Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

' tho' often contrary to Reason, and of omitting whatever is of a ticklish Nature in the Life of their Sovereign; witness the Retreat of Messieurs de Montmorency ' and Brion, who are here omitted; nay, the Name of Madame de Estampes is not so much as once mentioned. • Secret Actions may be concealed by an Hiftorian, but

to pass over in Silence what is known to all the World, * and Things too that have produced Effects of such • Consequence, is a Defect not to be excused. In fine, • whoever would have a perfect Knowledge of King * Francis, and the Affairs of his Time, must, if he will take my Advice, look for it elsewhere. The only Advantage he can reap from this Work is, by the particular Account of the Battles and military Atchievements, in which those Gentlemen were present; certain Expressions and private Actions of some Princes ' of their Time, and the Practices and Negociations 'carried on by the Lord de Langeay, wherein there are throughout Things worthy to be known, and Reasonings above the vulgar Strain.

6

[ocr errors]

V

CHAP. ΧΙ.

Of CRUELTY.

IRTUE feems to me to be quite another Thing, and more Noble than the Inclinations that are in

Virtue is fupeperior to what is called Goodness of Nature.

nate in Goodness. Those Souls that are well tempered, and as truly generous pursue the fame Tract; and their Actions wear the fame Face, as the Virtuous. But the Word Virtue imports something, I know not what, that is more great and active than a Man's fuffering himself with a happy Conftitution, to be gently and quietly conducted by Reason. The Perfon, who from a Mildness and Sweetness in his Temper, should despise Injuries received, would perform a Thing very amiable and commendable; but the Man who, being provoked

I3

voked and enraged to the last Degree by some Offence, should arm himself with the Weapons of Reason againft a furious Thirst of Revenge, and after a great Struggle with himself, should at last master his own Passion, would undoubtedly do much more. The first would do well, and the latter virtuously. One Action might be called Virtue not to be Good-nature, the other Virtue. For mepractised with thinks the very Name of Virtue presupposes out fome Diffi- Difficulty and Oppofition, and cannot be culty. exercised without something to contend with. And 'tis for this Reason, perhaps, that we call God by the Attributes of Good, Mighty, Bountiful, and Juft; but we do not give him that of Virtuous, his Works being all Natural, and without any Effort. The Philofophers, not only the Stoics, but also the Epicureans (and this Addition I borrow from the vulgar Opinion, which is false, notwithstanding the witty Conceit of Arcefilaus, in Answer to one, who, being reproached that many Scholars went from his. School to the Epicurean, but never any from thence to his School, said in Answer, I believe it indeed; Numbers of Capons being made out of Cocks, but never any Cocks out of Capons. For, in Truth, the Epicurean Sect is not at all inferior to the Stoic in Steadiness, and the Rigour of Opinions and Precepts. And a certain Stoic discovering more Honesty than those Disputants, who, in order to quarrel with Epicurus, and to throw the Game into their own Hands, make him say what he never thought, putting a wrong Conftruction upon his Words, cloathing

* Montaigne ftops here to make his Excuse for thus naming the Epicu reans with the Stoics, in Conformity to the general Opinion that the Epifureans were not so rigid in their Morals as the Stoics, which is not true in the main, as he demonftrates at one View. This involved Montaigne in a tedious Parenthesis, during which 'tis proper that the Reader be attentive, that he may not intirely lose the Thread of the Argument. In fome latter Editions of this Author, it has been attempted to remedy this Inconvenience, but without obferving that Montaigne's Argument is rendered more feeble and obfcure by such vain Repetitions, 'tis a Licence that ought not to be taken, because he who publishes the Work of an-other, ought to give it as the Author composed it. But, in Mr. Cotfon's Tranflation, he was so puzzled with this enormous Parenthesis, that he has quite left it out.

Diog. Laert, in the Life of Arcesilaus, lib, iv, sect. 43.

cloathing his Sentences, by the strict Rules of Grammar, with another Meaning, and a different Opinion from that which they knew he entertained in his Mind, and in his Morals, the Stoic, I say, declared, that he abandoned the Epicurean Sect, upon this, among other Confiderations, that he thought their Track too lofty and inacceffible; et ij qui φιλήδονοι vocantur funt Φιλόκαλοι et φιλοδίκαιοι, omnefque virtutes et colunt et ratinent, i. e. and those whom we call Lovers of Pleasure, being, in Effect, Lovers of Honour and Justice, cultivate and practise all the Virtues. (Cic. Ep. 19. lib. xv.) several, I say, of the Stoic and Epicurean Philofophers, thought that it was not enough to have the Soul in a good Frame, well tempered, and welldisposed to Virtue; that it was not enough to have our Resolutions and our Reasonings fixed above all the Efforts of Fortune; but that it was ever necessary to seek Occasions to make Trial of them: They were for going in quest of Pain, Neceffity, and Contempt, in order to combat them, and to keep the Soul in Exercise. Multum fibi adjicit virtus laceffita, i. e. Virtue by being attacked becomes the more courageous. 'Tis one of the Reasons why Epaminondas who was also of a third Sect, refuses the Wealth which Fortune puts into his Hand by very fair Means, because said he, I may be able to fence with Poverty, in which Extreme he always stood his Ground. Socrates methinks put himself to a severer Trial, keeping, for his Exercise, a Shrew of a Wife; which was a Trial with a Vengeance. Metellus, the only one of all the Roman Senators, who attempted, by the Strength of his Virtue, to support himself against the Violence of Saturninus, the Tribune of the People of Rome, who was refolved by all Means to get an unjust Law past in Favour of the Commonalty, having, by such Opposition, incurred the capital Punishments which Saturninus had established for the Recufants; this very Metellus said to the Perfons, who, in this Extremity, were leading him to the Place of Execution: That it was a very easy and a base Thing to I4 commit

