The precipitate Flight and improvident Negligence of Pompey, at the Beginning of the civil Wars, appear'd such notorious Blunders to Cicero, as quite pall'd his Friendship towards that great Man. In the same Manner, says he, as Want of Cleanliness, Decency, or Discretion in a Mistress are found to alienate our Affections. For so he expresses himself, where he talks, not in the Character of a Philosopher, but in that of a Statesman and Man of the World, to his Friend Atticus[1].
But secondly, the same Cicero, in Imitation of all the antient Moralists, when he reasons as a Philosopher, enlarges very much his Ideas of Virtue, and comprehends every laudable Quality or Endowment of the Mind, under that honourable Appellation. The Prudence, explain'd in his Offices[2], is that Sagacity, which leads to the Discovery of Truth, and preserves us from Error and Mistake. Magnanimity, Temperance, Decency are there also at large discours'd of. And as that eloquent Moralist follow'd the common receiv'd Division of the four cardinal Virtues, our social Duties form but one Head, in the general Distribution of his Subject.
We
