Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A33162
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Cicero's Laelius a discourse of friendship : together with A pastoral dialogue concerning friendship and love.; Laelius de amicitia. English
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Cicero, Marcus Tullius.; J. T.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C4308; ESTC R11183
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37,288
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122
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that all is well with Scipio For unless He expected an Immortality on Earth which I dare say He never did what is there in the Ambition of Man that He did not obtain who in his growing years not only answer'd but out-did the mighty Hopes which all Rome had of his Childhood who never sought the Consulship yet was twice made Consul once before the usual time and again for his own sake at the usual time tho' for the Nations sake not soon enough who by conquering two Cities that were the greatest Enemies to this Empire did not only put a stop to those Wars for the present but prevented them for the future What shall I say of his sweet disposition his Dutifulness to his Mother his Kindness to his Sisters his Goodness to his Friends his Justice to all the World These you Both know and how dear he was to Rome their Sorrow at his Funeral sufficiently declares Now what good could the addition of a few Years have done Him since Age tho' it is not grievous as I remember Cato told Me and Scipio the year before he died yet it takes off from that Vigor and Activity of Mind which was yet alive in Scipio whose Life as well as his Fortune and his Glory was already such as not to be capable of any improvement The sense of his Death was lessen'd by the suddenness of it what kind of Death it was is hard for me to determine what others suspect you hear But this I may truly say for Scipio that of all the glorious and happy days of his Life and they were not a few none was more remarkable than That on which after the dismission of the Senate He was attended to his House in the Evening by all the Senators the Latins and other Allies of Rome which was the day before He died So that from so high a pitch of Glory He seem'd fitter to ascend to Heaven than to descend so low as the Grave I am not of their Opinion who have undertaken of late to maintain That the Soul is mortal as well as the Body and that both are extinguish'd in Death but am rather govern'd by the Authority of the Ancients whether it was derived from our Fore-fathers who perform'd such solemn Obsequies to the Dead which certainly they would never have done had they thought they had no sense of them or from Those who were formerly of this Nation and instructed the bigger Grecia which then flourish'd and is now destroy'd with their Precepts or whether we receiv'd it from Him whom Apollo declared the Wisest of Men who never contradicted his own Assertions as several have done but always taught That the Souls of Men were Immortal that upon their departure from our Bodies they were receiv'd into Heaven and that the best and justest Persons had the easiest and quickest passage thither This was Scipio's Opinion who as if he had foreseen his Death within a few days before it hapned when Philus and Manilius and my Self together with You Scaevola and some Others were with him spent three days in a Discourse about the Commonwealth and concluded with the Immortality of the Soul all which he told us he had heard from Africanus in a Dream Now if it be true that every good Man's Soul is so easily loosen'd from the Prison and Fetters of his Body who think you could have a freer passage to Heaven than Scipio So that to Weep for his Fate I 'm afraid would look more like Envy than Love Nay tho' I should suppose that all Sense is lost with Life and that Body and Soul die together yet as there is no good in Death so certainly there can be no harm For when Scipio loses all Sense he is in the same condition as if he had never been born for whose Birth not only I but all Rome will rejoice as long as it is a City Thus Heaven seems 〈◊〉 have dealt more kindly by Him tha◠by Me who as I came first into th◠World ought to have gone first out of it But the very remembrance of our Friendship is so delightful to me that I esteem my self happy in having liv'd with Scipio whose Care and mine in the management of publick and private Affairs was always the same our Life in Peace and War still the same and which is the very Soul of Friendship our Tempers Inclinations and Opinions ever the same Wherefore I am not so much pleas'd with the Name that Fannius and the World give me of Wise which is false as with the hopes I entertain that the memory of our Friendship will be Eternal and I am so much the rather induc'd to flatter my self with this Opinion because in all past Ages there are not mention'd above three or four pair of Friends among whom I have some reason to hope that the Friendship of Scipio and Laelius will be known to Posterity FANNIUS That must needs be Laelius But since you were pleas'd to make mention of Friendship and we are at leisure you will mightily oblige Me and I hope Scaevola if as you us'd formerly to discourse upon other Subjects that were propos'd so you will now let us know what are your Sentiments of Friendship how you would define it and what Rules you would lay down for the establishment of it SCAEVOLA 'T will be very acceptable to Me and I assure you I was only prevented by Fannius from making the same Request Therefore Sir what you please to say upon this Theme will oblige us Both. LAELIUS I should not be against it could I think my self sufficient For the Subject is noble and we are at leisure as Fannius says but who am I Or what is there in Me 'T is for the greatest Philosophers in Greece to speak Extempore upon every Argument the Undertaking is great and requires no small Preparation therefore if you would hear a formal Discourse upon this Subject you must expect it from those whose Practice and Profession lay that way As for me I can only advise you to prefer Friendship before all things in the World since nothing is so agreeable to the Nature of Man nothing so necessary in Prosperity or Adversity My first Opinion is that there can be no real Friendship but between Good Men Not to be so very nice as some whose Notion of Goodness tho' perhaps it is not altogether false is very useless to and destructive of Society for they deny that any Man can be Good unless he be Wise Be it so But their Wisdom as they define it is such as never Man yet attain'd Now the Wisdom I would look for in a Good man is such as is useful and practicable not an imaginary Vertue that is only to be wish'd for According to their Rules I shall never allow C. Fabricius M. Curius and T. Coruncanius to be Wise tho' all our Fore fathers esteem'd them so Therefore let them keep to themselves their obscure and invidious definition of Wisdom and grant
