Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/354

 350 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. pleases me above the rest. As he was going along the king's highway a saucy fellow hit him a slap on the face; Socrates said nothing to him, but his friends that were with him advised him to be revenged on him. To which he replied, What would you have me do to him ? They replied, Arrest him in an action of assaxilt and battery. A foolish story, indeed, says he. What, says he, suppose an ass had given me a kick, must I sue him upon the same action, and subpoena you for evidences of the injury offered ? intimating that that saucy fellow was no better than an ass, and that it was the part of a mean soul not to be able to bear such an affront from a numskull as he would from a brute animal. The Roman history is not so well stored with instances of moderation, nor so remarkable; for, in my opinion, he does not deserve the praise of moderation that strenuously labours to bring haughty persons under subjection, and then spares them when they are in his power. But yet I think it deserves to be related what Cato the elder said when Lentulus spit in his face and threw snot in it. He said nothing to him but this, Hereafter I shall have an answer ready for them that shall say, You are a man that have no mouth (Os); for the Latins used to say, That he that has no shame in him has no Os ; so that the joke depends upon the double meaning of Os (which signifies the mouth and the countenance). jEm. One man is pleased with one thing, and another with another. But among Diogenes's sayings, which are all excellent ones, none charms me more than the answer he made to one that asked him what was the best way to be revenged on an enemy ? Says he, By approving yourself an honest good man. I cannot but admire how so divine a thought could ever come into his mind. And, methinks, the saying of Aristotle is agreeable to St. Paul's notion who, being asked by a certain person, What advantage his philosophy afforded him? answered him, That by reason of it he did those things voluntarily which other persons did by constraint and for fear of the law. For St. Paul teaches that those who are endued with the love of Christ are not under the subjection of the law, in that they do more of their own accord than the law can influence them to do for fear of punishment. Fr. Our Saviour, when the Jews murmured against him, because he had communion at the table with publicans and sinners, answered them, The whole have not need of a physician, but those that are sick. That which Phocion in Plutarch wittily answered, when he was reprehended because he had patronised a person infamous and of an ill character, is not very different from this : Why should I not, says he, when no good man stands in need of such a patronage. Gy. That is a pattern of Christian goodness, and according to the example of God himself, to do good both to good and bad as much as may be, for He causes His sun to shine upon the just and unjust. And perhaps an example of moderation in a king will be more admirable. When Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes, was sent ambassador to Philip, King of Macedon; and having obtained of him what he desired, being about to have his audience of leave, was courteously asked by the king if there was anything else he requested of him; he answered, Yes, that he would hang himself. This unhandsome answer was an argument of hatred. He to whom this affront was offered was a king, and a worthy one too; but for all that he did not fall into a