i->6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IIT. 



iequently, of their mifery. It is the abufe of what fhould be one 

 of the gieateft advantages we enjoy in civil fociety, that is leifurc, 

 for which all men pray, as Horace tells us * ; but, not being rightly 

 ufed, it is the fource of the greateft mifery. As the great and 

 rich have more leifure than other men, and commonly do not 

 employ it well, they are, therefore, more rniferable than other men ; 

 more rniferable than any of thofe that work and labour for them. 

 It was, therefore, not without reafon that Madame Maintcnon, who 

 was the Miftrefs of Lewis the I4.th of France, and, confequently, 

 lived verv much at Court, called the difeafe, ce mifcrahh E?vii/} qui 

 devore les grand. It makes men take to any vice or folly that oc- 

 curs to them ; but when they are fatiated with vice and folly, 

 then this imferahle ennui recurs, and makes them more rniferable 

 than thev were before, as they find that their vices and follies 

 cannot appeafe this foid fiend. It is a difeafe not only among the 

 rich and great but even among the vulgar, nor indeed is there any 

 difeafe more common ; for men do thoufands of things for no better 

 reafon than that they know not what elfe to do. For that reafon 

 they eat and drink, go to bed and lye in bed ; and, when they get 

 up, employ themfelves in the moft frivolous amufcments. But if 

 a man is pofleffed of a moderate fortune, and can employ his leifure 

 in the improvement of his mind by the cultivation of arts and 

 fciences, and if to that he add religion, of which I fhall fay more 

 in the next chapter, he may be as happy as he can be in this life. 



Our time Is the mofl; valuable thing we poflefs, as upon the right 



ufe of it muft depend our happinefs both in this life and in the life 



to come ; yet by many people it is confidered as a great load upon 



them, 

 • Otium Divos rogat in patent! 



Frcnfus jEgaeo, &c. Lib. II. OJe i6. 



And he fays elfewhere, that he would not exchange the free and luiJifturbcd pofr 



fcffion of his time, for the weahh of Arabia : 



Otia divitiis Arabum liberrlmn muto. Lib. I. Epift. 7. 

 See Vol. V. of this work, p. 90. 



