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maxims for forming our manners, he adds, that with regard to eloquence, a vicious and depraved tafte runs through almoft every part of them; and that they are more dangerous, because they abound with agreeable faults, which we cannot but approve. For that reafon, he fays, it were to be wifhed that fo fine a genius, capable of every thing great in eloquence, of fo rich and fruitful an invention, had had a more correct tafte, and a more exact difcernment; that he had been lefs enamoured of his own productions, that he had known how to make a proper choice of them; and, above all, that he had not weakened the important matters he treated, by a crowd of trifling thoughts, which may deceive at firft from the appearance and glitter of wit, but which are found frigid and puerile, when examined with fome attention.

I fhall extract fome paffages from this author, that youth may compare his ftile with Cicero's and Livy's, and examine whether Quintilian's judgment of it be well founded, or whether it be the effect of prejudice to Seneca.

"I. Conference between Demaratus and Xerxes.

hCum bellum Græcia indiceret Xerxes, animum tumentem, oblitumque quam caducis confideret, nemo non im

* Plerique minimis etiam inventiunculis gaudent, quæ excuffæ rifum habent, inventa facie ingenii blandiuntur. Quint. 1. 8. c. 5. Senec, de benefic. 1.6. c. 31.

At the time that Xerxes, puffed up with pride, and blinded with a vain opinion of his ftrength, meditated a war against Greece; all the courtiers who were about him endeavoured to vie with each other, in pushing him, by their extravagant flatteries, down the precipice to which his ambition led him; one faying, that the bare news of the war would fill the Greeks with confufion; and that they would fly at the first report of his march. Another faid, that having fo great an army, he was not only fure of con

quering Greece, but of intirely deftroying it; and that there was nothing to fear, but that upon his ar rival he fhould find the cities abandoned and the country a perfect defert, by the precipitate flight of the people; and confequently that his great armies would have no enemies to engage. On the other fide, they gave him to understand, that nature itself was fcarce capacious enough for him; that the feas were too narrow for his fleets; that no camp was large enough for his infantry, nor any plain for his cavalry; and that there would hardly be fpace enough in the air for the darts which would be thrown from fuch an infinite number of hands. pulit.

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pulit. Alius aiebat, non laturos nuncium belli, & ad primam adventus famam terga verfuros. Alius, nihil effe dubii quin illa mole non vinci folum Gracia, fed obrui poffet: magis verendum ne vacuas defertafque urbes invenirent, &profugis hoftibus vaftæ folitudines relinquerentur, non habituris ubi tantas vires exercere poffent. Alius, illi vix rerum naturam fufficere: angufta effe claffibus maria, militi caftra, explicandis equeftribus copiis campeftria: vix patere coelum fatis ad emittenda omni manu tela.

* Cum in bunc modum multa undique jactarentur, quæ hominem nimia æftimatione fui furentem concitarent; Demaratus Lacedæmonius folus dixit, ipfam illam qua fibi placeret multitudinem, indigeftam & gravem, metuendam effe ducenti; non enim vires, fed pondus habere: immodica nunquam regi poffe; nec diu durare, quicquid regi non f teft.

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In primo, inquit, ftatim monte Lacones objecti dabunt tibi fui experimentum. Tot ifta gentium millia trecenti morabuntur: hærebunt, & corporibus obftruent. Tota illos Afia non movebit loco. Tantas minas belli, & pene totius humani generis ruinam, pauciffimi fuftinebunt. Cum te mutatis legibus fuis natura tranfmiferit, in femita harebis,&aftimabis futura damna cum putaveris quanti

you drag after you; they will fand immoveable in the pass which will be committed to their care, and they will defend it to the last breath, and will make a barrier and rampart of their bodies; all the power of Afia will not make them retreat one step; they alone will stand the dreadful

k Among all thefe compliments which are fo likely to turn the brain of a Prince who was already intoxicated with the idea of his greatness, Demaratus a Spartan was the only man who durft tell him, that the foundation of his confidence was the very thing he ought most to apprehend; that fo vaft a body of for-onfet of almoft the whole world uces, fo enormous and monftrous, a throng, had weight but no ftrength; that it is in poilible to govern or manage what has neither bounds nor meafure, and that what cannot be governed, cannot fubfift for any

time.

A handful of people whom you will meet on the firft mountain you come to, will convince you of the courage of the Spartans; three hundred of thefe will stop the millions

nited again them. After you have forced nature to change all her laws, in order to open a paffage for you, you will be ftopp'd in a narrow paffage. You may judge of the lofs you will afterwards fuftain, by that which the paffage of Thermopyla will occafion, when at the fame time you find they can flop you, you will alfo find they can put you to flight.

Thermo

Thermopylarum angufta conftiterint. Scies te fugari poffe, cum fcieris poffe retineri.

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Gedent quidem tibi pluribus locis, velut torrentis modo = ablati, cujus cum magno terrore prima vis defluit: deinde bine atque illinc coorientur, & tuis te viribus prement.

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"Verum eft quod dicitur, majorem belli apparatum effe, quam qui recipi ab his regionibus poffit, quas oppugnare conflituis. Sed hæc res contra nos eft. Ob hoc ipfum, te Gracia vincet, quia non capit. Uti toto te non potes.

