not be subject to so many diseases if they treated their bodies with less tenderness than they do XCIV DEath is an excellent Picture which faithfully represents virtue Let him who would learn to live well consult the dead True Philosophy is nothing but a serious reflection upon death let us make use of its precepts that we may discover the deformity of Vice and the vanity of all things in the world let us also follow the Rules it gives us to make a great progress in a short time in the study and exercises of virtue XCV YOu will never better remember your self than when you shall think that some day you must dye The consideration of death is admirably fruitful for it teaches us what we are now it shews us what we shall be one day and it instructs us what we ought to do during the course of this life In fine death is the most exact rule of mens lives and it does them more good than they imagine to themselves XCVI IMagine not that at your death you simply cease to live I say that it is then you cease to dye True it is you began to live the first day you came into the world but from that day also you began to dye you made but one entrance into both life and death the light which enlightens your life is like that of a Candle what keeps it in consumes it XCVII PRay tell me what was man before he was born You will grant he was not Now I hold that to be the greatest and most insupportable of all necessities And what is he who a little before was not and who after he hath received being is n a manner nothing and who within in a short time will be but a little heap of dust and ashes It must be acknowledged That all these things considered in themselves are extremely despicable only virtue comprehends so much greatness and excellence that it is able to exalt and ennoble whatever approaches it Let us therefore esteem that above all things which only can render us so considerable XCVIII THere is no difference between living long and suffering long Afflictions troubles tears and griefs are born with us The life of man is but a long and tedious series of dangers evils and torments but man has some reason to comfort himself since that when he begins to live he immediately begins to approach his end and to make some advancement towards death XCIX VIrtue receives no less lustre from the misfortunes which befal the followers of Vice and the punishment which the wicked commonly suffer than from the solid enjoyments and satisfactions which good men many times feel in the exercise of the most difficult virtues He must needs be the most miserable person in the world who has a Soul that serves only to keep his body alive and does not regulate its motions It may well be said this being acknowledged That the Soul is to the body but as salt to meat which it exempts from corruption only for a time C. VIrtue is but an accident to man to speak as the Philosophers do yet does that accident preserve his substance All things were created by God for the service of man and he created man that he might receive honour and service from him as well as from all the rest of the Creatures 'T is virtue that renders us capable of serving and honouring him who hath vouchsafed to bring us out of nothing and without it we cannot please our Creator STOICAL MAXIMES I. IT is not what 's possessed that gives satisfaction but what one loves In like manner the discontent of most men proceeds not from what is wanting to them but from what they desire He who desires nothing may be as happy as he who has all the accommodations in the world To be free from all desires is a treasure to be preferred before an Empire How many things are there which may be wanting to the greatest Kings upon earth whereas a man who desires not any thing can never be said to be indigent II. JOy is not within the jurisdiction of Fortune she cannot when she pleases make us a present of it 't is a moveable belonging to the heart not only because it cannot be met withal elsewhere but also because there only it has its birth They are not the things which please us that create our pleasure and satisfaction nor are those which disturb us the cause of our disquiet we must only call our own will to an account that being the right source from which joy pleasure vexation and sadness proceed Thence it comes that what is pleasing to one is extremely unpleasant to another 'T is not to be attributed to the variety of things but to the diversity of our wills that our hearts entertain so many affections opposite one to the other III. T Is an errour common to all men that they would attain felicity by following wayes which cannot lead them thereto How can they arrive at the point of not desiring any thing while they take the way of desires Would you spare your self abundance of trouble and pains-taking Regulate your concupiscence have no violent inclination for any thing whatsoever When a man desires nothing beforehand he is in no fear of being unhappy and he comes to the end of his Journey without being at any pains by the way The true felicity of a man upon earth consists rather in the not-possession of any thing than in being numbred among the living Let us once in good earnest renounce all our desires since it is