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No. 162 [from The Spectator]
by
As this Mutability of Temper and Inconsistency with our selves is the greatest Weakness of human Nature, so it makes the Person who is remarkable for it in a very particular Manner more ridiculous than any other Infirmity whatsoever, as it sets him in a greater Variety of foolish Lights, and distinguishes him from himself by an Opposition of party-coloured Characters. The most humourous Character in Horace is founded upon this Unevenness of Temper and Irregularity of Conduct.
‘… Sardus habebat
Ille Tigellius hoc: Caesar qui cogere posset
Si peteret per amicitiam patris, atque suam, non
Quidquam proficeret: Si collibuisset, ab ovo
Usque ad mala citaret, Io Bacche, modo summa
Voce, modo hac, resonat quae; chordis quatuor ima.
Nil aequale homini fuit illi: Saepe velut qui
Currebat fugiens hostem: Persaepe velut qui
Junonis sacra ferret: Habebat saepe ducentos,
Saepe decem servos: Modo reges atque tetrarchas,
Omnia magna loquens: Modo sit mihi mensa tripes, et
Concha salis puri, et toga, quae defendere frigus,
Quamvis crassa, queat. Decies centena dedisses
Huic parco paucis contento, quinque diebus
Nil erat in loculis. Noctes vigilabat ad ipsum
Mane: Diem totam stertebat. Nil fuit unquam
Sic impar sibi …’
Hor. ‘Sat. 3’, Lib. 1.
Instead of translating this Passage in Horace, I shall entertain my English Reader with the Description of a Parallel Character, that is wonderfully well finished by Mr. Dryden [3], and raised upon the same Foundation.
‘In the first Rank of these did Zimri stand:
A Man so various, that he seem’d to be
Not one, but all Mankind’s Epitome.
Stiff in Opinions, always in the wrong;
Was ev’ry thing by Starts, and nothing long;
But, in the Course of one revolving Moon,
Was Chemist, Fidler, Statesman, and Buffoon:
Then all for Women, Painting, Rhiming, Drinking:
Besides ten thousand Freaks that dy’d in thinking.
Blest Madman, who cou’d ev’ry flour employ,
With something New to wish, or to enjoy!’
C.
[Footnote 1: that]
[Footnote 2: Honour]
[Footnote 3: In his ‘Absalom and Achitophel.’ The character of Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.]