Seneca's morals abstracted in three parts : I. of benefits, II. of a happy life, anger, and clemency, III. a miscellany of epistles / by Roger L'Estrange.

EPIST. V. Seneca gives an Accompt of Himself: Of his Studies, and of his Inclinati∣ons: With many Excellent Reflecti∣ons upon the Duties, and the Errors of Humane Life. (Book 5)

YOur Letters were Old, before they came to my hand; so that I made no Enquiry of the Messenger what you were a doing; beside that wherever you are, I take it for granted, that I know your Business; and that you are still upon the great Work of Perfecting your Self: A Thing, not to be done by Chance, but by Industry, and Labor. We are all of us Wicked, before we come to be Good. We are prepossessed, so that we must unlearn Iniquity, and study Vir∣tue. The great Difficulty is, to Begin the Enterprize: For a weak Mind is a∣fraid of New Experiments. I have now given over troubling my self for fear of you; because I have that security for your well doing, that never fail'd any Man.

The Love of Truth, and of Goodness, is become Habitual to you. It may so fall out, that Fortune perhaps may do you an Injury; but there's no Fear of your doing your self one. Go on as you have begun, and compose your Resolu∣tions; not to an Effeminate Ease, but to a Frame of Virtuous Quiet. It is a Dou∣ble Kindness that you call me to so strict an Accompt of my Time; that nothing less than a Diary of my Life, will satisfie you: for I take it as a Mark, both of your Good Opinion, and of your Friend∣ship; The Former, in believing that I do nothing which I care to Conceal; and the Other; in assuring your self, that I will make you the Confident of all my Secrets. I will hereafter set a Watch upon my Self; and do as you would have me; and acquaint you, not only with the Course, and Method, but with the very Business of my Life.

This Day I have had entire to my self, without any Knocking at my Dore, or lifting up of the Hanging; But I have divided it betwixt my Book, and my Bed; and been left at liberty to do my

own Business: For all the Impertinents were either at the Theatre, at Bowls, or at the Horse-match. My Body does not require much Exercise, and I am be∣holden to my Age for it: A Little makes me Weary; and That's the end also of that which is most Robust. My Din∣ner is a Piece of Dry Bread, without a Table, and without fouling of my Fin∣gers. My Sleeps are short, and in truth a little Doubtful, betwixt slumbering and waking. One while I am reflecting upon the Errors of Antiquity; and then, I apply my Self to the Correcting of my Own. In my Reading, with Reverence to the Antients, Some things I Take, O∣thers I Alter; and some again I Reject; Others I Invent; without enthralling my self so to anothers Judgment, as not to preserve the Freedom of my Own. Sometimes of a sudden, in the Middle of my Meditations, my Ears are struck with the Shout of a Thousand People toge∣ther, from some Spectacle or other: The Noise does not at all discompose my Thoughts; it is no more to me than the Dashing of Waves, or the Wind in a Wood; but possibly sometimes it may

divert them. Good Lord! think I, if Men would but exercise their Brains, as they do their Bodies; and take as much Pains for Virtue, as they do for Pleasure; For Difficulties Strengthen the Mind, as well as Labor does the Body.

You tell me, That you want my Books more than my Counsels; which I take just as kindly, as if you should have ask'd me for my Picture. For I have the very same Opinion of my Wit, that I have of my Beauty. You shall have both the One, and the Other, with my very Self into the Bargain.

In the Examination of my own Heart, I find some Vices that lie Open; Others more Obscure, and out of Sight; and some that take me only by Fits. Which Last I look upon as the most Dangerous, and Troublesome; For they lie upon the Catch, and keep a Man upon a Per∣petual Guard: Being neither provided against them, as in a State of War; nor Secure, as in any Assurance of Peace. To say the Truth, we are all of us as Cruel, as Ambitious, and as Luxurious

as our Fellows. But we want the For∣tune, or the Occasion, perchance, to shew it. When the Snake is Frozen, 'tis Safe; but the Poyson is still in it, though it be Num'd. We hate Upstarts, that use their Power with Insolence; when yet if we had the same Means, 'tis Odds that we should do the same thing our selves. Only our Corruptions are Pri∣vate, for want of Opportunity to Em∣ploy them. Some things we look upon as Superfluous; and Others, as not worth the while. But, we never consi∣der, that we pay dearest for that which we pretend to receive Gratis. As Anxie∣ty, Loss of Credit, Liberty, and Time. So Cheap is every Man in effect, that pre∣tends to be most Dear to Himself. Some are Dipt in their Lusts, as in a River; there must be a hand to help them out: Others are Strangely Careless of Good Counsel; and yet well enough dispos'd to follow Example. Some again must be forc'd to their Duties: Because there's no Good to be done upon them, by Per∣swasion. But, out of the whole Race of Mankind, How few are there that are able to help themselves? Being thus

Conscious of our own Frailty, we should do well, to keep our selves quiet; and not to Trust Weak Minds with Wine, Beauty, or Pleasure. We have much adoe you see to keep our Feet upon Dry Ground: What will become of us then, if we venture our selves where it is Slippery? 'Tis not to say, This is a hard Lesson, and we cannot go through with it. For we Can, if we Would En∣deavour it; But we Cannot, because we give it for granted That we Cannot, without trying whether we Can or No. And what's the Meaning of all This; but that we are pleas'd with our Vices; and willing to be Master'd by them. So that we had rather Excuse, than cast them off. The true Reason is, we Will not; but the Pretence is, that we Cannot. And we are not only under a Necessity of Error, but the very Love of it.

