die, hath unlearned to be a flave. Death is above every power upon earth at least beyond it. What is a prifon, or guards, or bars, to him? The paffage is ftill free and open (d): but there is a strong chain, which still binds us down; the love of life (e): which as it is not to be thrown off at once, may yet be eased and leffened; that, when an exigency requires, nothing may detain or hinder us from being prepared, and ready to fubmit to that which we must one day certainly undergo. ANNOTATIONS, &c. (a) This I think every one will give him credit for who is converfant in his writings. According to Menander, (b) Subduci] Εἴ τ ̓ ἀλλ ̓ ἀφαιρειν ὁ πολύς εν ώθε χρόνος Ημόν τό με φρονεῖν ασφαλεστερον ποιεί. Of whate'er elfe depriv'd by length of time, Wifdom we find as firm as in its prime. M. Senectus leniter emittit, non repente avulfum vitæ, fed minutatim fubductum. Ep. 33. (N. g.)-According to THE OLD MAN'S WISH in Dryden's Mifcell. III. 178. May I govern my paffion with an abfolute fway, And grow wifer and better as my strength wears away, (c) But with me it is a very fmall thing, fays St. Paul, that I fhould be judged of you or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not my own felf. 1 Cor. 4. 3. (d) According to the Stoical doctrine, (too) often repeated. But fee Ep. 24, &c. but particularly Ep. 70. (e) But there is a strong chain] Sc. the love of life;-Amor vitæ, qui non eft abjiciendus.—But confider, O Chriftian, how much stronger is the chain that binds thee down; however painful it may be at prefent to endure it, viz. the will of God. "That it is the intention of the Deity we should remain in this state of being 'till his fummons calls us away feems as evident, as that we at firft entered into it by his good pleasure; for we can no more continue, than we could begin to exift without the concurrence of the fame fupreme interpofition. Fitzofborne's Lett. 13. EPISTLE EPISTLE XXVII. .66 Virtue only is fecure. You fay, Lucilius, that I may well take upon me to advise you; forafmuch as having corrected myself, I am now at leisure to attend the amendment of others. No, my friend, I am not fo vain or unjust, as, being fick myself, to pretend to cure others (a); but, as lying in the fame infirmary, I am talking to you of our common illness, and communicating with you fuch remedies, as I think will be of fervice. Suppose me then, to admit you into my privacy, and thus, in your prefence, expoftulate with myself. "Number your years, Seneca, and you will be ashamed to defire, and be hunting after, those things, "wherein you delighted when a child (b). And be it your particular "care on this fide the grave, that your vices may all die before you. Forego thofe turbulent and dear-bought pleasures, that hurt, not only before, but after enjoyment; as crimes though not found out "when perpetrated, ftill carry anxiety with them: all unlawful pleafures are attended with remorfe: there is no folidity in them; nor any thing worthy of confidence; even though they hurt not, they "foon pafs and are gone. Look out rather for fomething more fub"stantial and lafting: but alas! there is no fuch thing, except what "the mind can find within itfelf: virtue only can give perpetual joy " and fecurity (c); whatever may seem to obstruct it, passeth over like a cloud, which for a moment darkens, but cannot hide the day. O, "when shall I enjoy fo great happiness! You have not indeed been "idle, Seneca; but this is not enough; you must ftill exert yourself; "a great deal remains to be done: confequently you must be vigilant, "and fpare no pains, as you expect fuccefs. This depends upon your"self; it is an affair that accepts of no delegate, nor admits of any "affistance, as in other kinds of learning," which puts me in mind of Calvifus 4 Calvijus Sabinus; one, who, in our memory, was rich, having a free and gentleman-like patrimony, and understanding; but I never saw a man fo ridiculously happy. He had fo treacherous a memory, that he often forgot the names of Ulyffes, Achilles, and Priam; names, which every well-educated man remembers as well as we do our firft fchoolmafters. No old Nomenclator, who is apt to impofe upon his master with a falfe name, ever made fuch blunders, as when he pretended to talk of the Greeks and Romans. And yet he affected to be thought a profound fcholar (d). He took therefore this compendious method; he bought servants at an extravagant price; one who understood Homer; another, who was mafter of Hefiod; and to the nine lyric poets, he affigned a several fervant. You need not wonder at his great expence, for if he could not find fuch as were fuitable at hand, he placed them out to be instructed, and duly qualified: and having thus made up his family, he was continually making entertainments, and impertinently troubling his guests with