does not always continue found and dry, but grows foft, diffolves, and looks as it were steeped in Milk, whilst it haftens to sprout and fhoot forth, for fear left it fhould run to Seed, and lofe its Nature, and the Property of a Magazine for their Subfiftence, they nibble off the End by which it usually sprouts. War, a Proof The Paffion for of Weakness in buman Beings, As for War, which is the greatest and most pompous of human Actions, I fhould be glad to know, whether we chuse it for an Argument of fome Prerogative, or, on the contrary, for a Teftimony of our Weakness and Imperfection; as, in Truth, the Science of ruining and killing is in certain one another, and of deftroying our own Spe Animals cies, has nothing in it fo tempting as to make it defirable by the Beasts that have it not. Quando leoni Fortior eripuit vitam leo, quo nemore unquam i. e. Whoever yet beheld A weaker Lion by a stronger kill'd ? That a small Boar dy'd by a mighty one? Yet they are not univerfally exempt; witness the furious Encounters of Bees, and the Enterprises of the Princes of the two contrary Parties. Sæpe duobus Regibus inceffit magno difcordia motu, i. e. Betwixt two Kings ftrange Animofities, I never read this Divine Defcription, but, methinks, I fee a true Picture of human Folly and Vanity: For, as to those those warlike Preparations that fill us with Terror and Astonishment, that Rattle of Drums, Trumpets, and Guns, and the Noife of mighty Shouts; Fulgur ubi ad cælum fe tollit, totaque circum When burnish'd Arms to Heav'n dart their Rays, So that its Center even groans agen; And that the Rocks, ftruck by the thund'ring Noife, Reverberate the Sound unto the Skies. this dreadful Embattling of fo many thoufand Men in Arms, and fuch Fury, Ardor, and Courage; 'tis really pleasant to confider the many idle Occafions by which War is kindled, and by what trifling Caufes 'tis extinguished. -Paridis propter narratur amorem, Grecia Barbarie diro collifa duello ‘. i. e. Of wanton Paris the illicit Love b Did Greece and Troy to cruel Warfare move. All Afia was ruined and destroyed by War, by reason of the Luft of Paris. The Envy of one fingle Man, a Spite, a Pleasure, a domeftic Jealousy, Causes which one would not think should set two Oyster Wenches by the Ears, is the Spring and Motive of all this great Disturbance. Will we believe the Men themselves, who are the principal Authors and Inftigators of fuch Mischief? Let us then hear the greatest, the most victorious, and moft puiffant Emperor, that ever was, with great Merriment and Ingenuity ridiculing the many Battles rifqued, both by Sea and Land; the Blood and Lives that were loft of half a Million of Men that followed his Fortune; and the Power Horat. lib. i. Epift. 2. v. 6, 7. and c a Lucret. lib. ii. c. 327, &c. Auguftus. and Wealth of half of the World exhaufted for the Expence of his Expeditions. d • Quod futuit Glaphyren Antonius, hanc mihi panam (I use my Latin with the Liberty of Confcience you have been pleased to allow me.) Now, this great Body has fo many Afpects and Motions, as feem to threaten not only Earth, but Heaven. Quam multi Libyco volvuntur marmore fluctus, d Martial. lib x. Epig. 21. v. 3, &c. i. e. This Epigram was compofed by Auguftus, but the luscious Latin conveys fuch grofs and licentious Ideas, that there would be no Excufe for tranflating the Lines without foftening them; and therefore Peter Cofta, who has inriched that Edition of Montaigne (which is here done into English) with his Notes, has given this French Verfion of thofe Lines by M. de Fontenelle, in one of his incomparable Dialogues of the Dead, which, though the Language is so very polite, lets us intirely into Auguftus's Meaning. Parce qu'Antoine eft charmé de Glaphire, Que des fautes d'Antoine on me fera patir? A ce compte ou verroit fe retirer vers moy Mille Epoufes mal fatisfaites. Aime moi, me dit elle, ou combattons. Mais quoy? Elle eft bien laide? Allons, fonnez trompettes. i. e. 'Cause Anthony is fir'd with Glaphire's Charms, i. e. As num'rous as the Libyan Waves that roul, Are the bright Shields that in the Battles found, This furious Monster, with so many Heads and Hands, is ftill but feeble, calamitous, and miferable Man. 'Tis but a Hillock of Ants disturbed and provoked by a Spurn. It nigrum campis agmen . i. e. The black Army fallies out into the Plain. A Puff of a contrary Wind, the Croaking of a Flight of Ravens, the Stumble of a Horfe, the accidental Paffage of an Eagle, a Dream, a Voice, a Sign, a Morning Mift, are any one of them enough to overturn, and lay him flat on the Ground. Dart but a Sun-Beam in his Face, he is melted and vanished. Blow but a little Duft in his Eyes, as our Poet fays of the Bees, and all our Enfigns and Legions, with the Great Pompey himfelf at their Head, are routed and crushed to Pieces; for it was he, if I am not miftaken ", whom Sertorius defeated in Spain, with all those brave Troops which alfo ferved Eumenes againft Antigonus, and Surena against Craffus. Hi motus animorum, atque hæc certamina tanta, i. e. This mighty Ferment, and these furious Blows, Virg. Æneid. lib. iv. v. 404. Let h Here Montaigne had Reason to be a little diftruftful of his Memory; for it was not against Pompey that Sertorius made ufe of this Stratagem, but against the Caracitanians, a People of Spain, who lived in deep Caves dug in a Rock, where it was impoffible to force them. See Plutarch, in the Life of Sertorius, c. 6. Virg. Georg. lib. iv. v. 86, 87. Let us only flip our Bees after them, and they will have the Power and Courage to difperfe them. 'Tis fresh in Memory, how, when the City of Tamly, in the Territory of Xatina, was befieged by the Portuguefe, the Inhabitants, who had Abundance of Bee-hives, put out a great Number of them upon the Wall, and, fetting Fire to the Hives, the Bees fallied out fo furiously upon their Enemies, that they gave over the Siege, not being able to stand their Attacks, and endure their Stings: And thus their Victory, and the Liberty of their City, was owing to this new kind of Succours, and with fuch good Fortune too, that, at their Return from the Battle, there was not a fingle Bee miffing. The Souls of Emperors and Coblers are caft in the fame Mould. When we confider of what Weight and Importance the Actions of Princes are, we imagine, that they are produced from fome as weighty and important Causes: But we are mistaken, for they are pushed on, and pulled back, in their Motions, by the fame Springs as we are in ours. The fame Reason that makes us wrangle with a Neighbour, raises a War betwixt Princes; and the fame Cause that makes us horfewhip a Foot-boy, falling into the Breaft of a King, makes him ruin a Province. They are as eafily moved as we are, but they can do more. The Paffion is the fame in a Maggot, as an Elephant. As to Fidelity, there is not an Animal in the Creation to be compared with Man for Treachery. Dogs more Our Hiftories inform us of the eager Pur- faithful than fuits which have been made, by Dogs, after Men. those who have murdered their Masters. King Pyrrhus, paffing by a Dog, which, he obferved, watched a dead Man's Body, and hearing that he had done fo for three Days together, ordered the Corpfe to be buried, and took the Dog along with him. One Day, as he was at a general Muster of his Army, the Dog happened to spy the very Men that murdered his Master, and, with great Bark ing Montaigne, to be fure, does not mean, that this Expreffion fhould be taken in the literal Senfe; for how could he be fo exactly informed of the Fate of all thofe Bees? Great Wits naturally run into Hyperboles : But, perhaps, I shall be told, that too fevere Critics often mind Trifles. |