fected, arifing in him to contend with the former, foon compelled it to give way.

And here calling to mind Mahomet, who fubdued ConThe Example ftantinople, and totally exterminated the Greof Mahomet cian Name, I do not know where these two anber Proof. Paffions are fo evenly balanced, being equally an indefatigable Lecher and Soldier; but where they both meet in his Life, and joftle one another, the quarrel fome Paffion always gets the better of the amorous Paffion : And this, tho' it was out of its natural Season, did not regain an abfolute Sovereignty over the other, till he came to be very old indeed, and unable to undergo the Fatigues

Love to be Aronger than Ambition.

of War. What is related, for a contrary Example, of Ladislaus, A notable Ex- King of Naples, is very remarkable; that, ample, proving being a great Captain, Valiant and Ambitious, he proposed to himself, for the principal End of his Ambition, the Execution of his Pleasure, and the Enjoyment of some rare Beauty, which he obtained, and thereby his Death; for having, by a close and tedious Siege, reduced the City of Florence to fo great Diftrefs, that the Inhabitants were glad to capitulate; he was content to fet them free, provided they would deliver up to him a most beautiful Virgin, whom he had heard of in their City. They were forced to yield her to him, and by a private Injury to avert the public Ruin. She was the Daughter of a Phyfician of Eminence in his Time, who, finding himfelf involved in fo foul a Neceffity, refolved upon a high Attempt; for as every one was fetting a Hand to trick up his Daughter, and to adorn her with Ornaments and Jewels, to render her agreeable to this new Lover; he alfo gave her a Handkerchief, moft richly wrought, and of an exquifite Perfume, (an Implement they never go without in thofe Parts) which fhe was to make Ufe of in their firft Approaches. This Handkerchief, which he had the Art to poifón, coming to be rubbed between the chafed Flesh and open Pores, both of the one and the other, fo fuddenly infused its Poison, that their warm Sweat foon

foon turned into a cold Sweat, and they expired in one another's Arms.

of Love never The Pleafures hindered Cafar's Views of aggrandifing

himfelf.

But I return to Cafar: His Pleasures never made him steal one Minute, nor turn one Step aside from Occafions that offered for its Aggrandisement. That Paffion was fo fovereign in him, over all the reft, and with fuch abfolute Authority poffeffed his Soul, that it guided him at Pleasure. In earnest, it troubles me, when (as to every Thing elfe) I confider the Greatness of this Man, and the wonderful Parts wherewith he was endued, learned to fuch a Degree, in all forts of Knowledge, that there is hardly any one Science of which he has not written: He was fo great an Orator, that many have preferred his Eloquence to that of Cicero ; and he, I conceive, did not think himself inferior to him in that Particular; for his two Anti-Cato's were chiefly writ to counter-balance the Eloquence that Cicero had expended in his Cato. As to the reft, was ever Soul fo vigilant, fo active, and so patient of Labour as his? And, doubtless, it was embellished with many rare Seeds of Virtue, I mean, Innate and Natural, and not put on.

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His fingular
Sobriety.

He was fingularly fober, and fo far from being delicate in his Diet, that Oppius relates, how that, having one Day at Table physical, instead of common Oil, in fome Sauce fet before him, he eat heartily of it, that he might not put his • Entertainer out of Countenance'.' Another Time he caused his Baker to be whipped, for ferving him with a finer fort of Bread than common. Cato himself was wont to fay of him, That he was the firft fober Man that took a Course to ruin his Country.' And as to the fame Cato's calling him, one Day, Drunkard, it fell out thus: Being both of them in the Senate, at a Time when Cataline's Confpiracy was in Queftion, of which Cafar was fufpected, one came and brought him a Letter fealed up: Cato, believing that it was fome Intelligence from the Confpirators, called to him to deliver it into his 'Hand,'

k

Cefar's Life by Suetonius.

Plutarch in the Life of Cate of Utica, ch. 7.

Book II. • Hand,' which Cafar was conftrained to do to avoid farther Sufpicion. This proved to be a Love-Letter, that Servilia, Cato's Sifter, had written to him; which Cato

Cæfar called
Drunkard by
Cato, in the
Senate.

having read, he threw it back to him, saying There, Drunkard, take it. This, I fay, was rather a Word of Difdain and Anger, than an exprefs Reproach of this Vice, as we often rate those that anger us, with the firft injurious Words that come into our Mouths, though by no Means applicable to thofe we are offended at. To which may be added, that the Vice which Cato caft in his Difh, is won derfully near a-kin to that wherein he had caught Cafar;

Venus accompanies Bacchus.

fober.

