Rome.--_Ibid._
[727-4] He passed the river Rubicon, saying, "Let every die be
thrown."--_Ibid._
[728-1] Cæsar said to Metellus, "This, young man, is harder for me
to say than do."--_Roman Apophthegms._ (_Cæsar._)
[728-2] Trust Fortune, and know that you carry Cæsar.--_Ibid._
[728-3] See Shakespeare, page 112.
[728-4] Demosthenes the orator told Phocion, "If the Athenians
should be mad, they would kill you." "Like enough," said he,--"me
if they were mad, but you if they were wise."--_Apophthegms of
Kings and Great Commanders._ (_Phocion._)
[728-5] See Lyly, page 32.
[729-1] See Spenser, page 30.
[729-2] See Publius Syrus, page 711.
[729-3] See Beaumont and Fletcher, page 198.
[730-1] Set a thief to catch a thief.--BOHN: _A Hand-book of
Proverbs._
[730-2] Man in sooth is a marvellous, vain, fickle, and unstable
subject.--MONTAIGNE: _Works, book i. chap. i. That Men by various
Ways arrive at the same End._
[730-3] See Publius Syrus, page 712.
[731-1] Rejected by some critics as not a genuine work of
Plutarch.--EMERSON.
[731-2] Ta syka syka, tên skaphên de skaphên
onomazôn.--ARISTOPHANES, as quoted in Lucian, Quom. Hist. sit
conscrib. 41.
Brought up like a rude Macedon, and taught to call a spade a
spade.--GOSSON: _Ephemerides of Phialo_ (1579).
[733-1] I am my own ancestor.--JUNOT, DUC D'ABRANTES (when asked
as to his ancestry).
[734-1] Lysander said, "When the lion's skin cannot prevail, a
little of the fox's must be used."--_Laconic Apophthegms._
(_Lysander._)
[734-2] Pardon one offence, and you encourage the commission of
many.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 750._
[735-1] Veni, vidi, vici.
[735-2] See Publius Syrus, page 714.
[735-3] See "Of Unknown Authorship," page 707. Also Publius Syrus,
page 709.
[736-1] See Pope, page 317.
Plutarch ascribes this saying to Plato. It is also ascribed to
Pythagoras, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates; also to
Phemonë, a mythical Greek poetess of the ante-Homeric period.
Juvenal (Satire xi. 27) says that this precept descended from
heaven.
[738-1] Spare your breath to cool your porridge.--RABELAIS:
_Works, book v. chap. xxviii._
[738-2] See Fielding, page 363.
He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to
live.--DIOGENES LAERTIUS: _Socrates, xiv._
[738-3] See Holmes, page 637.
[739-1] In the "Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (Rudolphe Erich
Raspe), stories gathered from various sources, is found the story
of sound being frozen for a time in a post-horn, which when thawed
gave a variety of tunes. A somewhat similar account is found in
Rabelais, book iv. chaps. lv. lvi., referring to Antiphanes.
[739-2] See Heywood, page 11.
[739-3] See Burton, page 186.
[739-4] See Garrison, page 605.
[740-1] See Pliny, page 717.
[740-2] See Mrs. Browning, page 621.
Plutarch relates (Isis and Osiris) that a ship well laden with
passengers drove with the tide near the Isles of Paxi, when a loud
voice was heard by most of the passengers calling unto one Thanus.
The voice then said aloud to him, "When you are arrived at
Palodes, take care to make it known that the great god Pan is
dead."
[740-3] I am the things that are, and those that are to be, and
those that have been. No one ever lifted my skirts; the fruit
which I bore was the sun.--PROCLUS: _On Plato's Timæus, p. 30 D._
(Inscription in the temple of Neith at Sais, in Egypt.)
[740-4] No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre.--MARSHAL CATINAT
(1637-1712).
Few men have been admired by their domestics.--MONTAIGNE: _Essays,
book iii. chap. 2._
This phrase, "No man is a hero to his valet," is commonly
attributed to Madame de Sévigné, but on the authority of Madame
Aissé (Letters, edited by Jules Ravenal, 1853) it really belongs
to Madame Cornuel.
