censures Pompey for several other oversights thro that Ignorance of his which only acknowledg'd Human Causes to be the Causes of Human Events But the sudden change of Pompey's Fortunes raises our Contemplations much higher and instructs us more sublimely That that same Dread which seiz'd his Heart where Fear never enter'd before was a Divine Terror a stroke from the Hand of the most Omnipotent who frequently smites in this manner to teach Great Captains and Admirers of their Atchievements that Prosperity and their Victories are only the Effects of those Councels and that Courage which He inspires into their Breasts and that He having the sole disposal of their Hearts in his Hands bereaves 'em of their Strength and Resolution when he pleases and when it is his pleasure to ruin and deliver them into their Enemy's hands he has no more to do but to withdraw his Assistance and then the Valour the Puissance and the Industry of Men drop to the ground of themselves as having lost their only support There is no King says the Oracle of the Holy Ghost who is sav'd by the multitude of an Host A mighty Man is not delivered by his Strength And that same Manag'd Horse in which a Warriour puts his Confidence after many trials of Courage and being preserv'd by the Generous Breast shall fail him at last in his most pressing Necessities If then the discouragement which frequently happens to the most famous Captains be an evident Demonstration that God is the Arbiter and soveraign Disposer of the Success in War the confusion and sudden ecclipse of their transcending parts is a much more palpable proof For we find that in the midst of all those means that are in their power to reestablish their Affairs they have neither the Wit nor the Invention to make use of any one Which blindness and oversight was apparent thro the whole Conduct of Pompey For when he might have ruin'd Caesar without the hazard of a Battel and when he had at command so many means to prevent his own loss or to have recover'd and repair'd the loss sustain'd he had not the understanding to make use of any one God is terrible says the Sacred Writings chiefly to the Kings of the Earth whenever he pleases he deprives them of their Understanding and then they dream of making themselves formidable by the Puissance of their Arms by the Number of their Chariots by the Magnificence and Grandeur of their Equipage but he that sits in Heaven derides their Projects makes Himself more formidable then they and with a Word of his Indignation dashes 'em to pieces like Pots of Clay Behold the Conduct which God observ'd in respect of Darius This haughty Monarch was fully perswaded that the innumerable Number of his People the immense Riches which the Conjunction of two Empires furnish'd him withall render'd his Puissance invincible He lookt upon Alexander as a rash and inconsiderate young man a kind of Knight Adventure and he had commanded his Guards to fetch him to Court both Fetter'd and Manacl'd Nor did the Loss of the Battel of Issus diminish his Pride nor had as yet made him change his Language chusing rather to impute his Loss to his own Mistake for Assailing the Enemy in the narrow Passages of the Cilician Mountains then to Alexander's Valour and assur'd himself of Victory could he but draw the Grecians down into the Plain But he had no sooner cover'd the Plains of Arbela with his Army of eight hundred thousand Men when Alexander whom God made use of to humble the Pride of that presumptuous Monarch utterly defeated his numerous Host with a handful of Men slew a hundred thousand of the Persians and totally ruin'd in one day the most flourishing Empire in the World This Example alone may suffice to convince Mankind that the Advantages of Encamping the ranging of Battalia's the Multitude and Resolution of the Soldiers and the Experience of the Generals are not the only secure means for obtaining Victory of which God alone is the sole Disposer and who having at his own command the two contending Parties delivers up the one into the hands of the other as he pleases himself Least the Victors saith the Lord should be so blinded by their own vanity to attribute to the Strength of their own Arms and not to Me the gaining of Conquest and lest they should fondly believe that when they have vanquish'd their Enemies it was some other Power then the Strength of my Sword that threw 'em to the Ground or other then my Terrors that discourag'd their Hearts I give that Confidence to one single Man to pursue a Thousand and so two or three to put ten Thousand to flight The Name of the Lord of Hosts which God so frequently assumes to himself in Holy Scripture wonderfully confirms all this to be a Truth For since we cannot without Impiety believe that he takes upon him any Name unjustly or undeservedly it behoves us to be strongly perswaded that while he declares himself the Lord of Hosts He it is that is the Author of Victory to whom he pleases and that he regulates the Successes of War according to the Laws of his Justice and Wisdom So that however men may attribute all Events in War both extraordinary and surprizing to Chance and Fortune which they look upon as the blind Cause of all accidents both sudden and unexpected yet both the one and the other are false judgments which the mistakes of men has brought forth those Adventures seeming strange and odd in regard of our Ignorance not in respect of Gods Providence which governs all those Events and banishes all manner of hazard from