The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift/Volume 16/Of Mean and Great Figures Made by Several Persons
OF
MEAN AND GREAT FIGURES,
Made by several Persons.
Of those who have made Great Figures in some particular Action or Circumstance of their Lives.
ALEXANDER the Great, after his victory (at the Straits of Mount Taurus), when he entered the tent, where the queen and the princesses of Persia fell at his feet.
Socrates, the whole last day of his life, and particularly from the time he took the poison until the moment he expired.
Cicero, when he was recalled from his banishment, the people through every place he passed meeting him with shouts of joy and congratulation, and all Rome coming out to receive him.
Regulus, when he went out of Rome attended by his friends to the gates, and returned to Carthage according to his word of honour, although he knew he must be put to a cruel death, for advising the Romans to pursue their war with that commonwealth.
Scipio the Elder, when he dismissed a beautiful captive lady presented to him after a great victory, turning his head aside to preserve his own virtue.
The same Scipio, when he and Hannibal met before the battle, if the fact be true.
Cincinnatus, when the messengers sent by the senate to make him dictator, found him at the plough.
Epaminondas, when the Persian ambassador came to his house, and found him in the midst of poverty.
The earl of Strafford, the day that he made his own defence at his trial.
King Charles the Martyr, during his whole trial, and at his death.
The Black Prince, when he waited at supper on the king of France, whom he had conquered and taken prisoner the same day.
Virgil, when, at Rome, the whole audience rose up, out of veneration, as he entered the theatre.
Mahomet the Great, when he cut off his beloved mistress's head, on a stage erected for that purpose, to convince his soldiers, who taxed him for preferring his love to his glory.
Cromwell, when he quelled a mutiny in Hyde Park.
Harry the Great of France, when he entered Paris, and sat at cards the same night with some great ladies, who were his mortal enemies.
Robert Harley earl of Oxford, at his trial.
Cato of Utica, when he provided for the safety of his friends, and had determined to die.
Sir Thomas More, during his imprisonment, and at his execution.
Marius, when the soldier sent to kill him in the dungeon was struck with so much awe and veneration, that his sword fell from his hand.
Douglas, when the ship he commanded was on fire, and he lay down to die in it, because it should not be said, that one of his family ever quitted their post.
Of those who have made a mean contemptible Figure, in some Action or Circumstance of their Lives.
Anthony, at Actium, when he fled after Cleopatra.
Pompey, when he was killed on the seashore in Egypt.
Nero and Vitellius, when they were put to death.
Lepidus, when he was compelled to lay down his share of the triumvirate.
Cromwell, the day he refused the kingship out of fear.
Perseus king of Macedon, when he was led in triumph.
Richard II of England, after he was deposed.
The late king of Poland, when the king of Sweden forced him to give up his kingdom; and when he took it again, upon the king of Sweden's defeat by the Muscovites.
King James II of England, when the prince of Orange sent to him at midnight to leave London.
King William III of England, when he sent to beg the house of commons to continue his Dutch guards, and was refused.
The late queen Anne of England, when she sent Whitworth to Muscovy on an embassy of humiliation, for an insult committed here on that prince's ambassador.
The lord chancellor Bacon, when he was convicted of bribery.
The late duke of Marlborough, when he was forced, after his own disgrace, to carry his duchess's gold key to the queen.
The old earl of Pembroke, when a Scotch lord gave him a lash with a whip at Newmarket, in presence of all the nobility, and he bore it with patience.
King Charles II of England, when he entered into the second Dutch war; and in many other actions during his whole reign.
Philip II of Spain, after the defeat of the Armada.
The emperor Charles V, when he resigned his crown, and nobody would believe his reasons.
King Charles I of England, when, in gallantry to his queen, he thought to surprise her with a present of a diamond buckle, which he pushed down her breast, and tore her flesh with the tongue; upon which she drew it out, and flung it on the ground.
Fairfax, the parliament general, at the time of king Charles's trial.
Julius Cæsar, when Anthony offered to put a diadem on his head, and the people shouted for joy to see him decline it; which he never offered to do, until he saw their dislike in their countenances.
Coriolanus, when he withdrew his army from Rome at the entreaty of his mother.
Hannibal, at Antiochus's court.
Beau Fielding, at fifty years old, when, in a quarrel upon the stage, he was run into his breast, which he opened and shewed to the ladies, that he might move their love and pity; but they all fell a laughing.
The count de Bussy Rabutin, when he was recalled to court after twenty years banishment into the country, and affected to make the same figure he did in his youth.
The earl of Sunderland, when he turned papist in the time of king James II, and underwent all the forms of a heretick converted.
Pope Clement VII when he was taken prisoner at Rome, by the emperor Charles the Fifth's forces.
Queen Mary of Scotland, when she suffered Bothwell to ravish her, and pleaded that as an excuse for marrying him.
King John of England, when he gave up his kingdom to the pope, to be held as a fief to the see of Rome.