66 then," said Diogenes, "that your triumph and felicity depended on a single step."- "No wonder: we were all the fleetest runnes imaginable By how great an interval do you think a lark would have gone over the Stadium before you all ?” “But they have wings, and fly." "Well!” replied Diogenes: “if swiftness then be a proof of excellence, it were better to be a lark than a man: so that our commiseration for larks and lapwings, because they were metamorphosed* from men into birds, as mythologists inform us, is unseasonable and unnecessary." 7. "But I," said the victorious racer, "who am a man myself, am the swiftest of mankind." "Yes!" replied Diogenes: "and is it not probable, that among ants, also, one is swifter than another? Yet are the ants objects of admiration to their fellows on that account? Or would you not think it a laughable absurdity in any man to admire an ant for his speed? Suppose again, that all your competitors had been lame, would you have prided yourself, as on some masterly achievement, for outstripping the lame, when you were not lame like the rest?" : 8. By such conversation as this, he produced in many of his hearers a supreme contempt for the boasted accomplishment in question and the man too departed, under no little mortification and humiliation, from this interview with Diogenes. No was the philosopher of little service to society in this respect, by reducing to a smaller compass and assuaging the tumors of a senseless infatuation, as swellings on the body subside from scarification and puncture, whenever he saw any man inflated with a frivolous conceit of unsubstantial excellence, and carried beyond the limits of sober sentiment by qualities utterly desti tute of intrinsic worth. LESSON CXXI. Diversity in the Human Character.-POPE. But Heaven's great view is one,- -and that the whole. Pronounced Met-a-mor-fus'd, changed. Goal, the end which a person aims to reach or accomplish. 2. That counterworks each folly and caprice 3. Heaven, forming each on other to depend, A master, or a servant, or a friend, Bids each on other for assistance call, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. 4. What'er the passion, knowledge, fame or pelf, The poor contents him with the care of heaven: The starving chimist in his golden views 5. See some strange comfort ev'ry state attend, 6. Behold the child, by nature's kindly law, Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, 7. Meanwhile opinion gilds, with varying rays, These build as fast as knowledge can destroy: E'en mean self-love becomes, by force divine, LESSON CXXII. On the Pursuits of Mankind.-POPE. 1. HONOR and shame from no condition rise; You'll find, if once the monarch acts the monk, Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow: 2. Boast the pure blood of an illustrious race,. In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece : But by your father's worth if your's you rate, Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood: Nor own your fathers have been fools so long. 3. Look next on greatness-say where greatness lies? "Where, but among the heroes and the wise?" * Brocade, a silk stuff variegated with gold and silver. † Cowl, a hood worn by a monk. Heroes are much the same, the point's agreed, Not one looks backward; onward still he goes; All sly slow things with circumspective eyes. 4. But grant that those can conquer; these can cheat; 5. What's fame? a fanci'd life in other's breath. And more true joy, Marcellus|| exil'd, feels, 6. In parts superior what advantage lies? Above life's weakness, and its comforts too. 7. Bring then these blessings to a strict account; Make fair deductions, see to what they 'mount; Alexander the Great. + Charles XII. king of Sweden, born A. D. 1682. His whole reign was one continued scene of warfare. He was killed at the siege of Frederickshall, in Norway, December, 1718. A Roman emperor in A. D. 161. Marcellus, an eminent Roman, banished by Julius Cesar to Asia, and recalled by Augustus Cesar. How much, of other, each is sure to cost; From ancient story, learn to scorn them all. LESSON CXXIII. The Road to Happiness open to all Men.-POPE. Say, in what mortal soil thou deign'st to grow? 2. Fair op'ning to some courts propitious shine, Where grows? where grows it not? if vain our toil, * Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and statesman, was born 1561, and died 1626. He was one of the greatest geniuses that any age or country has produced. He laid down those principles upon which Newton demonstrated the whole law of nature. He was chosen lord high chancellor o England, but was legally convicted of bribery and corruption, and accused of the most gross and profligate flattery. He spent the last years of his life in study and retirement. + Oliver Cromwell, a celebrated English general, was born 1599. He assumed the title of "Protector of the commonwealth of England," 1653. He administered the affairs of the kingdom, for five years, with great vigor and ability, and died 1658. |