courts of justice are as ufually fhut up, in order to read them to fome of my friends at fupper; and accordingly I placed a def before each of my guests. But as I happened that morning to be unexpectedly called away to attend a cause, I took occafion to preface my recital with an apology. I intreated my audience not to impute it to me as any want of due regard for the bufinefs to which I had invited them, that on the very day I had appropriated to read my performances to fome of my friends (though indeed but few), I did not abstain from ferving others in the affairs of the bar. I affured them the lake appear confiderably lefs, till at laft uniting in the centre they restore it to its ufual fize. The fheep which graze upon the borders of this lake, frequently go upon thefe iflands to feed, without perceiving that they have left the fhore, til they are alarmed by finding themfelves furrounded with water; and in the fame manner when the wind drives them back again, they return without being fenfible that they are landed. This lake empties itself into a river, which after running a little way finks under ground, and if any thing is thrown in brings it up again where the ftream emerges.-I have given you this account becaufe II would obferve the fame rule in my imagined it would not be lefs new nor lefs agreeable to you than it was to me; as I know you take the fame pleasure as myfelf in contemplating the works of nature. Farewel. LETTER CXIV. To Arrianus. NOTHING, in my opinion, gives a more amiable and becoming grace to our ftudies, as well as our manners, than to temper gravity with gaiety, left the former fhould degenerate into auflerenefs, and the latter run up into levity. Upon this maxim it is that I diverfify my more ferious works with compofitions of a lighter nature. I had chofen a convenient place and feafon for fome productions of that fort to make their appearance in; and defigning to accuftom them early to the tables of the idle, I fixed upon the month of July *, when the The months of July and Auguft was a time of vacation to the Roman lawyers, the courts of justice being then shut up, that the farmers might not be interrupted in their harvest, by being obliged to attend their law fuits at Rome. writings, and should always give the preference to points of importance before thofe of entertainment; to ferious fubjes before gay ones; and to my friends before myfelf. The poems I recited confitted of a variety of fubjects, in different measures. It is by fuch arts as thefe we, who date not rely upon the fingle force of our genius, endeavour ta avoid giving our readers fatiety. In compliance with the earneft folicitation of my audience, I recited for two days fucceflively; but not in the manner that feveral practife, by paffing over the lefs fhining paffages, and making a merit of fo doing; on the contrary, I omitted nothing, and freely owned that I did not. whole; which it is impoffible thofe who I read the whole that I might correct the only felect particular paffages fhould de The latter method, indeed, may have the haps refpect; but the former thews greater more appearance of modefty, and perfimplicity, as well as more affection towards the audience. For the belief that him, as not to be weary upon thefe occaa man's friends have fo much regard to fons, is a fure indication of his own lore for them. To fly the truth, one has little obligation to an audience, if they affemble merely with a view to their own entertainment. He who had rather find his friend's performance correct, than rake it to, is to be confidered as a tran ger, or one who is too indolent to give himfelf any trouble. Your affection for me leave me no room to doubt that you are impatient to read my book: which is yet, however, not ripe for your perufa!. You thall do fo when I have corrected it; which was indeed the defign of my recital. You are already ac quainted quainted with fome parts of it; but even thofe after they have been polifhed (or perhaps fpoiled as is fometimes the cafe by too frequent corrections) will feem new to you. For when a compofition has undergone various changes, it contracts an air of novelty even in those parts which remain unaltered. Farewel. LETTER CXV. To Geminius. HAVE you never obferved a fort of people, who, though they are themfelves under the abject dominion of every vice, thew a kind of malicious refentment againft the errors of others; and are most fevere upon those whom they moft refemble yet furely a lenity of difpofition, even in perfons who have the leaft occafion for clemency themfelves, is of all other virtues the most becoming. The higheft of all characters, in my eftimation, is his, who is as ready to pardon the errors of mankind as if he were every day guilty of fome himself; and at the fame time as cautious of committing a fault as if he never forgave one. It is a rule then which we fhould upon all occafions both private and public moft religiously obferve," to be inexorable to our own "failings, while we treat thofe of the "reft of the world with tenderness, not excepting even fuch as forgive none "but themselves;" remembering always what the humane, and, therefore, as well as upon other accounts, the great Thrafea fed frequently to fay: "He who hates vice, hates mankind." You will ak me, perhaps, who it is that has given occafion to these reflections? You must know a certain perfon lately-but of that when we meet-though, upon fecond thoughts, not even then, left wt I condemn and expose his conduct, I should aft counter to that maxim I particularly recommend. Whoever therefore, and whatever he is, fhall remain in flence; for though there may be fome uie, perhaps, in fetting a mark upon the man for the fake of example; there wil be more, however, in fparing him for the fake of humanity. Farewel. 