b ex vero celebrat, obfcuratque. Fortune rules in all Things, and does advance and deprefs Things more from Caprice than from Right and Juftice. So to order it, that Actions may be known and feen, is purely the Work of Fortune; 'tis Chance that helps us to Glory, according to its own Temerity. I have often feen her go before Merit, and very much outftrip it. He that firft likened Glory to a Shadow, did better than he was aware of: They are, both of them, Things egregiously vain: Glory alfo, like a Shadow, goes fometimes before the Body, and fometimes, in Length, very much exceeds it. They that inftruct Gentlemen only to imploy their Valour for the obtaining of Honour, Quafi non fit boneftum, quod nobilitatum non fit. As though it were not honourable, unless ennobled ; what do they intend by that, but to instruct them never to hazard themselves, if they are not seen; and to take great Care, that there be Witneffes present, who may spread the News of their Valour: Whereas a thousand Occafions of Well-doing present themselves, when we cannot be taken Notice of? How many brave Actions are buried in the Croud of a Battle? Whoever takes upon him to cenfure another, in fuch a Confufion, has fcarce any Hand in it; and the Teftimony he gives of his Companion's Behaviour, is Evidence against himfelf. Vera et fapiens Animi magnitudo bonestum illud quod maxime naturam fequitur, in factis pofitum, non in Gloria judicat. The true and wife Magnanimity judges, that the Bravery which moft follows Nature, confifts in the Action, not in the Glory. All the Glory that I pretend to in my Life, is that I have lived it in Quiet: În a Tranquillity, not according to Metrodorus, Arcefilaus, or Arifippus, but according to myfelf; for, feeing Philosophy has not been able to find out any Way to Tranquillity, that is good in common, let every one feek it in particular. To what do Cæfar and Alexander owe the infinite Grandeur of their Renown, but to Fortune? How many Men has fhe extinguished in the Beginning of their Progrefs, of whom we have no Knowledge; who brought as much Courage to the Work as they, if their evil Destiny had Cic. de Offic. lib, i. c. 4 ‹ Idem, ibid. lib. i. c. 19. had not stopped them fhort at their first fetting out? Amongst so many and fo great Dangers, I do not remember I have any where read, that Cæfar was ever wounded; a Thousand have fallen in lefs Dangers, than the least of those he went through. A great many brave Actions must have perished without Witnefs, and before one turns to Account. A Man is not always on the Top of a Beach, or at the Head of an Army, in the Sight of his General, as upon a Scaffold. A Man is oft surprised betwixt the Hedge and the Ditch; he muft run the Hazard of his Life against a Hen-rooft; he must diflodge four rafcally Mufqueteers out of a Barn; he muft fingle out himself from his Party, and make fome Attempts alone, according as Neceffity requires: And whoever will obferve, will, I believe, find it experimentally true, that Actions of the leaft Luftre are the most dangerous; and that, in the Wars of our own Times, there have more brave Men been loft on flight Occafions of little Moment, and in the Dispute about fome paltry Fort, than in Places of Note and Dignity. Virtue muft be courted for its own Sake, independent of popular Appro bation. He who thinks his Death unworthy of him, if he do not fall on fome fignal Occafions, instead of illuftrating his Death, doth wilfully obfcure his Life, fuffering, in the mean Time, many juft Occafions, of hazarding himself, to flip out of his Hands: And every juft one is illuftrious enough; every Man's Confcience being a fufficient Trumpeter to him. Gloria noftra eft, Teftimonium Confcientiæ noftræ. For our Rejoicing is this, the Teftimony of our Confcience.' He who is only a good Man, that Men may know it, and that he may be the better efteemed for it, when 'tis known: He who will not do well, but upon Condition that his Virtue may be known to Men, is one from whom much Service is not to be expected. d Credo ch' el resto di quel verno cofe Dd 2 d 2 Cor. chap. i. ver. 12. Porche Porche Orlando a far" opre virtuofe The rest o' th' Winter, I prefume, was spent That, if I name them not, I'm not to blame : To do great Acts, than boaft him of the fame A Man must go to the War to discharge his Duty, and wait for the Recompence that never fails all brave Actions, how concealed foever, nor fo much as virtuous Thoughts; 'tis the Satisfaction that a well-difpofed Conscience receives in itself, to do well: A Man must be valiant for himself, and for the Advantage it is to him, to have his Courage in a firm and fecure Situation, against the Affaults of Fortune. Virtus repulfa nefcia fordida, i. e. Virtue, that ne'er Repulfe admits, It is not to make a Parade, that the Soul is to play its Part, but for ourselves within, where no Eyes can pierce, but our own; there fhe defends us from the Fear of Death, of Pains, and Shame itself: She there arms us against the Lofs of our Children, Friends, and Fortunes: And, when Opportunity prefents itself, fhe leads us on to the Hazards • Orlando's Ariofto, Cant. xi. Stanz. 