AND herein again, it may feem a thing Scholaftical, and fomewhat idle, to recite Things that every Man knoweth ; but yet, fince the Argument I handle, leadeth me thereunto, I am glad that Men fhall perceive I am as willing to flatter (if they will fo call it) an Alexander, or a Cafar, or an Antoninus, that are dead many hundred Years fince, as any that now liveth: For it is the Dif playing of the Glory of Learning in Sovereignty, that I propound to my felf, and not an Humour of Declaiming in any Man's Praifes

AS to Morals then, let the Apothegm of Alexander, touching Diogenes, be obferv'd firft; and fee (if ye pleafe) if it tend not to the fettling of one of the greatest Questions in Moral Philofophy; Whether be that enjoys outward Things, or defpifes them, is the happier Man. For when he saw Diogenes contented with fo little, turning to thofe that stood about him, and mock'd at his Condition, Were I not (fays he) Alexander, I could wish to be Diogenes. But Seneca, in this Comparifon, preferr'd Diogenes, when he faid, There was more that Diogenes would bave refufed, than Alexander could baye given.

IN Natural Knowledge, let that Speech be obferv'd which was ufual with him, That

be

be felt bis Mortality chiefly in two things, Sleep and Luft, Which Speech, in truth, is drawn from the Depth of Natural Philofophy, and likelier to have come out of the Mouth of an Ariftotle, or a Democritus, than an Alexander, feeing as well the Indigence, as Redundance of Nature, reprefented by those two Acts, are as it were Pledges and Earnefts of Death.

AS to Poetry, let that Speech be obferv'd, when upon the bleeding of his Wounds, he called to him one of his Flatterers, that was wont to afcribe to him Divine Honour; Look, fays he, this is the Blood of a Man, not fuch Liquor as Homer faid ran from Venus Hand, when it was wounded by Diomed: With this Saying mak ing merry both with the Poets, and his Flatterers, and Himself.

IN Logick; Take his Reprehenfion of Dialectick Subtleties, as to the Repelling and Retorting of Arguments, in the Touch he gave Caffander, who was confuting the Informers against his Father Antipater. For when Alexander happen'd to fay, Do you think thefe Men would have taken fo long a Fourney, if they bad not just Cause of Complaint? Caffander anfwer'd, Nay, this was the very Thing that gave them Encouragement, being in hopes that their Calumny at Such

Such a Distance could not be disprov'd. See (fays the King) the Quirks of Ariftotle to turn a Thing both ways, Pro and Con. Nevertheless, this very Art, which he reprehended in another, he knew well how to use himfelf, when Occafion required, to ferve his own turn. For it fo fell out, that Callifthenes (whom Alexander inwardly hated, for being against his new Canonization) was defired at a Banquet, by the Company at Table, to chufe fome Subject, for Entertainment fake, (being a very eloquent Man) to difcourfe upon extempore; and he confenting, and pitching upon the Praises of the Macedonian Nation, harangued with the great Applaufe of all the Company: Whereupon Alexander, nothing pleas'd, faid, Upon a good Subje&t, it is eafy for any body to be eloquent But turn, fays he, your Style, and let us hear what you can say against us. Callifthenes undertook it, and perform'd it with that Sting and Bitterness, that Alexander interrupted him, and faid, Spight alfo, as well as a good Caufe, infufes Eloquence.

FOR Rhetorick, to which Tropes and Ornaments belong, behold a most elegant Ufe of a Metaphor, wherewith he girded Antipater, an imperious tyrannical Governour. For when one of Antipater's Friends was praising him to Alexander for his great Moderation, in not degenerating, as other

Lieutenants did, into the Perfian Luxury, and the Ufe of Purple, and throwing off the antient Macedonian Habit; True, fays Alexander, but Antipater is all over Purple within. That other Metaphor alfo was fine: When Parmenio came to him in the Plains of Arbela, and fhew'd him the vast Army of his Enemies, which lying under their View by Night, reprefented, by the infinite Number of Fires, another as it were ftarry Firmament, and thereupon advised him to attack them by Night, I will nat, says Alexander, fteal a Victory.

FOR Matter of Policy, mark that moft fignificant and wife Diftinction (which all Pofterity has embrac'd) that he made between two of his fingular Friends, Ephestion and Craterus, when he faid, That the One loved Alexander, and the Other loved the King, fettling a Difference of great Import, between even the most faithful Servants of Princes, That fome bear a true Affection to the Perfons of their Mafters; others to their Crown, and Government.

LET it be confidered likewife, how notably he tax'd an Error, ordinary with the Counfellors of Princes, who generally fug geft Counfel, according to the Model of their own Mind and Fortune, not that of their Mafters. For when Darius made great Of

fers

fers to Alexander; 1, fays Parmenio, would accept them, if I was Alexander. Replies Alexander, And so would I, if I were Parmenio.

Laftly; Examine that quick and acute Reply to his Friends, when they ask'd him, What be referv'd for himself, upon his giving So many and fuch large Gifts to others? Hope, fays he. As one who well knew, that when all Accounts are caft up aright, Hope is the true Portion, and as it were Inheritance, of those that aspire to. Great Things. This was Julius Cafar's Portion, when upon going into Gaul, he had exhaufted all his Estate by profufe Largeffes, This was likewife the Portion of Henry Duke of Guife, that moft Noble Prince, tho' too Ambitious, of whom it was usually said, That be was the greatest Ufurer in all France, because all his Wealth was in Notes, and he bad turn'd his whole Patrimony into Obliga

tions.

TO conclude therefore, as certain Criticks are used to say hyperbolically; That if all Sciences were loft, they might be found in Virgil: So certainly this may be faid truly; there are the Prints and Footsteps of Learning in thofe few Speeches which are reported of this Prince. The Admiration of whom, when I confider him, not as Alexander

the