Wretch ! all Mankind your Folly will decry:
From Sloth, that wicked 8 Siren, swiftly fly,
Or be content to give up all the Praise
Due to your studious Life and 9 better Days.

HORACE.
Oh! may the Gods and Goddesses, my Friend,
To thee for this Advice a 10 Barber send !
But how canst thou such Knowledge of me boast?

DAMASIPPU S.
Since at th' Exchange my whole Estate I loft
By luckless Barter, other Mens Affairs,
Now banish'd from my own, employ my Cares.
Before, vaft Sums for Cauldrons rare I gave,
In which fly 11 Sisyphus was wont to lave;
In Vases, Busts, was Arbiter of Taste,
Knew which was rudely wrought, which nicely cast:
I for fix hundred Crowns (worth hundreds more)
One Statue 12 threwdly added to my Store.

.
Gardens and stately Houses too I bought,
Which all, when sold, Increase of Profit brought,
And hence on Me the Title was conferr'd
Of Hermes' Favourite.

HORACE.

All this I've heard ;
And wonder what remov'd this strange Diseasca

DAMASIPPU S.
From old Complaints a new Diftemper frees.
Thus Head-achs, Pleuresies, with varying Rage,
Oft in the Bowels War inteftine wage:
VOL. III,

H

Thus,

Thus, rous’d from Slumber, a lethargic Drone
To cudgel his Physician has been known.

HORACE.
Be what you will, but, Oh ! this Frenzy spare.

DA MASIPPUS, Of this Mistake most cautiously beware; Think not Me only mad; for know, all Fools Are also mad, by wise Stertinius' Rules, Who gave me these sage Precepts; and when Grief Oppress’d me, kindly flew to my Relief, As, on Fabricius' Bridge, prepar'd I stood, With 13 muffled Head, to plunge into the Flood. To his Advice this reverend Beard I owe; When frantic with my Lofs, he footh'd my Woe, And made me thence return (Thanks to kind Fate Who brought him thither!) with a Mind sedate.

• Damasippus, (he exclaim’d,) forbear, Nor to commit so rash an Action dare !

Idle your 14 Shame; where all as mad appear, * Say, why should you the Charge of Madness fear?

? • First know its Meaning; and, if only you • It suits, your Purpose, unrestrain’d, pursue.

· The Man, whom restless Passions lead astray, • Or Ignorance of Truth, this Man, I say, • Is counted mad by sage 15 Chrysippus' School : « To Subjects, and to Kings, extends this Rule, • To all, except the Wise -Now hear, and know How those, who call you mad, like Madness show.

As Travellers, bewilder'd in the Night, Mistake their Road ; this journeys to the Right, • That to the Left, and yet are both misled, « Thro' different Paths tho' eagerly they tread; • So think yourself indeed a Fool, yet they, Who laugh at you, a dangling Tail display. • One Sort of Frenzy so o’erpowers the Heart, That Men at vain, imagin'd Terrors start;

On level Ground, before their wondering Eyes . Obstructing Trees, and Rocks, and Rivers rise.

Others, no less extravagant than those, • Rush headlong ev'n where Flames and Floods

oppose; • Tho' Mother, Sister, Father, Wife, and Friends • Exclaim,“ Lo! here a mighty Rock ascends, " There lies a dreadful Gulf,” he hears no more • Than 16 Fusius, who, in Hecuba, of yore,

Slept so profoundly in a drunken Fit, That Catienus and the crowded Pit • Strove all in vain to rouse him with their Cries, • Resounding, “ O my Mother, wake, arise !”

Now let me show you, how in all Mankind • Some epidemic Madness fires the Mind, - You, Damasippus, act a frantic Part • In buying the Remains of ancient Art :

But tell me, I intreat, and tell me true, • Is not your-Creditor as mad as you ?

H 2

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For

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• For should I thus accost you : " Take my Purse, “And what you please, without Account, disburse,” - Would it be Madness in you to comply, • Or would it not be Madness to deny ? . And should the Creditor in Answer say, " He gives his Bond this Money to repay;" • Consult Cicuta too, who knows to draw < With skilful Care the strongest Knots of Law, «Yet will this wicked Proteus burst his Chains, And, when arraign'd, deride your fruitless Pains,

, Chang'd to a Rock or Tree; or now will soar • Like a fleet Bird, now wallow like a Boar.

• If Folly constant Dissipation brings, Oeconomy of course from Wisdom springs ; · Petillius then is far, far more insane, • Who lends you what he never will regain.

Ho! to my Lecture hafte, all ye whose Breasts « Ambition racks, or Avarice molests ; « Compose your Robes, and lend a listening Ear: • You too, ye Sons of Superstition, hear; « Hear, ye Luxurious, Sensual, all Mankind • Who pine with baneful Maladies of Mind; “In Order come; of these, I'll clearly prove, Not one the Charge of Madness can remove.

« The largest Share of Hellebore to you, «Ye Avaricious, is most justly due ; • Indeed I know not but impartial Sense * To you may all 17 Anticyra dispense. .

Staberius'

• Staberius' Heirs, to make his Riches knowni, "Were charg’d to grave them on his Funeral Stone,

And doom'd to feast, if guilty of Neglect, 'The Citizens, as Arrius should direct, · Two hundred Gladiators to maintain, ' And furnish Corn in Heaps like Afric's Plain : “ Whether 'tis right or wrong, so I devise ; “ 'Tis not your Business,” the Testator cries. • Methinks, Staberius' Wisdom here was seenDAMASIPPUS

[mearl Wisdom! - What, pr’ythee, could the Dotard By graving on his Tomb the Sums bequeath'd ?

STERTINIUS. Of every Vice the greatest, while he breath'd, He reckon'd Poverty, and nought beside So much he fear'd, as poorer to have died. The less Estate he dying left behind, [Mind : The more deprav'd he would have thought his For 18 every Grace, or human or divine, [thine; Fame, Beauty, Courage, Honour, WEALTH! are And he who piles up Gold, to all Mens Eyes Will strait seem valiant, just, renown’d, and wise, Nay, ev'n a King ; or whatsoe'er he will : By this he hop'd the Trump of Fame to fill.

19 How diff'rent Ariftippus! He, we're told, Enjoin'd his Slaves, retarded by their Gold, On Libya's Plains, to throw it all away: Which seems moft Signs of Madness to display ?"

DA MA

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