dle way, or explained himself better, and placed happiness in the joint advantages of the mind, of the body, and of fortune. They are reasonably joined; but certain it is, that they must not be placed on an equal foot. We can much better bear the privation of the last, than of the others; and poverty itself, which mankind is so afraid of, "per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes," is surely preferable to madness, or the stone, though Chrysippus thought it better to live mad, than not to live! If banishment, therefore, by taking from us the advantages of fortune, can not take from us the more valuable advantages of the mind and the body, when we have them; and if the same accident is able to restore them to us, when we have lost them, banishment is a very slight misfortune to those who are already under the dominion of reason, and a very great blessing to those who are still plunged in vices which ruin the health both of body and mind. It is to be wished for, in favor of such as these, and to be feared by none. If we are in this case, let us second the designs of Providence in our favor, and make some amends for neglecting former opportunities by not letting slip the last. "Si nolis sanus, curres hydropicus." We may shorten the evils which we might have prevented, and as we get the better of our disorderly passions, and vicious habits, we shall feel our anxiety diminish in proportion. All the approaches to virtue are comfortable. With how much joy will the man, who improves his misfortunes in this manner, discover that those evils, which he attributed to his exile, sprung from his vanity and folly, and vanish with them! He will see that, in his former temper of mind, he resembled the effeminate prince who could drink no water but that of the river Choaspes, or the simple queen, in one of the tragedies of Euripides, who complained bitterly, that she had not lighted the nuptial torch, and that the river Ismenus had not furnished the water at her son's wedding. Seeing his former state in this ridiculous light, he will labor on with pleasure towards another as contrary as possible to it; and when he arrives there, he will be convinced by the strongest of all proofs, his own experience, that he was unfortunate because he was vicious, not because he was banished. If I was not afraid of being thought to refine too much, I would venture to put some advantages of fortune, which are due to exile, into the scale against those which we lose by exile. One there is which has been neglected even by great and wise letter to Menaceus, of the sense wherein he understood this word. Vid. Diog. Laer. In his third book of Nature, cited by Plutarch, in the treatise on the contradictions of the Stoics. Plut, On Banishment. men. Demetrius Phalereus, after his expulsion from Athens, became first minister to the king of Egypt; and Themistocles found such a reception at the court of Persia, that he used to say his fortune had been lost if he had not been ruined. But Demetrius exposed himself, by his favor under the first Ptolemy, to a new disgrace under the second: and Themistocles, who had been the captain of a free people, became the vassal of the prince he had conquered. How much better is it to take hold of the proper advantage of exile, and to live for ourselves, when we are under no obligation of living for others? Similis, a captain of great reputation under Trajan and Adrian, having obtained leave to retire, passed seven years in his retreat, and then dying, ordered this inscription to be put on his tomb: that he had been many years on earth, but that he had lived only seven.* If you are wise, your leisure will be worthily employed, and your retreat will add new lustre to your character. Imitate Thucydides in Thracia, or Xenophon in his little farm at Scillus. In such a retreat you may sit down, like one of the inhabitants of Elis, who judged of the Olympic games, without taking any part in them. Far from the hurry of the world, and almost an unconcerned spectator of what passes in it, having paid in a public life what you owed to the present age, pay in a private life what you owe to posterity. Write as you live, without passion; and build your reputation as you build your happiness, on the foundations of truth. If you want the talents, the inclination, or the necessary materials for such a work, fall not however into sloth. Endeavor to copy after the example of Scipio at Linternum. Be able to say to yourself, "Innocuas amo delicias doctamque quietem." Rural amusements, and philosophical meditations, will make your hours glide smoothly on; and if the indulgence of Heaven has given you a friend like Lælius, nothing is wanting to make you completely happy. These are some of those reflections which may serve to fortify the mind under banishment, and under the other misfortunes of life, which it is every man's interest to prepare for, because they are common to all men:t I say they are common to all men: because even they who escape them are equally exposed to them. The darts of adverse fortune are always levelled at our heads. Some reach us, some graze against us, and fly to wound our neighbors. Let us therefore impose an equal temper on our minds, and pay without murmuring the tribute which we owe to humanity. The winter brings cold, and we must freeze. The summer returns with heat, and we must melt. The inclemency of the air disorders our health, and we must be sick. Here we are exposed to wild beasts, and there to men more savage than the beasts: and if we escape the inconveniences and dangers of the air and the earth, there are perils by water and perils by fire. This established course of things it is not in our power to change; but it is in our power to assume such a greatness of mind as becomes wise and virtuous men; as may enable us to encounter the accidents of life with fortitude, and to conform ourselves to the order of nature, who