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RV 306 (Chap. 1.) When he comes into the Assembly, it is then that he undergoes his finest and most splendid Slavery.

§. 8. . Not to be a Fool; but to learn what Socrates taught; the Nature of Things: and not to adapt Pre-conceptions rashly to particular Subjects. For the Cause of all human Evils is, the not being able to adapt general Pre-conceptions to particular Cases. But different People have different Opinions. One thinks the Cause of his Evils to be, that he is sick. By no means: but that he doth not adapt his Pre-conceptions right. Another, that he is poor: another, that he hath a harsh Father and Mother: another, that he is not in the good Graces of Cæsar. This is nothing else, but not understanding how to adapt our Pre-conceptions. For, who hath not a Pre-conception of Evil, that it is hurtful? That it is to be avoided? That it is by all means to be prudently guarded against? One Pre-conception doth not contradict another, except when it comes to be adapted. What then is this Evil, thus hurtful, and to be avoided? "Not to be the Friend of Cæsar," saith one. He is gone; he fails in the adapting; he is embarrassed; he seeks what is nothing to the purpose. For, if he gets to be Cæsar's. Friend, he is never the less distant from what he sought. For what is it that every Man seeks? To be secure, to be happy, to do what he pleases without Restraint, and without Compulsion. When he becomes the Friend of Cæsar then, doth he cease to be restrained? To be compelled? Is he secure? Is he happy? Whom shall he ask? Whom can we better credit than this very Man, who hath been his Friend? Come forth and tell us, whether you sleep more quietly now, or before you were the Friend of Cæsar? You prefently hear him cry, "Leave off, for Heaven's sake, and do not insult me. You know not the Miseries I suffer: there is no Sleep for me; but one