it must be acknowledged, that, in such Souls as these, there is fome Transport, some Fury, be it ever so divine. When we come to these Stoical Sallies, I had rather be mad than merry; a Saying of || Antisthenes, Μανείην μᾶλλον ἢ ἡθείην. When Sextius tells us, that he had rather be chained to Pain than Pleasure: When Epicurus, under Pretence to be fond of the Gout, and refusing Health and Ease, gaily defies Evils, despising the lesser Pains, as disdaining to contend and struggle with them, he defires and calls out for those that are acute, violent, and worthy of him: Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis i. e. Impatiently he views the feeble Prey, Who would not think that they are pushed on by a Cou- Aul. Gell. lib. ix. c. 5. and Diog. Laert. in Vita Antisthenis, lib. vi. * Æneid. lib. iv. v. 158, 159. † Seneca de Tranquillitate fect. 3. Animi. 2 Wisdom is a regular Management of our Mind, which it conducts by Rule and Measure, and is responsible for it to itself. Plato * argues thus, that, the Gift of Prophecy being above our Reach, we must be out of our Senses when we meddle with it, and our Prudence must be clouded either by Sleep, or some Disease, or lifted from its Place by fome celestial Rapture. CHAP. III. The Custom of the Isle of Cea, in the Ægean Sea, or Archipelago. I F to philosophize be, as they say, to doubt, much more ought my frolicksome and fanciful Speculations to be termed Doubting; for 'tis for Learners to inquire and debate, and for those in the Chair to determine. My Moderator is the Authority of the Divine Will, which regulates us without Contradiction, and which is superior to such human and vain Disputes. Philip being Accidents worfe entered, with an armed Force, into Peloponne- 10 fuffer than fus, some-body faid to Damindas, that the La- Death. cedemonians were like to fuffer a great deal, if they did not regain his Favour. You Poltroon, faid he, what can + they fuffer that are not afraid of Death? The Question being also put to Agis, How a Man might live free? By § despising Death, said he. These and a thousand other Sayings, that are to be met with to the fame Purpose, plainly hint something more than a patient waiting for Death till it comes, for there are several Accidents in Life that are more intolerable than Death; witness the Lacedemonian Lad, that was taken by Antigonus, and fold for a Slave, who being commanded by his Master to do something that was very mean, Thou shalt fee, faid the Boy, whom || thou hast bought; it would be a Scandal for me to be a Slave, when my Liberty is C 4 ) in * In Timæus, v. 543. + See the notable Sayings of the Lacedemonians, collected by Plutarch, under the Word Damirdas. ibid. under the Name of Agis. || Plutarch, in the notable Sayings of the Lacedemonians. in my Power; and, when he had so said, he threw himself Ubique mors eft: optime boc cavit Deus, i. e. To Death a Man can never want a Gate, Nor is this a Recipe for one single Disease only; Death is the Cure of all Evils: 'Tis a most assured Port, which is fometimes to be fought, and never to be shunned. It comes all to one, whether a Man puts an End to himself, or fuffers it from § another; whether he runs off before his Day, or † Senec. Ep. 70. * Plutarch, in the notable Sayings of the Lacedemonians. || Tacit. Annal. lib. xiii. †† Senec. Thebais, Act i. Sc. 1. v. 151, τ. Senec. Ep. 70. Id. 69. 2 : or whether he stays till it come. From what Quarter soever it come, he is still his own Master; in what Part soever the Thread breaks, 'tis all over, there's the End of the Clue. ent on the 1 That is the best Death * which a Man chuses voluntarily, Life depends on the Will of another Person, Death dependDeath upon our own: In nothing ought we so much to please our own Humours as in Will. that. Reputation is not at all affected by such an Undertaking, and 'tis a Folly to have Regard to it. To live would be Bondage, were it not for the Liberty of Dying. The ordinary Methods of Cure are carried on at the Expence of Life. We are tormented with Caustics, Incifions, Amputations of our Members; our Food, nay, our very Blood is taken from us; one Step + farther, and we are cured indeed. Why is not the jugular Vein as much at our Disposal as the median Vein (of the Arm) ? Desperate Difeases require desperate Remedies. When Servius the Grammarian || had the Gout, he could think of no better Remedy than to make an Incision in his Feet, and to put Poifon into the Wound, not caring how gouty they were, provided they were insensible of Pain. God gives us Leave enough, when he reduces us to fuch a Condition that to live is worfe than to die. 'Tis a Weakness, indeed, to fuccumb under Infirmities, but 'tis Madness to nourish them. As I do not offend the Laws against Robbers, when I embezzle my own Money, and cut my own Purse; nor that against Incendiaries, when I burn my own Wood; so am I not under the Lash of those made against Murderers, for taking away my own Life. Hegefias ++ said, that the Condition of Death, as well as that of Life, ought to be subject to our own Choice. And Speusippus ** the Philofopher, who had been long afflicted with the Dropsy, and therefore used to be carried in a Litter, meeting Diogenes, bid him Good Morrow; * Senec. Ep. 70. + Non opus eft vasto vulnere dividere præcordia. Scalpello aperitur ad illam magnam libertatem via; et puncto fecuritas conftat, Senec. Ep. 70. Servius Claudius, of Rome, Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. xxv. c. 3. and Suetonius de illuftribus Grammaticis, cap. 2. & 3. ++ Diog. Laert. in the Life of Aristippus, lib. ii. sect. 94. ** Idem, in the Life of Speusippus, lib. iv. fect. 3. . Morrow; but Diogenes faid, No Good Morrow to you, who can bear to live in fuch a State. 'Tis true, indeed, that, fome Time after, Speusippus put himself to Death, wearied out with fuch a painful Condition of Life. But this does not pass without being controverted: For 'tis the Opinion of many, that we are not to quit the Garrison of the World without the express Command of him who has placed us in it: That it appertains to God alone, who has Suicide probibited by God, and to be punished in the sther World. fent us hither, not for our own Sakes only, but for his Glory, and the Service of our Fellow-creatures, to dismiss us when it shall best please him, and that we are not to dismiss ourselves: That we are not born for ourselves only, but for our Country also, to the Laws of which we are accountable, and by which there lies an Action against us for Murder: Or, if these fail to lay hold of us, we are to be punished in the other World, as Deferters from our Duty: Proxima deinde tenent masti loca, qui fibi lethum Projecere animas *. i. e. Next these the Bodies of those Men remain, There is much more Constancy in wearing the Chain by which we are bound, than in breaking it; and Regulus gave a greater Proof of Fortitude than Cato. 'Tis Indiscretion and Impatience that hurry us out of the World. True Virtue turns its Back to no Accidents. It feeks for Misfortune and Pain, as its Aliment. The Menaces of Tyrants, Racks, and Tortures animate and rouze it : Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus, * Virg. Æneid. lib. vi. v. 434s &c. + Hor. lib. iv. Ode 4. v. 57, 5. |