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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · rank, class, and social order · pleasure, pain, and the good life · education and the training of the young · custom and the manners of a people · courage and cowardice · poverty and wealth · medicine, disease, and healing · marriage and betrothal · sexuality and desire · hospitality and the guest · equity, mercy, and pardon
Usually: argument (82) · censure (66) · exhortation (50) · detachment (45) · temptation (32) · indignation (20) · reflection (18) · praise (18) · skepticism (17) · narrative (15)
“The perfection of style is to be clear without being mean.” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · precept
“Yet a style wholly composed of such words is either a riddle or a jargon; a riddle, if it consists of metaphors; a jargon, if it consists of strange (or rare) words.” Aristotle, The Poetics of Aristotle · insight
“He who is undetected only gets worse, whereas he who is detected and punished has the brutal part of his nature silenced and humanized; the gentler element in him is liberated.” Plato, The Republic · insight
“The first thing he did was to make Don Quixote take off his armour, and lead him, in that tight chamois suit we have already described and depicted more than once, out on a balcony overhanging one of the chief streets of the city, in full view of the crowd and of the boys, who gazed at him as they would at a monkey.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote · vivid
“And thus they live unto their lives’ end In perfect joy; and Jesus Christ us send Husbandes meek and young, and fresh in bed,” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems · observation
“It is reasonable, therefore, that they should be defrayed by the general contribution of the whole society; all the different members contributing, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities.” Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth · insight
“Nay, would you win the kinsmen Nature sends Made ready to your hand, and keep them friends, 'Twere but lost labour, as if one should train A donkey for the course by bit and rein.” Horace, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace · observation
“Yet, ne'ertheless, I draw a line between Mirth and excess, the frugal and the mean.” Horace, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace · precept
“It is remarkable that writing to Dr. Taylor on Aug. 5, 1773, he said:--'Drink a great deal, and sleep heartily;' and that on June 23, 1776, he again wrote to him:--'I hope you presever in drinking.” James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 · observation
“Johnson disapproved of fermented liquors only in the case of those who, like himself and Boswell, could not keep from excess.” James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Volume 1 · insight
“This is what is meant by covetousness, which is defined as "immoderate love of possessing.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) · observation
“From this point of view a sin that is against God is most grievous; after this comes a sin that is committed against a man's person, and after this comes a sin against external things, which are deputed to man's use, and this seems to belong to covetousness.” Thomas, Aquinas, Saint, Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) · insight
Telemachus claims authority over the bow, Penelope retreats to her room to mourn and weave, and Ulysses prepares by examining the bow for damage, while suitors doubt his strength.
his wife? Even the man himself can have no such idea in his mind: none of you need let that disturb his feasting; it would be out of all reason.” “Queen Penelope,” answered Eurymachus, “we do not suppose that this man will take you away with him; it is impossible; but we are afraid lest some of the baser sort, men or women among the Achaeans, should go gossiping about and say, ‘These suitors are a feeble folk; they …
Odysseus tests Eumaeus by telling a past winter-ambush story about needing a mantle, ends by eliciting mercy and promises of future help, and Eumaeus replies with assurance about giving clothing to supplicants.
swineherd, and see whether he would take off his own mantle and give it to him or bid one of his company strip, since he cared for him so greatly: “Listen now, Eumaeus, and all of you his companions, with a prayer will I utter my word; so bids me witless wine, which drives even the wisest to sing and to laugh softly, and rouses him to dance, yea and makes him to speak out a word which were better unspoken. Howbeit, …
Du Bois praises Atlanta as a future-facing postwar city shaped by the war and industry, then uses the Atalanta-Hippomenes myth to warn against greedy gold corrupting work and ideals.
on each other, the blazing passion of their love profaned the sanctuary of Love, and they were cursed. If Atlanta be not named for Atalanta, she ought to have been. Atalanta is not the first or the last maiden whom greed of gold has led to defile the temple of Love; and not maids alone, but men in the race of life, sink from the high and generous ideals of youth to the gambler’s code of the Bourse; and in all our Na…
Du Bois concludes with a program for Southern universities: train workers and thinkers, not everyone for the same role, and weave a connected education system grounded in ideals, truth, and righteousness.
the world of work; and until she has this, not all the Apples of Hesperides, be they golden and bejewelled, can save her from the curse of the Boeotian lovers. The Wings of Atalanta are the coming universities of the South. They alone can bear the maiden past the temptation of golden fruit. They will not guide her flying feet away from the cotton and gold; for—ah, thoughtful Hippomenes!—do not the apples lie in the …
Paul insists that circumcision profits nothing and that liberty must serve others in love, then contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit and urges walking by the Spirit.
unto you, that ye should not obey the truth? Even that counsel that is not of him that called you. A little leaven doth leaven the whole lump of dough. I have trust toward you in God, that ye will be none otherwise minded. He that troubleth you shall bear his judgement, whatsoever he be. Brethren if I yet preach circumcision: why do I then yet suffer persecution? For then had the offense which the cross giveth cease…
Cato condemns luxury and avarice as ruinous, uses examples from Syracuse and ancient Pyrrhus, argues that the Oppian law prevents harmful passions, and says repeal would worsen women’s spending.
with impatience: they long for liberty; or rather, to speak the truth, for unbounded freedom in every particular. For what will they not attempt, if they now come off victorious? 3. "Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which our forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they subjected them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all these restrictions, you can scarcely keep…
Cato concludes by reiterating his view that the Oppian law should not be repealed, warning that luxury would return like a wild beast and ending with a prayer for whichever decision prevails.
our chariots, triumphing over vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from you your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses and our luxury. 4. "Often have you heard me complain of the profuse expenses of the women--often of those of the men; and that not only of men in private stations, but of the magistrates: and that the state was endangered by two opposite vices, luxury …
He dismisses quack medical claims: a “preservative” advertised by a quack failed, and he describes his own minimal measures (scent for offensive smells) while warning against excess cordials.
daily publishing several preparations, which they had considered of in the process of their practice, and which, being to be had in print, I avoid repeating them for that reason. One thing I could not help observing: what befell one of the quacks, who published that he had a most excellent preservative against the plague, which whoever kept about them should never be infected or liable to infection…
Lycurgus bans needless crafts and luxury purchases by outlawing gold and silver circulation, claiming iron money blocks imports and levels rich and poor through shared skills.
to cut in pieces? For when it was just red hot, they quenched it in vinegar, and by that means spoilt it, and made it almost incapable of being worked. In the next place, he declared an outlawry of all needless and superfluous arts; but here he might almost have spared his proclamation; for they of themselves would have gone after the gold and silver, the money which remained being not so proper payment for curious …
Lycurgus forbids writing laws, emphasizing education and adaptable rules; he issues “Rhetras” limiting luxury with plain houses and gates, and reduces frequent war with the same enemy.
use of them was, on all occasions, forbid, to the end that they might accustom themselves to march boldly in the dark. Such was the common fashion of their meals. Lycurgus would never reduce his laws into writing; nay, there is a Rhetra expressly to forbid it. For he thought that the most material points, and such as most directly tended to the public welfare, being imprinted on the hearts of their youth by a good …
Plutarch argues that Sparta’s aristocratic governance was strengthened, not weakened, by new ephors, and uses Lysander’s wealth to explain how riches corrupted Lycurgan law.
new creation of the ephori, though thought to be in favor of the people, was so far from diminishing, that it very much heightened, the aristocratical character of the government. In the time of Agis, gold and silver first flowed into Sparta, and with them all those mischiefs which attend the immoderate desire of riches. Lysander promoted this disorder; for, by bringing in rich spoils from the wars, although himself…
Cato’s memorable sayings are listed: warning speeches to the “belly,” condemning luxury, likening Romans to sheep and women’s power, attacking political continuity, and depicting a king as a “man-eater,” ending with his preference for punishing wrong.
write down some of his memorable sayings; being of the opinion that a man's character appears much more by his words, than, as some think it does, by his looks. Being once desirous to dissuade the common people of Rome, from their unseasonable and impetuous clamor for largesses and distributions of corn, he began thus to harangue them: "It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no…
Cato the Elder makes biting sayings about punishment, generosity, politics, and personal discipline, including jokes about Roman ambassadors, Greek exiles, fools and wise men, and vice in old age and lawmaking.