governs her great kingdom, the world, by continual mutations. Let us submit to this order, let us be persuaded that whatever does happen ought to happen, and never be so foolish as to expostulate with nature. The best resolution we can take is to suffer what we cannot alter, and to pursue, without repining, the road which Providence, who directs every thing, has marked out to us: for it is not enough to follow; and he is but a bad soldier who sighs, and marches on with reluctancy. We must receive the orders with spirit and cheerfulness, and not endeavor to slink out of the post which is assigned us in this beautiful disposition of things, whereof even our sufferings make a necessary part. Let us address ourselves to God, who governs all, as Cleanthes did in those admirable verses, which are going to lose part of their grace and energy in my translation of them. Parent of nature! Master of the world! Thus let us speak, and thus let us act. Resignation to the will of God is true magnanimity. But the sure mark of a pusillanimous and base spirit, is to struggle against, to censure the order of Providence, and, instead of mending our own conduct, to set up for that of correcting our Maker. THE OCCASIONAL WRITER. NUMBER I. Fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus.-VIRG. INSCRIBED TO THE PERSON, TO WHOM ALONE IT CAN BELONG. MOST NOBLE SIR: I AM one, whose ambition it hath been, ever since I came into the world, to distinguish myself as a writer; in which, I fairly confess, I had not only the view of raising my reputation but that of establishing my fortune. A prospect, which seemed very reasonable in a time of general peace and universal affluence; in an age so particularly polite, that it is even the fashion to appear knowing in all the elegant arts and sciences; and that, to whatever branch of them a genius shall think fit to turn himself, he is sure it will be to one that is in vogue. The first essays of my pen made a good deal of noise in the world: they filled foreign journals, and were translated into several languages. The Sorbonne, and both our mother Universities, returned me thanks for having reconciled several disputes and solved several difficulties in chronology and history, which had perplexed the learned world: from the impartial Eusebius, down to the circumstantial Prideaux; my philosophical Poems were received with the greatest applause; and it is well known, that if the gay part of the world read my Anti-Lucretius for amusement, the gravest divines have not disdained to borrow arguments from it in their disputes with the materialists. Animated by such success, in one part of my aim, I proceeded with indefatigable labor, till continual disappointments, in the other, rendered me at length more indifferent to that imaginary good, applause, and less patient of that real evil, want. I began then to compare my condition with that of several great authors both ancient and modern; and finding upon the comparison that they had not been better treated than myself, I was soon led by my reflections to discover the true reason of our ill fortune in the world; I was soon convinced that they and I had been on a wrong pursuit; that ministers of state pay no respect to the brightest talents, when they are misapplied, and esteem all talents to be so, which are not wholly employed about the present time, and principally dedicated to the service of their administration; neither can I say this proceeding is unjust, how much soever I suffer by it. If we write for posterity, we must not complain that the care of rewarding our merit is left to posterity; and if we neglect to serve the state, those, who are appointed to preside over it, break no rule of equity when they neglect us. Spencer has been amply recompensed by posterity for his Fairy Queen; but the wise treasurer Burleigh declined the payment of an hundred pounds, which Queen Elizabeth ordered him, and left this admirable poet to starve. Had Spencer applied himself to more serious studies, had he excelled in physics, in metaphysics, or even in the first philosophy, or in theology, instead of excelling in wit and poetry, the "amabiles insania" of Horace, his usage would have been the same no doubt. Even the greatest productions of these studies are but trifles in the account of a consummate statesman, and may properly enough be distinguished from the others in his sense, by the title of " insaniæ severiores." Our English ministers, to their honor be it spoken, have at all times proceeded upon this admirable principle; the most excellent sermons the most elaborate treatises, have not been sufficient to procure the advancement of some divines, whilst a sorry pamphlet or a spiritual libel has raised others to the highest dignities of the church. As it has fared with mere divinity, so has it fared with mere eloquence: as one never caused the divine, so the other never caused the lawyer to be distinguished. But we know that if either of them be employed in a court cause, he never fails of making his fortune. The same fate has attended writers of another kind; the celebrated Tatlers, and Spectators, had no reward except from booksellers and fame. But when those authors made the discovery I have made, and applied their talents better, in writing the Englishman and the Freeholder, one was soon created a knight, and the other became secretary of state. In short, without enumerating any more instances, I may confidently affirm, that this has been the case from the days of Burleigh to this time; how much sooner it began to be so, I hope, sir, you will not give me the leisure to inquire. From the moment I resolved to become a state-writer, I mentally devoted myself to your service: and I do it now in this public and most solemn manner. Employ me, sir, as you please; I abandon myself entirely to you; my pen is at your disposition, and my conscience in your keeping. Like a lawyer, I am ready |