life are not to be washed away with water? To one who faid, Life is an ill thing; he anfwered, Life is not an ill thing; but an ill life is an ill thing. He was very temperate, for his bed and his table he found every-where. One seeing him wash herbs, faid, If thou hadft followed Dionyfius, king of Sicily, thou wouldeft not have needed to have washed herbs: he answered, If thou hadit washed herbs, thou needeft not to have followed Dionyfius. He lighted a candle at noon, faying, I look for a MAN; implying, that the world was darkened by vice, and men effeminated. To a luxurious perfon, that had wafted his means, fupping upon olives; If, fays he, thou hadft used to dine fo, thou wouldst not have needed to fup fo. To a young man dreffing himself neatly, If this, faith he, be for the fake of men, thou art unhappy; if for women, thou art unjust. Another time, feeing an effeminate young man; Art thou not ashamed, faith he, to use thyfelf worse than nature hath made thee? the hath made thee a man, but thou wilt force thyfelf to be a woman. To one that courted a bad woman; O wretch! faid he, what meaneft thou, to ask for that which is better loft than found? To one that fmelled of fweet unguents, Have a care, faith he, this perfume make not thy life stink. He compared covetous men to fuch as have the dropfy: Thofe are full of money, yet defire more; thefe of water, yet thirst for more. Being asked, What beasts were the worft? In the field, faith he, bears and lions; in the city, usurers and flatterers. At a feast, one giving him a great cup of wine, he threw it away; for which being blamed, If I had drank it, faith he, not only the wine would have been loft, but I also. One afking him, how he might order himself beft? he faid, By reproving those things in thyself, which thou blameft in others. Another demanding, what was hardeft? he answered, To know ourselves, to whom we are partial. An aftrologer difcourfing to the people of the wandering stars; No, faith he, it is not the ftars, but these (pointing to the people that heard him). Being asked, what men were moft moft noble? They, faith he, who contemn wealth, honour and pleafure, and endure the contraries, to wit, poverty, fcorn, pain, and death. To a wicked man, reproaching him for his poverty; I never knew, faith he, any man punished for his poverty, but many for their wickednefs. To one bewailing himself that he fhould not die in his own country; Be of comfort, faith he, for the way to heaven is alike in every place. One day he went backwards; whereat the people laughing, Are you not afhamed, faith he, to do that all your life-time, which you deride in me? §. LXXI. CRATES, a Theban, famous for his felfdenial and virtue; defcended from the house of Alexander, of great estate, at least two hundred talents; which, having mostly distributed among the poor citizens, he became a conftant profeffor of the Cynick philofophy. He exceedingly inveighed against common women. Seeing at Delphos a golden image, that Phryne, the courtezan, had fet up, by the gains of her trade, cried out, This is a trophy of the Greeks intemperance. Seeing a young man highly fed, and fat; Unhappy youth, faith he, do not fortify thy prison. To another, followed by a great many parafites; Young man, faith he, I am forry to see thee so much alone. Walking one day upon the exchange, where he beheld people mighty bufy after their divers callings; Thefe people, faith he, think themfelves happy; but I am happy that have nothing to do with them: for I place my happiness in poverty, not in riches*. Oh! men do not know how much a wallet, a measure of lupins, with fecurity, is worth. Of his wife, Hipparchia, a woman of wealth and extraction, but nobler for her love to true philofophy, and how they came together, there will be occafion to make mention in its place. §. LXXII. ARISTOTLE, a fcholar to Plato, and the oracle of philofophy to these very times, though not fo divinely contemplative as his mafter, nevertheless fol * Laert. lows lows him in this; That luxury fhould by good difcipline be exiled human focietiest. Ariftotle feeing a youth finely dreft, faid, Art thou not afhamed, when nature hath made thee a man, to make thyself a woman? And to another, gazing on his fine cloak; Why doft thou boast of a fheep's fleece? He said, It was the duty of a good man to live fo under laws, as he fhould do if there were none ‡. §. LXXIII. MANDANIS, a great and famous philofopher of the Gymnofophifts, whom Alexander the Great required to come to the feast of Jupiter's fon (meaning himself), declaring, That if he came, he fhould be rewarded; if not, he fhould be put to death. The philofopher contemned his meffage, as vain and fordid: he first told them, That he denied him to be Jupiter's fon (a mere fiction). Next, That as for his gifts, he esteemed them nothing worth; his own country could furnish him with neceffaries; beyond