ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

nity; but the compliance was useless, and the honor was of short duration.

So 1 Thessalonians ii. 5:—

"For neither at any time used we flattering words."

POWER.

Power is never stable when it exceeds all bounds.

CHANGE.

THE POOR.

The populace who have never more than one day's provision dreaded an approaching famine. Of all that concerns the public, the price of grain is their only care.

FAMILY UNION.

Fleets and armies are not always the strongest bulwarks; the best resources of the sovereign are

New men succeeded, but the measures were still in his own family. Friends moulder away; time

the same.

QUALITIES OF A GENERAL.

changes the affections of men; views of interest form new connections; the passions fluctuate; desires arise that cannot be gratified; misunder

The proper qualities of a general are forethought standings follow, and friendships are transferred and prudence.

INCONSIDERATE ACTIONS.

All enterprises which are begun inconsiderately are violent at the beginning, but soon languish.

TUMULT.

In seasons of tumult and public distraction the bold and desperate take the lead; peace and good order are the work of virtue and ability.

RETALIATION.

So true it is that men are more willing to retaliate an injury than to requite an obligation; obligation implies a debt, which is a painful sensation; by a stroke of revenge, something is thought to be gained.

So 1 Thessalonians v. 13:

"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men."

to others; but the ties of blood still remain in force; and in that bond of unity consists the security of the emperor. In his prosperity numbers participate; in the day of trouble, who, except his relations, takes a share in his misfortunes?

CONTESTS BETWEEN RELATIVES. The hatreds of relatives are most violent. "The greatest hate springs from the greatest love."

RIGHTS OF MAN ALWAYS A SPECIOUS PRETEXT FOR DEMAGOGUES.

But the rights of man and such specious language are the pretext; this has always been the language of those who want to usurp dominion

over them.

AN ARMED PEACE IS THE BEST GUARANTEE AGAINST WAR.

For the repose of nations cannot be maintained without arms, arms without pay, nor pay without

LOVE OF FAME THE LAST TO BE RESIGNED BY taxes.

THE WISE.

The love of fame is the last weakness which even the wise resign.

Thus Milton in "Lycidas" (1. 70):-

"Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)

To scorn delights and live laborious days."

Massinger ("A Very Woman," v. 4) says:

"Though the desire of fame be the last weakness,
Wise men put off."

Plato ("Athen." xi. 507, D.) says:

VICES AS LONG AS THERE ARE MEN.

There will be vices as long as there are men.

THE JEWS.

The Egyptians worship various animals, and also certain symbolical representations, which are the work of men. The Jews acknowledge one God only, and Him they see in the mind's eye, and Him they adore in contemplation, condemning as

"The love of fame is the last virtue which we throw off at impious idolators all who, with perishable mate

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Even Nero had the grace to turn away his eyes from the horrors of his reign. He commanded deeds of cruelty, but never was a spectator of the scene. Under Domitian it was our wretched lot to behold the tyrant, and to be seen by him, while he kept a register of our sighs and groans. With that fiery visage, of a dye so red that the blush of

Beginning with himself and his friends, he first reformed his own household-a work often attended with not less difficulty than the adminis-guilt could never color his cheek, he marked the tration of a province.

THE EVILS OF A LUXURIOUS AGE.

By degrees man passes to the enjoyments of a vicious life, porticoes, baths, and elegant banquets: this by the ignorant was called a civilized mode of living, though in reality it was only a form of slavery.

PLACABILITY.

His passion soon passed away and left no trace behind: you had no reason to fear his concealed ill-will. He thought it more honorable to give open offence than to indulge in secret hatred.

DEFEAT AND SUCCESS.

And those who had lately prided themselves on their prudence and wisdom, were after the successful result ardent and full of boasting. This is the unfair tax which commanders of armies must always pay-ali claim a share of success, while a bad result is ascribed to the commander alone.

THE UNKNOWN.

Everything unknown is magnified.

Longfellow says:

"The mighty pyramids of stone

That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen, and better known,
Are but gigantic flights of stairs."

PEACE.

To rob, to ravage, and to murder, in their imposing language, are the arts of civil policy. When they have made the world a solitude, they call it peace.

pale languid countenance of the unhappy victims who shuddered at his frown.

THE DEAD.

If in another world there is a pious mansion for the blessed; if, as the wisest men have thought, the soul is not extinguished with the body, mayest thou enjoy a state of eternal felicity! From that station behold thy disconsolate family; exalt our minds from fond regret and unavailing grief to the contemplation of thy virtues. Those we must not lament; it were impiety to sully them with a tear. To cherish their memory, to embalm them with our praises, and if our frail condition will permit, to emulate thy bright example, will be the truest mark of our respect, the best tribute thy family can offer.

Young ("Night Thoughts," Night ii. 1. 24):

"He mourns the dead who lives as they desire."