that he had rather be deprived of the reward for doing well, than not to suffer the punishment for doing ill; and that he could pardon all offenders but himself. The Romans having sent three ambassadors to Bithynia, of whom one was gouty, another had his skull trepanned, and the other seemed little better than a fool; Cato, laughing, gave out, that the Romans had sent an embassy, which had neither feet, head, nor he…
Cato’s moral and luxury reforms provoke public resentment: he retrenches spending by raising the taxable valuation of luxury goods and imposes additional payments, contrasting his view of wealth with philosophers and wealthy examples.
wife never came into his arms except when there was great thunder; so that it was a jest with him, that it was a pleasure for him, when Jupiter thundered. His treatment of Lucius, likewise, the brother of Scipio, and one who had been honored with a triumph, occasioned some odium against Cato; for he took his horse from him, and was thought to do it with a design of putting an affront on Scipio Africanus, now dead. …
Plutarch describes Lucullus’s lavish buildings, entertainment, and extravagant dining habits—satirized via anecdotes—contrasting his luxurious lifestyle with the modest virtues expected of statesmen.
himself to pleasure and expense, as if luxurious living were not a thing that as little became his years, as government of affairs at home, or of an army abroad. And, indeed, Lucullus's life, like the Old Comedy, presents us at the commencement with acts of policy and of war, at the end offering nothing but good eating and drinking, feastings and revellings, and mere play. For I give no higher name to his sumptuous…
More anecdotes show Lucullus’s controlled extravagance—costly dinners, avoidance tactics with Cicero and Pompey, and the impression that he spends money rapidly and proudly.
you mean to go on making money like Crassus, living like Lucullus, and talking like Cato?" There are some, however, who say the words were said, but not by Cato. It is plain from the anecdotes on record of him, that Lucullus was not only pleased with, but even gloried in his way of living. For he is said to have feasted several Greeks upon their coming to Rome day after day, who, out of a true Grecian principle, be…
Plutarch compares Lucullus with Cimon, arguing both die at suitable times, praising Lucullus’s disciplined youth but blaming his later misdirection of virtue into luxury and feasting.
COMPARISON OF LUCULLUS WITH CIMON One might bless the end of Lucullus, which was so timed as to let him die before the great revolution, which fate by intestine wars, was already effecting against the established government, and to close his life in a free though troubled commonwealth. And in this, above all other things, Cimon and he are alike. For he died also when Greece was as yet undisordered, in its highest …
Plutarch describes Alexander’s temperance—his disciplined diet, limited wine, controlled boasting, hunting and study routines—plus his meal spending limit, and how he distributes rare foods among friends.
of generation chiefly made him sensible that he was mortal; as much as to say, that weariness and pleasure proceed both from the same frailty and imbecility of human nature. In his diet, also, he was most temperate, as appears, omitting many other circumstances, by what he said to Ada, whom he adopted, with the title of mother, and afterwards created queen of Caria. For when she out of kindness sent him every day ma…
Plutarch describes Alexander’s munificence through anecdotes—wine instead of empty gold, sparing a soldier’s burden, rewarding requests—and contrasts it with his discipline when favorites grow luxurious, while he exemplifies endurance by hunting and fighting a lion.
give their account of this action, while others say it was done deliberately; however, all agree that he soon repented of it, and gave order to put out the fire. Alexander was naturally most munificent, and grew more so as his fortune increased, accompanying what he gave with that courtesy and freedom, which, to speak truth, is necessary to make a benefit really obliging. I will give a few instances of this kind. A…
Alexander reproves extravagant favorites, argues that those who labor sleep better and that victory aims at avoiding the conquered’s vices, and proves it through continued hardship, hunting, and a lion encounter.