a thing within our power IV. THe way for a man to free himself from many troubles cares and vexations is not to fear or desire any thing All your unhappiness if you reflect on it proceeds only from your not having what you wish or haply from the hapning of something to you which is not consonant to your inclination You will have no disgraces to overcome while your heart preserves its freedom and all things are indifferent to it V. THe more the affection is smother'd in us the more the discontent abates A man is never further from falling into affliction than when he feels his will at liberty and not bent by any strong inclination To make an exchange of inclination is the most easie and most certain way to get out of misery Adjust your desires to all sorts of emergencies and you will surmount the greatest difficulties without any trouble Vexation is rather taken than given VI. T Is a great art to know how to desire unless a man be very well vers'd in it he cannot live contentedly He who can moderate his desires is above all and the whole world has not any thing worthy of him It is an easie matter for one to find perfect repose here below and to keep at a distance from him the unfortunate accidents which render life burthensom and insupportable all that's to be done is to have an absolute independency to all
good and evil XXII LEt us be alwayes guided by truth never by opinion Apprehension and deceit commonly make evils appear greater than they really are and were it not for those two men would not think any thing over-burthensom in the world XXIII WE many times rejoyce at what we should bewail and sometimes bewail what we should laugh at One while we seem to be sad another while glad though we have no occasion to express either grief or joy We should rather blush at our weakness considering that such trivial things make so much impression on our Souls XXIV APparent evils do commonly torment us more cruelly than the real and it may be said That what causes sadness affliction and discontent is not so much the evil that happens as that which we imagine must happen Opinion deceives and poysons us XXV WE account Wealth a good and in that we do not judge rightly of it that name is to be appropriated only to the good use which is made thereof when we make a prudent dispensation of what is in it self the occasion of much evil XXVI IF there be any good in Riches 't is very inconsiderable for they give us a great bent to veil involving those that are possessed thereof in a thousand dreadful dangers and condemning them to many cares troubles and disturbances they are the fuel of Concupiscence and of all the Vices they cause disquiet to those that desire them they also who are possessed of them are in perpetual fear of their getting away from them in fine they who have lost them are hardly recoverable out of their affliction XXVII POverty is the greatest of all goods because it does not hurt any but him that avoids it and has an aversion for it whereas Riches most dangerously hurt those who over-passionately love them If any one say That Poverty is extreamly incommodious we must answer him that the incommodiousness is not annex'd to Poverty but to the person of him who is poor XXVIII T Is a very gross errour to imagine that a man is very happy because possessed of great treasures and that men should make a greater account of him than of such as are poor I affirm on the contrary that he is more miserable than such as are not possessed of any thing at all for the greater his Riches are the greater are his Exigencies What is wanting to a poor man Nothing in a manner her is content when he has food and rayment whereas there are a thousand things wanting to a rich man to feed his Luxury Pride and Vanity XXIX RIch men are reduced to great necessity since whatever they desire is wanting to them whereas the poor man wants only what is necessary A rich man has so many exigencies as he hath passions and vices to feed A poor man minds only his sustenance I call a man poor be he as rich as may be otherwise when he has need of all he is possessed of I call a man rich how miserable soever he may appear when he stands not in need of all those things that are out of his power Many are poor with all their treasures because they know not how to be content with little XXX THey who desire riches only in order to voluptuousness are meanly-spirited and infamous they who hope to acquire honour thereby are extreamly deceived In fine they who seek them only in order to the satisfaction of their passions are guilty of a great fault but they who propose to themselves no other design in the acquest thereof than to exempt themselves from necessity ought to remember that the easiest way to attain them is to be content with few things I affirm further That for a man to be clearly exempted from necessity all he has to do is to forbear desiring any thing XXXI I Cannot deny but that health is a great good yet would I have all acknowledge that sickness is not a very great evil This teaches men to know themselves whereas health deceives them by making them imagine they shall never dye Is it any evil for one to know by experience that he is a man How many think you are