like weale of the Romanes, was so moche inflamed in the desire of lernynge that, (as Suetonius writeth), he coulde nat tempre him selfe in redyng greke bokes whyles the Senate was sittynge.

b

well known, admitted to his intimacy. His friendship with Lælius, whose tastes and pursuits were so congenial to his own, was as remarkable as that of the elder Africanus with the elder Lælius, and has been immortalised by Cicero's celebrated treatise entitled 'Lælius, sive de Amicitiâ.'”—Ubi supra.

• There is some confusion in the whole of this passage, for obviously the description is not applicable to Cato of Utica, but to his great-grandfather Cato the Censor. It was to the latter that a statue was erected as 'the restorer of the State,' the inscription according to Plutarch being, "OT Thy 'Pwμalwv moλiтelav ἐγκεκλιμένην καὶ ῥέπουσαν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω τιμητής γενόμενος χρησταῖς ἀγωγαῖς καὶ σώφροσιν ἐθισμοῖς καὶ δίδασκαλίαις εἰς ὀρθὸν αὖθις ἀποκατέστησε.-Cato Major, 19. But then Plutarch expressly says that the elder Cato showed great contempt for Greek literature: Ολως φιλοσοφίᾳ προσκεκρουκὼς καὶ πᾶσαν Ἑλληνικὴν μοῦσαν καὶ παιδείαν ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας προπηλακίζων.—Ubi supra, 23. And he tells a story of the arrival of Carneades and Diogenes at Rome as ambassadors from Athens and of the sensation which their eloquence created, and says that Cato hearing of this, went down to the senate and begged that the ambassadors might be dismissed as speedily as possible, in order that the attention of the Roman youth might not be distracted from their proper studies. The mention of Suetonius, however, gives some clue to the source of the error into which Sir Thomas Elyot has fallen; and on referring to the life of the Emperor Claudius we find not only that he attempted to write history ('Historiam in adolescentiâ scribere aggressus est ;') but that he was very fond of studying Greek, ('nec minore curâ Græca studia secutus est.') And in the same chapter occurs the phrase, 'Ne sedato quidem tumultu temperare potuit quin' &c. (cap. 41), a collocation which makes it extremely probable that Sir T. Elyot intended to have cited Claudius and not Cato as an example.

I.e. forbear, abstain from. This is the strict classical sense of the Latin verb temperare, from which the French verb temperer is derived. Cotgrave translates the latter to temper, moderate, qualifie; governe, order; allay, assuage; forbeare, spare, abstaine, refraine from; to mingle discreetly, measure equally, keepe a mean.' Palsgrave has, 'I temper my selfe, I avoyde to be angrye or be in any other passion whan I am provoked, Je me temperise, verb. med. prim. conj. and je me amesure, verb. med. prim. conj. He can temper hym selfe as well as any man that ever you sawe-il se scait aussi bien temperiser, or amesurer, que homme que vous vistez jamays.'-L'Esclairciss., p. 754. The sense in which the parent word was used by classical writers will be best illustrated by the following examples, in addition to that from Suetonius quoted in the last note. Thus Pliny

in his Dedication to Vespasian says: Non queo mihi temperare, quominus ad hoc pertinentia ipsa censorii Catonis verba ponam.'-Nat. Hist. lib. i. Again: 'Nequeo mihi temperare, quominus unum exemplum antiquitatis afferam.'-Ibid. lib. xviii. cap. 8. And Mire gratum Tiberio principi, qui non quivit temperare

Howe moche it profited to the noble Augustus that untill the dethe of his uncle Julius Cesar, he diligently applyed his study in Athenes, it well appered after that the Ciuile warres were all finisshed, whan he, refourmynge the hole astate of the publike weale, stablisshed the Senate, and takynge unto hym ten honorable personages, dayly in his owne persone consulted with them of maters to be reported twyse in a monethe to the Senate; in suche wyse aydynge and helpynge forthe that mooste noble courte with his incomparable study and diligence.b

The emperour Titus, sonne of Vespasian, for his lernynge and vertue was named the delicate of the worlde.c

Marcus Antoninus the emperour, was in euery kynde of lernynge so excellent, that he was therfore openly named the philosopher, nat in reproche, (as men do nowe a dayes in despyted call them philosophers and poetes whom they per

6

sibi in eo.'—Ibid. lib. xxxiv. cap. 19. Cicero says: Usque mihi temperavi, dum perducerem eo rem, ut dignum aliquid et consulatu meo, et vestrâ expectatione efficerem.'-Epis. ad Div. x. 7. In Sherwood's Eng. -French Dict. we find the phrase 'to temper himselfe' translated ‘s'abstenir, se refreindre, se moderer.'

