so far exceeding both our knowledge and his own1 who was the judge1 that ,i thought it a very bold sentence that condemned him to be hanged4 ,let us have some form of decree that says1 ,the court understands nothing of the matter more freely and ingenuously than the ,areopagites did1 who1 finding themselves perplexed with a cause they could not unravel1 ordered the parties to appear again after a hundred years4 ,the witches of my neighbourhood run the hazard of their lives upon the report of every new author who seeks to give body to their dreams4 ,to accommodate the examples that ,holy ,writ gives us of such things1 most certain and irrefragable examples1 and to tie them to our modern events1 seeing that we neither see the causes nor the means1 will require another sort-of wit than ours4 ,it1 peradventure1 only appertains to that sole all-potent testimony to tell us4 ,this is1 and that is1 and not that other4 ,god ought to be believed2 and certainly with very good reason2 but not one amongst us for all that who is astonished at his own narration 7and he must of necessity be astonished if he be not out of his wits71 whether he employ it about other men's affairs or against himself4 ,i am plain and heavy1 and stick to the solid and the probable1 avoiding those ancient reproaches3 ,majorem fidem homines adhibent iis1 quae non intelligunt2 --,cupidine humani ingenii libentius obscura creduntur4 ,men are most apt to believe what they least understand3 and from the acquisitiveness of the human intellect1 obscure things are more easily credited4 ,the second sentence is from ,tacitus1 ,hist4 #a4 #bb4 ,i see very well that men get angry1 and that ,i am forbidden to doubt upon pain of execrable injuries2 a new way of persuading6 ,thank ,god1 ,i am not to be cuffed into belief4 ,let them be angry with those who accuse their opinion of falsity2 ,i only accuse it of difficulty and boldness1 and condemn the opposite affirmation equally1 if not so imperiously1 with them4 ,he who will establish this proposition by authority and huffing discovers his reason to be very weak4 ,for a verbal and scholastic altercation let them have as much appearance as their contradictors2 ,videantur sane1 non affirmentur modo2 ,they may indeed appear to be2 let them not be affirmed 7,let them state the probabilities1 but not affirm47 --,cicero1 ,acad41 n4 #bg4 but in the real consequence they draw from it these have much the advantage4 ,to kill men1 a clear and strong light is required1 and our life is too real and essential to warrant these supernatural and fantastic accidents4 ,as to drugs and poisons1 ,i throw them out of my count1 as being the worst sort of homicides3 yet even in this1 'tis said1 that men are not always to rely upon the personal confessions of these people2 for they have sometimes been known to accuse themselves of the murder of persons who have afterwards been found living and well4 ,in these other extravagant accusations1 ,i should be apt to say1 that it is sufficient a man1 what recommendation soever he may have1 be believed as to human things2 but of what is beyond his conception1 and of supernatural effect1 he ought then only to be believed when authorised by a supernatural approbation4 ,the privilege it has pleased ,almighty ,god to give to some of our witnesses1 ought not to be lightly communicated and made cheap4 ,i have my ears battered with a thousand such tales as these3 ,three persons saw him such a day in the east three1 the next day in the west3 at such an hour1 in such a place1 and in such habit2 assuredly ,i should not believe it myself4 ,how much more natural and likely do ,i find it that two men should lie than that one man in twelve hours' time should fly with the wind from east to west8 ,how much more natural that our understanding should be carried from its place by the volubility of our disordered minds1 than that one of us should be carried by a strange spirit upon a broomstaff1 flesh and bones as we are1 up the shaft of a chimney8 ,let not us seek illusions from without and unknown1 we who are perpetually agitated with illusions domestic and our own4 ,methinks one is pardonable in disbelieving a miracle1 at least1 at all events where one can elude its verification as such1 by means not miraculous2 and ,i am of ,st4 ,augustine's opinion1 that1 'tis better to lean towards doubt than assurance1 in things hard to prove and dangerous to believe4 ',tis now some years ago that ,i travelled through the territories of a sovereign prince1 who1 in my favour1 and to abate my incredulity1 did me the honour to let me see1 in his own presence1 and in a private place1 ten or twelve prisoners of this kind1 and amongst others1 an old woman1 a real witch in foulness and deformity1 who long had been famous in that profession4 ,i saw both proofs and free confessions1 and ,i know not what insensible mark upon the miserable creature3 ,i examined and talked with her and the rest as much and as long as ,i would1 and gave the best and soundest attention ,i could1 and ,i am not a man to suffer my judgment to be made captive by prepossession4 ,in the end1 and in all conscience1 ,i should rather have prescribed them hellebore than hemlock2 ,captisque res magis mentibus1 quam consceleratis similis visa2 ,the thing was rather to be attributed to madness1 than malice4 7,the thing seemed to resemble minds possessed rather than guilty47 --,livy1 viii1 #ah4 justice has its corrections proper for such maladies4 ,as to the oppositions and arguments that worthy men have made to me1 both there1 and often in other places1 ,i have met with none that have convinced me1 and that have not admitted a more likely solution than their conclusions4 ,it is true1 indeed1 that the proofs and reasons that are founded upon experience and fact1 ,i do not go about to untie1 neither have they any end2 ,i often cut them1 as ,alexander did the ,gordian knot4 ,after all1 'tis setting a man's conjectures at a very high price upon them to cause a man to be roasted alive4 ,we are told by several examples1 as ,praestantius of his father1 that being more profoundly1 asleep than men usually are1 he fancied himself to be a mare1 and that he served the soldiers for a sumpter2 and what he fancied himself to be1 he really proved4 ,if sorcerers dream so materially2 if dreams can sometimes so incorporate themselves with effects1 still ,i cannot believe that therefore our will should be accountable to justice2 which ,i say as one who am neither judge nor privy councillor1 and who think myself by many degrees unworthy so to be1 but a man of the common sort1 born and avowed to the obedience of the public reason1 both in its words and acts4 ,he who should record my idle talk as being to the prejudice of the pettiest law1 opinion1 or custom of his parish1 would do himself a great deal of wrong1 and me much more2 for1 in what ,i say1 ,i warrant no other certainty1 but that 'tis what ,i had then in my thought1 a tumultuous and wavering thought4 ,all ,i say is by way of discourse1 and nothing by way of advice3 ,nec me pudet1 ut istos fateri nescire1 quod nesciam2 ,neither am ,i ashamed1 as they are1 to confess my ignorance of what ,i do not know4--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 i4 #be4 ,i should not speak so boldly1 if it were my due to be believed2 and so ,i told a great man1 who complained of the tartness and contentiousness of my exhortations4 ,perceiving you to be ready and prepared on one part1 ,i propose to you the other1 with all the diligence and care ,i can1 to clear your judgment1 not to compel it4 ,god has your hearts in ,his hands1 and will furnish you with the means of choice4 ,i am not so presumptuous even as to desire that my opinions should bias you--in a thing of so great importance3 my fortune has not trained them up to so potent and elevated conclusions4 ,truly1 ,i have not only a great many humours1 but also a great many opinions1 that ,i would endeavour to make my son dislike1 if ,i had one4 ,what1 if the truest are not always the most commodious to man1 being of so wild a composition8 ,whether it be to the purpose or not1 tis no great matter3 'tis a common proverb in ,italy1 that he knows not ,venus in her perfect sweetness who has never lain with a lame mistress4 ,fortune1 or some particular incident1 long ago put this saying into the mouths of the people2 and the same is said of men as well as of women2 for the queen of the ,amazons answered the ,scythian who courted her to love1 ,lame men perform best4 ,in this feminine republic1 to evade the dominion of the males1 they lamed them in their infancy--arms1 legs1 and other members that gave them advantage over them1 and only made use of them in that wherein we1 in these parts of the world1 make use of them4 ,i should have been apt to think2 that the shuffling pace of the lame mistress added some new pleasure to the work1 and some extraordinary titillation to those who were at the sport2 but ,i have lately learnt that ancient philosophy has itself determined it1 which says that the legs and thighs of lame women1 not receiving1 by reason of their imperfection1 their due aliment1 it falls out that the genital parts above are fuller and better supplied and much more vigorous2 or else that this defect1 hindering exercise1 they who are troubled with it less dissipate their strength1 and come more entire to the sports of ,venus2 which also is the reason why the ,greeks decried the women-weavers as being more hot than other women by reason of their sedentary trade1 which they carry on without any great exercise of the body4 ,what is it we may not reason of at this rate8 ,i might also say of these1 that the jaggling about whilst so sitting at work1 rouses and provokes their desire1 as the swinging and jolting of coaches does that of our ladies4 ,do not these examples serve to make good what ,i said at first3 that our reasons often anticipate the effect1 and have so infinite an extent of jurisdiction that they judge and exercise themselves even on inanity itself and non-existency8 ,besides the flexibility of our invention to forge reasons of all sorts of dreams1 our imagination is equally facile to receive impressions of falsity by very frivolous appearances2 for1 by the sole authority of the ancient and common use of this proverb1 ,i have formerly made myself believe that ,i have had more pleasure in a woman by reason she was not straight1 and accordingly reckoned that deformity amongst her graces4 ,torquato ,tasso1 in the comparison he makes betwixt ,france and ,italy1 says that he has observed that our legs are generally smaller than those of the ,italian gentlemen1 and attributes the cause of it to our being continually on horseback2 which is the very same cause from which ,suetonius draws a quite opposite conclusion2 for he says1 on the contrary1 that ,germanicus had made his legs bigger by the continuation of the same exercise4 ,nothing is so supple and erratic as our understanding2 it is the shoe of ,theramenes1 fit for all feet4 ,it is double and diverse1 and the matters are double and diverse too4 ,give me a drachm of silver1 said a ,cynic philosopher to ,antigonus4 ,that is not a present befitting a king1 replied he4 ,give me then a talent1 said the other4 ,that is not a present befitting a ,cynic4 ,seu plures calor ille vias et caeca relaxat ,spiramenta1 novas veniat qua succus in herbas ,seu durat magis1 et venas astringit hiantes2 ,ne tenues pluviae1 rapidive potentia colic ,acrior1 aut ,boreae penetrabile frigus adurat4 ,whether the heat opens more passages and secret pores through which the sap may be derived into the new-born herbs2 or whether it rather hardens and binds the gaping veins that the small showers and keen influence of the violent sun or penetrating cold of ,boreas may not hurt them4--,virg41 ,georg41 i4 #hi4 ,ogni medaglia ha il suo rovescio4 ,every medal has its reverse4--,italian ,proverb4 ,this is the reason why ,clitomachus said of old that ,carneades had outdone the labours of ,hercules1 in having eradicated consent from men1 that is to say1 opinion and the courage of judging4 ,this so vigorous fancy of ,carneades sprang1 in my opinion1 anciently from the impudence of those who made profession of knowledge and their immeasurable self-conceit4 ,a,esop was set to sale with two other slaves2 the buyer asked the first of these what he could do2 he1 to enhance his own value1 promised mountains and marvels1 saying he could do this and that1 and ,i know not what2 the second said as much of himself or more3 when it came to ,a,esop's turn1 and that he was also asked what he could do2 ,nothing1 said he1 for these two have taken up all before me2 they know everything4 ,so has it happened in the school of philosophy3 the pride of those who attributed the capacity of all things to the human mind created in others1 out of despite and emulation1 this opinion1 that it is capable of nothing3 the one maintain the same extreme in ignorance that the others do in knowledge2 to make it undeniably manifest that man is immoderate throughout1 and can never stop but of necessity and the want of ability to proceed further4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,of ,,physiognomy ,almost all the opinions we have are taken on authority and trust2 and 'tis not amiss2 we could not choose worse than by ourselves in so weak an age4 ,that image of ,socrates' discourses1 which his friends have transmitted to us1 we approve upon no other account than a reverence to public sanction3 'tis not according to our own knowledge2 they are not after our way2 if anything of the kind should spring up now1 few men would value them4 ,we discern no graces that are not pointed and puffed out and inflated by art2 such as glide on in their own purity and simplicity easily escape so gross a sight as ours2 they have a delicate and concealed beauty1 such as requires a clear and purified sight to discover its secret light4 ,is not simplicity1 as we take it1 cousin-german to folly and a quality of reproach8 ,socrates makes his soul move a natural and common motion3 a peasant said this2 a woman said that2 he has never anybody in his mouth but carters1 joiners1 cobblers1 and masons2 his are inductions and similitudes drawn from the most common and known actions of men2 every one understands him4 ,we should never have recognised the nobility and splendour of his admirable conceptions under so mean a form2 we1 who think all things low and flat that are not elevated1 by learned doctrine1 and who discern no riches but in pomp and show4 ,this world of ours is only formed for ostentation3 men are only puffed up with wind1 and are bandied to and fro like tennis-balls4 ,he proposed to himself no vain and idle fancies2 his design was to furnish us with precepts and things that more really and fitly serve to the use of life2 ,servare modum1 finemque tenere1 ,naturamque sequi4 ,to keep a just mean1 to observe a just limit1 and to follow ,nature4--,lucan1 ii4 #cha4 ,he was also always one and the same1 and raised himself1 not by starts but by complexion1 to the highest pitch of vigour2 or1 to say better1 mounted not at all1 but rather brought down1 reduced1 and subjected all asperities and difficulties to his original and natural condition2 for in ,cato 'tis most manifest that 'tis a procedure extended far beyond the common ways of men3 in the brave exploits of his life1 and in his death1 we find him always mounted upon the great horse2 whereas the other ever creeps upon the ground1 and with a gentle and ordinary pace1 treats of the most useful matters1 and bears himself1 both at his death and in the rudest difficulties that could present themselves1 in the ordinary way of human life4 ,it has fallen out well that the man most worthy to be known and to be presented to the world for example should be he of whom we have the most certain knowledge2 he has been pried into by the most clear-sighted men that ever were2 the testimonies we have of him are admirable both in fidelity and fulness4 ',tis a great thing that he was able so to order the pure imaginations of a child1 that1 without altering or wresting them1 he thereby produced the most beautiful effects of our soul3 he presents it neither elevated nor rich2 he only represents it sound1 but assuredly with a brisk and full health4 ,by these common and natural springs1 by these ordinary and popular fancies1 without being moved or put out1 he set up not only the most regular1 but the most high and vigorous beliefs1 actions1 and manners that ever were4 ',tis he who brought again from heaven1 where she lost her time1 human wisdom1 to restore her to man with whom her most just and greatest business lies4 ,see him plead before his judges2 observe by what reasons he rouses his courage to the hazards of war2 with what arguments he fortifies his patience against calumny1 tyranny1 death1 and the perverseness of his wife3 you will find nothing in all this borrowed from arts and sciences3 the simplest may there discover their own means and strength2 'tis not possible more to retire or to creep more low4 ,he has done human nature a great kindness in showing it how much it can do of itself4 ,we are all of us richer than we think we are2 but we are taught to borrow and to beg1 and brought up more to make use of what is another's than of our own4 ,man can in nothing fix himself to his actual necessity3 of pleasure1 wealth1 and power1 he grasps at more than he can hold2 his greediness is incapable of moderation4 ,and ,i find that in curiosity of knowing he is the same2 he cuts himself out more work than he can do1 and more than he needs to do3 extending the utility of knowledge to the full of its matter3 ,ut omnium rerum1 sic litterarum quoque1 intemperantia laboramus4 ,we carry intemperance into the study of literature1 as well as into everything else4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ajf4 ,and ,tacitus had reason to commend the mother of ,agricola for having restrained her son in his too violent appetite for learning4 ,tis a good1 if duly considered1 which has in it1 as the other goods of men have1 a great deal of vanity and weakness1 proper and natural to itself1 and that costs very dear4 ,its acquisition is far more hazardous than that of all other meat or drink2 for1 as to other things1 what we have bought we carry home in some vessel1 and there have full leisure to examine our purchase1 how much we shall eat or drink of it1 and when3 but sciences we can1 at the very first1 stow into no other vessel than the soul2 we swallow them in buying1 and return from the market1 either already infected or amended3 there are some that only burden and overcharge the stomach1 instead of nourishing2 and1 moreover1 some that1 under colour of curing1 poison us4 ,i have been pleased1 in places where ,i have been1 to see men in devotion vow ignorance as well as chastity1 poverty1 and penitence3 'tis also a gelding of our unruly appetites1 to blunt this cupidity that spurs us on to the study of books1 and to deprive the soul of this voluptuous complacency that tickles us with the opinion of knowledge3 and 'tis plenarily to accomplish the vow of poverty1 to add unto it that of the mind4 ,we need little doctrine to live at our ease2 and ,socrates teaches us that this is in us1 and the way how to find it1 and the manner how to use it3 ,all our sufficiency which exceeds the natural is well-nigh superfluous and vain3 'tis much if it does not rather burden and cumber us than do us good3 ,paucis opus est literis ad mentem bonam3 ,little learning is needed to form a sound mind4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #ajf4 'tis a feverish excess of the mind2 a tempestuous and unquiet instrument4 ,do but recollect yourself1 and you will find in yourself natural arguments against death1 true1 and the fittest to serve you in time of necessity3 'tis they that make a peasant1 and whole nations1 die with as much firmness as a philosopher4 ,should ,i have died less cheerfully before ,i had read ,cicero's ,tusculan ,quastiones8 ,i believe not2 and when ,i find myself at the best1 ,i perceive that my tongue is enriched indeed1 but my courage little or nothing elevated by them2 that is just as nature framed it at first1 and defends itself against the conflict only after a natural and ordinary way4 ,books have not so much served me for instruction as exercise4 ,what if knowledge1 trying to arm us with new defences against natural inconveniences1 has more imprinted in our fancies their weight and greatness1 than her reasons and subtleties to secure us from them8 ,they are subtleties1 indeed1 with which she often alarms us to little purpose4 ,do but observe how many slight and frivolous1 and1 if nearly examined1 incorporeal arguments1 the closest and wisest authors scatter about one good one3 they are but verbal quirks and fallacies to amuse and gull us3 but forasmuch as it may be with some profit1 ,i will sift them no further2 many of that sort are here and there dispersed up and down this book1 either borrowed or by imitation4 ,therefore one ought to take a little heed not to call that force which is only a pretty knack of writing1 and that solid which is only sharp1 or that good which is only fine3 ,quae magis gustata quam potata1 delectant1 ,which more delight in the tasting than in being drunk4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 v4 #e4 everything that pleases does not nourish3 ,ubi non ingenii1 sed animi negotium agitur4 ,where the question is not about the wit1 but about the soul4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #ge4 ,to see the trouble that ,seneca gives himself to fortify himself against death2 to see him so sweat and pant to harden and encourage himself1 and bustle so long upon this perch1 would have lessened his reputation with me1 had he not very bravely held himself at the last4 ,his so ardent and frequent agitations discover that he was in himself impetuous and passionate1 ,magnus animus remissius loquitur1 et securius 4 4 4 non est alius ingenio1 alius ammo color2 ,a great courage speaks more calmly and more securely4 ,there is not one complexion for the wit and another