And the Master of the Chòir after having characterised the greatest Romans, ends thus, -His dantem jura Catonem *. i. And Cato giving Laws to all the reft. • That we laugh and cry for the fame Thing. The Death of the Vanquished Victors. WH HEN we read in History, that Antigonus was very much displeased with bewailed by the his Son, for-prefenting him the Head of King Pyrrhus his Enemy, just killed fighting against him, and that feeing it he heartily wept+: That Rene, Duke of Lorrain, alfo lamented the Death of Charles, Duke of Burgundy †, whom he had just defeated, and appeared in Mourning at his Funeral: And that, in the Battle of Auroy (which the Count de Montfort obtained over Charles de Blois, his Competitor for the Dutchy of Britanny,) the Conqueror meeting the Corpfe of his Enemy, was much afflicted at his Death §: We muft not prefently cry out, Et cofi aven che l'animo ciascuna, Sua Paffion fotto el contrario manto, Ricopre, con la vista hor' chiara, bor' bruna. i. e. There ev'ry one, whether of Joy or Woe, When Pompey's Head was prefented to Cæfar, the Hiftories tell us, that he turned away his Face, as from a fad and difpleafing Object. There had been fo long a Correfpondence and Partnership betwixt them, in the Management Virgil Eneid, lib. viii. v. 670, of Plutarch in the Life of § Froiffart, vol. 1. c. 228 of the publick Affairs, fo great a Community of Fortunes, fo many mutual Offices, and fo near in Alliance, that this Countenance of his ought not to fuffer under any Mifinterpretation; or to be altogether fufpected, for false or counterfeit, as this Author feems to believe: -Tutumque putavit Fàm bonus effe facer, lachrymas non fponte cadentes 'Twas fafe to be a pious Father-in-Law, For tho' it be true, that most of our Actions, are no other than Vizor, and but Masquerades and Disguise, and that it may fometimes be true, that, Hæredis fletus fub perfonâ rifus eft t. i. e. The Heirs diffembled Tears behind the Skreen Yet, in judging of thefe Accidents, we Mankind fuhare to confider how much our Souls are often- ject to different times agitated with different Paffions. And, as Paffions. they fay, that in our Bodies there is a Collection of divers Humours, of which, that is the Governing Paffion, which, according to the Complection we are of, is commonly moft predominant in us: So, tho' the Soul have in it divers Motions to give it Agitation; yet there must be one Mafter of the Field, yet not with fo intire a Conqueft, but that through the Flexibility and Inconftancy of the Soul, thofe of lefs Authority, may, upon Occafion, reaffume their Place, and make a little Sally in turn. Thence it is that we fee not only Children, who fimply follow Nature, often laugh and cry at the fame Thing; but not one of us 'can boast, what Journey foever he may have in Hand that he has fet his Heart upon, but when he comes to part. with his Family and Friends, he will find fomething with Lucan. lib. ix. v. 1937. Mimis, lib. xvii. c. 14. in † Aulus Gellius ex Noctes Publij Book 1. in that troubles him; and tho' he refrain his Tears, yet he puts Foot in the Stirrup, with a fad and cloudy Countenance: And what kindly Flame foever may have warmed the Heart of well-born Virgins, yet they are fain to be forced from about their Mothers Necks, to be put to Bed to their Husbands, whatever this boon Companion is pleased to say: Eftne novis nuptis odio Venus, anne parentum Non, ita me Divi, vera gemunt, juverint *. i. e. So that it is not strange to lament the Death of a Person, whom a Man would by no Means should be alive: When I rattle my Man, I do it with all the Mettle I have, and give him no feigned, but hearty real Curfes; but the Heat being over, if he fhould ftand in Need of me, I fhould be very ready to do him Good; for I instantly turn over a new Leaf. When I call him Calf and Coxcomb, I do not mean to entail thofe Titles upon him for ever; neither do I think I give myfelf the Lye in calling him an honest Fellow prefently after. No one Quality engroffes us abftractedly and univerfally. Were it not the Sign of a Fool to talk to one's felf, there would hardly be a Day or Hour wherein I might not be heard to mutter to myself, and against myself, Wretched Fool that I am! And yet I do not think that to be my Character. He who feeing me one while cold, and prefently very fond of my Wife, believes the one or the other to be counterfeited, is an Afs. Nero taking Leave of his Mother, whom he fent to be drowned, was nevertheless fenfible of fome Emotion at this Farewell, and was ftruck with Horror and Pity. It is faid, that the Light of the Sun is not one continuous Thing, but that it darts new Rays fo quick *Catull. de Comâ Berenice, Num. xiv. v. 15. quick one upon another, that we cannot perceive the Intermiffion. Largus enim liquidi fons luminis ætherius Sal Suppetit atque novo confeftim lumine lumen *. i. e. For the ethereal Sun that shines fo bright, Juft fo the Soul variously and imperceptibly darts out her Passions. Xerxes both Artabanus furprifing once his Nephew Xerxes, chid him for the fudden Alteration of his Countenance. As he was viewing his Forces without Number, paffing over the Hellefpont, for the Grecian Expedition, his Heart leaped with Joy, to fee fo many Thoufands of Men under his Command; it alfo appeared in the Gaiety and Alacrity of his Countenance + But his Thoughts at the fame Inftant fuggefting to him, that of fo many Lives, in an Age at moft, there would not be one left, he knit his Brows, and grew Sad, even to Tears. The Soul does not look upon Things with one and the fame Eye, nor the fame Bias with one and We have refolutely purfued the Revenge of an Injury received, and felt a fingular Satisfaction in the Victory: Yet we are forry, though it is not for the Victory that we weep: There is nothing altered in that: But the Soul looks upon the Thing with another Eye, and reprefents it to itfelf with another kind of Face; for every Thing has many Biaffes and Afpects. Relations, old Acquaintances, and Friendships, poffefs our Imagination, and make it tender for the Time, according to their Condition; but the Revolution is fo quick, that we do not perceive it go off. * Lucret. lib. v. ver. 282, &c. Nit + Herodot. lib. vii. p. 456, 457 Nil adeò fieri celeri ratione videtur, Quàm fi mens fieri proponit, & inchoat ipfa. Ante oculos quarum in promptu natura videtur*. i. c. As what the Mind has plann'd, and once begun; The Mind than other Things more swiftly moves. And, therefore, while we defire to make a Work complete, and all of a Piece, we deceive ourselves. When Timoleon laments the Murder he had committed, after fo mature and generous Deliberation, he does not lament the Liberty restored to his Country, he does not lament the Tyrant, but he laments his Brother: One Part of his Duty is performed, let us give him Leave to perform the other. L CHA P. XXXVIII. ET us lay afide that old Comparison betwixt the active, and the folitary Life, and as for the fine Saying which is made a Cloak for Ambition and Avarice, That we are not born for ourselves, but for the Publick, let us boldly appeal to those who are in publick Affairs, let them lay their Hands upon their Hearts, and then say, whether on the contrary, they do not rather afpire to Titles and Offices, and that Hurry of the World, to make their private Advantage at the publick Expence. The corrupt Means by which they puíh their Way in our Time, manifeftly declare that their End cannot be very good. Let us then tell Ambition, that it is fhe herself who gives us a Taste of Solitude; for what does fhe fo much avoid as Society? What does fhe fo much seek as Elbow-room? A Man may do well, or ill, every where: Lucret. lib. iii, ver. 183, &c. But |