engage himself from a Quibble that was propounded to him by Stilpo. For my own Part, I am very little fubject to these violent Paffions. I am naturally flow of Apprehenfion, which, by Conversation, grows thicker and duller every Day. CHA P. III. That our Affections are extended beyond our Existence. T after HEY who accufe Mankind of the Fol- Mankind se ly of gaping always after Futurity, and curious advife us to lay hold of the Good which is preFuturity. fent, and to fet up our Reft thereupon, as having too short Reach to feize that which is to come, a Thing even more impoffible for us, than to recover what is paft, have hit upon the most universal of human Errors, if that may be called an Error, whereto Nature itself has difpofed us, which, for the better Continuation of her own Work, has, among several others, impreffed us with this deluding Imagination, as being more jealous of what we do, than what we know. For we are never prefent with, but always beyond ourselves. Fear, Defire, and Hope violently pufh us on towards what is to come, and deprive us of the Senfe and Confideration of that which is prefent, by amufing us with the Thought of what will be, even when we shall be no more. Calamitofus eft animus futuri anxius *. The Mind that anxious is of Things to come, The Duty of Man. Plato often repeats this great Precept †, Do what thou haft to do; and know thyself. Of thefe two Parts, each generally comprehends our whole Duty, and, in like Manner, each takes in the her; for he that would mind his own Business, will find, that Seneca, Epift. 98. † In Timæus, p. 544. Edit. Lamarianæ, at Lyons, 1590. that his firft Leffon is, to know what he is, and what is proper for him: And he who rightly understand himself, will never mistake another Man's Work for his own, but will love and improve himself above all other Things; will refuse fuperfluous Employments, and reject all unprofitable Schemes and Propofals. As the Fool, tho' he should enjoy all that he can poffibly defire, would not be content; fo the wife Man acquiefces with the prefent, and is never diffatisfied. Epicurus exempts his wife Men from all Forefight and Care of Futurity. The Reafonableness of the Law which orders the Conduct of Princes to be enquired into after their Death. Among thofe Laws that relate to the Dead, I look upon that to be as good by which the Actions of Princes are to be examined after their Deceafe. They are, while living, at least Affociates in making the Laws, if not the Mafters of them; and therefore, what Juftice could not inflict upon their Perfons, it is but Reafon fhould be executed upon their Reputations, and the Eftates of their Succeffors, Things that we often value above Life itself *. This is a Cuftom of fingular Advan-tage to thofe Countries where it is obferved, and as much to be defired by all good Princes, who have Reason to take .it ill that the Memories of the Wicked. fhould be treated with the fame Refpect as their's. We owe, it is true, Subjection and Obedience to all Kings alike, in Regard to their Office; but, as to Affection and Efteem, these are only due to their Virtue. Let it be granted, that, by the Rule of Government, we are to be quite paffive under unworthy Princes, to conceal their Vices, and to aid their indifferent Actions with our Recommendation, whilst their Authority ftands in need of our Support: yet, when fuch Communication betwixt the Prince and Subject is at an End, there is no Reason why we should not, for the Sake of our own Liberty, and of common Juftice, publifh our real Refentments. And to debar good Subjects of the Glory of having reverently and faithfully ferved a Prince, whofe Imperfections they fo well knew, were to deprive Pofterity of fo ufeful an Example. And they who, out of Refpect to fome private Obligation, do against their own. Diodorus of Sicily, lib. i. c. 6. Know * Knowledge and Confcience unjustly efpoufe the Memory of a bad Prince, do a private Act of Justice at the Expence of publick Juftice. Titus Livy very truly fays, that the Language of Courtiers is always founding of vain Qftentation, and not to be depended on; every one indifferently extolling his own King's Valour and Greatness to the highest Pitch. It is not impoffible but fome may condemn the Courage of thofe two Soldiers, who boldly anfwered Nero to his Face; the one being afked by him, Why be bore him Ill-will? I was true to thee, he said, whilst thou waft worthy of my Love; but when thou didst turn Parricide, Incendiary, a Stage-Player, and a Coachman, I began to hate thee, and do fo fill. And the other being afked, || Why he had a Defign to take away his Life? Because, said he, I had no other Remedy against thy perpetual Mifchiefs. But, confidering the publick and univerfal Teftimonies that were given after his Death (and will be to all Pofterity, both of him, and all other bad Princes like him) of his tyrannical and