ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE II. Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himself, as an Individual. I. THE bufinefs of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His Middle Nature; his Powers and Frailties, Ver. 1 to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, Ver. 19. &c. II. The two Principles of Man, Self-love and Reason, both necessary, Ver. 53, &c. Self-love the stronger, and why, Ver. 67, &c. Their end the fame, Ver. 81, &c. III. The PASSIONS, and their use, Ver. 93 to 130. The Predominant Paffion, and its force, Ver. 132 to 160. Its Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, Ver. 165, &c. Its providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and ascertaining our Virtue, Ver. 177. IV. Virtue and Vice joined in our mixed Nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, Ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious Vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves in it, Ver. 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Paffions and Imperfections, Ver. 238, &c. How ufefully thefe are diftributed to all Orders of Men, Ver. 241. How useful they are to Society, Ver. 251. And to Individuals, Ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, Ver. 273, &c. I. KNOW Now EPISTLE II. then thyself, prefume not God to fcan, The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man. Plac'd VARIATIONS. VER. 2. Ed.. 1ft. The only science of Mankind is Man. NOTES. VER. 1. Know then thyself,] Not content with the fame acquired by writing thofe fine tragedies, Zaire, Alzire, Merope, and Mahomet, Voltaire muft needs defcend to didactic poetry; . for a descent it is; out of an ambition to be an univerfal genius; and produced, in emulation of Pope, five Discourses on Man: the first is, on the Equality of Happiness in the different Conditions of Man; the fecond, on the Freedom of Man; the third, on the Mischiefs of Envy, and that it is the chief Obstacle to our Happinefs; the fourth, to fhew that, to be Happy, we must be moderate in all Things; the fifth, that Pleasure must proceed from God; the fixth, that Perfect Happiness cannot be attained in this Life, and that Men ought not to complain; the seventh and last is, to fhew that Virtue chiefly confifts in Acts of Beneficence to our Fellow-creatures. A close resemblance is visible in the following lines of the fixth difcourfe to the Effay on Man. Ep. i. v. 173. "Un vieux Lettre Chinois, qui toujours fur les bancs Combattit la raison par de beaux argumens, Plein de Confucins, et fa Logique Diftinguant, concluant, préfenta fa requête. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Secure to be as bleft as thou canst bear : All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; 285 All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not fee; 290. All Difcord, Harmony not understood; All partial Evil, univerfal Good: NOTES. And, vol. ii. p. 473. folio, 1620, and to the noble lines of Euripides there quoted and would be gratified ftill more by attentively perusing the short treatise of Aristotle, Ipi Kocue, concerning the beauty and concord of the Universe arifing from Contrarieties; which treatise, notwithstanding the different form of its compofition, ought to be ascribed to this philofopher, for the reasons affigned by Petit in his Observations, b. ii.; and by a differtation of Daniel Heinfius, as well as the opinion of our truly learned Bishop Berkeley. VER. 287. Safe in the hand] "Be there two worlds, or be there twenty, the fame God is the God of all; and wherever we are, we are equally in his power. Far from fearing my Creator, that all-perfect Being whom I adore, I should fear to be no longer his creature." Bolingbroke. Si fic omnia dixiffet! VER. 289. All Nature is but Art,] Cudworth obferves, upon Lucretius's having faid, Ufque adeo res humanas vis abdita quædam that here he reeled and staggered in his atheism; or was indeed a Theift, and knew it not. "Nature is the art whereby God governs the world,” says Hobbes. VER. 291. All Difcord, Harmony] The words of Plato, in the Thæot. are, καὶ τῶλο μεγίσης τέχνης ἀγαθο ποιεῖν τὰ κακὰ. This muft |