"Truth and decency are my whole care and enquiry. In this study I am
entirely occupied; these I am always laying up, and so disposing that
I can at any time draw forth my stores for my immediate use." The
whole epistle, indeed, from which I have paraphrased this passage, is
a comment upon it, and affords many useful lessons of philosophy.
When we are employed in reading a great and good author, we ought to
consider ourselves as searching after treasures, which, if well and
regularly laid up in the mind, will be of use to us on sundry
occasions in our lives. If a man, for instance, should be overloaded
with prosperity or adversity (both of which cases are liable to happen
to us), who is there so very wise, or so very foolish, that, if he was
a master of Seneca and Plutarch, could not find great matter of
comfort and utility from their doctrines? I mention these rather than
Plato and Aristotle, as the works of the latter are not, I think, yet
completely made English, and, consequently, are less within the reach
of most of my countrymen.
But perhaps it may be asked, will Seneca or Plutarch make us laugh?
Perhaps not; but if you are not a fool, my worthy friend, which I can
hardly with civility suspect, they will both (the latter especially)
please you more than if they did.
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