Book II. vetous Man fares worfe with his Paffion than the poor Man, and the jealous Man than the Cuckold; and a Perfon oft-times lofes more by defending his Vineyard, than if he gave it up. The loweft Walk is the fafeft, 'tis the Seat of Conftancy; you have there Need of no one but yourself, 'tis there founded, and wholly ftands upon its own Bafis. Has not this Example of a Gentleman, very well known, fome Air of Philofophy in it? He married, being well advanced in Years, having spent his Youth in Good-fellowship, a great Talker, and a free Joker: And calling to mind how much the Subject of Cuckoldom had given him Occafion to talk of, and banter others, in order to prevent them from paying him in his own Coin, he married a Wife from a Place where any Man may have Flesh for his Money; Good-morrow Whore, Good-morrow Cuckold; and there was not any Thing wherewith he more commonly and openly entertained those that came to see him, than with this Defign of his, by which he ftopped the private Muttering of Mockers, and blunted the Edge of this Reproach. Difgufted at Ambition, becaufe of its Uncertainty. As to Ambition, which is Neighbour, or rather Daughter to Prefumption, Fortune, to advance me, must have come and taken me by the Hand; for to trouble myself for an uncertain Hope, and to have submitted myself to all the Difficulties that accompany thofe who endeavour to bring themselves into Credit in the Beginning of their Progrefs, is what I never could have done. ·Spem pretio non emo þ. i. e. I will not purchase Hope with Money. I apply myself to what I fee, and to what I have in my Hand, and scarce ftir out of Harbour. Alter remus aquas, alter tibi radat arenas. Terent. Adelph. A&t. ii, Sc. 2. v. II. Prop. lib. iii. El. 3. v. 23 And, befides, a Man rarely arrives to these Advancements, but in first hazarding what he has of his own: And I am of Opinion, that, if a Man have fufficient to maintain him in the Condition wherein he was born and bred, 'tis a great Folly to hazard that upon the Uncertainty of augmenting it. He to whom Fortune has denied whereon to fet his Foot, and a quiet and compofed Establishment, is to be excufed if he does venture what he has, because, happen what will, Neceffity puts him upon fhifting for himself. Capienda rebus in malis præceps via est a. i. e. A desperate Case must have a desperate Course. And I rather excufe a younger Brother, to expose what his Friends have left him to the Courtesy of Fortune, than him with whom the Honour of his Family is intrufted, who cannot be neceffitous, but by his own Fault. I found a much shorter and more eafy Way, by the Advice of the good Friends I had in my younger Days, to free myself from any fuch Ambition, and to fit ftill. Cui fit conditio dulcis, fine pulvere palmæ *. i. e. Too happy, in his Country Seat, To gain the Palm with Duft and Sweat. Judging alfo right enough of my own Abilities, that they were not capable of any great Matters; and calling to mind the Saying of the late Chancellor Olivier, That the French were like Monkies, that climb up a Tree, from Branch to Branch, and never ftop till they come to the highest, and there fhew their Breech. f Turpe eft quod nequeas capiti committere pondus, i. e. f It is a Shame to load the Shoulders fo, Senec. Agamem. A&t. ii. v. 47• Propert. lib. iii. El. 9. v. 5, 6. F f And, Horat. lib. i. Epift. 1. v. 51. And, the Knees bending with the Weight, to quit The pond'rous Load, and turn the Back to it. I should find the best Qualities, I have, ufelefs in these Times: My eafy Behavour would have been called Weakness and Negligence; my Faith and Confcience, Scrupulofity and Superftition; my Liberty and Freedom would have been reputed troublesome, inconfiderate, and rafh: Ill Luck is good for fomething. It is good to be born in a very depraved Age; for fo, in Comparifon of others, you shall be reputed Virtuous good cheap. He that, in our Days, is but a Parricide, and a facrilegious Perfon, is an boneft Man, and a Man of Honour. The Age, in which Montaigne was born, not at all agreeable to his Humour. Nunc fi depofitum non inficiatur amicus, Now if a Friend does not deny his Truft, And a crown'd Lamb fhould facrificed be And never was there a Time or Place wherein Princes might expect more certain and greater Rewards for their Virtue and Juftice. The firft that fhall make it his Bufi-` nefs to get himfelf into Favour and Efteem by those Ways, I am much deceived, if he do not fairly get the Start of his Companions. Force and Violence can do fome Things, but not always all: We fee Merchants, Country Juftices, and Artifans, go Cheek by Joul, with the best Gentry, in Valour and