for the mind4 --,seneca1 ,ep4 #aad1 #aae he must be convinced at his own expense2 and he in some sort discovers that he was hard pressed by his enemy4 ,plutarch's way1 by how much it is more disdainful and farther stretched1 is1 in my opinion1 so much more manly and persuasive3 and ,i am apt to believe that his soul had more assured and more regular motions4 ,the one more sharp1 pricks and makes us start1 and more touches the soul2 the other more constantly solid1 forms1 establishes1 and supports us1 and more touches the understanding4 ,that ravishes the judgment1 this wins it4 ,i have likewise seen other writings1 yet more reverenced than these1 that in the representation of the conflict they maintain against the temptations of the flesh1 paint them1 so sharp1 so powerful and invincible1 that we ourselves1 who are of the common herd1 are as much to wonder at the strangeness and unknown force of their temptation1 as at the resisting it4 ,to what end do we so arm ourselves with this harness of science8 ,let us look down upon the poor people that we see scattered upon the face of the earth1 prone and intent upon their business1 that neither know ,aristotle nor ,cato1 example nor precept2 from these nature every day extracts effects of constancy and patience1 more pure and manly than those we so inquisitively study in the schools3 how many do ,i ordinarily see who slight poverty8 how many who desire to die1 or who die without alarm or regret8 ,he who is now digging in my garden1 has this morning buried his father or his son4 ,the very names by which they call diseases sweeten and mollify the sharpness of them3 the phthisic is with them no more than a cough1 dysentery but a looseness1 the pleurisy but a stitch2 and1 as they gently name them1 so they patiently endure them2 they are very great and grievous indeed when they hinder their ordinary labour2 they never keep their beds but to die3 ,simplex illa et aperta virtus in obscuram et solertem scientiam versa est4 ,that overt and simple virtue is converted into an obscure and subtle science4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ie4 ,i was writing this about the time when a great load of our intestine troubles for several months lay with all its weight upon me2 ,i had the enemy at my door on one side1 and the freebooters1 worse enemies1 on the other1 ,non armis1 sed vitiis1 certatur2 ,the fight is not with arms1 but with vices4--,seneca1 ,ep4 #ie4 and underwent all sorts of military injuries at once3 ,hostis adest dextra laevaque a parte timendus4 ,vicinoque malo terret utrumque latus4 ,right and left a formidable enemy is to be feared1 and threatens me on both sides with impending danger4--,ovid1 ,de ,ponto1 i4 #c1 #eg4 ,a monstrous war6 ,other wars are bent against strangers1 this against itself1 destroying itself with its own poison4 ,it is of so malignant and ruinous a nature1 that it ruins itself with the rest2 and with its own rage mangles and tears itself to pieces4 ,we more often see it dissolve of itself than through scarcity of any necessary thing or by force of the enemy4 ,all discipline evades it2 it comes to compose sedition1 and is itself full of it2 would chastise disobedience1 and itself is the example2 and1 employed for the defence of the laws1 rebels against its own4 ,what a condition are we in6 ,our physic makes us sick6 ,nostre mal s'empoisonne ,du secours qu'on luy donne4 ,exuperat magis1 aegrescitque medendo4 ,our disease is poisoned with its very remedies--,a,enead1 xii4 #df4 ,omnia fanda1 nefanda1 malo permista furore1 ,justificam nobis mentem avertere deorum4 ,right and wrong1 all shuffled together in this wicked fury1 have deprived us of the gods' protection4 --,catullus1 ,de ,nuptiis ,pelei et ,thetidos1 ,v4 #dje4 ,in the beginning of these popular maladies1 one may distinguish the sound from the sick2 but when they come to continue1 as ours have done1 the whole body is then infected from head to foot2 no part is free from corruption1 for there is no air that men so greedily draw in that diffuses itself so soon and that penetrates so deep as that of licence4 ,our armies only subsist and are kept together by the cement of foreigners2 for of ,frenchmen there is now no constant and regular army to be made4 ,what a shame it is6 there is no longer any discipline but what we see in the mercenary soldiers4 ,as to ourselves1 our conduct is at discretion1 and that not of the chief1 but every one at his own4 ,the general has a harder game to play within than he has without2 he it is who has to follow1 to court the soldiers1 to give way to them2 he alone has to obey3 all the rest if disolution and free licence4 ,it pleases me to observe how much pusillanimity and cowardice there is in ambition2 by how abject and servile ways it must arrive at its end2 but it displeases me to see good and generous natures1 and that are capable of justice1 every day corrupted in the management and command of this confusion4 ,long toleration begets habit2 habit1 consent and imitation4 ,we had ill-formed souls enough1 without spoiling those that were generous and good2 so that1 if we hold on1 there will scarcely remain any with whom to intrust the health of this ,state of ours1 in case fortune chance to restore it3 ,hunc saltem everso juvenem succurrere seclo1 ,ne prohibete4 ,forbid not1 at least1 that this young man repair this ruined age4 --,virgil1 ,georg41 i4 #ejj4 ,montaigne probably refers to ,henry1 king of ,navarre1 afterwards ,henry ,,iv4 ,what has become of the old precept1 ,that soldiers ought more to fear their chief than the enemy8--,valerius ,maximus1 ,ext4 #b4--;and of that wonderful example1 that an orchard being enclosed within the precincts of a camp of the ,roman army1 was seen at their dislodgment the next day in the same condition1 not an apple1 though ripe and delicious1 being pulled off1 but all left to the possessor8 ,i could wish that our youth1 instead of the time they spend in less fruitful travels and less honourable employments1 would bestow one half of that time in being an eye-witness of naval exploits1 under some good captain of ,rhodes1 and the other half in observing the discipline of the ,turkish armies2 for they have many differences and advantages over ours2 one of these is1 that our soldiers become more licentious in expeditions1 theirs more temperate and circumspect2 for the thefts and insolencies committed upon the common people1 which are only punished with a cudgel in peace1 are capital in war2 for an egg taken by a ,turkish soldier without paying for it1 fifty blows with a stick is the fixed rate2 for anything else1 of what sort or how trivial soever1 not necessary to nourishment1 they are presently impaled or beheaded without mercy4 ,i am astonished1 in the history of ,selim1 the most cruel conqueror that ever was1 to see that when he subdued ,egypt1 the beautiful gardens about ,damascus being all open1 and in a conquered land1 and his army encamped upon the very place1 should be left untouched by the hands of the soldiers1 by reason they had not received the signal of pillage4 ,but is there any disease in a government that it is worth while to physic with such a mortal drug8--i4e4 as civil war4--,no1 said ,favonius1 not even the tyrannical usurpation of a ,commonwealth4 ,plato1 likewise1 will not consent that a man should violate the peace of his country in order to cure it1 and by no means approves of a reformation that disturbs and hazards all1 and that is to be purchased at the price of the citizens' blood and ruin2 determining it to be the duty of a good patriot in such a case to let it alone1 and only to pray to ,god for his extraordinary assistance3 and he seems to be angry with his great friend ,dion1 for having proceeded somewhat after another manner4 ,i was a ,platonist in this point before ,i knew there had ever been such a man as ,plato in the world4 ,and if this person ought absolutely to be rejected from our society 7he who by the sincerity of his conscience merited from the divine favour to penetrate so far into the ,christian light1 through the universal darkness wherein the world was involved in his time71 ,i do not think it becomes us to suffer ourselves to be instructed by a heathen1 how great an impiety it is not to expect from ,god any relief simply his own and without our co-operation4 ,i often doubt1 whether amongst so many men as meddle in such affairs1 there is not to be found some one of so weak understanding as to have been really persuaded that he went towards reformation by the worst of deformations2 and advanced towards salvation by the most express causes that we have of most assured damnation2 that by overthrowing government1 the magistracy1 and the laws1 in whose protection ,god has placed him1 by dismembering his good mother1 and giving her limbs to be mangled by her old enemies1 filling fraternal hearts with parricidal hatreds1 calling devils and furies to his aid1 he can assist the most holy sweetness and justice of the divine law4 ,ambition1 avarice1 cruelty1 and revenge have not sufficient natural impetuosity of their own2 let us bait them with the glorious titles of justice and devotion4 ,there cannot a worse state of things be imagined than where wickedness comes to be legitimate1 and assumes1 with the magistrates' permission1 the cloak of virtue3 ,nihil in speciem fallacius1 quam prava religio1 ubi deorum numen prxtenditur sceleribus4 ,nothing has a more deceiving face than false religion1 where the divinity of the gods is obscured by crimes4--,livy1 xxxix4 #af4 ,the extremest sort of injustice1 according to ,plato1 is where that which is unjust should be reputed for just4 ,the common people then suffered very much1 and not present damage only3 ,undique totis ,usque adeo turbatur agris1 ,such great disorders overtake our fields on every side4 --,virgil1 ,eclog41 i4 ,,ii4 but future too2 the living were to suffer1 and so were they who were yet unborn2 they stript them1 and consequently myself1 even of hope1 taking from them all they had laid up in store to live on for many years3 ,quae nequeunt secum ferre aut abducere1 perdunt2 ,et cremat insontes turba scelesta casas 4 4 4 ,muris nulla fides1 squalent populatibus agri4 ,what they cannot bear away1 they spoil2 and the wicked mob burn harmless houses2 walls cannot secure their masters1 and the fields are squalid with devastation4 --,ovid1 ,trist41 iii4 #aj1 #ce2 ,claudianus1 ,in ,eutyop41 i4 #bdd4 ,besides this shock1 ,i suffered others3 ,i underwent the inconveniences that moderation brings along with it in such a disease3 ,i was robbed on all hands2 to the ,ghibelline ,i was a ,guelph1 and to the ,guelph a ,ghibelline2 one of my poets expresses this very well1 but ,i know not where it is4 ,so ,tories called me ,whig1 and ,whigs a ,tory4--,pope1 after ,horace4 ,the situation of my house1 and my friendliness with my neighbours1 presented me with one face2 my life and my actions with another4 ,they did not lay formal accusations to my charge1 for they had no foundation for so doing2 ,i never hide my head from the laws1 and whoever would