Other ef fects of grief. him, even in the very lap of fruition: for all passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested, are but moderate. Cura leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent.* Light griefs are plaintive, but the great are dumb. Sudden and unexpected joy likewise produces the same effect. Ut me conspexit venientem, et Troïa circùm She swoon'd; at length with fault'ring tongue she spake. Besides the examples of the Roman lady who died for joy to see her son safe returned from the battle of Cannæ, and of Sophocles, and Dionysius the tyrant, who also both died of joy, and of Talva,|| who died in Corsica at reading the news of the honours which the Roman senate had decreed for * Seneca Hippol. Act. ii. Scene 3. + Virg. Æneid. lib. iii. ver. 306. &c. Pliny, Nat. Hist. lib. vii. v. 54. Titus Livy relates an accident, much like this, which happened after the battle of Thrasimene, lib. xxii. cap. 7. Pliny asserts positively, that the joy of having won the prize in tragedy put an end to the days of Sophocles and old Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily; see his Nat. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 53. But, as to Dionysius, if we may believe Diodorus Siculus, the joy that pos sessed him, on his winning the prize in tragedy, ran him into such extravagancies as were the true cause of his death. 'He was so ⚫ overjoyed at the news,' says the historian, that he made a great sacrifice upon it to the Gods; prepared sumptuous feasts, to which he invited all his friends, and therein drank so excessively, that it threw him into a very bad distemper.' Lib. xv. cap. 20, of Amyot's translation. In Valer. Maximus, lib. ix. in Romanis, § 3, where he is called M. Juventius Thalma; Pliny, who only says, that he died in making his sacrifice, calls him, M. Juventius Talva, lib. vii. cap. 53. him, we have one in our time, viz. Pope Leo X. who, upon the news of the taking of Milan, a thing he had set his heart upon, was so overjoyed, that he immediately fell into a fever, and died. As a more remarkable testimony of the weakness of human nature, it is recorded, that Diodorus the logician died upon the spot,t from excessive shame, not being able, in his own school, and in the presence of a great auditory, to resolve a quibbling question, which was pronounced to him by Stilpo. For my own part, I am very little subject to these violent passions. I am naturally slow of apprehension, which, by conversation, grows thicker and duller every day. CHAPTER III. That our Affections are extended beyond our after futu THEY, who accuse mankind of the folly of gaping Mankind always after futurity, and advise us to lay hold of the too curious good which is present, as having too short reach to rity. seize that which is to come, a thing even more impossible for us than to recover what is past, have hit upon the most universal of human errors, if that may be called an error, whereto nature itself has disposed us, which, for the better continuation of her own work, has, among several others, impressed us with this deluding imagination, as being more jealous of what we do, than what we know. For we are never present with, but always beyond ourselves. Fear, desire, and hope violently push us on towards what is to come, and deprive us of the sense and Francis Guicciardin's History of Italy, lib. xiv. p. 394, vol. 2. The duty of man. The rea ness of the orders the be inquir ter their consideration of that which is present, by amusing us with the thought of what will be, even when we shall be no more. Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius.* Incessant fears the anxious mind molest. Plato often repeats this great precept,† Do what thou hast to do; and know thyself. Of these two parts, each comprehends our whole duty in general terms, and, in like manner, each includes the other; for he that would mind his own business, will find, that his first lesson is, to know what he is, and what is proper for him: and he who rightly understands himself, will never mistake another man's work for his own, but will love and improve himself above all other things; will refuse superfluous employments, and reject all unprofitable schemes and proposals. As the fool, though he should enjoy all that he can possibly desire, would not be content; so the wise man acquiesces with the present, and is never dissatisfied. Epicurus exempts his wise men from all foresight and care of futurity. Among the laws relating to the dead, I look upon sonable that as salutary by which the actions of princes are law which to be examined after their decease. They are, while conduct of living, at least associates in making the laws, if not princes to the masters of them; and, therefore, what justice ed into af- could not inflict upon their persons, it is but reasonable should be executed upon their reputations, and the estates of their successors, things that we often value above life itself.‡ This is a custom of singular advantage to those countries where it is observed, and as much to be desired by all good princes, who have reason to be offended that the memories of the wicked should be treated with the same respect as their's. We owe, it is true, subjection and obe, death. * Seneca, Epist. 98. + In Timæus, p. 544, Edit. Lomarianæ, at Lyons, 1590. dience to all kings alike, in regard to their office; but, as to affection and esteem, these are only due to their virtue. Admitting even that we ought to be passive under unworthy princes, to conceal their vices, and commend their indifferent actions, whilst their authority stands in need of our support: yet, when all relation betwixt the prince and subject is at an end, there is no reason why we should not, for the sake of our own liberty, and of common justice, publish our real resentments. To debar good subjects the glory of having reverently and faithfully served a prince, whose imperfections they so well knew, were to deprive posterity of an useful example. And they who, out of respect to some obligation, unjustly defend the memory of a bad prince, against their own knowledge and consciences, perform a private act of gratitude at the expence of public justice. Titus Livius* very truly says, that the language of courtiers is always sounding of vain ostentation, and not to be depended on; every one indifferently extolling his own king's valour and greatness to the highest pitch. It is not impossible but some may condemn the courage of those two soldiers, who boldly answered Nero to his face; the one being asked by him, "Why he bore him ill"will?" "I was true to thee," he said, "whilst "thou wast worthy of my love; but when thou "didst turn parricide, incendiary, a stage-player, "and a coachiman, I began to hate thee, and do so "still." And the other being asked, ‡ Why "he had a design to take away his life?" "Because," said he, "I had no other remedy against "thy perpetual mischiefs." But, considering the public and universal testimonies that were given after his death (and will be to all posterity, both of him, and all other bad princes like him) of his tyrannical and wicked practices, what man in his senses can blame them? 66 66 * Lib. xxxv. c. 48. + Tacit. Annal. l. xv. c. 67. + Ibid. c. 68. mony of the Vain cere- I confess, I am scandalized, that in so sacred a Laced government as that of the Lacedæmonians, there monians at should be so hypocritical a ceremony used at the the death death of their kings, when all their confederates and of their kings. neighbours, and all sorts and degrees of men and women, as well as their slaves, cut and slashed their foreheads, in token of sorrow, repeating in their cries and lamentations,* that that king (let him have been as wicked as the Devil) was the best they ever had; thereby attributing to his quality the praise that belongs to merit, and to the highest degree of it, though in the meanest member of the community. Aristotle, who leaves no subject untouched, makes Reflections a query upon the saying of Solon,† That none can on Son's be said to be happy before he be dead. Whether viz. That any person, who has even lived and died according De man can to his heart's desire, can be termed happy, if he has be happy left an ill character behind him, or if his posterity is miserable. Whilst we have life and motion, we convey ourselves by fancy or anticipation whither, and to what we please; but when once we are out of being, we have no communication with the world, and therefore it had been better said of Solon, That no man is ever happy, because he is not so till after he is no more. assertions, no before death. The dead if alive. -Et inde Vix radicitus è vita se tollit, et ejicit, Sed facit esse sui quiddam super inscius ipse, idicat.t He boasts no sense can after death remain, } Bertrand de Glesquin dying before the castle of treated as Rancon, near Puy in Auvergne, the besieged were afterward, upon surrender, obliged to deposit the keys of the place upon his corse. Bartholomew Herodot. lib. vi. p. 401. |