The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [329]
4. And writes as decisively and absurdly upon war, politics, manners and characters, as that pedant talked, who was so kind as to instruct Hannibal in the art of war.
5. Such closet politicians never fail to assign the deepest motives for the most trifling actions,
6. Instead of often ascribing the greatest actions to the most trifling causes, in which they would be much seldomer mistaken.
7. They read and write of kings, heroes and statesmen, as never doing anything but upon the deepest principles of sound policy.
8. But those who see and observe kings, heroes and statesmen discover that they have headaches, indigestions, humours and passions, just like other people;
9. Every one of which, in their turn, determine their wills, in defiance of their reason.
10. Had we only read in the Life of Alexander that he burned Persepolis, it would doubtless have been accounted for from deep policy:
11. We should have been told that his new conquest could not have been secured without the destruction of that capital,
12. Which would have been the constant seat of cabals, conspiracies and revolts.
13. But, luckily, we are informed at the same time that this hero, this paragon, happened to get extremely drunk with a courtesan;
14. And, by way of frolic, destroyed one of the finest cities in the world.
15. Read men, therefore, yourself, not in books but in nature. Adopt no systems, but study them yourself.
16. Observe their weaknesses, their passions, their humours, by all of which their rational minds are duped, nine times in ten.
17. You will then know that they are to be gained, influenced or led much oftener by little things than by great ones;
18. And, consequently, you will no longer think those things little, which tend to such great purposes.
19. The knowledge of mankind is a very useful knowledge for everybody, but a most necessary one for anyone wishing an active, public life.
20. You will have to do with all sorts of characters; you should, therefore, know them thoroughly, in order to manage them ably.
21. This knowledge is not to be got systematically; you must acquire it yourself by your own observation and sagacity,
22. Though you can benefit from the philosophers too, who can give you hints that may be useful.
23. I have often told you that, with regard to mankind, we must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, though, in the main, they are true ones.
24. We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally;
25. Or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in pursuit of it.
26. No. We are complicated machines: and though we have one mainspring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels,
27. Which, in their turns, retard, precipitate and sometimes stop that motion.
Epistle 13
1. Let us exemplify. Let us suppose that ambition is, as indeed it commonly is, the dominating passion of a certain politician;
2. And I will suppose that politician to be an able one. Will he, therefore, invariably pursue the aims of his predominant passion?
3. May I be sure that he will do so and so, because he ought? No! Sickness or melancholia may damp that passion;
4. Humour and peevishness may triumph over it; inferior passions may, at times, surprise it and prevail.
5. Is this ambitious politician amorous? Indiscreet and unguarded confidences, made in tender moments, to his wife or his mistress, may defeat all his schemes.
6. Is he avaricious? Some great lucrative object, suddenly presenting itself, may unravel all the work of his ambition.
7. Does he have strong emotions? Contradiction and provocation, sometimes artfully intended to rouse him, may extort rash and inconsiderate expressions, or actions destructive of his main object.
8. Is he vain, and open to flattery? An artful, flattering favourite may mislead him;
9. And even laziness may, at certain moments, make him