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Even in agriculture,Even in agriculture, etc.] Quæ homines arant, navigant, ædificant, virtuti omnia parent. Literally, what men plow, sail, etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily exertion, are as much the result of mental power us the highest of human pursuits. in navigation, and in architecture, whatever man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, resigned to sensuality and indolence, uninstructed and unimproved, have passed through life like travelers in a strange country;Like travelers in a strange country] Sicuti peregrinantes. Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vitâ quasi hospites sunt; they know not how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. Dietsch. "Peregrinantes, qui, quâ transeunt, nullum sui vestigium relinquunt:" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace of their course. Pappaur. to whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation;Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation] Eorum ego vitàm mortemque juxta æstimo. I count them of the same value dead as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. "Those who, are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. for silence is maintained concerning both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling enterprise, or honorable pursuit.