have questioned me1 would have done himself a greater prejudice than me2 they were only mute suspicions that were whispered about1 which never want appearance in so confused a mixture1 no more than envious or idle heads4 ,i commonly myself lend a hand to injurious presumptions that fortune scatters abroad against me1 by a way ,i have ever had of evading to justify1 excuse1 or explain myself2 conceiving that it were to compromise my conscience to plead in its behalf3 ,perspicuitas enim argumentatione elevatur2 ,for perspicuity is lessened by argument4 7,the clearness of a cause is clouded by argumentation47 --,cicero1 ,de ,nat4 ,deor41 iii4 #d4 and1 as if every one saw as clearly into me as ,i do myself1 instead of retiring from an accusation1 ,i step up to meet it1 and rather give it some kind of colour by an ironical and scoffing confession1 if ,i do not sit totally mute1 as of a thing not worth my answer4 ,but such as look upon this kind of behaviour of mine as too haughty a confidence1 have as little kindness for me as they who interpret the weakness of an indefensible cause2 namely1 the great folks1 towards whom want of submission is the great fault1 harsh towards all justice that knows and feels itself1 and is not submissive humble1 and suppliant2 ,i have often knocked my head against this pillar4 ,so it is that at what then befell me1 an ambitious man would have hanged himself1 and a covetous man would have done the same4 ,i have no manner of care of getting2 ,si mihi1 quod nunc est1 etiam minus2 et mihi vivam ,quod superest aevi1 si quid superesse volent dii3 ,if ,i may have what ,i now own1 or even less1 and may live for myself what of life remains1 if the gods grant me remaining years4 --,horace1 ,ep41 i4 #ah1 #ajg4 but the losses that befall me by the injury of others1 whether by theft or violence1 go almost as near my heart as they would to that of the most avaricious man4 ,the offence troubles me1 without comparison1 more than the loss4 ,a thousand several sorts of mischiefs fell upon me in the neck of one another2 ,i could more cheerfully have borne them all at once4 ,i was already considering to whom1 amongst my friends1 ,i might commit a necessitous and discredited old age2 and having turned my eyes quite round1 ,i found myself bare4 ,to let one's self fall plump down1 and from so great a height1 it ought to be in the arms of a solid1 vigorous1 and fortunate friendship3 these are very rare1 if there be any4 ,at last1 ,i saw that it was safest for me to trust to myself in my necessity2 and if it should so fall out1 that ,i should be but upon cold terms in ,fortune's favour1 ,i should so much the more pressingly recommend me to my own1 and attach myself and look to myself all the more closely4 ,men on all occasions throw themselves upon foreign assistance to spare their own1 which is alone certain and sufficient to him who knows how therewith to arm himself4 ,every one runs elsewhere1 and to the future1 forasmuch as no one is arrived at himself4 ,and ,i was satisfied that they were profitable inconveniences2 forasmuch as1 first1 ill scholars are to be admonished with the rod1 when reason will not do1 as a crooked piece of wood is by fire and straining reduced to straightness4 ,i have a great while preached to myself to stick close to my own concerns1 and separate myself from the affairs of others2 yet ,i am still turning my eyes aside4 ,a bow1 a favourable word1 a kind look from a great person tempts me2 of which ,god knows if there is scarcity in these days1 and what they signify4 ,i1 moreover1 without wrinkling my forehead1 hearken to the persuasions offered me1 to draw me into the marketplace1 and so gently refuse1 as if ,i were half willing to be overcome4 ,now for so indocile a spirit blows are required2 this vessel which thus chops and cleaves1 and is ready to fall one piece from another1 must have the hoops forced down with good sound strokes of a mallet4 ,secondly1 that this accident served me for exercise to prepare me for worse1 if ,i1 who both by the benefit of fortune1 and by the condition of my manners1 hoped to be among the last1 should happen to be one of the first assailed by this storm2 instructing myself betimes to constrain my life1 and fit it for a new state4 ,the true liberty is to be able to do what a man will with himself3 ,potentissimus est1 qui se habet in potestate4 ,he is most potent who is master of himself4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #id4 ,in an ordinary and quiet time1 a man prepares himself for moderate and common accidents2 but in the confusion wherein we have been for these thirty years1 every ,frenchman1 whether personal or in general1 sees himself every hour upon the point of the total ruin and overthrow of his fortune3 by so much the more ought he to have his courage supplied with the strongest and most vigorous provisions4 ,let us thank fortune1 that has not made us live in an effeminate1 idle1 and languishing age2 some who could never have been so by other means will be made famous by their misfortunes4 ,as ,i seldom read in histories the confusions of other states without regret that ,i was not present1 the better to consider them1 so does my curiosity make me in some sort please myself in seeing with my own eyes this notable spectacle of our public death1 its form and symptoms2 and since ,i cannot hinder it1 ,i am content to have been destined to be present therein1 and thereby to instruct myself4 ,so do we eagerly covet to see1 though but in shadow and the fables of theatres1 the pomp of tragic representations of human fortune2 'tis not without compassion at what we hear1 but we please ourselves in rousing our displeasure1 by the rarity of these pitiable events4 ,nothing tickles that does not pinch4 ,and good historians skip over1 as stagnant water and dead sea1 calm narrations1 to return to seditions1 to wars1 to which they know that we invite them4 ,i question whether ,i can decently confess with how small a sacrifice of its repose and tranquillity ,i have passed over above the one half of my life amid the ruin of my country4 ,i lend myself my patience somewhat too cheap1 in accidents that do not privately assail me2 and do not so much regard what they take from me1 as what remains safe1 both within and without4 ,there is comfort in evading1 one while this1 another while that1 of the evils that are levelled at ourselves too1 at last1 but at present hurt others only about us2 as also1 that in matters of public interest1 the more universally my affection is dispersed1 the weaker it is3 to which may be added1 that it is half true3 ,tantum ex publicis malis sentimus1 quantum ad privatas res pertinet2 ,we are only so far sensible of public evils as they respect our private affairs4--,livy1 xxx4 #dd4 and that the health from which we fell was so ill1 that itself relieves the regret we should have for it4 ,it was health1 but only in comparison with the sickness that has succeeded it3 we are not fallen from any great height2 the corruption and brigandage which are in dignity and office seem to me the least supportable3 we are less injuriously rifled in a wood than in a place of security4 ,it was an universal juncture of particular members1 each corrupted by emulation of the others1 and most of them with old ulcers1 that neither received nor required any cure4 ,this convulsion1 therefore1 really more animated than pressed me1 by the assistance of my conscience1 which was not only at peace within itself1 but elevated1 and ,i did not find any reason to complain of myself4 ,also1 as ,god never sends evils1 any more than goods1 absolutely pure to men1 my health continued at that time more than usually good2 and1 as ,i can do nothing without it1 there are few things that ,i cannot do with it4 ,it afforded me means to rouse up all my faculties1 and to lay my hand before the wound that would else1 peradventure1 have gone farther2 and ,i experienced1 in my patience1 that ,i had some stand against fortune1 and that it must be a great shock could throw me out of the saddle4 ,i do not say this to provoke her to give me a more vigorous charge3 ,i am her humble servant1 and submit to her pleasure3 let her be content1 in ,god's name4 ,am ,i sensible of her assaults8 ,yes1 ,i am4 ,but1 as those who are possessed and oppressed with sorrow sometimes suffer themselves1 nevertheless1 by intervals to taste a little pleasure1 and are sometimes surprised with a smile1 so have ,i so much power over myself1 as to make my ordinary condition quiet and free from disturbing thoughts2 yet ,i suffer myself1 withal1 by fits to be surprised with the stings of those unpleasing imaginations that assault me1 whilst ,i am arming myself to drive them away1 or at least to wrestle with them4 ,but behold another aggravation of the evil which befell me in the tail of the rest3 both without doors and within ,i was assailed with a most violent plague1 violent in comparison of all others2 for as sound bodies are subject to more grievous maladies1 forasmuch as they1 are not to be forced but by such1 so my very healthful air1 where no contagion1 however near1 in the memory of man1 ever took footing1 coming to be corrupted1 produced strange effects3 ,mista senum et juvenum densentur funera2 nullum ,saeva caput ,proserpina fugit2 ,old and young die in mixed heaps4 ,cruel ,proserpine forbears none4--,horace1 ,od41 i4 #bh1 #ai4 ,i had to suffer this pleasant condition1 that the sight of my house1 was frightful to me2 whatever ,i had there was without guard1 and left to the mercy of any one who wished to take it4 ,i myself1 who am so hospitable1 was in very great distress for a retreat for my family2 a distracted family1 frightful both to its friends and itself1 and filling every place with horror where it attempted to settle1 having to shift its abode so soon as any one's finger began but to ache2 all diseases are then concluded to be the plague1 and people do not stay to examine whether they are so or no4 ,and the mischief on't is that1 according to the rules of art1 in every danger that a man comes near1 he must undergo a quarantine in fear of the evil1 your imagination all the while tormenting you at pleasure1 and turning even your health itself into a fever4 ,yet all this would have much less affected me had ,i not withal been compelled to be sensible of the sufferings of others1 and miserably to serve six months together for a guide to this caravan2 for ,i carry my own antidotes within myself1 which are resolution and patience4 ,apprehension1 which is particularly feared in this disease1 does not much trouble me2 and1 if being alone1 ,i should have been taken1 it had been a less cheerless and more remote departure2 'tis a kind of death that ,i do not think of the worst sort2 'tis commonly short1 stupid1 without pain1 and consoled by the public condition2 without ceremony1 without mourning1 without a crowd4 ,but as to the people about us1 the hundredth part of them could not be saved3 ,videas desertaque regna ,pastorum1 et longe saltus lateque vacantes4 ,you would see shepherds' haunts deserted1 