Chap. 42 ] INSTANCES OF GOOD rOETUNE. 
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.^^ 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 ? For 
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.) — EAEE INSTANCES OF GOOD EOETTJNE 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.^® 
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. 
She was the daughter of Leotychides, and the wife of Archidamas, 
and mother of Mgis, 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 