which he coveted nothing. And lastly, As for the death he threatened, he did not fear it; but of the two, he wished it rather; in that, faith he, it is a change to a more blessed and happy state . §. LXXIV. ZENO, the great Stoick, and author of that philofophy, had many things admirable in him; who not only faid, but practifed. He was a man of that integrity, and fo reverenced for it by the Athenians, that they depofited the keys of the city in his hands, as the only perfon fit to be intrufted with their liberties yet by birth a stranger, being of Pfittacon in Cyprus. Antigonus, king of Macedonia, had a great refpect for him, and defired his company, as the following letter expreffeth: King Antigonus to Zeno the philofopher, health: I think that I exceed thee in fortune and glory but in learning and difcipline, and that perfect felicity which thou haft attained, I am exceeded by thee; wherefore I thought it expedient to write to +Stob. Strom. 45. ibid. 46. Stob. 161. Stob. 161. ibid. 46. Stob. 161. thee, с thee, that thou wilt come to me, affuring myself thou • wilt not deny it. Ufe all means therefore to come to us; and know, thou art not to inftruct me only, but ' all the Macedonians: for he who teacheth the king ' of Macedonia, and guideth him to virtue, it is evident, that he doth likewise instruct all his fubjects in virtue for fuch as is the prince, fuch for the most 'part are those who live under his government.' ZENO anfwered thus: To king Antigonus, Zeno ' wifheth health: I much efteem thy earnest defire of learning, in that thou aimest at philofophy; not po'pular, which perverteth manners; but that true difcipline which conferreth profit; avoiding that gene' rally commended pleasure, which effeminates the fouls of men. It is manifeft that thou art inclined to generous things, not only by nature, but by ' choice; with indifferent exercise and affistance thou 'mayeft easily attain to virtue. But I am very infirm ' of body, being fourfcore years of age, and fo not ' well able to come; yet I will fend thee some of my chief difciples, who, in thofe things concerning the foul, are nothing inferior to me; and whofe inftruc'tions, if thou wilt follow them, will conduct thee to 'perfect bleffednefs. Thus Zeno refufed Antigonus, but sent Perfaus his countryman, and Philonides, a Theban. He would fay, That nothing was more unfeemly than pride, efpecially in youth, which was a time of learning. He therefore recommended to young men modesty in three things; in their walking, in their behaviour, and in their apparel: often repeating those verses of Euripides, in honour of Capaneus: He was not puft up with his ftore; Nor thought himself above the poor. Seeing a man very finely dreffed, ftepping lightly over a kennel; That man, faith he, doth not care for the dirt, because he could not fee his face in it. He also taught, The people fhould not affect delicacy of diet, no not in their fickness. To one that fmelt with unguents; Who is it, faith, he, that fmells fo effemiVOL. II. S nately? nately? Seeing a friend of his taken too much up with the business of his land; Unless thou lofe thy land, faith he, thy land will lose thee. Being demanded, Whether a man that doth wrong, may conceal it from God? No, faith he, nor yet he who thinks it. Which teftifies to the omniprefence of God. Being afked, Who was his best friend? he answered, My other felf; intimating the Divine part that was in him. He would fay, The end of man was not to live, eat, and drink; but to use this life so, as to obtain an happy life hereafter. He was fo humble, that he converfed with mean and ragged perfons; whence Timon thus: And for companions gets of fervants store, Of all men the moft empty, and most poor. He was patient, and frugal in his houfhold expences. Laertius faith, he had but one fervant: Seneca avers, he had none. He was mean in his clothes: in his diet by Philemon thus described: He water drinks, then broth and herbs doth eat; His chastity was fo eminent, that it became a proverb; As chafte as Zeno. When the news of his death came to Antigonus, he broke forth into these words, What an object have I loft? And being asked, Why he admired him fo much? Because, faith he, though I beftowed many great things upon him, he was never therewith exalted nor dejected. The Athenians, after his death, by a public decree, erected a statue to his memory; it runs thus: Whereas Zeno, the son of • Mnafeas, a Scythian, has profeffed philofophy about fifty-eight years in this city, and in all things per• formed the office of a good man, encouraging those young men, who applied themselves to him, to the love of virtue and temperance, leading himself C a life fuitable to the doctrine which he profeffed; a pattern to the beft to imitate; the people have thought fit to do honour to Zeno, and to crown him ⚫ with a crown of gold, according to law, in reward · of |