and far and wide empty pastures4--,virgil1 ,georg41 iii4 #dgf4 ,in this place my largest revenue is manual3 what an hundred men ploughed for me1 lay a long time fallow4 ,but then1 what example of resolution did we not see in the simplicity of all this people8 ,generally1 every one renounced all care of life2 the grapes1 the principal wealth of the country1 remained untouched upon the vines2 every man indifferently prepared for and expected death1 either to-night or to-morrow1 with a countenance and voice so far from fear1 as if they had come to terms with this necessity1 and that it was an universal and inevitable sentence4 ',tis always such2 but how slender hold has the resolution of dying8 ,the distance and difference of a few hours1 the sole consideration of company1 renders its apprehension various to us4 ,observe these people2 by reason that they die in the same month1 children1 young people1 and old1 they are no longer astonished at it2 they no longer lament4 ,i saw some who were afraid of staying behind1 as in a dreadful solitude2 and ,i did not commonly observe any other solicitude amongst them than that of sepulture2 they were troubled to see the dead bodies scattered about the fields1 at the mercy of the wild beasts that presently flocked thither4 ,how differing are the fancies of men2 the ,neorites1 a nation subjected by ,alexander1 threw the bodies of their dead into the deepest and less frequented part of their woods1 on purpose to have them there eaten2 the only sepulture reputed happy amongst them4 ,some1 who were yet in health1 dug their own graves2 others laid themselves down in them whilst alive2 and a labourer of mine1 in dying1 with his hands and feet pulled the earth upon him4 ,was not this to nestle and settle himself to sleep at greater ease8 ,a bravery in some sort like that of the ,roman soldiers who1 after the battle of ,cannae1 were found with their heads thrust into holes in the earth1 which they had made1 and in suffocating themselves1 with their own hands pulled the earth about their ears4 ,in short1 a whole province was1 by the common usage1 at once brought to a course nothing inferior in undauntedness to the most studied and premeditated resolution4 ,most of the instructions of science to encourage us herein have in them more of show than of force1 and more of ornament than of effect4 ,we have abandoned ,nature1 and will teach her what to do2 teach her who so happily and so securely conducted us2 and in the meantime1 from the footsteps of her instruction1 and that little which1 by the benefit of ignorance1 remains of her image imprinted in the life of this rustic rout of unpolished men1 science is constrained every day to borrow patterns for her disciples of constancy1 tranquillity1 and innocence4 ,it is pretty to see that these persons1 full of so much fine knowledge1 have to imitate this foolish simplicity1 and this in the primary actions of virtue2 and that our wisdom must learn even from beasts the most profitable instructions in the greatest and most necessary concerns of our life2 as1 how we are to live and die1 manage our property1 love and bring up our children1 maintain justice3 a singular testimony of human infirmity2 and that this reason we so handle at our pleasure1 finding evermore some diversity and novelty1 leaves in us no apparent trace of nature4 ,men have done with nature as perfumers with oils2 they have sophisticated her with so many argumentations and far-fetched discourses1 that she is become variable and particular to each1 and has lost her proper1 constant1 and universal face2 so that we must seek testimony from beasts1 not subject to favour1 corruption1 or diversity of opinions4 ,it is1 indeed1 true that even these themselves do not always go exactly in the path of nature1 but wherein they swerve1 it is so little that you may always see the track2 as horses that are led make many bounds and curvets1 but 'tis always at the length of the halter1 and still follow him that leads them2 and as a young hawk takes its flight1 but still under the restraint of its tether3 ,exsilia1 torments1 bells1 morbos1 naufragia meditare 4 4 4 ut nullo sis malo tiro4 ,to meditate upon banishments1 tortures1 wars1 diseases1 and shipwrecks1 that thou mayest not be a novice in any disaster4 --,seneca1 ,ep41 #ia1 #ajg4 ,what good will this curiosity do us1 to anticipate all the inconveniences of human nature1 and to prepare ourselves with so much trouble against things which1 peradventure1 will never befall us8 ,parem passis tristitiam facit1 pati posse2 ,it troubles men as much that they may possibly suffer1 as if they really did suffer4--,idem1 ibid41 #gd4 not only the blow1 but the wind of the blow strikes us3 or1 like phrenetic people--for certainly it is a phrensy--to go immediately and whip yourself1 because it may so fall out that ,fortune may one day make you undergo it2 and to put on your furred gown at ,midsummer1 because you will stand in need of it at ,christmas6 ,throw yourselves1 say they1 into the experience of all the evils1 the most extreme evils that can possibly befall you1 and so be assured of them4 ,on the contrary1 the most easy and most natural way would be to banish even the thoughts of them2 they will not come soon enough2 their true being will not continue with us long enough2 our mind must lengthen and extend them2 we must incorporate them in us beforehand1 and there entertain them1 as if they would not otherwise sufficiently press upon our senses4 ,we shall find them heavy enough when they come1 says one of our masters1 of none of the tender sects1 but of the most severe2 in the meantime1 favour thyself2 believe what pleases thee best2 what good will it do thee to anticipate thy ill fortune1 to lose the present for fear of the future3 and to make thyself miserable now1 because thou art to be so in time8 ,these are his words4 ,science1 indeed1 does us one good office in instructing us exactly as to the dimensions of evils1 ,curis acuens mortalia corda6 ,probing mortal hearts with cares4--,virgil1 ,georg41 i4 #bc4 ',twere pity that any part of their greatness should escape our sense and knowledge4 ',tis certain that for the most part the preparation for death has administered more torment than the thing itself4 ,it was of old truly said1 and by a very judicious author3 ,minus afficit sensus fatigatio1 quam cogitatio4 ,suffering itself less afflicts the senses than the apprehension of suffering4--,quintilian1 ,inst4 ,orat41 i4 #ab4 ,the sentiment of present death sometimes1 of itself1 animates us with a prompt resolution not to avoid a thing that is utterly inevitable3 many gladiators have been seen in the olden time1 who1 after having fought timorously and ill1 have courageously entertained death1 offering their throats to the enemies' sword and bidding them despatch4 ,the sight of future death requires a courage that is slow1 and consequently hard to be got4 ,if you know not how to die1 never trouble yourself2 nature will1 at the time1 fully and sufficiently instruct you3 she will exactly do that business for you2 take you no care-- ,incertam frustra1 mortales1 funeris horam1 ,quaeritis et qua sit mors aditura via4444 ,poena minor certam subito perferre ruinam2 ,quod timeas1 gravius sustinuisse diu4 ,mortals1 in vain you seek to know the uncertain hour of death1 and by what channel it will come upon you4--,propertius1 ii4 #bg1 #a4 ',tis less painful to undergo sudden destruction2 'tis hard to bear that which you long fear4--,incert4 ,auct4 ,we trouble life by the care of death1 and death by the care of life3 the one torments1 the other frights us4 ,it is not against death that we prepare1 that is too momentary a thing2 a quarter of an hour's suffering1 without consequence and without damage1 does not deserve especial precepts3 to say the truth1 we prepare ourselves against the preparations of death4 ,philosophy ordains that we should always have death before our eyes1 to see and consider it before the time1 and then gives us rules and precautions to provide that this foresight and thought do us no harm2 just so do physicians1 who throw us into diseases1 to the end they may have whereon to employ their drugs and their art4 ,if we have not known how to live1 'tis injustice to teach us how to die1 and make the end difform from all the rest2 if we have known how to live firmly and quietly1 we shall know how to die so too4 ,they may boast as much as they please3 ,tota philosophorum vita commentatio mortis est2 ,the whole life of philosophers is the meditation of death4 --,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 ii4 #cj4 but ,i fancy that1 though it be the end1 it is not the aim of life2 'tis its end1 its extremity1 but not1 nevertheless1 its object2 it ought itself to be its own aim and design2 its true study is to order1 govern1 and suffer itself4 ,in the number of several other offices1 that the general and principal chapter of ,knowing how to live comprehends1 is this article of ,knowing how to die2 and1 did not our fears give it weight1 one of the lightest too4 ,to judge of them by utility and by the naked truth1 the lessons of simplicity are not much inferior to those which learning teaches us3 nay1 quite the contrary4 ,men differ in sentiment and force2 we must lead them to their own good according to their capacities and by various ways3 ,quo me comque rapit tempestas1 deferor hospes4 ,wherever the season takes me17where the tempest drives me7 there ,i am carried as a guest4--,horace1 ,ep41 i4 i1 #ae4 ,i never saw any peasant among my neighbours cogitate with what countenance and assurance he should pass over his last hour2 nature teaches him not to think of death till he is dying2 and then he does it with a better grace than ,aristotle1 upon whom death presses with a double weight1 both of itself and from so long a premeditation2 and1 therefore1 it was the opinion of ,caesar1 that the least premeditated death was the easiest and the most happy3 ,plus dolet quam necesse est1 qui ante dolet1 quam necesse est4 ,he grieves more than is necessary1 who grieves before it is necessary4--,seneca1 ,ep41 #ih4 ,the sharpness of this imagination springs from our curiosity3 'tis thus we ever impede ourselves1 desiring to anticipate and regulate natural prescripts4 ,it is only for the doctors to dine worse for it1 when in the best health1 and to frown at the image of death2 the common sort stand in need of no remedy or consolation1 but just in the shock1 and when the blow comes2 and consider on't no more than just what they endure4 ,is it not then1 as we say1 that the stolidity and want of apprehension in the vulgar give them that patience m present evils1 and that profound carelessness of future sinister accidents8 ,that their souls1 in being more gross and dull1 are less penetrable and not so easily moved8 ,if it be so1 let us henceforth1 in ,god's name1 teach nothing but ignorance2 'tis the utmost fruit the sciences promise us1 to which this stolidity so gently leads its disciples4 ,we have no want of good masters1 interpreters of natural simplicity4 ,socrates