+ The Moderation and Brave ry of Fabricius.

rous + Inftance of Moderation than that of Fabricius. Pyrrhus tempted him with a Sum of Money to betray his

Country; and Pyrrbus his Phyfician offered Fabricius, for a Sum of Money, to poison his Mafter: But he was too brave, either to be overcome by Gold, or to overcome by Poifon; fo that he refused the Money, and advised Pyrrhus to have a Care of Treachery; and this too in the Heat of a licentious War; Fabricius valued himself upon his Poverty, and was as much above the Thought of Riches, as of Poifon. Live, Pyrrhus, fays he, by my Friendfhip; and turn that to thy Satisfaction, which was before thy Trouble, that is to fay, that Fabricius could not be corrupted..

Conftancy of Mind gives a Man Reputation, and makes him happy in defpite of all Misfortunes.

TH

HE whole Duty of Man may be reduced to the two Points of Abftinence, and Patience; Temperance in Profperity, and Courage in Adverfity. We have already treated of the former; and the other follows now in courfe.

*A wife Man is above Injuries.

EPICURUS will have it, that* a wife Man will bear all Injuries, but the Stoicks will not allow thofe things to be Injuries, which Epicurus calls fo. Now, betwixt thefe two, there is the fame Difference that we find betwixt two Gladiators; the one receives Wounds, but yet maintains his Ground; the other tells the People, when he it in blood, that 'tis but a Scratch, and will not fuffer any Body to part them. An Injury cannot be received, but it must be done: But it may be done, and yet not received, as a Man may be in the Water, and not íwim, but if he fwims, 'tis prefumed that he is in the Water. Or if a Blow, or a Shot be levelled at us, it

1-59 may fo happen that a Man may mifs his Aim, or fome Accident interpofe that may divert the Mischief. That which is hurt, is paffive, and inferior to that which hurts it; but you'll fay that Socrates was condemned, and put to Death, and fo received an Injury; but I answer, that the Tyrants did him an Injury, and yet he received none. He that teals any thing from me, and hides it in my own Houfe; though I have not loft it, yet he has stolen it. He that lies with his own Wife, and takes her for an other Woman; though the Woman be honeft, the Man is an adulterer. Suppofe a Man gives me a Draught of Poifon, and it proves not ftrong enough to kill me; his Guilt is never the lefs for the Difappointment. He that makes a Pafs at me, is as much a Murderer, though I put it by, as if he ftruck me to the Heart. It is the Intention, not the Effect that makes the Wickedness. He is a Murderer that has the Will of Killing, and. Slaying, before his Hand is dipt in Blood: As it is Sacrilege, the very Intention of laying violent Hands upon holy Things. ff a Philofopher be expofed to Torments, the Ax over His Head, his Body wounded, his Guts in his Hands, I vill allow him to groan; for Virtue itself cannot diveft liim of the Nature of Man; but if his Mind stand firm, he has difcharged his Part. A great Mind enables a Man to maintain his ftation with Honour; fo that he only makes ufe of what he meets in his way, as a Pilgrim that would fain be at his Journey's End.

A great Mind neither asks any thing, nor wants any thing.

Ir is the Excellency of a great Mind to afk nothing, and to want nothing; and to fay, I'll have nothing to do with Fortune, that repulfes Gato, and prefers Vatinius. He that quits his Hold, and accounts any thing good that is not honeft, runs gaping after Cafualties, fpends his Days in Anxiety, and vain Expectation: That Man is miferable. And yet 'tis hard, you'll fay, to be banished, or caft into Prifon; nay, what if it were to be burnt, or any other way deftroyed? We have Examples in all Ages, and in all Cafes, of great Men that have triumphed over all Misfor tanes. Metellus fuffered Exile refolutely; Rutilius chearfully. Socrates difputed in the Dungeon, and tho' he might have made his Escape, refufed it; to fhew the

World how easy a thing it was to fubdue the two great Terrors of Mankind, Death, and a Jail. Or whatfhall we fay of Mucius Scavola, a Man only of military Courage, and without the Help either of Philofophy or Letters: Who, when he found that he had kifled the Secretary, instead of Porfenna (the Prince) burned his right Hand to Afhes for the Miftake; and held his Arm in the Flame, 'till it was taken away by his very Enemies. Porfenna did more easily pardon Mucius for his Intent to kill him, than Mucius forgave himself for the miffing of his Aim. He might have done a luckier thing, but never a braver.

Cato's Confancy.