now very well who yet are nearer death than some that are given over by the Physicians Do we not daily see That some weak tender and infirm persons live longer than others who seem to be of a most healthful constitution XXXII LIfe is a good when it is well employ'd Death never ought to be called a great evil save only when a man has not lived well Death is not a miscarriage but a very natural thing It has been a great misfortune to many that they have lived long He never dyes too soon who has lived as a person of repute and persisted in the exercise of Virtue XXXIII A Man does not lose his life though death come sooner than he expected it for he who affirms that he loses what he owes seems willing absolutely to deny his debt at the very time that he payes it We come into the world by the portal of life but upon condition that we should go out of it by that of death XXXIV WE should not stand so much in fear of death since we dye daily When a man dyes he only ceases to live and when he comes into the world he begins to dye To say that we shall dye one day is not a thing more certain than to affirm that we shall dye every moment of our life Would that man pass for a rational person who should deny to do that once only which he is continually doing Fear not therefore to dye If death surprize you in the flower of your age it will bury a thousand Vices with you if it delayes its coming till old age it will then deliver you out of many infirmities XXXV THe good there may be in honour is great or mean answerably to what it is imagined Make little account of opinion esteem truth above all things Never be disquieted at mens not-speaking advantagiously of you especially if they be ill-livers and such as indifferently revile all sorts of persons If they speak the truth I think you have no reason to grumble or complain If they do not they suffer by it more than you do do not you therefore imitate them and if you are sometimes forc'd to speak of them do it in civil honourable and obliging terms When they speak ill of you you may easily slight their discourses and not so much as reflect on them but how much soever you may endeavour to content and pacifie them you will never compass it XXXVI A Person who truly deserves to be commended should never concern himself at mens not doing him that justice but a man should ever beware desiring applause when he conceives himself unworthy of it It signifies little to commend a man he is not the more virtuous for that but it argues his effectually being such when he deserves the approbation of good people To commend
not a quarter of an hour LXVII FEar and sadness are not miscall'd the blood of the wounded Soul A man does not stand still to look on the blood trickling from a wound but bethinks himself of some sudden remedy and if possible of binding it up When you are threatned with some unwelcome accident lose not time in examining how heavy the blow will be but rather think of the means to avoid it or prepare your self to receive it LXVIII YOur disgraces and miseries will never seem so great to you when you compare them with those of others The most afflicted persons are easily comforted when they reflect on what others endure and it is an alleviation of the inconveniencies of this life that we have fellow-sufferers and no man can say he endures alone LXIX SHame and Fear are careful and faithful enough in the preservation of the goods of this life Shame hath great power over the spirit of a person of quality and commonly hinders him from doing any thing amiss The Populace is mindful of its duty through fear The former motive argues a noble Soul and generous Heart The other betrayes a mean spirit and thence we find that it exercises its power for the most part over those who are born to servitude LXX FEar is nothing but a kind a prudent counsel and a secret advertisement which Nature gives all men that they may secure themselves against the evils which may attack and surprize them Those therefore which cannot be avoided are not to be feared since it is impossible to prevent them Fear is good against danger but signifies nothing in Diseases no more than it does in the losses which men may have but when they are certain of their coming they must not then be discouraged nor fear them with a certain weakness but they should rather expect them with an immoveable stedfastness of mind and endure them with a truly heroick constancy LXXI THe apprehension of evil causes many times more grief and a hundred times more disquiet than the evil it self when it comes What unhappy accident soever happens a man is smitten with it but once and the blow being over a man is free whereas he who lives in continual fear is subject to receive many It therefore argues want of reason to be alwayes in fear of an evil which cannot last alwayes LXXII A Man that fears is not capable of undertaking many things he readily believes whatever is said to him Fear checks the noblest projects in the World and while a man hearkens to it he never executes the resolutions he had taken In fine it makes such a mutiny in mens imaginations that they take the slightest suspitions for manifest truths LXXIII A Man must not compute the greatness of