'_I can give no account of my life by_ MY ACTIONS, fortune has placed _them_ too low; _I must do it_ BY MY FANCIES. And when shall I have done representing the continual agitation and change of my thoughts as they come into my head, seeing that Diomedes filled six thousand books upon the subject of grammar.' [The commentators undertake to set him right here, but the philosopher only glances in his intention at the voluminousness of the science of _words_, in opposition to the science of _things_, which he came to establish.] 'What must prating _produce_, since prating itself, and the first beginning to speak, stuffed the world with such a horrible load of volumes. So many words about _words_ only. They accused one Galba, of old, of living idly; he made answer that every one ought to give account of his _actions_, but _not_ of his _leisure_. He was mistaken, for _justice_--[the civil authority]--has cognizance and _jurisdiction_ over those that _do nothing_, or only PLAY _at_ WORKING.... Scribbling appears to be the sign of a disordered age. Every man applies himself negligently to the duty of his _vocation_ at such a time and debauches in it.' From that central wrong of an evil government, an infectious depravity spreads and corrupts all particulars. Everything turns from its true and natural course. Thus _scribbling_ is the sign of a disordered age. Men write in such times instead of acting; and scribble, or seem to perhaps, instead of writing openly to purpose. And yet, again, that central, and so divergent, wrong is the result of each man's particular contribution, as he goes on to assert. 'The corruption of this age is made up by the particular contributions of every individual man,'-- He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.--_Cassius_. 'Some contribute _treachery_, others _injustice_, irreligion, _tyranny_, _avarice_ and _cruelty, according as they have power; the_ WEAKER SORT CONTRIBUTE FOLLY, VANITY, _and_ IDLENESS, and _of these_ I am one.' _Caesar_ loves no plays as thou dost, Antony. Such men are dangerous. Or, as the same poet expresses it in another Roman play:-- This _double worship_, Where one part does _disdain with cause, the other Insult without all reason_; where gentry, title, wisdom Cannot conclude but by the _yea and no_ Of _general ignorance_,--it must omit Real necessities--and give way the while To unstable slightness; purpose _so barred_, It follows, nothing is done to purpose. And that is made the plea for an attempt to overthrow the popular power, and to replace it with a government containing the true head of the state, its nobility, its learning, its gentleness, its wisdom.