Part IX.

* Lib. I.
Ob. a?.
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Tlato returned this Anfvver :
Tlato to Archytas ^ ’EytpejtT/Hr.
JAtngeancc may on my poor petition "ivait^
And thee 72cught expiate.
The flop is fmad^ as thou failfi on, thou maiji' Dttjh thrice upon me ca[i.
H E Commentaries which yeti' fent, we recei- I yed with much joy, and exceedingly admire the Author, who (eems to us to be a perjon worthy^ bts Ancefiors , who were Myraeans, 0/ thofe Trojans who went with Laoffiedon, good men, as the (lory jpedks them. As for my Commentaries, concerning which you wrote, they are not polijhed, blit as they are I have fent them j as for the cufiody of them, we are both agreed, fo that 1 fhdl need to inquire nothing of you, Farewel.
• Arifoxenus faith, He was never worfted in’ the Field ; but once through the envy pt others, refign'd his Charge, and then all his Stpidiers were taken. It appears by * Horace, that he pe- rilhed by Shipwrack, who brings in a Mariner Expoflulating with him upon it, thus;
Thee the Surveyor of the Sea and Land,
And the innumerom (and,
A little flare oftheje fmali dufiy grains,
Archytas now contains, ^
Hard by the Marine, fiore : It nought avail d.
Since die thou mujl, t’have fcald TV aerial Orbs, or that thy f oaring fail O'rerun the wheeling Pole.
ARC HTTAS Anfwers,
And fo dyd Pelop’^ father, at whofe Feafls The gods themjelves were gmjls ;
And Tithon, who Aurora entertain d\
Minos, whom Jove defignd Admijfon to his counfels J, and again Dark Tartara detain,
Panthous jon, who, by his Target known.
And fiom the firine td’ne down,
Attefed, that in Trojan Wars, he breatVd,
And to black death bequeath’d Nothing but skin and, nerves, whom theu wilt yield \ In truth and nature skill’d.
But all men to one endlef night are led.
And once death’s path muJl tread.
Some are fern Marsh Trophies ; Seas become The greedy Sailor sTomh.
The fates of young and old together croud,
No head is dij allow’d By mercilef Proferpina ; and me Into tV Illyrian Sea
The wind, which doth Olionh Star pur fue,
Unruly Aufter threw. •
But grudg not thou, kind Mariner, to fpread On my unburied head
And bones, fome few of tbefe loofe finds j fo may Fierce Hurus turn away Whatever threatens the Hefperian floods,
On the Apulian Woods,
Securing thee fom harm \ a fwelling tyde of wealth on every fide
Flow on thee, by great and Neptune fent.
Tarentumh Prefident If thou negkSl, thou maifl in future age Thy guiltkf fans engage In this offence, perhaps fate may return Wbai ’s due unto thy feern.
He invented Cranes and Screws,, and made Lain. a Pigeon of ‘wood that flew ; but when ihe once relied, could not rife. Of the duplication of a Cube, I have fpoken formerly in the Life ’of Plato. ■ ' ■
: Being angry with a Country-man, he faid, cic What would I have done to thee, if I had not Amic. been angry ? ,
He was very modefi, and abflained from vnr. obfeene expreffions ; and if there were a ne- ceffity of any, he wrote it upon the wall.
He faid, That if a man Ihould go to heaven, and behold the nature of the World, and beau¬ ty of the Stars, be would find, that the admi¬ ration of .them , otherwife the moli pleafing thing in the, world, would be very unplealanc to him, if he had not one to communicate it unto.
'He faid. That it is as hard to find a man without deceit, as a Filh without bones.
He faid, That the Judg and . Sanduary is one 5 for he who hath received wrong, flies to both.
He faid, That every Commonwealth confifls of three things, the Ruler, the Ruled, and the Laws : whereof the beft ought to command ; the worft, to be commanded.
Cicero, intheperfon ofc of an Oration of Archytas to this- effed : That there is no peftilence more capital given by na- ’ ture to men, than corporeal pleafure, by which they are incited to run head-ftrong, and un¬ bridled' on, to enjoy the lull of that greedy pleafure. Hence proceed betrayings of our Coi^btry ; hence , fubverfions of Common¬ wealths ; hence, private Treaties with enemies.
In fine, there is no wickednefs, no mifehief to the undertaking whereof, this lulling after pleafure will not impel uC* Rapes, Adulteries, • ’
and all fuch leudnefs, are provoked by no ocher allurements than chofe of pleafure. And where¬ as Nature, or Lome god, hath not bellowed on man any thing more excellent than a mind, there is nothing fo contrary to this divine gift, as pleafure ; for, as loiig as pleafure rules, there is no place for Temperance, nor can virtue fubfift under the jurifdidion of pleafure. Which CO underftand the better, he advifed to fancy to our felves fome man, provoked by corporeal pleafure the greateft imaginable j and he con¬ ceived, that no man will doubt, but that as long as he took joy therein, he could fix his reafon, his mind, his thoughts, upon nothing elfe. Wherefore there is nothing fo deteftable, nothing fo peftilenc, as pleafure; for if it be great and long, it extinguilheth all the light of the mind.
There were four of this name ; the firft, this Philofopher ; the fecond, of Mitilene, a Mufi- cian; the third, wrote concerning Agriculture ; the fourth, an Epigrammatick Poet. Some add the fifth, an Architect.
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