Senec. Ep. 13.

a Of the Pythagorean Sect. Epaminondas, the Theban, fays Cicero, was inftr ucted by Lifsis, a Pythagorean. De Cffic. lib. i. c. 44.

Plutarch in the Life of Marius, ch. 10. of Amyer's Tranflation.

1

commit Evil, and that to do Good, where there was no Danger, was a common Thing; but to do Good, where there was Danger, was the proper Office of a Man of Virtue. These Words of Metellus clearly shew what I would make out, that Virtue refuses Ease for its Companion, and that the gentle Afcent, that foft, smooth Way, in which those take their Steps who are regulated by a natural Inclination to Goodness, is not the Path of true Virtue. This requires a rugged thorny Passage, and will have either Difficulties from without to struggle with (like that of Metellus) by Means whereof Fortune delights to interrupt the Speed of our Career, or else internal Difficulties that are introduced by the disorderly Appetites and Imperfections of our Condition.

Socrates and Cato, Virtue becomes eafy thro Habit.

I am come thus far at my Ease, but it just now falls into my Imagination, that the Soul of SoIn noble Souls, fuch as thoje of crates, the most perfect that ever has come to my Knowledge, would, by this Rule, have little to recommend it: For I cannot perceive, in this Person, any Effort of a vicious Concupifcence. In the Course of his Virtue, I cannot imagine there was any Difficulty or Constraint. I know his Reason had so much Sway and Authority over him, that it never would have fuffered a vicious Appetite fo much as to rise in him. To a Virtue so fublime as his I can fet nothing in Oppofition. Methinks I see it stalk, with a victorious and triumphant Pace, in Pomp, and at Eafe, without Molestation or Disturbance. If Virtue cannot shine hut by struggling with contrary Appetites, shall we therefore say, that she cannot subsist without the Afsistance of Vice, and that 'tis from thence she derives her Reputation and Honour? What would become also of that brave and generous Epicurean Pleasure, which pretends to nourish and cherish Virtue in its Lap, giving it Shame, Sickness, Poverty, Death, and Hell for Toys to play with? If I presuppose that perfect Virtue is known by contending with, and patiently bearing Pain, and even Fits of the Gout, without being moved in its Seat: If I give it Roughness and Difficulty for its necessary Object, what will become of a Virtue elevated to such a Degree,

as not only to despise Pain, but to rejoice in it, and to be delighted with the racking Stitches of a violent Cholic, as is the Quality of that Virtue which the Epicureans have established, and of which many of them, by their Actions, have left very evident Proofs ? As have many others, who I find have furpassed the very Rules of their Difcipline; witness the younger Cato: When I see him dying, and tearing out his own Bowels, I cannot be contented fimply to believe, that his Soul was, at that Time, wholly exempt from Trouble and Fear: I cannot think, that he only supported himself in this Step which was prescribed to him by the Laws of the Stoic Sect, quite ferenely, without Emotion or Passion: There was, methinks, in that Man's Virtue too much Sprightliness and Youth to stop there. I make no Doubt but he felt a Pleasure and Delight in fo noble an Action, and that it was more agreeable to him than any Thing he ever did in his Life. Sic abiit è vitâ ut caufam moriendi nattum se esse gauderet, i. e. He went out of Life in fuch a manner, as if he was glad he had found a ReaJon for dying. And I really question, whether he would have been glad to have been deprived of the Occasion of so brave an Exploit: And if that Good-nature of his, which made him espouse the public Benefit rather than his own, did not restrain me, I should be ready to believe, that he thought himself obliged to Fortune, for having put his Virtue to so severe a Trial, and for having favoured the Robber & in trampling the ancient Liberty of his Country under his Feet. Methinks I read in this Action, I know not what Exultation in his Soul, and an extraordinary and manly Emotion of Pleasure, when he looked upon the Nobleness and Sublimity of his Undertaking.

Deliberata morte ferocior .

i. e.

Grown fiercer now she is resolv'd to die.

Cic. Tufc. Quæst. lib. i. c. 30.

Not

d. Cafar, who, notwithstanding the great Qualities of his, which Montaigne set off with such Luftre in the preceding Chapter, is here treated as he deserves for having committed the most heinous of all Crimes.

Hor. lib. i. Od. 37. v. 29.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »