περὶ ἑαυτό λέγει. Κἄν τις αὐτὸν ἐπαινῇ, καταγελᾷ τα ἐπαινεις αὐτὸς παρ' ἑαυτῷ· καν ψέγῃ, ἐκ ἀπολογεῖται. Signa proficientis funt: Neminem vituperat, neminem laudat, de nemine queritur, neminem incufat; nihil de feipfo dicit. Et fi quis ipfum laudet, ridet laudantem ipfe fecum; et fi vituperet, non fe purgat. Idem, apud Stobæum: 'Oudeis Proxenμal@, » Φιλήδονα, και φιλόδοξο, καὶ φιλάνθρωπο ἀλλὰ μόνο ὁ Φιλόκαλα. Qiróna. Nemo pecunia amans, et voluptatis, et gloria, fimul homines amat; fed folus honefti amans. ! So Plato, De Rep. I. fays, that a fondness of glory is as mean a vice as a fondness of money. Many fuch like paffages might be added, particularly from Marcus Aurelius, and other Stoical Writers. The Stoics, though they refused to give fame and glory a place amongst good things, yet, I think, did not flight the esteem of good men : they diftinguished between gloria and claritas. Thus Seneca, Epift. CII. Gloria multorum judiciis conftat, claritas bonorum. [Sed claritas] poteft unius boni viri judicio effe contenta. I cannot forbear inferting here a paffage from Seneca, which I believe will please the reader as much as it does me. It relates to that fond Hope, which we Writers, good, bad, and indifferent, are apt to entertain, that our name and labours fhall be immortal, and it tells us, as elegantly as truly, what we have to expect. Profunda fupra nos altitudo temporis temporis veniet: pauca ingenia caput exferent ; et in idem quandoque filentium abitura oblivioni refiftent, ac se diu vindicabunt. Epift. XXI. We expect that Time should take the charge of our writings, and deliver them fafe to the lateft pofterity: but, he is as furly and whimsical as Charon: Eneid, VI. 313. Stabant orantes primi tranfmittere curfum, If we have the mortification to see our works die before us, we may comfort ourfelves with the confideration, which Seneca fuggefts to us, That a time will come, when the most excellent and admired compofitions fhall perish. Nor is the confolation much smaller, which offers itself to us, when we look back, and confider how many good authors there must needs have been, of whom no memorial is left; and how many, of whom nothing but the bare name furvives; and how many books are extant indeed, but never reâd. Aufer ab hinc lacrimas, Barathro, et compefce querelas. Lucretius, III. ver. 967, 1038. To these motives of contentment under fuch circumstances, I need not add, what every neglected author fays to himself, That the age he lives in has no taste. V. 124. God made all things, chiefly, -To fhew forth his goodness, and impart So in Edit. 1713. In Edit. 1671 it is And not returning that would likelieft render. Read, And not returning that, would likelieft render. V. 288. There Sufa by Choafpes, amber ftream, That the 1 I am afraid Milton is mistaken here. Kings of Perfia drank no water, but that of the river Choafpes, is well known to have been afferted by many antient writers: but that none but Kings drank of it, is what I believe cannot be proved: and if we examine it as an hiftorical problem, wher ther ther the kings of Perfia alone drank of Choafpes, we fhall find great reafon to determine in the negative. I. We have for this opinion the filence of many authors, by whom we might have expected to have found the fact confirmed, had they known of any such cuftom. Herodotus, Strabo, Tibullus, Aufonius, Maximus Tyrius, Ariftides, Plutarch, Pliny the elder, Athenæus, Dionyfius Periegetes, and Euftathius, have mentioned Choafpes (or Eulaus) as the drink of the kings of Perfia, or Parthia; or have called it Barnou dwg, regia lympha: but none have faid that they alone drank of it, I fay, Choafpes, or Eulæus, becaufe fome make them the fame, and others have counted them as different rivers. The filence of Herodotus ought to be of great weight, because he is fo particular in his account of the Perfian affairs; and next to his, the filence of Pliny, who had read fo many authors, is confiderable. II. Though it can hardly be expected that a negative fhould be proved any other way, than from the filence of writers; yet, fo it happens, that Ælian,-if his authority be admitted,—affords us in his Var. Hift. XII. 40. a full proof, that Choafpes might be drunk by the Subjects of the kings of Perfia. · Τάτε ἄλλα ἐφόδια είπε ο τῷ Ξέρξη πολυτελείας καὶ ἀλαζο νείας πεπληρωμένα, καὶ ἦν καὶ ὕδωρ εκολέθει τὸ ἐκ τῆ Χοάσπη. Ἐπεὶ δ ̓ ἔν τινι ἐρήμῳ τόπῳ ἐδίψησαν, ἐδέπω της θεραπείας · ηκέσης, ἐκηρύχθη τῷ σρατοπέδῳ, εἴ τις ἔχει ὕδωρ ἐκ τῶ Χοάσπη, ἵνα δῶ βασιλεῖ πιεῖν. Καὶ ευρέθη τις βραχὺ καὶ σεπηπὸς ἔχων. Επιεν ἔν τότο ὁ Ξέρξης, καὶ ἐυεργέτην τόν δόνια ἐνόμισεν, ὅτι ἂν ἀπώλειο τῇ δίψῃ, εἰ μὴ ἐκεῖνο εὑρέθη. "In the carriages which followed Xerxes, there -were abundance of things, which ferved only for pomp and oftentation: there was alfo the water of Choafpes. The army being oppreffed with thirft, in a defert place, and the carriages not being yet come up, it was proclaimed, that if any one had of the water of Choafpes, he should give it Xerxes to drink. One was found, who had a little, and that not sweet. Xerxes drank it, and accounted him who gave it him a benefactor, becaufe he had perifhed with thirft, if that little had not been found." III. Mention is made indeed by Agathocles, of a certain water, which none but Perfian kings might drink: and if any other writers mention it, they take it from Agathocles. We find in Athenæus: Αγαθοκλής εν Περσαις Φησιν είναι και χρυσαν καλεμενον ύδωρ μήκοντα, και μηδένα πινειν απ' είναι δε τόλο λιβάδας ἑβδο αυτε η μόνον βασιλεα και του πρεσβύτατον αυτό των παίδων των δε άλλων εαν τις πις θανατος ή ζημίας, " Agathocles fays that there is in σ |