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
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
Instructions of his and made it my business to improve by so wise a Conversation Upon his Death I apply'd my self to Scaevola the Priest whom I dare affirm for Learning and Justice to be the most excellent Person in Rome But having spoken of Him in another place I shall now return to Scaevola the Augur Among other Discourses of his I remember when I and two or three of his most familiar Friends were sitting with him he fell upon a Subject which was then in every Man's Mouth For I suppose Atticus You who were so well acquainted with P. Sulpicius can't forget how the mortal hatred he bore Q. Pompeius who was Consul when he was Tribune and with whom he had formerly been very intimate did amaze as well as trouble all the Town Scaevola took occasion from this to entertain us with a Discourse of Loelius's to Him and his other Son in Law C. Fannius Marcus's Son upon Friendship which pass'd within a few days after the Death of Africanus The Heads of this Discourse I remember very well and have digested them into this Treatise after my own Method For I have brought in the Persons speaking to one another that I might avoid the troublesom repetition of said I and said He and that they might seem to talk as if they were present Now having been often desir'd by You to write something of Friendship and looking upon it as a Subject that might be as worthy of every one's Knowledge as of our Familiarity I was the more inclin'd to contribute what I cou'd to the publick Good and your private Satisfaction But as in that Dialogue of mine concerning Old Age which was dedicated to You I brought in the elder Cato discoursing because I thought to Person fitter to speak upon that Theme than one who had seen the World so long and had flourish'd so eminently in his later years So having understood from Tradition that the Friendship between C. Laelius and P. Scipio was very famous I judg'd it proper to make Laelius once more speak those things concerning Friendship which Scaevola remember'd to have been formerly said by Him This way of Discourse seems to carry the more weight in it when 't is grounded upon the Authority of Men so Ancient and Illustrious insomuch as in the reading over that former Treatise I am sometimes so strangely affected with it tho' 't was written by my self that methinks Cato speaks not I. But as in that Book being my self an Old Man I wrote to an Old Man concerning Age so in this being a Friend I write to a Friend concerning Friendship there Cato spoke than whom no Man of his time was Older or Wiser Here Laelius who always had the repute of the Wisest Man and the Faithsullest Friend talks of Friendship Therefore I must desire you to divert your thoughts from Me that write it to Laelius that speaks it Caius Fannius and Quintus Mucius are suppos'd to come to their Father-in-Law upon the Death of Africanus They begin the Discourse with Laelius who talks all the way of Friendship and in whose Character of a Friend you will see your own FANNIUS What you say Laelius is true for there never was a Man of greater Prudence or Renown than Africanus but you must consider that the Eyes of all are now upon You You only are call'd and counted Wise This was lately the Attribute of Cato and formerly of L. Atilius But both of them had it in a different respect Atilius for his knowledge in the Civil Law Cato for his long Experience in the World his Wisdom and Courage in the Senate and his Wit and Eloquence at the Bar So that when He came to be Old the Epithet of Wise was in a manner become his Proper Name But You are esteem'd for another kind of Wisdom which is no less owing to your Industry and Knowledge than to your Nature and Manners And that not as Wisdom goes among the Vulgar but as the better sort describe a Wise Man such as Greece never had For the more exact Critics will not allow those Seven who were called the Sages to be perfectly Wise we read of One only at Athens and Him pronounced so by Apollo Now the Wisdom which is held to be in You is such as enables you to esteem all that can be call'd your own as proceeding from your Self and to look upon all humance Accidents as things beneath the thoughts of a Vertuous Man Therefore several have enquir'd of Me and I believe of Scaevola how You bear the Death of Africanus and so much the rather because when we