just and lawful Moderation It is not without Reason that this Desire is Judg'd to be Natural for we may see it appear very early in Children and the very Bruits themselves are governed by it Nay tho' some may seem to neglect and despise yet there is no body that can absolutely and altogether free themselves from the desire of it 'T is also very requisite that it should be so highly esteem'd for it is commonly proposed as the reward of Vertue and that there is neither Kingdom nor Common-wealth but encourages their Subjects to Noble Actions by the expectation of it There is likewise this difference between a Noble Generous Mind and a base and mean Spirit that whereas the latter seeks nothing but Gain and Profit in the Undertakings the former desires nothing but Glory and Renown Besides Experience teacheth us and all Ages can Witness That where we remove from the minds of Men the desire of Honour and Glory there is never any mention made of those great Exploits by which Kingdoms are obtain'd Now this being supposed we may here take notice of two sorts of Pleasure for which Honour is desirable The First is that extraordinary Satisfaction that a Man expects to receive when his Fame shall be spread abroad and he shall become Renowned in the World The Story of Damocles is not unknown and the hopes that he proposed to himself of an unexpressible Joy for the Royal Honours they would bestow upon him And that of Demosthenes is no less Remarkable This Great Man confesseth ingenuously That he was well pleased to hear a mean Woman coming from a Fountain whisper softly to her Friend There is Demosthenes pointing at him with her Finger And we may without any wrong to Vertue believe the same of other Illustrious Men when in their Walks they hear themselves named and the People say of them publickly There is Chappellus the finest Wit of the Kingdom Here is Despreaux the Horace of our Age the everlasting speaker of Truths There is that famous Racinus who by the charming efficacy of his Verses knows when he Pleases how to force us to Weep Here is the Learned and unparallel'd Lady Sabbiere How pleasant is it to be thus taken Notice of in the World for some Perfection and pointed at by eminent Persons At pulchrum est digito monstrari dicier hic est And we know what is reported of Themistocles when after a notable Victory he observed That all the Spectators neglecting the publick Pomp had their Eyes wholly fixed upon him which transported him with so great Joy that he could not forbear thus to express himself This day says he I receive sufficient recompence for all the Toils that I have undergone for Greece The other sort of Pleasure that carries Men to the desire of Honour is that great Security that attends us the enjoyment of which is so pleasant and the rather because he that lives in a perfect and entire Security finds himself in power to act what seemeth him good and to enjoy all the Pleasures that he fancies without any controll Now we easily believe that Security is obtained by Honour because Honour is bestowed for Vertue 's sake or because of Offices and Performances that suppose Vertue to be there If it be for Vertue 's sake then it is certainly free from Contempt and the Reverenced Person can by no means sink into that Estate which is exposed to Injuries and Affronts If it be for the sake of Offices or Dignities and consequently for some Advantage expected or some Evil that we dread even for that cause we look upon them commonly as a great and strong Support But herein we may find this difference That the Honour that is rendred for the sake of Dignities is more Splendid and taking with the Common People therefore we see a great many very desirous of Dignities and noble Employments and very few look after Vertue As if those who are promoted to Dignities had wherewith they may Injure some and Pleasure others and therefore can secure themselves from the Power of some by Hope and of others by Fear CHAP. IV. What Advantage Moral Vertue procures NOw to mention something of Vertue it self Aristotle and Cicero declare Wonders about the delights and pleasures of Knowledge and Learning which make the first part of Moral Vertue Nature saith Aristotle the common Parent stirs up and gives unspeakable Pleasures to such as can attain to understand the Causes of things and study Philosophy truly and to purpose If we cannot without Delight look upon the bare Images of Nature because in casting our Eyes upon them we behold the ingenuity and skill of the Painter or the Graver that made them How much more ought the Contemplation of Nature it self and of its admirable Wisdom and Contrivances to fill our Minds with Joy and Satisfaction Cicero also speaks of it to no less Advantage The Consideration saith he and