m

duced some invaluable truths. Among those ancient forms of polite expression which we place at the beginning of a letter, and which we employ on other occasions, there is one that merits attention. Instead of saying, I salute you; I say only, Do good; which is to wish you the greatest possible happiness. The same word is applied to the man who is distinguished either for valour or virtue, because courage is as necessary to the latter as the former. Do we wish to convey the idea of a man perfectly virtuous, we attribute to him beauty and goodness; that is to say, the two qualities which most attract admiration and confidence.

Before I conclude this article, it will be proper to speak to you of a species of composition on which, within these few years, our writers have exercised their abilities; I mean the description of characters.° Observe, for example, in what colours Aristotle has pourtrayed greatness of mind.P

"We call him magnanimous, whose mind, naturally elevated, is neither dazzled by prosperity, nor depressed by adversity."

"Among all external goods, he only sets a value on that respect which is acquired and bestowed by honour. The most important distinctions merit not

"Aristot. Magn. Mor. lib. 1. c. 4. t. ii. p. 149. * Αριστος, which may be translated excellent. "Aristot. Magn. Moral. lib. 2. cap. 9. t. ii. p. 186. A. Aristot. Theophr. &c. &c. p. 49. Id. Eudem. lib. 3. c. 5. t. ii. p. 223. q Id. de Moral. lib. 4. c. 7. t. ii. p. 50.

† Karòs nayalos, fair and good. P Aristot. de Mor. lib. 4. c. 7. t. ii.

to excite his transports, because they are his due. He would renounce them sooner than receive them on trivial occasions, or from persons whom he despises."

"As he is unacquainted with fear, his hatred, his friendship, and all his words and actions, are undisguised: but his hatred is not lasting; and as he is convinced that the injury intended him can do him no harm, he frequently disregards, and at length forgets it.'

"He loves to perform actions which may be transmitted to posterity; but he never speaks of himself, because he loves not praise. He is more desirous to render than to receive services, and even in his least actions a character of grandeur is discernible: if he makes acquisitions, or if he wishes to gratify the tastes of individuals, he is more attentive to beauty than utility."

t

I here interrupted Euclid: Add, said I, that when charged with the superintendence of the interests of a great state, he displays in his enterprises and his treaties all the elevation of his mind; that to maintain the honour of his nation, far from having recourse to low and contemptible means, he employs only firmness, frankness, and superiority of genius; and you will have sketched the portrait of that Arsames with whom I passed in Persia such happy days, and who, among all the virtuous inhabitants of

that extensive empire, was the only one who was not afflicted at his disgrace.

I spoke to Euclid of another portrait, which was shown me in Persia, and of which I only recollected the following features.

I dedicate to the consort of Arsames that homage which truth owes to virtue.. To describe her wit, it would be necessary to possess as much as herself; but to pourtray her heart, her wit would not suffice; a soul of equal virtue and benevolence would be requisite.

Phedime instantaneously discerns the differences and relations of an object, and is able to express them by a single word. She sometimes seems to recollect what she has never learned. From a few ideas she would be able to give the history of the wanderings of the mind; but she would be unable, even from a multiplicity of examples, to give that of the wanderings of the heart; her own is too pure and simple ever to conceive them.

She might without blushing contemplate the entire series of her thoughts and actions during her whole life. Her example proves that the virtues in uniting make but one; and it also proves that such virtue is the surest means of acquiring general esteem without exciting envy.

To that intrepid fortitude which gives energy of character, she adds a beneficence equally active and inexhaustible; her soul, ever in action, seems only to exist for the happiness of others.

She has only one ambition: that of giving plea

sure to her husband. If in her youth any one had extolled the beauties of her person, and those good qualities of which I have endeavoured to convey a feeble idea, she would have felt a less lively satisfaction than if he had spoken to her of Arsames.

VOL. VI.

CHAPTER. LXXXII.

New Enterprises of Philip.-Battle of Charonea.-Portrait of Alexander.

GREECE had attained to the summit of her glory, and was to descend to that point of humiliation fixed by the destiny which incessantly agitates the balance of empires. This decline, which had long been apparent, was extremely sensible during my stay in Persia, and excessively rapid some years after. I shall hasten to the catastrophe of this great revolution, abridging the narrative of facts, and sometimes only making extracts from the journal of my travels.

IN THE ARCHONSHIP OF NICOMACHUS.

The 4th year of the 109th Olympiad.

(From the 30th of June of the year 341, to the 19th of July of the year 340, before Christ.)

PHILIP had again formed the design of seizing on the island of Euboea by his intrigues, and on the city of Megara by the arms of the Boeotians, his allies. In possession of these two important posts, he must soon have become master of the city of Athens. Phocion had made a second expedition into