met last Nones according to our custom in D. Brutus's Garden to discourse You only were absent who always us'd to observe that day and that Duty very punctually SCAEVOLA 'T is true Laelius several as Fannius says enquire But I answer them from my own observation that You bear the loss of so great a Man and so good a Friend with all the moderation that can be expected that indeed a Man of your good Nature cou'd not but be somewhat moved but that your absence from Us was occasion'd by your Illness rather than by any excess of Grief LAELIUS You say well Scaevola No small Impediment should have kept me from an Office which I always attended when I was in health For I don't think that any Accident can excuse a Man of Resolution from the performance of his Duty But you Fannius that attribute more to Me than I either desire or deserve shew more of your Friendship to Me than of your Justice to Cato for either no Man ever was Wise which I am more inclinable to think or if ever Man was He was For to omit other Instances how bravely did he bear the Death of his Son Paulus I remember and Caius I have seen but their Loss was not so great as Cato's and consequently their Trial less Their Sons died in their Childhood Cato's was a Man not only of great Hopes but of approved Verâ—ues Wherefore have a care of preferring even Him whom you say Apollo judged the Wisest of Men before Cato for if the Sayings of the First deserve our Praise the Actions of the Last will challenge our Admiration But now to deal freely with you Both as to your Sentiments of Me. Whether I shou'd do well or no in denying my self to be concern'd for Scipio's Death let the Learned determine I 'm sure I should not speak the Truth for I must needs say I am moved at the loss of such a Friend as I think there never will be and I am certain there never was But I want no Remedies I am my own Comforter and chiefly in this that I am freed from an Error with which most Men are possess'd upon the Death of their Friends for I think not that any Harm has hapned to Scipio all that has hapned is to Me Now to take one's own Misfortunes to heart shews more like Self-love than Friendship But who can deny
World are so frail and uncertain we must never be without some One whom we may love and by whom we may be mutually belov'd for without Friendship there is no Enjoyment of Life Tho' Scipio was suddenly snatch'd from me yet to Me he still does and always will live for I lov'd his Vertue and That can never die That is not only continually before my Eyes in whose Arms it sometimes was but will be signally Famous to all Posterity No man will think of any gallant and extraordinary Undertaking but He will Copy out his Actions from Scipio's Life Among all the Blessings that Fortune or Nature ever bestow'd upon me I know none that I can compare with Scipio's Friendship With Him I advis'd and agreed in the management of all Public and Private Affairs in Him was treasur'd up my Happiness I never offended him to my knowledge in the least I never heard any thing from him that I could wish un said Our Lodging and Diet was in one House and at one Table and not only our Warfare but our Travels and our Retirements were always together Not to mention our Studies which having withdrawn our selves from the Eyes of the World we spent in the search of Knowledge Now if the Remembrance of these things had dy'd with Scipio I could never have born the Loss of so dear and loving a Friend No that can never decay but is rather continually strengthen'd and renew'd by the frequency of my Thoughts and the freshness of my Memory Nay tho' That too were gone yet I should find some Comfort from my Age for by the Course of Nature I cannot want Him long and what is but short must be born patiently tho' it be grievous This is all I have to say upon this Subject and let me advise you Gentlemen to have that esteem for Vertue without which there can be no Amity as to think that That only excepted nothing is more excellent than Friendship FINIS A Pastoral Dialogue CONCERNING FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE OCCASION'D By the DEATH of the Honourable J. T. Extinctum Nymphoe crudeli funere Daphnim Flebant Virg Eclog. Printed in the Year MDCXCI A Pastoral Dialogue CONCERNING FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE ALCON and LYCIDAS ALCON SAy Lycidas why all alone Is thy Dorinda false or does she frown Dost Thou to