Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	favour_n	goddess_n	great_a	31	3	2.1122	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49903	Parrhasiana, or, Thoughts upon several subjects, as criticism, history, morality, and politics by Monsieur Le Clerk ... ; done into English by ****; Parrhasiana. English	Le Clerc, Jean, 1657-1736.	1700 (1700)	Wing L823; ESTC R16664	192,374	324

dismal Calamities upon them that were ever mention'd by the Poets What may not a Man be able to say on this Occasion upon that admirable Maxim of good Policy That in a well-regulated State there ought not to be any Authority superiour to the Laws or any single Person who may do whatever he pleases without fearing to be call'd to an Account for it One might likewise make most excellent Observations upon the Counsel of † See the eighteenth Book of the Ilias Polydamas to go back into Troy to avoid the Indignation of Achilles and upon Hector's Answer where one might shew that a General ought to listen to the Advice of his principal Officers and that 't is much better to let slip an Opportunity of gaining some Advantage over the Enemy than to Ruin one's self to all intents and purposes by obeying a General who abuses his Authority and hazards all Besides one may say That Homer had it never in his Thoughts to shew that Divisions were of fatal consequence since in his Poem he introduces the Gods strangely † See particularly the 20th Book divided between themselves about the Quarel of the Trojans and Greeks yet did not believe they were to be blamed for it To come now to the † Bossu Lib. I. c. 10. Odysses 'T is pretended that the principal Design of the Poet is to make it appear that the Absence of a Person from his own House or his not having a vigilant Eye upon all that is done there occasions great Disorders in his Affairs so that the principal and most essential part of the Action is the Absence of the Heroe It cannot be denied but that Homer design'd to describe the Absence of Vlysses and the Irregularities it caused in his Family but who can assure us that this was his chief Design and that it was not rather to affect and divert the Reader by raising his Compassion for Vlysses and his Fire-side and by exciting his Admiration and Curiosity by those extraordinary Accidents that befel him He was obliged to make Vlysses very prudent and much favour'd by the Gods to get himself out of those Dangers in which he was involved which makes him to be the more admired and esteem'd by the Reader I confess that among all this there is a great deal of good Instruction but 't is only an embroidery of the Fable and not the principal Design of the Poet. We find the like Reflexions in all our Romances altho' the Authors of them had no other end but to amuse the Reader by recounting to him in an agreeable manner a Fiction for a true History We cannot therefore draw from thence any Consequence in favour of Homer unless we likewise ascribe to Scudery and Calprenede a philosophical Design to instruct the Public by their Romances whose only end was to amuse and divert those People that are at a loss how to employ their leisure Hours Besides had he design'd to insinuate that a Prince ought not to absent himself from Home he had much better have taken any other Person than Vlysses who left his House and Native-Country with great Unwillingness and if he was absent it was only because he cou'd not help it He ought to have chosen one that went a rambling out of Indiscretion and loyter'd abroad meerly for want of a good Conduct which had much more clearly discover'd what it was the Poet intended to teach By seeing Imprudence punished we should much sooner have comprehended that a Prince is obliged in Interest to stay at Home than in seeing some Disorders happen in a Man's House who is kept abroad in spite of his own Inclination and is absent only because 't is impossible for him to return home But suppose these Reasons were not so strong as they are we might at one blow destroy the above-mention'd Hypothesis by offering others that carry as much probability in them Nothing cou'd hinder a Man from asserting upon the same Principles that the Poet's Design was to shew that no hindrance of what Nature soever can hinder the execution of the Decrees of Fate This Doctrin frequently occurs in Homer and indeed the Odysses is nothing but a Comment upon it We find Vlysses there surrounded with Pleasures and strong Temptations to make him forget his Native-Country We find him encompast with terrible Dangers out of which he happily frees himself because Heaven had decreed that he should return home in safety Homer tells us † Odyss Lib. 1. vers 16. not far from the beginning of the Odysses that when the Years of Vlysses's Absence were over the time was come wherein the Gods had destin'd his return to Ithaca and that he did not without some difficulty find himself even among his Friends One might likewise pretend that Homer design'd to describe conjugal Love to us by representing on one side Penelope not to be moved with