Self-love and self-admiration expose a man to the attempts of
flatterers, 100. Mean, poor, and worthless people are not flattered,
but those of a generous and noble nature, 101. In the choice of
friends, let us be wary, yet not over scrupulous, 102. A parasite
who is cringing and obsequious is not difficult of detection, 103.
The great danger is from those who personate the true friend, yet
are selfish and insincere, 104. True friendship arises from a
conformity of tempers and dispositions, 105. The flatterer attempts
such a conformity, 106. It is not natural and uniform, but a mere
disguise, 107. The flatterer is mutable and inconstant, 109. He only
reflects the humors of other men, 109. The true friend imitates
and commends only what is worthy, 110. The flatterer copies the
faults and blemishes of friends, 110, 111. He pretends to have the
same diseases, 111. And to suffer the same ill-treatment, 112.
Counterfeiting the good qualities of a friend, he yields him the
pre-eminence, 112. The flatterer often overdoes, in the effort to
make himself agreeable, 114. The true friend is sometimes under the
necessity of giving pain, 115. The flatterer deals out undeserved
encomium, against which our own conscience protests, 116. Sometimes
he utters praise as if he heard it from a third person, 119.
Sometimes he flatters men in their vices by deriding the contrary
virtues, 119, 120. There is a silent flattery, as when a man yields
his place to another, 121. The parasite praises the man of money,
122. His censures, if he deliver any, fall upon venial faults, not
on real crimes, 124. He flatters, even while pretending to blame,
125. Men, are flattered when reproved for faults directly the
reverse of their real ones, 126. The friend aims at the improvement
of our character; the flatterer works on our weak spots, 128, 129.
The friend is open-hearted and natural; the flatterer ceremonious
and obsequious, 130. The real friend will assist in no dishonest
endeavor: the flatterer has no scruples about the proposal, 131,
132, 134, 135. The kindness of a friend is without parade; that of
a flatterer is attended with bustle and show, 133. The flatterer
reminds us of his past services; the true friend never, 134. An
accurate self-knowledge defends against flattery, 137, 138. We
have no need of flattery, 138. Causeless censure may be equally
mischievous with causeless praise, 138. How to avoid causeless
reprehension of others, 139, et seq. Eliminate from the affair
all self-interest, 140. Free our speech from reproachful words,
141. Deliver ourselves with seriousness and dignity, 142. Make our
reproofs seasonable, 143. The prosperous need reproof rather than the
afflicted, 144. When is severe reproof allowable? 145. Reprove not
in presence of another, 148; especially not before inferiors, 149. A
reprover should not himself need reproof, 150. In reproving, confess
our own fault, 150. Mix with the reproof a little praise, 151. If
reproved, do not retort on your monitor, 152. Reprove only on weighty
occasions, 152. Avoid a fault-finding, captious habit, 153. Reproof
is not offensive, when kindly administered, 154. Reprove with caution
and moderation, 155. Care should be used to leave with the reproof a
salutary impression, 156.
THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO LIVE PLEASURABLY ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE
OF EPICURUS.
By William Baxter, Gent.
Four interlocutors discourse respecting this doctrine, 157-203. What
had been said by a favorer of Epicurus, 157, 158. What the Epicurean
doctrine is, 159. It recognizes no pleasure but that which is derived
from the senses, 160. Objections to this doctrine, 160, _et
seq._ Pains, as well as pleasures, enter through the senses, and
these are keenly felt, 161. Bodily pleasure is feeble and soon over,
161. The remembrance of past pleasure only stimulates desire for
more, 163; and this produces a restless habit, 164. No man can safely
count on a continuance of what he now enjoys, 165. Hence there must
be constant disquiet, 166. A wicked course contributes nothing to
assurance of continual enjoyment, 166. Our very bodily constitution
places us in constant peril, 167. To escape evil, the Epicureans
say, is the supreme good; but this is simply impossible, 167. If it
were possible, it would not raise us above the brutes, 168, 169.
Freedom from bodily pain is a trivial affair, 169. The Epicurean
philosophy rejects the idea of God and of future retribution; this
costs effort; the brutes who never had this idea have advantage over
the followers of Epicurus, 170. Intellectual enjoyments greatly
superior to sensual pleasures, 171. There is great enjoyment in
knowledge, 171. An acquaintance with works of genius affords great
pleasure, 172. The mathematics afford unspeakable delight, 173.
Instances of this in the cases of Eudoxus, Pythagoras, Archimedes,
and others, 174. Such pleasures are far superior and more intense
than sensual enjoyments, 174. The Epicurean philosophy eschews these
higher and purer delights, 175; and in old age it has nothing left,
176. Epicurus disallows music, 177, 178. He would deprive the mind
of its own proper good, and drag it down to the level of the body,
179. The highest good consists in action, 180; especially beneficent
action, 180, 181. The pleasures recognized by Epicureans are base
and ignoble, 182. They make the stomach the centre, 183. A noble
nature despises such pleasures, 184, 185. Great and generous actions
are never forgotten, 186; but the memory of sensual gratification
is transient, 186. A good reputation affords high satisfaction,
187. This cannot be enjoyed by idle and debauched persons, 188. The
Epicureans leave us no hope from God, 189. The fear and worship of
God, even when joined with superstition, keep down wickedness and
afford much pleasure, 190. This pleasure is shared alike by rich and
poor, 191; but Epicureans deny it to themselves, 191. The Deity can
neither do nor suffer wrong, 192. Therefore a friend of God must
be happy, 193. Of such a satisfaction the followers of Epicurus
would deprive us, 194. According to them, death is the extinction
of our being,—a gloomy prospect, 195. All men shrink at the idea
of annihilation, 197. A dark hereafter is better than none, 198.
Epicureanism extinguishes hope and virtue, 199. The hope of another
and better life gives additional comfort to the present, 200. Of all
this hope and enjoyment the Epicurean doctrine deprives us, and thus
debases and contracts our nature, 202, 203.