[740-5] See Heywood, page 15.
[741-1]
Though this may be play to you,
'T is death to us.
ROGER L' ESTRANGE: _Fables from Several Authors. Fable 398._
[742-1] See Pope, page 325.
EPICTETUS. _Circa_ 60 A. D.
(_The translation used here is that of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, based
on that of Elizabeth Carter_ (1866).)
To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is
unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.
_Discourses. Chap. ii._
Yet God hath not only granted these faculties, by which we may
bear every event without being depressed or broken by it, but
like a good prince and a true father, hath placed their exercise
above restraint, compulsion, or hindrance, and wholly without our
own control.
_Discourses. Chap. vi._
In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of
this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action,
but our inward opinions and principles.
_Discourses. Chap. xi._
Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.
_Discourses. Chap. xii._
O slavish man! will you not bear with your own brother, who has
God for his Father, as being a son from the same stock, and of
the same high descent? But if you chance to be placed in some
superior station, will you presently set yourself up for a
tyrant?
_Discourses. Chap. xiii._
When you have shut your doors, and darkened your room, remember
never to say that you are alone, for you are not alone; but God
is within, and your genius is within,--and what need have they of
light to see what you are doing?
_Discourses. Chap. xiv._
No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of
grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer
you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear
fruit, then ripen.
_Discourses. Chap. xv._
Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a
Providence to an humble and grateful mind.
_Discourses. Chap. xvi._
Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were
I a swan, the part of a swan.
_Discourses. Chap. xvi._
Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things,
it ought not itself to be left in disorder.
_Discourses. Chap. xvii._
If what the philosophers say be true,--that all men's actions
proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion
that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not,
and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is
uncertain,--so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that
it is for their advantage.
_Discourses. Chap. xviii._
Practise yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and
thence proceed to greater.
_Discourses. Chap. xviii._
Every art and every faculty contemplates certain things as its
principal objects.
_Discourses. Chap. xx._
Why, then, do you walk as if you had swallowed a ramrod?
_Discourses. Chap. xxi._
When one maintains his proper attitude in life, he does not long
after externals. What would you have, O man?
_Discourses. Chap. xxi._
Difficulties are things that show what men are.
_Discourses. Chap. xxiv._
If we are not stupid or insincere when we say that the good or
ill of man lies within his own will, and that all beside is
nothing to us, why are we still troubled?
_Discourses. Chap. xxv._
In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are
taught; but in life there are many things to draw us aside.
_Discourses. Chap. xxvi._
Appearances to the mind are of four kinds. Things either are what
they appear to be; or they neither are, nor appear to be; or they
are, and do not appear to be; or they are not, and yet appear to
be. Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task.
_Discourses. Chap. xxvii._
The appearance of things to the mind is the standard of every
action to man.
_That we ought not to be angry with Mankind. Chap. xxviii._
The essence of good and evil is a certain disposition of the
will.
_Of Courage. Chap. xxix._
It is not reasonings that are wanted now; for there are books
stuffed full of stoical reasonings.
_Of Courage. Chap. xxix._
For what constitutes a child?--Ignorance. What constitutes a
child?--Want of instruction; for they are our equals so far as
their degree of knowledge permits.
_That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i._
Appear to know only this,--never to fail nor fall.
_That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution. Book ii. Chap. i._
The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them
should be constant.
_How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence. Chap. v._
Shall I show you the muscular training of a philosopher? "What
muscles are those?"--A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers
daily exercised; careful resolutions; unerring decisions.
_Wherein consists the Essence of Good. Chap. viii._
Dare to look up to God and say, "Make use of me for the future as
Thou wilt. I am of the same mind; I am one with Thee. I refuse
nothing which seems good to Thee. Lead me whither Thou wilt.
Clothe me in whatever dress Thou wilt."
_That we do not study to make Use of the established Principles
concerning Good and Evil. Chap. xvi._
What is the first business of one who studies philosophy? To part
with self-conceit. For it is impossible for any one to begin to
learn what he thinks that he already knows.