To give you now a Brief of my own Character; I am none of Those that take Delight in Tumults, and in Struggling with Difficulties; for had rather be Quiet, than in Armes: for I accompt it my Du∣ty to bear up against Ill Fortune; but,

without Chusing it. I am no Friend to Contention; Especially to That of the Barr: But I am very much a Servant to all Honest Business, that may be done in a Corner. And there is no Retreat so Unhappy; as not to yield Entertain∣ment for a great Mind; by which he may make himself Profitable, both to his Country, and to his Friends, by his Wis∣dom, by his Interest, and by his Counsel. It is the Part of a good Patriot, to pre∣fer Men of Worth; to Defend the Inno∣cent; to Provide Good Laws; and to Advise in War, and in Peace. But, is not He as good a Patriot, that instructs Youth in Virtue; that furnishes the World with Precepts of Morality, and keeps Humane Nature within the Bounds of Right Reason? Who is the Greater Man, he that Pronounces a Sentence upon the Bench; or he that in his Study reads us a Lecture of Justice, Piety, Patience, Fortitude; the Knowledge of Heaven, the Contempt of Death, and the Bles∣sing of a Good Conscience? The Sol∣dier that guards the Ammunition and the Baggage, is as Necessary as he that fights the Battel. Was not Cato a greater

Example than either Ulysses, or Hercules? They had the Fame, you know, of be∣ing indefatigable; Despisers of Plea∣sures, and great Conquerors both of their Enemies, and of their Appetites. But Cato, I must Confess, had no Encoun∣ters with Monsters; nor did he fall in∣to those Times of Credulity, when peo∣ple believ'd, that the weight of the Hea∣vens rested upon one Mans Shoulders. But he grappled with Ambition, and the unlimited Desire of Power; which the whole World, divided under a Triumvi∣rate, was not able to satisfie. He Op∣pos'd himself to the Vices of a degenerate City; even when it was now sinking un∣der its own weight. He stood single, and supported the falling Common-Wealth, till at last, as Inseparable Friends, they were crush'd together: For Nei∣ther would Cato Survive the Publick Li∣berty; nor did That Liberty Outlive Cato.

To give you now a Farther Accomp•…•… of my Self; I am Naturally a Friend to all the Rules and Methods of Sobriety, and Moderation. I like the Old Fa∣shion'd

Plate that was left me by my Country Father: It is Plain, and Heavy; And yet for all this, there is a kind of Dazling methinks in the Ostentations of Splendor, and Luxury. But it strikes the Eye, more than the Mind; and though it may shake a Wise Man, it can∣not Alter him. Yet it sends me home many times sadder perhaps than I went out; but yet, I hope, not Worse: though not without some secret Dissatisfaction at my Own Condition. Upon these Thoughts I betake my self to my Philo∣sophy; and then, methinks, I am not well, unless I put my self into some Publick Employment: Not for the Honor, or the Profit of it; but only to place my self in a Station where I may be serviceable to my Country, and to my Friends. But, when I come, on the other side, to consi∣der the Uneasiness, the Abuses, and the Loss of Time that attends Publick Af∣fairs, I get me home again as fast as I can; and take up a Resolution of spending the Remainder of my dayes within the Privacy of my own Walls. How great a madness is it to set our hearts upon Trifles; especially to the neglect of the

most serious Offices of our Lives, and the most important End of our Being? How Miserable, as well as Short, is their Life, that Compass, with great Labor, what they Possess with Greater; and Hold with Anxiety, what they Acquire with Trouble? But, we are govern'd in all things by Opinion, and every thing is to us, as we Believe it. What is Pover∣ty, but a Privative; and not intended of what a Man Has, but of that which he has Not? The great Subject of Humane Calamities, is Mony. Take all the Rest together, as Death, Sickness, Fear, Desire, Pain, Labor; and those which proceed from Mony, exceed them all. 'Tis a Wonderful Folly, that of Tumblers, Rope-Dancers, Divers, and what pains they take, and what hazards they run for an Inconsiderable Gain. And yet we have not Patience for the Thousandth Part of that trouble, though it would put us into the Possession of an everlast∣ing Quiet. Epicurus for Experiment sake confin'd himself to a narrower Allow∣ance, than that of the Severest Prisons to the most Capital Offenders; and found himself at Ease too in a stricter Diet than

any Man in the Worst Condition needs to Fear. This was to prevent Fortune, and to Frustrate the Worst which she can do. We should never know any thing to be Superfluous, but by the Want of it. How many things do we provide, only because Others have them, and for fashion sake? Caligula offer'd Demetrius 5000 Crowns; who reject∣ed them with a Smile, as who should say, It was so little, it did him no honor the re∣fusing of it. Nothing less, sayes he, than the Offer of his whole Empire could have been a Temptation to have try'd the Firm∣ness of my Virtue. By this Contempt of Riches, is intended only the Fearless Possession of them. And the way to attain That, is to perswade our selves, that we may live Happily without them. How many of those things, which Rea∣son formerly told us were Superfluous, and Mimical, do we now find to be so by Experience? But we are misled by the Counterfeit of Good on the One hand, and the Suspicion of Evil on the Other. Not that Riches are an Efficient Cause of Mischief; but they are a Precedent Cause, by way of Irritation, and Attracti∣on

For they have so near a Resem∣blance of Good, that most People take them to be Good. Nay, Virtue it self is also a Precedent Cause of Evil; as many are Envy'd for their Wisdom, or for their Justice. Which does not arise from the thing it self, but from the Irreprovable power of Virtue, that forces all Men to Admire, and to Love it. That is not Good, that is More Advantageous to us, but That which is Only so.