Chap. 2.] 



THE NATURE OF THE TINE. 217 



nothing reflects a higher merit upon the magistrate and the 

 general than a large estate, since the being destitute of heirs 6 

 has begun to confer upon persons the very highest power and 

 influence, since legacy-hunting 6 has become the most lucrative 

 of all professions, and since it has been considered that the 

 only real pleasures are those of possessing, all the true enjoy- 

 ments of life have been utterly lost sight of, and all those arts 

 which have derived the name of liberal, from liberty, 7 that 

 greatest blessing of life, have come to deserve the contrary 

 appellation, servility alone being the passport to profit. 



This servility each one has his own peculiar way of making 

 most agreeable, and of putting in practice in reference to 

 others, the motives and the hopes of all tending to the one 

 great object, the acquisition of wealth : indeed, we may every- 

 where behold men even of naturally excellent qualities pre- 

 ferring to foster the vicious inclinations of others rather than 

 cultivate their own talents. We may therefore conclude, by 

 Hercules ! that pleasure has now begun to live, and that life, 

 truly so called, has ceased to be. 8 As to ourselves, however, 

 we shall continue our researches into matters now lost in ob- 

 livion, nor shall we be deterred from pursuing our task by the 

 trivial nature 9 of some of our details, a consideration which 

 has in no way influenced us in our description of the animal 

 world. And yet we find that Virgil, that most admirable 

 poet, has allowed this to influence him, in his omission to enlarge 

 upon the beauties of the garden ; for, happy and graceful poet 

 as he is, he has only culled what we may call, the flower of 

 his subject: indeed, we find that he has only named 10 in all 

 some fifteen varieties of the grape, three of the olive, the same 

 number of the pear, and the citron of Assyria, and has passed 

 over the rest in silence altogether. 



(2). With what then ought we to begin in preference to the 

 vine, the superiority in which has been so peculiarly con- 



5 He alludes to the legacy-hunters with which Rome abounded in his 

 time. They are spoken of by Seneca, Tacitus, and Juvenal, in terms of 

 severe reprobation. 



6 This seems to be the meaning of " captatio ;" much like what we call 

 " toadying," or " toad-eating." 



' The " liberales artes," were those, the pursuit of which was not con- 

 sidered derogatory to the dignity of a, free man. 

 8 Vita ipsa desut. 

 » Humilitas. 10 In the Georgics. 



