in a little Time be able to tread upon their Conquerors; and Carthage, from the highest Succeffes, fall fo low as to be deny'd the Freedom of being a People in the World. This looks as if fome were to have the fhew of Happiness only, that their Mifery may feem the fharper; warning us, that when Fortune comes fmiling, fhe often defigns the most Mischief. In Truth, their Misfortune proceeded from being wife too late, they did not know the Caufes till the Effects were past. So fero fapiunt Phryges, Experience is not worth the Coft; and to buy Wifdom at one's own Ruin, is like buying a noble Medicine to cure the Diseases of a Man that is dead.

But to mention the Stories which fhew that base Men of little Ability may be popular in a Government, and that it is dangerous when they are fo: M. Centenius Penula (whom Machiavel calls a very base Fellow) after Hannibal had been in Italy eight or ten Years, and had filled the Country with bloody Slaughters of the Romans, to the great Terror of Rome itself, being fwelled to a great Conceit of himself, by the airy Applaufes and Opinions of the Vulgar, had the Confidence to enter the Senate, offering, that if they would give him Authority to levy an Army, he would in a fhort Time deliver into their Hands Hannibal either dead or alive. The Senate thought his Demand very rafh, but confidering how acceptable fuch a Propofal would found in the Ears of the People, durft not deny him for fear of a Tumult; thus they were forced to facrifice their own Judgments, an Army of Friends, and almost their whole State, to fatisfy the Humour of the People centered in one weak Man. The Succefs was no better than the Expectation; for Hannibal meeting Penula, near Capua, totally routs his whole Army, fo that of fixteen Thoufand, not two Hundred escaped.

And not long before, Terentius Varro, a mean Man in all Refpects, through the Favour of the Multitude was chofen Conful, notwithstanding all the Oppofition

the

the Senate could make, apprehending the ill Confequences which muft happen from fuch a rash and inconfiderate Commander in the Army. However, to please the People, he boldly gave out in all Meetings and public Places of Rome, that he would certainly defeat Hannibal. The Rafhnefs of this Man occafioned the Battle of Canna, and the total Overthrow of the Roman Army there; fo that without Oppofition the Conqueror might have march'd to Rome, and by laying waste that City have put an End to the War; and 'twas reckon'd a Fault in Hannibal he did not; Maberbal, an Officer, telling him, he knew how to get, but not to use a Victory. Thus the Roman State was brought to the very Brink of Ruin and Destruction, through the Means only of a hot-headed Favourite of the People.

;

Thefe three, Varro, Penula, and Hanno, are always spoken of with Infamy, the Bafeness of their Minds and Lives leaving a fuitable Character behind them the two first endangering, the laft abfolutely ruining a large and mighty Commonwealth; yet, peradventure, when they faw the Conclufion of their Treacheries and Follies was the Ruin of their Country, they might have the Fool's Excufe in Reserve, That they did not intend it; which rather aggravates than leffens their Crimes; for he that begins a Mischief upon a Suppofition, that at fuch a Time he will put a Stop to it, will find himfelf miferably mistaken.

And as these Perfons were justly branded for the Calamity they brought upon their Country, fo it ought to be confidered how far the Senators themselves, both of Carthage and Rome, were acceffary to their own Misfortune. The Senate of Rome was well acquainted with the Inabilities of Varro and Penula for fuch Commands as the People prefs'd they might have, expecting from their Conduct nothing but Ruin to the Public; yet the Refufal of thefe the Senate did believe would put the common People into fuch an Uproar,

that

that they ran a Hazard of their own Lives; therefore they chofe rather to gratify the People, though to the apparent Hazard of the whole Commonwealth, than venture their own Safety. This is cenfura difficilis, a fevere Reflection, especially upon a Senate compofed of Romans, who boasted of a public Spirit beyond the ordinary Pitch of Mankind. Yet the Generality of the Fault will much abate the Blame; for 'tis believed there are few national or civil Affemblies in the World, but have greater Care of themfelves than of the Public.