_How to apply general Principles to particular Cases. Chap. xvii._
Every habit and faculty is preserved and increased by
correspondent actions,--as the habit of walking, by walking; of
running, by running.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Whatever you would make habitual, practise it; and if you would
not make a thing habitual, do not practise it, but habituate
yourself to something else.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Reckon the days in which you have not been angry. I used to be
angry every day; now every other day; then every third and fourth
day; and if you miss it so long as thirty days, offer a sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God.
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Be not hurried away by excitement, but say, "Semblance, wait for
me a little. Let me see what you are and what you represent. Let
me try you."
_How the Semblances of Things are to be combated. Chap. xviii._
Things true and evident must of necessity be recognized by those
who would contradict them.
_Concerning the Epicureans. Chap. xx._
There are some things which men confess with ease, and others
with difficulty.
_Of Inconsistency. Chap. xxi._
Who is there whom bright and agreeable children do not attract to
play and creep and prattle with them?
_Concerning a Person whom he treated with Disregard. Chap. xxiv._
Two rules we should always have ready,--that there is nothing
good or evil save in the will; and that we are not to lead
events, but to follow them.
_In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness. Book iii. Chap. x._
In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then
undertake it.[746-1]
_That Everything is to be undertaken with Circumspection. Chap. xv._
There is a fine circumstance connected with the character of a
Cynic,--that he must be beaten like an ass, and yet when beaten
must love those who beat him, as the father, as the brother of
all.
_Of the Cynic Philosophy. Chap. xxii._
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you
have to do.
_Concerning such as read and dispute ostentatiously. Chap. xxiii._
Let not another's disobedience to Nature become an ill to you;
for you were not born to be depressed and unhappy with others,
but to be happy with them. And if any is unhappy, remember that
he is so for himself; for God made all men to enjoy felicity and
peace.
_That we ought not to be affected by Things not in our own Power. Chap.
xxiv._
Everything has two handles,--one by which it may be borne;
another by which it cannot.
_Enchiridion. xliii._
FOOTNOTES:
[746-1] See Publius Syrus, page 712.
TACITUS. 54-119 A. D.
(_The Oxford Translation. Bohn's Classical Library._)
The images of twenty of the most illustrious families--the
Manlii, the Quinctii, and other names of equal splendour--were
carried before it [the bier of Junia]. Those of Brutus and
Cassius were not displayed; but for that very reason they shone
with pre-eminent lustre.[747-1]
_Annales. iii. 76. 11._
He had talents equal to business, and aspired no higher.[747-2]
_Annales. vi. 39, 17._
He [Tiberius] upbraided Macro, in no obscure and indirect terms,
"with forsaking the setting sun and turning to the
rising."[747-3]
_Annales. vi. 52_ (46).
He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he
said or did.[747-4]
_Historiæ. ii. 80._
Some might consider him as too fond of fame; for the desire of
glory clings even to the best men longer than any other
passion.[747-5]
_Historiæ. iv. 6._
The gods looked with favour on superior courage.[747-6]
_Historiæ. iv. 17._
They make solitude, which they call peace.[747-7]
_Agricola. 30._
Think of your ancestors and your posterity.[747-8]
_Agricola. 32._
It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured.[747-9]
_Agricola. 42._
FOOTNOTES:
[747-1] Lord John Russell, alluding to an expression used by him
("Conspicuous by his absence") in his address to the electors of
the city of London, said, "It is not an original expression of
mine, but is taken from one of the greatest historians of
antiquity."
[747-2] See Mathew Henry, page 284.
[747-3] See Plutarch, page 726.
[747-4] See Chesterfield, page 353.
[747-5] See Milton, page 247.
[747-6] See Gibbon, page 430.
[747-7] See Byron, page 550.
[747-8] See John Quincy Adams, page 458.
[747-9] See Seneca, page 714.
PLINY THE YOUNGER. 61-105 A. D.
(_Translation by William Melmoth. Bohn's Classical Library._)
Modestus said of Regulus that he was "the biggest rascal that
walks upon two legs."
