many be they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. SENECA (First century of the Christian era.) LUCIUS ANNÆUS SENECA was a moralist, or a moralizing philosopher, whose precepts were not happily illustrated in his life, and in whose character there is not much to admire. He was born in Spain, about 4 B. C., but brought to Rome in childhood by his father, a man of wealth, belonging to the equestrian class. Rising to eminence as a pleader he incurred, after some years, the hostility of Messalina, the wife of the emperor Claudius, and was banished to Corsica for eight years. The second wife of Claudius, Agrippina, procured his recall, and made him the teacher of Domitius, her son by a former husband, who subsequently received the name of Nero and became the worst of emperors. For some time after Nero's accession to the throne, Seneca's influence over the young emperor was great, and was used generally for good, though not unselfishly; for the teacher and adviser improved his opportunities to acquire vast wealth. As the foul and fiendish propensities of Nero came more and more to light, Seneca yielded to them, and became, in a measure, accessory to some of the worst of his early crimes, especially the murder of his mother, Agrippina. But wickeder men than Seneca could possibly be were needed soon to satisfy Nero's demands for counsel and aid, and the philosopher was easily supplanted in imperial favor. The wealth he had accumulated then excited the greed of the vile harpies of the court, and his destruction was decreed. A conspiracy against the emperor was opportunely discovered; Seneca was accused of participation in it; he was ordered to die, and obeyed the order by opening his veins and bleeding to death-A. D. 65. Theoretically, Seneca was a Stoic; practically he may be said to have exemplified Stoicism in nothing but the calmness and dignity of his death. But his moral writings are eloquent, forcible, and true, and they have conveyed profitable teaching to all the generations since his time. SENECA'S RULES FOR A HAPPY LIFE. (From "Minor Dialogues; " translated by Aubrey Stewart.) It will come to the same thing, if I say, "The highest good is a mind which despises the accidents of fortune, and takes pleasure in virtue;" or, "It is an unconquerable strength of mind, knowing the world well, gentle in its dealings, showing great courtesy and consideration for those with whom it is brought into contact." Or we may choose to define it by calling that man happy who knows good and bad only in the form of good or bad minds: who worships honour and is satisfied with his own virtue, who is neither puffed up by good fortune nor cast down by evil fortune, who knows no other good than that which he is able to bestow upon himself, whose real pleasure lies in despising pleasures. If you choose to pursue this digres sion further, you can put this same idea into many other forms, without impairing or weakening its meaning: for what prevents our saying that a happy life consists in a mind which is free, upright, undaunted, and steadfast, beyond the influence of fear or desire, which thinks nothing good except honour, and nothing bad except shame, and regards everything else as a mass of mean details which can neither add anything to nor take anything away from the happiness of life, but which come and go without either increasing or diminishing the highest good? A man of these principles, whether he will or no, must be accompanied by continual cheerfulness, a high happiness, which come, indeed, from on high, because he delights in what he has, and desires no greater pleasures than those which his home affords. Is he not right in allowing these to turn the scale against petty, ridiculous, and shortlived movements of his wretched body? On the day on which he becomes proof proof against pain. against pleasure he also becomes See, on the other hand, how evil and guilty a slavery the man is forced to serve who is dominated in turn by pleasures and pains, those most untrustworthy and passionate of masters. We must, therefore, escape from them into freedom. This nothing will bestow upon us save contempt of Fortune: but if we attain to this, then there will dawn upon us those invaluable blessings, the repose of a mind that is at rest in a safe haven, its lofty imaginings, its great and steady delight at casting out errors and learning to know the truth, its courtesy, and its cheerfulness, in all of which we shall take delight, not regarding them as good things, but as proceeding from the proper good of man. . . . What answer are we to make to the reflection that pleasure belongs to good and bad men alike, and that bad men take as much delight in their shame as good men in noble things? This was why the ancients bade us lead the highest, not the most pleasant life, in order that pleasure might not be the guide but the companion of a rightthinking and honourable mind; for it is Nature whom we ought to make our guide: let our reason watch her, and be advised by her. To live happily, then, is the same thing as to live according to Nature: what this may be, I will explain. If we guard the endowments of the body and the advantages of nature with care and fearlessness, as things soon to depart and given to us only for a day; if we do not fall under their dominion, nor allow ourselves to become the slaves of what is no part of our own being; if we assign to all bodily pleasures and external delights the same position which is held by auxiliaries and light-armed troops in a camp; if we make them our servants, not our masters, then and then only are they of value to our minds. A man should be unbiassed and not : to be conquered by external things: he ought to admire himself alone, to feel confidence in his own spirit, and so to order his life as to be ready alike for good or for bad fortune. Let not his confidence be without knowledge, nor his knowledge without steadfastness: let him always abide by what he has once determined, and let there be no erasure in his doctrines. It will be understood, even though I append it not, that such a man will be tranquil and composed in his demeanour, high-minded and courteous in his actions. Let reason be encouraged by the senses to seek for the truth, and draw its first principles from thence indeed it has no other base of operations or place from which to start in pursuit of truth: it must fall back upon itself. Even the all-embracing universe and God who is its guide extends himself forth into outward things, and yet altogether returns from all sides back to himself. Let our mind do the same thing: when, following its bodily senses, it has by means of them sent itself forth into the things of the outward world, let it remain still their master and its own. By this means we shall obtain a strength and an ability which are united and allied together, and shall derive from it that reason which never halts between two opinions, nor is dull in forming its perceptions, beliefs, or convictions. Such a mind, when it has ranged itself in order, made its various parts agree together, and, if I may so express myself, harmonized them, has attained to the highest good for it has nothing evil or hazardous remaining, nothing to shake it or make it stumble it will do everything under the guidance of its own will, and nothing unexpected will befall it, but whatever may be done by it will turn out well, and that, too, readily and easily, without the doer having recourse to any underhand devices: for slow and hesitat ing actions are the signs of discord and want of settled |