Certainly the Spirit of Attilius Regulus was above moft Men's Imitation, who being a Prifoner at Carthage, was fuffered to go to Rome with their Ambaffadors, upon Faith given to return if Peace was not made; against which Regulus himself, when he came to Rome, gave Reasons to the Sepate out of Love to his Country; whereupon the Senate and his own Relations defired and advised him to ftay, and not return to the Carthaginians, enraged by their Difappointment of a Peace, and who, they were informed, were refolved to use him barbaroufly: He told them he had fo much of the Spirit of a Roman, that he could not confent to what was bafe or difhonourable; and that the Tortures of a Rack were not fo much to be feared, as the Shame of an infamous Action; because the first only touch'd the Body, but the other pierc'd the very Soul. He returned therefore to Carthage, to be just to his Word, where they put him to Death with the extremeft Tortures their Wit could invent.

A great Inftance to what a Contempt of this Life, and the Pains or Pleafures that belong to it, a mere natural Man may bring himself, that will free himself. from the base and flavish Importunities of the Senfes, and be guided only by the noble and ever happy Dictates of Honour and Juftice; and that the Pains of the Body are much inferior to thofe of the Mind; fo that the Purity of the Mind is to be preferred before the Pleafure or Being of the Body.

But

But no Senate, nor Civil Affembly, can be under fuch natural Impulfes to Honour and Juftice as fingle Perfons; for politic Members meet with neither Encouragement nor Reproaches, for what was the Effect of Number only. For a Majority is no Body when that Majority is feparated, and a collective Body can have no Synterefis or divine Ray, which is in the Mind of every Man, never affenting to Evil, but upbraiding and tormenting him when he does it: But the Honour and Confcience that lies in the Majority is too thin and diffufive to be efficacious; for a Number can do a great Wrong, and call it Right, and not one of that Majority blush for it. Hence it is that though a public Affembly may lie under great Cenfures, yet each Member looks upon himself as little concerned; this must be the Reason why a Roman Senate should act with lefs Spirit and lefs Honour than any fingle Roman would do. And this Compliance of the Roman Senate with the Multitude, contrary to their Reason, and below their Honour, fhews, that when the Commonalty are in their Heats and Commotions, they must be forc'd or comply'd with, being rarely capable of Reafon and Perfuafion; and that it is an Herculean Labour to perfuade them from an imaginary to a real Good. Thus to free themselves from the Difficulties of reafoning with the Multitude, it was the Wisdom of the ancient Lawgivers, fuch as Numa, Lycurgus, and Solon, to affign the Laws they made for the Benefit of the People (who understanding nothing, fufpect every thing) to fome Deity, that they might be received without Oppofition or Contempt. The Vulgar are easily moved, as Machiavel fays, by Arguments that tend to present Gain or Lofs, their Minds being wholly taken up with the prefent, are ever void of that Wifdom which is the Refult of Reflection, not capable, by comparing the prefent with what has been, of mak-ing a rational Conjecture of what may be.

As

As to the Carthaginian Senators it must be faid, that though by their Eafinefs of believing crafty Infinuations, railed by bafe and defigning Spirits, was loft the greatest General then in the World, and with him, themfelves, and the whole Commonwealth. It is hard to say that Charity, that divine Virtue fo neceffary in fingle Perfons, is dangerous in Governors; yet in them 'tis Prudence to believe all Men are bent to Mischief, and that Good is feldom done but through Force or Fear, and that most have a Wit to put in Practice the Wickedness of their Minds as often as Occafion fhall ferve. And to this inate Difpofition to Evil is often added Hypocrify, making the greateft Shews of Probity and Goodnefs when they intend to deceive most. Thus Hanno, under the Difguife of being a Patriot, ruined his Country.

Rome, hitherto, had beheld with Triumph the Miseries of War in other Nations, commanding, by the Right of Conqueft, the Lives and Fortunes of the best Part of the World, levelling with the Ground their Cities, and leading their Princes in Chains; but all terreftrial Felicities must have an End, and triumphing Rome itfelf is at laft fo full of Miferies, as if all the Cruelties and Barbarities her infulting Armies had exercised on the Nations round about were returned into her own Bowels, managed by thofe that always are the worst of Enemies, Neighbours and Countrymen: For Fabius faid well, he had rather fall upon the Enemy's Sword, than the Citizens Malice. This State-frenzy of Sedition, which ever proves fatal, was occafioned by the reviving of the Agrarian Law, by which, the Lands taken from their Enemies, and formerly divided among the Nobility, fhould be fhared among the People of Rome; the Contentions about this Law kindled fuch a Hatred between the People and the Senate, that it never ended but with the Lofs of the Liberty of Rome, and the Diffolution of that Republic.

So