"Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni"--
is too obvious to need notice; and it is but too certain that in the
estimation of a courtier of Charles II., Cato dying for his country
would be but "a fool for his pains." It is painful to be obliged to
remind MR. BREEN that, in order to understand Sedley's meaning, we are
not to look for what would be "most consistent with truth," but for what
was most probably accordant with the lax morality of the author.