81. V. 17, &c, of f Hor. lib. iii. Ode 2. of War. Non emolumento aliquo, fed ipfius honeftatis decore: Not for any Emolument, but for the Honour of Virtue. This is a much greater Advantage, and more worthy to be coveted and hoped for than Honour and Glory; which is no other than a favourable Honour, what Judgment formed of us. \it is. A Dozen Men must be culled out of a whole Nation, to judge of an Acre of Land; and the Judg How contemp tible is the Judgment of the Multitude. ment of our Inclinations and Actions, the hardeft, and most important Thing that is, we refer to Vox Populi too often, the Mother of Ignorance, Injuftice, and Inconftancy. Is it reafonable, that the Life of a wife Man fhould depend upon the Judgment of Fools? An quidquam ftultius, quam quos fingulos contemnas, eos aliquid putare effe univerfos? Can any Thing be more foolish, than to think, that those you defpife fingle, are estimable in the Bulk? He that makes it his Bufinefs to please them, will never fucceed; 'tis a Mark that never is to be reached or hit. Nil tam ineftimabile eft, quam animi multitudinis: Nothing is to be fo little efteemed, as the Judgment of the Multitude. Demetrius pleasantly faid of the Voice of the People, That he made no more of that which came from above, than of that which fumed from below.' h Cicero fays more, Ego boc judico, fi quando turpe non fit, tamen non effe non turpe, quum id à multitudine laudetur: I am of Opinion, that, tho' a Thing be not foul in itself, yet it cannot but become fo when commended by the Multitude. No Art, no Dexterity could conduct our Steps, in following fo wandering and fo irregular a Guide. In this windy Confufion of the Noife of vulgar Reports and Opinions, that drive us on, no good Path can be chofen. Let us not propofe to ourselves an End fo floating and wavering; let us follow conftantly after Reason; let the public Approbation follow us in that Road, if it will; and, as it wholly depends upon Fortune, we have no Rule fooner to expect it by any other Way than that. Tho' I would not follow the right Way, because it is right, I fhould, however, follow it for having experimentally found, that, at the End Dd 3 Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib, v, v, 36. Cic. de Fin. lib. ii. c. 15. of Book II. of the Reckoning, 'tis commonly the most happy, and of greateft Utility. Dedit boc providentia bominibus munus, ut bonefta magis juvarent. This Gift Providence has given to Man, that honeft Things should be the most delightful. The Mariner said thus to Neptune, in a great Storm, O God, thou may'st save me if thou wilt, and, if thou wilt, thou may'ft deftroy me; but I will ftill fteer my • Rudder true.' I have feen, in my Time, a thousand Men of fupple mongrel Natures, and who no one doubted but they were more worldly Wife than I, ruin themfelves where I have faved myself. Rifi fucceffus poffe carere dolos. i. e. I have laugh'd, I must confefs, Paulus Emylius, going in the glorious Expedition of Macedonia, above all Things charged the People of Rome, • Not to speak of his Actions during his Abfence.' What a Disturbance is the Licence of Judgments to great Affairs! Forafmuch as every one has not the Conftancy of Fabius, to oppose common, adverfe, and injurious Tongues, who rather fuffered his Authority to be diffected by the vain Fancies of Man, than to fail in his Duty, with a favourable Reputation, and popular Applaufe. Praife and Re There is, I know not what, natural Sweetputation fet at nefs in hearing a Man's Self commended; too high a Price. but we are a great deal too fond of it. Laudari baud metuam, neque enim mibi cornea fibra eft, Sed recti finemque extremumque effe recufo Euge tuum, et belle. i. e. I fear not to be prais'd, I muft confefs, Ovid. Ep. Penelopes ad Ulyffem. } I care 'k Perfius Sat. i. v. 47. |