This exercise, written on both sides, was also handed down in the Congreve family (Bodleian MS Eng. lett. c.275, f. 29; Handlist I, no. 4). The manuscripts of this and the two following exercises are very similar. Each is written on both sides of a sheet of paper measuring around sixteen by twelve centimeters; the headings—the assigned topics—are in Johnson’s hand, and are separated from the text by a decorative line of short, curved dashes stretching across the page;1 the signatures at the end, a somewhat florid “Sam: Johnson,’’ are similar, and conclude with a Z-shaped flourish of the pen. Presumably all three come from around the same period at Lichfield Grammar School. The source of the theme is Macrobius, Saturnalia 3.17.10, where it is billed as an old saying.2 Johnson began reading Macrobius early in life. On the evening of his arrival at Pembroke College, 31 October 1728, according to Dr. Adams, Johnson “behaved modestly, and sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the course of conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius; and thus he gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in which he had indulged himself” (Life, I.59).3 In his library at the time of his death was Arnold Haldren’s edition of Macrobius’s works (1521; see Greene, p. 80). This particular sentence in Macrobius, however, was well known. It even appeared in Sententiae pueriles Anglo-Latinae . . . Sentences for Children, English and Latin, compiled by Leonard Culman (1723; p. 33).

Whatever laws have been made throughout the earth in all ages owe their origin to the very crimes for which they decree punishments. When, in the reign of Saturn, everyone voluntarily practiced what is right, there were no laws, no judges. But when impiety invaded the human race, it was necessary for each one to place himself under the rule of another, and for a form of government to be instituted. From this source all laws are derived; from this is drawn the authority of a king. For in the past, lest too much contagion of wickedness should spread abroad, men submitted themselves to someone of eminent virtue, who would curb the evil desires of the people. If crimes had not been perpetrated, no one would have made laws against them. If vices reign among a people, if a king, on ascending the throne, finds a society steeped in many vices which no statutes have restrained, they have to be put down by new decrees. This corrupt behavior of one age perhaps conduces greatly to the innocence of the next. There is almost nothing which, along with bad effects, does not also bring good ones; a crime which, if not restrained, will most surely and rapidly bring about the downfall of a nation is the parent of most useful laws. In early times the Romans made no law against parricide, since they thought indeed that no one would be so wicked as to dip his hands in a father’s blood, and for this crime, when committed by someone, they devised the heaviest of punishments.3