THE MIND.

For in the mind as in a field, though some things may be sown and carefully brought up, yet what springs naturally is most pleasing.

ENVY.

From the maliciousness of human nature we are always praising what has passed away, and depreciating the present.

ELOQUENCE.

It is of eloquence as of a flame; it requires matter to feed it, motion to excite it, and it brightens as it burns,

FEAR.

Fear and awe are only weak chains to secure love; when these fetters are broken, the man who forgets to fear will begin to show the effects of his hatred.

INJURIES.

TERENCE.

BORN B.C. 195-DIED B.C. 159.

P. TERENTIUS AFER, born at Carthage, B.C. 195, became the slave of P. Terentius Lucanus, a Ro

It is the property of the human mind to hate man senator. He gave him a good education, those whom we have injured.

and subsequently manumitted him, upon which

608

he assumed, according to the usual practice, his 66 The patron's name. The success of his play Andria," B.C. 166. introduced him to the most refined and intellectual circles of Rome. He is said to have received assistance in the composition of his plays from Scipio and Lælius, who treated him more as a friend than a dependent. As he was a foreigner, and the pure idioms of the Latin language could be little known to him, it is not at all improbable that his plays should have been submitted to the revision of his friends. The calumnious attacks of his rivals are said to have driven him from Italy, when he took refuge in Greece, from which he never returned. According to one story, after embarking at Brundisium, he was never heard of more; according to others, he died in some city of the Peloponnesus. He left a daughter, but nothing is known of his family.

IGNORANCE.

Faith! by too much knowledge they bring it about that they know nothing.

OBSCURE DILIGENCE.

He prefers to emulate the negligence of the one, rather than the obscure diligence of the other.

KINDNESS.

But this annoys me; for this reminding me of your kindness is as it were a reproaching me of ingratitude.

Shakespeare ("Troilus and Cressida," act iii. sc. 3) says:"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour'd
As fast as they are made, forgot as soon
As done."

EXCESS.

For I hold this to be the golden rule of life, "Too much of anything is bad."

COMPLIANCE.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

My vessel is in harbor, reckless of the troubled

sea.

LOVERS.

Quarrels of lovers but renew their love.

MALICE.

Is it to be believed or told that there is such malice in men as to rejoice in misfortunes, and from another's woes to draw delight? Menander says:

"Never rejoice at the misfortunes of your neighbor." CHARITY AT HOME.

Here, then, is their shameless impudence: they

Obsequiousness procures friends, plain dealing cry, Who, then, are you? What are you to me? breeds hatred.

BAD HEART.

From bad dispositions arise bad designs.

A SIMPLETON.

I am a simple Davus, who can understand plain talk very well, but I have not the sagacity of an Edipus to fathom the enigma which you propose.

DOTARDS.

This is a beginning of dotards, not of doting. This has been shortened to "amantes, amentes," "in love, a fool." It is translated alliteratively thus in an old translation (1641):-"For they are fare as they were lunaticke and not love-sick."

"By biting and scratching cats and dogs come together."

Why should I give my property to you? Hark ye, I have a right to be my own best friend.

INCLINATION.

I know it; thou art constrain'd by inclination.

FROM THE HEART.

Dost thou think that there is little difference whether thou dost a thing from the heart, as nature suggests, or with a purpose?

AS WE CAN.

As we can, according to the old saying, when we cannot, as we would.

SAFETY.

All is now secure.

[blocks in formation]

Nothing's said now, but has been said before. St. Jerome relates that his preceptor Donatus, explaining this passage, railed severely at the ancients for taking from him his best thoughts, saying:—

"Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt."

See Wharton in his "Essay on Pope," in a note i. 88
Tennyson says:-

"And on her lover's arm she leant,

And round her waist she felt it fold,
And far across the hills they went,
In that new world that is the old."

LOVE.

In love there are all these ills: wrongs, suspicions, quarrels, reconcilements, war, and peace again. If thou wouldst try to do things thus uncertain by a certain method, thou wouldst act as wisely as if thou wert to run mad with reason as thy guide.

FLATTERERS.

There is a kind of men who wish to be at the head of everything, and are not: these I attend; not to make them laugh, like the buffoon, but I laugh with them, and wonder at their parts. Whatever they say, I praise: if they refuse the praise, I praise that also. Does any deny? I too deny; affirm? I too affirm. In a word, I have brought myself to assent to everything. That now is the best of all professions.

[blocks in formation]

LOVE.

Without good eating and drinking love grows cold.

THE WAYS OF WOMEN.

Nay, certainly, I know the ways of women: they won't, when thou wilt, and when thou won't, they are passionately fond.

Shakespeare (" Hamlet," act i. sc. 2) says:"Frailty, thy name is woman!"

NEIGHBORHOOD.