read a long letter from Antipater, full of accusations against her, "Antipater," he said, "does not know that one tear of a mother effaces a thousand such letters as these." But when he perceived his favorites grow so luxurious and extravagant in their way of living and expenses, that Hagnon, the Teian, wore silver nails in his shoes, that Leonnatus employed several camels, only to bring him powder out of Egypt to u…
With Agis dead, Leonidas forces his widow Agiatis to marry the young prince Cleomenes and then supports rule marked by luxury and idleness; the passage contrasts Cleomenes’s fierce justice with Spartan decline and notes his philosophy under Sphaerus.
the battle of Leuctra. I am not ignorant that the Messenians affirm, Theopompus was also slain by their Aristomenes; but the Lacedaemonians deny it, and say he was only wounded. Be it as it will, it is certain at least that Agis was the first king put to death in Lacedaemon by the ephors, for having undertaken a design noble in itself and worthy of his country, at a time of life when men's errors usually meet with a…
Plutarch praises Cleomenes’s austere personal kingship—simple meals, minimal ceremony, personal conversation—and contrasts it with luxurious kingship to explain why elites and ambassadors joined him.
giving them lessons, or, at leisure times, diverting themselves with their native jests, and quick Laconian answers; the good results of which we have noticed in the life of Lycurgus. He himself instructed all by his example; he was a living pattern of temperance before every man's eyes; and his course of living was neither more stately, nor more expensive, nor in any way more pretentious, than that of any of his pe…
After Apollocrates departs and Dion takes the castle, Dion’s wife Aristomache and Arete meet him at the gate, and Dion rules modestly—remaining disciplined even while trying to curb Syracusan excess.
may we imagine their joy to have been, and how entire their satisfaction, who had totally subverted the most potent tyranny that ever was by very slight and inconsiderable means! When Apollocrates was gone, and Dion coming to take possession of the castle, the women could not stay while he made his entry, but ran to meet him at the gate. Aristomache led Dion's son, and Arete followed after weeping, fearful and dubi…
After Altisidora’s serenade the next morning, Don Quixote dresses and goes to the duchess, is teased with staged arrangements involving a lute, and then at night sings a moral song against idleness and for modesty and constancy.
OF THE TERRIBLE BELL AND CAT FRIGHT THAT DON QUIXOTE GOT IN THE COURSE OF THE ENAMOURED ALTISIDORA’S WOOING p46a.jpg (58K) Full Size We left Don Quixote wrapped up in the reflections which the music of the enamourned maid Altisidora had given rise to. He went to bed with them, and just like fleas they would not let him sleep or get a moment’s rest, and the broken stitches of his stockings helped them. But as Time …
Don Antonio Moreno hosts Don Quixote and Sancho, removes his armour to display him on a balcony to the crowd, and at dinner praises Sancho’s cleanliness and moderation in eating.
WHICH DEALS WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED HEAD, TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRIVIAL MATTERS WHICH CANNOT BE LEFT UNTOLD p62a.jpg (156K) Full Size Don Quixote’s host was one Don Antonio Moreno by name, a gentleman of wealth and intelligence, and very fond of diverting himself in any fair and good-natured way; and having Don Quixote in his house he set about devising modes of making him exhibit his mad points in some …
She mocks “polite” masculine advice that women employ arts to gain and keep men’s hearts, argues that insults to reason create harmful reserve, and claims women adopting such views damage their own virtue.
neglect; and if she can endure it without complaint, it only proves that she means to make herself amends by the attention of others for the slights of her husband!" These are true masculine sentiments. "All our ARTS are employed to gain and keep the heart of man:"--and what is the inference?--if her person, and was there ever a person, though formed with Medicisan symmetry, that was not slighted? be neglected, she…
The passage criticizes Julian’s palace circle as corrupt: bribery, plunder, extravagance, relaxed discipline, and luxurious soldiering replace earlier military simplicity and even modest daily habits.
they spread abroad so as to infect the whole republic with evil desires, and did even more injury by their example than by the impunity which they granted to crimes. 3. Some of them had been fed on the spoils of temples, had smelt out gain on every occasion, and having raised themselves from the lowest poverty to vast riches, had set no bounds to their bribery, their plunder, or their extravagance, being at all time…
A character assessment follows: Julian is praised for temperance, prudence, justice, and fortitude, and blamed for superstition, frequent talk, and popularity-seeking, including laws restricting Christian educators.
