STUDf IX. 20^ 



mPs fentiment is much more rational, and de- 

 ferves rather to be adopted : 



Summum crede nefas vitani praïferre pudori ; 

 Et propter vitam, vivendi perdere caufas *. 



*' The blacked of crimes, believe it, is to pre- 

 '** fer life to honour ; and for the fake of a few 

 ** paltry years of mere exiftence, to {licrifice that 

 •* which alone makes life defirable.'* 



I fay nothing of other prejudices which oppofc 

 themfelves to the inveftigation of truth, fuch as 

 thofe of ambition, which ftimulate every one 

 among us to diftinguifh himfelf ; and this can hardly 

 be done except in two ways; either by fubverting 

 maxims the mod undoubted, and the mofl: firmly 

 eftablilhed, in order to fubftitute our own in their 

 place ; or by making an effort to pleafe all par- 

 ties, from uniting opinions the mod contradic- 

 tory ; and this, taking the two cafes together, 

 multiplies tlie ramifications of error to infinity. 

 Truth has, farther, to encounter a multitude of 

 other obftacles on the part of powerful men, who 

 can make an advantage of error. I fliall confine 



* Imitated thus : 



The worft of crimes, believe it, generous youth, 

 Is to buy life, by felling facred truth : 

 Virtue's the gem of life, the Sage's ftore ; 

 Unt life is death, when honour is no more. 



myfelf 



