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large a part of it to his mother, as enabled her not only to enjoy the conveniences of life, but to appear as usual in the best company, with an equipage and splendor every way suitable to her birth, and the august house to which she was related. This noble generosity of Scipio did him great honour, especially in the minds of the ladies, who expatiated on it in all their conversations, and in a city whose inhabitants, says Polybius, were not easily prevailed upon to part with their money. After the death of his mother, the rich possessions he had given her reverted to him by law as well as equity; and his sisters, according to the custom of those times, had not the least claim to them. Nevertheless, Scipio thought it would be dishonourable had he taken them back; he therefore made over to his sisters whatever he had presented to his mother, which amounted to a very cousiderable sum; and by this fresh proof of his glorious disregard of wealth, and the tender friendship he had for his family, acquired the applause of the whole city. EXCERP. é POLYB.

THE disinterested generosity of this great man was not confined to his own family or relations. Going to command in Spain during the war with Numantia, Antiochus Sidetes sent him rich and magnificont presents. Some generals would have appropriated them to their own use: Scipio received them in public, sitting upon his tribunal, in the view of the whole army, and gave orders that theý should be delivered to the quæstor,* to be applied in rewarding those officers and soldiers who should distinguish themselves in the service. By such conduct a noble and generous soul is known.

EPIT. LIV. lib. 57.

ASCHINES and Demosthenes were the two greatest orators which Greece, or perhaps any other nation, ever produced. The former having drawn up an accusation against one Ctesiphon, or rather against Demosthenes,

M 6

*The quæstor was the treasurer of the army.

a time was fixed for hearing the trial. No cause ever excited so much curiosity, nor was pleaded with so much pomp. People flocked to it from all parts, says Cicero; and they had great reason for so doing: for what sight could be nobler than a conflict between two orators, each of them excellent in his way; both formed by nature, improved by art, and animated by perpetual dissensions, and an insuperable jealousy! The disposition of the people, and the juncture of the times, seemed to favour Aschines; nevertheless, he lost his cause, and was justly sentenced to be banished for his rash accusation. He thereupon went and settled at Rhodes, where he opened a school of eloquence, the fame and glory of which continued for many ages. He began his lectures with the two orations that had occasioned his banishment. Great encomiums were given to that of Eschines; but when they heard that of Demosthenes, the plaudits and acclamations were redoubled; and it was then he spoke these words, so greatly laudable in the mouth of an enemy: "But what applauses would you have bestowed, had you heard Demosthenes speak it himself!"

The victor likewise made a good use of the conquest for the instant Æschines left Athens, in order to embark for Rhodes, Demosthenes ran after him, and forced him to accept of a purse of money; which must have obliged him so much the more, as he had less room to expect such an offer. On this occasion Eschines cried out:*"How will it be possible for me to regret a country in which I leave an enemy more generous, than I can hope to find friends in any other part of the world!"

WHEN Agesilaus was declared king, he was put into possession of the whole estate of his brother Agis, of which Leotichides was deprived as a bastard: but seeing

+ Cicer, de opt. Gen. Orat. n. 22..

* Some authors ascribe these words to Demosthenes, when, three years after, he met with the same fate as Eschines, and was also banished from Athens.

ROLL.

the relations of that prince, on the side of his mother Lampito, were all very poor, he divided the whole inheritance with them; and by that act of generosity acquired great reputation, and the good-will of all the world, instead of the envy and hatred he might have drawn upon himself by the inheritance. These sort of sacrifices are glorious, though rare, and can never be sufficiently admired.

PLUT. IN AGESIL.

THE command of the Roman army against Pyrrhus king of Macedon, being conferred on Fabricius, an unknown person came into his camp with a letter from the king's physician, who offered to take Pyrrhus off by poison, if the Romans would promise him a recompense proportionable to the service he should render them, by putting an end to so destructive a war without any danger to themselves. Fabricius, who always retained the same probity and justice* even in time of war, which furnishes so many pretexts for departing from thence, and as he knew there were some rights which ought to be preserved inviolable, even with enemies themselves, was struck with a just horror at such a proposal; and as he would not suffer the king to conquer him with gold, he thought it would be infamous in himself to conquer the king by poison. After some conference therefore with his colleague Æmilius, he wrote a letter to Pyrrhus, to caution him against that black treachery. His letter was conceived in these terms:

* See the article Wealth (contempt of.)

+ Ejusdem animi fuit, auro non vinci, veneno non vincere, admirati sumus ingentem virum, quem non regis, non contra regem promissa flexissent; boni exempli tenacem, quod difficilimum est, in bello innocentem ; qui aliquod esse crederet in hoste nefas, qui in summa paupertate, quam sibi decus fecerit, non aliter refugit divitias quam venenum. SENEC. EPIST. 120.

CAIUS FABRICIUS,

AND

QUINTUS EMILIUS,

CONSULS,

TO KING PYRRHUS,

HEALTH.

"You seem to form a wrong judgment both of friends and enemies, and this will be your own opinion when you have read the letter which has been written to us; for you would then be sensible, that you are carrying on a war against people of virtue and honour, at the same time that you repose entire confidence in the worst of men. The information we now send you results more from our affection for ourselves than for you; for we were unwilling that your death should give the world occasion to defame us, and would not have it imagined that we had recourse to treachery, through despair of determining this war happily by our valour."

Pyrrhus having received this letter, and finding it to be a true representation of the fact, caused his physician to be punished; and sent back all the Romans he had taken prisoners, without ransom, as a testimonial of his gratitude to Fabricius and the republic.

HAPPINESS not founded on Wealth: or, the Vicissitudes of Human Life.

SENTIMENTS.

γου see here a notable instance of the uncertainty of human grandeur, and of the mutability of fortune; let it make a proper impression on you all, but especially on such of you as are in the vigour of your age. Let not present prosperity so far puff up any man as to make him behave with arrogance towards another : nei

ther let any man confide in his good fortune, for he cannot tell how soon it may forsake him.

It is the lot of mankind to be happy and miserable by turns. Divine Wisdom will have it so; and it is exceedingly for our advantage it should be so. By the meditation of this mixture we have the comfort of hope to support us in our distresses, and the apprehensions of a change to keep a check upon us in the very height of our greatness and glory; so that by this vicissitude of good and evil we are kept steady in our philosophy and in our religion. The one puts us in mind of God's omnipotence and justice, the other of his goodness and mercy; the one tells us that there is no trusting to our strength, the other preaches faith and resignation in the prospect of an over-ruling Providence who takes care of us.

EXAMPLES.

RŒESUS was king of Lydia. His very name, which is become a proverb, carries in it an idea of immense riches. The wealth of this prince, to judge of it only by the presents he made to the temple of Delphos, must have been excessively great. Most of those presents were to be seen in the time of Herodotus; and were worth several millions. We may partly account for the treasures of this prince from certain mines that he had, situate, according to Strabo, between Pergamos and Atarnes; as also from the little river Pactolus, the sand of which was gold. This uncommon affluence, which is a thing extraordinary, did not enervate or soft en the courage of Croesus. He thought it unworthy of a prince to spend his time in idleness and pleasures. Herodotus observes, that he was the first conqueror of the Greeks, who till then had never been subject to a foreign power. But what is still more extraordinary in this prince, though he was immensely rich, and so great a warrior, yet his chief delight was in literature and the

*

* Doubtless he must mean the Greeks settled in Asia Minor.

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