206 History of Nature. [BoOK VII. 



brian Victories and the Report of the Victory over the Per- 

 sians made at Rome by the Castors, on the same Day that it 

 was achieved, were Visions and the Presages of Divine 

 Powers. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

 Examples of Patience. 



MANY are the Calamities incident to Mankind, which 

 have afforded innumerable Trials of Patience, in suffering 

 Pains of the Body. The most illustrious among Women is 

 the Example of Leana the Courtesan, who, when she was 

 tortured, did not betray Harmodius and Aristogiton, who 

 slew the Tyrant. Among Men is the Example of Anaxar- 

 chus, who, being tortured for a like Cause, bit off his Tongue 

 with his Teeth, and spat his only Hope of Discovery into the 

 Face of the Tyrant. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 Examples of Memory. 1 



MEMORY is the greatest Gift of Nature, and most neces- 

 sary of all others for Life ; it is hard to say who deserved the 



1 The orator Hortensius was famous for an extensive and accurate 

 memory ; which Cicero speaks of with admiration. It is said of him, 

 that once sitting at a place where things were exposed to public sale for a 

 whole day, he recited in order all the things that had been sold, their 

 price, and the names of the buyers ; and it was afterwards found that he 

 was minutely correct. Cicero, comparing him with Lucullus, says, that 

 Hortensius's memory was greater for words, and that of Lucullus for 

 things, an important distinction, for it is commonly found that those who 

 best remember the one, are deficient in the other. Seneca had a remark- 

 able memory for words ; so that he was able to repeat two thousand names 

 in the order they were pronounced. The art of memory, to which some 

 moderns have made great pretensions, is very ancient ; and it was much 

 in use in the middle ages. But it applies to words rather than things ; 

 and it requires to be studied as an individual object, and not as means to 

 an end. Wern. Club. 



