through their hands. Overlooking many, who would have been ambitious of this high honour, they made choice of Abdolonymus, whofe fingular merit had rendered him. confpicuous, even in the vale of obfcurity. Though remotely related to the royal family, a feries of misfortunes had reduced him to the neceffity of cultivating a garden, for a fmall ftipend, in the suburbs of the city.

While Abdolonymus was bufily employed in weeding his garden, the two ends of Hephæftion, bearing in their hands the enfigns of hyalty, approached him, and saluted him king. They formed him that Alexander had appointed him to that office; and required him immediately to exchange his ruftic garb, and utenfils of hufbandry, for the regal robe and fceptre. At the fame time they admonifhed him, when he should be feated on the throne, and have a nation in his power, not to forget the humble condition from which he had been raifed.

All this, at the firft, appeared to Abdolonymus as an illufion of the fancy, or an infult offered to his poverty. He requested them not to trouble him farther with their impertinent jests; and to find fome other way of amusing themselves, which might leave him in the peaceable enjoyment of his obfcure habitation. At length, however,

they convinced him, that they were serious in their propofal; and prevailed upon him to accept the regal office, and accompany them to the palace.

No fooner was he in poffeffion of the government, than pride and envy created him enemies, who whispered their murmurs in every place, til at laft they reached the ear of Alexander. He commanded the new elected prince to be fent for; and inquired of him, with what temper of mind he had borne his poverty. "Would to Heaven," replied Abdolonymus, "that I may be able to bear my crown with equal moderation for when I poffeffed little, I wanted nothing: thefe hands fupplied me with whatever I defired." From this answer, Alexander formed fo high an idea of his wifdom, that he confirmed the choice which had been made; and annexed a neighbouring province to the gov ernment of Sidon.

:

QUINTUS CURTIUS.

SECTION XXIV.

The Speech of Fabricius, a Roman Ambassador, to King Pyrrhus, who attempted to bribe him to his Interefts, by the Offer of a great Sum of Money.

WITH regard to my poverty, the king has, indeed, been justly informed. My whole eftate confifts in a house of but mean appearance, and a little spot of ground; from which, by my own labour, I draw my fupport. But if, by any means, thou hast been perfuaded to think that this poverty renders me of lefs confequence in my own country, or in any degree unhappy, thou art greatly deceived. I have no reason to complain of fortune; fhe fupplies me with all that nature requires; and if I am without fuperfluities, I am alfo free from the defire of them. With these, I confefs I should be more able to fuccour the neceffitous, the only advantage for which the wealthy are to be envied; but fmall as my poffeffions are, I can ftill contribute fomething to the fupport of the state, and the affistance of my friends. With refpect to honours, my country places me, poor as I am, upon a level with the richeft: For Rome knows no qualifications for great employments, but virtue and abil ity. She appoints me to officiate in the most august ceremonies of religion: fhe intrufts me with the command of her armies; the confides to my care the most important negociations. My poverty does not leffen the weight and influence of my counfels in the fenate. The Roman people honour me for that very poverty which king Pyrrhus confiders as a difgrace. They know the many opportunities I have had to enrich myself, without cenfure; they are convinced of my difinterested zeal for their profperity: and if I have any thing to complain of, in the return they make me, it is only the excefs of their applaufe. What value, then, can I put upon thy gold and filver? What king can add any thing to my fortune? Always attentive to discharge the duties incumbent upon me, I have a mind free from felf-reproach; and I have an honest fame.

C SECTION XXV.

Chara&er of James I. King of England.

No PRINCE, fo little enterprifing and fo inoffenfive, was ever fo much expofed to the oppofite extremes of calumny and flattery, of fatire and panegyric. And the factions which began in his time, being ftill continued, have made his character be as much difputed to this day, as is com

}

monly that of princes who are our contemporaries. Many virtues, however, it must be owned, he was possessed of; but not one of them pure, or free from the contagion of the neighbouring vices. His generofity bordered on profufion, his learning on pedantry, his pacific difpofition on pufillanimity, his wifdom on cunning, his friendship on light fancy and boyish fondness. While he imagined that he was only maintaining his own authority, he may perhaps be fufpected in fome of his actions, and ftill more of his pretensions, to have encroached on the liberties of his people. While he endeavoured, by an exact neutrality, to acquire the good will of all his neighbours, he was able to preserve fully the esteem and regard of none. His capacity was confiderable, but fitter to difcourfe on general maxims, than to conduct any intricate business.

His intentions were juft, but more adapted to the conduct of private life, than to the government of kingdoms. Awkward in his perfon, and ungainly in his manners, he was ill qualified to command refpect partial and undif cerning in his affections, he was little fitted to acquire general love. Of a feeble temper, more than of a frugal judgment; expofed to our ridicule from his vanity, but exempt from our hatred by his freedom from pride and arrogance. And, upon the whole, it may be pronounced of his character, that all his qualities were fullied with weakness, and embellished by humanity. Political courage he was certainly devoid of; and from thence chiefly is derived the ftrong prejudice, which prevails against his perfonal bravery an inference, however, which must be owned, from general experience, to be extremely fallacious.

