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out of what Suetonius fays, in the Life of Cafar,

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That

he had a Volume of Letters of his, ad familiares') there is one directed to Cafar, being then in Gaul, wherein Cicero repeats thefe Words, which were in the End of another Letter that Cæfar had writ to him: As for Mar

cus Furius, whom you have recommended to me, I will ⚫ make him King of Gaul; and, if you would have me • advance any other Friend of yours, fend him to me ".' It was no new Thing for a mere Citizen of Rome, as Ce far then was, to difpofe of Kingdoms; for he took away that of King Deiotarus from him, to give it to a Gentleman of the City of Pergamum, called Mithridates". And they who writ his Life, record feveral Cities by him fold'; and Suetonius fays, That he had, at once, from King Ptolomy, near 6000 Talents, or three Millions and fix hundred thousand Crowns," which was almost the fame as felling him his own Kingdom.

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Tot Galata, tot Pontus, tot Lydia nummis *.

i. e.

Such Sums of Money did he raife, as thefe,
From Pontus, Lydia, and the Galates.

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deprived of A great King his Conquefts, by a Letter from the Ro

man Senate.

Mark Anthony faid, That the Grandeur of the People of Rome was not fo much feen in what they ⚫ took, as in what they gave '.' Yet, many Years before Anthony, they had dethroned one amongst the reft with fo wonderful Authority, that, in all the Roman Hiftory, I have not observed any Thing that more denotes the Height of their Power. Antiochus poffeffed all Egypt, and was, moreover, ready to conquer Cyprus, and other Appendixes of that Empire; when, being upon the Progress of his Victories, C. Popilius came to him from the Senate, and, at their firft Meeting, refused to take him by the Hand, till he had read his Letters, which after the King had perufed, and told him, he would confider of Ii2

Lib. vii. Ep. 5. Ciceronis Cæfari Imper.

w Cic. de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 37. Claud. in Eutrop. lib. i. c. 203.

1 Plutarch, in the Life of Anthony, c. 8.

them,

6

Book II. them, Popilius made a Circle about him with the Stick he had in his Hand, faying, Return me an Answer, that I may carry it back to the Senate, before thou stirreft out of this Circle Antiochus, aftonished at the Roughness of so urgent a Command, after a little Paufe, replied,

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I will obey the Senate's Command;' and then it was that Popilius faluted him as a Friend to the People of Rome. After having quitted Claim to fo great a Monarchy, and in fuch a Torrent of fuccefsful Fortune, upon three Words in Writing; in Earneft he had Reafon, as he did, to fend the Senate Word, by his Ambassadors, that he had received their Order with the fame Respect, as if it had arrived from the immortal Gods ".' All the Kingdoms, that Auguftus gained by the Right of Conqueft, he either reftored to those who Why the Romans restored had loft them, or prefented them to Strantheir conquered gers. And Tacitus, in Reference to this, Kingdoms to Ipeaking of Cogidunus, King of England, gives their Owners. us a wonderful Inftance of that infinite Power: The Romans, fays he, were, from all Antiquity, ac• customed to leave the Kings they had fubdued, in Pof⚫ feffion of their Kingdoms under their Authority, that they might have even Kings to be their Slaves: Ut baberent inftrumenta fervitutis, et Reges. 'Tis likely, that Solyman, whom we have feen make a Gift of Hungary, and other Principalities, had therein more Refpect to this Confideration, than to that he was wont to alledge, viz. That he was glutted and overcharged with so many 'Monarchies, and fo much Dominion, as his own Valour, or that of his Ancestors, had acquired.'

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z Tit. Liv. lib. xiv. c. 12. a Idem, ibid. c. 23. Vitâ Julii Agricolæ.

b Idem, in

СНАР.

CHA P. XXV.

Not to counterfeit SICKNESS.

HERE is a choice Epigram in Martial, for he

TH has of all forts, where he pleasantly

Gout countertells the Story of Calius, who, to avoid mak- feit became a ing his court to fome great Men of Rome, to real Gout. go to their Levee, and to attend them Abroad, pretended to have the Gout; and, the better to colour it, anointed his Legs, had them fwathed up, and perfectly counterfeited both the Gefture and Countenance of a gouty Perfon; till, in the End, Fortune did him the Kindness to give him the Gout in Earnest.

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Tantum cura poteft et ars doloris,
Defiit fingere Calius podagram .

i. e.

