schoolmasters; 'tis our breviary. If this good man be yet living, I would recommend to him Xenophon, to do as much by that; 'tis a much more easy task than the other, and consequently more proper for his age. And, besides, though I know not how, methinks he does briskly and clearly enough trip over steps another would have stumbled at, yet nevertheless his style seems to be more his own where he does not encounter those difficulties, and rolls away at his own ease. I was just now reading this passage where Plutarch1 says of himself, that Rusticus being present at a declamation of his at Rome, there received a packet from the emperor, and deferred to open it till all was done: for which, says he, all the company highly applauded the gravity of this person. 'Tis true, that being upon the subject of curiosity and of that eager passion for news, which makes us with so much indiscretion and impatience leave all to entertain a new-comer, and without any manner of respect or outcry, tear open on a sudden, in what company soever, the letters that are delivered to us, he had reason to applaud the gravity of Rusticus upon this occasion; and might moreover have added to it the commendation of his civility and courtesy, that would not interrupt the current of his declamation. But I doubt whether any one can commend his prudence; for receiving unexpected letters, and especially from an emperor, it might have fallen out that the deferring to read them might have been of great prejudice. The vice opposite to curiosity is negligence, to which I naturally incline, and wherein I have seen some men so extreme that one might have found letters sent them three or four days before, still sealed up in their pockets. I never open any letters directed to another, not only 1 Of Curiosity, c. 14. those intrusted with me, but even such as fortune has guided to my hand; and am angry with myself if my eyes unawares steal any contents of letters of importance he is reading when I stand near a great man. Never was man less inquisitive or less prying into other men's affairs than I. In our fathers' days, Monsieur de Boutières had like to have lost Turin from having, while engaged in good company at supper, delayed to read information that was sent him of the treason plotted against that city where he commanded And this very Plutarch1 has given me to understand, that Julius Cæsar had preserved himself, if, going to the Senate the day he was assassinated by the conspirators, he had read a note which was presented to him by the way. He tells also? the story of Archias, the tyrant of Thebes, that the night before the execution of the design Pelopidas had plotted to kill him to restore his country to liberty, he had a full account sent him in writing by another Archias, an Athenian, of the whole conspiracy, and that, this packet having been delivered to him while he sat at supper, he deferred the opening of it, saying, which afterwards turned to a proverb in Greece, "To-morrow is a new day."3 A wise man may, I think, out of respect to another, as not to disturb the company, as Rusticus did, or not to break off another affair of importance in hand, defer to read or hear any new thing that is brought him; but for his own interest or particular pleasure, especially if he be a public minister, that he will not interrupt his dinner or break his sleep is inexcusable. And there was anciently at Rome, the consular place, as they called it, which was the most honourable 1 Life of Cæsar, c. 17. In his Treatise on the Demon of Socrates, c. 27. 3 So in Cotton and in Coste. The French is "à demain les affaires;" busi pes to-norrow. 4 Plutarch, Table Talk, i. 3, 2. at the table, as being a place of most liberty, and of more convenient access to those who came in to speak to the person seated there; by which it appears, that being at meat, they did not totally abandon the concern of other affairs and incidents. But when all is said, it is very hard in human actions to give so exact a rule upon moral reasons, that fortune will not therein maintain her own right. CHAPTER V. OF CONSCIENCE. THE Sieur de la Brousse, my brother and I, travelling one day together during the time of our civil wars, met a gentleman of good fashion. He was of the contrary party, though I did not know so much, for he pretended otherwise and the mischief on't is, that in this sort of war the cards are so shuffled, your enemy not being distinguished from yourself by any apparent mark either of language or habit, and being nourished under the same law, air and manners, it is very hard to avoid disorder and confusion. This made me afraid myself of meeting any of our troops in a place where I was not known, that I might not be in fear to tell my name, and peradventure of something worse; as it had befallen me before, where, by such a mistake, I lost both men and horses, and amongst others an Italian gentleman my page, whom I bred with the greatest care and affection, was miserably slain, in whom a youth of great promise and expectation was extinguished. But the gentleman my brother and I met had so desperate, half-dead a fear upon him at meeting with any horse, or passing by any of the towns that held for the King, that I at last discovered It seemed to the poor it to be alarms of conscience. man as if through his visor and the crosses upon his cassock, one would have penetrated into his bosom and read the most secret intentions of his heart; so wonderful is the power of conscience. It makes us betray, accuse, and fight against ourselves, and for want of other witnesses, to give evidence against ourselves. "Occultum quatiens animo tortore flagellum."1 This story is in every child's mouth: Bessus the Pæonian, being reproached for wantonly pulling down a nest of young sparrows and killing them, replied, that he had reason to do so, seeing that those little birds never ceased falsely to accuse him of the murder of his father. This parricide had till then been concealed and unknown, but the revenging fury of conscience caused it to be discovered by him himself, who was to suffer for it.2 Hesiod corrects the saying of Plato, that punishment closely follows sin, it being as he says, born at the same time with it.3 Whoever expects punishment already suffers it, and whoever has deserved it expects it. Wickedness contrives torments against itself: "Malum consilium, consultori pessimum : "5 as the wasp stings and hurts another, but most of all itself, for it there loses its sting and its use for ever, "Vitásque in vulnere ponunt." Cantharides have somewhere about them, by a contrariety of nature, a counterpoison against their poison." In like 1 "The torturer of the soul brandishing a sharp scourge within."-Juvenal, iii. 195. 2 and 3 Plutarch on Divine Justice, c. viii. 9. Seneca, Ep., 105, at the end. 5 "Ill designs are worst to the contriver."-Apud Aul. Gellium, iv. 5. manner, at the same time that men take delight in vice, there springs in the conscience a displeasure that afflicts us sleeping and waking with various tormenting imaginations : "Quippe ubi se multi, per somnia sæpe loquentes, Et celata diu in medium peccata dedisse." 1 Apollodorus dreamed that he saw himself flayed by the Scythians and afterwards boiled in a cauldron, and that his heart muttered these words: I am the cause of all these mischiefs that have befallen thee."2 Epicurus said that no hiding hole could conceal the wicked, since they could never assure themselves of being hid whilst their conscience discovered them to themselves.3 "Prima est hæc ultio, quod se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur."4 As an ill conscience fills us with fear, so a good one gives us greater confidence and assurance; and I can truly say that I have gone through several hazards with a more steady pace in consideration of the secret knowledge I had of my own will and the innocence of my intentions: "Conscia mens ut cuique sua est, ita concipit intra pro Of this are a thousand examples; but it will be enough to instance three of one and the same person. Scipio, being one day accused before the people of Rome of some crimes "The guilty often, by talking in their sleep or raving in a fever, reveal sins long concealed."-Lucretius, v. 1157. Apollodorus was tyrant of Cassandria, in Macedonia.-Plutarch, ubi supra, c. 9; Polyænus, iv. 6, 18. 3 Seneca, Ep., 97. "Tis the first punishment of sin that no man absolves himself."-Juvenal, xiii. 2. "As a man's conscience is, so within hope or fear prevails, suiting to his design."-Ovid, Fast., i. 485. |