shall be one2 for1 as ,i remember1 he speaks something to this purpose to the judges who sat upon his life and death4 ,that which follows is taken from the ,apology of ,socrates in ,plato1 chap4 #ag1 c4 ,i am afraid1 my masters1 that if ,i entreat you not to put me to death1 ,i shall confirm the charge of my accusers1 which is1 that ,i pretend to be wiser than others1 as having some more secret knowledge of things that are above and below us4 ,i have neither frequented nor known death1 nor have ever seen any person that has tried its qualities1 from whom to inform myself4 ,such as fear it1 presuppose they know it2 as for my part1 ,i neither know what it is1 nor what they do in the other world4 ,death is1 peradventure1 an indifferent thing2 peradventure1 a thing to be desired4 ',tis nevertheless to be believed1 if it be a transmigration from one place to another1 that it is a bettering of one's condition to go and live with so many great persons deceased1 and to be exempt from having any more to do with unjust and corrupt judges2 if it be an annihilation of our being1 'tis yet a bettering of one's condition to enter into a long and peaceable night2 we find nothing more sweet in life than quiet repose and a profound sleep without dreams4 ,the things that ,i know to be evil1 as to injure one's neighbour and to disobey one's superior1 whether it be ,god or man1 ,i carefully avoid2 such as ,i do not know whether they be good or evil1 ,i cannot fear them4 ,if ,i am to die and leave you alive1 the gods alone only know whether it will go better with you or with me4 ,wherefore1 as to what concerns me1 you may do as you shall think fit4 ,but according to my method of advising just and profitable things1 ,i say that you will do your consciences more right to set me at liberty1 unless you see further into my cause than ,i do2 and1 judging according to my past actions1 both public and private1 according to my intentions1 and according to the profit that so many of our citizens1 both young and old1 daily extract from my conversation1 and the fruit that you all reap from me1 you cannot more duly acquit yourselves towards my merit than in ordering that1 my poverty considered1 ,i should be maintained at the ,prytanaeum1 at the public expense1 a thing that ,i have often known you1 with less reason1 grant to others4 ,do not impute it to obstinacy or disdain that ,i do not1 according to the custom1 supplicate and go about to move you to commiseration4 ,i have both friends and kindred1 not being1 as ,homer says1 begotten of wood or of stone1 no more than others1 who might well present themselves before you with tears and mourning1 and ,i have three desolate children with whom to move you to compassion2 but ,i should do a shame to our city at the age ,i am1 and in the reputation of wisdom which is now charged against me1 to appear in such an abject form4 ,what would men say of the other ,athenians8 ,i have always admonished those who have frequented my lectures1 not to redeem their lives by an unbecoming action2 and in the wars of my country1 at ,amphipolis1 ,potidea1 ,delia1 and other expeditions where ,i have been1 ,i have effectually manifested how far ,i was from securing my safety by my shame4 ,i should1 moreover1 compromise your duty1 and should invite you to unbecoming things2 for 'tis not for my prayers to persuade you1 but for the pure and solid reasons of justice4 ,you have sworn to the gods to keep yourselves upright2 and it would seem as if ,i suspected you1 or would recriminate upon you that ,i do not believe that you are so2 and ,i should testify against myself1 not to believe them as ,i ought1 mistrusting their conduct1 and not purely committing my affair into their hands4 ,i wholly rely upon them2 and hold myself assured they will do in this what shall be most fit both for you and for me3 good men1 whether living or dead1 have no reason to fear the gods4 ,is not this an innocent child's pleading of an unimaginable loftiness1 true1 frank1 and just1 unexampled8--and in what a necessity employed6 ,truly1 he had very good reason to prefer it before that which the great orator ,lysias had penned for him3 admirably couched1 indeed1 in the judiciary style1 but unworthy of so noble a criminal4 ,had a suppliant voice been heard out of the mouth of ,socrates1 that lofty virtue had struck sail in the height of its glory2 and ought his rich and powerful nature to have committed her defence to art1 and1 in her highest proof1 have renounced truth and simplicity1 the ornaments of his speaking1 to adorn and deck herself with the embellishments of figures and the flourishes of a premeditated speech8 ,he did very wisely1 and like himself1 not to corrupt the tenor of an incorrupt life1 and so sacred an image of the human form1 to spin out his decrepitude another year1 and to betray the immortal memory of that glorious end4 ,he owed his life not to himself1 but to the example of the world2 had it not been a public damage1 that he should have concluded it after a lazy and obscure manner8 ,assuredly1 that careless and indifferent consideration of his death deserved that posterity should consider it so much the more1 as indeed they did2 and there is nothing so just in justice than that which fortune ordained for his recommendation2 for the ,athenians abominated all those who had been causers of his death to such a degree1 that they avoided them as excommunicated persons1 and looked upon everything as polluted that had been touched by them2 no one would wash with them in the public baths1 none would salute or own acquaintance with them3 so that1 at last1 unable longer to support this public hatred1 they hanged themselves4 ,if any one shall think that1 amongst so many other examples that ,i had to choose out of in the sayings of ,socrates for my present purpose1 ,i have made an ill choice of this1 and shall judge this discourse of his elevated above common conceptions1 ,i must tell them that ,i have properly selected it2 for ,i am of another opinion1 and hold it to be a discourse1 in rank and simplicity1 much below and behind common conceptions4 ,he represents1 in an inartificial boldness and infantine security1 the pure and first impression and ignorance of nature2 for it is to be believed that we have naturally a fear of pain1 but not of death1 by reason of itself2 'tis a part of our being1 and no less essential than living4 ,to what end should nature have begotten in us a hatred to it and a horror of it1 considering that it is of so great utility to her in maintaining the succession and vicissitude of her works8 and that in this universal republic1 it conduces more to birth and augmentation than to loss or ruin8 ,sic rerum summa novatur4 ,mille animas una necata dedit4 ,the failing of one life is the passage to a thousand other lives4 ,nature has imprinted in beasts the care of themselves and of their conservation2 they proceed so far as hitting or hurting to be timorous of being worse1 of themselves1 of our haltering and beating them1 accidents subject to their sense and experience2 but that we should kill them1 they cannot fear1 nor have they the faculty to imagine and conclude such a thing as death2 it is said1 indeed1 that we see them not only cheerfully undergo it1 horses for the most part neighing and swans singing when they die1 but1 moreover1 seek it at need1 of which elephants have given many examples4 ,besides1 the method of arguing1 of which ,socrates here makes use1 is it not equally admirable both in simplicity and vehemence8 ,truly it is much more easy to speak like ,aristotle and to live like ,caesar than to speak and live as ,socrates did2 there lies the extreme degree of perfection and difficulty2 art cannot reach it4 ,now1 our faculties are not so trained up2 we do not try1 we do not know them2 we invest ourselves with those of others1 and let our own lie idle2 as some one may say of me1 that ,i have here only made a nosegay of foreign flowers1 having furnished nothing of my own but the thread to tie them4 ,certainly ,i have so far yielded to public opinion1 that those borrowed ornaments accompany me2 but ,i do not mean that they shall cover me and hide me2 that is quite contrary to my design1 who desire to make a show of nothing but what is my own1 and what is my own by nature2 and had ,i taken my own advice1 ,i had at all hazards spoken purely alone1 ,i more and more load myself every day1 ,in fact1 the first edition of the ,essays 7,bordeaux1 #aehj7 has very few quotations4 ,these became more numerous in the edition of #aehh2 but the multitude of classical texts which at times encumber ,montaigne's text1 only dates from the posthumous edition of #aeie1 he had made these collections in the four last years of his life1 as an amusement of his idleness4--,le ,clerc4 ,they grow1 however1 more sparing in the ,third ,book4 beyond my purpose and first method1 upon the account of idleness and the humour of the age4 ,if it misbecome me1 as ,i believe it does1 'tis no matter2 it may be of use to some others4 ,such there are who quote ,plato and ,homer1 who never saw either of them2 and ,i also have taken things out of places far enough distant from their source4 ,without pains and without learning1 having a thousand volumes about me in the place where ,i write1 ,i can presently borrow1 if ,i please1 from a dozen such scrap-gatherers1 people about whom ,i do not much trouble myself1 wherewith to trick up this treatise of ,physiognomy2 there needs no more but a preliminary epistle of a ,german to stuff me with quotations4 ,and so it is we go in quest of a tickling story to cheat the foolish world4 ,these lumber pies of commonplaces1 wherewith so many furnish their studies1 are of little use but to common subjects1 and serve but to show us1 and not to direct us3 a ridiculous fruit of learning1 that ,socrates so pleasantly discusses against ,euthydemus4 ,i have seen books made of things that were never either studied or understood2 the author committing to several of his learned friends the examination of this and t'other matter to compile it1 contenting himself1 for his share1 with having projected the design1 and by his industry to have tied together this faggot of unknown provisions2 the ink and paper1 at least1 are his4 ,this is to buy or borrow a book1 and not to make one2 'tis to show men not that he can make a book1 but that1 whereof they may be in doubt1 he cannot make one4 ,a president1 where ,i was1 boasted that he had amassed together two hundred and odd commonplaces in one of his judgments2 in telling which1 he deprived himself of the glory he had got by it3 in my opinion1 a pusillanimous and absurd vanity for such a subject and such a person4 ,i do the contrary2 and amongst so many borrowed things1 am glad if ,i can steal one1 disguising and altering it for some new service2 at the hazard of having it said that 'tis for want of understanding its natural use2 ,i give it some particular touch of my own hand1 to the end it may not be so absolutely foreign4 ,these set their thefts in show and value themselves upon them1 and so have