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to trust more to his right Hand than to his left. Now, 'tis only the not being used to wear it, that makes us think the Weight of our Armour infupportable.

L'bufbergo in doffo baveamo: et l'elmo in tefta,
Duc di quelli guerier dei quali io canto,
Ne notte è di, doppo ch' entraro in questa
Stanza, gl haveano mai mefi da canto,
Che facile a portar come la vesta
Era lor, percha in ufo l'havean tanto".

i. e.

Two of these Heroes, whom I fing, had on
Each his bright Helm, and ftrong Habergeon;
And Night nor Day, nor one poor Minute's Space,
Once laid them by whilft they were in this Place :
So long accuftomed this Weight to bear,

Their Cloaths to them not lighter did appear.

The Emperor Caracalla ufed to march, on Foot, thro' the Country, at the Head of his Forces, and The Armour of armed Cap-a-pee. The Roman Infantry not the Roman Inonly carried the Helmet, Sword, and Shield, fantry. (for as to Armour, fays Cicero, they were fo accustomed to have it on, that it was no more troublesome to them than their Limbs, Arma enim, membra militis effe dicunt) but also a Fortnight's Provifion, and a certain Number of Poles to make their Ramparts, fo that each Man carried fixty Pounds Weight to his own Share. And Marius's Soldiers, loaden in like manner, were forced to travel five Leagues in five Hours, and upon an urgent Occafion fix. Their military Difcipline was much more fevere than ours, and accordingly produced quite different Effects. When young Scipio difbanded his Soldiers in Spain, he ordered them to eat always ftanding, and nothing that was dreffed. The Reproach which was given to a Lacedemonian Soldier, that, when he was on a military Expedition, he was feen under the Roof of a House, is wonVOL. II. derfully

w Ariosto, Cant. xii. Stanz. 30.

Tufc. Quæft. lib. ii. c. 16.

H

* Orlando and Sacripante. y Cic.

2 Plutarch in his notable Sayings of the ancient Kings, Princes, and Ge nerals, in the Article of Scipio the Younger,

Book II. derfully pertinent to this Purpofe; for they were fo inured to Hardship, that it was a Shame for them to be seen under any Roof but that of Heaven, be the Weather what it would. We fhould not be able to carry our Men far upon these Terms.

As for the reft, Marcellinus, a Man bred up in the Roman Wars, makes a curious Remark on the manner of the Parthians themselves, and takes Notice of it the rather for being fo different from that of the Romans. Their

The Parthians in the Field were all covered with Iron.

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Armour, fays he, was fo artfully connected, that the Plates of Iron fell over one another like fo many fmall Feathers, which did not at all retard the Motion of their Bodies, and yet they were fo ftrong that our Darts, after striking their Armour, rebounded upon us. Thefe were the Coats of Mail which our An• ceftors used to wear."' And, in another Place, They had ftrong hardy Horfes, fays he, covered with thick Leather, and themselves were armed, Cap-a-pee, with * great fcaly Plates of Iron, fo artificially ranged, that, at the Joints of all the Limbs, they yielded to their Mo⚫tion. One would have said, that they were Men of Iron, having the Head-geer fo neatly fitted on, and fo naturally representing the Form and Parts of the Face, that there was no touching them but by little round Holes • made for their Eyes to receive the Light, and by Chinks about their Noftrils, through which, with great Difficulty, they drew their Breath.'

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Flexilis inductis animatur lamina membris,
Horribilis vifu, credas fimulacra moveri
Ferrea, cognatoque viros fpirare metallo;
Par veftitus equis, ferrata fronte minantur,
Ferratofque movent fecuri vulneris armos.
i. e.

Stiff Plates of Steel, over the Body laid,
By Arm❜rers Skill fo flexible were made,

That,

* Ammianus Maximus, a Latin Hiftorian, though by Birth a Greek, who bore Arms under the Emperors Conftance, Julian, &c. lib. xxiv. c. 7. Claudian in Ruff. lib. ii. v. 358, &c.

That, dreadful to be feen, you would them guefs
Not to be Men, but moving Images:

The Horfe, like arm'd, Spikes bore in Fronts above,
And fearless they their Iron Shoulders move.

A Description this very much like the Equipage of a Frenchman in Armour, with all his Horfe Accoutrements. Plutarch fays, that Demetrius caufed two compleat Suits of Armour to be made, for himself and for Alcimus, the chief Officer about him, of fixfcore Pounds Weight, whereas the common Suits weighed but half as much.

I

СНАР. Х.

Of BOOKS.

