he had left off before: No anfwer can nettle a man like fuch a contempt. It is better to vent anger than harbour it Of the most choleric man I know in France (anger being always an imperfection, but more excufable in a foldier, for in that profeffion it cannot fometimes be avoided) I often fay, that he is the most patient in bridling his paffion, it agitates him with fo great violence and fury, -magno veluti cùm flamma fonore fecretly. * Virgea fuggeritur coftis undantis aheni, Exultantque eftu latices, furit intus aquai, Fumidus, atque altè fpumis exuberat amnis, Nec jam fe capit unda, volat vaper æter ad auras. So when unto the boiling cauldron's fide A crackling flame of brufh-wood is apply'd, The bubbling liquors there like fprings are feen To fwell, and foam to higher tides within; Above the brims they force their fiery way, Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day. That he muft of neceffity cruelly constrain himself to moderate it; and, for my part, I know no paffion which I could with fo much violence to myfelf attempt to cover and fupport. I would not fet wifdom at fo high a price; and do not fo much confider what he does, as how much it cofts him not to do worfe. Another boafted to me of his good-nature and behaviour, which is in truth very fingular; to whom I replied, " that it was indeed fome"thing, efpecially in perfons of fo eminent quality as "himself, upon whom every-one had their eyes, to ap pear always well-tempered to the world; but that the "principal thing was to make provifion for within, and «for himself; and that it was not, in my opinion, very "well to order his bufinefs inwardly to fret himself, "which I was afraid he did, for the fake of maintaining "this mask and moderation in outward appearance." A man incorporates anger by concealing it, as Diogenes told Demofthenes, who for fear of being feen in a tavern, withdrew himself the farther into it," the more *Æneid. lib. vii. ver. 662, &c. Diogenes the Cynic, lib. vi. fect. 34. † Diog. Laert. in the life of "you you recede, the farther you enter in, I would rather advise that a man should give his fervant a box on the ear a little unfeasonably, than torture his mind by putting on such a sedate countenance; and had rather difcover my paffions than brood over them at my own expence; they grow lefs by being vented and expreffed; and it is much better their point fhould operate outwardly than be turned towards ourselves. * Omnia vitia in aperto leviora funt: et tunc perniciofiffima, quum fimulatâ fanitate fubfidunt; "all vices are lefs dangerous when open to "be feen, and then moft pernicious when they lurk "under a diffembled temper." angry in my ferved in the difcovery of anger against Rules to be ob domestics. I admonish all who have authority to be family, in the first place, to be sparing of their anger, and not to lavish it upon every occafion; for that both leffens the weight and hinders the effect of it. Loud exclamation is fo cuftomary that every one defpifes it; and, that your clamour at a fervant for a theft is not minded, because it is no more than what he has feen you make a hundred times, against him, for having ill washed a glafs, or misplaced a ftool. Secondly, that they do not spend their breath in vain, but make fure that their reproof reach the perfon in fault; for ordinarily they are apt to bawl before he comes into their prefence, and continue fcolding an age after he is gone; † Et fecum petulans amentia certat. And peevish madnefs with itself contends. They quarrel with their own fhadows, and push the ftorm in a place where no one is either chastised or interested, but in the clamour of their voice, which is unavoidable. I likewife, in quarrels, condemn those who huff and vapour without an adverfary; fuch rodomontades are to be referved to discharge upon the offending party. Mugitus veluti cum prima in prælia taurus Terrificos ciet, atque irafci in cornua tentat, Senec. epift. 56. + Claudian. in Eutrop. lib. i. ver. 237. Æneid. lib. xii. ver. 103, &c. Arboris Arboris obnixus trunco, ventofque laceffit Like angry bulls that make the valleys ring, The author's anger on great and little occa. fions. When I am angry, my anger is very fharp, but withal very fhort, and as private as poffible; I am indeed hafty and violent, but never am befide myself, fo that I throw out all manner of injurious words at random, and without choice, and never confider properly to dart my raillery where I think it will give the deepeft wound; for I commonly make ufe of no other weapon in my anger than my tongue. My fervants have a better bargain of me in great occafions than in little ones; the latter furprife me; and the mifchief of it is, that, when you are once upon the precipice, it is no matter who gives you the pufh, for you are fure to go to the bottom; the fall urges, moves, and makes hafte