glad to feel that in whatever instances the republic, like an imperious mother, has exposed me deliberately to danger, I have stood firm, inured to brave all fortuitous disturbing events. 19. "Nor am I ashamed to confess that I have long known, from prophecy, that I should fall by the sword. And therefore do I venerate the everlasting God that I now die, not by any secret treachery, nor by a long or severe disease, …
He explains that early Church fathers rejected or cautiously limited leisure amusements, aiming for salvation rather than secular knowledge, and he lists moral and material restrictions on Christian life.
ces maitres de l’histoire, ont ils jamais introduits dans leur recits un fragment de dissertation sur le plaisir et sur l’action. Villemain Cours de Lit. Franc part ii. Lecon v.—M.] The acquisition of knowledge, the exercise of our reason or fancy, and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation, may employ the leisure of a liberal mind. Such amusements, however, were rejected with abhorrence, or a…
Julian’s rule is portrayed as philosophically grounded and disciplined: he conducts audiences, writes and dictates swiftly, avoids excesses, shuns circus games, and concentrates his writings in winters at Constantinople and Antioch.
Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth, and the accidents of his life, never allowed him the freedom of choice. He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the groves of the academy, and the society of Athens; but he was constrained, at first by the will, and afterwards by the injustice, of Constantius, to e…
The narrative balances praise and critique of Julian’s character, arguing his merit enables happiness and fame despite comparing his genius to Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus, and culminating in his overall moral superiority.
xiii. 3,) and many of his successors, possessed the faculty of speaking in public; and it might be proved by various examples, that they frequently exercised it in the senate.] 83 (return) [ Ammianus (xxi. 10) has impartially stated the merits and defects of his judicial proceedings. Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 90, 91, p. 315, &c.) has seen only the fair side, and his picture, if it flatters the per…
Quoting Ammianus, Gibbon contrasts Rome’s earlier virtue-and-fortune greatness with later degradation: nobles chase vain titles, gold-covered statues, ostentatious rents, and rank signaled by lavish chariots and silk-and-purple robes.
of the original. 4. I have developed some observations which were insinuated rather than expressed. With these allowances, my version will be found, not literal indeed, but faithful and exact.] “The greatness of Rome”—such is the language of the historian—“was founded on the rare, and almost incredible, alliance of virtue and of fortune. The long period of her infancy was employed in a laborious st…
Gibbon describes how gaming and “play” serve as another entry into great houses, while nobles neglect study, hide inherited libraries, and fill palaces with theater instruments and relentless music focused on bodily pleasure.
Another method of introduction into the houses and society of the great, is derived from the profession of gaming, or, as it is more politely styled, of play. The confederates are united by a strict and indissoluble bond of friendship, or rather of conspiracy; a superior degree of skill in the Tesserarian art (which may be interpreted the game of dice and tables) 46 is a sure road …
Gibbon portrays Rome’s baths and public luxury—Caracalla’s and Diocletian’s magnificent thermae—then depicts the idle plebeians who loiter, gamble, and spend nights in taverns and brothels.
inhabitants of Rome. 53 (return) [ Almost all that is said of the bread, bacon, oil, wine, &c., may be found in the fourteenth book of the Theodosian Code; which expressly treats of the police of the great cities. See particularly the titles iii. iv. xv. xvi. xvii. xxiv. The collateral testimonies are produced in Godefroy’s Commentary, and it is needless to transcribe them. According to…
Gibbon describes Attila’s courtly simplicity—plain dress, unornamented arms, wooden tableware, meat-only meals, and rejection of luxury—contrasted with the wealth displayed in Roman and Grecian artistic craft.
gold and precious stones; and their tables were profusely spread with plates, and goblets, and vases of gold and silver, which had been fashioned by the labor of Grecian artists. The monarch alone assumed the superior pride of still adhering to the simplicity of his Scythian ancestors. 45 The dress of Attila, his arms, and the furniture of his horse, were plain, without ornament, and of a single co…
Gibbon recounts how novices sought wealth for monasteries through inheritances, noting that monastic estates grew and discipline decayed, leading degenerate monks to pride, luxury, and worldly pleasures.