SECTION XXVI.

HUME.

Charles V. Emperor of Germany refigns his Dominions, and retires from the World.

THIS great emperor, in the plenitude of his power, and in poffeffion of all the honours which can flatter the heart of man, took the extraordinary refolution, to refign his kingdoms; and to withdraw entirely from any concern in business or the affairs of this world, in order that he might spend the remainder of his days in retirement and folitude Though it requires neither deep reflection, nor extraordinary difcernment, to discover that the fate of royalty is not exempt from cares and difappointments; though most of those who are exalted to a throne, find so

licitude, and fatiety, and disgust, to be their perpetual attendants, in that envied pre-eminence; yet, to descend voluntarily from the fupreme to a fubordinate station, and to relinquish the poffeffion of power, in order to attain the enjoyment of happiness, feems to be an effort too great for the human mind. Several inftances, indeed, occur in hif tory, of monarchs who have quitted a throne, and have ended their days in retirement. But they were either weak princes, who took this refolution rafhly, and repented of it as foon as it was taken; or unfortunate princes, from whofe hands fome ftrong rival had wrefted their fceptre, and compelled them to defcend with reluctance into a private ftation. Dioclefian is, perhaps, the only prince, capable of holding the reins of government, who ever refigned them from deliberate choice; and who continued, during many years, to enjoy the tranquillity of retirement, without fetching one penitent figh, or cafting back one look of defire, towards the power or dignity which he had abandoned. No wonder, then, that Charles's refignation fhould fill all Europe with astonishment; and give rife, both among his contemporaries, and among the hiftorians of that period, to various conjectures concerning the motives which determined a prince, whofe, ruling paffion had been uniformly the love of power, at the age of fifty-fix, when objects of ambition operate with full force on the mind, and are purfued with the greatest ardour, to take a refolution fö fingular and unexpected.

The emperor, in pursuance of his determination, having affembled the ftates of the Low Countries at Bruffels, feated himself, for the last time, in the chair of state; on one fide of which was placed his fon, and on the other, his fifter, the queen of Hungary, regent of the Netherlands, with a fplendid retinue of the grandees of Spain and princes of the empire standing behind him. The prefident of the council of Flanders, by his command, explained, in a few words, his intention in calling this extraordinary meeting of the states. He then read the inftrument of refignation, by which Charles furrendered to his fon Philip all his territories, jurisdiction, and authority in the Low Countries; abfolving his fubjects there from their oath of allegiance to him, which he required them to transfer to Philip his lawful heir; and to ferve him with the fame loyalty and zeal that they had manifefted, during fo long a course of years, in fupport of his government.

Charles then rofe from his feat, and leaning on the shoulder of the prince of Orange, because he was unable to stand without fupport, he addressed himself to the audience; and from a paper which he held in his hand, in order to affist his memory, he recounted, with dignity, but without oftentation, all the great things which he had undertaken and performed, fince the commencement of his administration. He obferved, that, from the feventeenth year of his age, he had dedicated all his thoughts and attention to public objects, referving no portion of his time for the indulgence of his eafe, and very little for the enjoyment of private pleafure; that either in a pacific or hoftile manner he had visited Germany nine times, Spain fix times, France four times, Italy feven times, the Low Countries ten times, England twice, Africa as often, and had made eleven voyages by fea; that while his health permitted him to discharge his duty, and the vigour of his conftitution was equal, in any degree, to the arduous office of governing dominions fo extenfive, he had never fhunned labour, nor repined under fatigue; that now, when his health was broken, and his vigour exhausted by the rage of an incurable diftemper, his growing infirmities admonished him to retire; nor was he fo fond of reigning, as to retain the fceptre in an impotent hand, which was no longer able to protect his fubjects, or to render them happy; that inftead of a fovereign worn out with diseases, and fcarcely half alive, he gave them one in the prime of life, accustomed already to govern, and who added to the vigour of youth all the attention and sagacity of maturer years; that if, during the course of a long adminiftration, he had committed any material error in government, or if, under the preffure of fo many and great affairs, and amidst the attention which he had been obliged to give to them, he had either neglected or injured any of his fubjects, he now implored their forgiveness; that, for his part, he fhould ever retain a grateful fenfe of their fidelity and attachment, and would carry the remembrance of it along with him to the place of his retreat, as his fweeteft confolation, as well as the best reward for all his fervices; and, in his laft prayers to Almighty God, would pour forth his ardent withes for their welfare.

Then turning towards Philip, who fell on his knees and kiffed his father's hand, "If," fays he, "I had left you, by my death, this rich inheritance, to which I have made fuch large additions, fome regard would have been juftly due