more credit with the laws than ,i have3 we naturalists ,i think that there is a great and incomparable preference in the honour of invention over that of allegation4 ,if ,i would have spoken by learning1 ,i had spoken sooner2 ,i had written of the time nearer to my studies1 when ,i had more wit and better memory1 and should sooner have trusted to the vigour of that age than of this1 would ,i have made a business of writing4 ,and what if this gracious favour --,his acquaintance with ,mademoiselle de ,gournay4--which ,fortune has lately offered me upon the account of this work1 had befallen me in that time of my life1 instead of this1 wherein 'tis equally desirable to possess1 soon to be lost6 ,two of my acquaintance1 great men in this faculty1 have1 in my opinion1 lost half1 in refusing to publish at forty years old1 that they might stay till threescore4 ,maturity has its defects as well as green years1 and worse2 and old age is as unfit for this kind of business as any other4 ,he who commits his decrepitude to the press plays the fool if he think to squeeze anything out thence that does not relish of dreaming1 dotage1 and drivelling2 the mind grows costive and thick in growing old4 ,i deliver my ignorance in pomp and state1 and my learning meagrely and poorly2 this accidentally and accessorily1 that principally and expressly2 and write specifically of nothing but nothing1 nor of any science but of that inscience4 ,i have chosen a time when my life1 which ,i am to give an account of1 lies wholly before me2 what remains has more to do with death2 and of my death itself1 should ,i find it a prating death1 as others do1 ,i would willingly give an account at my departure4 ,socrates was a perfect exemplar in all great qualities1 and ,i am vexed that he had so deformed a face and body as is said1 and so unsuitable to the beauty of his soul1 himself being so amorous and such an admirer of beauty3 ,nature did him wrong4 ,there is nothing more probable than the conformity and relation of the body to the soul3 ,ipsi animi magni refert1 quali in corpore locati sint3 multo enim a corpore existunt1 qux acuant mentem3 multa qua obtundant2 ,it is of great consequence in what bodies minds are placed1 for many things spring from the body that may sharpen the mind1 and many that may blunt it4--,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quaes41 i4 #cc4 this refers to an unnatural ugliness and deformity of limbs2 but we call ugliness also an unseemliness at first sight1 which is principally lodged in the face1 and disgusts us on very slight grounds3 by the complexion1 a spot1 a rugged countenance1 for some reasons often wholly inexplicable1 in members nevertheless of good symmetry and perfect4 ,the deformity1 that clothed a very beautiful soul in ,la ,boetie1 was of this predicament3 that superficial ugliness1 which nevertheless is always the most imperious1 is of least prejudice to the state of the mind1 and of little certainty in the opinion of men4 ,the other1 which is never properly called deformity1 being more substantial1 strikes deeper in4 ,not every shoe of smooth shining leather1 but every shoe well-made1 shews the shape of the foot within4 ,as ,socrates said of his1 it betrayed equal ugliness in his soul1 had he not corrected it by education2 but in saying so1 ,i hold he was in jest1 as his custom was2 never so excellent a soul formed itself4 ,i cannot often enough repeat how great an esteem ,i have for beauty1 that potent and advantageous quality2 he 7,la ,boetie7 called it a short tyranny1 and ,plato1 the privilege of nature4 ,we have nothing that excels it in reputation2 it has the first place in the commerce of men2 it presents itself in the front2 seduces and prepossesses our judgments with great authority and wonderful impression4 ,phryne had lost her cause in the hands of an excellent advocate1 if1 opening her robe1 she had not corrupted her judges by the lustre of her beauty4 ,and ,i find that ,cyrus1 ,alexander1 and ,caesar1 the three masters of the world1 never neglected beauty in their greatest affairs2 no more did the first ,scipio4 ,the same word in ,greek signifies both fair and good2 and the ,holy ,word often says good when it means fair3 ,i should willingly maintain the priority in good things1 according to the song that ,plato calls an idle thing1 taken out of some ancient poet3 health1 beauty1 riches4 ,aristotle says that the right of command appertains to the beautiful2 and that1 when there is a person whose beauty comes near the images of the gods1 veneration is equally due to him4 ,to him who asked why people oftener and longer frequent the company of handsome persons3 ,that question1 said he1 is only to be asked by the blind4 ,most of the philosophers1 and the greatest1 paid for their schooling1 and acquired wisdom by the favour and mediation of their beauty4 ,not only in the men that serve me1 but also in the beasts1 ,i consider it within two fingers' breadth of goodness4 ,and yet ,i fancy that those features and moulds of face1 and those lineaments1 by which men guess at our internal complexions and our fortunes to come1 is a thing that does not very directly and simply lie under the chapter of beauty and deformity1 no more than every good odour and serenity of air promises health1 nor all fog and stink infection in a time of pestilence4 ,such as accuse ladies of contradicting their beauty by their manners1 do not always hit right2 for1 in a face which is none of the best1 there may dwell some air of probity and trust2 as1 on the contrary1 ,i have read1 betwixt two beautiful eyes1 menaces of a dangerous and malignant nature4 ,there are favourable physiognomies1 so that in a crowd of victorious enemies1 you shall presently choose1 amongst men you never saw before1 one rather than another to whom to surrender1 and with whom to intrust your life2 and yet not properly upon the consideration of beauty4 ,a person's look is but a feeble warranty2 and yet it is something considerable too2 and if ,i had to lash them1 ,i would most severely scourge the wicked ones who belie and betray the promises that nature has planted in their foreheads2 ,i should with greater severity punish malice under a mild and gentle aspect4 ,it seems as if there were some lucky and some unlucky faces2 and ,i believe there is some art in distinguishing affable from merely simple faces1 severe from rugged1 malicious from pensive1 scornful from melancholic1 and such other bordering qualities4 ,there are beauties which are not only haughty1 but sour1 and others that are not only gentle1 but more than that1 insipid2 to prognosticate from them future events is a matter that ,i shall leave undecided4 ,i have1 as ,i have said elsewhere as to my own concern1 simply and implicitly embraced this ancient rule1 ,that we cannot fail in following ,nature1 and that the sovereign precept is to conform ourselves to her4 ,i have not1 as ,socrates did1 corrected my natural composition by the force of reason1 and have not in the least disturbed my inclination by art2 ,i have let myself go as ,i came3 ,i contend not2 my two principal parts live1 of their own accord1 in peace and good intelligence1 but my nurse's milk1 thank ,god1 was tolerably wholesome and good4 ,shall ,i say this by the way1 that ,i see in greater esteem than 'tis worth1 and in use solely among ourselves1 a certain image of scholastic probity1 a slave to precepts1 and fettered with hope and fear8 ,i would have it such as that laws and religions should not make1 but perfect and authorise it2 that finds it has wherewithal to support itself without help1 born and rooted in us from the seed of universal reason1 imprinted in every man by nature4 ,that reason which strengthens ,socrates from his vicious bend renders him obedient to the gods and men of authority in his city3 courageous in death1 not because his soul is immortal1 but because he is mortal4 ',tis a doctrine ruinous to all government1 and much more hurtful than ingenious and subtle1 which persuades the people that a religious belief is alone sufficient1 and without conduct1 to satisfy the divine justice4 ,use demonstrates to us a vast distinction betwixt devotion and conscience4 ,i have a favourable aspect1 both in form and in interpretation3 ,quid dixi1 habere me8 imo habui1 ,chreme4 ,what did ,i say8 that ,i have8 no1 ,chremes1 ,i had4 --,terence1 ,heaut41 act i41 sec4 #b1 v4 #db4 ,heu6 tantum attriti corporis ossa vides2 ,alas6 of a worn body thou seest only the bones and that makes a quite contrary show to that of ,socrates4 ,it has often befallen me1 that upon the mere credit of my presence and air1 persons who had no manner of knowledge of me have put a very great confidence in me1 whether in their own affairs or mine2 and ,i have in foreign parts thence obtained singular and rare favours4 ,but the two following examples are1 peradventure1 worth particular relation4 ,a certain person planned to surprise my house and me in it2 his scheme was to come to my gates alone1 and to be importunate to be let in4 ,i knew him by name1 and had fair reason to repose confidence in him1 as being my neighbour and something related to me4 ,i caused the gates to be opened to him1 as ,i do to every one4 ,there ,i found him1 with every appearance of alarm1 his horse panting and very tired4 ,he entertained me with this story3 ,that1 about half a league off1 he had met with a certain enemy of his1 whom ,i also knew1 and had heard of their quarrel2 that his enemy had given him a very brisk chase1 and that having been surprised in disorder1 and his party being too weak1 he had fled to my gates for refuge2 and that he was in great trouble for his followers1 whom 7he said7 he concluded to be all either dead or taken4 ,i innocently did my best to comfort1 assure1 and refresh him4 ,shortly after came four or five of his soldiers1 who presented themselves in the same countenance and affright1 to get in too2 and after them more1 and still more1 very well mounted and armed1 to the number of five-and-twenty or thirty1 pretending that they had the enemy at their heels4 ,this mystery began a little to awaken my suspicion2 ,i was not ignorant what an age ,i lived in1 how much my house might be envied1 and ,i had several examples of others of my acquaintance to whom a mishap of this sort had happened4 ,but thinking there was nothing to be got by having begun to do a courtesy1 unless ,i went through with it1 and that ,i could not disengage myself from them without spoiling all1 ,i let myself go the most natural and simple way1 as ,i always do1 and invited them all to come in4 ,and in truth ,i am naturally very little inclined to suspicion and distrust2 ,i willingly incline towards excuse and the gentlest interpretation2 ,i take men according to the common order1 and do not more believe in those perverse and unnatural inclinations1 unless convinced by manifest evidence1 than ,i do in monsters and miracles2 and ,i am1 moreover1 a man who willingly commit myself to ,fortune1 and throw myself headlong into her arms2 and ,i have hitherto found more reason to applaud