Naviget, ac mediis hiemet mercator in undis; Compedibus fævo te fub cuftode tenebo. Ipfe Deus, fimul atque volam, me folvet. Opinor Hoc fentit; moriar. mors ultima linea rerum eft. EPISTOLA AD SCA VA M. XVII. 76 Auofam vitam inerti ac private anteponendam, lau dabile effe principum gratiam demereri, eorum tamen liberalitatem caute ac pudenter effe folicitandum. UAMVIS, Scæva, fatis per te tibi confulis, et QUAMVIS icis Quo tandem pacto deceat majoribus uti; Si te grata quies et primam fomnus in horam 5 Nec * inured to drudgery, feed your cattle, and plow; let him go to fea, and winter in the midst of the waves; let him be of use to the market, and import corn and other provifions. A good and wife man, like Bacchus in the play, will have courage to fay: "Pentheus, "king of Thebes, what indignities will you compel 66 me to fuffer and endure? I will take away your "goods my cattle, I fuppofe, my land, my move"ables, my money you may take them: I'll con"fine you with hand-cuffs and fetters under a merci lefs goaler. A deity himfelf will discharge me, "whenever I pleafe." In my opinion, this is his meaning; I will die. Death is the ultimate boundary of human matters. That a life of bufinefs is preferable to a private and inactive one; the friendship of great men is a laudable acquifition, yet their favours are ever to be folicited with modefty and caution, T HOUGH, Scava, you have fufficient prudence of your own, and well know how to demean yourself towards your fuperiors; yet hear what are the fentiments of your old chrony, who himself ftill requires more teaching; juft as if a blind man fhou'd undertake to fhew the way: however fee, if even I can advance any thing, which you may think worth your while to adopt as your own. If indulgent reft, and fleep till feven o'clock, delight you: if duft, and the rumbling of wheels, if the noife of the tavern offend you; I fhall order you off for + Farentinum. For joys are not the property of The Bacchis of Euripides, in which Bacchus, tho' bound in chains by Pentheus, is introduced accofting him in this refolute manner. + A town in New Latium of little confequence, and fit for retirement. the រដ្ធ Nec vixit male, qui natus morienfque fefellit. (a) Tu pofcis vilia; verum es, 25 ვი Principibus : the rich alone: nor has he lived ill, who at his birth and at his death has * paffed unnoticed. If you are difpofed to be of fervice to your friends, and at the fame time treat yourself with fomewhat more indulgence; you must pay your refpects to the great. If he could dine to his fatisfaction on herbs, Aristippus would never frequent the tables of the great. If he who blames me (replies Aftrippus) knew how to live with the great, he would fcorn his vegetables. Tell me, which maxim and conduct of the two you approve or fince you are my junior, hear the reafon why Aftrippus's opinion is preferable: for thus, as they report, he baffled the fñarling cynic; I play the buffoon for my own advantage, you to please the populace. This proceeding of mine is righter and far more honourable: that a horse may carry, and a great man feed me. I do but my duty; you beg for refuse, an inferior to the poor giver; tho' you pretend you are in want of nothing. As for Ariftippus, every complexion of life, every station, and circumstance fat gracefully upon him, afpiring in general to greater things, yet equal to the prefent: on the other hand, I fhall be much furprised, if a contrary way of life should become this cynic, whom obftinacy cloaths with a double rag. The one will not wait for his purple robe; but howfoever dreffed will go through the most frequented places, and will, without aukwardness, fupport either character; the other will fhun the cloak wrought at || Miletus with greater averfion than the bite of dog or viper; he will die with cold, unless you restore him his ragged garment: reftore it then, and let him live like a fool as he is. To perform great exploits, and fhew the citizens their foes in chains, reaches the throne of Jupiter, and *Fefellit, the original, is eminently beautiful, and might be rendered---has efcaped the observation of mankind. + Literally, in your hungry mood you must go to the effenced ro bleman. Tentantem majora fere, præfentibus æquum. So the Latin must be pointed. Famous for the excellency of its wool. afpires Principibus placuiffe viris, non ultima laus eft. 35 Ut parvus animis, et parvo corpore majus ; 40 (a) Coram rege fua de paupertate tacentes, Et fundus nec vendibilis, nec pafcere firmus, 1 50 Brundifium comes, aut Surrentum ductus amœnum, Qui queritur falebras, et acerbum frigus, et imbres, Aut ciftam effractam, et fubducta viatica plorat ; Nota refert meretricis acumina, fæpe catellam, 55 i (a) Coram rege fuo. (b) Et rixæ multo minus. Sæpe |