ecipices in quest of plants; which anciently carried the juvenile
lovers of ihe sciences into Egypt, Ethiopia, and even into the Indies,
for visiting the most celebrated philosophers, and acquiring from their
conversation the principles of their doctrine. How strongly did this
passion exert itself in Demosthenes, who, for perfecting his
pronunciation, used every day to stand on the sea-shore, and with his
mouth full of pebbles harangue the agitated waves! It was from the same
desire of glory that the young Pythagoreans submitted to a silence of
three years, in order to habituate themselves to recollection and
meditation; it induced Democritus to shun the distractions of the world,
and retire among the tombs, to meditate on those valuable truths, the
discovery of which, as it is always very difficult, is also very little
esteemed; in fine, it was this that prompted Heraclitus to cede to his
younger brother the throne of Ephesus, to which he had the right of
primogeniture, that he might give himself up entirely to philosophy;
which made the Athletic improve his strength, by denying himself the
pleasures of love; it was also from a desire of popular applause that
certain ancient priests renounced the same pleasures, and often, as
Boindin pleasantly observes of them, without any other recompense for
their continence than the perpetual temptation it occasions,... 'The
cause,' says Cardinal Richelieu, 'why a timorous mind perceives an
impossibility in the most simple projects, when to an elevated mind the
most arduous seems easy, is, because, before the latter the mountains
sink, and before the former mole-hills are metamorphosed into
mountains.'"

The different motives that influence our conduct are thus stated:--

"A mother idolizes her son; 'I love him,' says she, 'for his own sake.'
However, one might reply, you take no care of his education, though
you are in no doubt that a good one would contribute infinitely to his
happiness; why, therefore, do not you consult some men of sense about
him, and read some of the works written on this subject? 'Why, because,'
says she, 'I think I know as much of this matter as those authors
and their works.' But how did you get this confidence in your own
understanding? Is it not the effect of your indifference? An ardent
desire always inspires us with a salutary distrust of ourselves. If we
have a suit at law of considerable consequence, we visit counsellors and
attorneys, we consult a