ing his son Alexander endeavour to gain the hearts of the Macedonians by gifts and rewards, Canst thou believe, says he, that a man that thou hast corrupted to thy interests will ever be true to them? When his court would have had him quarrel and correct the Peloponnenses for their ingratitude to him, he said, By no means; for if they despise and abuse me, after being kind to them, what will they do if I do them harm? A great example of patience in a king, and wittily said. Like to this was his reply to the ambassadors of Athens, whom asking after audience, If he could do them any service, and one of them surlily answering, The best thou canst do us is, to hang thyself; he was nothing disturbed, though his court murmured; but calmly said to the ambas sador, Those who suffer injuries, are better people than those that do them. To conclude with him, being one day fallen along the ground, and seeing himself in that posture, he cried out, What a small spot of earth do we take up! and yet the whole world cannot content us.

§. V. ALEXANDER was very temperate and virtuous in his youth a certain governor having written to him, that a merchant of the place had several fine boys to sell, he returned him this answer with great indignation, What hast thou seen in any act of my life, that should put thee upon such a message as this? and avoided the woman his courtiers flung in his way to debauch him. Nay, he would not see the wife of Darius, famed for the most beautiful princess of the age; which, with his other virtues, made Darius (the last Persian king) to say, If God has determined to take my empire from me, I wish it into the hands of Alexander, my virtuous enemy. He hated covetousness: for though he left great conquests, he left no riches: which made him thus to answer one that asked him dying, Where he had hid his treasures; Among my friends, says he. He was wont to say, He owed more to his master for his education, than to his father for his birth; by how much it was less to live, than to live well.

§. VI. PTOLEMY, son of Lagus, being reproached for his mean original, and his friends angry that he did not resent it; We ought, says he, to bear reproaches patiently.

§. VII. XENOPHANES being jeered for refusing to play at a forbidden game, answered, I do not fear my money, but my reputation: they that make laws, must keep them. A commendable saying.

§. VIII. ANTIGONUS being taken sick, he said, It was a warning from God to instruct him of his mortality. A poet flattering him with the title of the Son of God; he answered, My servant knows the contrary. Another sycophant telling

him, that the will of kings is the rule of justice: No, saith he, rather justice is the rule of the will of kings. And being pressed by his ministers to put a garrison into Athens, to hold the Greeks in subjection, he answered, He had not a stronger garrison than the affections of his people.

§. IX. THEMISTOCLES, after all the honour of his life, sits down with this conclusion, That the way to the grave is more desirable than the way to worldly honours. His daughter being courted by one of little wit and great wealth, and another of little wealth and great goodness; he chose the poor man for his son-in-law; For, saith he, I will rather have a man without money, than money without a man; reckoning, that not money, but worth, makes the man. Being told by Symmachus, that he would teach him the art of memory; he gravely answered, He had rather learn the art of forgetfulness; adding, He could remember enough, but many things he could not forget, which were necessary to be forgotten; as the honours, glories, pleasures and conquests he had spent his days in, too apt to transport to vain glory.

§. X. ARISTIDES, a wise and just Greek, of greatest honour and trust with the Athenians; he was a great enemy to cabals in government: the reason he renders is, Because, saith he, I would not be obliged to authorize injustice. He so much hated covetousness, though he was thrice chosen treasurer of Athens, that he lived and died poor, and that of choice: for being therefore reproached by a rich usurer, he answered, Thy riches hurt thee, more than my poverty hurts me. Being once banished by a contrary faction in the state, he prayed to God, That the affairs of his country might go so well, as never to need his return; which however caused him presently to be recalled. Where upon he told them, That he was not troubled for his exile with respect to himself, but the honour of his country. Themistocles, their general, had a project to propose to render Athens mistress of Greece, but it required secresy: the people obliged him to communicate it to Aristides, whose judgment they would follow. Aristides having privately heard it from Themistocles, publicly answered to the people, True, there was nothing more advantageous, nor nothing more unjust: which quashed the project.

§. XI. PERICLES, as he mounted the tribunal, prayed to God, That not a word might fall from him that might scandalize the people, wrong the public affairs, or hurt his own. One of his friends praying him to speak falsely in his favour, We are friends, saith he, but not beyond the altar; meaning not against religion and truth. Sophocles, being

his companion, upon sight of a beautiful woman, said to Pericles, Ah, what a lovely creature is that! to whom Pericles replied, It becometh a magistrate not only to have his hands clean, but his tongue and eyes also.

§. XII. PHOCION. a famous Athenian, was honest and poor, yea, he contemned riches: for a certain governor making rich presents, he returned them; saying, I refused Alexander's. And when several persuaded him to accept of such bounty, or else his children would want, he ́answered, If my son be virtuous, I shall leave him enough; and if he be vicious, more would be too little. He rebuked the excess of the Athenians, and that openly, saying, He that eateth more than he ought, maketh more diseases than he can cure. To condemn or flatter him, was to him alike. Demosthenes telling him, Whenever the people were enraged, they would kill him; he answered, And thee also, when they are come to their wits. He said, An orator was like a cypress tree, fair and great, but fruitless. Antipater, pressing him to submit to his sense, he answered, Thou canst not have me for a friend and flatterer too. Seeing a man in office to speak much, and do little, he asked, How can that man do business, that is already drunk with talking? After all the great services of his life, he was unjustly condemned to die; and going to the place of execution, lamented of the people, one of his enemies spit in his face; he took it without any disorder of mind, only saying, Take him away. Before execution, his friends asked him, Whether he had nothing to say to his son? Yes, said he, let him not hate my enemies, nor revenge my death: I see it is better to sleep upon the earth with peace, than with trouble upon the softest bed: that he ought to do that which is his duty, and what is more is vanity: that he must not carry two faces that he promise little, but keep his promises: the world does the contrary.

