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firmity. To their goodness I must likewise ascribe it, that I was not continued long under the care of my grandfather's concubine; and that I preserved my chastity pure and unsullied even beyond the maturity of manhood. That I was bred under and subject to a father and prince, who was the most proper person in the world to extinguish every spark of pride in me, and to convince me by his example, that one may live with sufficient dignity in a court, without the parade of guards, embroidered robes, the sacred fire," images, and other ensigns of royalty; and that a man may subdue the splendour of his figure to a level with that of a private man, and yet act with equal dig. nity and force, when the publick administration requires the majesty of the Sovereign. To. the favour of the Gods I am also indebted for a brother, 28 whose manners excited me to be circumspect in my own conduct, and whose affection and regard might contribute to the pleasure of my life. It is also a blessing, that my children were not born with any natural incapacity," or with distor ted limbs that I made no great progress in rhetorick or poetry, and those other superfluous studies, which might have engaged my attention too long, if I had been conscious of my being likely to prosecute them with success. I am happy al. so that I prevented the wishes of my preceptors, in establishing them in that respectable line which they seemed most to desire; and that I did not tantalize them with hopes, that because they were young enough to wait, I would provide for them

hereafter: That I enjoyed the friendship of those celebrated philosophers, Apollonius, Rusticus, and Maximus. It is by the particular favour of the Gods, that I have formed a true idea of a life agreeable to nature, and that I have had it clearly and frequently impressed on my imagination; so that, considering the many divine impulses and inspirations, nothing could have prevented my living conformably to nature, but my own obstinacy, in entirely disregarding these divine admonitions and almost sensible instructions of heaven. It is also a blessing, that in a life of so much toil and fatigue my slender constitution has held out so well. I am also very thankful, that I never had any connection with the celebrated Benedicta, or the infamous Theodotus ; and that after some slight gallantries, I soon recovered my reason, and reformed. I think myself happy likewise, that altho' I was sometimes unreasonably provoked at Rusticus, I never proceeded to any rudeness of which I might afterwards have repented. That, although my mother was destined to an early death, I was blessed with her company all the latter years of her life. That, whenever I wished to assist any one in necessity or in any other distress, I never was told that my finances were exhausted; and that I myself never happened to be in a situation to want the assistance of any other person. person. I esteem it also a peculiar blessing, that I have a wife so obsequious, so affectionate to me and my children, and so little fond of the pomp and parade of life: that I have met with proper preceptors for

my children that remedies were pointed out to me in my dreams,33 for spitting of blood and for a giddiness in my head; as I remember was the case at Cajeta and at Crysa: and as I had a strong inclination to the study of philosophy, I think myself fortunate, not to have fallen into the hands of some Sophist, or to have wasted too much time in reading voluminous authors, or in the solution of syllogysms, or in meteorological disquisitions. Now all these blessings could never have been obtained without the particular favour and over-ruling providence of the Gods.

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[Written in my expedition against the Quadi, on the Danube near Bohemia,]

BOOK II.

1. Consider with yourself, before you go out in the morning, that in the course of the day you will probably meet with some impertinent, disagreeable, or abusive fellow, with some deceitful, envious, or selfish wretch: now all this perverseness in them proceeds from their ignorance of what is really good or evil. But I, who have a more just idea of things, that nothing is good, but what is honourable, and nothing evil, but what is base; and am also sensible that the persons who offend me are in some sense allied to me, (I do not mean of the same flesh and blood, but that our souls are derived from, and particles of, the same divine nature) I can neither suffer any real injury from them, because they cannot compel me to do a base

action; nor can I be angry with or hate those whom I consider as of the same nature and the same family with myself. For we are all born for our mutual assistance; as the hands and feet and every part of the human body, are for the service of the whole; to thwart and injure each other, therefore, is contrary to nature. Now injuries and hostilities are generally the consequence of hatred and resentment. 2. This whole person of mine, whatever I may think of it, consists only of a body, the vital spirit, and the rational soul or governing principle. Layaside your books then, nor perplex yourself with fruitless disquisitions; but, as if you were on the verge of mortality, give yourself no concern about this body or material substance, which is a mass of putrefaction, consisting of a few bones, and a net-work or complication of nerves, veins, and arteries. Consider your vital spirit also; it is only a small portion of air, (and that not always the same) but every hour drawn in fresh, and again expelled by the action of the lungs. But the third part is the rational soul or governing principle-here make a pause! Consider you are an old man; suffer not this nobler part of your frame to be any longer enslaved to, or hurried away by, selfish passions; neither to murmur at your present fate, nor to shrink with apprehension from the future. 3. Those events, which

depend on the Gods, confessedly display a provi dential plan. Even those which we ascribe to fortune or chance are subject to the laws of nature, and to that complicated series of things established

by fate, and administered by Providence. From this source all things are derived. Indeed every thing is thus fixed and ordered, as necessary for the good of the whole, of which you are a part. Now that which conduces to the good of the whole system of nature, and to its preservation, must also be good to every part of the universe. Yet this world itself subsists by continual changes, not only of the elements, but of those things which are composed of those elements, in a perpetual circle of successive generation and corruption. Let this then content you, and regulate your conduct by this principle," that all human affairs are connected with the divine."5 Do not indulge yourself in a thirst after books; that you may die without murmuring, with resignation, and a cordial gratitude for the bounties of heaven. 4. Recollect how long you have deferred your most important concern, and how often you have neglected to make use of the opportunites afforded you by the Gods. It is time for you at length to consider your situation in this world, of which you are a part; and what the wise Governor of the world, from whom you are derived, requires of you. That you have a fixed period assigned you, which if you do not improve to calm your passage and procure the tranquillity of your mind, it will be past, never to return, and you yourself will be no more 5. Take care always to perform strenuously the business in hand, as becomes a man and a Roman, with attention and unaffected gravity, with humanity, liberality, and justice; and call off your thoughts, for the time, from