Contemplation of Nature is the real and natural Food of the Soul It is that which raiseth and elevates our Thoughts for when we think upon the Coelestial things which are so Great Large and of such a vast Extent we despise these here below as Mean and of no Value Seneca's Expressions are no less Remarkable O! how Contemptible is Man saith he if he raiseth not himself above Human things We may say That then the Spirit of Man hath attain'd to its greatest Happiness that its Nature is capable of when it hath trampled upon all Vice and raiseth it self to sublime Matters and searches into the Secrets of Nature 'T is then that walking among the Coelestial Orbs it disdains the green Fields and all the Gold that the Earth produces for our covetous Posterity There are above us spacious Heavens which our Souls take then Possession of When it is there arrived it is nourish'd and increases and being free'd from its Earthly Prison it returns to its first Principle for it is a certain sign of its being of a Divine Nature that the Divine Objects are pleasing to it which it looks upon not as belonging to others but as its own Here it will not be amiss to mention the Pleasures and Transports of Joy that the Mathematical Sciences cause Plutarch relates That Eudoxius would have been willing to have been Burnt as Phaeton was if he could first have been admitted to approach so near the Sun as to have a full inspection of its Figure Greatness and Beauty The same Author tells us That Pythagoras was so ravish'd with Joy when he had found that famous Theorem which is the Forty seventh of Euclid's Book that immediately he offered a solemn Sacrifice He writes also of Archimedes That many times they have been forced to divert him from his deep Contemplations Nay so great a Pleasure he found in them that his excess of Joy was like to have cost him his Life when by laborious and tedious Study he had arrived to discover how much Brass might be mingled
like God himself and several other qualities they ascribe to him which caused Plutarch to reproach them in these words The Stoicks have taught some things far more ridiculous than the Poets But Epicurus on the contrary was of a sweeter and more candid Temper and as he acted with sincerity and plain-dealing he could not endure this vanity and ostentation So that when he consider'd besides the weakness of our Human Nature and what it was capable of undergoing and what not he quickly understood that all those great boastings which made such noise in the Schools of the Stoicks were but vain Fictions when the Glory and the Pride of their words were removed therefore he proposed to himself a Vertue that he knew our Human Nature capable of And because he observ'd that Men in all their Proceedings were naturally carried to some Pleasure and after he had well inquired into all the several kinds of Pleasure there was none more Universal more firm more constant and more desirable than that which consists in the Health of the Body and the Tranquility of the Mind he therefore declared that to be the chief End of all Delights and that Vertue alone was the best means to obtain it and consequently that a Wise or a Vertuous Man did by his Sobriety and Chastity that is to say by the Vertue of Temperance preserve the health of his Body as far as his Natural Constitution would permit and that being assisted by Moral Vertues by which he appeaseth the Passions of Lust Gluttony Covetousness and Ambition he endeavours chiefly to preserve likewise as much as he is able the Tranquility of his Thoughts At the same time he also maintain'd that true Pleasure was not to be found in the Act or in the Motion as Aristippus imagin'd but in statu in a state or manner of existing without Pain in the Body and disquiet in the Mind as we have already often declared heretofore And this was his plain and simple manner of acting he cared not to obtain the reputation of the Vulgar by a glossy Rhetorick or by a Majestick Deportment that express'd a great deal of Vanity in Manners as Zenon did nor did he deceive the People as the other did with a vain ostentation of things which takes much with them tho' they neither understand them nor can practise them Now Zenon and the Stoicks understanding this simplicity of Manners and Doctrin and seeing that many Men of Parts were undeceived and made no account of their great and glorious words and promises conceived so great a prejudice against him that they sought always how to defame him taking occasion from the word Pleasure and affirming that he thereby understood sensual and debauch'd Pleasure and Excess We are not therefore too easily to assent to what they say nor too readily give credit to the Report of others who being imposed upon by their Mistakes have exclaim'd