DID not Cato, in the last Night of his Life, take Plate to bed with him ; with his Sword at his Beds-head; the one that he might have Death at his Will, the other that he might have it in his Power; being refolved that no Man fhould be able to fay, either that he killed, or that he faved Cats? So foon as he had compofed his Thoughts, he took his Sword; Fortune, fays he, have hitherto fought for my Country's Liberty, and for my own, and only that I might live free among Freemen ; but the Caufe is now loft, and Cato fafe. With that Word he caft himfelf upon his Sword; and after the Physicians that preffed in upon him, had bound. up his Wound, he tore it open again, and fo expired with the fame Greatnefs of Soul that he lived. But these are the Examples, you'll fay, of Men famous in their Genera. tions. Let us but confult Hiftory, and we fhall find, even in the most effeminate of Nations, and the most diffolute of Times, Men of all Degrees, Ages and Fortunes; nay, even Women themfelves, that have overcome the Fear of Death: Which, in truth, is fo little to be feared, that daly confidered, it is one of the greatest Benefits in Nature. It was as great an Honour for Cato, when his Party was broken, that he himself stood his Ground, as it would have been if he had carried the Day, and fettled an univerfal Peace: For, it is an equal Prudence, to make the best of a bad Game, and to manage a good one. The Day he was repulfed, he played; and the Night that he killed himself, he read, as valuing the Loss of his Life, and the mifling of an Office at the fame Rate.

of

People, I know, are very apt to pronounce upon other Mens Infirmities, by the Measure of their own, and to think it impoffible, that a Man fhould be content to be burnt, wounded, killed, or fhackled tho' in some Cafes, he may. It is only for a great Mind to judge of great Things for other wife that which is our Infirmity will seem to be another Body's; as a straight Stick in the WaOF 18 ter appears to be crooked: He that yields, draws upon his own Head his own Ruin; for we are fure to get the better of Fortune, if we do not ftruggle with her. Fencers and Wreftlers we fee what Blows and Bruifes they endure, not only for Honour, but for Exercife. If we turn our Backs once we are routed, and purfued: That Man only is happy, that draws Good out of Evil; that fands falt in his Judgment, and unmoved with any external Violence: or however, fo little moved, that the keenelt Arrow in the Quiver of Fortune, is but as the Prick of a Needle to him, rather than a wound: And all her other Weapons fall upon him only as Hail upon the Roof of a Houfe, that crackles and skips off again, without any Damage to the lobabitant. A GENEROUS, and a clear fighted · young Man will take it for a Happinefs to encounter ill Fortune. nothing for a Maa to hold up his Head in a Calm; but to maintain his Poft when all others have quitted their Ground, and there to ftand upright, are beaten down, this is divine and praife worthy. What Ill is there in Torments, or in thofe Things which we commonly account grievous Croffes? The great Evil is the want of Courage, the bowing and fubmitting to them, which can never happen to a wife Man; for he ftands upright under any Weight nothing that is to be born difpleafes him; he knows his Strength: and whatsoever may be any Man's Lot, he never complains of, if it be his own. Nature, he fays, deceives no body; fhe does not tell us whether our Children fhall be fair, or foul: wife or foolish, good Subjects, or Traitors: nor wherber our Fortune.thall be good or bad. We mult not judge of a Man by his Ornaments; but strip him of all the Advan tages, and the Impoitures of Fortune; nay, of his very

It is

*The greatest

Evil in Adver. fity is the fubmitting to it.

where other Men

by Poison, which was all fo far from working upon his Mind, that it never fo much as altered his Countenance. We are to bear ill Accidents, as unkind Seasons, Di. ftempers, or Diseases; and why may we not reckon the Actions of wicked Men even among those Accidents ? Their Deliberations are not Counfels, but Frauds, Snares, and inordinate Motions of the Mind; and they are never without a thousand Pretences, and Occasions of doing a Man Mischief. They have their Informers, their Knights of the Polt; they can make an Interest with powerful Men, and one may be robbed as well upon the Bench, as upon the High-way. They lie in wait for Advantages, and live in perpetual Agitation, betwixt Hope and Fear; whereas he that is truly compefed, will stand all Shocks, either of Violences, Flatteries, or Menaces, without Perturbation. It is an inward Fear that makes us curious after what we hear abroad.

The works of Fortune areneither good nor e

vil:

IT is an Error to attribute either Good or Ill to Fortune: but the Matter of it we may; and we ourfelves are the Occafion of it, being, in Effect, the "Artificers of our own Happiness, or Mi→ fery: For the Mind is above Fortune; if that be evil, it makes every thing elfe fo too: But if it be right, and fincere, it corrects what is wrong, and mollifies what is hard, with Modesty and Courage. There is a great Difference among thofe that the World calls wfe Men. Some take up private Refolutions of Oppo fing Fortune, but they cannot go through with them; for they are either dazzled with Splendor on the one hand or affrighted with Terrors on the other. But there are others that will clofe, and grapple with Fortune, and ftill come off victorious Mucis overcame the Fire; Re-gulus the Gibbet; Socrates, Poifon; Rutilius, Banishment; Cato, Death; Fabricius, Riches; Tubers, Poverty; and Sextius, Honours. But there are fame again fo delicate, that they cannot fo much as bear à fcandalous Report; which is the fame thing as if a Man fhould quars. rel for being juftled in a Crowd, or dafhed as he walks in the Streets. He that has a great way to go, mußtexpect a Slip, to ftumble, and to be tired. To the luxuris ous Man, Frugality is a Punifhment; Labour and Induft.