46 LETTER CXVI. To Marcellinus. THE deep concern I am under for the death of Junius Avitus, has rendered me incapable of bufinefs, ftudy, or amufement. He was invefted with the laticlave in my houfe; as in all the honours he folicited he was constantly affifted by my intereft. I will add too, his affection and efteem for me were fo great that he formed his manners and regulated his conduct by my guidance and direction; a difpofition extremely uncommon in the youth of this age; for who among them will deign to fubmit to the experience and authority of their fu periors? They think themfelves at once in full poffeffion of all wisdom and knowledge; and without revering or imitating the virtues of any, imagine they are a fufficient example to themselves. Avitus was of a far different turn; he fhewed his wifdom in believing there were fome who had more; and difcovered his knowledge in his defire to learn. He was ever confulting his friends upon fome point relating to his ftudies or his conduct; and he always returned from them with advantage, either by the advice he received, or the difpofition he fhewed. With what refpect did he treat Servi. anus, one of the most accomplished men of the age? Avitus knew how to value fuch uncommon merit, as well as to endear himself to him in his turn. Accordingly, when Servianus went lieutenant from Germany into Pannonia, he at tended him as tribune, not fo much in the character of his fellow-officer, as of his friend and admirer. With what care and integrity did he execute the office of qua for under feveral confals, who all eteemed him, not only as an ufeful and experienced oficer, but as a pleasing and agreeable companion? With what incultry and application did he folicit tais very adieiip†, from the enjoyment of which Aymave province, compreending part of Auto, Huopay, det + The zun went at få two officers chob our of the body of the commun, is under to f is the flape of home su part of stir ufice, the star of stuck with which he is now prematurely fnatched? A reflection that gives a peculiar poignancy to my affliction for the lofs of him. Hunavailing labours, his fruitlofs folicitations, and the honour which he merited only, not enjoyed, are for ever in my thoughts. The circumitance of his having firft put on the laticlave under my roof, the first and the laft fuffrage I ever gave him; the converfations we have had, and the confultations we have held, all return fresh upon my mind. I am ftruck with the most tender forrow when 1 confider his youth, and reflect upon the irreparable lois his family has futiained; an aged parent, a young wife to whom he had not been married much above a year, an infant daughter juft born, fo many plea hopes, fo many tender joys, all rerved and deftroyed in one day! When he was just clected ædile, when he was lately commenced a bridegroom, when he was newly made a father, ne was taken from the midst of thefe enjoyments, and has left behind him an honour untafted, a mother inconfolable, a widowed wife, and an orphan infant, who will have the misfortune of never having known her father! But what increafes my tears upon this melancholy occution is, that being ablent when this accident happened, I never knew of his ficknes, till I heard of his death, and had no time to prepare myfelf for this cruel firole, by previously apprehending it! Sach is the prefent ditreis of my mind! You muit not wonder then that it is the whole fubject of my letter; for I am not able at prefent to think or talk of any thing elfe. Farewel. LETTER CXVII. To Ilaximus. THE friendinip i profefs to have for you, oblige me, not indeed to direct you (for you are or above tae want of a guide), but to remind you, however, of what you already know, and to admonith you carely to oblerve and refolutely put it in practice; that is, in other words, to know it to all the more utcul purpotes of knowledge. You will confider your determine ca es relating to the felling or exchanging of eftats, to imporvife the public ftores of corn, and other provisions, &c. Ken. Antiq. p. 1.6.117. felf as fent to that noble province, Achaia, the real and genuine Greece, where politencfs, learning, and even agriculture itfelf, are fuppofed to have taken their firit rife; as fent to govern a ftate compofed of free cities; that is, to a fociety of men who breathe the fpirit of true manhood and liberty; who maintained the right they received from nature, by courage, by virtue, by alliances; in a word, by civil and religious faith. You will revere the gods and heroes their founders; you will refpect their ancient glory, and even their very age, which as it is venerable in men, in ftates it is facred. You will honour them therefore for their antiquity, and for those famous 66 It is remarkable, that