nor ever preserves it with the wicked.--This cannot possibly be overruled by any other law, nor abrogated in whole or in part; nor can we be absolved from it either by the Senate or the people.-Nor are we to seek any other expositor or interpreter of it, but itself; nor can there be one law at Rome, another at Athens, one now, another hereafter; but the same eternal immutable law comprehends all nations at all times, under one common master and governor of all, GOD. He is the inventor propounder enactor of this law; and whoever will not obey it, must renounce himself and throw off the nature of man.

C. MIDDLETON

31. DOMESTIC HAPPINESS THE AIM OF ALL LABOUR. The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to those hours which splendour cannot gild and acclamation cannot exhilarate; those soft intervals of unbended amusement, in which a man shrinks to his natural dimensions and throws aside the ornaments or disguises which he feels in privacy to be useless incumbrances and to lose all effect when they become familiar. To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition; the end to which every enterprize and labour tends and of which every desire prompts the prosecution. It is indeed at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his virtue or felicity; for smiles and embroidery are alike occasional and the mind is often dressed for show in painted honour and fictitious benevolence.

32.

S. JOHNSON

CHARACTER OF TIBERIUS. Hitherto Tiberius had kept within bounds; he was frugal, just in the distribution of offices, a rigid punisher of injustice in others and an example of temperance to his luxurious court. But now, from the ninth year of his reign, it is that historians begin to trace the bloody effects of his suspicious temper.

Having no object of jealousy to keep him in awe, he began to pull off the mask entirely and appear more in his natural character than before. He no longer adopted that wisest maxim, the truth of which has familiarised it into a proverb, that honesty is the best policy. With him, judgment justice and extent of thinking, were converted into slyness artifice and expedients adapted to momentary con

junctures. He took upon himself the interpretation of all political measures; and gave morals whatever colour he chose, by the fine-drawn speculations of his own malicious mind. He began daily to diminish the authority of the senate: which design was much facilitated by their own aptitude to slavery; so that he despised their meanness, while he enjoyed its effects. A law at that time subsisted, which made it treason to form any injurious attempt against the majesty of the people. Tiberius assumed to himself the interpretation and enforcement of this law, and extended it not only to the cases which really affected the safety of the state but to every conjuncture that could possibly be favourable to his hatred or suspicions. All freedom was consequently banished from convivial meetings; and diffidence reigned amongst the dearest relations. The gloomy disposition and insincerity of the prince were diffused through all ranks of men: friendship had the air of an allurement to betray; and a fine genius was but a shining indiscretion; even virtue itself was considered as an impertinent intruder, that only served to remind the people of their lost happiness.

33. INSCRIPTION ON THE ASCENT TO MOUNT VESUVIUS. We took the opportunity, when we were at Naples, of going to see Mount Vesuvius, which lies south-east from thence, at the distance only of four miles, if we reckon but to the beginning of the ascent, and four more they call it up to the top. Just at the beginning of the ascent stands a monument, with an inscription which is inserted, giving an account of the terrible manner of its eruptions; it seems to have been erected by one who had been heartily frightened, and had perhaps narrowly escaped one of them; most probably the same which happened the year this inscription bears date, 1631; and a very terrible one that was. There have been several others since, as well as before, of which there are large accounts published:

Posterity, Posterity,

This is your own Concern.

One day furnishes Light to another; This day to the follow

ing.

Attend!

Twenty times since the Sun was formed, if Story fable not, Has Vesuvius flamed out,

Ever to the dreadful destruction of the tardy and irresolute:

Lest hereafter it surprise the Uninformed, I give this warn

ing.

This Mountain has a Womb

Pregnant with Bitumen, Alum, Iron, Sulphur, Gold, Silver, Nitre, an Springs of waters:

Sooner or later it will tak fire, and, the Sea breaking in, will be delivered,

But not without previous Throes.

It is convulsed and gives Convulsions to the Ground about it: It smothers, it flashes, it darts out flames ;

It shocks the whole Atmosphere:

It roars horrible, it bellows, it thunders, it drives the Neighbourhood out of their country.

Hence, while thou mayest.

Now, now it is in labour, it bursts out, it vomits forth a lake of Fire:

The Stream rushes down precipitant, and leaves no time for

flight.