• The author has misapprehended the original passage ('Decem valentissimis senatorii ordinis amicis sellam suam circumstantibus,' Suet. Oct. 35), in which Suetonius alludes to one particular occasion when Octavius in company with Agrippa was present at a scrutiny of the Senate.

b (Sanxit) et ne plus quàm bis in mense legitimus Senatus ageretur, Kalendis et Idibus . . sibique instituit consilia sortiri semestria, cum quibus de negotiis ad frequentem Senatum referendis.ante tractaret.'—Ibid. 35.

C

• Huic Titus filius successit, qui et ipse Vespasianus est dictus, vir omnium virtutum genere mirabilis, adeo ut "amor et delicia humani generis " diceretur 'Eutrop. lib. vii. cap. 21. The same epithet is applied to him by Suetonius and Victor.

This is the French despit, which Cotgrave translates, Despight, spight, anger, spleene, stomacke, vexation.' Palsgrave has 'Despyte-Despit z. m. contumelie s. f.' In a letter from Henry IV. to the Duke of Orleans in 1402 we find the word used, 'Si vous semble par vostre present escrit qu'iceluy vostredit desir, auez tourné grandement en friuolles et en parolles de tenson et despit, en diffamant nostre personne.'-Monstrelet, Chron. tom. i. p. 12, ed. 1572. The phrase occurs constantly in Froissart; thus the Duke of Anjou, in 1388, is made to say in answer to the question whether certain hostages should be put to death, Par ma foi, si feront, en dépit de Messire Robert Canolle et de Messire Hue

ceyue studious in sondry good disciplines), but to the augmentation of his honour. For beyng of his owne nature aptly inclined to embrace vertue, he, addyng to abundaunce of lernyng, became therby a wonderfull and perfecte prince, beynge neyther by study withdrawen from affaires of the publike weale, nor by any busynes utterly pluckyd frome Philosophy and other noble doctrynes. By the whiche mutuall

Broec, qui ont menti leur foi.'—Chron. tom. ii. p. 384, which is rendered by Lord Berners, By my faythe they shall, in the dispyte of Sir Robert Canoll and Sir Byre, who hath falsed their faithe.'-Chron. vol. ii. p. 57. Again, referring to the same circumstance, he says, 'Et tantôt Messire Robert Canolle fit ouvrir une poterne hors du chastel, et sur les fossés il fit décoler, au dépit de François, tous les prisonniers que il tenoit' (ubi supra), which appears thus in Lord Berners' version: And incontynent Sir Robert Canoll opyned a posterne gate, and on the brimme of the dykes, in dispyte of the frenchemen, he caused to stryke of the heedes of all the prisoners that he had.'-Ubi supra. Again Earl Douglas is reported to have said, ‘Au dépit de Messire Henry de Percy, qui dit devant hier que il me challengeroit son pennon que je conquis, et par beau fait d'armes, à la porte du chastel, nous ne nous partirons point de cy dedans deux ou trois jours, et ferons assailir le chastel d'Octebourch' (Ibid. p. 725), which is thus translated by Lord Berners : 'In dispyte of Sir Henry Percy (who sayd he wolde come and wynne agayn his penon). let us nat departe hence for two or thre dayes; lette us assayle this castell. -Ibid. p. 394. So Montaigne says, 'Alexandre assiegeoit une ville aux Indes; ceulx de dedans, se trouvants pressez, se resolurent vigoreusement à le priver du plaisir de cette victoire, et s'embraiserent universellement touts quand et leur ville, en despit de son humanité.'-Essais, tom. ii. p. 130, ed. 1854; and Chaucer in Troylus and Cryseyde:

The word is no doubt derived from the Latin despectus, despicere; and in Cooper's edition of the author's Dictionary the words despicatus, despicatio, are translated, 'despite, contempt.' We may trace the origin of the phrase used in the text by comparing it with the following passage in Cicero: Filii parvi, privati patris auxilio, ludibrio et despectui paternis inimicis erunt oppositi.'-Ad Herenn, lib. iv. cap. 39.

See Vol. I. p. 120.

See Vol. I. p. 104, note.

coniunction and iust temperaunce of those two studyes he attayned to suche a fourme in all his gouernaunce, that he was named and taken for father of the Senate, of the people, and uniuersally of all the hole empyre. Moreouer his dedes

