Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/107

 Rh Commendation ; and put them into such Ports as they were fit for ; upon such occasions he us'd to say, That tho' a Prince could not make his Subjects what he had a mind to, yet 'twas in his Power to turn them to Account, by employing them in such Business as they understood. No sort of Consideration could make him overlook Merit, and Capacity in any Person. Nor did ever any Prince delight more in making the Fortune of his Friends. Some of them were rais'd by him to the highest Posts in the Government; And those who had pitch'd upon a Condition of Life which lay out of the way of Employment and Office; he took care to present them largely, and settle such Pensions upon them, as might make them amends for the Privacy of their Station ; and for their voluntary baulking themselves in their Interest, and Honour; But at the same time he always avoided the granting of Pensions to such as were perfectly Insignificant to the Commonwealth : Not forgetting the wise Maxim of his Father Antoninus Pius, who used to say, That 'twas a shameful Piece of Injustice to let those People feed upon the Publick, who were too lazy to serve it. As for the Poor, they never applied to him in vain; And the relieving of them was so great a Pleasure to him; that he Rh