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To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep
My spirit from my eyes !-There is my dagger,
And here my naked breast! within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold!
If that thou need'st a Roman's, take it forth.
I, that deni'd thee gold, will give my heart;
Strike as thou didst at Cesar; for I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better
Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.

Bru. Sheathe your dagger;

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;
Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.
Oh Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb,
That carries anger, as the flint bears fire;
Which, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,
And straight is cold again,

Cas. Hath Cassius liv'd

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
When grief and blood ill temper'd vexeth him?
Bru. When I spoke that, was ill temper'd too.
Cas. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.
Bru. And my heart too.

Cas. O Brutus !

Bru. What's the matter?

Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful?

Bru. Yes, Cassius, and from henceforth,

When you are over earnest with your Brutus,
He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.

SPEECH OF DEMOSTHENES TO THE ATHENIANS, CONCERNING THE REGULATION OF THE STATE.

You ask, Athenians, “What real advantage

have we derived from the speeches of Demosthenes? He rises when he thinks proper; he deafens us with his harangues; he declaims against the degeneracy of present

times; he tells us of the virtues of our ancestors; he tráns ports us by his airy extravagance; he puffs up our vanity, and then sits down."

2. But, could these my speeches once gain an effectual influence upon your minds, so great would be the advantages conferred upon my country, that, were I to attempt to speak them, they would appear to many as visionary. Yet still I must assume the merit of doing some service, by accustoming you to hear salutary truths.

3. And if your counsellors be solicitous for any point of moment to their country, let them first cure your ears, for they are distempered; and this, from the inveterate habit of listening to falsehoods, to every thing rather than your real

interests.

4. There is no man who dares openly and boldly to declare in what case our constitution is subverted. But I shall declare it. When you, Athenians, become a helpless rabble, without conduct, without property, without arms, with

out order, without unanimity; when neither your general, nor any other person, hath the least respect for your de crees; when no man dares to inform you of this your condition, to urge the necessary reformation, much less to exert his effort to effect it; then is your constitution subverted. And this is now the case.

5. But, O my fellow citizens! a language of a different nature hath poured in upon us; false, and highly dangerous to the state. Such is that assertion, that in your tribunals is your great security; that your right of suffrage is the real bulwark of the constitution. That these tribunals are our common resource in all private contests, I acknowledge.

6. But it is by arms we are to subdue our enemies; by arms we are to defend our state. It is not by our decrees that we can conquer. To those, on the contrary, who fight our battles with success, to these we owe the power of decreeing, of transacting all our affairs, without control or danger. In arms, then, let us be terrible; in our judicial transactions, humane.

7. If it be observed that these sentiments are more elevated than might be expected from my character, the observation, I confess, is just. Whatever is said about a state

of such dignity, upon affairs of such importance, should appear more elevated than any character. To your worth should it correspond, not to that of the speaker.

8. And now I shall inform you why none of those, who stand high in your esteem, speak in the same manner. The candidates for office and employment go about soliciting your voices, the slaves of popular favour. To gain the rank of general, is each man's great concern; not to fill this station with true manlike intrepidity.

9. Courage, if he possess it, he deems unnecessary: for thus he reasons; he has the honour, the renown of this city to support him; he finds himself free from oppression and control; he needs but to amuse you with fair hopes; and thus he secures a kind of inheritance in your emoluments. And he reasons truly.

10. But do you yourselves once assume the conduct of your own affairs; and then, as you take an equal share of duty, so shall you acquire an equal share of glory. Now, your ministers and publick speakers, without one thought of directing you faithfully to your true interest, resign themselves entirely to these generals. Formerly you divided into classes, in order to raise the supplies; now, the business of the classes is to gain the management of publick affairs.

11. The orator is the leader; the general seconds his attempts; the Three Hundred are the assistants on each side! and all others take their parties, and serve to fill up the several factions. And you see the consequences.

12. This man gains a statue; this amasses a fortune; one or two cominand the state; while you sit down unconcerned, witnesses of their success; and for an uninterrupted course of ease and indolence, give them up those great and glorious advantages, which really belong to you.

JUDGE HALE'S ADVICE TO HIS CHILDren.

OBSERVE and mark as well as you may,

what is the temper and disposition of those persons, whose speeches you hear, whether they be grave, serious, sober, wise, discreet persons. If they be such, their speeches

commonly are like themselves, and well deserve your atten tion and observation.

2. But if they be light, impertinent, vain, passionate persons, their speech is for the most part accordingly; and the best advantage that you will gain by their speech, is but thereby to learn their dispositions; to discern their failings, and to make yourselves the more cautious, both in your conversation with them, and in your own speech and deportment; for in the unseemliness of their speech you may bet ter discern and avoid the like in yourselves.

3. If any person that you do not very well know to be a person of truth, sobriety and weight, relate strange stories, be not too ready or easy to believe them, nor report them after him. And yet, unless he be one of your familiar acquaintances, be not too forward to contradict him; or if the necessity of the occasion require you to declare your opinion of what is so reported, let it be modestly and gently, not too bluntly or coarsely. By this mean, on the one side, you will avoid being abused by your too much credulity; on the other side, you will avoid quarrels and distaste.

4. If any man speak any thing to the disadvantage or reproach of one that is absent, be not too ready to believe it; only observe and remember it; for it may be it is not true, or it is not all true, or some other circumstances were mingled with it, which might give the business reported a justification, or at least an allay, an extenuation, or a reasonable

excuse.

5. If any person report unto you some injury done to you by another, either in words or deeds, do not be over hasty in believing it, nor suddenly angry with the person so accused; for it is possible it may be false or mistaken; and how unseemly a thing will it be, when your credulity and passions shall perchance carry you, upon a supposed injury, to do wrong to him that hath done you none.

6. When a person is accused or reported to have injured you, before you give yourself leave to be angry, think with yourself, why should I be angry before I am certain it is true; or if it be true, how can I tell how much I should be angry until I know the whole matter? Though it may be he hath done me wrong, yet possibly it is misrepresented, or it was done by mistake, or it may be he is sorry for it.

7. I will not be angry till I know there be cause, and if there be cause, yet I will not be angry till I know the whole cause, for till then, if I must be angry at all, yet I know not how much to be angry; it may be it is not worth my anger, or if it be, it may be it deserves but a little. This will keep your mind and carriage upon such occasions in a due temper and order; and will disappoint malicious or officious tale-bearers.

8. If a man whose integrity you do not very well know, make you great and extraordinary professions and promises, give him as kind thanks as may be, but give not much credit to it. Cast about with yourself what may be the reason of his wonderful kindness, it is twenty to one but you will find something that he aims at besides kindness to you.

9. If a man flatter and commend you to your face, or to one that he thinks will tell you of it, it is a thousand to one, either he hath deceived and abused you some way, or means to do so. Remember the fable of the fox commending the singing of the crow, when she had somewhat in her mouth that the fox liked.

10. If a person be cholerick, passionate, and give you ill language, remember, first, rather to pity him than to be moved into anger and passion with him; for most certainly that man is in a distemper and disordered. Observe him calmly, and you shall see in him so much perturbation and disturbance, that you will easily believe he is not a pattern to be imitated by you, and therefore return not choler for anger; for you do but put yourself into a kind of frenzy because you see him so.

11. Be sure you return not railing, reproaching, or reviling for reviling; for it doth but kindle more heat, and you will find silence, or at least very gentle words, the most exquisite revenge for reproaches that can be; for either it will cure the distemper in the other, and make him see and be sorry for his passion, or it will torment him with more perturbation and disturbance.

12. Some men are excellent in the knowledge of husbandry, some of planting, some of gardening, some in the mathematicks, some in one kind, some in another; in all your conversation, learn, as near as you can, wherein the skill and excellence of any person lies, and put him upor

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