If it catch thee, there's an end of thee, thou'rt lost.

34. FALL OF JERUSALEM. Titus, after entering the ruins of the city, and admiring the impregnable strength of the towers, declared that he indeed was the leader of the army, but God was the author of the victory. He commanded his soldiers, wearied with slaughter, ‘to cease from carnage, except where any still chanced to resist: that the leaders, concealed in the subterraneous passages, should be sought after that the youths, distinguished by their beauty and stature, should be reserved for his triumph: the more advanced in years be sent into Egypt to the mines.' A vast number also were selected to perish in the theatres by the sword and wild beasts: all under seventeen were sold by auction. It is a current report among the Jews that in this siege ninety-seven thousand men were taken prisoners: that eleven hundred thousand fell.-Nothing remained of the city, except three towers left as a memorial of victory: at the same time part of the western wall was preserved, to which a garrison was assigned; and Terentius Rufus was appointed governor. Everything else was overturned and polluted by the plough.

H. H. MILMAN

35. THE LIFE OF THE SENSUAL PAINFUL. Let us compare the pains of the sensual with those of the virtuous, and see which are heavier in the balance. It may seem strange, at the first view, that the men of pleasure should be advised to change their course, because they lead a painful life. Yet when we see them so active and vigilant in quest of delight; under so many disquiets, and the sport of such various passions; let them answer as they can, if the pains they undergo do not outweigh their enjoyments. The infidelities on the one part between the two sexes, and the caprices on the other, the debasement of reason, the pangs of expectation, the disappointments in possession, the stings of remorse, the vanities and vexations attending even the most refined delights that make up this business of life, render it so silly and uncomfortable, that no man is thought wise, until he hath got over it, or happy but in proportion as he hath cleared himself from it.

J. ADDISON

36. CONCURRENCE OF ARMS AND LEARNING. Experience doth warrant, that both in persons and in times, there hath been a meeting and concurrence in learning and arms, flourishing and excelling in the same men and the same ages. For, as for men, there cannot be a better nor the like instance, as of that pair, Alexander the Great and Julius Cæsar the dictator; whereof the one was Aristotle's scholar in philosophy and the other was Cicero's rival in eloquence: or if any man had rather call for scholars that were great generals than generals that were great scholars, let him take Epaminondas the Theban or Xenophon the Athenian; whereof the one was the first that abated the power of Sparta and the other was the first that made way to the overthrow of the monarchy of Persia. And this concurrence is yet more visible in times than in persons, by how much an age is a greater object than a man. For both in Ægypt Assyria Persia Græcia and Rome the same times that are most renowned for arms are likewise most admired for learning; so that the greatest authors and philosophers, and the greatest captains and governors, have lived in the same ages. Neither can it otherwise be: for as in man the ripeness of strength of the body and mind cometh much about an age, save that the strength of the body cometh somewhat the more early; so in states arms and learning, whereof the

one correspondeth to the body, the other to the soul of man, have a concurrence or near sequence in times.

LORD BACON

37. CHARACTER He belonged to those thin and pale men, as Cæsar names them, who sleep not in the night and who think too much; before whom the most fearless of all hearts has shaken. The quiet peacefulness of a face, always the same, hid a busy fiery soul, which stirred not even the veil behind which it worked and was equally inaccessible to cunning or love; and a manifold formidable never tiring mind, sufficiently soft and yielding momentarily to melt into every form, but sufficiently proved to lose itself in none and strong enough to bear every change of fortune. None was a greater master than he in seeing through mankind and in winning on hearts; not that he let his lips, after the manner of the court, confess a bondage to which the proud heart gave the lie; but because he was neither covetous nor extravagant in the marks of his favour and esteem, and by a prudent economy in those means through which one binds men, he multiplied his real store of them. Did his mind bear slowly, so were its fruits perfect; did his resolve ripen late, so was it firmly and unshakeably fulfilled. The plan to which he once had paid homage as the first, no resistance would tire, no chances destroy; for they had all stood before his soul, before they really took place. As much as his mind was raised above terror and joy, so much was it subjected to fear; but his fear was there earlier than the danger, and in the tumult he was tranquil because he had trembled when at rest.

38. OF DEATH. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death; and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honour aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die out of mere compassion to their sovereign and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds, niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem