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2 E ES upon FOX L Y. 33 thefe Fooleries he minded nothing of the World, or its ordinary Concerns. Next to Socrates comes his Scholar Plato, a Famous Orator indeed, that could be fo dafh’d out of Countenance by an_ Illiterate Rabble, asto Demur, and Hawk, and Hefitate, before he could get to the end of one {fhort Sentence. Theophraſtus was ſuch another Coward, who beginning to make an Oration was preſently {truck down with Fear, as if he had feen fome Ghoft, or Hobgoblin. Lfocrates was fo: Bafhful and Timerous, that though he Taught Rhetorick, yet he could never have the Confidence to ſpeak in Publick. Cicero, that Mafter of Roman Elequence, was wont to begin his Speeches with a low quivering Voice, jut like a School-Boy, afraid of not faying his Leffon perfect enough to efcape Whipping: And yet Fabius commends this Property of 7#/Jy as an Argument of a confiderate Orator, fenfible of the Difficulty of acquitting himfelf with Credit: But what hereby does he more, than plainly confefs that Wifdom is but a Rub and Impediment to the well Management of any Affair? How would thefe Heroes crouch, and fhrink into nothing, at the Sight of drawn Swords, that are thus quafh’d and ftunn’d at the Delivery of dare Words? Now then let Plato's fine Sentence be cried up, that Happy are thofe Commonwealibs where either Philofophers are elefted Kings,. or Kings turn Philoſophers. Alas, this is fo far from being true, that if we confult all Hiftorians.