Caresses and Menaces of her Suitors during so long an Absence and suffering herself rather to be ruined by these Fellows who all the while they were Courting her lived at her Expence than to comply with any one of them and on the other side Vlysses who could not be overcome by the Charms of Circe nor of Calypso nor of the Daughter of Alcinous but always passionately desired to see his dear Penelope again to whom nevertheless he was not so faithful as she was to him But even this contributes to shew his Constancy since Goddesses themselves such as Circe and Calypso were who refused him no Favours were not able to detain him in their agreeable Islands altho' they tempted him with so great a Bribe as Immortality It is true that Homer mixes the Love of his Native-Country with his Desire to return but it is not incompatible with that of his Wife Patriae † De Ora. L. 1. c. 44. says Cicero tanta est vis ac tanta natura ut Ithacam illam in asperrimis saxulis tanquam nidulum affixam sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret The Love of one's Country is so forcible and natural that the wisest Man of antiquity prefer'd Ithaca which is situated like a Bird's Nest among sharp Rocks to Immortality itself It will be granted me that since we can give so many different interpretations to this pretended Allegory which composes the Odysses it is not very probable that Homer proposed any of them in particular as the end and mark of his Work or that if he had such a Design in his Head he has executed it very ill An Allegory which is so obscure that it is equally capable of different Meanings is no longer an Allegory but a Riddle What is likewise said of the † Le Bossu Liv. 1. c. 11. moral Design which Virgil proposed to himself in his Aeneis is no better founded Some People wou'd needs perswade us that this Poet design'd to instruct Augustus as the Founder of a mighty Empire and to inspire him as well as his Successors with

and whose Victories and Conquests make their People greater Slaves and more unhappy than before Which puts me in mind of a remarkable Answer of a Roman Senator who at a time when the State was engaged in a dangerous War having used his endeavours to get a Covetous and Interested Man tho' his Enemy to be elected Consul because he was very well skill'd in Military-Affairs rather than any other who were not able to command the Armies of the Republick answered those who were surprised at it † A Gell. Lib. IV. c. 8. That they had no reason to wonder if he had rather be Plunder'd than Sold Nihil est quod miremini si malui compilari quàm venire The third thing which is absolutely necessary to make a State Flourish is that its Members and those who govern it ought to agree among themselves and entirely mind the Publick Good If in a kingly Government when the King can undertake nothing of Moment nor make any alteration in the Laws without the consent of the States it happens that the King aims at an Arbitrary Power and that the States on the contrary make it their Business to preserve their Laws and Liberties such a Division will necessarily unable them to Defend themselves Abroad and make good Laws at Home The King is wholly taken up with the Thoughts of surprising and subduing the States if he can do it and the States being busied in defending their Liberty against Craft and Violence cannot mind things of less Moment In the mean time a thousand Disorders are committed at Home and no care is taken to prevent the Evils which threaten them Abroad Such a Spectacle has been seen Fourscore Years and more in England where Kings and Parliaments were so taken up with their publick and private Divisions that they thought of nothing else In the mean time a neighbouring Kingdom did whatever it pleased and put itself in a Capacity to molest all its Neighbours Nay it was almost ready to Invade a Common-wealth whose Forces joyned with its own would have served to put in Fetters not only the Parliament but also the King of England During that interval of time they might have enacted many Laws which England very much wants as may be seen by the Experience of its Neighbours especially the Vnited Provinces In a Common-wealth made up of equal Members a good Union in procuring the common Good is of very great use to make it Flourish and Dissension is the most dangerous thing in the World We have seen it in these very Provinces when in the Year 1672. they were like to be altogether ruined † Introd ad Hist. Cap. VI. n. 21. Samuel Pufendorf who was a very Great Man has in vain enquired for some other Reasons of the extraordinary Progress the Enemies made in so short a time against that Common-wealth There were no other but Dissension which hindred it from making the necessary Preparations against the Invasion of its Enemies No Body doubts that Concord will make a State Flourish and that Discord is very dangerous to it but care must be taken to have a right Notion of the Meaning of those Words A Concord useful to a Monarchical or Aristocratical Government is such as aims at the general