than to blame myself for so doing1 having ever found her more discreet about1 and a greater friend to1 my affairs than ,i am myself4 ,there are some actions in my life whereof the conduct may justly be called difficult1 or1 if you please1 prudent2 of these1 supposing the third part to have been my own1 doubtless the other two-thirds were absolutely hers4 ,we make1 methinks1 a mistake in that we do not enough trust ,heaven with our affairs1 and pretend to more from our own conduct than appertains to us2 and therefore it is that our designs so often miscarry4 ,heaven is jealous of the extent that we attribute to the right of human prudence above its own1 and cuts it all the shorter by how much the more we amplify it4 ,the last comers remained on horseback in my courtyard1 whilst their leader1 who was with me in the parlour1 would not have his horse put up in the stable1 saying he should immediately retire1 so soon as he had news of his men4 ,he saw himself master of his enterprise1 and nothing now remained but its execution4 ,he has since several times said 7for he was not ashamed to tell the story himself7 that my countenance and frankness had snatched the treachery out of his hands4 ,he again mounted his horse2 his followers1 who had their eyes intent upon him1 to see when he would give the signal1 being very much astonished to find him come away and leave his prey behind him4 ,another time1 relying upon some truce just published in the army1 ,i took a journey through a very ticklish country4 ,i had not ridden far1 but ,i was discovered1 and two or three parties of horse1 from various places1 were sent out to seize me2 one of them overtook me on the third day1 and ,i was attacked by fifteen or twenty gentlemen in vizors1 followed at a distance by a band of foot-soldiers4 ,i was taken1 withdrawn into the thick of a neighbouring forest1 dismounted1 robbed1 my trunks rifled1 my money-box taken1 and my horses and equipage divided amongst new masters4 ,we had1 in this copse1 a very long contest about my ransom1 which they set so high1 that it was manifest that ,i was not known to them4 ,they were1 moreover1 in a very great debate about my life2 and1 in truth1 there were various circumstances that clearly showed the danger ,i was in3 ,tunc animis opus1 ,a,enea1 tunc pectore firmo4 ,then1 ,a,eneas1 there is need of courage1 of a firm heart4 --,a,eneid1 vi4 #bfa4 ,i still insisted upon the truce1 too willing they should have the gain of what they had already taken from me1 which was not to be despised1 without promise of any other ransom4 ,after two or three hours that we had been in this place1 and that they had mounted me upon a horse that was not likely to run from them1 and committed me to the guard of fifteen or twenty harquebusiers1 and dispersed my servants to others1 having given order that they should carry us away prisoners several ways1 and ,i being already got some two or three musket-shots from the place1 ,jam prece ,pollucis1 jam ,castoris1 implorata1 ,by a prayer addressed now to ,pollux1 now to ,castor4 --,catullus1 lxvi4 #fe4 behold a sudden and unexpected alteration2 ,i saw the chief return to me with gentler language1 making search amongst the troopers for my scattered property1 and causing as much as could be recovered to be restored to me1 even to my money-box2 but the best present they made was my liberty1 for the rest did not much concern me at that time4 ,the true cause of so sudden a change1 and of this reconsideration1 without any apparent impulse1 and of so miraculous a repentance1 in such a time1 in a planned and deliberate enterprise1 and become just by usage 7for1 at the first dash1 ,i plainly confessed to them of what party ,i was1 and whither ,i was going71 truly1 ,i do not yet rightly understand4 ,the most prominent amongst them1 who pulled off his vizor and told me his name1 repeatedly told me at the time1 over and over again1 that ,i owed my deliverance to my countenance1 and the liberty and boldness of my speech1 that rendered me unworthy of such a misadventure1 and should secure me from its repetition4 ',tis possible that the ,divine goodness willed to make use of this vain instrument for my preservation2 and it1 moreover1 defended me the next day from other and worse ambushes1 of which these my assailants had given me warning4 ,the last of these two gentlemen is yet living himself to tell the story2 the first was killed not long ago4 ,if my face did not answer for me1 if men did not read in my eyes and in my voice the innocence of intention1 ,i had not lived so long without quarrels and without giving offence1 seeing the indiscreet whatever comes into my head1 and to judge so rashly of things4 ,this way may1 with reason1 appear uncivil1 and ill adapted to our way of conversation2 but ,i have never met with any who judged it outrageous or malicious1 or that took offence at my liberty1 if he had it from my own mouth2 words repeated have another kind of sound and sense4 ,nor do ,i hate any person2 and ,i am so slow to offend1 that ,i cannot do it1 even upon the account of reason itself2 and when occasion has required me to sentence criminals1 ,i have rather chosen to fail in point of justice than to do it3 ,ut magis peccari nolim1 quam satis animi ad vindicanda peccata habeam4 ,so that ,i had rather men should not commit faults than that ,i should have sufficient courage to condemn them4---,livy1 xxxix4 #ba4 ,aristotle1 'tis said1 was reproached for having been too merciful to a wicked man3 ,i was indeed1 said he1 merciful to the man1 but not to his wickedness4 ,ordinary judgments exasperate themselves to punishment by the horror of the fact3 but it cools mine2 the horror of the first murder makes me fear a second2 and the deformity of the first cruelty makes me abhor all imitation of it4' ,that may be applied to me1 who am but a ,squire of ,clubs1 which was said of ,charillus1 king of ,sparta3 ,he cannot be good1 seeing he is not evil even to the wicked4 ,or thus--for ,plutarch delivers it both these ways1 as he does a thousand other things1 variously and contradictorily--,he must needs be good1 because he is so even to the wicked4 ,even as in lawful actions ,i dislike to employ myself when for such as are displeased at it2 so1 to say the truth1 in unlawful things ,i do not make conscience enough of employing myself when it is for such as are willing4 ,,etext ,,editor',s ,,bookmarks3 ,a man should abhor lawsuits as much as he may ,a person's look is but a feeble warranty ,accept all things we are not able to refute ,admiration is the foundation of all philosophy ,advantageous1 too1 a little to recede from one's right ,all ,i say is by way of discourse1 and nothing by way of advice ,apt to promise something less than what ,i am able to do ,as if anything were so common as ignorance ,authority of the number and antiquity of the witnesses ,best test of truth is the multitude of believers in a crowd ,books have not so much served me for instruction as exercise ,books of things that were never either studied or understood ,condemn the opposite affirmation equally ,courageous in death1 not because his soul is immortal--,socrates ,death conduces more to birth and augmentation than to loss ,decree that says1 ,the court understands nothing of the matter ,deformity of the first cruelty makes me abhor all imitation ,enters lightly into a quarrel is apt to go as lightly out of it ,establish this proposition by authority and huffing ,extend their anger and hatred beyond the dispute in question ,fabric goes forming and piling itself up from hand to hand ,fortune heaped up five or six such-like incidents ,hard to resolve a man's judgment against the common opinions ,haste trips up its own heels1 fetters1 and stops itself ,he cannot be good1 seeing he is not evil even to the wicked ,he who stops not the start will never be able to stop the course ,how many things1 said he1 ,i do not desire6 ,how much easier is it not to enter in than it is to get out ,i am a little tenderly distrustful of things that ,i wish ,i am no longer in condition for any great change ,i am not to be cuffed into belief ,i am plain and heavy1 and stick to the solid and the probable ,i do not judge opinions by years ,i ever justly feared to raise my head too high ,i would as willingly be lucky as wise ,if ,i stand in need of anger and inflammation1 ,i borrow it ,if they hear no noise1 they think men sleep ,impose them upon me as infallible ,inconveniences that moderation brings 7in civil war7 ,lend himself to others1 and only give himself to himself ,let not us seek illusions from without and unknown ,little learning is needed to form a sound mind4--,seneca ,long toleration begets habit2 habit1 consent and imitation ,men are not always to rely upon the personal confessions ,merciful to the man1 but not to his wickedness--,aristotle ,miracles and strange events have concealed themselves from me ,my humour is no friend to tumult ,nosegay of foreign flowers1 having furnished nothing of my own ,not believe from one1 ,i should not believe from a hundred ,nothing is so supple and erratic as our understanding ,number of fools so much exceeds the wise ,opinions we have are taken on authority and trust ,others adore all of their own side ,pitiful ways and expedients to the jugglers of the law ,prepare ourselves against the preparations of death ,profession of knowledge and their immeasurable self-conceit ,quiet repose and a profound sleep without dreams ,reasons often anticipate the effect ,refusin to justify1 excuse1 or explain myself ,remotest witness knows more about it than those who were nearest ,restoring what has been lent us1 wit usury and accession ,richer than we think we are2 but we are taught to borrow ,right of command appertains to the beautiful-,aristotle ,rude and quarrelsome flatly to deny a stated fact ,suffer my judgment to be made captive by prepossession ,swell and puff up their souls1 and their natural way of speaking ,taught to be afraid of professing our ignorance ,the last informed is better persuaded than the first ,the mind grows costive and thick in growing old ,the particular error first makes the public error ,their souls seek repose in agitation ,they gently name them1 so they patiently endure them 7diseases7 ,those oppressed with sorrow sometimes surprised by a smile ,threats of the day of judgment ,tis better to lean towards doubt than assurance--,augustine ,tis no matter2 it may be of use to some others ,to forbear doing is often as generous as to do ,to kill men1 a clear and strong light is required ,too contemptible to be punished ,true liberty is to be able to do what a man will with himself ,vast distinction betwixt devotion and conscience ,we have naturally a fear of pain1 but not of death ,what did ,i say8 that ,i have8 no1 ,chremes1 ,i had ,who discern no riches but in pomp and show ,whoever will be cured of ignorance must confess it ,would have every one in his party blind or a blockhead ,wrong the just side when they go about to assist it with fraud ,yet at least for ambition's sake1 let us reject ambition