Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum Quid brevi fortes jaculamur ævo Se quoque fugit ?-Hor. Providus certe et in posterum prospiciens mihi sit qui, collectis sarcinis suis et ex hac vitâ tanquam hospitio migrare paratus, crastinum securus expectat: quem si Deus concedat, in bonum secum deputat. Maxime vituperanda est Avaritia senectuti. Quid enim absurdius quam, quo minus viæ restat, eo plus Viatici quærere?—Cicero. Non fidem habere in incerto Divitiarum, sed in Deo vivo qui præstat nobis abundantur temporalia et æterna; sed magis ad fruendum æterna, ad utendum temporalia. Temporalia, tanquam viatoribus; æterna, tanquam habitatoribus. He that will do all that is lawful, will soon be drawn to that which is unlawful.-Clemens Alex: Ais, Quid injustum est, si cum aliena non invadam, propria diligentitas servem? O impu dens dictum! Propria dicis? Quæ ? Ex quibus reconditis in hunc mundum detulisti? As for those, whom poverty hath seized upon under the false name of riches, they have riches, as we are said to have an ague-when the ague hath us.-Seneca. Num tibi cum furens urit Sitis aurea quæris Secundum Ciceronem, 'Nihil tam parvi tamque angusti animi, quam amare divitias.' Dicebat ille Avaros ita facultatum suarum curam gerere, quasi essent propriæ: rursus in iisdem nihil capere utilitatis; quasi essent alienæ. Beneficence. NEC sibi sed toti genitum se credere mundo. -Lucan. Homines autem hominum causa generati sunt, ut ipsi inter se aliis alii prodesse possent. -Cicero de Officiis. Sicut Sol preces aut blandimenta non expectat ut oriatur; sed statim fulget et ab omnibus salutatur: sic tu nec plausus expecta, nec strepitus vel laudes ut benefacias. Sed sponte benefacias, et pariter ac Sol, carus eris. The form of Begging in Italy is said to be, not after the manner of the English, "I pray you bestow something on a poor man ;" but, "Do good for your own sake!" And it may be said, that those who are tender-hearted towards others, gratify themselves, and receive a pleasure that more than compensates the cost of what they may bestow. [This, however, is F reasoning much too abstruse for an Italian beggar: the doctrine of meriting heaven by our good works, or paying our way thither in charitable donations, is more within his comprehension and probably was the true origin of such a mode of asking alms.-Ed.] Nescit semel incitata Liberalitas stare; cujus pulchritudinem usus ipse commendat. Plinius Geminio: Laudas mihi Nonium, quod sit liberalis in quosdam : et ipse laudo, si tamen non in hos solos. Volo enim eum qui sit vere liberalis, tribuere Patriæ, propinquis, affinibus, amicis, sed amicis dico pauperibus: not ut isti, qui iis potissimum donant, qui donare maximè possunt. Hos ego viscatis hamatisque muneribus non sua promere puto, sed aliena corripere. Sunt ingenio simili qui quod huic donant auferunt illi; famamque liberalitatis Avaritiâ petunt. Primum est autem suo esse contentum; deinde quos præcipuè scias indigere, sustentantem foventemque, orbe quodam Societatis ambiri. Quæ cuncta qui facit iste usquequaque laudandus est: si unum aliquod, minus quidem, laudandus tamen: tam rarum est etiam imperfectæ Liberalitatis exemplar. Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videntur. : Even God's bounty leaves room for man's duty to his neighbours. Let us proportion our alms to our estates, lest God proportion our estate to our alms. The merit of the poor is not to be the [exclusive] rule of our charity: for God himself maketh his Sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good. 'A good man will guide his affairs with discretion, Ps. cxii. 5:' that is, he will retrench needless expenses in apparel, diet, and diversions, that he may have the more to give to them that are in need. A good man who, by fair and honourable means has acquired riches, will neither penuriously hoard nor lavishly squander them: while he reserves a part for his own use, he bestows a part on others. Among the objects of his bounty, he includes both those who are already deserving, and those whom he may be the means of rendering so. Yet let it not be imagined that the exercise of this liberality is an easy task: on the contrary, it is somewhat difficult even for the hand of the liberal to dispense its bounty with judgment. What matters it, whether he who needs thy assistance be in |