_Letters._[748-1] _Book i. Letter v. 14._
There is nothing to write about, you say. Well, then, write and
let me know just this,--that there _is_ nothing to write about;
or tell me in the good old style if you are well. That 's right.
I am quite well.[748-2]
_Letters. Book i. Letter xi. 1._
Never do a thing concerning the rectitude of which you are in
doubt.
_Letters. Book i. Letter xviii. 5._
The living voice is that which sways the soul.
_Letters. Book ii. Letter iii. 9._
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had
in pursuit.[748-3]
_Letters. Book ii. Letter xv. 1._
He [Pliny the Elder] used to say that "no book was so bad but
some good might be got out of it."[748-4]
_Letters. Book iii. Letter v. 10._
This expression of ours, "Father of a family."
_Letters. Book v. Letter xix. 2._
That indolent but agreeable condition of doing nothing.[748-5]
_Letters. Book viii. Letter ix. 3._
Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and
by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our
eye. . . . We put off from time to time going and seeing what we
know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.
_Letters. Book viii. Letter xx. 1._
His only fault is that he has no fault.[748-6]
_Letters. Book ix. Letter xxvi. 1._
FOOTNOTES:
[748-1] Book vi. Letter xvi. contains the description of the
eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79, as witnessed by Pliny the Elder.
[748-2] This comes to inform you that I am in a perfect state of
health, hoping you are in the same. Ay, that 's the old
beginning.--COLMAN: _The Heir at Law, act iii. sc. 2._
[748-3] See Goldsmith, page 402.
[748-4] "There is no book so bad," said the bachelor, "but
something good may be found in it."--CERVANTES: _Don Quixote, part
ii. chap. iii._
[748-5] Il dolce far niente (The sweet do nothing).--_A well known
Italian proverb._
[748-6] See Carlyle, page 579.
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS. 121-180 A. D.
(_Translated by M. H. Morgan, Ph. D., of Harvard University._)
This Being of mine, whatever it really is, consists of a little
flesh, a little breath, and the part which governs.
_Meditations. ii. 2._
The ways of the gods are full of providence.
_Meditations. ii. 3._
Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in
life as though it were thy last.[749-1]
_Meditations. ii. 5._
Thou seest how few be the things, the which if a man has at his
command his life flows gently on and is divine.
_Meditations. ii. 5._
Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being
desultory.
_Meditations. ii. 7._
No state sorrier than that of the man who keeps up a continual
round, and pries into "the secrets of the nether world," as saith
the poet, and is curious in conjecture of what is in his
neighbour's heart.
_Meditations. ii. 13._
Though thou be destined to live three thousand years and as many
myriads besides, yet remember that no man loseth other life than
that which he liveth, nor liveth other than that which he loseth.
_Meditations. ii. 14._
For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can
one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two
points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting
and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not
whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years
or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the
longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die,
lose one and the same thing.
_Meditations. ii. 14._
As for life, it is a battle and a sojourning in a strange land;
but the fame that comes after is oblivion.
_Meditations. ii. 17._
Waste not the remnant of thy life in those imaginations touching
other folk, whereby thou contributest not to the common weal.
_Meditations. iii. 4._
The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to
itself.[750-1]
_Meditations. iii. 4._
Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor
unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy
thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.
_Meditations. iii. 5._
A man should _be_ upright, not be _kept_ upright.
_Meditations. iii. 5._
Never esteem anything as of advantage to thee that shall make
thee break thy word or lose thy self-respect.
_Meditations. iii. 7._
Respect the faculty that forms thy judgments.
_Meditations. iii. 9._
Remember that man's life lies all within this present, as 't were
but a hair's-breadth of time; as for the rest, the past is gone,
the future yet unseen. Short, therefore, is man's life, and
narrow is the corner of the earth wherein he dwells.
_Meditations. iii. 10._
Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to
investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy
observation in life.
_Meditations. iii. 11._
As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand for
cases requiring immediate treatment, so shouldst thou have thy
thoughts ready to understand things divine and human, remembering
in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond that
unites the two.
