variable as the winds: when he is successful, it blows him along with fair and balmy gales; but when fortune frowns, it gathers in tempests around his head, and wrecks him on the first rock against which it has the force to drive him. The highest virtue is to persevere in good, when that good is evil-spoken of: for, we can no where look on the page of the world, as it passes under our own eye; or on the annals of its past history; without seeing, that he who builds on popular opinion, (which almost always judges by the result,) rests on a foundation that is for ever shifting; a sandbank, that now leans on the southern, and now on the northern shore. The murder of Cæsar by Brutus, (the man whom he had cherished and called his son!) was extolled by his cotemporaries; and is recorded with admiration, unto this day: while a purer spirit of patriotism, in Timoleon, was condemned by his countrymen; and is now, except by scholars, almost forgotten. The conquest which this great man attempted over natural affection; and the caprice of the people for whom he accomplished it; are instances of human virtue and human vice, worthy of a moment's recollection and attention.

Timophanes, the brother of Timoleon, possessed dazzling talents; and an ambition that aspired to the supreme authority. A desperate courage, attended by good fortune, procured him the confidence of the Corinthians; who, in return for the victories which he gained at the head of their armies, gave him the command of the troops which guarded the city.Timophanes corrupted these men by the spoil which he promised them; bribed the populace, with largesses; and having, by licentious principles, seduced a number of the young nobility to support his measures, immediately seized the throne. In the same hour the most respectable citizens were dragged to the scaffold; their estates confiscated; and their houses sacked by the mob. Till now, Timoleon patiently, though carefully, had watched over the safety of the state; but indignant, not merely at the usurpation of Timophanes, but at the cruel means which he used to maintain his power, he forced himself into his presence; and having obtained a private audience, described, with the eloquence of virtue, the horrible nature of the crimes which he had committed; the destructive consequences, both to Corinth and to himself, of those which were to follow; and concluded, with conjuring him by all that he held sacred in earth and in heaven, to abdicate his illegal power; and by such resignation, make some atonement to the gods for the excesses of his mad ambition! Timophanes derided his counsel. Timoleon was not to be foiled by one repulse: he assailed him again and again, with repeated visits, and a variety of arguments; but all in vain. Timophanes remained in the throne; the streets of Corinth ran with blood; and the insatiate populace fattened in the slaughter. Timoleon's last effort was to be tried. He repaired to the tyrant's apartments with two friends, to whom he had given his instructions. His patriotic arguments were repeated: the rage of Timophanes would hardly allow him to proceed: Timoleon beseeched him by every thing that was honourable in man, and tender as a brother, to hear him to the end. He was interrupted by a threatened blow from Timophanes, and a menace of instant death if he did not cease. "Then (exclaimed Timoleon, looking at him with mingled horror and pity,) thou art determined to die sovereign of Corinth?" "I am: (replied the tyrant,) and let him perish, who disputes my authority!" Timoleon covered his head with his robe-but before he could turn away, his two friends had plunged their daggers in the heart of Timophanes. The assassination was soon known: some few, (the old patriots who yet remained,) admired the heroic zeal of Timoleon, who had sacrificed fraternal love to the safety of his country; but as the major part of the citizens preferred licence before liberty, plunder before labour, and luxury before virtue, they loudly accused Timoleon of the most unnatural treason, and demanded that he should be brought to trial. He cared not for his life, and submitted: but the little justice that still existed, acquitted him of deserving punishment; while the rancorous multitude (deprived of their privilege to pillage,) pursued him from the city, loading him with curses and insults. Heart-struck with so general a detestation, his reason was almost dislodged; and doubting his own innocence, he wandered about in solitary places, abandoned to grief; and bitterly lamenting the error of his virtue, or the unexampled stupidity and ingratitude of the Corinthians.

When excessive humility attends the performer of extraordinary and magnanimous actions, that amiable quality degenerating into weakness, puts it into the power of cabal, noise, and accusation, to make the man who has sacrificed his own affections to particular demands of virtue, suspect his judgment, start from himself as from a spectre, and hopelessly regret conduct which ought to cover him with glory. Those moralists who say that the parth of virtue is smooth; and seek to allure the young to enter it, by a description of its pleasures only; betray their cause, by preferring its claims with deceit. Though the consciousness of acting right, like a guardian angel, accompanies us through every peril, yet the road is rough and rocky; there are gulphs to swim; mountains to climb; and precipices, from which, at the command of