Good of those who live under it If in a Monarchical State wherein the Power of the Monarch is limited by the Laws the chief Members of the State should of their own accord or by force agree to submit all the Laws to the Prince's Will without having any regard to the Good of the State such an Union would not be at all advantageous to it It would change a Society of free Persons into a Company of unhappy Slaves The Readiness of the Chineses to obey their King blindly does but confirm his Tyranny and encrease their Misery For those who depend on the Will of one Man subject to a thousand Passions whose Fancies can be restrained by no Law can be sure of nothing Such a Man has some Favourites who have other Favourites under them and suffer themselves to be Bribed and such a Form of Government is but a Subordination of Tyrants every one of whom endeavours to get something by the Slavery of the People But 't is said That the general Obedience of the Chineses serves to maintain the Peace in their Country and that they enjoy thereby all the Advantages which a good Union can procure They mean all the Advantages which can be enjoyed in Slavery But there is not one Free-Man but had rather see more frequent Disorders than to undergo a perpetual Slavery Besides 't is false that there are no Civil Wars under such a Form a Government The most enslaved People will be at last weary of an excessive Tyranny and at the first opportunity will shew that the Love of Liberty is not quite stifled in their Hearts Such a thing has happened several times among the Chineses and Turks Few People being concern'd in keeping up Arbitrary Power in a certain Family or a certain Person and the greatest part having reason to complain of it few will oppose a Change in the Government and other believe that if they get nothing they will lose but little by it The same ought to be said of an Aristocratical Government The Union of those who Govern such a State would be of no use unless it procured the Observation of the Laws and the general Good of the Common-wealth This we may learn from the History of the Thirty Tyrants of Athens and the Decemviri of Rome The Union of those Men served only to oppress the People and make 'em miserable because their chief Design was to satisfy their Passions without having any regard to the Publick Good Concord may be also considered with respect to the People who when the Government is so setled they may quietly enjoy the Fruits or their Labour by obeying the Laws of their Country which no Member of the Society can alter or transgress at his pleasure ought to think themselves happy and to obey unanimously the Orders of the Supreme Power To keep the Multitude in so good an Union 't is necessary not only that they be the better for it but also that they should know their own Happiness Without which there will always be some restless Men who having lost all they had by Debauchery and Idleness would attempt to recover it by some Disturbance Such Men will easily persuade a People who think they live unhappily to rise up against their Sovereign on the first occasion On the contrary when the People are generally persuaded that they cannot better their Condition by a Change and that they should hazard losing much by it it is a very difficult thing to seduce them I could make several Observations on this Subject but it is not my design to write a general Treatise of Politicks The Union of those who govern a State and of the People ought to aim at the Publick Good from

is past doubt it were better to be an Origenist than a Deist an Atheist or a Manichee For my part I undertook this small Essay only to take off a little of the Manichees Presumption and excite Divines to treat of this Matter which would require a whole Volume if it were particularly examined CHAP. VII Men easily believe what their Passions suggest to them MEN are apt to Believe what they Desire and the weakest Reasons which persuade 'em appear to 'em like Demonstrations After they have thus deceived themselves the decisive way wherewith they discourse of what they Believe serves to deceive others or at least they fancy they have persuaded them with Reasons the weakness whereof would be palpable if they were free from Passion Quae volumus credimus libenter quae sentimus ipsi reliquos sentire putamus They are Caesar's words in this Commentaries Book II. Chap. 27. We willingly Believe says he what we Desire and easily persuade ourselves that others are of the same Mind We find in the Perroniana That Cardinal Sforza who did not believe the Power of the Pope no more than several other things told Cardinal du Perron that it was an easie thing to prove it at Rome The reason of it is that they who have a mind to get Preferments at Rome must either believe the Pope's Power or pretend to believe it The Ground of this Thought is not new nor the manner of expressing it Socrates said in like manner as Aristotle † Rhet. Lib. II. c. 9. relates it That it was no difficult thing to Praise the Athenians at Athens The reason of it was that the