Yet either thy austere life, or else near neighborhood, which I consider to be the first step to friendship, causes me to warn thee boldly and as a friend, that thou seemest to me to be acting in a way unsuited to thy age, and otherwise than thy income requires.

HUMANITY.

Me. Chremes, hast thou such leisure from thy own affairs that thou canst lavish time on those of others, and on matters which don't concern thee?

Ch. I am a human being: I consider none of the incidents which befall my fellow-creatures to be matters of unconcern to me.

THE MIND.

What now prevents his having every earthly blessing that man can possess? Parents, a prosperous country, friends, high birth, relatives, riches? Yet all these take their value from the color of the mind. To him who knows their proper use, they are blessings: to him who misuses them, they are curses.

Spenser, in his "Faerie Queen" (vi. 9, 30) speaks thus of the mind of man:

"It is the mind that maketh good or ill,

That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor:
For some, that hath abundance at his will,
Hath not enough, but wants in greatest store;
And other, that hath little, asks no more,
But in that little is both rich and wise:
For wisdom is most riches: fools therefore
They are, which do by vows devise;

Sith each unto himself his life may fortunise."

EXPERIENCE FROM OTHERS' MISFORTUNES. Remember this maxim, to draw from others' misfortunes a profitable lesson for thyself.

WOMEN TAKE TIME FOR ADORNMENT. Dost thou not know that her house is a long way off. And then thou knowest the ways of women: while they are setting themselves off and tricking out their persons, it is an age.

SIMPLICITY IN DRESS.

We found her dressed without gold or trinkets, as ladies who are dressed only for themselves, set off with no female paints and pastes.

NO FAMOUS DEED WITHOUT DANGER.

No great and famous deed is accomplished without danger.

A LOVER.

I know thee, how little command thou hast over thyself; no double meanings, turning thy neck round to leer, sighs, hems, coughs, or tittering.

LICENSE.

Ah! what an opening for profligacy thou wilt make! so that in process of time life itself will be a burden. For we all become worse from too much liberty. Whatever comes into his head, he will have, nor will he consider whether it be right

or wrong.

NATURE OF MANKIND.

Gods! that the nature of mankind should be such that they have more wisdom, and determine better in the affairs of others than in their own! Does this superior wisdom arise because, where our own interest is concerned, we are prevented from judging properly either by excessive joy or grief? How much more wisely does my neighbor here think for me than I do for myself.

TRIFLES.

She'll take mighty pains

To be delivered of some mighty trifle.

CHILDREN.

For he who has acquired the habit of lying or deceiving his father, will do the same with less remorse to others. I believe that it is better to bind your children to you by a feeling of respect and by gentleness than by fear.

KINDNESS.

The man is very much mistaken, in my opinion at least, who fancies that authority is more firm and stable that is founded on force than what is built on friendship. This is my way, this is my idea; he who does his duty, driven to it by severity, while he thinks his actions are observed, so long only is he on his guard; if he hopes for secrecy, he goes back to his own ways again. He whom you have made your own by kindness, does it of good will, is anxious to make a due return, acting present or absent evermore the same. This, then, is the duty of a father, to make a son embrace a life of virtue rather from choice than from terror or constraint.

Ben Jonson (" Every Man in his Humor," act i.) thus expresses the idea:

"There is a way of winning more by love,
And urging of the modesty than fear;
Force works on servile natures, not the free.
He that's compell'd to goodness may be good;
But 'tis but for that fit; where others, drawn
By softness and example, get a habit."

INDUSTRY,

Nothing so difficult but may be won by industry.

Herrick ("Seek and Find ") says:

"Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt;
Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.”

Antiphanes (Fr. Com. Gr. p. 500, M.) says:

"Everything yields to industry."

AN IF.

Suppose, as some folks say, the sky should fall?

STRICT LAW.

For 'tis a common saying and a true,
That strictest law is oft the highest wrong.

AGAINST THE GRAIN.

There is nothing so easy in itself but grows difficult when it is performed against one's will.

HABIT.

How many unjust and wicked things are done from mere habit!

HOPE.

So we do but live,

There's hope.

TO DESPISE MONEY IS GAIN.

To seem upon occasion to slight money,
Proves, in the end, sometimes the greatest gain.

HOPE.

San. I never purchase hope with ready money. Syr. Thou'lt never make a fortune: away with thee, thou dost not know how to ensnare men, Sannio.

San. Well, perhaps thy way is best; yet I was never so cunning, but I had rather, when it was in my power, receive prompt payment.

TRUE WISDOM.

That is to be wise to see not merely that which lies before your feet, but to foresee even those things which are in the womb of futurity.

WISDOM.

Thou, from head to foot, art nought but wisdom's self: he a mere dotard. Wouldst thou ever permit thy boy to do such things?

Dem. Permit him? I? Or should I not much rather smell him out six months before he did but dream of it?

[blocks in formation]
« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »