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Alexander the Great, going to encounter Darius King of Perfia, committed, in the interim of his Abfence, the Kingdom of Macedonia, to the Care of his Mother Olympias, and the Aflistance of Antipater But whether he did not govern with all requifite Prudence, or whether her Affections to fome private Perfons might have been the Occafion of fome Mifmanagements; that Minifter wrote often to Alexander about it, and even mentioned the Disturbances and Disorders thereby caufed. One Day this matchlefs Monarch, reading one of his Letters in the Prefence of his infeparable Hephefion, faid to him in Words full of Piety and Tenderness; Antipater does not know that one of my Mother's Tears will obliterate all the Complaints be has couched in his Letters! Words that ought to be deeply engraved in the Hearts of all Children, who pretend to have juft Reafon to complain of their Parents: They ought to connive at thofe Actions they think unreasonable, and revere thofe wherein they difcover the leaft Appearance of good Conduct, Piety, and Juftice.

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CHAPTER VI.

That good Men are beloved and esteem'd by all, while on the contrary, the wicked are the Object of general Hatred and Contempt.

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Pon the Celebration of Flora's Birth-Day, when all the Youth were obliged to wear Garlands of Flowers on their Heads, a Gardener who had a good Store of them, filled two Hampers, and loading his Afs with them, drove to the Town to fell them at the Temple Gate. It was a delicate fine Morning, and the musk Rofes, the Afs carry'd, caft fuch a fragant Smell, that young and old, Men and Women, follow'd him all the way to the Town. When the Gardener had difpofed of his Goods, being unwilling that his Afs fhould return home unloaded, he filled his fcented Paniers with Dung he had out of a Stable, which spread fuch a difagreeable Smell, that all those that went by, ftopt their Nofes, and turn'd another Way. The Afs perceiving it, call'd to his Master, and ask'd him what could be the Meaning of it. His Mafter anfwer'd him, that the fweet Rofes be carryed in the Morning made all bis Neighbours flock about him, but that the flinking Dung be bad now upon his Back drove them away.

The MORA L.

We have here before us the Symptoms of a good and a bad Life; no Perfume fo fragrant, as the agreeable Odour of Virtue and good Morals, and confequently more Capable of attracting, like

the

the musk Rofes, a great many Followers, and Friends; but nothing more loathfom than a filthy fordid Life, and is in a particular Manner the fixed Averfion of all virtuous Men. Virtue alone is all, and all without Virtue is nothing. It is no wonder therefore to see honest Men eager for the Company of those Perfons who live in Integrity, and Sobriety, and fly from thofe who are made up of Vices, and spend their fineft Days in continual Debauchery, and Obfcurity, which becoming habitual to them, has fuch an Effect on their Souls, as an Oyl Spot upon a fine Coat, which ftill encreaf ing defaces,in Procefs of Time, the brightestPurple.

If we confider this Fable as we ought, we fhall doubtless find fome Refemblance between those Affes loaded with Flowers in the Morning, but after Sun-fet returning Home with a Burden of Dung; and thofe young Gentlemen, who after they have led a pious, and regular Courfe of Life in the Spring of their Years, and left the Nursery of Religion, Knowledge and Virtue; and juft freed from the troublefom Care of an honeft Tutor, who kept a watchful Eye over all their Actions and Manners, give a loose to Libertinifm to fuch a Degree, that the Reft of their Lives is no more than a continued Scene of Impiety,and a CommonShore of Filthiness.

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I can't now think of any one that deferves bet ter to be cited here as an Instance, than the Emperour Julian the Apoftate, whofe Virtues, and worthy Actions in his younger days pointed to us, by the agreeable Odour of Rofes, were chang'd into Filthiness and Dung after the Death of the Emperour Conftantius, who had been particularly careful in having him brought up in the Chriftian Religion. Then it was that he pull'd down thofe Temples he had raised, perfecuted the Chriftians

he

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he had protected, and endeavour'd to overthrow, and pervert the Religion he had publickly defended, and had been a strict Profeffor of. He might be compared to thofe Casks, wherein nothing remains, but Dregs, when all the good Wine is draw'd out; or to thofe noble Golden Veffels employ'd, with fo much Honour, in the Temple of Salomon, for the ufe of Sacrifices, which were afterward convey'd away, and made ufe of in the prophane Banquets of King Balfbazzar, and his Concubines. But now to fhew the Diverfity of human Life, I'll lay down a remarkable Instance of one, who began by the Dung, and happily finish'd his Career by the Rofes; this was one Chilperie, who after he had been depofed by the French, by Reafon of his Licentiousness, was honourably recall'd, and with Reverence fettled on his Throne, when the Infection was entirely evaporated,which done, no King's Reign was more glorious to him felf, or Beneficial and Satisfactory to his Subjects; not unlike that large brass Veffel apply'd as a common Utenfil to a vile ufe, fome fay to wash Feet in, and which Amafis King of Ergpt ordered to be melted down, and the Mettal to be caft into an Image dedicated to divine Worship: it was no fooner erected, but those People,who before had fullied it, came flocking with a paffionate Zeal and Devo. tion to Bow down to the new Idol, and brought their Offerings.

It is to be wifh'd, that thofe who have mif-fpent their tender Years would imitate the incomparable Themiftocles, who having prov'd a Slave to his brutifh Lufts, and infatiable Appetite,by an Excefs of Wine and Women; Crimes now, I fear, more rail'd at than fhunn'd, awoke of a fudden as from a Lethargy, when he learnt that Miltiades, with an Army of ten Thousand Men, had vanquished that

of

of the Perfians confifting of 600000 in the Fields of Marathon. He immediately grew a new Man, and expreffed an Averfion to his infamous Pleafures, beyond all the Joy they had ever afforded him. Next to this great Captain we'll propose a Philofopher, in order that different Conditions may give hopes of Recovery to those that are still devoted to their Paffions. There was one faus an Allyrian, who attain'd to fuch an Esteem as never was furpaffed by any: After he had ill-beflow'd fome few Years, in the Warmth of his Youth, upon the fenfual Pleasures of this Life, he made this Answer to one of his Friends, who would make him a Judge of a Woman's Beauty; I have, my Friend,been for a confiderable time troubled with fore Eyes, and I no longer know how to distinguish between the good and bad Features of a Face; and being once at a Feaft, one of the Company asked him the Names of fome choice Fowls and Fishes that were before them, all that I have to say to you, faid he, is that I gather no more Fruits out of Tantalus's Garden: meaning, that he was become a Bankrupt to all Voluptuoufnefs, which he then tookt upon as vain and imaginary Pleasures, fuch as they are reprefented in that Garden by the Poets.

Were I not apprehensive that my Discourse hould leave for a long Time a difagreeable Stench, for fweet tranfitory Vapour which would be foon exhaled, I would make mention of the firft Years of Tiberius, Nero, and Heliogabalus, the first comported himself with great Civility andModeration, and expreffed a great Averfion to Voluptuoufnefs: Most Authors make favourable mention of the Second for the first five Years of his Reign; and as for the last he gave fuch Marks of his Piety, that he was made a Prieft of the Sun, in which State

he

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