the monks; and we shall not be scandalized, if their pens sometimes wandered from Chrysostom and Augustin to Homer and Virgil. But the necessity of manual labor was insensibly superseded.] The novice was tempted to bestow his fortune on the saints, in whose society he was resolved to spend the remainder of his life; and the pernicious indulgence of the laws permitted him to receive, for their use, …
He concludes that child labor is cruelly long and kills or permanently damages constitutions, quoting Dr. Loudon and Dr. Hawkins on Manchester’s low stature, paleness, lack of youthfulness, and linked factory-driven intemperance and debility.
is not the predominance of deformities, but of enfeebled and morbid constitutions. (5) All this is greatly improved since the working-hours of children have been reduced at Wood's to ten." The Commissioner, Dr. Loudon himself, who cites these witnesses, says: "In conclusion, I think it has been clearly proved that children have been worked a most unreasonable and cruel length of time daily, and that even adul…
He argues that factory work is not truly labor but monotonous tedium enforced by machines, overlooker fines, and constant control, which produces illness, drunkenness, and sexual excess in manufacturing towns.
England; but since it must inevitably bring with it other measures which must draw England into a path wholly different from that hitherto followed, it can only prove an advance. Let us turn to another side of the factory system which cannot be remedied by legislative provisions so easily as the diseases now engendered by it. We have already alluded in a general way to the nature of the employment, and enough in de…
Zarathustra ends by parting from the heaven before day comes, then introduces the “Bedwarfing Virtue,” where he laments that people shrink, stoop, and use small comforts as virtues.
But thou blushest? Have I spoken unspeakable things? Have I abused, when I meant to bless thee? Or is it the shame of being two of us that maketh thee blush!—Dost thou bid me go and be silent, because now—DAY cometh? The world is deep:—and deeper than e’er the day could read. Not everything may be uttered in presence of day. But day cometh: so let us part! O heaven above me, thou modest one! thou glowing one! O th…
A note surveys cloth history and design motifs: it links animal-pattern brocades to Benáres work called Shikárgáh, compares classical and Christian critiques of such adornment, and mentions later Kashmir examples.
says King Attalus invented the intertexture of cloth with gold; but the weaving of damasks of a variety of colours was perfected at Babylon, and thence they were called Babylonian. The brocades wrought with figures of animals in gold, of which Marco speaks, are still a *spécialité* at Benares, where they are known by the name of *Shikárgáh* or hunting-grounds, which is nearly a translation of the name *Thard-w…
Marco Polo lists eight kingdoms of Persia (Casvin, Kurdistan, Lur, Shulstan, Istanit, Serazy, Soncara, Tunocain) and describes horses, asses, violence among Saracens, trade, and how they manage wine.
OF THE EIGHT KINGDOMS OF PERSIA, AND HOW THEY ARE NAMED. Now you must know that Persia is a very great country, and contains eight kingdoms. I will tell you the names of them all. The first kingdom is that at the beginning of Persia, and it is called CASVIN; the second is further to the south, and is called CURDISTAN; the third is LOR; the fourth [SUOLSTAN]; the fifth ISTANIT; the sixt…
A Tarentine uprising under a democratic government brings naval and military power, patronizes Pythagorean philosophy, then declines through luxury and hiring foreign generals, eventually losing freedom in Hannibal’s wars and later receiving a Roman colony.
So they departed and found the Greeks carrying on hostilities against the barbarians, and taking part in the perils of the war, they obtained possession of Tarentum, which they colonized. 4. At one time, when the government of the Tarentines had assumed a democratic form, they rose to great importance; for they possessed the greatest fleet of any state in those parts, and could bring into the field an army of 30,000…
He quotes Goethe and a Chinese proverb about making the heart small, then defines ignobleness as failure to share internal experiences via words, claiming gregarious “average” people propagate over refined ones.
