destroy tyrants and robbers? You value yourself greatly on - subduing one serpent: I did as much as that while I lay in my cradle. 2. Cadmus. It is not on account of the serpent, that I boast myself a greater benefactor to Greece than you. Actions should be valued by their utility, rather than their splendor. I taught Greece the art of writing, to which laws owe their precision and permanency. You subdued monsters; I civilized men. It is from untamed passions, not from wild beasts, that the greatest evils arise to human society. By wisdom, by art, by the united strength of a civil community, men have been enabled to subdue the whole race of lions, bears, and serpents; and, what is more, to bind by laws and wholesome regulations, the ferocious violence and dangerous treachery of the human disposition. Had lions been destroyed only in single combat, men had had but a bad time of it; and what, but laws, could awe the men who killed the lions? 3. The genuine glory, the proper distinction of the rational species, arises from the perfection of the mental powers. Courage is apt to be fierce, and strength is often exerted in acts of oppression but wisdom is the associate of justice. It assists her to form equal laws, to pursue right measures, to correct power, protect weakness, and to unite individuals in a common interest and general welfare. Heroes may kill tyrants, but it is wisdom and laws that prevent tyranny and oppression. The operations of policy far surpass the labors of Hercules, preventing many evils which valor and might cannot even redress. You heroes regard nothing but glory and scarcely consider whether the conquests, which raise your fame, are really beneficial to your country. Unhappy are the people who are governed by valor not directed by prudence, and not mitigated by the gentle arts. 4. Hercules. I do not expect to find an admirer of my strenuous life, in the man who taught his countrymen to sit still and read; and to lose the hours of youth and action in idle speculation and the sport of words. 5. Cadmus. An ambition to have a place in the registers of fame, is the Eurystheus which imposes heroic labors on mankind. The Muses incite to action, as well as entertain the hours of repose; and I think you should honor them for presenting to heroes so noble a recreation, as may prevent their taking up the distaff when they lay down the club. 6. Hercules. Wits as well as heroes can take up the distaff. What think you of their thin-spun systems of philosophy, or lascivious poems, or Milesian fables? Nay, what is still worse, are there not panegyrics on tyrants, and books that blaspheme the gods, and perplex the natural sense of right and wrong? I believe if Eurystheus were to set me to work again, he would find me a worse task than any he imposed; he would make me read over a great library; and I would serve it as I did the Hydra, I would burn it as I went on, that one chimera might not rise from another, to plague mankind. I should have valued myself more on clearing the library, than on cleansing the Augean stables. 7. Cadmus. It is in those libraries only that the memory of your labor exists. The heroes of Marathon, the patriots of Thermopyla, owe their fame to me. All the wise institutions of lawgivers, and all the doctrines of sages, had perished in the ear, like a dream related, if letters had not preserved them. 0 Hercules! it is not for the man who preferred Virtue to Pleasure, to be an enemy to the Muses. Let Sardanapalus and the silken sons of luxury, who have wasted life in inglorious ease, despise the records of action, which bear no honorable testimony to their lives but true merit, heroic virtue, should respect the sacred source of lasting honor. 8. Hercules. Indeed, if writers employed themselves only in recording the acts of great men, much might be said in their favor. But why do they trouble people with their meditations? Can it be of any consequence to the world what an idle man has been thinking? 9. Cadmus. Yes, it may. The most important and extensive advantages mankind enjoy, are greatly owing to men who have never quitted their closets. To them mankind are obliged for the facility and security of navigation. The invention of the compass has opened to them new worlds. The knowledge of the mechanical powers has enabled them to construct such wonderful machines, as perform what the united labor of millions, by the severest drudgery, could not accomplish. Agriculture, too, the most useful of arts, has received its share of improvement from the same source. Poetry, likewise, is of excellent use, to enable the memory to retain with more ease, and to imprint with more energy upon the heart, precepts and examples of virtue. From the little root of a few letters, science has spread its branches over all nature, and raised its head to the heavens. Some philosophers have entered so far into the counsels of Divine Wisdom, as to explain much of the great operations of nature. The dimensions and distances of the planets, the causes of their revolutions, the path of comets, and the ebbing and flowing of tides, are understood and explained. 10. Can any thing raise the glory of the human species more, than to see a little creature, inhabiting a small spot, amid innumerable worlds, taking a survey of the universe, comprehending its arrangement, and entering into the scheme of that wonderful connection and correspondence of things so remote, and which it seems a great exertion of Omnipotence to have established? What a volume of Wisdom, what a noble theology, do these discoveries open to us? While some superior geniuses have soared to these sublime subjects, other sagacious and diligent minds have been inquiring into the most minute works of the Infinite Artificer: the same care, the same Providence, is exerted through the whole; and we should learn from it, that, to true wisdom, utility and fitness appear perfection, and whatever is beneficial, is noble. 