of itfelf. In great occafions this fatisfies me, that they are fo juft every-one expects a warrantable indignation in me, and then I am proud of deceiving their expectation; against thefe I gird and prepare myfelf; they disturb my head, and threaten to crack my brain, fhould I give way to them. I can eafily contain myfelf from entering into one of thefe paffions, and am ftrong enough, when I expect them, to repel their violence, be the caufe never fo great; but if a paffion once prepoffefs and feize me, it carries me away, be the cause ever fo fmall; which makes me thus indent with those who may contend with me, viz. when they fee me first moved, let me alone, right or wrong, I will do the fame for them. The ftorm is only begot by the concurrence of refentments, which eafily fpring from one another, and are not born together. Let every one have his own way, and we fhall be always at peace: a pro a profitable advice, but hard to practife. Sometimes alfo it falls out, that I put on a feeming anger, for the better governing of my family, without any real emotion. As age renders my humours more fharp, I ftudy to oppofe them; and will, if I can, order it fo, that for the future I may be fo much the lefs peevish and hard to pleafe, the more excufe and inclination I have to be fo, although I have heretofore been reckoned amongst thofe that have the greatest patience. Whether wrath is pro A word, to conclude this chapter: Ariftotle fays "that anger fometimes ferves to arm vir"tue and valour." It is likely it may be fo, nevertheless, they who contradict him pleafantly anfwer, that it is a weapon of novel ufe; for we move other arms, per to animate virtue and valour. "this moves us; our hands guide it not, it is it that guides our hands; it holds us, we hold not it." CHA P. XXXII. Defence of SENECA and PLUTARCH, TH HE familiarity I have had with these two authors, and the affiftance they have lent to my age and to my book, which is wholly compiled of what I have borrowed from them, obliges me to ftand up for their ho nour. Comparifon betwixt Seneca and the cardi nal of Lorrain, As to Seneca, amongst a million of pamphlets that thofe of the pretended reformed religion difperfe abroad for the defence of their cause (and which fometimes proceed from a pen fo good, that it is pity it is not employed in a better fubject), I formerly faw one, which, in order to draw a complete parallel betwixt the government of our late poor King Charles the ninth and that of Nero, compares the late cardinal of Lorrain with Seneca, in their fortunes (as they were both of them prime minifters to their princes); in their manners, conditions, and and departments, as having been very near alike Herein, I think, he does the faid lord cardinal a great honour; for, though I am one of those who have a great esteem for his wit, eloquence, and zeal for religion, and for the fervice of his king, and reckon it was his happiness to be born in an age wherein it was a thing fo new, fo rare, and alfo fo neceflary for the public weal, to have an ecclefiaftical perfon, of fo high birth and dignity, and fo fufficient and capable for his place; yet, to confefs the truth, I do not think his capacity by many degrees equal to Seneca's, nor his virtue either fo pure, entire, or steady. The malicious and unfait character which Dion gives of Seneca, quite contrary to what is reported of him by Tacitus. Now this book whereof I am speaking, to bring about its defign, gives a very injurious defcription of Seneca, by reproaches borrowed from Dion the hiftorian, whofe teftimony I do not at all believe, for, fetting afide the inconfiftency of this writer, who, after having called Seneca in one place very wife, and in another a mortal enemy to Nero's vices, makes him elsewhere avaricious, an usurer, ambitious, effeminate, voluptuous, and a falfe pretender to philofophy. Seneca's virtue appears fo lively and vigorous in his writings, and his vindication is fo clear against any of these imputations and particularly as to his riches and extraordinary expences, that I cannot believe any teftimony to the contrary. Befides, it is much more reasonable to believe the Roman hiftorians in fuch things than the Greeks and foreigners. Now Tacitus and the others fpeak very honourably both of his life and death, and represent him to us as a very excellent and virtuous perfonage in all things. I will alledge no other reproach againit Dion's report but this, which I cannot avoid, namely, that he has fo crazy a judgment in the Roman affairs, that he dares to maintain Julius Cæfar's cause against Pompey, and that of Anthony against Cicero. Let us now come to Plutarch: John Bodinus is a good author of our time, and of much greater judgment than his cotemporary class of fcribblers, fo that he deferves to be carefully Bodinus, a good author, vilifies Plu read |