of Thought and Expreffion, and Usefulness of Matter. With refpect to the former, I have been obliged, and efpecially in the firft Part, to retrench, from the Stories and Maxims I borrowed, thofe Thoughts which were fubtile or obfcure; to change fometimes Expreffions which were refined, and too far-fetched for Children, into others that were more fimple; to fhorten Phrafes which were too long; and laftly paying greater Regard to Plainnefs and Facility than Sound, to place the Words in a more natural Order; that Manner of ranging them, which is fo great a Beauty to the Latin Tongue, being a Burden to all who first begin to tranflate the Authors who have written in it. For this Reafon the Reader will find all the Words almost of the firft Chapters of this Book placed according to their natural and common Conftruction. When we teach Children Language, it is fufficient at first to teach them Rules, and make them know Words. Time will follow, when they must attend to Elegance. It is not till after the Foundations of an Edifice have been well laid, that we employ our Thoughts about the Decorations of the Apartments.

The Means I have taken to facilitate the understanding of the Originals, have undoubtedly made them lofe fomewhat of their Force and Beauty But, I dare promife, enough of it is left to render them pleafing and profitable to Children. And I thought it would be doing no injury to the Intention of thefe illuftrious Dead, whofe Works are defigned for Pofterity, if in Favour of those tender Years, which are to be taught betimes to reap. Advantage from the Leffons

they

they have fet, and to apply the Remedies (as one of them expreffes it) which they have prepared for all Mankind, I diminished for once fomewhat of their Majefty and Ornaments. These will open to their young Difciples in all their Brightnefs, and all their Charms, as foon as they shall be capable of understanding them.

As much Facility as we have endeavoured to give this little Piece, we may now and then have left in it Places fomewhat difficult to Children. It is not therefore to be expected, that they who have but a flender Knowledge of the firft Rudiments of the Latin Tongue, fhould with Eafe understand it without the Help of a Mafter. It will be with this as with the easiest Claffic Authors, to understand whom every one at firft has need of an Interpreter and a Guide. The Advantage that it has above them, which yet we are far from intending to banish out of Schools, is, that it unites, and places, as it were, in one Point of View, a great Number of Maxims and Examples, which may not only by their Variety gain the Attention of Youth, but alfo contribute to the forming of their Manners the greatest Advantage that can be drawn from reading Heathen Authors.

We fhall there fee, that thefe Heathens, even in the Midft of the Darknefs of Idolatry, teach us, That the Providence of God is not only watchful over all Men in general, but over every Individual. That he knows our moft fecret Thoughts and that it is he who infpires us

**Pofterorum negotium ago. Illis aliqua, quæ poffint prodeffe, confcribo. Salutares admonitiones, velut medicamentoшa utilium compofitiones, litteris mando. Sente. Epist, viii.

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with good ones, as well as condemns and punishes the evil: That the true Worship due to him confifts in Purity of Heart, and that unlawful Defires are no more permitted than criminal Actions: That he proves good Men by Afflictions, and gives them Strength to bear them: That the Happiness of Man confifts neither in Pleafures, nor Honours, nor Opulence; but in Virtue: That we ought not to indulge the Body with any Thing further than what is neceffary for its Support: That it is our Duty to fuffer Injuries, not to render Evil for Evil; but to do Good to all Mankind, even our very Enemies: That there is no fuch Thing as true Friendship, but what has Virtue for its Foundation and Aim: That it is better to lose our Quiet, our Liberty, our Life, than to be wanting to our Duty, &c.

Good Examples, generally of greater Force than Precept, especially upon the Minds of young People, here prefent themselves throughout in Crouds, and render Virtue more lovely and refpected. Sometimes we fee Generals of Armies, whether Greeks or Romans, who, after having discharged the greatest Employments of the State, and enriched their Country with the Spoils of their Enemies, died fo very poor, as not to leave enough to defray their Funeral Expences. Sometimes Fathers renouncing the tendereft Sentiments of Nature, to fecure the public Liberty, and maintain the Difcipline of the Army; or Children infpired with Courage by filial Piety, and rendered ingenious to preserve the Lives of those from whom they received their own. The richest Bribes were not able to taint

the noble difinterefted Spirit of the Curii, the Fabricii, the Phocions, or that of Xenocrates. Nor the roughest Threats, nor Prifon, Exile, or Death, fhake the Conftancy of the Catos, the Metelli, the Reguli. Il Ufage by them is borne with Patience, is diffembled, forgot, pardoned. With them Friendship is facred, religious, fincere; Liberty prudent and industrious: A frugal Table, and plainnefs in Drefs, in Furniture and Houfe, is equally the Tafte of great Generals and Philofophers. Judges and Magiftrates are clear, juft, difinterefted. Kings have the Bowels of Fathers for their Subjects. Virtue is practifed out of the Love of Duty, without any View of Recompence; and nothing appears interesting that is not entirely agreeable to Juftice. In a Word, the Reader has here an Affemblage of feveral Strokes of Morality and Hiftory, many of which may ferve as Rules and Models for the different Conditions of Life, and at the fame Time give fome Pleasure by the Diversity of Matter which they treat of; fo that this little Work, though defigned for Children, will not, perhaps, displease Perfons of more advanced Age, who will here find fummed up together what they have formerly read dispersed up and down in various Authors.

If, amidst so many Examples of different Virtues, we have mixed fome of contrary Vices, it was only to fhew the Deformity of the latter, and to make them the more detefted. We know what Livy has faid of History in general,

Hoc illud eft præcipuè in cognitione rerum falubre ac frugiferum, omnis te exempli documenta in illuftri pofita monumento intueri inde tibi tuæque reipublicæ, quod imitere, capias; inde fœdum inceptu, foedum exitu, quod vites. 7. i. in praf.

That

That it furnisheth. Examples of every Kind; fome of which are Patterns to be imitated, and the others are Admonitions of what we ought to fhun.

The Examples I have chofen, are fometimes a little diffufe and circumftantial, and the Precepts of Morality more largely explained. Often, on the other hand, both are concife, and no more than the Anfwer of fome great General pr Philofopher. The latter have this Advantage, that they are the more eafily retained. They are a Sort of lively Strokes, that penetrate deep: Agreeable to the Obfervation of Seneca*, who tells us, in his Time, they made Children learn Moral Maxims comprifed in few Words. And Quintilian + likewife advifes to teach them, by Way of Diverfion, the Wife Sayings of great Men, and certain Verfes felected out of the Poets.

As I found it neceffary to mix the Precepts with the Examples, as Cicero has done, that, they might illuftrate and enforce each other ; I thought I could not do better than difpofe this great Field of Matter agreeably to the Method he has followed in his firft Book of Offices, and to reduce to a certain Order Precepts and Facts which are fo diverfified, that it would be difficult to retain them without fuch Help. Cicero, every one knows, reduces his whole Subject to Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. I

Faciliùs fingula præcepta incidunt circumfcripta, & carminis modo inclufa. Ideò pueris & fententias edifcendas damos:" quia complecti eas puerilis animus potelt. Senec. Epift. 33. Vide Epift. 38. 94.

+ Etiam dicta clarorum virorum edifcere inter lufum licet; & electos ex poëtis maximè locos. Quin&til, l, i, c. 2.

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