Volume II Part 2 (1/2)
”'And if aits power by his advice, and of raising hiree of honour, would you not brand him likeith meanness of soul if he would not present hiht,' said Charmidas; 'but why do you ask me this question?' Socrates replied, 'Because you are capable ofthe affairs of the republic, and nevertheless you avoid doing so, though, in quality of a citizen, you are _obliged_ to take care of the coent in this matter; consider your abilities and your duty withthe republic, and of rendering it, if possible,whose influence will descend not only on the other citizens, but on your best friends and yourself'”
THE WASTE OF LIFE
Anergus was a gentleood estate; he was bred to no business, and could not contrive hoaste his hours agreeably; he had no relish for any of the proper works of life, nor any taste at all for the ienerally, ten hours of the four-and-twenty in his bed; he dozed ao or three ood liquor every evening, if he met with company of his own humour Five or six of the rest he sauntered aith much indolence; the chief business of them was to contrive his meals, and to feed his fancy beforehand with the prolutton or so entirely devoted to his appetite, but, chiefly because he knew not how to ehts better, he let them rove about the sustenance of his body Thus he had made a shi+ft to wear off ten years since the paternal estate fell into his hands; and yet, according to the abuse of words in our day, he was called a man of virtue, because he was scarce ever known to be quite drunken, nor was his nature , as he was hts happened to take a an to reflect on hisbeings had been made a sacrifice to support his carcass, and how s He had not quite lost all the arithmetic that he had learned when he was a boy, and he set hie of reat, have, one ith another,” said he, ”given up their lives to prolong mine, which in ten years amounts to at least six thousand
”Fifty sheep have been sacrificed in a year, with half a hecatoht have the choicest part offered weekly upon my table Thus a thousand beasts out of the flock and the herd have been slain in ten years' time to feed me, besides what the forest has supplied me with Many hundreds of fishes have, in all their varieties, been robbed of life for my repast, and of the smaller fry as many thousands
”A h for a month's provision, and this arises to above six score bushels; and sheads of ale and wine, and other liquors, have passed through this body of mine, this wretched strainer of meat and drink
”And what have I done all this tis upon a useless life and a worthless liver!
There is not theall these which I have devoured, but hath answered the end of its creation better than I It was made to support human nature, and it hath done so Every crab and oyster I have ate, and every grain of corn I have devoured, hath filled up its place in the rank of beings with more propriety and honour than I have done
Oh shameful waste of life and time!”
In short, he carried on his moral reflections with so just and severe a force of reason, as constrained hie his whole course of life, to break off his follies at once, and to apply hie, when he wasyears with the character of a worthy man and an excellent Christian; he perforhbour at houre as a patriot in the senate-house; he died with a peaceful conscience, and the tears of his country were dropped upon his tomb
The world, that knew the whole series of his life, stood ae They beheld him as a wonder of reformation, while he himself confessed and adored the Divine power and mercy, which had transforle instance; and we may almost venture to write MIRACLE upon it Are there not nuenerate age, whose lives thus run to utter waste, without the least tendency to usefulness?
When I meet with persons of such a worthless character as this, it brings to my mind soes consumere nati,Alcinoiquejuventus, Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies,” &c
PARAPHRASE
There are a number of us creep Into this world, to eat and sleep; And know no reason why they're born, But merely to consume the corn, Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish, And leave behind an eh crows and ravens do the saht fill their places, And s corn and eat carcases, Then, if their toht to flatter and to lie
There's nothing better will be said, Than that _they've eat up all their bread, Drunk all their drink, and gone to bed_
SELF-DENIAL NOT THE ESSENCE OF VIRTUE
It is commonly asserted, that without self-denial there is no virtue, and that the greater the self-denial the greater the virtue
If it were said that he who cannot deny hih he knows it will be to his hurt, has not the virtue of resolution or fortitude, it would be intelligible enough; but, as it stands, it seems obscure or erroneous
Let us consider soly
If a s, if he feels no temptation to it, and, therefore, never does it, can it be said that he is not a just man? If he is a just man, has he not the virtue of justice?
If to a certain , and, therefore, he never relaxes his application to business for their sake, is he not an industrious ht in like manner instance in all the rest of the virtues; but, toshort, as it is certain that the ainst the temptation to any vice, and practise the contrary virtue, the weaker will that teth the temptation has no force or entirely vanishes; does it follow frorow continually less and less virtuous, till at length we have no virtue at all?