the World I shall conclude with the words of the learned Boetius That the Care of Providence is so wise and universal that it leaves nothing to the rash Power of Fortune CHAP. II. SINCERITY THere is not any Vertue which we may be tempted to believe more truly a Vertue then Sincerity for there is not any that has more beautiful appearance It is the most amiable and the most beneficial of all the Vertues that serve to bind and uphold Society 'T is the foundation of Trust and Assurance 't is the repose and security of intercourse Without her we are of all particular and private Discourses as so many Traps and Snares all the Designs which others communicate to us we look upon as obstacles to our own and all men with whom we converse as Enemies that may surprize us Without her we converse and discourse together with as much fear as those who travel by Night upon the brink of Precipices The real Cause of that Esteem which we have for Human Vertues proceeds from this that we only consider their Functions that is to say that variety of Duties which men are enjoin'd to discharge and because they never examine what those Ends are which they propose when they acquit themselves of those several Devoirs Tho without the knowledg of those Ends
kill her self giving her self the Stabb had before her Eyes the perpetuity of her Honour And this is the general Reason of these sorts of Deaths which we call Illustrious for which some other particular Causes are always also alleadged As the usual additional Reason of these Ladies Self-murder beside their vanity to Immortalize themselves was their dread of being exposed to the indignities of an inhuman Tyrant abandoned to his own Lusts This same Dread it was that had a share in the Death of Arria for she had reason to fear lest the Emperor Claudius so enrag'd as he was against those who had taken part with Scriboniances should put her Husband to some cruel Death and there make some further attempt upon her Honour And it is as visible rhat Paulina had the same jealousies for no sooner had Seneca her Husband receiv'd orders to dye but she offered to be his Companion in Death and cut her own Veins at the same time that he open'd his Yet when Nero had assur'd her that he had no enmity against her but that he had a high value for her Vertue and the Grandeur of her Descent she suffer'd her Wounds to be bound up and her Conjugal Amity permitted her to live The Opinion of the World saies Tacitus was That Paulina was desirous to have shar'd with her Husband the Honour of a Death so magnanimously undergon so long as she thought Nero's resentment would not stop there but when the Tyrant had assur'd her and that she hop'd for better usage at his Hands then she expected she easily surrender'd to the persuasions of those that exhorted her to live But Montaigns greatest shame is That hardy Ignorance which emboldens him to reprove those that condemn the expressions of Blosius who vow'd he would have burnt the Capitol had his Friend Gracchus desired it These words which seem to him so wonderful are however censured by Cicero as the Expressions of a Villain and to the end it may appear to have been deservedly done I will confirm those words with what Brutus said to the Romans Tarquinus Collatinus my Collegue in the Consulship is my intimate Friend but because the name of Tarquin is detested by you all and for that it might raise a just suspition of me I advise ye to Depose him from the Consulship If therefore we are oblg'd to Sacrifice the Particular Interests to the Publick good which according to Aristotle is a Celestial Good what are we not oblig'd to do for the sake of God or how can we believe that human Considerations should be more predominant then our Reverence of his Temples so that indeed it is a hard matter to apprehend how a man in his Witts could imagine that perfect Friendship was an engagement to commit any Crime and justify the Act. Friendship says Cicero is a bad excuse for Miscarriages for the first Law that it imposes upon Persons when first united is neither to require or act any thing to wound the justice of the Laws Common sence would have taught Montaign this sound Doctrine had he not affected a particular Philosophy by himself or rather had not his Judgment been perverted by his Vanity and indeed it appears That all his Hyperbolical yet weak and sickly Discourse concerning Friendship proceeded from hence that he had an iâ—ching desire to let the World know what rare Qualities he was endow'd withal and that he was capable of a sort of Friendship not to be parallel'd by any Example True it is That altho it be impossible that his Friendship with Stephen of Boetia should be such as he represents it nevertheless we find and agree that it was no common Amity but such a one that we may do him justice as ought to be ranked with that of Pliny the younger and Corellius or Cicero and Scipio that is among those Friendships that are contracted without any design to advantage our Estates and which is not to be found but among persons of Worth and Merit whom the Vulgar believe to be unbyass'd However they are not so in regard there is no greater profit or which they whose Interests are nice and delicate more passionately desire than what men of surpassing parts when link't together in Friendship reap from the conversation of each other For that which engages 'em in this sort of Friendship is the eager desire which they have to be esteem'd by a person whom all the World admire