this dark Desert fly To vent thy own or blame her Jealousy LYCIDAS No Shepherd no the Maid was ever kind Dear to my Eyes and charming to my Mind Nay I remember with her Parting Breath She blest our Loves and smil'd and kiss'd in Death But oh She 's gone like a fall'n Blossom cast From its fair Stalk by some untimely Blast For ever gone whilst I distracted rove Tell the sad Tale to ev'ry conscious Grove And mourn the dear remembrance of our injur'd Love ALC Look up despairing Youth and see With pitying Eyes a sadder Wretch than Thee My Friend my Soul my Daphnis is no more Snatch'd like an early Flower Which some rude Hand had cropt before its hour Whilst I thrô many a Pathless-way With heedless Sorrow stray Led hither by my wandring Sheep With much more Tears a dearer Loss than Thine to weep LYC. A dearer Loss Rash Swain take heed With emulous Grief you wrong the beauteous Dead My Tears can brook a Rival now no more Than could my Flames my Hapless flames before Fate has not kill'd my Passion but improv'd For Dead I worship what Alive I lov'd ALC Fond Youth in yon' soft Myrtle Shades To amo'rous Boys and wanton Maids Tell thy sad Tale whilst every conscious Grove With tatling sounds mocks thy unmanly Love Be silent Here where Reason holds the Scale Thy Passion needs must yield my Friendship must prevail LYC. Here then with mournful strife we 'll Both contend And let yon' Swain our Fleecy Charge attend Whilst I a Mistress weep ALC But I a Friend LYC. Come all ye Nymphs a beauteous mournful Train Beauteous indeed now my Dorinda's gone Come All and teach the listning Plain To tell Our loss and weep Its own Ye Nymphs that crowded round her graceful side Whilst She your Envy and your Pride With all your Myrtles all your Praises crown'd In tuneful measures struck the gladsom ground And all ye Swains whose emulous Harmony Taught by the Equal motions of her Feet Thence grew Artful thence grew Sweet Ye Swains that courted Her and envy'd Me Come all with mingled Grief combine To mourn your own Despair and pity Mine O're Her sad Herse Pour out your Tears And with them write this Melancholy Verse Here fair Dorinda lies Dorinda here did fall Who One blest Shepherd lov'd Her self belov'd of All. ALC Come all ye Youths Ye dear Companions come Now dear indeed since Daphnis is no more With equal Tears Our common Loss deplore And bless his Fame and beautify his Tomb. Ye Youths that round my Daphnis proudly rode Whilst He the Grace the Terror of the Wood With active Force and fatal Certainty By his own Shafts instructed Yours to fly Ye Virgins too that throng'd the joyful place To seek the conquests of a nobler Chace To seek indeed but all in vain Whilst Daphnis Charms an unsought Triumph gain As many Darts as the Lov'd Shepherd threw As many Cupid shot as many wounded You. Come all with mournful Care Your freshest latest Gifts prepare Round his beauteous his cold Head The short-liv'd Honours of mix'd Garlands spread And oh a while their short-liv'd Honours chear With many a Sigh and many a Tear Alive ye lov'd Him all All weep Him dead Weep All and say Daphnis lies here Whom ev'ry Maid did court each Shepherd did commend Daphnis the loveliest Swain Daphnis the kindest Friend LYC. Flowers to the Vale are grateful lofty Pines To the proud Mountain's head embracing Vines To the rich Garden Cypress to the Grove To Me more grateful far Dorinda's Love ALC Frosts to the Flowers are hurtful the rude Storm To lofty Pines to Vines the cruel Worm Fire to the wasted Grove to Me than those More hurtful far my much lov'd Daphnis ' Loss LYC. Oh! She was innocent She was fair As are those spotless Sheep The dying Dear wish'd me to keep My wretched Wealth and my unwelcom Care Was there a Youth o're all the Plain But for Dorinda sigh'd and sigh'd in vain Gay Dorilas Old Melibaeus ' Heir And rich Menalcas rich indeed His thrifty Father lately dead With rival Arts and Presents courted Her And one his Kids and one his Fruits wou'd bring Both she refus'd or deigning to receive To me the Kinder Maid would give One well could Play and one could sweetly Sing Deaf to their Arts and with their Gifts unmov'd She stood and Me even happyer Me she lov'd Now all forlorn these pious Tears 1 shed To Love deserted and Dorinda dead ALC Daphnis was sweet and gentle as yon' Flood Whose listning Waters lov'd to crowd Towards the glad Shore whilst His soft Melody Made them forget their Parent Sea Admire his