the danger by the fear he may have of it It is sometimes dangerous to have much confidence If you are desirous to live in tranquillity fear moderately and follow not the opinion of some who imagine to themselves that to be happy upon earth a man should not be troubled at any thing LXXIV THere is less prudence in hoping during the course of this life than in fearing with wisdom Of evils there is a greater number and certainty than of goods Diseases losses disgraces and afflictions are so frequent that a man hardly hears any thing else spoken of and it is rare to meet a man exempt from them For one rich person how many poor are there The number of the happy is very small whereas that of the miserable is almost infinite LXXV TRue it is Fear interprets things ill enough yet has it this advantage that it never lies It may be further said by way of excuse that it is a very difficult matter to avoid fearing when a man finds himself in danger A man is more likely to be deceiv'd when he hopes in regard the goods of this life are not so ordinary and that there are abundance of people perpetually in quest of them LXXVI NOt to have any hope is to be the poorest of all Mankind For he who has nothing to hope is reduc'd to the utmost of all necessities How would you have a man to be in a capacity of having some good when he has lost hope which is the last of all goods LXXVII PAst enjoyments do not alleviate present evils whereas the evils a man has endur'd heighten the present satisfactions An expected good is not truly a good evil ensur'd with patience is no longer evil and as soon as it ceases 't is chang'd into pleasure and gives the constant bearer of it much satisfaction LXXVIII YOu will never be deceived when you shall regulate your joy and grief according to the things themselves Use them so as not to be excessively afflicted at what amounts to almost nothing nor to be over-glad when there is but small occasion for it Prudence would have certain measures observed in the liberty granted to our passions and we must not upon the least occasions that present themselves suffer them to act to the full extent they may have Take a little leasure to consider what frightens you perhaps you will not fear it at all when you shall have reflected on it at least the apprehension you have of it will not be so great Why I pray are you so cast down and what is it that so much afflicts you Have the patience to examine it and you will certainly find that there is some excess of your side and that the occasion is so trivial that it deserves not you should conceive any grief thereat Your fear is not rational since all the sufferings of this life and what must have its period with time ought not to disturb a man who makes it his glory to be guided by the dictates of reason LXXIX T Is not the greatest misery of man as some imagine to have death for his enemy and to be continually strugling with it during this life but it consists in this That his coming into this world is only in order to destroy himself He is his own most cruel enemy and having ordinarily too great an affection for life he becomes a slave to all Vices whereas if he had a strong apprehension of death he would not be so backward in endeavouring to become a vertuous man and consequently very happy LXXX VVHoever would free himself from the apprehension of evil has no more to do than to apply himself to the doing of that which is good and that continually Eschew evil that you may have a right to hope for good A man benefits himself when he obliges others You do more injury than you imagine when you mind only your own concerns and interest if you demean your self so none will be ready to assist you in a time of necessity It 's no great commendation to forbear doing evil to any one in serving others a man does not only pleasure them but he also obliges himself Make as many Friends as possibly you can Attalus said
A merciful man gains more by doing good than those very persons on whom his bounties are bestow'd XXIX IF it happen that one asks any thing of you be not tedious in answering him A man is but half-deceiv'd when he has a sudden and peremptory denyal XXX A Denyal is a kinde of heart-breaking to such as are despicably poor and have no way to help themselves but there is no evil more hardly supportable than ingratitude XXXI THere is a great resemblance between a liberal person and him who sows in the field The Labourer casts his grain at random the winde carries some away and shuffles it as it lists the Birds devour some part of it which is consequently turn'd into ordure but the other part which chanc'd to fall deep enough into the ground after it has continu'd there a while as it were interr'd will by its appearance glad the Labourer's fight and return into his Barn with interest XXXII DO all the good you can while you are in favour with Fortune and you will find the effects of it in the time of adversity He to whom you have done any good when he expected it not thinks himself doubly oblig'd All the world is beholding to him who is kinde to the good XXXIII HE who gives no body any thing is Treasurer to his Heir who after the death of that Miser will conceal the real joy of his Soul under