I Am not guilty of the common Error of judging another by myfelf. I easily admit the Differences of others from my felf. And tho' I find my felf engaged to one Form, I do not oblige Mankind to it as many do; but believe and apprehend a Thousand oppofite Modes of Living, and, contrary to moft Men, more eafily admit of Differences than Uniformity amongst us. I, as frankly as any would have me, difcharge another Being from my Humours and Principles, and confider him according to his own Model. Tho' I am not continent myself, I nevertheless fincerely approve the Continency of the Capuchins, and other religious Orders, and am pleafed with their Way of Living. I fancy that I fhould like to be in their Place, and Love and Honour them the more for being what I am not. I defire in particular, that we may be cenfured every Man by himself, and would not be drawn into the Confequence of common Examples. My Weakness does nothing alter the Efteem I ought to have of the Force and Vigour of those who deferve it. Sunt qui nihil fuadent, quam quod fe imitari poffe confidunt *. There are fome who perfuade nothing but what they believe they can imitate themselves. Crawling as I am upon the Slime of the Earth, I do not, for all that, ceafe to obferve, up in the Clouds, the inimitable Height of fome heroick Souls: It is a great deal for me to have my Judgment regular, if the Effects cannot be fo, and to maintain this fovereign Part at least, free from Corruption: It is fomething to have my Will good when my Legs fail me. This Age wherein we live, in our Part of the World at leaft, is. grown fo ftupid, that not only the Exercife, but the very Notion of Virtue is defective, and feems to be only College Jargon. S 4 * Cicero de Or. ad Brutum, c. 7. Virtutem 1 -Virtutem verba putant, ut Lucum ligna. i. e. Words fine couch'd these Men for Virtue take; As if each Wood a facred Grove could make. Quam vereri deberent, etiam fi percipere non poffent ‡ Which they ought to reverence, tho' they cannot comprehend it. It is a mere Gew-gaw to hang in a Cabinet, or at the End of the Tongue, as on the Tip of the Ear, for Ornament only. Virtue. Vicious Mo- Why the Spar- In that great Battle of Potidea||, where the Greeks under Paufanias, defeated Mardonius and the Perfians, the Conquerors, according Valour to the to their Cuftom, coming to divide amongst Perfon who fignalized himself them the Glory of the Exploit, they attrimoft in Battle. buted to the Spartan Nation the Pre-eminence of Valour in this Engagement. The Spartans, great Judges of Virtue, when they came to determine, to what particular Man of their Nation the Honour was due, of having the best behaved himself upon this Occafion, found that Ariftodemus § had of all others, hazarded his Perfon with the greatest Bravery: But did not however allow him any Prize, by Reafon that his Valour had been incited *Horace, Ep. 6. lib. i. v. 31, 32. + Montaigne applies to Virtue what Cicero here fays of Philosophy, and of those who prefume to find Fault with it. Cicero Tufc. Quæft. lib. v. c. 2. Montaigne has here put Potidea for Platea. Cornelius Nepos, in the Life of Paufanias c. 1. Hujus eft illuftriffimam Prælium apud Plateas. § Herodot. lib. ix. p. 614. incited by a Defire to clear his Reputation from the Reproach it had incurred in the Action at Thermopyla, and by a Defire to die bravely, to wipe off that former Blemish. Many People Study to Depreciate the nobleft Deeds of the Ancients. Our Judgments are fick, and comformable to the Corruption of our Manners. I obferve most of the Wits of thefe Times pretend to Shine by obfcuring the Glory of the brave and generous Actions of former Ages, putting fome vile Conftruction upon them, and forging vain Caufes and Motives of them. A mighty Subtilty indeed! Shew me the greatest and most unblemished Action in Life, and I will invent Fifty bad Ends to obscure it: God knows, who's Intentions will extend them out to the full, what Diversity of Images our internal Wills are liable to; they do not fo maliciously play the Cenfurers, as they do it ignorantly and rudely with their Detraction. The fame Pains and Licence that others Montaigne take to detract from thefe illuftrious Names, acts quite conI would willingly take to lend them a Lift trary, and to raise them higher. As for thofe rare Figures why. that are culled