his fecond-hand learning; for he had always fome one at his feet to prompt him every now and then with verses, which endeavouring to repeat, he would often break off in the middle of a line or word. Whereupon Satellius Quadratus, a fmell-feast, or sharker on fuch fools, and who confequently was a jefter, and, as it generally follows, a fcoffer, advised him one day to hire fome Grammarians as his fcrap-gatherers, or remembrancers: when Sabinus told him that every servant he had stood him in an hundred pounds; "you might have bought, fays he, for lefs money, fo many cafes of books," as he took it in his head that he knew all that any of the family knew, or was contained in his house. The fame Satellius therefore would fain have perfuaded him, to enter himself in the lift of wreftlers, thin, pale, and fickly as he was. And when Sabinus anfwered, "how is that poffible, when I am fcarce alive?” "Never mind that, fays Satellius, do you not fee what strong and brawny fervants you have got?-A good understanding is not to be hired or purchafed; and I really think was it put to fale, there would be but few bidders; whereas a bad one is often pur.chafed, and paid dearly for. But But take what I owe you, and farewell; Divitiæ funt, ad legem naturæ, compofita paupertas; Poverty fettled by the law of nature, is wealth (e). This Epicurus often repeats: but that cannot be faid too often, which is fcarce ever learned. It is enough to point out remedies to fome, while others require them to be frequently applied. (a) Ye will furely fay unto me this Proverb, Physician, heal thyfelf. Luk. 4. 23. AλλWY IαTÇÒÍ AUTOS ŠAKETI CRUWV.—Etenim qui multorum cuftodem fe profitetur, cum fapientes fui primum aiunt cuftodem effe oportere. Cic.-Erafm. 2. 5. 38.-4. 4. 32. (b) When I was a child, I spake as a child, I reafon'd as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things. 1 Cor. 13. 11. (c) See Epp. 23. (N. e) 72. 92. Sen. de Beat. Vit. c. 3. Lipf. Manud. III. Diff. 5. And in Sacred Writ, Wisdom speaking of herself says, Whofo hearkeneth unto me shall dwell fafely, and shall be quiet from fears of evil. Prov. 1. 13. You think it ftrange, Lucilius, and as happening to yourself alone, that after fo long a journey, and the vifiting fo many different places, you could not throw off your chagrin and melancholy difpofition. The mind must be changed for this purpose, and not the climate (a). Tho' you cross the ocean; tho' (as our Virgil fays) terræque urbefque recedant (b). Whitherfoever you fly, your vices will still follow. Socrates, to one complaining after the fame manner, fays, "Why do you wonder that travelling does you no good, when, go where you will, you carry your Self /3 felf along with you? The fame caufe, that fent you out, lies still at heart. What can the novelty of foreign lands avail? what the knowledge of divers cities and countries? It is all a fruitlefs labour. And do you afk, why this your flight is to fo little purpofe? It is because, as Socrates faid, you cannot fly from yourself. The mind's burthen must be left behind, or you will no where find complacency and delight. your condition fuch as Virgil gives his prophetefs. When roused and instigated, she is replete with spirit not her own ; Think Bacchatur vates, magnum fi pectore poffit You travel here and there to shake off the inward load; which by fuch agitation only becomes more troublesome. As in a ship, a burthen that is fixed and immoveable, ftrains it the lefs; while fuch as are moveable are apt to fink the fide to which they roll, by their unequal preffure. In every thing you do, you are still acting against yourself. The very motion cannot but hurt you; it is fhaking a fick man. Get rid of this internal evil, and every change of place will be agreeable. Though you are driven to the utmost parts of the earth, or confined to fome corner in a strange land; be what it will, you may ftill find entertainment. It matters not where you come, but what fort of man, you come thither. The mind is not to be devoted to any particular place. We must live in the world under this perfuafion. I am not born for one corner of it more than another; the whole is my native country. Was this manifeft to you, you would be no longer furprized at not finding any benefit from the difference of place, when weary of one you fly to another. For the firft would have pleafed you, if you had thought it your own. You do not travel, but wander, and are driven about from place to place; whereas what you are in search of, a good life, is to be found any where. where. What place can be more turbulent, than the Forum? yet if you was obliged to live there, even there might you find tranquillity: not but that a man, if he was at his own difposal, would fly as far as poffible from the fight, and much more from the neighbour |