The Power of Counterfeiting is fo great,
Calius has ceas'd the Gout to counterfeit.

to

Instance of a Man, who became really blind in one Eye, after he feited it,

had counter

I think I have read, fomewhere in Appian, a Story, like this, of one who, to escape the Profcriptions of the Triumviri of Rome, and the better to be concealed from the Discovery of those who purfued him, having mafked himself in a Difguife, did alfo add this Invention, counterfeit having but one Eye; but, when he came to have a little more Liberty, and went to take off the Plaifter he had a great while worn over his Eye, he found he had totally loft the Sight of • it." 'Tis poffible, that the Action of Sight was dulled, for having been fo long without Exercife, and that the Optic Power was wholly retired into the other Eye: For we evidently perceive, that the Eye we keep fhut, fends fome Part of its Virtue to its Fellow, which thereby fwells, and grows bigger; moreover, the fitting ftill, with the Ii3

Mart. Epig. 38. lib. vii. v. 8, 9.

Heat

Heat of the Ligatures and Plaifters, might very well have brought fome gouty Humour upon this Diffembler in Martial.

Ridiculous Vow of Some young English Gallants.

Reading, in Froiffard, the Vow of a Company of young English Gallants, to carry their left Eyes bound up till they were arrived in France, and had performed fome notable Exploit ' against us:' I have often been tickled, with the Conceit of its befalling them as it did the beforenamed Roman, and that they found they had but one Eye apiece when they returned to their Miftreffes, for whofe Sakes they had entered into this ridiculous Vow.

'Tis proper to dren from counterfeiting perfonal Defects.

binder Chil

ny

Mothers have Reason to rebuke their Children, when they counterfeit having but one Eye, Squinting, Lameness, or other fuch perfonal Defects; for, befides that their Bodies, being then fo tender, may be fubject to take an ill Bent, Fortune, I know not how, fometimes feems to delight to take, us at our Word; and I have heard feveral Inftances of People who have become really fick, by only feigning to be fo. I have always used, whether on Horfeback, or on Foot, to carry a Stick in my Hand, and fo as to affect doing it with a Grace. Mahave threatened me, that this affected Hobbling would, one Day, be turned into Neceffity, that is, that I should be the firft of my Family to have the Gout.' But let us lengthen this Chapter, and etch it out with another Piece, concerning Blindnefs. Pliny reports of one, that dreaming he was blind, found himself fo next Day, without any preceding Malady .' The Force of Imagination might affift in this Cafe, as I have faid elsewhere, and Pliny feems to be of, the fame Opinion, but it is more likely, that the Motions the Body felt within (whereof the Phyficians, if they please, may find out the Caufe) which took away his Sight, were the Occafion of his Dream,

Inftance of a
Man who
was deprived
of Sight in his

Sleep,

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d

Let

Vol. I, c. 29.

d Nat. Hift. lib. vii. c. 50,

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A foolish Woman, who fell blind, found Fault with the

Houfe fhe lived in, that it was too dark: A

Refemblance of moft Men's

Folly.

Let us add another Story, of much the fame Nature, which Seneca relates, in one of his Epiftles". You know, fays be, writing to Lucilius, that Harpaste, my Wife's Fool, is thrown upon my Family as an hereditary Charge, for I have naturally an Averfion to those Monsters; and, if I have a mind to laugh at a Fool, I need not feek him far, "I can laugh at myself. This Fool has fuddenly loft her Sight: I tell you a strangè, but a very true Thing; fhe is not fenfible that she is blind, but eternally importunes her Keeper to take her Abroad, because she says my House is dark: But, believe me, that what we laugh at in her, happens to every one of us: No one knows himself to be avari⚫cious. Befides, the Blind call for a Guide, but we wander of our own Accord. I am not ambitious, we say, but a Man cannot live otherwife at Rome: I am not wafteful, but the City requires a great Ex< pence: 'Tis not my Fault if I am Choleric; and, if I have not yet established any certain Course of Life, 'tis the Fault of Youth. Let us not look Abroad for our Disease, 'tis in us, and planted in our Inteftines: • And our not perceiving ourselves to be fick even ren• ders us more hard to be cured: If we do not betimes ⚫ begin to dress ourselves, when shall we have done with fo many Wounds and Evils that afflict us? And yet we have a most pleasant Medicine in Philofophy; of all others, we are not fenfible of the Pleasure till after the Cure; this pleases and heals at the fame Time.' This is what Seneca fays, who has carried me from my Subject; but 'tis a Digreffion not unprofitable.

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