that he who[1] attempts so great an Affair without God, is an Object of divine Wrath, and would only bring public Dishonour upon himself. For, in a well regulated House, no one comes, and says to himself, "I ought to be the Manager here." If he doth, and the Master[2] returns, and sees him insolently giving Orders, he drags him out, and hath him whipt. Such is the Case likewise in this great City [of the World.] For here too is a Master of the Family, who orders every thing. "You are the Sun: you can, by making a Circuit, form the Year, and the Seasons, and increase and nourish the Fruits; raise and calm the Winds, and give a moderate Warmth to the Bodies of Men. Go: make your Circuit, and thus intimately move every thing, from the greatest to the least. You are a Calf: when the Lion appears, do your[3] Part, or you will suffer for it. You are a Bull: come and fight; for that is incumbent on you, and becomes you, and you can do it. You can lead an Army to Troy: be you Agamemnon. You can engage in single Combat with Hector: be you Achilles." But, if Thersites had
come
- ↑ And no Man taketh this Honour unto himself, but be that is called of God.Heb. v. 4.
- ↑ This hath a remarkable Likeness to Matth. xxiv. 50, 51. especially in the Originals.
- ↑ i. e. run away.
of their Address, and the detestable Indecency of their external Behaviour. The Stoics were indeed a reformed Branch of the Cynics, and thence, perhaps, spoke of them somewhat more favourably, than they might otherwise have done. The Cynics are said to have derived their Name from Cynosarges, a Gymnasium, without the Walls of Athens, where Antisthenes taught; and which was so called from the Accident of a white Dog stealing Part of a Victim, which Diomus was sacrificing to Hercules: and their barking at every body, and their Want of Shame, helped to confirm the Appellation. In this Cynosarges was a celebrated Temple of Hercules; which, very possibly, gave the Cynics the original Hint of comparing themselves to that Hero; which they so much affected.
