BOOK THE FIRST: I. That men by various ways arrive at the same end. II. Of Sorrow. III. That our affections carry themselves beyond us . IV. That the soul discharges her passions upon false objects, where the true are wanting. V. Whether the governor of a place besieged ought himself to go out to parley. VI. That the hour of parley is dangerous. VII. That the intention is judge of our actions VIII. Of idleness. IX. Of liars. X. Of quick or slow speech. XI. Of prognostications. XII. Of constancy. XIII. The ceremony of the interview of princes. XIV. That men are justly punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort that is not in reason to be defended. XV. Of the punishment of cowardice. XVI. A proceeding of some ambassadors. XVII. Of fear. XVIII. That men are not to judge of our happiness till after death. XIX. That to study philosophy is to learn to die. XX. Of the force of imagination. XXI. That the profit of one man is the damage of another. XXII. Of custom, and that we should not easily change a law received . XXIII. Various events from the same counsel. XXIV. Of pedantry. XXV. Of the education of children. XXVI. That it is folly to measure truth and error by our own capacity. XXVII. Of friendship. XXVIII. Nine-and-twenty sonnets of Estienne de la Boetie. XXIX. Of moderation. XXX. Of cannibals, XXXI. That a man is soberly to judge of the divine ordinances. XXXII. That we are to avoid pleasures, even at the expense of life. XXXIII. That fortune is oftentimes observed to act by the rule of reason. XXXIV. Of one defect in our government. XXXV. Of the custom of wearing clothes XXXVI. Of Cato the Younger. XXXVII. That we laugh and cry for the same thing. XXXVIII.Of solitude. XXXIX. A consideration upon Cicero, XL. That the relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them. XLI. Not to communicate a man's honour. XLII. Of the inequality amongst us. XLIII. Of sumptuary laws. XLIV. Of sleep. XLV. Of the battle of Dreux. XLVI. Of names. XLVII. Of the uncertainty of our judgment. XLVIII. Of war-horses, or destriers. XLIX. Of ancient customs. L. Of Democritus and Heraclitus. LI. Of the vanity of words. LII. Of the parsimony of the Ancients. LIII. Of a saying of Caesar. LIV. Of vain subtleties. LV. Of smells. LVI. Of prayers. LVII. Of age.