BP1STXE8. 28^

[ fall asleep, and until then I work. I have retired myseli,
not only from men, but from business also ; and my own, in
the first place, to attend the service of posterity ; in hope,
that what I now write may, in some measure, be profitable
td future generations."

But it is no new thing, I know, to calumniate virtue and
good men : for sick eyes will not endure the light; but, like
birds of night, they fly from it into their holes. Why does
such a man talk so much of his philosophy, and yet live in
magnificence 1 of contemning riches, life, health ; and y^.i
cherish and maintain them with the greatest care imagin-
able ] Banishment, he says, is but an idle name ; and yet
he can grow old within his own walls. He puts no differ-
ence betwixt a long life and a short, and yet he spins out
his own as far as it will go. The thing is this, he does not
contemn temporary blessings so as to refuse or drive them
away; but if they come they are welcome; if not, he will
never break his heart for the want of them ; he takes them
into his house, not into his soul; and he makes use of them
only as matter for his virtue to work upon. There is no
doubt but a wise man may show himself better in riches
than in poverty; that is to say, his temperance, his liberality,
his magnificence, providence, and prudence, will be more
conspicuous. He will be a wise man still if he should want
a leg or an arm ; but yet he had rather be perfect. He is
pleased with wealth, as he would be at sea with a fair wind,
or with a glance of the warm sun in a frosty morning; so
that the things which we call indifferent are not yet with-
out their value; and some greater than others; but with
this difference, betwixt the philosophers and the common
people, riches are the servants of the one and the masters
of the other. From the one, if they depart, they carry away
nothing but themselves ; but from the other, they take away
the very heart and peace of the possessor along with them.