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Præterea quæ una rebus falus eft, occurrere ad primos rerum impetus & inclinatis opem ferre non poteris, nec fulcire ac firmare labantia. Multo ante vinceris, quam victum effe te fentias.

PCæterum, non eft quod exercitum tuum ob hoc fuftineri putes non poffe, quia numerus ejus duci quoque ignotus eft. Nihil tam magnum eft, quod perire non poffit, cui nafcitur in perniciem, ut alia quiefcant, ex ipfa magnitudine fuà caufa.

PA Acciderunt quæ Demaratus predixerat. Divina atque humana impellentem, & mutantem quicquid obftiterat,

Your armies which, like an you will be overcome long before impetuous flood, whofe firft efforts you can be near enough to be fenfinothing can refift, may at firft car-ble of it, ry every thing before them; but your enemies will rally immediately, and attacking you on different Lides, will destroy you by your own Atrength.

What is reported is very true, viz. that the country you are going to attack is not fufficient to contain fuch immenfe preparations of war, but this makes directly against us. Greece will conquer you, becaufe it cannot contain you; you will be able to employ only a part of your felf,

Befides, that which forms the fecurity and refuge of an army, becomes abfolutely impracticable to you. You will neither be able to give proper orders, nor to come up time enough to the first shocks your are my will receive, nor to fupport thofe who give way, nor encourage those who begin to retire; fo that

To conclude, Do not flatter yourself, that nothing will be able to refift your forces, because their numbers are not known even to their general; there is nothing fo great but may perish; when, though there is no other obftacle, its own greatness is one cause for its ruin.

9 Every thing happened according to Demaratus's prediction. Xerxes, who had made a refolution to furmount all the obftacles which Gods and men fhould oppofe to his enterprizes; and who had overthrown every thing that oppofed his paffage, was ftopped by three hundred men; and feeing very foon the remains of his formida ble armies difperfed and defeated throughout all Greece, he found the difference between multitudes and an army.

trecenti

trecenti ftare jufferunt: ftratufque per totam paffim Græ ciam Xerxes intellexit, quantum ab exercitu turba difta

ret.

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Itaque Xerxes, pudore quam damna miferior, Demarato gratias egit, quod folus fibi verum dixiffet, & permifit petere quod vellet. Petit ille ut Sardes, maximam Afiae civitatem, curru vectus intraret, rectam capite tiaram gerens: id folis datum regibus. Dignus fuerat præmia, antequam peteret. Sed quam miferabilis gens, in qua nemo fuit qui verum diceret regi, nifi qui non dicebat fibi!

We must own, that this little piece of Seneca is very fine, and that Demaratus's difcourfe is full of good fenfe and juft reflections; but methinks the ftile is too uniform, and the antithefis too often made use of. The thoughts are too close and too much crowded. 'They are all disjointed from one another, which makes the ftile too concife and abrupt. A kind of point concludes almost every period. Scies te fugari poffe, cum fcieris poffe retineri Ob hoc ipfum te Gracia vincet, quia non capit. Multo ante vinceris, quam victum effè te fentias. This is not fo diftafteful, when we read only one diftinct paffage; but when a whole work is in the fame ftrain, 'tis not eafy to bear the reading of it for any time, whereas thofe of Cicero and Livy never tire. Befides, can we ufe fo unconnected and corrupt a ftile for difcourfes, where the auditors are to be inftructed and affected, and can it therefore be proper for the bar or the pulpit?

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"We fometimes meet in Cicero with this kind of thoughts clofing a period in a fhort and fprightly manner; but he is discreet and sparing in the ufe of those graces, which are, as it were, the falt and feasoning of a difcourfe; and which, for that reason, muft not be favished.

* Leviculus fane nofter Demofthenes, qui illo fufurro delettari fe dicebat aquam ferentis mulierculæ, ut mos in Græcia eft, infufurrantifque alteri: Hic eft ille Demofthenes. Quid hoc levius? at quantus orator! Sed apud alios loqui videlicet didicerat, non multum ipfe fecum. This thought is very like that of Seneca's, Quam miferabilis gens, in qua nemo fuit qui verum diceret regi, nifi qui non dicebat fibi!

II. Seneca's reflection upon a faying of Auguftus.

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* Seneca relates a faying of Auguftus, who being very much troubled for his having divulged the irregularities of his daughter, faid, he should not have been guilty of fo much imprudence, had Agrippa or Mecanas been living. Seneca, to heighten this fentence, makes a very judicious reflection upon it. Adeo tot habenti millia hominum, duos reparare difficile eft! Caca funt legiones, protinus fcriptæ: fracta claffis, & intra paucos dies natavit nova: fævitum eft in opera publica ignibus, furrexerunt meliora confumptis. Tota vita, Agrippa & Mecanatis vacavit locus. Nothing is more beautiful or judici

"Demofthenes, whom we admire fo much, muft have been very vain, when he was fo fenfibly affected, as he himself owns, with the little flattering expreffion of a woman that carried water, who pointing at him with her finger, whispers to a neighbour, That is Demofthenes. How mean was this! And yet, how great an ora tor was he! But this proceeded from his having learnt to speak to others, and feldom spoke to himself.

w Lib. 5. Tufcul. n. 103. * De Benef. 1. 6, c. 32.

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