11. Hercules. I approve of science, as far as it is an assistant to action. I like the improvement of navigation, and the discovery of the greater part of the globe, because it opens a wider field for the master spirits of the world to bustle in. 12. Cadmus. There spoke the soul of Hercules. But if learned men are to be esteemed for the assistance they give to active minds in their schemes, they are not less to be valued for their endeavors to give them a right direction, and moderate their too great ardor. The study of history will teach the legislator, by what means states have become powerful; and, in the private citizen, they will inculcate the love of liberty and order. The writings of sages point out a private path of virtue, and show that the best empire is self government, and that subduing our passions, is the noblest of conquests. 13. Hercules. The true spirit of patriotism acts by a generous impulse, and wants neither the experience of history, nor the doctrines of philosophers, to direct it. But do not arts and science render men effeminate, luxurious, and inactive? and can you deny that wit and learning are often made subservient to very bad purposes? 14. Cadmus. I will own, that there are some natures so hap pily formed, they scarcely want the assistance of a master, and the rules of art, to give them force or grace in every thing they do. But these favored geniuses are few. As learning flourishes only where ease, plenty, and mild government subsist, in so rich a soil, and under so soft a climate, the weeds of luxury will spring up among the flowers of art: but the spontaneous weeds would grow more rank, if they were allowed the undisturbed possession of the field. Letters keep a frugal, temperate nation from growing ferocious; a rich one from becoming entirely sensual and debauched. 15. Every gift of heaven is sometimes abused; but good sense and fine talents, by a natural law, gravitate toward virtue. Accidents may drive them out of their proper direction; but such accidents are an alarming omen, and of dire portent to the times. For if virtue cannot keep to her allegiance those men, who, in their hearts confess her divine right, and know the value of her laws, on whose fidelity and obedience can she depend? May such geniuses never descend to flatter vice, encourage folly, or propagate irreligion; but exert all their powers in the service of Virtue, and celebrate the noble choice of those, who, like Hercules, preferred her to Pleasure! LORD LYTTLETON. Can you enumerate some of his QUESTIONS Who was Hercules? principal exploits, as described in this dialogue? did he do? How should actions be valued? From what must the genuine glory of rational beings arise? To which of his labors does Hercules compare the reading of a modern library? Since so much trash and folly is written, what is the use of writers? What does Hercules think of science? What is patriotism? Will you point out some instances in this lesson to which Rule I, for inflections, applies? Rule II? Rule III? Rule IV? Rule V? Rule VI? Point out some instances of absolute emphasis. Of relative emphasis. Which are the conjunctions in the 12th paragraph? Which are the adverbs? Which are the prepositions? What verbs are in a past tense? Which are in the present tense? Which are in a future tense? Which nouns are in the plural number? Which are in the singular? PRONUNCIATION.Sub-due, not sub-doo, nor sub-jue: reg-u-lations, not reg-ew-la-tions, nor reg-gy-la-tions: stren-u-ous, not stren-ew-ous : spec-u-la-tion, not spec-ky-la-tion: val-u'd (pro. val-yude), not val-ewd: vir-tue, not vir-too, nor vir-tew, nor vir-tshue: su-pe-ri-or, not shu-pe-ri-ar: sur'-vey, not survey' (the noun is pronounced sur'-vey, and the verb, sur-vey'). SPELL AND DEFINE.-2. Benefactor: 3. mitigated: 4. speculation: 5. incite, recreation: 7. Thermopyla: 9. navigation, agriculture: 10. scheme, sagacious: 15. celebrate. LESSON LXXXV. RULE.- Speak every syllable distinctly, and do not slip over the little words, nor pronounce them wrong. Words to be Spelled and Defined. 1. Class'-je, n a book written by an au- Un-ri'-val-ed, p. having no equal. 2. Au-then-tic-i-ty, n. genuineness, the quality of being a real original. Sanc'-tion, n. authority. 3. Vers'-a-tile, a. (pro. vers'-a-til) various 4. Vin'-di-ca-ted, v. defended, justified. THE BIBLE THE BEST OF CLASSICS. 1. THERE is a classic, the best the world has ever seen, the noblest that has ever honored and dignified the language of mortals. If we look into its antiquity, we discover a title to our veneration, unrivaled in the history of literature. If we have respect to its evidences, they are found in the testimony of miracle and prophecy; in the ministry of man, of nature, and of angels, yea, even of "God, manifest in the flesh," of " blessed forever." God 2. If we consider its authenticity, no other pages have survived the lapse of time, that can be compared with it. If we examine its authority, for it speaks as never man spake, we discover, that it came from heaven, in vision and prophecy, under the sanction of Him, who is Creator of all things, and the Giver of every good and perfect gift. 3. If we reflect on its truths, they are lovely and spotless, sublime and holy, as God himself, unchangeable as his nature, durable as his righteous dominion, and versatile as the moral condition of mankind. If we regard the value of its treasures, we must estimate them, not like the relics of classic antiquity, by the perishable glory and beauty, virtue and happiness, of this world, but by the enduring perfection and supreme felicity of an eternal kingdom. 4. If we inquire, who are the men, that have recorded its truths, vindicated its rights, and illustrated the excellence of its scheme, from the depth of ages and from the living world, from the populous continent and the isles of the sea, comes forth |