BOOK VII.] History of Na f u re . 225 



their highest Advantage in one Thing, others in another; 1 

 and every one measureth it, according to his several Dispo- 

 sition : but if we wish to form a correct Judgment, throwing 

 aside all the Ambition of Fortune, it may be concluded, that 

 there is not a Man in the World to be accounted happy. And, 

 therefore, Fortune dealeth liberally and indulgently with any 

 one, if he may justly be called not unhappy ; because if there 

 be no other Things, yet surely a Man may be ever in Fear 

 lest Fortune should grow tired of him : but let him admit 

 this Fear, and there can be no solid Happiness. What 

 should I say, moreover, to this ? that no Man is at all Times 

 wise ? I wish that this were false, and not, in the Judgment 

 of most Men, a Poet's Word only. But such is the Folly of 

 mortal Men, that they are very ingenious in deceiving them- 

 selves : so that they reckon after the Custom of the Thra- 

 cians, who, by Stones marked with different Colours, which 

 they cast into an Urn, institute the Trial of every Day ; and 

 at their last Day they separate these Stones one from an- 

 other and count them : and thus give Judgment concerning 



to the general rule. It is in the spirit of Pliny's remark that Martial 

 begins his Epigram to Trajan, lib. xii. ep. 8 : 



" Terrarum Dea, gentiumque Roma, 

 Cui par est nihil, et nihil secundum." 



Goddess of lands and nations, Rome, 



Xothing to which can equal come, 



And nothing second. Wern. Club. 



1 The reader is referred to the fourth epistle of Pope's " Essay on 

 Man," for a more extended and poetical developement of this sentiment. 



The sentiments in the latter part of this chapter are re-echoed in the 

 Book of Ecclesiastes by Solomon ; where he employs the advantages 

 arising from his high situation and consummate wisdom in seeking to 

 discover whether, on merely human principles, there was any such thing 

 as human happiness in the world. The result was the same as is expressed 

 by Pliny, but with the advantage on the side of the Hebrew sage, that 

 he was able to find in his more elevated principles a security of which 

 Pliny was altogether ignorant. The value of the Life and Immortality 

 which have been brought to light by the Gospel, can best be estimated 

 when we see the gloom which occupied the mind of even such a man as 

 Pliny without it. The highest happiness detailed in the next chapter 

 (xli.) is much below the aspiration of every Christian. Wern. Club. 

 VOL. II. Q 