Cicero's LAELIUS A DISCOURSE OF FRIENDSHIP Together with a Pastoral Dialogue Concerning FRIENDSHIP and LOVE Licensed Rob. Midgley LONDON Printed for William Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1691. THE PREFACE THE usual design of a Preface is either for an Introduction to the Book it self or an Apology to the Reader for the Publication of it the Former of these being the more pertinent and useful of the two thô 't is partly done already by my Author I shall insist most upon that The following Discourse was written by Tully as Himself observes in his later years which produc'd many excellent Treatises in This particularly we find more of Majesty than Gaiety in his Style we see the Philosopher joyn'd to the Orator and which is somewhat rare the Friend to the States man he being qualify'd besides his own natural Abilities by a long experience of Friendship in his familiarity with Pomponius Atticus to treat of this Subject with great exactuess The Discourse being occasion'd by Scipio's Death and his Character making so considerable a part of it it will not be improper to set down some brief Memoirs of his Life which may serve to explain several Passages in this Treatise He was the Son of Paullus Aemilius the greatest General of his time from whom he was call'd Aemilianus Plutarch in Vit. Paulli Aemilij and upon the Divorce that happen'd between his Parents was adopted by the Son of Africanus major his Cousin-german and by him nam'd Scipio Plutarch says that from his Youth he was endu'd above any of his Equals with all the good Qualities requisite in a General or a States-man Ibid. First He serv'd under his Father in the Macedonian War and had a considerable share in the defeat of Perseus's Army Afterwards Oros Lib. 4. Cap. 23. in the Third Punic War which began 606 Years after the Building of Rome and lasted 4 Years he overthrew Carthage and from his Successes in Africk got the Title of Africanus Minor About 15 Years after that Oros Lib. 5. he reduc'd Numantia after it had held out for 14 Years against the Romans Whilst he lay with his Army before this Place Plutarch in Vit. Tib. Gracch Oros Lib. 5. Cap. 8. the Sedition of the Gracchi broke out at Rome and Tiberius Gracchus the Elder of the two Brothers having endeavour'd the establishment of some new Laws in favour of the Commons which were against the interest of the Nobility was slain in the Capitol in his Second Tribuneship Vpon Scipio's return to Rome he being ask'd by Caius Gracchus and Fulvius Plutarch in Vit. C. Gracch what he thought of Tiberius's Death reply'd That he always dislik'd Tiberius's way of Proceeding This Answer thô 't was deliver'd with a great deal of sincerity lost him the affections of the Populace and mightily iucens'd Caius Soon after this Idem ibid. in Vit. Romuh Scipio was found dead in his Bed and no outward Cause of his Death appear'd Some said he dy'd easily and suddainly having been naturally sickly others that he poison'd himself others that his Enemies who were suppos'd to be Caius Gracchus and Fulvius broke in upon him in the night and stifled him Certain it is that they Two were suspected to be the Authors of his Death and tho' his Body lay open to be seen of all and gave some suspicion of a violent Death yet there was no publick Enquiry made into it and 't was thought the Rabble oppos'd all Proceedings of Justice for fear that Caius should be found accessary to the Murder His Death happen'd in Caius's second Tribuneship who pursuing the same measures with his Brother suffer'd the same fate and being forsaken by all his Adherents was slain by his own Servant Plutarch in Vit. Paull Aemil. Scipio in his life-time was esteem'd the Valiantest of the Romans and had the greatest Authority among them He was a strict abserver of Military Discipline Flor. Lib. 2. Cap. 18. and made a great Reformation in the Army His vacant hours were employ'd in the Study of Philosophy and Politicks in which he had Panaetius and Polybius for his Masters Thus was his Life divided between the Arts of War and Peace in both which his Friend Laelius shar'd with him who was no less famous for Wisdom than Scipio for Valor In Vit. Ti. Gracch Plutarch gives us a remarkable Instance of his prudent management in the Divisions that happen'd in Rome about the Agratian Law which gain'd him the Name of Laelius the Wise Thus much by way of Introduction As for the Apology tho' I think the Translation wants it very much for really I don't know how to justify the Presumption of an attempt to express Tully's Conceptions in any other Language or Words than his own yet I 'm sure the Poem that follows stands in most need of it and being more my Own must consequently be more obnoxious to Censure However I have ventur'd to place it at the End as treating of the same Subject tho' upon a different Occasion I hope the Fair Sex will not think their Prerogative invaded because in that Poem I prefer Friendship to Love since the Love I condemn there is a Passion which I dare say the Best and Modestest part of them will not think themselves concern'd to defend As for Conjugal Love I look upon it as a Vnion of Souls as well as Bodies and a State so exactly conformable to all the Laws of Friendship that methinks the Names of Friend and Wife should signifie the same They who will think it something unseasonable for Me to be giving Rules of Friendship when all the World is in Arms may as well blame Laelius for making this Discourse when Rome was distracted by the Ambition of Gracchus and Tully for publishing it at a time when all Italy was divided by the Factions of Pompey and Caesar Certainly Remedies are never more Necessary than when Diseases are most Epidemical I hope the Reader is not curious to know whether these Papers are publish'd at the Importunity of Friends by the Command of Superiors or for the Prevention of false Copies These are the common Topics which every Prefacer makes use of to justify his intrusion into the Press I shall therefore wave all Evasions and boldly but my self upon my Reader 's mercy for I don't understand why an Author may not have the liberty of keeping his Reasons to himself as well as his Name CICERO'S LAELIUS A DISCOURSE OF FRIENDSHIP The Author 's Prefatory Epistle To T. Pomponius Atticus QVintus Mucius Scaevola the Augur would often talk of Caius Laelius his Father-in-Law with a great deal of pleasure and in all his Discourses gave him the Title of Wise As soon as I came to Age my Father dispos'd of me so entirely to this Scaevola that unless some extraordinary occasion call'd me away I was never from him During this time I furnish'd my Memory with many excellent Sayings and useful