to the other in his old Age. Indeed the Wise Men
of the World stood Neuter; but alas! their
Numbers were not considerable. At length, when
these two Potentates had wearied themselves with waging
War upon one another, they agreed upon an Interview,
at which neither of their Counsellors were to be present.
It is said that Luxury began the Parley, and
after having represented the endless State of War in
which they were engaged, told his Enemy, with a Frankness
of Heart which is natural to him, that he believed
they two should be very good Friends, were it not
for the Instigations of Poverty, that pernicious
Counsellor, who made an ill use of his Ear, and filled
him with groundless Apprehensions and Prejudices.
To this Avarice replied, that he looked upon
Plenty (the first Minister of his Antagonist)
to be a much more destructive Counsellor than Poverty,
for that he was perpetually suggesting Pleasures,
banishing all the necessary Cautions against Want,
and consequently undermining those Principles on which
the Government of Avarice was founded.
At last, in order to an Accommodation, they agreed
upon this Preliminary; That each of them should immediately
dismiss his Privy-Counsellor. When things were
thus far adjusted towards a Peace, all other differences
were soon accommodated, insomuch that for the future
they resolved to live as good Friends and Confederates,
and to share between them whatever Conquests were
made on either side. For this Reason, we now find
Luxury and Avarice taking Possession
of the same Heart, and dividing the same Person between
them. To which I shall only add, that since the
discarding of the Counsellors above-mentioned, Avarice
supplies Luxury in the room of Plenty,
as Luxury prompts Avarice in the place
of Poverty.
C.
[Footnote 1:
Alieni appetens, sui profusus.
Sallust.]
* * * *
*
No. 56. Friday, May 4, 1711.
Addison.
‘Felices
errore suo ...’
Lucan.
The Americans believe that all Creatures have
Souls, not only Men and Women, but Brutes, Vegetables,
nay even the most inanimate things, as Stocks and
Stones. They believe the same of all the Works
of Art, as of Knives, Boats, Looking-glasses:
And that as any of these things perish, their Souls
go into another World, which is inhabited by the Ghosts
of Men and Women. For this Reason they always
place by the Corpse of their dead Friend a Bow and
Arrows, that he may make use of the Souls of them
in the other World, as he did of their wooden Bodies
in this. How absurd soever such an Opinion as
this may appear, our European Philosophers
have maintained several Notions altogether as improbable.
Some of Plato’s followers in particular,
