miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness: and even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity. [4] A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness of the heart, which passions of [5] all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the mind: you may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession. [6] It is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of [5.] Divide this sentence into two. a Mexican plant. Sarza: sarsaparilla, Castoreum: castor, a substance of pungent odor derived from the two inguinal sacs of the beaver. Civil shrift: in contra distinction from a religious confession to a priest, of thought and feeling and act. "Address you to your shrift, And be yourself; for you must die."-Rowe [Tanquam sub sigillo confessionis civilis.-Lat. Ed.] [6.] Rate: Synonyme ? Do set: modern form? that. In regard of: modern form? As: As it were: What is the force, and grammatical analysis of this expression? [Tanquam.-Lat. Ed.] Sorteth to: results or issues in. 'Things sort not to my will.'-Herbert. Favorites: As a picture of the times of Bacon, read the following account of some of the habits of courtiers of that day. After describing their extravagances and splendor in dress, friendship whereof we speak; so great, as they purchase it many times at the hazard of their own safety and greatness; for princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be as it were companions, and almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The [7] their prodigality in feasting and riotous living, and habits of gambling and other immoralities, the historian proceeds to sayTo be a successful courtier it was also necessary to excel in those coarse jokes and buffooneries which were so much to the taste of the low-minded James. This king, among his various accomplishments, was a ready inventor of nick names and an inveterate lover of practical jokes; and happy was the man who could so take these as to furnish the luxury of a royal chuckle. Occasionally, however, the kingly jester would venture beyond bounds with those of more independent spirit, in which case he was sometimes rewarded with a counterbuff not much to his liking. In contemplating the manners of James, and those by whom he was surrounded, it was no wonder that the English nobles of the old school thought of the court of Elizabeth with a sigh. When Charles I. succeeded, the coldness of his character and his decorous habits discountenanced these course and profligate excesses; and the courtiers endeavored to conform to something like the rules of external decency. A general sobriety of demeanor succeeded and even debauchees now talked of Platonic love, the pretence of which at least became for a time quite the fashion at court. But, as the stern, ascetic Puritans grew into power, and advanced to the destruction of the monarchy with prayer and fasting, the court party soon became eager to distinguish themselves by an entirely opposite behaviour. All the excesses of the former reign were resumed, and Charles found himself unable to restrain, or even to rebuke his adherents, who swore, drank, bawled, and intrigued, to show their hatred of the enemy, and their devotedness to the royal cause.'-Craik's Hist. Eng., Vol. III, pp. 631, 632. modern languages give unto such persons the name of favourites, or privadoes, as if it were matter of grace, or conversation; but the Roman name attaineth the true use and cause thereof, naming them " participes curarum;" for it is that which tieth the knot: and we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned, who have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their servants, whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed others likewise to call them in the same manner, using the word which is received between private men. [8] L. Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised Pompey (after surnamed the Great) to that height, that Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla's overmatch; for when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey turned [7.] Privado: now obsolete, for confidential friend. Grace: favor. Conversation: familiar intercourse. Participes Tieth the knot: Attaineth: [Rectius exprimit.—Lat. Ed.] curarum: participators in our cares. Paraphrase. [Quod verum ligamen præstat.-Lat. Ed.] [8.] L. Sylla: born 138 B. C., a man devoid of moral principle, but of wonderful energy and tact. He was associated with Pompey in the consulship at Rome. He had a terrible quarrel with the Marian faction, which led to his appointment as Dictator, which he resigned after holding it for three years, and retired to private life. He directed to be placed upon his tomb this highly characteristic inscription:- "Here lies Sylla, who was never outdone in good offices by his friend, nor in acts of hostility by his enemy." In the severe contest between him and Marius, he was the personification of the aristocrat, as Marius was of the domestic spirit. That-that: Alter the clause so as to avoid this blemish. How can this be improved? Notice again the blemish for→ upon him again, and in effect bade him be quiet; for that more men adored the sun rising than the sun setting. With Julius Cæsar, Decimus Brutus had [9] obtained that interest, as he set him down in his testament for heir in remainder after his nephew; and this was the man that had power with him to draw him forth to his death; for when Cæsar would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill presages, and specially a dream of Calpurnia, this man lifted him gently by the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss the senate till his wife had dreamed a better dream; and it seemed his favour was so great, as Antonius, in a letter, which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, called him "venefica,"-" witch," as if he had enchanted Cæsar. Augustus raised [10] Agrippa (though of mean birth) to that height, as, when he consulted with Mecenas about the marriage of his for. Against the pursuit of Sylla: Improve, and make plainer, the form of expression. expression. Vit. Pomp. 19. stances of the case. Did a little resent: Give a better form of Great Synonyme? For, &c.: Plut. Adored: Apply the figure to the circum [9.] Decimus Brutus: usually called Marcus Junius Brutus. That: Give an equivalent. As: Give the modern word. He-him: Change the form of the sentence so as to remove the ambiguity. In remainder: A remainder, in law, is a future estate in land, &c., limited to arise after the determination of another estate; as if land be granted to A for twenty years, and afterwards to B and his heirs forever, B has a remainder in fee. In regard of: Equivalent form? His favor the favor in which he was held. : Philippics: 13:11. As: that. [10.] As: that. This change would require the previous that to be changed to such. daughter Julia, Mæcenas took the liberty to tell him that he must either marry his daughter to Agrippa, or take away his life; there was no third way, he had made [11] him so great. With Tiberius Cæsar, Sejanus had ascended to that height as they two were termed [12] and reckoned as a pair of friends. Tiberius, in a letter to him, saith, "hæc pro amicitia nostra non occultavi ;" and the whole senate dedicated an altar to Friendship, as to a goddess, in respect of the great dear[13] ness of friendship between them two. The like, or more, was between Septimius Severus and Plautianus ; for he forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of Plautianus, and would often maintain Plautianus in doing affronts to his son: and did write also, in a letter to the senate, by these words "I love the man so [14] well, as I wish he may over-live me." Now, if these princes had been as a Trajan, or a Marcus Aure [11.] With Tiberius, &c.: Paraphrase. Change to modern forms. That-as: Sejanus, though prime minister of Tiberius, was an infamous man. [12.] Hæc, &c.: 'On account of our friendship I have not concealed these things.'-Tacit. Annal, 4: 10. of: Equivalent terms? Dearness: fondness. profess all the dearness and friendship.'-South. In respect 'He must [13.] Severus: the Roman Emperor, by whose favor Plautianus, of obscure origin, was rapidly advanced to power and became at length prætorian prefect. Statues were erected at Rome and elsewhere to his honor. His power and influence nearly equalled that of the Emperor himself. The marriage of his daughter Plautilla with Caracalla admitted him to the imperial household, where, however, his pride and the influence which he possessed over the emperor led to his downfall and assassination. I love, &c.: Dion Cass. 75. that. Over-live survive. 'Musidorus, who showed a mind not to over-live Prorus, prevailed.'-Sir P. Sidney. As: |