against him But if some honest Men have been guilty of this Error it is to be supposed as Seneca observes that they never knew the inside of this Sect but had only some forged Books or believed the Stoicks his Enemies or perhaps tho' they understood his Opinion they believ'd nevertheless that it was not easie to undeceive the People as it was convenient to continue their Clamours against this Philosopher that they might declare thereby their hatred to Vice and Sensual Pleasures by exclaiming against their supposed Protector and Incourager For the Holy Fathers of the Church as they design'd nothing but Piety and good Manners they have furiously declaim'd not only against all filthy and bruitish Pleasures but also against their Patrons and Protectors And because the Report was already spread abroad that Epicurus was the Chief they have treated him according to the common mistake So that it is not their fault that he has been Scandaliz'd for he was so before and what they did was only as we have already hinted to give a greater abhorrence of Vice and of sordid and sensual Pleasures This is so certainly true that some such as Lactantius who being otherwise provok'd against Epicurus have nevertheless retracted their former Opinion And St. Jerom amongst the rest writing against Jovinian places not Epicurus amongst them who commonly say Let us Eat and Drink c. but looks upon him in another manner than the common Report It is wonderful saith this great Saint that Epicurus the great Patron of Pleasure fills his Books with nothing but Herbs and Fruits affirming that the plainest Food is the best because Flesh and other dainty Dishes require a great deal of care and trouble to be fitted for our use and that there is more Pains in seeking them than Pleasure in abusing them that our Bodies have no need but of plain Meats and Drinks that where there is Bread and Water and such like Necessaries we may thereby easily satisfie Nature but what is over and above is needless and tends to gratify our Lust that our Eating and Drinking is not for Delight but to expel Hunger and Thirst that Wisdom is inconsistent with the laborious toil of procuring good Chear that Nature's Desires are soon satisfied and that by moderate Diet and plain Apparel we expel Cold and Hunger There is but one passage more that may seem to create some difficulty It is that which Cicero objects as being taken out of the Book wherein Epicurus's Ends and Designs are described for he makes him say That if we take away Bodily and Sensual Pleasures he knows no other good But why may we not easily suppose that the Stoicks who have been so bold to forge whole Books and make Epicurus their Author have maliciously put this Passage in his Book and it being thus abused and falsified it is come into the hands of Cicero and Atheneus That which makes us suspect this is First That Laertius who hath left us a Catalogue of Epicurus's Books and consequently ought to know what was in them when he relates a passage out of his Book of The End and others of the same saith That they are Fools that impose such things upon Epicurus for they are not to be found in the true Copies And Hesichius assures us that they are gross Lyars that assert any such thing of him Secondly Epicurus himself complains of their making him speak those words which were against his Judgment and his Disciples would never acknowledge that passage but they have rather always complain'd of it and exclaim'd against it Thirdly These words are expresly contrary to those which are known to be of Epicurus Res Venereae nunquam prosunt multum est ni noceant as we have already observ'd Fourthly That Cicero amongst these Objections that he makes cannot but propose this Question as if Truth himself had forced him to it What do you believe that Epicurus was of this Perswasion and that his Opinions were dishonest sensual and lewd For my part I can't believe it for I find that he declares
Practice of Vertue it inquires wherein consists the chief Good and the chief Evil whither all our Actions ought to tend and what is the Rule of Life we ought to steer by Moreover he who shall have consider'd the strong Revolutions of Things since the beginning of the World the Rise Progress Consistency Declension and Over-throw of Kingdoms Common-wealths Religions Opinions Laws Customs Manners and the present Ways and Methods of Living now in Vogue which our Fore-fathers would have rejected such as our Ancestors seriously followed and which we now laugh at and such possibly as will hereafter please our Posterity yet could we but at present see them we should laugh at and deride These Fashions and Customs tho' they change in some particular things may in general be said to be the same and are only a Sign of