feigned tears and a personated grief The avarice of old men is a very ordinary monster in the world but to speak exactly of the earnestness of rich persons to augment their revenue methinks it may be said that that very desire and passion is nothing else but a kinde of poverty very richly furnish'd XXXIV DEny not that to others which happly you will be oblig'd in your turn to ask of them and if you are wise ask not that which you have deny'd Do justice to him who desires it of you and do those a kindeness whom you shall think worthy of it XXXV NOthing is more easily blotted out than a good turn it is a loss of it if a man do but remember it or repent himself that he had done it It argues an extream imprudence for one to regret the good he has done for by that means he twice loses the thing he has given It is no longer his when another hath receiv'd it and the gift is lost again when a man thinks too much upon it XXXVI IT is ever more advantageous to give than to receive When you do good to others you engage them into your interests and you seem to assume to your self a supremacy over them whereas if you receive any thing of them you become in a manner their Slave Brag not of having oblig'd your Friend 't is an injury to him if you do but speak of it Leave it to him to celebrate your generosity you cannot desire a more remarkable testimony of his gratitude XXXVII THere is no great difference between an ungrateful person and him who complains too openly that he was deny'd the favour he hoped for He is much to blame to call that injustice which at most amounts but to a defect of liberality a man who demeans himself so not distinguishing what is due upon the score of justice from that which is granted out of liberality never thinks himself oblig'd to gratitude XXXVIII A Man is not oblig'd to give always when he has given often nay it seems he should have the priviledge to deny sometimes especially when he has lost his benefits by obliging ungrateful persons but it is out of all doubt that he who is a perpetual receiver has not upon that score ever the more right to ask XXXIX INgratitude is a very common thing amongst men It seldom happens that the remembrance of a good turn lasts longer than a day The greatness of a benefit is easily blotted out by the greatness of an injury and there is so much corruption amongst men that they think not themselves oblig'd to celebrate any commemoration of the favours they have receiv'd when they are once offended XL. SUffer not your self to be dazzled with the favour of great persons and if you will take my advice never rely too much on their friendship A man cannot fly very high with borrow'd wings Nothing more unconstant than Fortune she many times casts those down the precipice whom she had had the pleasure to exalt but though that should not happen yet let this be your perswasion that men have not alwayes the same inclinations XLI WHen you are admitted into the shade of some powerful person's prosperity and advancement work not out your own ruine by procuring that of others but remember that every day the Sun sets and disappears It argues simplicity in a man to think to be the Friend of one single person only that he may injure and prejudice all others XLII IF you are in favour with your Prince employ your credit and interest to oblige as many people as you can and make not your advantage of his countenance to injure any one Endeavour so prudently to husband your good fortune as that all your Friends may be oblig'd to look on it as their own In fine give all persons occasion to congratulate your being so highly in favour with him who can do all things XLIII MAke not an open profession of your being a Favourite if it be not already known to all people dissemble it for a time and content your self with a secret satisfaction of your own happiness till such time as it becomes publick and be known generally to both Grandees and those of the meaner sort and then you may freely own it and make the less difficulty to sollicit on their behalf who shall desire it of you even though they are not likely to obtain what they engage you to desire for them The very inclination you shall assure them of that you have to oblige them will no doubt abundantly satisfie them and if it happen that the affair which you have recommended does not succeed according to their expectation they cannot complain of any but him on whom it absolutely depend XLIV YOu never raise a Structure well when you do it too hastily What is done with precipitation easily falls as being not well supported Be not so fond as to imagine that you can raise your self all of a sudden though you think your self to be highly in favour for fear of a sudden precipitation into disgrace XLV LEvel your pretensions to a mean Fortune since of all the different conditions of men this is the most happy and most desirable a man lives in it with more tranquillity and is less expos'd to danger than in any of the rest A high pitch of Fortune is attended with a thousand vexations and every thing is to be fear'd in that station Excess of wealth o'rwhelms a man and brings him into danger every minute The thunderbolt more commonly reduces the loftiest houses