Page:The Emperor Marcus Antoninus - His Conversation with Himself.djvu/37

 for a Maxim, that Honesty unattended with Pleasure, is good for nothing : A meer Shadow without any thing Substantial to fill the Grasp: And who looks upon Fortitude without reference to Interest, to be no better than Whimsey, and Romance.

However, it must be granted, Epicurus has a great deal of Courage in some of his Sentences: Tho' after all, the Vanity of them seems more remarkable than the Greatness. His Wise-man, if you'l take his Word for't, must be Happy with the Scottish Boot. Yes, if he was roasting in Phalaris's Bull, he would bellow with Satisfaction; ''and cry out what a delicious Torture is this? And how handsomely do I contemn it? Nay, he tells you of himself, that the last Agonizing Day of his Life was the happiest in the World; 'Tis true the Cholick and the Stone, raged to Extremity, and did their worst upon him. But then the Pleasure he had in the Reflection upon his own Writings, overtop'd the Pain; and made his Imagination too strong for his'' Senses.

But we must not be too forward in believing a Rhodomontade, againft avow'd Principles. 'Tis true, if these Flourishes had been spoken by a Philosopher that confines the Notion of Advantage to Rh