appeal to immense opposing forces, in order to thwart this natural, all-too-natural PROGRESSUS IN SIMILE, the evolution of man to the similar, the ordinary, the average, the gregarious--to the IGNOBLE--! 269. The more a psychologist--a born, an unavoidable psychologist and soul-diviner--turns his attention to the more select cases and individuals, the greater is his danger of being suffocated by sympathy: he NEEDS s…
Marcus Aurelius continues praising mentors, especially for steady self-government and benevolence, then shifts to detailed admiration of his father’s governance style, sobriety, economic restraint, and consistent administration.
could ever think that he was despised by Maximus, or ever venture to think himself a better man. He had also the art of being humorous in an agreeable way. 16. In my father I observed mildness of temper, and unchangeable resolution in the things which he had determined after due deliberation; and no vain-glory in those things which men call honors; and a love of labor and perseverance; and a readiness to listen to t…
He describes how a good person should do social deeds without treating them as favors, like nature’s creatures completing their proper function; he argues that observing one’s social work is itself part of the practice.
have I now,—that of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast? 12. What kind of things those are which appear good to the many, we may learn even from this. For if any man should conceive certain things as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to anything…
He warns against becoming a Caesar and urges imitation of Marcus Aurelius’s own virtues—justice, piety, serenity, patience, and freedom from empty fame—then reframes waking from dreams, self-ownership of activities, and the compatibility of labor with nature.
29. It is a shame for the soul to be first to give way in this life, when thy body does not give way. 30. Take care that thou art not made into a Caesar, that thou art not dyed with this dye; for such things happen. Keep thyself then simple, good, pure, serious, free from affectation, a friend of justice, a worshipper of the gods, kind, affectionate, strenuous in all proper acts. Strive to continue to be such as phi…
Smith proposes that pay should match the service’s nature, since underpaying or overpaying clergy undermines competence, diligence, and the perceived sanctity of a clergyman’s character.
Over and above the expenses necessary for enabling the sovereign to perform his several duties, a certain expense is requisite for the support of his dignity. This expense varies, both with the different periods of improvement, and with the different forms of government. In an opulent and improved society, where all the different orders of people are growing every day more expensive in their …
He argues that durable spending benefits society by letting inferior ranks buy useful castoffs, then criticizes frivolous spending and explains why durable outlays are easier to revise without public scandal.
or vestige of the expense of the latter would remain, and the effects of ten or twenty years' profusion would be as completely annihilated as if they had never existed. As the one mode of expense is more favourable than the other to the opulence of an individual, so is it likewise to that of a nation. The houses, the furniture, the clothing of the rich, in a little time, become useful to the inferior and middling ra…
Smith continues that durable-commodity expense sustains more people with less waste than large festivals, and he insists that thriftier durable spending, not generosity, best grows public opulence.
rendered unnecessary by former expense; and when a person stops short, he appears to do so, not because he has exceeded his fortune, but because he has satisfied his fancy. The expense, besides, that is laid out in durable commodities, gives maintenance, commonly, to a greater number of people than that which is employed in the most profuse hospitality. Of two or three hundred weight of provisions, which may sometim…
Smith notes that many ancient eminent men were teachers of philosophy or rhetoric, and he argues that the mediocrity of church benefices draws learned men into teaching, making their knowledge more solid and useful.
indeed, but the far greater part of them, been professors in universities. In those countries, the universities are continually draining the church of all its most eminent men of letters. It may, perhaps, be worth while to remark, that, if we except the poets, a few orators, and a few historians, the far greater part of the other eminent men of letters, both of Greece and Rome, appear to have been either public or p…
After conversion, Augustine praises God for breaking his bonds and describes how freely he no longer desires worldly pleasures; he also resolves to stop speaking as a rhetoric teacher and waits until the vintage vacation passes.
