1832.] Cicero's Work on the Republic. 523 



regardless of all but themselves, and mindful only of the high duties 

 which devolve upon them, when there is something to be gained by their 

 labours. But let us hear what he says in praise of the legislator who 

 labours for the preservation of the public security, and who has over- 

 come all the allurements of pleasure and repose. 



" * That citizen who, by the authority and the menaces of the laws, 

 induces every one to perform those things, which few indeed are per- 

 suaded to do by the dissertations of the philosophers, ought to be pre- 

 ferred to those learned sages who so eloquently demonstrate the princi- 

 ples which he carries into execution. For what discourse of theirs can 

 be so beautiful as to surpass a state well governed, laws well adminis- 

 tered, and society virtuously regulated ? And, as I imagine that great 

 and imperial cities, as Ennius calls them, are superior to hamlets and 

 villas, so it is likewise my opinion, that those who govern these cities 

 by their wisdom and their influence, are to be considered as far excell- 

 ing in wisdom all those speculative theorists. And since it is the great 

 object of our ambition to increase the power of the human race ; and 

 since our desires, our plans, and our labours, all tend to secure the hap- 

 piness of life ; and since nature herself has excited us to the enjoyment 

 of this pleasure, let us follow the course which has always been pursued 

 by the wisest and the best of men ; and never let us attend to those sig- 

 nals of retreat, which have sounded sufficiently high even to recall some 

 who had made considerable progress in their noble career. 



" To such excellent and conclusive arguments, the disputants on the 

 other side allege the labours which must be endured in the defence of 

 the republic ; but this obstacle, it is answered, is easily overcome by 

 the diligent and the industrious, and ought to be despised, not only in 

 great undertakings, but even in our ordinary duties and pursuits, and, 

 in fact, in every common transaction of life. The perils to which an 

 active life is subjected are next brought forward ; but it is answered 

 that the fear of death is disgraceful to the brave ; who think it far more 

 miserable slowly to die by the decay of nature and the infirmity of 

 years, than to have an opportunity of being able to yield up that life 

 for the benefit of their country, which must sooner or later be surren- 

 dered to nature. 



" But our antagonists think themselves most formidably eloquent and 

 resistless, when they enumerate the misfortunes of the most illustrious 

 men, and the injuries they have suffered from their ungrateful citi- 

 zens." 



Cicero then proceeds to examine the examples instanced by his oppo- 

 nents, and overthrows their arguments with his accustomed eloquence. 

 Some of the epicureans qualify their assertion that no wise man will ever 

 engage in affairs of state, by saying that the wise man will not engage 

 in public affairs unless compelled by the perilous state of the times. He 

 shews the absurdity of their arguments by a beautiful simile, of which 

 we will attempt a translation. 



" f I am often exceedingly astonished that learned men should say in 

 their lectures, that they cannot govern the vessel of the state on a tran- 

 quil sea, because they have never learnt, nor cared to learn ; and yet 

 that the same men should profess to direct the helm in the midst of the 

 most terrible tempests. They are accustomed openly to assert, and even. 



* See Book I. ch. 2 and 3. t See Book L ch. 6 and 7. 



