The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1898-01-06

truthfully on this topic than the poe
Horace, showing how we are bondsmcn
to discomfort through our immodera' e
passions. He says: I'm truth, til. II
who rulest over me, unhappy, art a
slave to Others, and art guided as 1.
puppet that moves by strings not lis
own. Who then is free? The wire
man who is able to rule over hlmsel; !;
whom neither poverty, nor death, nor
chains frighten, brave in responding te.
his desires and in despising honoars,
and wholly round and complete il,
himself, so that nothing can hinder
his free movement against whom fo.
tune always rushes to be crippled.
He who fears poverty is without lib1r-
ty.- Tell me, what matters it to th.
| man who lives within the bounds O!
nature whether be ploughs a hundred
Or thousand acres J.! They who GOV
ct muci, want much. II shall moe
wisely extend ny humble income b.,
contracting my desires. : True wisdom,
dissenting from the mob, teaches tie
people to renounce false names for
things, conferrlng sovereignty, the
secure diacem and the unfadlng lau-
rel, on him alone who can look upt n
vast piles of wealth with steady eye.
For neither royal treasures nor tie
lictor OF the consul can remove the
harassing anxieties of the mind, nor
the cares that hover around the splen-
did ceilings of the great. Why do we,
whose strength is of such short
continuance, aim at go many OBJ
jects. Why do we change our native
lands for climes warmed by another
sun? What exile from his country
has ever escaped from himself? AS
much more as any man shall deny
himself, so much more shall he receive
from the Gods = 1t is virtue to avoid
vice, and the highest wisdom to have
been free from folly Silver is less
worth than gold, gold than the virtues.
O citizens, money Is to be sought first /;
virtue after money J.! He who has
enough wishes for nothing more.
The covetouS man is always in want :
seek some sure limit to your wishes.
Sicilian tyrants never found out Il
greater torture than envy Whoever
covets or fears, house and proper y
please him as much as pictures blear-
eyed man. Unless the vessel is purc,
whatever you pour into 1t turns so'r.
Receive with grateful hand whatever
hour the deity has blest to you, and
pnt not off your enjoyments for a year
so that in whatever place you may
have been, you may say that you have
lived content. For if reason and pru-
dence-and not a place commanding
the widespread sea-remove cares,
those who traverse the ocean change
their sky but not their mind. Stren-
uous ,dleness employs us : we seek Oh
ships and in four-hor'e . coaches to live
happily that which you seek Is here
at UIubrae, If an even mind does not
abandon you."
Such are, literally, a few of the many
wise sentences that dropped from the
genial pen Of the ancient Roman mas
ter, who not only taught the supreme
felicity of content by moderating de-
sire, but practiced what he preached,
and obtained the deepest insight into
moral truth without the aid of special
revelation. The friend of Augustus
and the bosom friend of Maecenas, he
refused wealth from the one and honOrs
from the other, preferring his lnde-
penaence with very moderate compe-
tency as a surer road to happiness.
olive while you may, but live wisely"
was a favorlte sentiment, and his con-
slant motto was "Vlve" He urged his
friends over and over to "avold ex-
tremes," and to "keep within the gold
en- mean." Aud very pleasantly-not
at ali in the grim Carlylelan vein-he
showed that almost all of his country
men were either fools or mad because
while striving for contentment. they
sought the widest and most Irrational
means of obtaining 1t, and relied on
every method except the right. With
the keen vision of all true eeers, he
pierced deeper than most below the
surface, and saw what is as true today
as in his pagan time, that heaven and
hell are not beyond but within us-not
the shadowy extremes of future state,
but the living realities of the present j;
and that the existence of either depends
chiefly upon ourselves. As Burns sang
referring to the serenity of mind which
constitute content:
"It's no in titles nor in rank:
It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank,
To purchase peace and rest:
It's no IN making muckle mair:
It's 40 III hooks it's no in lear,
| To make us truly blest:
If happiness has not her eeat
i in h0