Women, is merely to cure the Pain we fuffer by that hot furious Paffion, and only demands to be affwaged and composed by an Exemption from this Fever. And so of the reft. I fay, therefore, that, as Simplicity puts us in the Way to be free from Evil, fo it leads us to a very happy State according to our Nature. And yet we are not to imagine a State so stupid as to be altogether without Senfation. For Crantor Perfect Infenfiwas much in the Right to controvert the In- bility neither fenfibility of Epicurus, if it was fo deeply poffible nor defounded, that the very Approach and Source firable. of Evils were not to be perceived. "I do not approve, fays he, of that boafted Infenfibility which is neither poffible nor defirable. I don't wish to be fick, but, if I 86 am, I fhould be willing to know that I am, and, whe"ther Cauftics or Incifions be made ufe of, I would feel "them." In Truth, whoever would eradicate the Knowledge of Evil, would in the fame Proportion extirpate the Knowledge of Pleasure, and, in Fact, annihilate Man himself. Iftud nibil dolere, non fine magna mercede con tingit immanitatis in animo, ftuporis in corpore". i. e. This Infenfibility is not to be acquired without making the Mind become cruel and the Body ftupid. Good and Evil happen to Man in their Turn. Neither has he Trouble always to avoid, nor Pleasure always to purfue. 'Tis a very great Advantage to the Honour of Ignorance, that Knowledge itfelf throws us into its Arms, when it finds itself puzzled to fupport us under the Weight of Evils; for it is then constrained to come to this Compofition to give us the Reins, and permit us to fly into the Lap of the other, and to shelter ourfelves by her Favour from the Strokes and Injuries of Fortune. For what elfe does Knowledge mean, when it inftructs us to take off our Thoughts from the Ills that prefs upon us, and to entertain them with the Recollection of paft Pleasures: And to comfort ourselves under prefent Afflictions with the Remembrance of former Happinefs, and to call to our Affiftance Satisfaction that is vanished Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib. iii. c. 6. fers us to Igno Knowledge re rance, to fcreen us from the Injuries of For tune. Idem, ibid. Levationes agri ed to oppofe it to that which preffes us. Whofo remembers, all his Gains Of the fame Stamp is this other Counsel which Philo- A Prefeription of the fame Kind by Philofophy to forget our paft Trouble. Suavis eft laborum præteritorum memoria '. i. e. Sweet is the Remembrance of past Toils. A Piece of not a Straw How? Is Philofophy that should put Weapons into my Hands to contend with Fortune, and that should steel my Courage to trample all human Adverfities under Foot, become fuch a rank Coward as to make me hide my Head by fuch daftardly and ridiculous Shifts? For the Memory represents to us what it pleafes, not what we chufe: Nay, there is nothing that so strongly imprints any Thing in our Remembrance as the Defire to forget it. And to follicit the Soul to lofe any Thing is a good Way to make it retain it by rendering the Impreffion of it the deeper. This is a falfe Pofition. Eft fitum in nobis ut et adverfa i Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib. iii. c. 15. n adverfa quafi perpetua oblivione obruamus, et fecunda jucundè et fuaviter meminerimus. i. e. "And 'tis in our Power "to bury all Adversity as it were in Oblivion, and to call our Profperity to Mind with Pleasure and Delight.” And this is true. Memini etiam quæ nolo: Oblivifci non poffum quæ volo. i. e. I do alfo remember what I would not, but I cannot forget what I would. And whofe Counfel is this? Hic qui fe unus fapientem profiteri fit aufus. i. e. Who only durft profess himself a wife Man, viz. Epicurus. Qui genus humanum ingenio fuperavit, et omnes Præftrinxit ftellas, exorfus uti ætherius fol °. i. e. Who from Mankind the Prize of Knowledge won To have the Memory empty and unfurnished, is it not the true and proper Way to Ignorance? Iners malorum remedium ignorantia eft P. i. e. Ignorance is but a weak Remedy for Misfortunes. We find several fuch Precepts, by which we are allowed to borrow frivolous Appearances from the Vulgar, where ftrong and vigorous Reafon is of no avail, provided they give us Comfort and Contentment. Where they cannot heal the Wound, they are content to palliate and benumb it. I believe, they will not deny me this, that, if they could fettle Order and Conftancy in a State of Life, that could maintain itself in Pleasure and Tranquillity by fome Defect and Disorder of Judgment, they would approve of it, and fay with Horace, -Potare et fpargere flores Incipiam, patiarque vel inconfultus baberia. With Flowers crown'd I'll take my hearty Glass, There would be a great many Philofophers of Lycas's Euripid. apud Cic. de Finibus Bon. et Mal. lib. i. c. 17. "Ibid. lib. i. c. 32. Lucret. lib. iii. v. 1056. ५ good Senec. dip. A&t. iii. v. 7. Hor. lib. i. Epift. v. v. 14, 15o good Morals, living in Peace and Happiness in his Family, deficient in no Obligation, either to his Relations or Strangers, and very careful to guard himself from any Thing that might hurt him, was, nevertheless, by fome Disorder in his Brain, strangely poffeffed with a Conceit, that he was perpetually at the Theatre a Spectator of the Sports, Paftimes, and the beft of Comedies; and, being cured of his Frenzy by the Physicians, he had a great Mind to have entered an Action against them, to compel them to restore him to his pleasing Imaginations. Pol me occidiftis, amici, Non fervaftis ait, cui fic extorta voluptas, i. e. By Heav'n you've kill'd me, Friends, outright, A Madness of this fort poffeffed Thrafilaus, the Son of Polydorus, who, conceiting that all the Veffels that failed from or arrived at the Port of Pyraum, traded only for his Profit, congratulated himself on their happy Voyages, and received them with the greatest Joy. His Brother Crito having caufed him to be restored to his better Understanding, he regretted the Lofs of that fort of Condition, in which he had lived with fo much Glee and Freedom from Anxiety. 'Tis according to the old Greek Verfe, that there is a great deal of Convenience in not being too wife. Ἐν τῷ φρονεῖν γὰρ μηδὲν ἥδιστος βίος. And the Preacher, In much Wisdom is much Grief; and he that increafeth Knowledge increafeth Sorrow'. Another Proof of the Weakness of Philosophy, is that laft Hor. lib. ii. Epift. ii. v. 138, &c. This intire Paffage is taken from Athenæus, lib. xii, near the End. 'Tis alfo in Elian's Var. Hift. lib. iv. c. 25. where he is called Thrafyllus. Sophocles in Ajace Marryopógu, v, 554. Ecclefiaft. i. 18. Another Prof of the Weakness of Philofophy, which in general permits the parting with that Life which we cannot bear. laft Receipt, to which Philofophy in gene- Vivere fi recte nefcis, decede peritis. i. e. If to live properly thou doft not know, W Give Peace, and leave thy Room to thofe that do. "These first Words feem to be an Imitation of Seneca's Ep. 70. As to the remaining Words, Pungit dolor, &c. "Tis from Cicero's Tufc. Quæft. lib. ii. C. 14. "Tis an Application from Cicero, whofe Words are thefe: Mibi quidem in vita fervanda videtur illa lex quæ in Græcorum conviviis obtinetur, &c. Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib. v. c. 41. * This Remark upon the Gafcoon Pronunciation, which chufes to alter B into V, is only to be applied to the Word Bibat, otherwife it would not be very properly intended here; because, if the B in the Word abeat was changed into V, it would mar the Conftruction, which Montaigne would put, according to Cicero, upon this Phrafe, Aut bibat aut aboar. Hor. lib. ii. Epift. ii. v. 213. &c. |