Cicero closely follows the rules he had formerly laid down, in the following passage, taken from his oration for Milo: “If you choose to call it power, rather than a reasonable degree of authority in a rightful cause, of which one may have a little by extraordinary services to his country; or a moderate credit with worthy men, on account of my painful endeavors to promote the public good; you may term it so, provided I shall always exert it in protection of the virtuous against the fury of the wicked."

Tact and perseverance are the two important qualities most serviceable for all men who would rise in the world, but especially for those who have their own fortunes to make.

Without tact we can learn nothing. Tact informs us when to be silent. Men who are always asking questions never learn anything. Questions should be asked at the right time and in the right manner. Tact also teaches us how and when to question.

THE MAN OF BUSINESS

Perseverance

By HENRY HARDWICKE

N the minds of many men there is a strong tendency to envy

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the success of the fortunate few, and to find fault with Fortune, by whose partial distribution of favors, they assume, the objects of their envy have attained to coveted honors and rewards. When we fail, we all blame any cause rather than our own imprudence or neglect of the proper means. Still in the abstract we own the good old maxims which promise health and wealth to the industrious; fortune to those who rise early and work late; a rich harvest to the farmer who plows the deepest and casts the best seed into his furrows; and, in short, under all its many forms that "the hand of the diligent maketh rich." It is true that all the virtuous are not fortunate, nor all the vicious unfortunate and poor. There are some who fail in life without being themselves at fault, and those also who prosper by dishonest and unworthy means, temporarily, at least. Still the maxim is an excellent one, and is confirmed by experience: "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame."

But let it be said for the encouragement of all who are desirous of succeeding, that experience has demonstrated the truth of the fact that success in life equally is certain in any and every career to him that makes use of the proper means. Energy, concentration of power, and perseverance are of more practical value than talent. Many men are sadly ignorant of

their own power. They do not know their own capabilities, because they do not persevere long enough to give themselves a fair trial. They are like the wagoner in the fable of Æsop— Jupiter and the Wagoner-who, when his wheel got fast in the mud, is pictured by the Greek moralist as shouting to Jupiter for aid; upon which the king of the gods, looking down from his Olympian throne, bids the indolent fellow cease his supplications and put his own shoulder to the wheel. In human life success often depends upon our putting our own shoulder to the wheel.

The greatest works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. It has been said that he that shall walk with vigor three hours a day, will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.

The successful men of the world have all been noted for their perseverance. Every man, as early in life as possible, should endeavor to ascertain the strongest faculty of his mind or body, fitting him for some one pursuit, and bend all his energies to bring it to perfection. Emerson has said that a man is like a bit of Labrador spar, which has no lustre as you turn it in your hand, until you come to a particular angle; then it shows deep and beautiful colors.

The greatest benefactors of mankind have avoided dissipating their energies, and are known by the quality rather than the number of their works. Watts spent the best years of his life in perfecting the steam engine. Arkwright, amid great discouragements, devoted all his time to the spinning jenny, until it was completed. Bishop Butler gave twenty years' labor to his "Analogy." Montesquieu the same length of time to "The Spirit of Laws." Gibbon, also, spent twenty years on the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Isaac Newton, one of the most persevering men that ever lived, rewrote his "Chronology" seventeen times.

The greatest performances of human art, which we behold with praise or wonder, are examples of the force of perseverance. It is by this that the unshaped rocks of the quarry are transformed into the pyramids, and that distant countries are united with railroads and telegraphs.

Every man should devote himself as closely as possible to his profession or occupation. One of the greatest virtues is concentration, and one of the greatest evils is dissipation of energies. The celebrated Sydney Smith, in a lecture on the conduct of the understanding, justly censures what he calls the toppery of universality. He says: "The modern precept of education is be ignorant of nothing." Now my advice, on the contrary, is to have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things. In order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything, I would exact of a young man a pledge that he would not read Lope de Vega; he should pawn to me. his honor to abstain from Bettinelli and his thirty-five original sonnetteers; and I would exact from him the most rigid securities that I was never to hear anything about that race of penny poets who lived in the reigns of Cosmo and Lorenzo de Medici."

The man who attempts to do too many things soon loses his energy, and with his energy his enthusiasm, and without enthusiasm success is impossible. The able and accomplished Dr. J. W. Alexander, in advising young clergymen, exhorted them above all things to throw their whole force into their sermons. He said: "Many ministers are enthusiastic about other things, such as art, poetry, authorship, or politics; but their Sabbath sermon is like a sponge from which all the moisture is squeezed out. Live for your sermon-live in your sermon. Get some starling to cry Sermon, sermon, sermon!" Every man should see that his design is wise and just; when that is ascertained, he should pursue it resolutely, and not for one repulse, or one hundred repulses, forego the purpose he has resolved to effect. Wise men have always admired the man who will not submit to be conquered by difficulties. Charles James Fox once said: "It is all very well to tell me that a young man has distinguished himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go on or he may be satisfied with his first triumph; but show me a young man who has not succeeded at first, and nevertheless has gone on, and I will back that young man to do better than most of those who have succeeded at the first trial." Napoleon had such faith in the power of perseverance that he said: "Victory belongs to the most persevering." The history

of great men teaches us that with even ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance all things are attainable.

There is no royal road to anything worth having, but all things may be had by taking one thing at a time. That man grows unconsciously into genius who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly. It is, however, with many enterprises like striking fire from flint and steel; we do not meet with success except by reiterated efforts, and often at the instant we despaired of obtaining it.

The feeble-minded give way to despondency when their projects fail, and of course can make no further progress; but the resolute, aiming at success, find only in disappointments a stimulus to renewed exertion.

An officer declared one of the projected aims of Napoleon impossible. The latter immediately exclaimed: "Impossible! Never let me hear that blockhead of a word again." Such should be the resolution of every man aiming at what is justand right. Actuated by such a principle, it is wonderful how few things will prove impossible to the man of universal diligence.

Perseverance is indispensably necessary to success. "Try again" has been the favorite maxim of many men who have succeeded in life. An incident in Scottish history illustrates the value of this maxim. "When Robert, the Bruce, determined to devote his life to the establishment of the liberty and independence of his country, he found himself surrounded with apparently insuperable difficulties. Some of his countrymen were false, others were faint-hearted and despairing, and all were crushed down under the iron hand of the powerful invading foe. After struggling long, fortune seemed entirely to fail him. Kildrummie Castle, the very last stronghold possessed by him in Scotland, was taken, and with his own wife and some of his dearest friends fell into the hands of his enemies. The news of the taking of Kildrummie, the captivity of his wife, and the execution of his brother, reached Bruce while he was residing in a miserable dwelling at Rachrin, and reduced him to the point of despair.

"It was about this time," says Sir Walter Scott, "that an incident took place which, although it rests only on tradition in