Athenians out of Self-love were so well pleased with their own Praises that they admired the worse Reasonings when they tended to prove something which was glorious to their City They applauded the worse Orators provided the Praises of the Athenians were the Subject of their Discourses They who only reason out of Passion and Interest should think sometimes of this and ask themselves whether those who have contrary Passions and Interests would like their Reasons and then perhaps they would perceive that self-Self-love imposes on them For certainly no Man has a greater right than another to establish this Rule for himself That what favours him is true and what is disadvantageous to him is false If the Europeans pretend to make use of it they must not take it ill if the Asiaticks will do the same or if they disapprove of it in the Asiaticks they ought to make use of the same Rules which they will have the Asiaticks to submit to and must admit of whatever can be proved by those Rules Such are the Rules of Logick which cannot be neglected in any part of the World without reasoning ill But it is as difficult to follow those Principles of Reason when some Passions or a long Custom oppose them as it is easie to acknowledge the Truth of 'em when they are proposed in general The Chineses for Example would readily approve of those Rules and consequently they should acknowledge all the Truths which can be proved by them as this for Example that Polygamy is unlawful Yet 't is impossible to convince 'em of it and it is the greatest Obstacle to their Conversion which the Missionaries meet with † Nouv. Mem. de la Chine Vol. II. Lett. 4. The Mandarins who are forbidden to use most Pleasures which the People are allow'd live as it were in a kind of Seraglio to make up that loss wherein they spend their time when they are free from Business Tho' they have but one lawful Wife yet they are allow'd to take as many Concubines as they can maintain and the Children born of 'em are look'd upon as Children of the lawful Wife and bred up with equal care with them To be admitted to Baptism they must promise to the Missionaries that they will part with all their Concubines and be contented with one lawful Wife They often promise to the Missionaries every thing else but their Passions and Customs are too much set against this Point they cannot believe that God requires of Men that they should have but one Wife tho' the conformity of this Doctrine with Reason may be more easily shewn than of several others which the Chineses approve of without any Reluctancy When we propose to the Mandarins says a Missionary the other Difficulties of our Religion they will dispute and endeavour to overcome them and despair not of doing themselves Violence but this last Point discourages them presently and takes away from them the thought of Converting themselves Then he alledges the Example of a Chinese who wou'd have been Baptized but was quite out of conceit with it by reason of that Article The difficulty of acknowledging the Truth encreases still among the Chineses by reason of the Laws which authorize that ill Custom and so perplex several of 'em who would turn Christians that they know not what to do They who turn Christians are permitted to take to Wife one of their Concubines if the lawful Wife will not embrace Chistianity but the Laws forbid the Chineses to do it and they are not allow'd to Divorce their Wives but in very few particular Cases Besides the Relations of the Wife thus Divorced by her Husband would not fail to Revenge themselves and force him in Law to take her again The Conversion of Women is more difficult still A Concubine for Example acknowledges the Truth of the Christian Religion and is very sensible of the miserable condition she is in She desires to be freed from it and admitted to Baptism She is told that the first thing which her Faith requires of her is to part with her pretended Husband She gives her Consent to it and even desires it with all Heart but she says I belong to a Mandarin who bought me If I leave his House the Law impowers him to apprehend and punish me as his Slave If by chance I escape him whither can I go to be safe My Parents who have Sold me durst not take me into their House and I cannot fail to fall into the Hands of another Man who will draw me into the same State of Life from which I desire to be freed I must therefore stay in the House where I am but how can I resist a brutish Man who only minds his Passion which he may justify by the Laws and Example of the whole Empire 'T is in vain for me to represent to him the Holiness of Christianity which I desire to embrace my Intreaties my Tears and even my Resistence and all my Endeavours are not able to move him It happens also sometimes that an Idolater being weary of his Christian Wife will accuse her unjustly and with much Money get a Permission to Sell her to another Man Nay sometimes he will Sell her without any other Formality and retire into another Province How can this Woman being in the Hands of an Adulterer