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Article CHARACTER OF MECOENAS, ← Page 2 of 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of Mecoenas,
them Ins heart , but his purse ; and these , on the other hand , gratefully repaid the benefits of a short life with immortality . As Augustus , by his mighty talent for government , seemed destined to be emperor of the world , so did Meccenas seem ordained to be his minister , or rather a wise and happy favourite , who did not so much execute his master ' s will , but preside over it by the influence of the soundest with the
reason , tempered greatest complacency and goodbreeding . ° His great and fruitful genius gave him , by way of advance , all that knowledge which is generally collected from a long train of observation " , and a great diversity of events ; and his generosity , was so great and diffusivethat he ilded-an iron and rendered monarchnot
, g age , y only supportable , but agreeable to a people passionately fond of liberty . He seldom asked favours but with a view to dispense them fc > his master ' s honour . All persons of merit were sure to be sharer ' s in his felicity ; and he was much more inclined to give ear to good reports , than any sort of artful or envious insinuations . He was so far from discouraging all address to him b
y a repulsive looker stiff behaviour , that with a cheerful and open countenance he encouraged modest or distressed merit to approach him . As he had ever the inclination to grant favours , so none departed dissatisfied who had the least reason to expect them : but with all this he did not want resolution to give a denial—the impudent and the importunate did never obtainfrom a vicious weaknesswhat due to
, , was virtue . In a word , he was the channel through which the riches of the empire flowed to the meanest ; and he never thought money better laid out than when he purchased for his master the affections , of his people .
lhe quickness of his parts gave him a great facility in the dispatch of business ; and although he Was extremely assiduous , yet did he never seem puzzled or perplexed , or more out of humour , than if he were about some ordinary business . Pie passed with the same facility from his pleasures to affairs of state , as from these to his pleasures ; but his diversions were so refinedand shared
, by so many persons of excellent wit and learning , that he improved his mind even by his amusements . As he was indebted for his excellent qualities both of mind and heart to the bounty of nature , and not to the liberality of his prince , so could no change or revolution of state affairs , no violence , ravish them from the possessor .
Treasures of another kind , when compared with these are of little value ; they may procure hypocritical adorers , but never true friends . .In a word , a minister of this character seems to have treasured all his riches in his soul ; he has nothing to apprehend from abroad ; and his pleasures are free and extensive as his thoughts
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character Of Mecoenas,
them Ins heart , but his purse ; and these , on the other hand , gratefully repaid the benefits of a short life with immortality . As Augustus , by his mighty talent for government , seemed destined to be emperor of the world , so did Meccenas seem ordained to be his minister , or rather a wise and happy favourite , who did not so much execute his master ' s will , but preside over it by the influence of the soundest with the
reason , tempered greatest complacency and goodbreeding . ° His great and fruitful genius gave him , by way of advance , all that knowledge which is generally collected from a long train of observation " , and a great diversity of events ; and his generosity , was so great and diffusivethat he ilded-an iron and rendered monarchnot
, g age , y only supportable , but agreeable to a people passionately fond of liberty . He seldom asked favours but with a view to dispense them fc > his master ' s honour . All persons of merit were sure to be sharer ' s in his felicity ; and he was much more inclined to give ear to good reports , than any sort of artful or envious insinuations . He was so far from discouraging all address to him b
y a repulsive looker stiff behaviour , that with a cheerful and open countenance he encouraged modest or distressed merit to approach him . As he had ever the inclination to grant favours , so none departed dissatisfied who had the least reason to expect them : but with all this he did not want resolution to give a denial—the impudent and the importunate did never obtainfrom a vicious weaknesswhat due to
, , was virtue . In a word , he was the channel through which the riches of the empire flowed to the meanest ; and he never thought money better laid out than when he purchased for his master the affections , of his people .
lhe quickness of his parts gave him a great facility in the dispatch of business ; and although he Was extremely assiduous , yet did he never seem puzzled or perplexed , or more out of humour , than if he were about some ordinary business . Pie passed with the same facility from his pleasures to affairs of state , as from these to his pleasures ; but his diversions were so refinedand shared
, by so many persons of excellent wit and learning , that he improved his mind even by his amusements . As he was indebted for his excellent qualities both of mind and heart to the bounty of nature , and not to the liberality of his prince , so could no change or revolution of state affairs , no violence , ravish them from the possessor .
Treasures of another kind , when compared with these are of little value ; they may procure hypocritical adorers , but never true friends . .In a word , a minister of this character seems to have treasured all his riches in his soul ; he has nothing to apprehend from abroad ; and his pleasures are free and extensive as his thoughts