Chap. 42] INSTANCES OF GOOD FORTUNE. 187 



many to be found, who could feel a conviction that this is false, 

 and that it had not been enunciated by an oracle itself, as it 

 were ! Mortals, vain as they are, and ingenious in deceiving 

 themselves, calculate in the same way as the Thracians, who, 

 according to their experience of each day, deposit in an urn 

 a black or a white pebble ; at the close of their life, these 

 pebbles are separated, and from the relative number of each 

 kind, they form their conclusions. 67 But really, may not that 

 very day that has been complimented with a white pebble, have 

 contained in itself the germ of some misfortune ? How many 

 a man has got into trouble by the very power which has been 

 bestowed upon him ? How many have been brought to ruin 

 and plunged into the deepest misery by their own blessings ? or 

 rather, by what have been looked upon too fondly as blessings, 

 for the hour during which they were in the full enjoyment of 

 them. But most true it is, that it is the day after, that is the 

 judge of the day before ; and after all, it is only the last day 

 that is to set its stamp on the whole ; the consequence is, 

 that we can put our trust in none of them. And then, too, 

 is it not the fact that the blessings of life would not be equal 

 to its evils, even though they were equal in number ? Eor 

 what pleasure is there that can compensate for the slightest 

 grief ? Alas ! what a vain and unreasonable task we impose 

 upon ourselves! We trouble ourselves with counting the 

 number of days, when it is their weight that ought to be 

 taken into consideration. 



CHAP. 42. (41.) RARE INSTANCES OF GOOD FOETTJNE CONTINUING 

 IN THE SAME FAMILY. 



During the whole course of ages, we find only one woman, 

 and that, Lampido, the Lacedaemonian, who was the daughter 

 of a king, the wife of a king, and the mother of a king. 69 



67 It appears that a similar custom prevailed among the Scythians, ac- 

 cording to Phylarchus, from whom Pliny probably took his account of it ; 

 Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 151. 



68 As being fraught with an intensity of pain, which no number of days 

 passed in pleasure can compensate. 



69 She was the daughter of Leotychides, and the ' wife of Archidamas, 

 and mother of jEgis. Ajasson expresses his surprise, that so diligent a 

 collector of facts as Pliny, should have been acquainted with only one ex- 

 ample of this kind. B. " The following are additional instances collected 



