12 9 A N r I E N T METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



tliat he lias m?.de him fo Tafiionate and Revengeful, he has made 

 him as violent in his Friendfliip ; i'o that, rather than not Revenge 

 the death of his friend, he chofc to Die himfelf *. 



But not only do thofe violent paffions of ftrong Minds proceed from 

 a Senfe of Honour, but there is that common paflion of Weak Minds 

 above mentioned, vphich is derived from the fame fource; I mean Fa- 

 tiitj, — an equivocal word, denoting, cither the Love of Praife for mean 

 and frivolous things, or an exceffive Love of Praife for great and valu- 

 able qualities + ; but flill it is the Love of Praife, which cannot be 

 without a Senfe of fomething Beautiful and Praifeworthy in Charac- 

 ter. It is Vanity that gives that univerfal dominion to Fafhion, 

 which I obferved before : And, however contemptible a vain man 

 may appear in the eyes of a man of fenfe, I fhould think it a very 

 bad fign of a young man, to have no Vanity ; for a man muft have 

 attained to great fenfe and knowledge, more than can be fuppofed in 

 a young man, to be too proud to be vain, as Dean Swift very well 

 exprelfcs it. 



And here I cannot help making an obfervation, which, I know, 

 will appear very ftrange to the niofl; of my readers ; That, to diredl 

 well the vanity of men, and particularly of young men, who are 

 more governed by that paffion than thofe of riper age, is the great- 

 eft work of legillation, and of good government. For Virtue may 

 be made fafliionable, as well as Vice : And men who have a Senfe 

 of Honour, (and fuch only are, by Nature, deftined to be free citi- 

 zens), will not be out of that fafhion, more than any other; where- 

 as, thofe who, by Nature, are intended for Slaves, wanting the Senfe 



of 



• See Arift. Rhetor, lib. i. cap. 3. 



t It is in this 'alter fenfe that we fay Cicero was Vain, who defircd Praife for 

 Great and Noble Qualities ; but he defired it too much. In the latter fenfe, wc 

 fay a man is Vain, who dcfircs Praife for his Houfe, his Equipage, or his Drefs. 