O Lord, I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid: Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise. Let my heart and my tongue praise Thee; yea, let all my bones say, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? Let them say, and answer Thou me, and say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Who am I, and what am I? What evil have not been either my deeds, or if not my deeds, my w…
The essay continues with examples and reasoning: novelty and the sudden enjoyment of pleasures make it hard to moderate, especially for those transitioning quickly from poverty. It adds that the powerful are often not fully responsible for every consequence because they rarely meet sincere opposition.
sight of pleasures which he could not reach, will need more than common moderation, not to lose his reason in unbounded riot, when they are first put into his power. Every possession is endeared by novelty; every gratification is exaggerated by desire. It is difficult not to estimate what is lately gained above its real value; it is impossible not to annex greater happiness to that condition from which we are unwil…
Johnson explains that vice depends on conformity and crowds, while virtue stands without applause. In higher ranks, reason must fight adulation and artifice, and yielding to these temptations shows weakness that observers should not admire.
confederacy. The sycophant, therefore, neglects the good qualities of his patron, and employs all his art on his weaknesses and follies, regales his reigning vanity, or stimulates his prevalent desires. Virtue is sufficiently difficult with any circumstances, but the difficulty is increased when reproof and advice are frighted away. In common life, reason and conscience have only the appetites and passions to encou…
Johnson switches to moral commentary, using Seneca/Juvenal style maxims and the example of Diogenes to argue that people who seek luxury at others’ cost develop inconstancy and vice-driven manners.
by settled schemes or preparatory measures, he thought it best to give up one day entirely to chance, and left every one to please and be pleased his own way. This relaxation of regularity diffused a general complacence through the whole court, and the emperour imagined that he had at last found the secret of obtaining an interval of felicity. But as he was roving in this careless assembly with equal carelessness, …
Johnson explains how vice conflicts within one mind create shifting behavior, then describes a “science” of riotous living paired with strict economy and criticizes men who chase feasts without real invitation.
appetites, though too powerful for reason, are kept under restraint by avarice; and to whom all delicacies lose their flavour, when they cannot be obtained but at their own expense. Nothing produces more singularity of manners and inconstancy of life, than the conflict of opposite vices in the same mind. He that uniformly pursues any purpose, whether good or bad, has a settled principle of action; and as he may alw…
From a March 20, 1753 issue, Johnson praises sleep as necessary to relieve human fatigue and mentions critics of luxury that steals night-rest, citing Alexander, Ulysses, and other authors.
hundred and fifty hogsheads of wine, and bribing two-thirds of the corporation twice over, I had the mortification to find that the borough had been before sold to Mr. Courtly. In a life of this kind, my fortune, though considerable, was presently dissipated; and as the attraction grows more strong the nearer any body approaches the earth, when once a man begins to sink into poverty, he falls with velocity always in…
Johnson continues his essay on sleep, contrasting healthy rest with perpetual wakefulness, discussing the study-hours question, and arguing that sleep is tied to virtue, temperance, and the image of death.
paid, unless we could cease to be men; for Alexander declared, that nothing convinced him that he was not a divinity, but his not being able to live without sleep. To live without sleep in our present fluctuating state, however desirably it might seem to the lady in Clelia, can surely be the wish only of the young or the ignorant; to every one else, a perpetual vigil will appear to be a state of wretchedness, second…
The merchant narrates his costly improvements—gardens, palisades, avenues, greenhouse plants, canal works—whose fame brings visitors, yet ultimately yields envy, diminishing pleasure, and “gloomy inactivity.”
the garden, and enclosed it with palisades, planted long avenues of trees, filled a green-house with exotick plants, dug a new canal, and threw the earth into the old moat. The fame of these expensive improvements brought in all the country to see the show. I entertained my visitors with great liberality, led them round my gardens, showed them my apartments, laid before them plans for new decorations, and was grati…
Augustine describes the happiness sought by critics of Christianity as wealth, domination, sexual license, theaters, prostitutes, lavish banquets, and tolerance of wrongdoing, comparing it to Sardanapalus’ self-indulgent reign.
20. _Of the kind of happiness and life truly delighted in by those who inveigh against the Christian religion._ But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still b…
Augustine argues that pagan mystery rites of Caelestis/Coelestis mix obscene theatre with religious worship, teaching women and men to tolerate vice while presenting “secret” lessons only as deceptive bait.
deceit? For the secret precepts are given as a sop to the virtuous, who are few in number; the wicked examples are exhibited to encourage the vicious, who are countless. Where and when those initiated in the mysteries of Cœlestis received any good instructions, we know not. What we do know is, that before her shrine, in which her image is set, and amidst a vast crowd gathering from all quarters, and standing closely…