wicked Practices, what Man in his Senfes can blame them? Vain Ceremony of the Lacedæmonians at the Death of their Kings. I confefs, I am fcandalized, that in fo facred a Government as that of the Lacedemonians, there should be fo hypocritical a Ceremony ufed at the Death of their Kings, when all their Confederates and Neighbours, and all Sorts and Degrees of Men and Women, as well as their Slaves, -cut and flashed their Foreheads, in Token of Sorrow, re-. peating in their Cries and Lamentations, § That that King (let him have been as wicked as the Devil) was the best they ever had; thereby attributing to his Quality the Praise that belongs to Merit, and to the highest Degree of it, tho' in the meanest Subject. Ariftotle, who leaves no Subject untouched, makes a Query upon the Saying of Solon ¶, That none can be faid to be happy before he be dead. Whether any one, who has even lived and died according to his Heart's Defire, can be termed happy, if he has left an ill Character behind him, or if his Pof c. 68. lon's Affertion, viz. Reflections on SoThat no Mancan be faid to be hapPy before Death. terity || Ibid. Lib. xxxv. c. 48. + Tacit. Annal. 1. xv. c. 67. Book I. teity is miferable. Whilft we have Life and Motion, we convey ourselves by Prepoffeffion or Anticipation whither, and to what we please; but when once we are out of Being, we have no Communication with what ftill exifts, and therefore it had been better said of Solon, That no Man is ever happy, because he is not fo till after he is no more. -Et inde Vix radicitus è vita fe tollit, et ejicit, Sed facit effe fui quiddam fuper infcius ipfe, Mr. DRYDEN's Version. He boafts no Senfe can after Death remain, Mr. CREECH's Verfion. Nor can I think, tho' he himself denies, as if alive. } Bertrand de Glefquin dying before the Castle The Dead treated of Rancon, near Puy in Auvergne, the Befieged were afterward, upon Surrender, obliged to depofite the Keys of the Place upon his Corpfe. Bartholomew d'Alviano, the Venetian General, happening to die in their Wars in Brefcia, and his Corpfe being brought back to Venice through the Territories of Verona, the Enemy's Country, most of the Army were for defiring a fafe Conduct for it from the Veronefe; but Theodore Trivulfio oppofed it, rather chufing to make Way for it by Force of Arms, at the Hazard of a Battle, faying, It was not meet that he, who in his Life was never afraid of his Enemies, fhould feem to fear them when he was dead. And, in Truth, in a Cafe of much the fame Nature, by the Greek Laws, he who made Suit to an Enemy for a Body to give it Burial, did, by that Act, renounce his Victory, and his Right Lucret, lib. i. v. 890. Right to erect a Trophy; and he to whom fuch Suit was made, was ever reputed the Victor. By this Means it was that Nicias loft the Advantage he had vifibly gained over the Corinthians, and that Agefilaus, on the contrary, confirmed the doubtful Title he had before to what he gained from the Baotians. The Opinion of Favours of fame, that the Heaven accompany them in the Grave. These Proceedings might appear very odd, had it not been a general Practice in all Ages, not only to extend the Care of ourselves beyond this Life, but, moreover, to fancy, that very often the Favours of Heaven accompany us to the Grave, and continue even to our Relicks: Of this there are so many Inftances, among the Ancients, waving those of our own Time, that it is not neceffary I fhould inlarge upon it. Edward King of England, the first of that Name, having, in the long Wars betwixt him and Robert King of Scotland, experienced of how great Advantage his own immediate Prefence was to his Affairs, as he had been always victorious where he was perfonally engaged, when he came to die, bound his Son by a folemn Oath, that, as foon as he was dead, he fhould cause his Body to be boiled till the Flefh parted from the Bones; and, after burying the Flefh, to carry the Bones continually with him in his Army, fo often as he should be obliged to go against the Scots; as if Victory had been chained by Destiny to his Joints. So John Zifca, who, in Vindication of Wickliffe's Herefies, difturbed the Bohemians, left Order, that they fhould flea him after his Death, and make a Drum of his Skin, to carry into the Field against his Enemies, fancying it would contribute greatly to the Continuation of the Succeffes he had obtained over them. In like Manner, fome of the Indians, in a Day of Battle with the Spaniards, carried with them the Bones of one of their Captains, in Confideration of the Victories they had formerly obtained under his Conduct. And other People, of the fame new World, do yet carry about with them, in their Wars, the Relicks of valiant Men who have died in Battle, to excite their Courage, and advance their Fortune. Of thefe Examples, the firft only referve for the Tomb, the Reputation they gained by their Atchievements, but |