Anglers thus books for greedy fifh prepare;

And filly beafts are driv'n into a fnare.

How to be truly generous would you know,

Something on me, for friendship sake, bestow.

(d) And caught themselves] Vid. Ep. 119. Valer. 1. 9. c. 4. Proculdubio hic non poffedit divitias, fed a divitiis poffeffus eft.--Plin. Ep. fup. cit. Ea invafit homines habendi cupido ut poffideri magis quam poffidere videantur. The thirst of gain is fo exceffive, that men seem to be possessed by their wealth, not to possess it.Bionys vetus diftum ad avarum, Ουκ ἔτὶς τὴν ἐσίαν κεκληται, Αλλ' ἡ ἐσία τῦτον. Sic D. Cyprian. ad donat. 1. 2. Vid. Not. ad Sidon. Apoll. p. 512.

(e) Or confide in yourself] I read this paffage with Gronovius, Aut ftatum rectus, aut temet tene. Remain firm in your place or flation, without being allured by any blandifhment of fortune; or, if you have been so already, check your pursuit, fo as fill to be master of yourself, and not fubject altogether to her caprice. So, the old French, Il faut donc fe contenter de chofes quò font bounes et certaines, ou plutôt de foi meme.-Muretus, Aut rectus fta, aut femel fuge.-Malherbe, Il faut favire tefte, ou s'enfuir.

(f) In good health.] Our divine precept runs much higher, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat; neither for the body what ye shall put on.-But rather feek ye the kingdom of God, and all things fall be added to you.

Matth. vi. 31.

(g) To the foul.] If thine eye offend thee pluck it out; Matth. 5. 19. ber what the Apostle faith, If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if,

And let Chriftians alfo rememthrough the Spirit, ye mortify the

deeds of the body, ye shall live. Rom. 8. 3. Therefore, says he, I keep under my body and bring it into Subjection. 1 Cor. 9. 27. And who indeed is the perfect man, faith St. James, but he that is able to bridle the whole body? 8. 2.

(b) But the foul] For what is a man profited, if he should gain the whole world, and lofe his own soul? or, what shall a man give in exchange for his foul? Matth. 16. 26.

(i) Perfect freedom] Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8. 32.-Stand faft in the liberty, wherewith Chrift hath made you free. Gal. 3. 1. If then the Son fhall make you free, ye fhall be free indeed. John 8. 56.-See Ep. 75. ad fin.

EPISTLE IX.

On Friendship; Self-Complacency, and Contentment.

Y OU defire, Lucilius, to know, whether Epicurus juftly reprimands thofe, who are pleased to affirm, that a wife man is fatisfied in himself, and confequently wants no friend. This is objected to by Epicurus against Stilpo, and all those who place their fummum bonum (or, chief good) in a certain

VOL. I.

E

indifference

indifference of foul. We cannot help being obfcure, while we endeavour to express the Greek aτáv (apathy) in one word, and call it impaffibility; for the contrary to what we mean may be understood thereby (a). We mean one, who denies any fenfe or feeling of any kind of evil; but it may likewife be understood of one, who cannot bear any kind of evil. Confider. therefore, whether we may not better define it, A foul invulnerable, or beyond the reach of fufferance. Now this is the difference, between us (Stoics,) and them, (the Epicureans.) Our wife man gets the better of every evil, but yet he feels it: whereas their wife man pretends not to feel it. In this however we agree, A wife man is contented and fatisfied in himself and yet, as fufficient as he is in himself, according to our tenets, he defires to have a friend, a neighbour, a companion. And as to the contentment we are fpeaking of, he is contented with a part, as it were, of himself: for fhould he have lost a hand by any difeafe, or by the fword of an enemy; or fuppofe, by fome accident, an eye; he is contented with that which is left; and will live as chearfully with his maimed body, as if it were entire. What is wanting, he will not figh for in vain; though at the fame time, no doubt, he had rather not want it. And thus is a wife man fatisfied in himself, not that he defires to have no friend, but he knows how to be content without one: I mean, he can bear the lofs of a friend patiently; though perhaps he will not be long without one; as it is in his power to repair the lofs when he pleafes. As when Phidias (b) hath loft, or difpofed of, a ftatue, he will fet about making another; fo the wife artift, in forming friendships, will fubftitute another friend in the room of him he hath loft. You may afk, perhaps, what method a man must take, fo foon to gain a friend? I will tell you, provided you accept of this in full payment of the debt I owe you in the epiftolary way.

Saith Hecaton, “I will difclofe to you an excellent philtre, without the use of love-powder, herb, or bewitching charm,—fi vis amari, ama; love, that you may be beloved (c)." Now, there is a pleafure, not only in the habit of a fure and lafting friendship, but alfo in the acquifition and beginning of a new one: the fame difference that is between the hufbandman, who hath got in his crop, and him that foweth, is there between him who hath got a friend, and him who is endeavouring to get one. Attalus, the philofopher, was wont to fay, Jucundius effe amicum facere, quàm habere; there

As the artist takes

is more pleafure in making a friend, than in having one. more delight in the act of painting, than in having painted: for why? that earnestness and anxiety with which he purfued his work, gives a more pleafing fenfation, than what he taftes in having finished his piece: he now enjoys indeed the fruit of his art, but while he was painting, he enjoyed the art itself: to have our children grown up, fuppofe to twenty years of age, may be of more fervice indeed; but their prattling infancy is fweeter and more entertaining. But to return to our purpofe