§. XIII. CLITOMACHUS had so great a love to virtue, and practised it with such exactness, that if at any time in company he heard wanton or obscene discourse, he was wont to quit the place.

§. XIV. EPAMINONDAS being invited to a sacraficial feast, so soon as he had entered he withdrew, because of the sumptuous furniture and attire of the place and people; saying, I was called at Leuctra to a sacrifice, but I find it is a debauch. The day after the great battle which he obtained upon his enemies he seemed sad and solitary, which was not his ordinary temper; and being asked why? answered, I would moderate the joy of yesterday's triumphs. A Thessalian general, and his colleague in a certain enterprize,

knowing his poverty, sent him two thousand crowns to defray his part of the charges; but he seemed angry, and answered, This looks like corrupting me; contenting himself with less than five pounds, which he borrowed of one of his friends for that service. The same moderation made him refuse the presents of the Persian emperor, saying, They were needless, if he only desired of him what was just; if more, he was not rich enough to corrupt him. Seeing a rich man refuse to lend one of his friends money that was in affliction; he said, Art thou not ashamed to refuse to help a good man in necessity? After he had freed Greece from trouble, and made the Thebans his countrymen triumph over the Lacedæmonians, (till then invincible) that ungrateful people arraigned him and his friends, under pretence of acting something without authority; he, as general, took the blame upon himself, justified the action both from necessity and success, arraigning his judges for ingratitude, whilst himself was at the bar; which caused them to withdraw with fallen countenances, and hearts smitten with guilt and fear. To conclude, he was a man of great truth and patience, as well as wisdom and courage; for he was never observed to lie, in earnest or in jest. And notwithstanding the ill and cross humours of the Thebans, aggravated by his incomparable hazards and services for their freedom and renown, it is reported of him, that he ever bore them patiently; often saying, That he ought no more to be revenged of his country, than of his father. And being wounded to death in the battle of Mantinea, he advised his countrymen to make peace, none being fit to command: which proved true. He would not suffer them to pull the sword out of his body, till he knew he had gained the victory; and then he ended his days, with this expression in his mouth, I die contentedly, for it is in defence of my country; and I am sure I shall live in the eternal memory of good men. This, for a Gentile and a general, hath matter of praise and example in it.

§. XV. DEMOSTHENES, the great orator of Athens, had these sentences: That wise men speak little; and that therefore nature hath given men two ears and one tongue, to hear more than they speak. To one that spoke much he said, How cometh it, that he who taught thee to speak, did not teach thee to hold thy tongue? He said of a covetous man, That he knew not how to live all his life-time, and that he left it for another to live after he was dead. That it was

an easy thing to deceive one's self, because it was easy to persuade one's self to what one desired. He said, 'That calumnies were easily received, but time would always

discover them. That there was nothing more uneasy to good men, than not to have the liberty of speaking freely : and that if one knew what one had to suffer from the people, one would never meddle to govern them. In fine, That man's happiness was to be like God; and to resemble him, we must love truth and justice.

§. XVI. AGASICLES, king of the Lacedæmonians (or Spartans, which are one) was of the opinion, That it was better to govern without force: And, says he, the means to do it, is to govern the people as a father governs his children.

§. XVII. AGESILAUS, king of the same people, would say, That he had rather be master of himself, than of the greatest city of his enemies; and to preserve his own liberty, than to usurp the liberty of another man. A prince, says he, ought to distinguish himself from his subjects by his virtue, and not by his state or delicacy of life. Wherefore he wore plain, simple clothing; his table was as moderate, and his bed as hard, as that of any ordinary subject. And when he was told, that one time or other he would be obliged to change his fashion; No, saith he, I am not given to change, even in a change: and this I do, saith he, to remove from young men any pretence of luxury; that they may see their prince practise what he counsels them to do. He added, That the foundation of the Lacedæmonian laws was, to despise luxury, and to reward with liberty: Nor, saith he, should good men put a value upon that which mean and base souls make their delight. Being flattered by some with divine honour, he asked them, If they could not make gods too? If they could, why did they not begin with themselves?-The same austere conduct of life made him refuse to have his statue erected in the cities of Asia: nor would he suffer his picture to be taken; and his reason is good; For, saith he, the fairest portraiture of men is their own actions.-Whatsoever was to be suddenly done iu the government, he was sure to set his hand first to the work, like a common person. He would say, It did not become men to make provision to be rich, but to be good. Being asked the means to true happiness, he answered, To do nothing that should make a man fear to die: another time, To speak well, and do well. Being called home by the Ephori, (or supreme magistrates, the way of the Spartan constitution) he returned; saying, It is not less the duty of a prince to obey laws, than to command men. He conferred places of trust and honour upon his enemies, that he might constrain their hatred into love. A lawyer asked him for a letter to make a person judge, that was of his