out by the Confent of the wifeft Men, for an Example to the World, I fhould not stick to honour them more, as far as my Invention would permit, by the Circumstances of favourable Conftruction. And we are to believe that the Force of our Invention is infinitely short of their Merit. It is the Duty of good Men to paint Virtue as beautiful as possible, and there would be no Indecency in the Cafe, fhould our Paffion a little tranfport us in favour of fuch facred Forms. What thefe People do to the contrary, they either do out of Malice, or by the Vice of confining their Belief to their own Capacity as aforefaid, or, which I am more inclined to think, for not having their Sight ftrong, clear, and elevated enough, to conceive the Splendor of Virtue in her native Purity: As Plutarch complains, that in his Time fome attributed Various Opinithe Cause of the younger Cato's Death to his ons of the Death Fear of Cafar, at which he feems very angry, of the younger and with good Reafon: And by that a Man may guess how much more he would have been offended Cato. with with those who have attributed it to Ambition: Silly People! He would have performed a handfome, juft and generous Action, tho' he had Ignominy for his Reward, rather than Glory. That Man was in Truth a Pattern, whom Na、 ture chofe out to fhew to what Height human Virtue and Conftancy could arrive. Choice Paffages But I am not capable of handling fo noble out of five an Argument; I will therefore only enter Posts in praife five Latin Poets in the Lifts, contending of Cato, comin the Praise of Cato; and inclufively for pared and efti mated by Mon- their own too. Now a Man well read in taigne. Poetry, will think the two firft, in Comparifon of the others, languifhing; the third more vigorous, but overthrown by the Extravagancy of his own Force. He will then think, that there will be yet Room for one or two Gradations of Invention to come to the fourth; and coming to mount the Pitch of that, he will lift up his Hand in Admiration. At the last, the firft by fome Space, (but a Space that he will fwear is not to be filled up by any human Wit,) he will be astonished, he will not know where he is. Excellent Poe And It is very furprizing that we have more try above Rules. Poets than Judges and Interpreters of Poetry. It is easier to write a Poem, than to understand one. There is indeed a certain low Poetry, that a Man may judge by Precepts and Art; but the true, fupreme and divine Poefy is above all Rules and Reason. whoever difcerns the Beauty of it, with a ftrong and steady Sight, fees no more than a Flash of Lightning. This is a Sort of Poefy that does not exercise, but ravishes and overwhelms our Judgment. The Fury that poffeffes him who is able to penetrate into it, alfo ftrikes a third Man by hearing him repeat it; like a Loadstone, that not only attracts the Needle, but also communicates to it the Virtue to attract others. And it is more evident at our Theatres, that the facred Inspiration of the Muses, having firft ftirred up the Poet to Anger, Sorrow, Hatred, and to be out of himself, whenever they will, does moreover by the Poet poffefs the Actor, and by the Actor confequently all all the Spectators. So much do cur Paffions hang and depend upon one another. red. Poetry has ever had that Power over me What fort of from a Child, to tranfpierce and tranfport Poetry Monme: But this quick Senfe of it that is natural taigne preferto me, has been variously handled by Variety of Forms, and not fo much higher and lower, (for they were ever the highest in every Kind,) as differing in Colour. First, a gay and fpritely Fluency, afterwards an acute and penetrating Subtilty; and laftly, a mature and conftant Force. An Example will better exprefs them; Ovid, Lucan, Virgil. But our Poets are beginning their Carreer. One fays, Sit Cato dum vivit fama vel Cæfare major *. i. e. Whilft he shall live, eclipfe Great Cafar's Name. A Second fays. -Et invictum devitâ Morte Catonem t. i. e. Death being overcome, invincible. And the Third, fpeaking of the Civil-Wars betwixt Cæfar and Pompey; Victrix caufa Diis placuit, fed Victa Catoni ‡. i, e. Heaven approves, The conquering Caufe, the conquer'd Cato loves. And the Fourth, upon the Praises of Cæfar, fays, Præter atrocem animum Catonis || . i. e. And conquer'd all where'er his Eagle flew, |