XIII. There is no doubt but you will frequently meet in history, accounts of unworthy children, who were descended from good parents. Germanicus is so generously disinterested, that he refuses the empire when it is offered him by the army; and his daughter Agrippina so determinedly ambitious, that she sacrifices shame, and even life itself, to the thirst of dominion. Octavianus is modest and reserved, and besides possesses many other excellent qualities; his daughter Juliana, scandalizes Rome with her indecencies. Cicero, view, him on which side you will, is a most elevated genius; the son, who only resembled his father in name, was heavy, stupid, and a man of no other ability, but that of drinking a great deal of wine. Quintus Hortensius, was the competitor of Cicero, in oratory, political talents, and zeal for his country; his son departed so widely from the foot-steps of his father, that he was in danger of being disinherited, but, bad as the son was, the grandson was still worse. Septimus Severus, with the exception of his excessive rigour, was an accomplished prince; his son Antoninus Caracalla, neither deserved the name of a prince, nor to be called a man. To the prudent and wise Marcus Aurelius, succeeded the brutal and unbridled Commodus; to the glorious Constantine, the unworthy Constantius; to the magnanimous Theodosius, the timorous Arcadius, and the pusillanimous Honorius. But endeavouring to establish general rules upon these and such like examples, is giving a large scope to the pen. XIV. Although we may with certainty affirm, that being allied in blood does not produce a similitude of manners, as this truth is invincibly proved, by the great variance of dispositions we frequently meet in brothers. If the children of the same father were to be like him, they would also be like one another. How then can we account for the great difference that is so frequently observed between them? One is courageous, another timid; one liberal, another avaricious; one ingenious, another dull; one rakish, another reserved; and the same in every other instance. SECT. III.