"

for Bacchus and Venus, according to the Proverb, agree like Hand in Glove; but, with me, Venus is most fsprightly when I am most

The Examples of his Mildness and Clemency to those Cæfar's Cleby whom he had been offended, are infinite mency towards I mean, befides thofe he gave during the bis Enemies. Time of the Civil Wars, which, as plainly enough appears by his Writings, he practifed to cajole his Enemies, and to make them lefs afraid of his future Dominion and Victory. But I muft alfo fay, that, if these Examples are not fufficient Proofs of his natural Good Temper, they, at least, manifeft a marvellous Confidence and Magnanimity in this Perfonage. He has often fent back whole Armies, after having overcome them, to his Enemies, without Ranfom, or deigning fo much as to bind them by Oath, if not to favour him, at least no more to bear Arms against him. He has, three or four gimes, taken fome of Pompey's Captains Prifoners, and as oft fet them at Liberty'. Pompey declared all those to be his Enemies, who did not follow him to the War, and he proclaimed all those to be his Friends, who fat ftill, and did not actually take Arms against him. To fuch Captains of his, as ran away from him to alter their Condition, he fent, moreover, their Arms, Horfes, and Equipage. The Cities he had taken by Force, he left at full Liberty to take which Side they pleased, impofing no other Garrifon

1 Cafar's Life, by Suetonius, fect. 75..

upon

upon them, but the Memory of his Mildness, and Clemency. He gave ftrict Charge, on the Day of his great Battle of Pharfalia, that, without the utmoft Neceffity, no one should lay a Hand upon the Citizens of Rome. Thefe, in my Opinion, were very hazardous Proceedings; and 'tis no Wonder, if thofe in our Civil War, who, like him, fight against the ancient State of their Country, do not follow his Example; they are extraordinary Means, fuch as only Cafar's Fortune and his admirable Forefight could happily conduct. When I confider his incomparable Magnanimity, I excufe Victory, that it could not difengage itfelf from him, even in that moft unjust and wicked Caufe. To return to his Clemency; we have many ftrong Examples of it in the Time of his Government, when, all Things being reduced to his Power, he had no more Need to dif femble. Caius Memmius had writ very fevere Orations a gainst him, which he as fharply answered: Yet he foon after used his Interest to make him Conful. Caius Calvus, who had compofed several injurious Epigrams against him, having imployed his Friends to mediate a Reconciliation with him, Cafar, of his own Accord, wrote firft to him. And our good Catullus, who had fo ruffled him, under the Name of Mamurra, coming to make his Excufes to him, he made him, the fame Day, fup with him at his Table, Having Intelligence of fome who fpoke ill of him, he did no more but, in a public Oration, declare that he had Notice of it. He alfo lefs feared his Enemies than he hated them. Some Confpiracies and Cabals that were made against his Life, being discovered to him, he fatisfied himfelf, in publishing by Proclamation, that they were known to bim, without further profecuting the Confpirators.

As to the Refpect he had to his Friends; Caius Oppius being with him upon a Journey, and finding himfelf ill, ⚫he left him the only Lodging he had for himself, and lay

all Night upon the hard Ground in the open Air. As to his Juftice; he put a beloved Servant of his to Death for lying with a Noble Roman's Wife, though there was no Complaint made.' Never had Map more Moderation in his Victory, nor more Refolution in his adverse For+

tune.

But

Boundless Ambition the only Ruin of Cxfar's Altions, and the Bane of bis Memory with all Good

Men.

540
But all these good Inclinations were ftifled and fpoiled
by his furious Ambition, by which he fuf-
fered himself to be fo far tranfported, that a
Man may eafily maintain, that that Paffion
was the Rudder whereby all his Actions were
fteered Of a liberal Man, it made him a
public Robber, to fupply his Bounty and
Profufion, and made him utter this vile and
moft unjust Saying, That, if the most wick-
⚫ed and profligate Perfons in the World had been faith-
•ful in ferving him towards his Advancement, he would
cherish and prefer them to the utmoft of his Power, as
• much as the best of Men :' It intoxicated him with fuch
exceffive Vanity, that he dared to boaft, in the Prefence
of his Fellow-Citizens, That he had made the great
• Commonwealth of Rome a Name without Body, and
⚫ without Form;' and to fay, That his Answers, for
the future, fhould ftand for Laws; and alfo to receive
the Body of the Senate, coming towards him, fitting; to
fuffer himself to be adored, and to have Divine Honours
paid to him in his own Prefence. To conclude, this fole
Vice, in my Opinion, spoiled, in him, the richest Fund of
Good-nature that ever was, and has rendered his Name
abominable to all good Men, for aiming to erect his Glory
upon the Ruins of his Country, and the Subverfion of the
greatest and most flourishing Republic the World shall ever
fee. There might, on the contrary, many Examples be
produced of great Men, whom Pleafures have made to
neglect the Conduct of their Affairs, as Mark Anthony, and
others; but where Love and Ambition fhould be in equal
Balance, and come to joftle with equal Forces, I make no
Doubt but the laft would have the Turn of the Scale.

An extraordinary Instance of a young Man, of very fine Features, who fearified his Face all over, to fup

But to return to my Subject: "Tis a very great Point to bridle our Appetites by the Discourse of Reason, or, by Violence, to conftrain our Members within their Duty: But to lash ourselves for our Neighbour's Interest, and not only to diveft ourselves of the charming Paffion that tickles us, and of the Pleaprefs the Paf- fure we feel in being agreeable to others, and

courted

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