I.e. Mingling, composition, admixture = attemperance. Palsgrave has 'Temperaunce―atrempance s. f. attemperance s. f.'—L'Esclaircissement, p. 279. And 'I temper any metalles togyther.-Je attrempe, prim. conj. and je trempe, prim. conj. When metalles be well tempered togyther they wyll be all as one. Quant blusieurs metaulx sont bien attrempez ensemble ilz seront comme silz fussent tous que ung seul metal.'— Ibid. p. 754. In Baret's Alvearie we find, 'A moderation' a tempering; a mixing; temperatio, Cic. кpâσis. Attrempement, temperature. This sense is, of course, derived from that of the Latin words temperare, temperantia. Thus Cicero says, 'Ut enim corporis temperatio, quum ea congruunt inter se, è quibus constamus, sanitas sic animi dicitur, quum ejus judicia opinionesque concordant, eaque animi est virtus; quam alii ipsam temperantiam dicunt esse, alii obtemperantem temperantiæ præceptis, et eam subsequentem, nec habentem ullam speciem suam.'-Tusc. Quæst. lib. iv. cap. 13. Elsewhere he says, 'In variâ et perpetuâ oratione hi sunt inter se miscendi et temperandi.'— Orator, cap. 58. Pliny, speaking of Corinthian bronze, says, ‘Ejus tria genera: candidum, argento nitore quàm proximè accedens, in quo illa mixtura prævaluit: alterum, in quo auri fulva natura: tertium, in quo æqualis omnium temperies fuit. Præter hæc est, cujus ratio non potest reddi, quanquam hominis manu facta dederit Fortuna temperamentum simulacro signisque.'-Nat. Hist. lib. xxxiv. cap. 3. Tibullus employs it in reference to liquids: Temperet annosum Marcia lympha merum' (lib. iii. el. 6); and thus it passed into French, for Froissart, describing the sufferings of the English in Portugal in 1387, says, 'Ils trouvoient peu de bonnes eaux et de fresches, pour temprer leur vin ni eux rafreschir,' (Chron. tom ii. p. 628, Pan. Lit. edit.), which Lord Berners translates: 'They coude fynde but lytell good waters to temper their wynes nor to refresshe them.'-Chron. vol. ii. p. 296, ed. 1812. Udall, in his translation of the Paraphrases of Erasmus, says, 'There hadde beene manye soondrye drenches tempered by the Philosophers; as, for example, by the secte of Pithagoras, by the Academikes, by the Stoikes, by the Epicureans, and by the Peripatetikes, promisyng perfecte healthe of the mindes, yea, and heauens blisse too. Moyses tempered many pocions, prescribing and appoyntyng soondrye ceremonyes of religion and of seruyng God; the prophetes also made muche and manye temperynges to the same ende and purpose.'--Vol. i. fo. ccix. ed. 1551. And on referring to the original we find that Erasmus wrote, 'Miscuerant varia pharmaca philosophi Pythagorici, &c. Multa miscuit Moses,' &c.—Paraphr. in N. Test. p. 275, ed. 1541. In the Promptorium we find 'Temperyn, or menge to-gedur (myngyn togedyr) commisceo, misceo' (p. 488). And in the author's own Dictionary Temperatura is translated "A temperance or moderation in the mynglynge of thynges togyther.' And we have already seen the verb 'to temper' used in the sense of 'to mix' in the present volume. See ante p. 318.

At first he declined the title of Pater Patriæ conferred on him by the Senate

and wordes were of all men had in so hyghe estimation and reuerence, that bothe the Senate and people toke of him lawes and rules of their lyuynge. And in his gouernaunce and propre lyuing, as well at home in his house as in his ciuile busines, he was to him selfe the onely lawe and example. And as he was aboue other highest in autoritie, so by the uniuersall oppinion of all men he was iuged to be of all other men than lyuinge, the best and also the wysist.

CHAPTER XXV.

Of Experience whiche haue preceded our tyme, with a defence of
Histories.a

EXPERIENCE whereof commeth wysedome is in two maner of wise. The one is actes committed or done by other men, wherof profite or damage succedynge, we may, (in Titus Liknowynge or beholdinge it), be therby instructed uius in to apprehende the thing which to thepublike weale, præmio lii.

in the absence of his younger colleague Verus, but the general esteem in which he was held appears in the account given by Capitolinus of his death: Quum igitur in amore omnium imperasset, atque ab aliis modò frater, modò pater, modò filius, ut cujusque ætas sinebat, et diceretur et amaretur, diem ultimum clausit.'-Hist. Aug. tom. i. p. 358, ed. 1671. Merivale's description of the elder Antonine is equally applicable to his successor : 'It had been said in praise of Augustus, that he was the Paterfamilias of the whole empire: but the head of a Roman family was at best a beneficent despot, standing aloof, in haughty dignity, from the caresses of wife and children, and exacting obedience from their fear rather than their affection; while among his slaves he was a tyrant, self-willed alike in kindness and in cruelty. Antoninus was the father of his subjects in a different sense.'-Hist. of Rome, vol. vii. p. 505.

• Hume has some remarks on the study of History which might almost have been suggested by a perusal of this chapter. 'If we consider the shortness of human life, and our limited knowledge, even of what passes in our own time, we must be sensible that we should be for ever children in understanding, were it not for this invention, which extends our experience to all past ages, and to the most distant nations; making them contribute as much to our improvement in wisdom,