Demades the Athenian--[Seneca, De Beneficiis, vi. 38, whence nearly the whole of this chapter is taken.]--condemned one of his city, whose trade it was to sell the necessaries for funeral ceremonies, upon pretence that he demanded unreasonable profit, and that that profit could not accrue to him, but by the death of a great number of people. A judgment that appears to be ill grounded, forasmuch as no profit whatever can possibly be made but at the expense of another, and that by the same rule he should condemn all gain of what kind soever. The merchant only thrives by the debauchery of youth, the husband man by the dearness of grain, the architect by the ruin of buildings, lawyers and officers of justice by the suits and contentions of men: nay, even the honour and office of divines are derived from our death and vices. A physician takes no pleasure in the health even of his friends, says the ancient Greek comic writer, nor a soldier in the peace of his country, and so of the rest. And, which is yet worse, let every one but dive into his own bosom, and he will find his private wishes spring and his secret hopes grow up at another’s expense. Upon which consideration it comes into my head, that nature does not in this swerve from her general polity; for physicians hold, that the birth, nourishment, and increase of every thing is the dissolution and corruption of another:

“Nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit, Continuo hoc mors est illius, quod fuit ante.”

[“For, whatever from its own confines passes changed, this is at once the death of that which before it was.”--Lucretius, ii. 752.]

ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS:

Accommodated my subject to my strength Affright people with the very mention of death All I aim at is, to pass my time at my ease All think he has yet twenty good years to come Apprenticeship and a resemblance of death Become a fool by too much wisdom Both himself and his posterity declared ignoble, taxable Caesar: he would be thought an excellent engineer to boot Courtesy and good manners is a very necessary study Dangers do, in truth, little or nothing hasten our end Death can, whenever we please, cut short inconveniences Death has us every moment by the throat Death is a part of you Denying all solicitation, both of hand and mind Did my discourses came only from my mouth or from my heart Die well--that is, patiently and tranquilly. Discover what there is of good and clean in the bottom of the po Downright and sincere obedience Every day travels towards death; the last only arrives at it. Fear is more importunate and insupportable than death itself Fear to lose a thing, which being lost, cannot be lamented? Fear: begets a terrible astonishment and confusion Feared, lest disgrace should make such delinquents desperate Give these young wenches the things they long for Have you ever found any who have been dissatisfied with dying? How many more have died before they arrived at thy age How many several ways has death to surprise us? How much more insupportable and painful an immortal life I have lived longer by this one day than I should have done I take hold of, as little glorious and exemplary as you will If nature do not help a little, it is very hard In this last scene of death, there is no more counterfeiting Inclination to love one another at the first sight Indocile liberty of this member Insensible of the stroke when our youth dies in us Live at the expense of life itself. Much better to offend him once than myself every day Nature, who left us in such a state of imperfection Neither men nor their lives are measured by the ell No man more certain than another of to-morrow.--Seneca No one can be called happy till he is dead and buried Not certain to live till I came home Not melancholic, but meditative Nothing can be a grievance that is but once Philosophy is nothing but to prepare one’s self to die Premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty Profit made only at the expense of another Rather prating of another man’s province than his own Same folly as to be sorry we were not alive a hundred years ago Slaves, or exiles, ofttimes live as merrily as other folk some people rude, by being overcivil in their courtesy The day of your birth is one day’s advance towards the grave The deadest deaths are the best The thing in the world I am most afraid of is fear There is no long, nor short, to things that are no more Thing at which we all aim, even in virtue is pleasure Things often appear greater to us at distance than near at hand To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one’s self to die Utility of living consists not in the length of days Valour has its bounds as well as other virtues Valuing the interest of discipline Well, and what if it had been death itself? What may be done to-morrow, may be done to-day. Who would weigh him without the honour and grandeur of his end. Willingly slip the collar of command upon any pretence whatever Woman who goes to bed to a man, must put off her modesty You must first see us die Young and old die upon the same terms

ESSAYS OF MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE

Translated by Charles Cotton

Edited by William Carew Hazlitt

1877

CONTENTS OF VOLUME 4.

XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law received XXIII. Various events from the same counsel. XXIV. Of pedantry.