The wife man, I was faying, however fatisfied in himself, is yet defirous to have a friend; and for this reafon, was there no other; that fo great a virtue, as the exercife of friendship, may not lie dormant: not, as Epicurus fays (e) in the Epistle before me, that he may have a friend to comfort him on the bed of fickness, or relieve him, when poor, or in prifon; but that he may have fome one, on whom to display the like merciful difpofition, whether by comforting him in fickness, or delivering him from inimical durance. He thinks very wrong, who regards only himself, and makes self interest the ground of friendship: he will end as he begun: he profeffes to ferve his friend even in bonds, but as foon as he hears the clinking of the chain, deferts him. Thefe are what are commonly called temporary (f) friendships; which laft no longer than to ferve a turn. Hence the profperous are furrounded with a number of friends; while the wretched bemoan themselves in folitude: for then is the time of flight, when put to the trial. From whence we fee fo many fcandalous examples of friends, either deferting, or betraying one another through fear: whereas the end of friendship ought to correfpond with the beginning. He that hath undertook to be a friend, because it is expedient, or dreams of other gain than what naturally arifes from friendship, will never be true to the obligation, but will be tempted, upon the leaft view of intereft, to act contrary to the laws of friendship. To what purpofe then have I chofe a friend? Why, to have one whom I would ferve to the utmost in case of neceffity, would follow him into banishment; and for whofe life and prefervation I would expofe myself to danger and death (g). What pleafed to call friendship, is not friendship, but mere traffick (), having regard only to fome advantage that may accrue therefrom. No doubt, the affection of lovers hath fomething in it very like friendship: but it is still

E 2

you are

imperfect,

imperfect, and may be called a fort of infane friendship. Is it then founded on the views of profit, of ambition, or of glory? No; love of its own pure motive, neglectful of all other confiderations, incites the mind to the defire of beauty, not without hopes of mutual endearments. And what then? Does a vile affection fpring from, or form an alliance upon, a more honourable caufe? But this, you fay, is not the point in queftion; whether friendship is desirable merely upon its own account: for if fo, the man who is fatisfied in himself, may well accede thereto, as to the most lovely object; not allured by any hope of gain, or disheartened at any change of fortune. He detracts from the majesty of friendship, who enters upon it merely as a preservative against evil accidents. The wife man (dreads no accident, he) is satisfied in himself. But this quality, my Lucilius, is generally misinterpreted: men are apt to exclude the wife man from all community with the world; contracting him, as it were, within his own skin. It will be proper therefore to diftinguish, and explain what we mean, by Self-complacency.

Now, a wife man is fatisfied in himself, not merely with regard to life, but to his living happily: the former indeed wants many things, but the latter nothing more than a found, elevated mind, contemptuous of the power of fortune. Accept alfo of a nice diftinction (2) made by Chryfippus = he affirms, that a wife man can want nothing; yet many things are necessary for him on the contrary, A fool ftands not in need of any thing, for there is nothing he knows how to use; but he wants every thing. The wife man stands in need of eyes and hands, and other requifites for daily ufe; but he wants nothing; for to want is to be neceffitous; but a wife man is a Aranger to neceffity. However fatisfied therefore he may be in himself; he may ftill make use of a friend; nor does he act against principle, if he defires more than one; not that he thereby may live happily, for he can be happy without a friend. The fummum bonum seeks not any external provifion, it is maintained within, and is entire in itfelf; if it looks out for any foreign acceffion, it becomes fubject to the caprice of fortune. But what fort of life muft a wife man lead, when, without a friend, he is cast into prifon, or left deftitute in a foreign country, or is detained in a long voyage by contrary winds, or caft afhore upon a defert ifland? Why as Jupiter, (when, at the conflagration of the world, all the reft of the gods.

are:

are confounded, in the wreck of nature,) will acquiefce in himself, taken up entirely with his own ideas: fomewhat like this is a wife man difpofed, through life he is collected within himfelf: there he dwells and notwithstanding, fo long as it is in his power, he orders, and bufies himfelf with, worldly affairs, he is contented in himfelf; he marries a wife, ftill. contented; he brings up his children, ftill contented; and perhaps had rather not live at all, than live without a companion: it is not however with a view to advantage, that invites him to cultivate friendship (), but a fort of instinct, or natural inclination: there is a certain innate fweetness in friendship; as folitude is generally odious and distasteful, the defire of fociety is pleasant and agreeable: as nature ingratiates man with man, fuch. is our incitement to friendship. The wife man however, though he proves the most affectionate of friends, to fuch as he hath acquired, nay, though. he equals, and fometimes prefers them to himself, yet terminates all good. in himself, and affumes the words of Stilpo (m); that Stilpo, whom Epicurus here attacks in the Epiftle before me; and whom (when his country. was taken, and he had loft his children, and his dearer wife, and had escaped from the flames, alone; and yet seemed happy,) being asked by Demetrius Policrates (fo called from his having deftroyed many towns). whether he had loft any thing; No, fays he, all the goods I have I carry with me. Behold a truly brave and great man; he is victorious over victory itfelf. I have left nothing, fays he: he makes Demetrius even doubt of his conqueft:. I carry every thing with me, viz. justice, virtue, temperance, prudence, and the disposition, to think nothing to be really good that can be taken from: We admire some animals in that they can pafs through fire without detriment: how much more admirable is this philofopher, who without lofs or harm, made his way, through fire, fword, and ruin! You fee how much easier it is to conquer a whole nation than one man..

us.

The like noble fentiment and language holds the Stoic (n). Ile carries his all, undamaged, through a city on fire; for he is contented in himself; and under this character rates his happiness. Yet think not that the Stoics: alone fling out. fuch generous expreffions; even Epicurus, who is here reprimanding Stilpo, fays fomething not diffimilar thereto; which I beg your acceptance of, though I had before paid you the debt of the day.- Si cui fua non videntur ampliffima, licet totius mundi dominus fit, tamen mifer eft. 4 If