Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/267

 Rh of a Fish, this Fowl has no more Life in't then I shall have when I am Buried ; and t'other is no better then a Piece of a Dead Hog. And then for this Bottle of Falerno, what is it but a little Moifture squeaz'd out of the Tumour of a Grape ? And to mortifie the Vanity of Fine Cloths, and prevent your Purple, from growing to big for you, consider that 'tis nothing but Sheeps Hair twisted togethether, and stain'd in the Gore of a little Shell-Fish. And if we were to proceed to some other satisfactions of Sence, we should find them but course in their Causes, and Constitution; And as these Notions strike through the Ssirface, press into the heart of Things, and shew them in their Natural Colours; so we should carry them on, and apply them to all the Pageantry of Life. And where things appear most Plausible, and Pretending , be sure to bring them to the Test, and look within them. And when the Paint is thus pull'd of, the Coursness of them will easily be discovered. Without this Care, Figure and Appearance are great Cheats; And when you think your Fancy is best employ'd, you'l be most Fooled : Even Virtue it self is sometimes Counterfeited, and Gravity is nothing else but Grimace, Thus Crates discovered Xenocrates's Philo- Rh