the Frailty Lightness and Inconstancy of Mankind And thus it always happens that Men by their Lightness live continually miserable being carried away by Ambition or Covetousness or some other Passion They don't see how much it is their Concern to free themselves from such Cares to be content with little to live within themselves and to spend their Life peaceably without so much noise He I say who shall have employ'd his Mind in such Contemplations will doubtless feel extraordinary Delight and will be very happy in his Thoughts especially if he considers all things as from that high and sacred Tower from whence as we said Vertue looks down upon the several Actions and Affairs of Men their Ambition their Pride their Vanity their sordid Covetousness and the rest before hinted Of Freedom from Pain in particular NOw to speak something concerning Freedom from Pain It seems not so much in our Power to free our selves from Pain in our Bodies as to ease our selves of Troubles in our Minds for tho' it is difficult to stop the Passions in their full Career and check their exorbitant Motions yet if we except such as have a Conjunction with Pain such as are particularly Hunger and Thirst which create a desire of Eating and Drinking it seems in respect of the others as they arise in us from Opinion so they may if we keep our selves from the Influence of that Opinion be check'd and curb'd But in relation to the Pains of the Body tho' we may take care not to draw them upon our selves outwardly nor stir them up inwardly yet it often happens that the Temper which we derive from our Mother's Womb is such that upon that very account we are liable to many Pains during the course of our Lives 'T is not without Reason therefore that Esop feigned that when Prometheus was to temper the Clay with which he was to make Man made use of no Water but of Tears for by that he had a design to teach us that the Nature of our Bodies is such that it is partly subject to outward and partly to inward Mischiefs and seeing it is impossible but some will often befal us of necessity we must suffer some Pain I should be endless to enumerate the Particulars of this kind that may befal us either from Tyrants from Fools from all sorts of Animals from Heat from Cold from Fevers Gout Defluctions c. I shall only observe that such who have been sometimes tormented with them may tell with what earnestness they wished to be freed and how much they would have given to be delivered Certainly there is no Person that labours under an acute Distemper and is grievously tormented with Pain but when he considers such as are in Health esteems them very happy and wonders that they don't acknowledge the greatness of the Advantage they enjoy it being so considerable that no worldly Enjoyments can stand in competition with or be accounted a valuable Exchange for Health Wherefore in all Ages Men have highly extoll'd it But as every Book is full of its own Praises I shall only take notice what an antient Poet saith That the greatest Benefit that can befall frail Man is to enjoy Health Fragili viro optima res bene valere And as another says Nothing can be more advantageous to us than to be free from Pain and Diseases Si ventri bene est si lateri est pedibusque tuis nil Divitiae poterunt Regales addere majus Now what I have here observ'd is to prove that it is not without ground what I have asserted That to be free from Sickness or bodily Pain is part of our Happiness Truly tho' light Pains and such as are of a short continuance may be easily supported and tho' we willingly undergo great ones when they are in order either to avoid greater Evils or for the obtaining of greater Pleasures yet there is no Man so fond of Pain for Pain 's sake but would willingly be quit of it if it were not in order to the obtaining something better which could not be acquir'd without it Men commonly extol Zenon and Anaxarcas for the constancy they express'd against the Tyrants in their greatest Tortures And Calanus also and Peregrinus are much celebrated for freely offering themselves to the Flames But supposing it had been in their Power to have purchased as much Glory by any other Means I refer it to your self whether they would have made this Choice Cicero likewise very much extolleth Possidonius for that being grievously tormented with the Gout when Pompey visited him at Rhodes he told him That he was very sorry that he could not hear him to which Possidonius answer'd You may if you please and I will not suffer so great a Person to come to me in vain He tells us that he began to discourse to him excellently viz. That there is nothing Good but that which is honest And when his Pains assaulted him often during the Interview he as often said Thou wilt never prevail upon