LETTER CLVII. CLEANDER to CRATIPPUs. THE HE people of Athens are so elated by the victory at Sphacteria, that they have ordered as many Hermæ to be made in honour of it, as were set up after the defeat of the Medes at Strymon. My curiosity led me the other day into the portico, where they are to be placed. "I I suppose (said I, to a friend who was with me) the "state takes this opportunity to pay some acknowledgment to DE"MOSTHENES, the instrument of its success against the Spartans, by inscribing his name with a recital of the action on the bases of "those statues; an acknowledgment suited to one of his elegant mind, who is equally sensible and deserving of applause." "By no means (answered he); it is never usual on these occasions to "mark any name but that of the people." "Methinks (returned 66 66 I) your practice is an odd one. Why, you pay more honour to "the trifling feats of activity or strength performed at your solemn "entertainments, than to the wisdom and virtue of those officers "who decide the fate of your country! The Athenians must "have a very high opinion of their fellow-citizens, to think they "are so much the servants of the publick, as to endanger their reputation, without even the hope of this fantastical reward. Or you must permit me to have a very mean opinion of the Athenians, if the passion of envy can infect a nation, to the prejudice "of the few who distinguish themselves." You are mistaken, (interrupted my friend,) in imputing it to the envy and jealousy "of the Athenians, not to their wisdom and magnanimity, that 66 66 they are fond of publick monuments, but sparing in private memo"rials. I have thought the first often preferable to the last, since they are addressed to a whole nation, and may be regarded as an "incentive to virtue by the meanest, as well as the most elevated "mind. When it is said (for instance) on some of them, that the people fought valiantly and successfully for their liberties, can one “of the finest education, of the greatest quality or fortune, infer any thing less from it, than that it becomes him to be the fore"most in such contests? Or can the most uncultivated fail of being reminded, that, though he acts in a little sphere, his life is "a debt to his country, which must be paid whenever she demands "it? But when a statue is erected, or an inscription drawn up, to "the honour of a private character, it makes an impression upon “few.—To attain such exalted merit is above the reach, and to "desire it, is beyond the wishes of most men; so that while the "name of a people excites a general spirit of enthusiasm, the memo"rial of one genius excites. only the emulation of another. Like "an esoteric treatise of philosophy, it may fall in the way of the 66 vulgar; but they cannot understand it, or improve by it, because "calculated for men of speculation; whereas the publick monuments " are like popular essays, more universally useful and intelligible. "To turn the argument in another light. Would it not be incon"sistent with that equality of rank, which should be carefully “maintained in a free government, to bestow distinctions of this "nature too frequently even on those who are eminent? Can any "more effectual way be taken to inspire a love of our country, or "to suppress the gentle risings of vanity, than to let it be known to every man of parts, that it is a matter of strict duty to be active "in the common service? That what he performs with credit in "the field, is owing partly to the tutelar deities of the state, partly QQ 2 " to 66 "to the valour of his soldiers, and the experience of his officers; and "after all, fortune takes a considerable share of praise from him. "That on these accounts he has no claim to crowns of gold, statues, "or inscriptions. Yet were the contrary practice observed, which "you zealously recommend, the opportunities which such pre" eminence would afford its possessors, of comparing themselves "with their countrymen, would intoxicate some with a dangerous, " and others with a silly pride; so that he, who arrived to these 'glories, and had good talents, would in reality erect himself into the "monarch of the state; while one of meaner endowments would "in fancy be so superior to the rest of his plain fellow-citizens, that "the gift of them would be a certain prejudice to the man, and "render him strangely ridiculous. We may add further, that as "the best understandings are not proof against the giddiness which "attends honours, so great honesty may be corrupted by a facility "of procuring them; and they will be sought for in the quarrels of "faction, not contested in the race of virtue." I was not willing, CRATIPPUS, to hold a controversy with my friend, and yielded to him. From a trifling particular concerning the Hermæ, which the state is now erecting, our conversation rambled into general topicks; and the longer we talked, the more we lost sight of what we first disputed. At last I said, "How dis proportioned is the number of possible methods for preserving fame, to those of acquiring it! an argument that we ought not to "concern ourselves about its duration after death. If it has served our turn while we lived, we should not eagerly intrude it upon "the stage to the disturbance of the characters that succeed us; "since it seems a sort of busy impertinence to aim at ingrossing "the attention of posterity. Commemorative pillars and inscrip"tions are undoubtedly the best records of antiquity, as they are 6.6 more 66 "more lasting, and less liable to alteration than tradition. In the "first ages an unhewn stone was often placed on the spot where some remarkable transaction had passed; but the knowledge of its "occasion could be had from nothing but the memory and reports " of the inhabitants. This imperfect means of giving information to "succeeding times was afterwards improved, by sketching out a bar"barous representation of the story on rough columns; the design "of which, in a course of years, was only to be gathered from conjecture, till letters introduced an historical certainty. HERO"DOTUS has extracted much of his history from the marbles fur"nished him by the priests of Ægypt; and it is to these we are in"debted for our acquaintance with the celebrated conquerors, SESOSTRIS, HERCULES, and BACCHUS." "And truly, (interposed my friend,) I would willingly part with their acquaintance. I am sorry we were ever possessed of their names, or their examples. "The love of praise soon put us on contrivances for transmiting it to our descendants; and most of the ancient monuments perpetuate the glory of particular great men, but scarcely any "are of the national kind I have commended. So that I am apt "to fancy, they were not so much erected by the veneration of " contemporaries for exalted merit, as by the personal vanity of oppressors." "I believe (returned I) the national monuments, "which are your favourites, were never thought of, till mankind “had wisdom and courage enough to form civil societies upon prin 66 ciples of liberty. Before that time, whatever credit the subjects "acquired, was unjustly assumed by the prince. But are you not of "opinion, however seldom these marks of honour should be bestowed by the publick on individuals, yet if a statue or inscription were "now and then put up by the respect of private families to their distinguished relations, that such memorials might be use"ful ?" "Could we rely (answered he) on the impartiality of "friends, "friends, and were the voice of dependants as disinterested as that " of the publick, I would agree with you. Otherwise, if these eulo 66 66 gies become cheaply prostituted to the purposes of servility, and "in the opinion of every man shall exceed the merit of the cha"racter they celebrate, they will be attended with the most hurtful consequences. The generality, when they find the lives of the "great not at all correspondent to the laboured commendations of them, will conclude the perfection set forth there to be unattain"able and ideal; for the difference is the same between the impres"sion made by descriptions of what ought to have been, and "what has been, as it is between that of precept and example. Poetry in its original was set apart to do honour to the gods and "heroes; but that degeneracy, which infects all human things, has spared not the sacred art; and perhaps inscriptions may one day "be admired for the delicacy and sprightlines, not the truth and simplicity, of the encomium." Then, (said I), by Jupiter, I "could curse the invention of letters, which must submit to convey so much flattery to succeeding times. After all, if no man "ought to wish for posthumous fame, except the imitation of his "character might be of real service to the world, then it is weak"ness to think of it on our own account. If the vicious share it "here in common with the virtuous, and sometimes men of low 66 understanding with men of parts, then he who has qualified him"self to deserve it, should not lament those accidents of nature or "fortune that deprive him of it. In a word, if the opinion of phi losophers be just, that there is another state of moral designation, "we may expect that MINOS, EACUS, and RHADAMANTHUS, will "reverse all the false judgments that have been passed in this; and "while they condemn monarchs and ministers to eternal oblivion, "will call out, to the observation of innumerable beings, many wise "and good men, who were either unknown or forgotten." C. |