CRAP. IIT.] RHETORICAL SOPHISMS EXEMPLIFIED. 243 



thing, that he may not abridge his freedom and power of 

 acting. 2. Because necessity and the fortune of the throw 

 adds a spur to the mind ; whence that saying, " In othei 

 respects equal, but in necessity superior." y 



VIII. — Tliat evil we h'ing upon ourselves, is greater; and tJiat proceeding 



jrom without us, less. 



Because remorse of conscience doubles adversity, as a con- 

 sciousness of one's own innocence is a great support in afflic- 

 tion,— whence the poets exaggerate those sufferings most, 

 and paint them leading to despair, wherein the person ac- 

 cuses and tortures himself 



" Seque unam claraat causamque, caputque malorum."* 

 On the other side, pei'sons lessen and almost annihilate their 

 misfortunes, by reflecting upon their own innocence and 

 merit. Besides, when the evil comes from without, it leaves 

 a man to the full liberty of complaint, whereby he spends 

 his grief and eases his heart ; for we conceive indignation at 

 human injuries, and either meditate revenge ourselves, or 

 implore and expect it from the Divine vengeance. Or ii the 

 injury came from fortune itself, yet this leaves us to an ex- 

 postulation with the Divine Powers, — 



" Atque Deos, atque astra, vocat crudelia mater.*** 

 But if the evil be derived from ourselves, the stings of grief 

 strike inwards, and stab and wound the mind the deeper. 



This colour deceives, — 1. By hope, which is the greatest 

 antidote to evils; for it is commonly in our power to amend 

 our faults, but not our fortunes ; whence Demosthenes said 

 frequently to the Athenians, " "What is worst for the past is 

 best for the future, since it happens by neglect and miscon- 

 duct that your affairs are come to this low ebb. Had you, 

 indeed, acted your parts to the best, and yet matters should 

 thus have gone backward, there would be no hopes of amend- 

 ment ; but as it has happened principally through your own 

 eiTors, if these are corrected, all may be recovered."'* So 

 Epictetus, speaking ot the degrees ot the mind*s tranquillity, 

 assigns the lowest place to such as accuse others, a higher to 

 those who accuse themselves, but the highest to those who 

 neither accuse themselves nor others. 2. By pride, which so 

 cleaves to the mind that it will scarce suffer men to acknow- 

 r Livy, iv. 28. • .^neid, xiu 600. • Vivg. Eel. v. 23. «» Philip. L 



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