Produced by David Widger
Translated by Charles Cotton
Edited by William Carew Hazilitt
1877
XXXIX. A consideration upon Cicero.
XL. That the relish of good and evil depends in a great measure
upon opinion.
XLI. Not to communicate a man's honour.
XLII. Of the inequality amongst us.
XLIII. Of sumptuary laws.
XLIV. Of sleep.
XLV. Of the battle of Dreux.
XLVI. Of names.
XLVII. Of the uncertainty of our judgment.
One word more by way of comparison betwixt these two. There are to begathered out of the writings of Cicero and the younger Pliny (but little,in my opinion, resembling his uncle in his humours) infinite testimoniesof a beyond measure ambitious nature; and amongst others, this for one,that they both, in the sight of all the world, solicit the historians oftheir time not to forget them in their memoirs; and fortune, as if inspite, has made the vanity of those requests live upon record down tothis age of ours, while she has long since consigned the historiesthemselves to oblivion. But this exceeds all meanness of spirit inpersons of such a quality as they were, to think to derive any greatrenown from babbling and prating; even to the publishing of their privateletters to their friends, and so withal, that though some of them werenever sent, the opportunity being lost, they nevertheless presented themto the light, with this worthy excuse that they were unwilling to losetheir labours and lucubrations. Was it not very well becoming twoconsuls of Rome, sovereign magistrates of the republic that commandedthe world, to spend their leisure in contriving quaint and elegantmissives, thence to gain the reputation of being versed in their ownmother-tongues? What could a pitiful schoolmaster have done worse, whosetrade it was thereby to get his living? If the acts of Xenophon andCaesar had not far transcended their eloquence, I scarce believe theywould ever have taken the pains to have written them; they made it theirbusiness to recommend not their speaking, but their doing. And could theperfection of eloquence have added a lustre suitable to a greatpersonage, certainly Scipio and Laelius had never resigned the honour oftheir comedies, with all the luxuriances and elegances of the Latintongue, to an African slave; for that the work was theirs, its beauty andexcellence sufficiently declare; Terence himself confesses as much, and Ishould take it ill from any one that would dispossess me of that belief.
'Tis a kind of mockery and offence to extol a man for qualitiesmisbecoming his condition, though otherwise commendable in themselves,but such as ought not, however, to be his chief talent; as if a manshould commend a king for being a good painter, a good architect, a goodmarksman, or a good runner at the ring: commendations that add no honour,unless mentioned altogether and in the train of those that are properlyapplicable to him, namely, justice and the science of governing andconducting his people both in peace and war. At this rate, agriculturewas an honour to Cyrus, and eloquence and the knowledge of letters toCharlemagne. I have in my time known some, who by writing acquired boththeir titles and fortune, disown their apprenticeship, corrupt theirstyle, and affect ignorance in so vulgar a quality (which also our nationholds to be rarely seen in very learned hands), and to seek a reputationby better qualities. Demosthenes'