me O Pain tho' never so grievous to make me confess thee to be an Evil. But tho' Possidonius patiently endured the Pains that he could not avoid yet you can't but imagine that he would rather have been free from 'em and been able to discourse without ' em We may here add That if as we have already said Pain is the chief Evil it necessarily follows that a freedom from Pain should be the chief Good and the rather because Nature seems to have bestowed upon us an inclination for nothing else but for this freedom For when any Pain happens to us whether by Hunger or by any other Desire we are naturally carried to that Action by which we may remove that Pain and if any Pleasure intervenes we have observed that Nature adds it as an Encouragement to the Action needful to obtain that freedom from Pain And probably we may consequently add by what Means we may obtain so great an Advantage But besides the divers Remedies which may be taken from the convenient Precautions and from the Medicinal Art which relate not to Moral Philosophy we may say That
how two contrary Propositions which regard a future Contingency the one could be certainly true and the other infallibly false and that notwithstanding Man could continue his Free-will and be at liberty to make his Choice and of two Things proposed to do one or t' other tho' there could be but one determined to be done he therefore was of Opinion that there could be no Divination or certain Prediction in relation to things to come which were of themselves contingent And that therefore there was no Art to Divine nor any true Divination and if there were the things that were foretold and should come to pass would not be in our Power For if what were predicted were absolutely true and unquestionable it could not be otherwise but it must happen accordingly and consequently the contrary could not So that there would be a necessity for the doing one and no liberty left for the other But we have already proved that the Fore-knowledge and Fore-sight of God may very well agree with the Free-will of Man and therefore the Truth of the things which have been foretold by the Prophets inspired from above and contained in the Holy Scriptures remains entire Therefore we shall only mention that Divination which was so famous among the ancient Heathens Cicero saith that of all the Philosophers there is none that hath more despised and ridicul'd it than Epicurus Nihil tam ridet Epicurus quam praedictiones rerum futurarum And when he speaks of the Stoicks who were addicted to and protectors of this Opinion he says that he was sorry that those who were of his Sect had given occasion to the Epicureans to laugh at them Doleo Stoicos nostros Epicureis deridendi sui facultatem dedisse non enim ignoraes quam ista derideant And elsewhere he saith if we should give heed to those Discourses we should commit an Act of Superstition we should adore all those Sooth-sayers and Fortune-tellers Tanta imbueremur superstitione ut Haruspices Augures Harioli Conjectores nobis essent colendi Epicurus saith he again delivered us from all those Fears and set us at Liberty His terroribus ab Epicuro soluti fuerimus in libertatem vindicati c. Epicurus gave no Credit to Dreams as Eumolpus saith in Petronius This gives us to understand saith he that Epicurus was an excellent Man for he ridiculed all those sorts of Fooleries And Tertullian Vana in totum somnia Epicurus judicavit Cicero Insolenter credo ab Epicureo aliquo inductus disputat somniis credi non oportere He laughs in Lucretius for the Interpretation that was made of those Prodigies But not by reading Tuscan Books enquire The Gods Design by this celestial Fire He had no greater Opinion of the Oracles if we may credit Origen and Eusebius who inform us that Epicurus and all his Disciples laughed at ' em And Plutarch brings in a certain Boethian an Epicurean who found fault with the Verses of the Sybils as weak simple and senseless without quantity or measure and as having nothing Divine in them Tanquam principio truncos medio elumbes fine claudicantes c. and that the Style was so flat that there was no Poet that would offer to imitate them Besides the same Plutarch observes that Colotes suspected the Oracle of Apollo concerning Socrates And Lucretius commends Empedocles and other Philosophers for having given Answers savouring more of Sanctity and Certainty than those of the Delphick Oracle For some rare Inventions justly fam'd Which they have left as Oracles more sure Than from the Tripod spoke and less obscure Than those the Ancients from the Pythia heard And because Epicurus saw that commonly Men suffered themselves to be carried away with a persuasion that this kind of Divination was effected by the means of the Gods or of the Demons