Page:The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.pdf/10



The diffusion of science amongst all ranks of people, in this age, (by the means of reviews, magazines, and other periodical publications) is astonishing, and beyond all example. Hence the mechanic decides on religious controversies, and the haberdasher arraigns the conduct of statesmen: our young ladies write novels for the amusement, and school-boys moral essay's for the improvement, of their grandmothers. Nay, in conversation, these retailers of superficial knowledge often eclipse, in the opinion of the vulgar, men of profound erudition; and, in their own opinions, surpass all the sages of antiquity. The wise maxims therefore of an ancient philosopher, though of imperial rank, have but a slender chance of gaining attention in so enlightened an age; and in a country where every newspaper is fraught with apothegms, and every evening club is a Lyceum or school of philosophers. Yet, notwithstanding these disadvantages, these meditations and occasional reflections abound with so much good sense, and such original thoughts,1 such virtuous principles, such benevolence and love of mankind, and such a religious regard to the common rights of his fellow-creatures; that a system of morality might be extracted from them, only surpassed by that of the gospel; and a system of politics not surpassed even by the refinements of modern patriotism. These maxims are not the reveries of a private recluse; but the reflexions of a statesman, a soldier, and a sovereign prince, engaged in the tumultuous scenes of life; and most of them suggested by actual situations. I do not consider such unconnected precepts, however, as forming a volume that any one will read through at a sitting; but as a "book to lie in a parlour window," (as Montaigne says) from which a man may pick up some useful hints while he is waiting for his dinner. A lady in private life, equally distinguished by her piety and her ingenuity, assured me, many years since, that she had received more advantage, in her youth, from the