even after Greece was abforbed in the Roman empire, and became "a province to it under the name of Achaia, it did not lofe with its power and fovereignty that lively fente and love of liberty which was the "peculiar character of that people, amongst whom "the arts were produced and brought to perfec❝tion. The Romans, when they had fubdued "Greece, left that generous, brave, polite people, "in poffeflion of many of their rights and privi"leges. And they maintain fuch an ardent J zeal for liberty, that, to name no other instances "of it, when the civil wars happened in Italy, the "Athenians very warmly elpoufed the party of "Pompey, who fought for the republic; and "after Cæfar was killed, they erected itatues in "honour of Brutus and Cafiius near to thofe of "Harmo lius and Ariftog ton, their ancient de"liverers. It wa, hence Greece, Athens in par"ticular, after it was very much fallen and dege"nerated, continued fill to be the metropolis of "fciences, the fchool of all the fine arts, the "standard and centre of good tafle in all works of "genius, to Cicero's time and long afterwards; "intomuch that Rome fent its most luftrious "youth to be perfected there in polite literature, 66 cloquence, philofophy, and all the ingenious arts "and fciences; and the emperors who loved "learning, if they could not go to Greece and become fcholars there, as fome of them did, "brought Greece to them by inviting and re ceiving into the'r palaces its most celebrated "profeffors and artifts, and even entrusting the "education of their children with Greek mafters. Now their continuing to excel in the arts and "fciences, to what eife can it be attributed but to this, that with fome fmall remains of liberty, they retained the fpirit of liberty, the love of it, and zeal for it? It was indeed in confequence of this alone, that they maintained in "fome degree, even till Italy was quite over-run "with barbarifm, a fovereignty the Romans could "not take from them; a fovereignty in fcience, ❝arts, and good taste. Tis impoffible to account "for it in any other way: they preferved the arts "in a very great degree, because they retained the "pirit of liberty in a very extraordinary one." Turnbull on ancient Painting, p. 100. deeds which are truly, nay for those which are fabulously recorded of them. You will indulge them in the full exercife of their dignity, their privileges, and even their very vanity. Remember it was from this nation we derived our laws *; that she did not receive ours by conqueft, but gave us hers by favour. Remember it is Athens that you approach; it is Lacedæmon you govern; and to deprive fuch a glorious people of the declining fhadow, the remaining name of liberty, would be a hardship, would be even a barbarity of the fevereft kind. Phyficians, you fee, though with refpect to difeafes there is no difference between freedom and flavery, yet treat perfons of the former rank with more tenderness than thofe of the latter. Reflect on the noble figure thefe cities once made; but fo reflect, as not to defpife them for what they now are. Far be pride and afperity from my friend; nor fear, by a proper condefcenfion, to lay yourself open to contempt. Can he who is vefted with the power and bears the enfigns of authority, can he fail of meeting with refpect, unlefs by purfuing bafe and fordid meafures, and firit breaking through that awful reverence he owes to himself? Ill, believe me, is power experienced by injuries; il can terror command veneration, and far more prevalent is affection in obtaining one's defires, than fear. For terror operates no longer than its object is prefent, but love produces its effects at a distance; and as abfence changes the former into hatred, it raises the other into refpect. It behoves you therefore, (and I cannot but repeat it again) it behoves you thoroughly to confider the end of your office, and to reprefent to yourfelf how great and important the task is of governing a free state. For what is more becoming to human nature than well ordered government, or more valua About the year of Rome 300, that is, 452 years before Chrift, amballadors were fent into Greece to make a collection of fuch laws and cuftons as the wisdom of that polite people had eftablished, particularly the famous ones of Solon. At their return, thefe laws were approved and confirmed, and, together with feme additional ones, were engraven on ten tables of brafs. Two other tables of laws were foon afterwards added to thefe, which, together with the former, went by the name of the twelve tables, and were looked upon as the fountain of all law, public and private. Liv. l. 3. 