Make no Doubt but I often happen to speak of Things that are much better and more truly handled by thofe who are Masters of the Profeffion. This here is purely an Effay of my natural Parts, and not of those acquired: And whoever shall catch me tripping in my Ignorance, will do me no manner of Harm; for I, who am not refponfable to myself for my Writings, nor pleased with them, fhould be loth to be anfwerable for them to another. He that feeks after Knowledge, let him fish for it where it is to be found; there being nothing which I fo little profefs. Thefe are Fancies of my own, by which I do not aim to discover Things, but myself. They will, peradventure, be known to me one Day or other, or have formerly been fo, according as my Fortune brought me to the Places where they were manifefted, but now I have forgot them: And, tho' I am a Man of fome Reading, yet I am a Man of no Retention; fo that I can promife. nothing certain, unless it be to discover at what Degree the scientific Barometer of my Knowledge now ftands. Let not the Subjects I write on be fo much attended to, H 2

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as

In all Montaigne's Editions, and in Mr. Cotton's Tranflation 'tis fpelt Alcinus, whereas the true Reading is Alcimus. See Plutarch's Life of Demetrius, Chap. 6.

Why Montaigne did not chufe to name the Authors from whom he quoted.

Let it be observed, others, I have chose

as my manner of treating them. whether, in what I borrow from what tends to fet off or support the Invention, which is always my own: For I make others fay for me what, either for Want of Language, or of Senfe, I cannot, myself, fo well exprefs. I do not count what I borrow, but I weigh it. And, if I had aimed to make a Merit by the Quantity, I should have borrowed twice as much as I have. They are all, or within a few, fuch celebrated ancient Authors, as, I think, are too well known for me to mention them ". In Reasons, Comparisons, and Arguments, if I transplant any, from elsewhere, into my Soil, and confound them with my own, I purposely conceal the Author, to check the Presumption of thofe hafty Cenfures that are cast upon all kind of Writings, particularly the juvenile ones, of Men yet living, and compofed in the vulgar Tongue, which capacitates every Man to speak of them, and seems to intimate, that there is nothing but what is vulgar, both as to Defign and Conception, in those Works. I am content that they give Plutarch a Rap upon my Knuckles, and that they burn their Fingers by lafhing Seneca thro' my Sides. There was a Neceffity of screening my Weakness by thofe great Characters. I fhall love the Man that can strip me of my Plumage, I mean, by the Clearness of the Discernment, and by the fole Distinction of the Strength and Beauty of the Arguments. For I who, for Want of Memory, am, every now and then, at a Lofs to chufe them by an exact Knowledge of the Places where they are to be found in the Originals, am yet wife enough to know, by the Measure of my own Abilities, that my Soil is incapable of producing any of thofe rich Flowers that I fee planted there, and that they are worth more than all the Fruits of my own Growth. For this I hold myself refponfable,

It was not till after Montaigne's Death, that his Editors undertook to name the Authors whofe Words he had quoted. But I will presume to say, this was rather attempted than executed before this Edition; which not only fhews the Places from whence Montaigne quoted those Paffages, but also many others, which he had only referred to in a very loofe manner, though he had inferted the Senfe of them in his Work.

refponfable, though the Confeffion makes against me, if there be any Vanity and Vice in my Difcourfes, which I do not of myself perceive, or which I am not capable of perceiving when pointed out to me by another: For many Faults efcape our Eye, but the Infirmity of Judgment confifts in not being able to difcern them when detected to us by another. We may poffefs Knowledge and Truth without Judgment, and Judgment without them; nay, the Confeffion of Ignorance is one of the fairest and fureft Teftimonies of Judgment that I know of. I have no Herald to marshal my Effays but Chance. As faft as Thoughts come into my Head, which fometimes they do in whole Bodies, and sometimes in fingle Files, I pile them one upon another. I am content that every one fhould fee my natural and ordinary Pace, be it ever fo much out of the Way. I fuffer myself to jog on in my old Track: Nor are these fuch Subjects that a Man fhall be condemn→ ed for being ignorant of them, and for treating them cafually and prefumptuously. I could wish to have a more perfect Knowledge of Things, but I don't care to purchase it at fo dear a Rate. I would fain pass the Remainder of my Days easily, and not laboriously. There is nothing that I chufe to cudgel my Brains about, no, not for Science, how valuable foever.

All that I read Books for is to divert myself by an honeft Amusement; or, if I ftudy, it is for no What he aimed other Science than what teaches me to knów myfelf, and how to live and die well.

Has meus ad metas fudet oportet equus *.

i. e.

This is the only Course

to find in Books.

In which I think I ought to breathe my Horse.

If any Difficulties occur in Reading, I do not bite my Nails about them, but, after an Effay or two to explain them, I give them over: Should I infift upon them, I should lose both myfelf and my Time, for I have a Gepius that is extremely volatile; and what I don't difcern at the first Effay, becomes the more obfcure to me the longer

H 3

Propert. lib. iv. Eleg. 1.

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