Lacedaemonians. A good-natured shipwright would ply his work more
heartily, if he were constructing the rudder for the admiral galley
of Themistocles when he fought for the liberty of Greece, or of
Pompey when he went on his expedition against the pirates:
what ecstasy of delight then must a philosopher be in, when he
reflects that his scholar is a man of authority, a prince or great
potentate, that he is employed in so public a work, giving laws to
him who is to give laws to a whole nation, who is to punish vice,
and to reward the virtuous with riches and honor? The builder of
the ARGO certainly would have been mightily pleased, if he had
known what noble mariners were to row in his ship, and that at last
she should be translated into heaven; and a carpenter would not be
half so much pleased to make a chariot or plough, as to cut the
tablets on which Solon's laws were to be engraved. In like manner
the discourses and rules of philosophy, being once deeply stamped
and imprinted on the minds of great personages, will stick so
close, that the prince shall seem no other than justice incarnate
and animated law. This was the design of Plato's voyage into
Sicily,--he hoped that the lectures of his philosophy would serve
for laws to Dionysius, and bring his affairs again into a good
posture. But the soul of that unfortunate prince was like paper
scribbled all over with the characters of vice; its piercing and
corroding quality had stained quite through, and sunk into the very
substance of his soul. Whereas, such persons must be taken when
they are on the run, if they are to absorb useful discourses.

END OF TWO--------------


SENTIMENTS CONCERNING NATURE WITH WHICH PHILOSOPHERS