The Stoic afterwards told Marcellinus, "that it would "not be indecent, as what is left on our tables, when "we have dined, is given to the waiters, fo, life being "ended, to diftribute fomething to thofe who have "been our fervants." Now Marcellinus was of a free and liberal fpirit; he therefore divided a certain fum of money among his attendants, and made them eafy. As to the reft, he had no need of steel, nor of blood: he was refolved to go out of this life, and not to run out of it; not to escape from death, but to try it: and, to give himself leisure to parly with it, having forfaken all manner of nourishment, the third day fol lowing, when he had caufed himself to be fprinkled with warm water, he fainted by degrees, and not without fome kind of pleasure, as he himself declared. In earneft, fuch as have been acquainted with thefe faintings, proceeding from weakness, do fay, that they are therein fenfible of no manner of pain, but rather feel a kind of delight, as in a paffage to fleep and rest : thefe are deaths ftudied and digefted. But, to the end that Cato only may furnish out the whole example of virtue, it feems as if Death bravely his good destiny had put his ill one into confronted by his hand, with which he gave himself the Cato. blow; feeing he had the leisure to confront and ftruggle with death, reinforcing his courage in the highest danger, instead of flackening it. And had I been to represent him to the greatest advantage, I would have done it in the posture of one tearing out his bloody bowels, rather than with his fword in his hand, as did the ftatuaries of his time for this fecond murder would have been much , more furious than the firft. CHA P. XIV. How the Mind hampers itself. IT is a pleasant imagination, to fancy a mind exactly How the mind is determined -in its choice betwixt two things indiffe balanced betwixt two equal defires: for, doubtlefs, it can never pitch upon either, as the choice and application would manifeft an inequality of value; and were we fet betwixt the bottle and the ham, with an equal appetite to drink and to eat, there would be no remedy, but to die for thirst and hunger. To provide against this inconvenience, the ftoics, when they are asked, "whence "proceeds this election in the foul, of two indifferent rent. things, (fo as, out of a great number of crowns, "rather to take one than another, there being no reafon "to incline us to fuch a preference);" make answer, "that this movement of the foul is extraordinary and irregular; that it enters into us by a ftrange, acciden"tal, and fortuitous impulfe." It might rather, methinks, be faid, that nothing prefents itself to us wherein there is not fome difference, how little foever; and that, either by the fight or touch, there is always fome choice, which, though it be imperceptibly, tempts and attracts us. Whoever likewife fhall fuppofe a packthread equally ftrong throughout, it is utterly impoffible it should break; for, where will you have the fracture to begin? And that it should break altogether is not in nature. Whoever alfo would hereunto join the geometrical propofitions, that, by the certainty of their demonstrations, conclude the contained to be greater than the containing, the center to be as great as the circumference, and that fhould find out two lines inceffantly approaching each other, with no poffibility of their ever meeting; and the philofopher's ftone, and the quadrature of the circle, where reafon and the effect are fo oppofite, might, peradventure, draw fome argument to prove it, to sup port port this bold faying of Pliny *, Solum certum nihil est certi, et homine nibil miferius aut fuperbius. "That it is only certain there is nothing certain, and that "nothing is more miferable or proud than man.' СНАР. XV. That our Defires are augmented by the difficulty of obtaining them. TH HERE is no reason that has not its contrary, fay the wifeft of philofophers. I fometimes ruminate on the excellent faying urged by one of the ancients for the contempt of life; "no good can bring "pleasure, unless it be that for the lofs of which we are "prepared:" in æquo eft dolor amiffe rei, et timor amittende; "the grief of having loft a thing, and the fear "of lofing it, are equal." Meaning, by that, that the fruition of life cannot be truly pleasant to us, if we are in fear of lofing it. It might, however, be faid, on the contrary, that we grafp and embrace this good the more clofely and affectionately, the lefs affured we are of holding it, and the more we fear to have it taken from us; for it is evident, that as fire burns with greater fury when cold mixes with it, fo our wills are more fharpened by being opposed: Si nunquam Danaen habuiffet aberea turris, A brazen tow'r if Danae had not had, She ne'er by Jove had been a mother made. And that there is nothing, in nature, fo contrary to our tafte as the fatiety which proceeds from facility; nor any thing that fo much whets it, as rarity and diffi Plin. lib. ii. сар. 7. Am. lib. ii. el. 19. ver. 27. + Senec. ep. 98. ↑ Ovid. Cc 3 culty. culty. * Omnium rerum voluptas ipfo quo debet fugare periculo crefcit "the pleasure of every thing increases "by the very danger that should deter us from it." Galla nega, fatiatur amor nifi gaudia torquent †. For love will glut with joys too foon obtain❜d. To keep love in breath, Lycurgus made a decree, that the married people of Lacedæmonia fhould never enjoy one another, but by stealth; and that it fhould be as great a fhame for them to be taken in bed together, as with others. The difficulty of affignations, the danger of furprize, and the fhame of the next day. Et languor, et filentium, Et latere petitus imo fpiritus The languor, filence, and the far-fetch'd fighs. These are what give the baut-gout to the fauce: how many very wantonly pleasant sports arife from the cleanly and modeft way of fpeaking of the works of love? The pleasure itself feeks to be heightened with pain: it is much sweeter when it fmarts and excoriates. courtezan Flora faid, " fhe never lay with Pompey §, "but that he made him carry off the prints of her teeth." Quod petiere, premunt ar&tè, faciuntque dolorem The What they defir'd, they hurt, and, 'midst the blifs, But still some fting remains, fome fierce defire, And so it is in every thing difficulty gives all things their value. The people of the marquifate of Ancona, moft chearfully makes their vows to St. James de Compostella, and those of Galicia to our Lady of Loretto;. they make wonderful boats, at Liege, of the baths of Lucca, and in Tuscany of those of the Spa: there are few Romans feen in the fencing-school at Rome, which is full of French: the great Cato alfo, like us, was out of conceit with his wife while fhe lived with him, and longed for her when in the poffeffion of another. I turned out an old ftallion into the paddock, because he was not to be governed when he fmelt a mare; the facility presently fated him, with regard to his own, but on the fight of ftrange mares, and of the first that paffed by his pasture, he would again fall to his importunate neighings, and his furious heats, as before. Our appetite contemns, and paffes by what it has in poffeffion, to run after what it has not. Tranfvolat in medio pofita, et fugientia captat *. Thou scorn'ft that lafs thou may'ft with ease enjoy, To forbid us any thing, is to make us eager for it. Incipis, incipiet definere effe meat. If thou no better guard that girl of thine, To give it wholly up to us, is to beget a contempt of it in us: want and abundance are attended with the fame inconvenience. Tibi quod fuper eft, mihi quod defit, dolet §. Horat. lib. i. fat. 2. ver. 108. Ovid. Amor. lib. ii. el. 19. ver. 47. act i. fc. 3. ver. 9. Cc 4 + Mr. Francis. Terent. Phormio, Thy |