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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Evkning XLV. On the Safety and Happiness of a Life of Obscurity. The Choice1 of Hercules, and other pieces of a similar tendency to be found among the ancient moralists, were a beautiful and efficacious mode of conveying a fine moral lesson. They powerfully stimulated the minds of young persons to neglect the blandishments of vice, and to follow virtue over the rugged steep that leads to glory. Hercules made an honourable choice; and his example was intended to fire the soul with emulative ardour. Ambition like his is useful, as it calls for those fine exertions which contribute to meliorate the condition of man, to improve all that Providence has allotted him, to perfect art, and to adorn society. Happy it is for the public that man is so formed as, for the sake of fame, to relinquish ease, and devote his time, his health, and his life, to labours, which, while they dignify himself, enrich, embellish, and aggrandize an empire. And great is the pleasure attendant on exertion, and sweet the reward of applauding fellow-creatures, when the exertion is virtuous and successful. Magnum iter intends; sed dat mihi gloria vires. But there is a great deal of unsuccessful exertion in pursuit of fame, and many, after sowing in pain and labour, reap only a harvest of disappointment. For the sake of these, and of others who find not opportunities to distinguish themselves, it is useful to suggest consolatory topics; such as point out the pains and penalties of fame, and the ease and pleasure of a life led in retirement. Nor is it fair to at- tribute whatever is said on this side of the question, to the same motive which induced the fox to exclaim that the grapes were sour. There are certainly a thousand solid comforts to be enjoyed in a state of obscurity, which are barter...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217658027 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217658024 |
| Weight | 0.58 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.40 In |
| List Price | $19.99 |
| Format | Paperback |
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| Pages | 172 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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