whole life. But it should then have been considered what degree it was he challenged in his own profession. That will easily be understood by what he grants in this particular of philosophy, which he would not grant, and implies he would not, in his own profession of oratory. He says he would yield many a skill in philosophy beyond his. He therefore implies that in oratory he would not do so, at least not to many. [Trinity College, 1832.]

42. THE greatness of Rome was founded on the rare, and almost incredible, alliance of virtue and of fortune. The long period of her infancy was employed in a laborious struggle against the tribes of Italy, the neighbours and enemies of the rising city. In the strength and ardour of youth, she sustained the storms of war; carried her victorious arms beyond the seas and the mountains; and brought home triumphant laurels from every country of the globe. At length, verging towards old age, and sometimes conquering by the terror only of her name, she sought the blessings of ease and tranquillity. The Venerable City, which had trampled on the necks of the fiercest nations; and established a system of laws, the perpetual guardians of justice and freedom; was content, like a wise and wealthy parent, to devolve on the Cæsars, her favourite sons, the care of governing her ample patrimony. A secure and profound peace, such as had been once enjoyed in the reign of Numa, succeeded to the tumults of a republic; while Rome was still adored as the queen of the earth; and the subject nations still reverenced the name of the people, and the majesty of the senate. [Magdalene College Scholarships, 1832.]

43. THE ancient Romans were very jealous of their

liberty; but how exact soever they might be in ordinary cases, yet when any of their citizens seemed to have a design of making himself king, they either created a dictator to suppress or destroy him, or else the people proceeded against him in a summary way. By the Portian law no citizen could be put to death for any crime whatsoever; yet such regard did the Romans pay to justice, even above the law, that, when the Campanian legion had perfidiously broke in upon Rhegium, and pillaged it, they put them all to death for it. In the famous case of Catiline's conspiracy, as the evidence was clear, and the danger extreme, the accomplices in it were executed, notwithstanding the Portian law and this was done by the order of the Senate, without either hearing them make their own defence, or admitting them to claim the right which the Valerian law gave them, of an appeal to the people. Yet that whole proceeding was chiefly directed by the two greatest asserters of public liberty that ever lived, Cato and Cicero ; and Cæsar, who opposed it on pretence of its being against the Portian law, was for that reason suspected of being in the conspiracy: it appeared afterwards, how little regard he had either to law or liberty, though upon this occasion he made use of the one, to protect those who were in a plot against the other.

[Classical Tripos, 1832.]

44. I HAVE always been a very great lover of your speculations, as well in regard to the subject as to your manner of treating it. Human nature I always thought the most useful object of human reason; and to make the consideration of it pleasant and entertaining, I always thought the best employment of human wit: other parts

of philosophy may perhaps make us wiser, but this not only answers that end, but makes us better too. Hence it was that the oracle pronounced Socrates the wisest of all men living, because he judiciously made choice of human nature for the object of his thoughts; an inquiry into which as much exceeds all other learning, as it is of more consequence to adjust the true nature and measures of right and wrong, than to settle the distances of the planets, and compute the time of their circumvolutions. [Chancellor's Medals, 1832.]

45. No man is so much open to conviction as the idler; but there is none on whom it operates so little. The drunkard, for a time, laughs over his wine-the ambitious man triumphs in the miscarriage of his rival; but the captives of indolence have neither superiority nor merriment. 'Tis not only in the slumber of sloth, but in the dissipation of ill-directed industry, that the shortness of life is generally forgotten. As some men lose their hours in laziness, because they suppose that there is time for the reparation of neglect; others busy themselves in providing that no length of life may want employment; and it often happens, that sluggishness and activity are equally surprised by the last summons, and perish not more differently from each other, than the fowl that received the shot in her flight, from her that is killed upon the bush. Idleness can never secure tranquillity; the call of reason and of conscience will pierce the closest pavilion of the sluggard, and, though it may not have force to drive him from his down, will be loud enough to hinder him from sleep. Those moments which he cannot resolve to make useful, by devoting them to the great business of his being, will still be

usurped by powers that will not leave them to his disposal: remorse and vexation will seize upon them, and forbid him to enjoy what he is so desirous to appropriate. [St John's College Fellowships, 1832.]

46. We have hitherto seen this great people, by slow degrees, rising into power, and, at length, reigning without a rival. We have hitherto seen all the virtues which give strength and conquest, progressively, entering into the state, and forming a mighty empire. From this time forward, we are to survey a different picture; a powerful state, giving admission to all the vices that tend to divide, enslave, and, at last, totally destroy society. This seems to be the great period of Roman power; their conquests afterwards might be more numerous, and their dominions more extensive; but their extension was rather an increase of glory than of strength. For a long time, even after the admission of their vices, the benefits of their former virtues continued to operate; but their future triumphs rather spread their power, than increased it; they rather gave it surface than solidity. They now began daily to degenerate from their ancient modesty, plainness, and severity of life. The triumphs and the spoils of Asia brought in a taste for splendid expense, and these produced avarice and inverted ambition; so that from henceforward the history seems that of another people. [Trinity College Scholarships, 1832.]

47. THE stream of time passed rapidly, and the inspiring hopes of triumph disappeared, but the austerer glory of suffering remained; with a firm heart he accepted that gift of a severe fate, and confiding in the strength of his genius, disregarded the clamours of presumptuous

ignorance; opposing sound military views to the foolish projects so insolently thrust upon him by the ambassador, he conducted a long and arduous retreat with sagacity, intelligence, and fortitude. No insult could disturb, no falsehood deceive him, no remonstrance shake his determination; fortune frowned without subduing his constancy; death struck, and the spirit of the man remained unbroken, when his shattered body scarcely afforded it a habitation. Having done all that was just towards others, he remembered what was due to himself. Neither the shock of the mortal blow, nor the lingering hours of acute pain, which preceded his dissolution, could quell the pride of his gallant heart, or lower the dignified feeling with which, conscious of merit, he asserted his right to the gratitude of the country he had served so truly. [St John's College, 1832.]

48. ONE of the strongest incitements to excel in such arts and accomplishments as are in the highest esteem among men, is the natural passion which the mind of man has for glory; which, though it may be faulty in the excess of it, ought by no means to be discouraged. Perhaps some moralists are too severe in beating down this principle, which seems to be a spring implanted by nature to give motion to all the latent powers of the soul, and is always observed to exert itself with the greatest force in the most generous dispositions. The men whose characters have shone the brightest among the ancient Romans, appear to have been strongly animated by this passion. Cicero, whose learning and services to his country are so well known, was inflamed by it to an extravagant degree, and warmly presses Lucceius, who was composing a history of those times, to be very par