this assertion; for seriously, if I compare all the rest of my life with the four years during which I had the happiness to have the delightful society of this excellent man, I should say that all enjoyment evaporated, and that from the day I lost him, there remained nothing but an obscure and tedious night. And yet, thanks to the goodness of God, barring the loss of such a friend, my life has been quiet and easy, exempt from severe affliction, and blest with great tranquillity of mind.

Since that fatal day I only drag on a miserable existence, and my very pleasures, instead of administering consolation, double my affliction. A premature death having torn away this half of myself, wherefore should the other half survive, which is separated from its dearest part *. There is not an action or thought which does not recall him to my imagination, and no event happens in which I do not sigh for his advice and assistance; for as he greatly surpassed me in virtue and attainments, so did he equally in friendship. Can I then too deeply regret the loss of so admirable a friend? Of him I may

* See Horace..

fay,

fay, as Catullus lamented the loss of his bro

ther:

"Bereav'd of thee on that lamented day

When thou, my friend, wert laid with kindred clay,
Those blest delights which friendship only gave,
True to thy shade, were buried in thy grave.
No more poetic fire excites my praise,
Or strains melodious now my spirits raise;
No social converse fills my absent mind,
For thou art fled where all those tastes combin'd
Dearer than life, all joy with thee is flown,
And sad remembrance only is my own."

ESSAY 30.

REFLECTIONS ON THE CHARACTERS AND

WRITINGS OF CICERO AND PLINY

HAVING

AVING formerly mentioned the vanity of Cicero and Pliny, let us have one more trait of this couple. The writings of Cicero and Pliny the younger, give many proofs of boundless ambition. Among others, they both solicited the historians of their time to celebrate them in their memoirs; and fortune, as if in spite, has delivered down to posterity the vanity of their requests, when the histories have been long buried in oblivion. But to endeavour to derive their principal renown from the prating of others, and even to employ their own private correspondence for that purpose, is, to me, beyond all measure mean and ridiculous in persons of their condition: yet some of their own letters, which never reached their friends, were publish

ed

ed with an apology, that they were unwilling their midnight labours should be lost.

But was it consonant to the character of two Roman consuls, sovereign magistrates of that republic which governed the world, to employ their time in framing quaint and elegant sentences, in order to gain the reputation of understanding their mother tongue? Gould a pitiful school-master, who gains his livelihood by these means, act otherwise? I shall add yet another anecdote of Cicero, in order to shew him in his true light. He was to speak in public, and had not prepared his oration, when Eros, one of his slaves, informed him, that the audience was deferred till the following day, at which he was highly delighted, and enfranchised him for the good news *.

If the actions of Xenophon and Cæsar had not surpassed their eloquence, I scarcely believe they would ever have written an account of them. They endeavoured to recommend, not their words, but their deeds. Could the per

This act was fo good-natured, that it does not deferve cenfure,

fecting of language increase the reputation of a great character, certainly neither Scipio nor Lælius would have relinquished the honour of their comedies, and all the elegance and delicacies of the Latin language, to an African slave. For the beauty and excellence of this work sufficiently announce it to be theirs; besides, Terence acknowledges it, and I should be greatly displeased with any one who should make me waver on this subject.

It is a species of satyr and mockery to value a man for talents which are unworthy of his rank, although they may in themselves be estimable, especially to represent them as his principal characteristics. Who would admire a king for being a good painter or archite&, or even a good marksman or runner in the ring? for he can derive no honour from them singly, only as they were classed with other more important talents, as justice, and the science of governing his people, both in peace and war. Upon this principle, agriculture was an honour to Cyrus; and a knowledge of letters admirable in Charlemagne. In the embassy to Maeedon, the companions of Demosthenes praised Philip

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