and that those who made Profession of this Art were as it were inspir'd with a Divine Fury when they were ready to prophecy or foretel future Events as may appear by these Verses Now to the Mouth they come Aloud she cries This is the time enquire your Destinies He comes behold the God! Greater than Human Kind she seem'd to look And with an Accent more than Mortal spoke When all the Gods came rushing on her Soul c. And as may be seen in that Passage of Apuleius where one may see the Relation of all those Fopperies of Antiquity which the common People received for Truths and the wiser for Cheats Among the Demons every one hath his distinct Office some have the care to adjust and interpret Dreams others to make certain Remarks on the Bowels of Beasts others to govern the flying of Birds and to teach them the augurial Notes or Chirpings others to inspire their Prophets others to manage the Thunderbolts and cause the Lightning to burst out of the Clouds and thus of other Circumstances by which we understand the things to come which depend only upon the Will and Power of the Celestial Divinities but are discovered to us by the Means Mediation and care of the Demons Thus by a Dream Hannibal was advertised of the loss of an Eye The Soothsayers were Impowered to foretel Flaminius the danger he was in of losing a Battle Accius might by a Miracle cut asunder a Whetstone with a Raizor that there might appear the signs of the alteration in the Royalty that an Eagle should continue over the Head of Tarquin to shadow him and that the Countenance of Servius Tullius should look as if inraged In a Word that all the Predictions of the Soothsayers the appearances of Lightnings and the Verses of the Sybils c. Because I say Epicurus saw that Men suffered themselves to be commonly imposed upon by these things which he look'd upon as childish and as most unreasonable he therefore denied the being of Spirits and fancied that all those Events were to be ascribed rather to Fortune or Chance than to any unknown Cause and the rather because if we should agree that there were any Demons we ought not therefore to believe that their Understanding is so large as to penetrate into things to come or to foresee and foretel the certainty of future Events By the same Reason he denied that Divination which they commonly proved by the things that these Spirits foretold when they appeared to Men for after that Brutus had discerned that famous Apparition of his Genius or Ghost to Cassius a Disciple of Epicurus answered him plainly You are deceived 't is not to be believed that there are any Spirits and if there were they cannot have any human Shape or Voice nor any thing answerable to our Senses Yet I would to God that these things were true that so we might not only rely upon our Arms our Troops and our strong Fleets at Sea but also upon the Succours and Supports of these Demons and Spirits we who are the Generals of so Holy and Religious a Party Now this Opinion of Epicurus ought not to
up several Oracles that have faltred and divers of their Temples that have been burned and then argues from thence If these wonderful Utterers of Oracles are not able to protect their own Temples nor defend themselves in time of Danger how can they defend others But the strongest Reason of all is that many of these Diviners Sooth-sayers and Fortune-tellers having been by the Ancients examined and more lately by the Romans have plainly discovered the Truth and declared that the Mistake proceeded from the too easie credulity of Men and that all was nothing but Subtilty and Cheat. We are not here to forget that after Eusebius had made mention of the Disciples of Aristotle and of the Cynicks says as to the Epicureans That he wonder'd at them because being bred from their Cradle after the manner of the Greeks and instructed by their Parents in the Belief and Doctrins of the Gods they nevertheless would not suffer themselves to be cheated by Mistakes but have boldly declared their Sentiments against such Oracles tho' they were then very famous and much frequented from all parts of the World protesting that they were meer Cheats and Impostures and making it appear that they were not only foolish idle and vain but also wicked THE CONTENTS BOOK I. OF Moral Philosophy in General Page 1. CHAP. I. What Happiness is Page 5. Several Opinions concerning the efficient Cause of Happiness Page 8. Some Particulars needful to be examined and considered which will contribute very much to the Repose and Happiness of Mankind Page 14. CHAP. II. What sort of Pleasure it is that Epicurus recommends as the End of a happy Life Page 44. Wherein Epicurus and Aristippus differ Page 58. The Condition and Satisfaction of a wise Man according to Epicurus's Opinion Page 