_Meditations. iii. 13._
The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state, is so
related to outer circumstances that it easily changes to accord
with what can be done and what is given it to do.
_Meditations. iv. 1._
Let no act be done at haphazard, nor otherwise than according to
the finished rules that govern its kind.
_Meditations. iv. 2._
By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
Think on this doctrine,--that reasoning beings were created for
one another's sake; that to be patient is a branch of justice,
and that men sin without intending it.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
_Meditations. iv. 3._
Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go
back to nothing.
_Meditations. iv. 4._
Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.
_Meditations. iv. 5._
That which makes the man no worse than he was makes his life no
worse: it has no power to harm, without or within.
_Meditations. iv. 8._
Whatever happens at all happens as it should; thou wilt find this
true, if thou shouldst watch narrowly.
_Meditations. iv. 10._
Many the lumps of frankincense on the same altar; one falls there
early and another late, but it makes no difference.
_Meditations. iv. 15._
Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh
at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.
_Meditations. iv. 17._
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his
neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does
himself, to make it just and holy.
_Meditations. iv. 18._
Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in
itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So
it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.
_Meditations. iv. 20._
Doth perfect beauty stand in need of praise at all? Nay; no more
than law, no more than truth, no more than loving kindness, nor
than modesty.
_Meditations. iv. 20._
All that is harmony for thee, O Universe, is in harmony with me
as well. Nothing that comes at the right time for thee is too
early or too late for me. Everything is fruit to me that thy
seasons bring, O Nature. All things come of thee, have their
being in thee, and return to thee.
_Meditations. iv. 23._
"Let thine occupations be few," saith the sage,[752-1] "if thou
wouldst lead a tranquil life."
_Meditations. iv. 24._
Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content
therewith.
_Meditations. iv. 31._
Remember this,--that there is a proper dignity and proportion to
be observed in the performance of every act of life.
_Meditations. iv. 32._
All is ephemeral,--fame and the famous as well.
_Meditations. iv. 35._
Observe always that everything is the result of a change, and get
used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to
change existing forms and to make new ones like them.
_Meditations. iv. 36._
Search men's governing principles, and consider the wise, what
they shun and what they cleave to.
_Meditations. iv. 38._
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its
current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept
by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
_Meditations. iv. 43._
All that happens is as usual and familiar as the rose in spring
and the crop in summer.
_Meditations. iv. 44._
That which comes after ever conforms to that which has gone
before.
_Meditations. iv. 45._
Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man,--yesterday in
embryo, to-morrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hair's-breadth of
time assigned to thee live rationally, and part with life
cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that
bore it and the tree that matured it.
_Meditations. iv. 48._
Deem not life a thing of consequence. For look at the yawning
void of the future, and at that other limitless space, the past.
_Meditations. iv. 50._
Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one.
Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.
_Meditations. iv. 51._
In the morning, when thou art sluggish at rousing thee, let this
thought be present; "I am rising to a man's work."
_Meditations. v. 1._
A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another
as a vine to bear grapes again in season.
_Meditations. v. 6._
Flinch not, neither give up nor despair, if the achieving of
every act in accordance with right principle is not always
continuous with thee.
_Meditations. v. 9._
Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to
bear.
_Meditations. v. 18._
Prize that which is best in the universe; and this is that which
useth everything and ordereth everything.
_Meditations. v. 21._
Live with the gods.
_Meditations. v. 27._
Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing
nor its worth escape thee.
_Meditations. vi. 3._
The controlling Intelligence understands its own nature, and what
it does, and whereon it works.
_Meditations. vi. 5._
Do not think that what is hard for thee to master is impossible
for man; but if a thing is possible and proper to man, deem it
attainable by thee.
_Meditations. vi. 19._
If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not
think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after
truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who
abideth on still in his deception and ignorance.
_Meditations. vi. 21._
Death,--a stopping of impressions through the senses, and of the
pulling of the cords of motion, and of the ways of thought, and
of service to the flesh.
_Meditations. vi. 28._
Suit thyself to the estate in which thy lot is cast.