6.31, Ferriere Hift. des Loix civ. c. 5• ble than liberty? How ignominious then muft his conduct be, who turns the first into confufion, and the latter into flavery? To thefe confiderations let me add, that you have an established reputation to maintain: the fame you acquired by the administration of the quaeftorship in Bithynia †, the good opinion of the emperor, the credit you obtained when you were tribune and prætor, in a word, this very government, which may be looked upon as the reward of your former fervices, are all fo many glorious weights which are incumbent upon you to fupport. So much the more therefore ought you to endeavour that it may not be faid, you fhewed greater humanity, integrity, and ability in a province remote from Rome, than in one which lies nearer to it; in the midst of a nation of flaves, than among a free people; that it may not be faid it was chance, and not judgment, appointed you to this office; that your character was unknown and unexperienced, not tried and approved. For (and it is a maxim which your reading and converfation must have often fuggefted to you) it is far worse to lose the fame one has acquired, than never to have attained it. I again beg you would be perfuaded, that I did not write this letter with a defign to inftruct, but to remind you. Though indeed if I had, it would have only been in confequence of my affection for you: a point which I am in no apprehenfion of carrying beyond its juft limits: for there cannot be any danger of excefs where we ought to advance as far as poffible. Farewel, LETTER CXVIII. YOUR request that I would write to you very frequent and very long letters, is extremely agreeable to me. If I have forborne to do fo, it is partly in confideration of the important affairs in which you are employed; and partly from fome very cold and uninteresting engagements of my own, which diffipate my thoughts, and at the fame time damp my imagination. Befides, I have not a fufficient fupply of matter for frequent A province in Anatolia, or Afia the lefs. N 4 letters letters; and am by no means in the fame fituation that Tully was, whom you point out to me as an example. He not only poffeffed a moft enlarged genius, but the circumftances of the times wherein he lived furnished him with a variety of noble occations of exercising it. As for myself, you know (without my telling you) to what narrow limits I am confined, unless my letters were to turn upon the fictitious and pedantic topics of the fchools. But when I confider you in the midst of arms and encampments, inflamed with martial mufic, or fatigued with toil and heat, how abfurd would it be to talk to you upon fuch fubjects? This is my apology, and I think a reasonable one; however, I almost wish you would not accept it for to reject the excufes of a friend upon fuch an occafion, be they ever so just, is an evident proof of a warm affection. Farewel. M LETTER CXIX. To Paulinus. LETTER CXX. To Tiro. YOU are to be highly applauded for the mildnefs with which, as I am informed (and I make very strict enquiry), you adminifter juice in your province; one principal branch of which is to diftinguith merit in every degree, and fo to gain the love of the lower rank, as to preferve at the fame time the affection of their fuperiors. But it is an error many have fallen into, that while they endeavour to avoid the appearance of favouring the great, they run into the contrary extreme, and gain the character of acting with ill manners or ill nature. A mistake this, which you are far from committing, I well know however, I cannot forbear throwing in a caution with my applaufe, and recommending it to you, to conduct yourfelf in fuch a manner as to keep up the diftinction of rank and dignity. For to level and confound the different orders of mankind, is far from producing an equality among them; it is, in truth, the most unequal thing imaginable. Fare wel. LETTER CXXI. HAVE spent thefe feveral days paft in ANKIND differ in their notions of happiness; but in my opinion it confifts in the anticipation of an honelt fame, and the confcious fecurity of making a glorious figure in the eyes of pofterity. I confefs if I had not the reward of an I immortal reputation in view, I should my ftudy with the most pleafing tranprefer a life of uninterrupted eafe and quillity imaginable. You will af how retirement to any other. There feem to that can poñibly be in the midst of Rome! be but two points worthy our attention; It was the time of celebrating the Circeneither the endlefs duration of fame, or fan games; an entertainment for which the fhort extent of life. Thofe who are I have not the leaft tafte. They have no governed by the former confideration, novelty, no variety to recommend them, muft purfue it with the full exertion of nothing in fhort, one would wish to fee the moft laborious efforts; while fuch as twice. It is the more furprising thereare influenced by the latter fhould quietly fore, that fo many thoufand people fhould refign themfelves to repofe, nor wear be poffeffed with the childish paffion of out a fhort life in perishable perfuits: as defiring often to fee a parcel of horfes fome, we may obferve, do, and then fink gallop, and men ftanding upright in their at lait into contempt, in the midst of a chariots. If indeed it were the iwiftwretched and fruitles courfe of falte in- nefs of the horfes, or the fkill of the men, duftry. These are my daily reflections, that attracted them, there might be fome which I communicate to you, in order to little pretence of reafon on their fide. But renounce them if you do not join with me in the fame fentiinents: as undoubtedly you will, who are for ever meditating fome glorious and immortal enterprife. Farewel. Thefe games were originally of Grecian er traction, but firft introduced among the Romans by Romulus, in order to favour his defign of carrying off the Subine virgins: they contified of harte and chariot ract 3 |