Re: =?Big5?B?sLexZA==?=

his own affairs,
pray, when he has this other matter in hand? Here is a care worthy of
occupying this great soul and taking away from him every other thought of
the mind. This man, born to know the universe, to judge all causes, to
govern a whole state, is altogether occupied and taken up with the business
of catching a hare. And if he does not lower himself to this and wants
always to be on the strain, he will be more foolish still, because he would
raise himself above humanity; and after all, he is only a man, that is to
say capable of little and of much, of all and of nothing; he is neither
angel nor brute, but man.

141. Men spend their time in following a ball or a hare; it is the pleasure
even of kings.

142. Diversion--Is not the royal dignity sufficiently great in itself to
make its possessor happy by the mere contemplation of what he is? Must he be
diverted from this thought like ordinary folk? I see well that a man is made
happy by diverting him from the view of his domestic sorrows so as to occupy
all his thoughts with the care of dancing well. But will it be the same with
a king, and will he be happier in the pursuit of these idle amusements than
in the contemplation of his greatness? And what more satisfactory object
could be presented to his mind? Would it not be a deprivation of his delight
for him to occupy his soul with the thought of how to adjust his steps to
the cadence of an air, or of how to throw a ball skilfully, instead of
leaving it to enjoy quietly the contemplation of the majestic glory which
encompasses him? Let us make the trial; let us leave a king all alone to
reflect on himself quite at leisure, without any gratification of the
senses, without any care in his mind, without society; and we will see that
a king without diversion is a man full of wretchedness. So this is carefully
avoided, and near the persons of kings there never fail to