and to find in a Friend a competent judge of his Worth I have lost Corellius said Pliny the younger and I bemoan his loss for the love of my self as having lost a worthy Testimony of my Life and Conversation Scipio said Cicero was touch'd with that Love which I had for Vertue and I was an admirer of his Therefore to define aright the Friendship of two men both endued with extraordinary Qualities it is a certain League which they make one with another reciprocally to observe whatever is valuable in each and to esteem each other according to their deserts Ordinary Friendships are civil intercourses of which we expect to make several Advantages correspondent to our different pretensions or to say better to our different Passions So that our Passions are the visible causes of all the Friendships which we contract Seeing then our desire of Wealth is a Passion most vigorous and impatient and that there are a number of people who have either no Estates at all or not sufficient to support their Quality hence it comes to pass that Interest is the occasion of all our ties and Friendships hence it comes to pass that men fast'n themselves upon Kings their Favourites and Ministers make use of all manner of advantages and take upon 'em all manner of shapes to perswade them into a belief how much they are devoted to their Service This is the reason that men crow'd in heaps to the Courts and Palaces of great Personages as men run to the Publick Springs for according to the saying of Euripides When the Earth is parch'd with Drowth then it most earnestly covets Rain The Passion of pleasure associates and links young People together and because they do not always find it in one place by reason of the several obstacles which they meet with and for that they frequently take distast and grow weary they often change Friends as Aristotle has observ'd There is also a conceal'd Ambition which is a third cause of Friendship This we meet with in a sort of people who devote all their time and make it their sole business to attend upon some person in high Employment whose favour and approbation renders 'em considerable in the World There is another sort of Ambition more easy to be discover'd and more common which engages several people to signalize themselves in all the affairs of their Friends on pupose to make a noise in the World and to put a value upon their Friendship But Men are not only deluded by their Passions which are the occasion many
Benefactor a friendship not only sincere but cordial But whatever he thinks proceeds from his own Self-Love and causes him to be thankful for the kindnesses he receives to those that are the Donors not for love of them but meerly upon the consideration of his Interest But the next succeeding Thoughts to these are quite contrary For he that has receiv'd great kindnesses presently perceives that they are no Presents but only Loans he begins to look upon his Benefactor as his Creditor that Dunns him and all the obligations which he owes as so many Chains and Fetters that load and oppress him Which Condition is to him so insupportable that his desire to free himself inclines him secretly to laugh at all his Obligations and his Ingratitude would doubly appear upon the first occasion did he not fear the ruine of his new pretensions This Fear or rather Hope of some more considerable benefit it it which inspires him with sentiments of Gratitude which obliges him to publish the Generosity of his Benefactor diligently to visit him and to shew him upon all occasions how highly and how particularly he is beholding to him Nevertheless if any other Person in the heighth of all this double diligence shews him but the least glimmering of some greater Preferment he turns about immediately and goes directly where his Interest calls him However he still carries himself outwardly very fair toward his Benefactors till the fatal occasion gives him an opportunity to pick a Quarrel and then without any hesitation away he dings to court his greater profit Then his Interest declares it self and his Ingratitude sallys out from the bottom of his Heart and shews it self no less black then it is notwithstanding all the care he takes to vail it with a million of pretences and to lessen the benefits he has received Nor need we be surprized that a Sentiment so treacherous and base should breed in the Heart of Man For more wondrous Sentiments breed there if we may believe Aristotle The Nature of Man is so wicked that they who owe great summs and they who have receiv'd considerable Favors wish with an equal hatred the one the death of their Creditors the other of their Benefactors Which saying of the Philosopher concerning the malice of Men to their Benefactors will not seem incredible to those that understand the vastness of his Pride and that all dependencies and duties are odious to him but rather make it evident how far the Thoughts of Men are from sincere and virtuous Gratitude and that when they do behave themselves gratefully it is only in hopes of some newer Favour Aristotle is so far convinc'd of this as to assure us that they on whom we bestow our Favours have no affection for their Benefactors only they admire the kindnesses which they receive or hope to receive Which is the reason we do not apprehend the intention of Seneca who takes upon him in several Treatises to instruct how to bestow our kindnesses supposing the ill choice of Subjects to be the only cause why there is so little Gratitude stirring when