Part I.

r Sytnpof. ';pt. /up.
t Serm. 6\. t Serm. 104,
t Stab. Scrm. 28.
t
thy mif.
to follow ones own Will ; what Divine.^ that which hath neither beginning nor end. At his return from Travel, being demanded what was the ft rang- eft thing he hadleen, he anfwered/i Tyrant old. What will help to bear ill f'orturne ? to behold our Enettties in worje. How fhall a Alan live juft- ly^ by avoiding wTat he blames in others. Who is happy ? he who hath a found Body^ a rich for¬ tune, and a docile JAJature,
c Tlutarch adds thefe We may vocll report probable News, but hnprobable fhould not ^ be re¬ lated. XVe ought not to believe our Enemies in credible things, nor to diftruft our friends in incredible. Periander being much troubled at a Monfter which a Touih brought him, born of a Mare, with the head only of a Horfe, the reft re- fembling a Man, he advifed him not to take care^ for expiation of what the Prodigy portenftd,
S'i C’oi ‘wete^Avuv (laith he) to
vopttvaiv 'i'wnruV} n S'tS'ovcti yvvcttKx; etvjoif.
Stobjcus thele ^ t Being demanded how far falfhoodwas diftant from Truth, as far faith he, as the Eyes from the Ears. It is hard but good to know our Selves, for that is to live according to Nature,
His Moral precepts are thus delivered by Demetrius Phalereus ^ t If thou art a Surety, lofs is nigh', be equally mindful of friends prefent and abfenti, ftudy not to beautifie thy face but thy be true to mind: enrich not thy f elf by unjuft means, t Tet not any words fall from thee which may accufe thee to him who hath committed any thing in truft to thee. Cherift) thy Parents. Entertain not Evil. What thou beftoweft on thy Parents thou (halt re¬ ceive from thy Children in thy old Age. It is hard to underftand well. The fweeteft thing is to enjoy our defire. Idlenefs is troublefome. Intemperance hurtful. Ignorance intolerable. Learn and teach better things. Be not Idle thd' Rich. Conceal thy dome flick ills. To avoid Envy be not pitiable. Uje Moderation. 'Believe not all If a Governor, Rule thy felf. I follow thofe Copies of Stobreus, that alcribe thefe to Thales rather than to Pittacus, becaufe the greater part are confirmed by Laer¬ tius.
Aufonius hath reduced thele into Verfe under his name.
Fear e’er thoufin, thy felf tho’none elfe nighj Life fades, a Glorious Death can never die.
Let not thy Tongue difcoverthy intent,
’Tis Mifery to dread, and not prevent.
He helps his Foes that juftly reprehends.
He that unjuftly praifeth, harms his Friends, That’s not enough that to excels extends.
Lib.
I.
g c km. Akx. ej Fab. 22 1. , h Laerf.
His Motto was according to Laertius, Know thy felf, according to / Didymus and g Uigy- nus, if thou be a Surety, lofs is nigh -, by h Her- mippns, this is afcribed to him,tho’ by others to Socrates'. He gave thanks to fortune for three things ; firft, that he was born Rational, not a Beaft-,fecondly, that a Man, not a Woniah: third¬ ly, that a Grecian, not a Barbarian.
There are befide cited by Laertius, under the name of or Idofe Verfes, thefe fen"
tences,
Not many Words much Wifdom figniftc'.
Chqofe one thing excelUnt, to which apply
TfiyAlind, and ftvpthentouthof'falitm>iy.
CHAP. X.
His Judgment in Civil Affairs.
Politicks were, according to Laertius, his firft Study, in wdiich his advice was of greac Authority, tho’ he were the only perfon (as Ci¬ cero oblerves) of the feven Wile Men, that was not Ruler of the City wherein he lived.
Of his Judgment herein we have two inltan- ces j the firft trom i Herodotus Goodalfo, even . before the deftrullion of Ionia, was the advice ofW^j^s , Thales,^/ Milefian,afar off by defcent aPhoenician, who commanded the lonians to build one Common- piCat, Council-Hall , and that in Teos, fcr that Teos is in themidft Ionia, and the reft of the Inhabit ft
Cities, neverihelefs, to be in Repute, according ai%iy,cfYa\h'’^ the Citizens were. renders thus-,
CcCteras au-
tem civitates habitatas nihilo minus huic parituras, quam aliarum civicacuni' tribus legibus parerenc. Steph.inus thus ; Nihilo minus codem loco haberi quo tribus : both ( I conceive ) amifs.
The other cited by Laertius (with no left ap- .plaufe) is this. In the firft year of the fifty eighth Olympiad, Crcefus King of Lydia, fearing the greatnefs of Cyrus, and encouraged thereunnto, as he conceived, by the Oracle, lent Ambaftadors and Prefents to the moft conliderable of the Gre¬ cians, perfwading them to joyn with him in an expedition againlt Cyrus, which the Lacedemo¬ nians with many others did : but Thales for¬ bad the Milefians to enter into League with him. It appears (adds Laertius') that his Ad¬ vice in Civil Affairs was excellent -, for this thing (Cyms getting the better) preferCd the City.
Yet did he afford Crcefus his particular alii* ftance in palfing his Army over Halys, as the Grecians affirm, though Herodotus be of a con¬ trary Opinion, who gives this account of both.
When Croeliis was come to the River Halys, then,
I believe, by Bridges that were there, he pafjed over his Army but the common report of the Gre¬ cians is, that Thales the Milelian was he who con- veighed it over : For Crczihs being doubtful over what part of the River his Army fhould pafs, there being in 'thofe days no Bridges, Thales, who was in the Field with him, is faid to have caufed the River that did run on the left hand of the Ar¬ my, to run alfo on the right, which he brought to pafs thus. Beginning above theTrench, he digged a deep Trench, and brought it in the fafhion of a half Moon, that the River being turned into the Trench from the former Channel at the back of the Army, and paffing by the Camp, came into the old Channel again, fo that affoon as the liroer was : . .
thus divided, (which k Lucian faith, was done ^ in one night) it became fordable on either fide: fome fay that the old Channel was mite made up, but that I do not belive, for then, how could they in their return pafs over ? That this is the mean¬ ing of Herodotus, miftaken by ^ Valla, will ap¬ pear from the m Scholiaft of Ariftophanes,* who relates it in the fame manner, not
In Hijfia.
renacr:
with-
out applauding Thales, for his excellency Mechanicks. yoc rZv %-
ft ■ , yfficov fii-
d-^av)^d,vrtc in quam cum inlroduxijfct ex pijhno alveo fluvium, herutn cum ubi exenilus trajedus ejjet in fuum alveum refunderet. m In Nubes.
He