61. That the Pains and Pleasures of the Mind are greater than those of the Body Page 63. Wherein Epicurus differs from the Stoicks Page 67. That Virtue according to Epicurus is essentially related to Pleasure as it tends to the main End and Design of an happy Life Page 69. CHAP. III. Wherein an happy Life doth consist Page 77. Whether all Pleasure be good of it self Page ibid. Whether the Opinion of the Stoicks in respect of Good and Evil be justyfiable Page 82. Whether at any time Pain ought to be preferr'd before Pleasure Page 84. Of the first Good that Nature has in its view Page 86. That things profitable and useful are sought after for the sake of Pleasure Page 91. That those good things which we call honest have the nearest relation to Pleasure Page 93. Whether the desire of Honour be blame-worthy Page 97. CHAP. IV. What advantage moral Virtue procures Page 100. Of Self-love Page 111. Of the deceitful Virtue and deceitful Happiness of Regulus Page 114. CHAP. V. That a wise Man is only capable of enjoying moral Virtues Page 122. Of the Tranquility of the Mind in particular Page 128. Of Life and of Active Felicity Page 132. Whether a Contemplative Happiness is to be preferr'd before an Active Page 136. Of freedom from Pain in particular Page 138. CHAP. VI. What Virtue and Advantage accrues by being contented with a little Page 147. A description of the Indian Diogenes Page 171 BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of Virtue in General Page 173. In what sense Virtue is said to consist in a Medium or to be placed in a Mediocrity Page 176. Of the Apathy or Insensibility of the Stoicks Page 180. Of the mutual Connection of moral Virtues Page 185. A general division of Virtue Page 188. CHAP. II. Of Prudence in general Page 191. Of the general Offices or Duties of Prudence Page 193. Of the Dispositions or Qualities needful for the performing the Duties of Prudence Page 195. CHAP. III. Of private Prudence Page 199. Of the Offices of private Prudence Page 201. That 't is dangerous to undertake any thing against our Natural Inclination Page 205. CHAP. IV. Of Oeconomick Prudence Page 210. Of the Nuptial Prudence and its several Duties Page 212. Of Paternal Prudence and its several Duties Page 214. Of Prudence of Superiors and their several Duties Page 217. Of Possessory Prudence and its Offices Page 218. CHAP. V. Of Politick or Civil Prudence Page 224. Of the first Original of Soveraign Power according to the Opinion of the Ancients Page 225. Whether Monarchical Government is the best Page 229. Of the Duties of a Monarch in General Page 230. Of the great concerns of Meum and Tuum or of the Property of the Subject Page 238. Of the Duties of a Sovereign in times of Peace Page 241. Of the Offices of a Sovereign in times of War Page 245. If a wise Man ought to intermeddle with publick Affairs Page 250. CHAP. VI. Of Fortitude Page 254. Of the several kinds of Fortitude Page 260. Whether the Evils foreseen make the least Impression upon us Page 263. How we ought to support External and Publick Evils Page 265. Of External and private Evils and first of Banishment Page 268. Of Imprisonment Page 270. Of Slavery Page 271. Of Shame and Disgrace Page 273. Of the loss of Children and Friends Page 274. Of the loss of an Estate Page 276. Of Pain and of Death Page 278. CHAP. VII Of Temperance Page 280. Of Modesty and Decency Page 281. Of Sobriety and Chastity in general Page 283. Of Sobriety in particular Page 286. Of Chastity in particular Page 289. Of Mildness and Gentleness Page 294. Of Clemency Page 297. Of Mercy Page 299. Of Modesty Page 300. CHAP. VIII Of Justice Equity and the Laws Page 306. Of Retaliation Page 308. Of Justice in general according to Epicurus Page 312. Of Right or Just from whence Justice derives its name Page 314. Of the Origin of Right and of Justice Page 317. Between whom Right or Justice takes Place Page 319. That there is great Reason to live up to Justice Page 328. Whether we may wrong any Man without doing him an Injury Page 334. CHAP. IX Of the Virtues which accompany Justice namely of Religion of Piety of Observance Love Bounty Liberality Gratitude And first of Religion Page 337. Of Piety Page 348. Of Observance or Respect Page 353. Of Friendship Page 355. Of Beneficence and Liberality Page 363. Of Gratitude Page 366. BOOK III. Of Liberty Fortune Destiny and Divination CHAP. I. What Liberty or Free-Will is Page 372. CHAP. II. Of Fortune and Destiny Page 392. Of Destiny Page 396. CHAP. III. How Destiny may be reconciled or consist with Fortune and Liberty Page 409. CHAP. IV. Of Divination or the foretelling of future Contingencies Page 424. Of Demons or Spirits according to the Opinion of Antiquity Page 429. Of the Oracles Page 449. FINIS GASSENDI's MORALS