as it proceeds from the corruption of Mans Heart which is so ungrateful and unjust that unless we could make Men in love with Justice it is impossible to make 'em Grateful If thou dost not inspire Vertue withal says Plato into those whom thou obligest they will never be sensible of thy kindnesses But Interest is not the only cause of Gratitude there is also in the first place the fear of that shame which attends upon Ingratitude For since Men are become the Soveraign Judges of Human Actions they have adjudged far more Infamous those that offend or injure them then they that violate the Laws of God and because no Men are more hated then they who do not equal with their Services the Obligations they have receiv'd but frustrate the expectations of their Benefactors Hence it comes to pass that they are look'd upon by the Beneficent as Men unworthy to live and that Ingratitude is branded when Sacriledge and Impiety are honour'd These two sorts of Gratitude the one proceeding from Interest the other from Fear are the most usual Those sorts of Gratitude that proceed from Pride and Vanity are not so effectual but they are common enough We find this sort of acknowledgment in those who having been the Favourites of Kings and Princes take all occasions to mention the benefits which they have received at their hands and enlarge upon the circumstances seemingly to shew that they preserve 'em still in their Memory but indeed to let the world see that they were no mean Persons in those days There are some sorts of acknowledgment that proceed from malignity and murmuring Discontent Such are those which some affect to shew before certain Persons whom they design cunningly to accuse for neglect of their Services who express themselves after this manner I have been hugely beholding to such a Prince he has done me a thousand kindnâ—sses but I took nothing so kindly as that he still prevented my Requests These Kindnesses thus acknowledg'd before great Persons from whom they design to wrest particular Favours are usually cunning Accusations and Reproaches thrown upon 'em for their remissness and private intimations of what they expect at their hands There are other Acknowledgments Vicious and Criminal Such are the acknowledgments of those who having a false Idaea of Friendship believe that gives 'em a priviledge and imposes an Obligation upon 'em to violate Laws the most just and equitable to espouse the unjust Quarrels of their Friends to serve 'em in Duels and Revenges and to assist 'em in the stealing of Fortunes and to concern themselves in Intrigues and Confederacies contrary to their Duty Lastly there are cunning and politic Acknowledgments which we testify to those that sollicite our Assairs to oblige 'em to Fidelity and Diligence For example There was a Person at Court who having oblig'd a Friend to serve him in a business of importance that tended to the advancement of his Family gave him full assurances of his acknowledgments proportionable to the difficulties that presented themselve so that when he saw him tir'd out with the pains that he had taken and discours'd with the apprehension of new obstacles Sir said the other I am sensible of the trouble which I gave ye but consider how much you oblige me and were not I a person of an absolute good nature yet had I but a grain of Gratitude it would suffice to make me eternally sensible of the Obligations you have laid upon me And this he repeated as often as he found the zeal of his Friend begin to grow cold It is not requisite to recite the rest of this Story it will suffice to tell ye that the Person of Quality's business being accomplish'd he soon cancell'd the Remembrance of the signal Service done him so that indeed the more we study Men the less we are able to apprehend how they can live at peace with themselves All that comes into his Mind is this that while others observe Vices in his Vertues he perhaps may see Vertues in his Vices and in his Actions look upon that for a great piece of Dexterity which we rebuke for double-dealing and Imposture Or else he may act like the Peacock who always looks upon what he has most lovely Spiegala Pompa del'e occhiute Piume Displays the Pomp of his Embroiaer'd Tail But never minds his acts of Injustice Infidelity and Ingratitude There are two sorts of Ingrateful Persons as there are two sorts of Knaves The First are ungrateful to the highest degree and turn their Tails as soon as they have receiv'd a Kindness fearless of the Disgrace or Infamy that attends it The t'other sort fall off by degrees and to render their Flight more Imperceptible they turn their Flight into a Retreat We find the first sort in the Countrey where Men are more downright and less able to disguise their Vertues With the other sort we meet at Court where they know how to put an honest Man upon the vilest and most wicked of Actions True Christians therefore both know and practice vertuous and real Gratitude For besides that they are sincerely touch'd with theâ— Goodness of those that favour 'em with their kindnesses and that they are always ready most faithfully and cordially to retallate to the utmost of their power their Acknowledgment stops not with their visible Benefactors it re-ascends to God who is the Author and Fountain of all their Happiness as they are commanded by the words of the Gospel Call no man your Father who is on Earth for your Only Father and consequently the sole Benefactor so bountiful to all Men is God who is in Heaven FINIS