Military Knowledge: They perform honourable Actions, both public and private, they fight Duels, and defend Towns in our present Wars. A Prince flifles his Renown in this Croud: Let him shine bright in Humanity, Truth, Loyalty, Temperance, and especially Juv.. Sat. xiii. v. 60, &c. h Diffimulation an odious Vice, which Montaigne held in the utmost Ab especially in Juftice; Characters rare, unknown, and exiled; 'tis by the fole Good-will of the People that he can do his Business, and no other Qualities can attract their Good-will like thofe, as being of greatest Utility to them. Nil eft tam populare quam bonitas: Nothing is fo popular as Goodness." By this Proportion I had been Great and Rare, as I find myself now a Pigmy, and Vulgar in Proportion to fome paft Ages; wherein, if other better Qualities did not concur, it was common to fee a Man moderate in his Revenges, gentle in refenting Injuries, true to his Word, neither double nor fupple, nor accommodating his Faith to the Will of others, and the Turns of Times: I would rather fee all Affairs go to Wreck and Ruin, than falfify my Faith to fecure them. For, as to this Virtue of Hypocrify and Diffimulation, which is now in fo great Requeft, I mortally hate it; and of all Vices, find none that fhews fo much Basenefs and Meannefs of Spirit: 'Tis a cowardly and fervile Humour for a Man to hide and disguise himself under a Vizor, and not dare to fhew himself what he is. By this our Followers are trained up to Treachery; being brought up to speak what is not true, they make no Confcience of a Lye: A generous Heart ought not to give the Lye to its own Thoughts, but will make itself feen within, where all is good, or, at least, humane. Aristotle reputes it the Office of Magnanimity, openly and profeffedly to love and hate, to judge and speak with all Freedom; and not to value the Approbation or Dislike of others, at the Expence of Truth.' Apollonius faid, It was for Slaves to lye, and for Freemen to speak Truth.' 'Tis the chief and fundamental Part of Virtue; we must love it for its own Sake: He that speaks the Truth, because he is otherwise obliged fo to do, and because he serves; and that is not afraid to lye, when it fignifies nothing to any-body; is not fufficiently true. My Soul naturally abominates Lying, and hates the very Thought of it: I have an inward Bafhfulness, and a fmart Remorse, if ever a Ff2 h Cicero pro Ligario, c. 12. horrence. Lying con demned. Lye Book II. Lye escape me, as fometimes it does, being furprisedand hurried by Occafions that allow me no Premeditation. A Man muft not always tell all, for that were Folly; but what a Man fays fhould be what he thinks, otherwise 'tis Knavery I do not know what Advantage Men pretend to by eternally counterfeiting and diffembling, if not, never to be believed, even when they speak the Truth. This may, once or twice, pafs upon Men; but to profess concealing their Thoughts, and to boast, as fome of our Princes have done, that they would burn their Shirts if they knew their true Intentions; which was a Saying of the ancient Metellus of Macedon; and, that he who knows not how to Diffemble, knows not how to Rule.' This is giving Warning to all who have any Thing to do with them, that all they fay is nothing but Lying and Deceit. Quo quis verfutior, et callidior eft, hoc invifior et fufpelior, detracta opinione probitatis: The more fubtle i Of what Importance it is to and cunning any one is, the more is he hated and suspected, the Opinion of his Integrity being loft and gone.' It were a great Simplicity to any one to lay any Strefs either on the Countenance or Word of a Man, that has put on a Refolution to be always another Thing without than he is within, as Tiberius did; and I cannot conceive, what Interest such can have in the Converfation with Men, feeing they produce nothing that is admitted for Truth: Whoever is difloyal to Truth, is the fame to Falfhood also. Thofe of our Time, who have confidered, in the Eftablishment of the Duty of a Prince, the Welfare of his Affairs only, and have preferred' that to the Care of his Faith and Confcience, might say something to a Prince, whose Affairs Fortune had put into fuch a Pofture, that he might for ever establish them by only once breaking his Word:: But it will not go fo; they often come again to the fame Market, they make more than one Peace, and enter into more than one Treaty in their Lives. Gain tempts them to the firft Breach of Faith, and almost always prefents itself, as to all other ill Acts: Sacrileges, Murders, Rebellions, Treafons, are undertaken for fome kind of Advantage: Princes to a- Cic. de Offic. lib. ii. c. 9. |