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Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
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Johnson Papers Online
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Works of Samuel Johnson
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Table of Contents
  • Audiet Pugnas vitio Parentum / Rara Juventus. Hor: Young men—the few who are left after the crimes of their fathers—will hear of battles. [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Bonae leges ex malis moribus proveniunt: Good laws spring from bad habits [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Malos tueri haud tutum: Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae: Kind Athens Added a Little More Skill [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Mea nec Falernae Temperant Vites, neque Formiani Pocula Colles: Neither Falernian vines nor Formian hills mellow my cups [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Scheme for the Classes of a Grammar School
  • Advertisement for the School at Edial
  • Observations on Common Sense
  • Preface to the 1738 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Letter to the Gentleman's Magazine on Political Journalism
  • Appeal to the Publick
  • To the Reader. [Gentleman’s Magazine]
  • Considerations on the case of Dr T.—s Sermons abridg’d by Mr Cave
  • The Jests of Hierocles
  • Preface to the 1741 Volume of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Review of An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Two First Volumes of Bibliotheca Harleiana
  • An Account of the Harleian Library
  • Notice in Volume Two of Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Harleian Miscellany with An Account of this Undertaking
  • Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany: An Essay on the Origin and Importance of Small Tracts and Fugitive Pieces
  • Preface to the 1742 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Dedication for Robert James's Medicinal Dictionary
  • Preface to the 1743 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • PROPOSALS For Printing every Fortnight, (Price Sixpence) THE PUBLISHER: CONTAINING MISCELLANIES In PROSE and VERSE. Collected by J. CROKATT, Bookseller.
  • Proposals for Printing Anchitell Grey's Debates
  • Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription Hugonis Grotii Adamus Exul
  • Postscript to Lauder’s Essay on Milton’s Use and Imitation of the Moderns
  • A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Douglas
  • Preface to The Preceptor
  • The signification of WORDS how varied
  • Letter Concerning the Benefit Performance of Comus for Milton's Granddaughter
  • Proposals for printing by subscription, Essays in Verse and Prose.
  • Notice of The life of Harriot Stuart
  • Dedication to The Female Quixote
  • Dedication to Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully
  • Dedication to Philander
  • Dedication to The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy
  • Dedication to Henrietta, 2nd Ed.
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription The Original Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox
  • Letter to the Daily Advertiser concerning James Crokatt
  • Preface to A General Index of the First Twenty Volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Preface to the 1753 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • An Account of an Attempt to Ascertain the Longitude by Sea, by an Exact Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle
  • Dedication and Preface to An Introduction to the Game of Draughts (1756)
  • Dedication to An Introduction to Geometry (1767)
  • Preface to Richard Rolt, A New Dictionary of Trade and Commerce
  • Reflections on the Present State of Literature
  • TO THE PUBLIC
  • Review of John Armstrong, The History of the Island of Minorca (1756)
  • Review of Stephen White, Collateral Bee-Boxes (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society, vols. 1–2 (1756)
  • Review of Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s-Inn Journal, 2 vols. (1756)
  • Review of Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (1756)
  • Review of James Hampton, The General History of Polybius (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Blackwell, Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (1753–56)
  • Review of Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo (1756)
  • Review of Four Letters from Newton to Bentley (1756)
  • Review of William Borlase, Observations on the Islands of Scilly (1756)
  • Review of Archibald Bower, Affidavit (1756); John Douglas, Six Letters and Review of Mr. Bower’s Answer (1757); and John Douglas, Bower and Tillemont Compared (1757)
  • Review of Francis Home, Experiments on Bleaching (1756)
  • Review of Stephen Hales, An Account of a Useful Discovery (1756)
  • Review of Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters (1756)
  • Review of Robert Keith, A Large New Catalogue of the Bishops (1756)
  • Review of Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756)
  • Review of Charles Parkin, An Impartial Account of the Invasion under William Duke of Normandy (1756)
  • Review of A Scheme for Preventing a Further Increase of the National Debt (1756)
  • Review of Conferences and Treaties (1756)
  • Review of Philosophical Transactions (1756)
  • Review of Richard Lovett, The Subtil Medium Prov’d (1756)
  • Review of Benjamin Hoadley and Benjamin Wilson, Observations on a Series of Electrical Experiments (1756)
  • Review of Johann Georg Keyssler, Travels (1756)
  • Review of Elizabeth Harrison, Miscellanies (1756)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey (1757)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey, Second Edition (1757)
  • Reply to a Letter from Jonas Hanway in the Gazetteer (1757)
  • Review of Samuel Bever, The Cadet (1756)
  • Review of the Test and Con-Test (1756)
  • Review of William Whitehead, Elegies (1757)
  • Review of A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country on the Death of Admiral Byng (1757)
  • Preliminary Discourse in the London Chronicle
  • Advertisement for Francis Barber in the Daily Advertiser
  • "Dedication to John Lindsay, Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized
  • Introduction to the Universal Chronicle (1758)
  • Of the Duty of a Journalist (1758)
  • Advertisement Against Unauthorized Reprints of the Idler (1759)
  • Advertisement for the Public Ledger in the Universal Chronicle (1760)
  • To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number I [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number II [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number III [Public Ledger]
  • Preface to J. Elmer, Tables of Weights and Prices
  • From The Italian Library Containing an Account of the Lives and Works of the most valuable authors of Italy (1757)
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Le Poesie di Giuseppe Baretti (1758)
  • Dedication to A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages (1760)
  • Preface to Easy Phraseology, for the Use of Young Ladies Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language (1775)
  • Advertisement [For The World Displayed]
  • Introduction (1759) [From The World Displayed]
  • Advertisement for Pilgrim's Progress
  • Letter I. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter II. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter III. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (26 February 1760)
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (8 December 1760)
  • Address of the Painter’s, Sculptors, &Architects to George III (1761)
  • Preface to A Catalogue of the Pictures, Sculptures, Models, Drawings, Prints, &c Exhibited by the Society of Artists of Great-Britain at the Great Room in Spring Gardens Charing Cross May the 17th Anno 1762 Being the Third year of their Exhibition (1762)
  • Review of William Tytler, Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Evidence Produced … Against Mary Queen of Scots
  • Contributions to John Kennedy, A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology, Unfolding the Scriptures
  • Proposals and Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1762)
  • Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1766)
  • Dedication to Jerusalem Delivered (1763)
  • Dedication to The Works of Metastasio (1767)
  • Dedication to Cyrus: A Tragedy (1768)
  • Review of Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
  • Dedication for Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
  • 23 Sept. 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1–4 Oct. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 20 Nov. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 19 Dec. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 24 December 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 3 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 8 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 14 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 March 1769 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 5 Sept. 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • Dedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
  • Dedication to John Gwynn, London and Westminster Improved
  • Preface to Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography
  • Meditation on a Pudding
  • Hereford Infirmary Appeal
  • Dedication for A General History of Music (1776)
  • From A General History of Music, Vol. II (1782)
  • Dedication to An Account of the Musical Performance . . . in Commemoration of Handel (1785)
  • Advertisement for the Spectator
  • Dedication to Zachary Pearce, A Commentary, with Notes, on the Four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles
  • Letter of 16 May 1777
  • The Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council Assembled, Friday 6 June 1777
  • Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
  • Letter to William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, Wednesday, 11 June 1777
  • Petition of Mrs. Mary Dodd to the Queen
  • Dodd’s Letter to the King, Sunday, 22 June 1777
  • Petition of William Dodd to the King, Monday, 23 June 1777
  • Dodd’s Last Solemn Declaration, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Johnson’s Observations on the Propriety of Pardoning William Dodd, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Introduction and Conclusion to Occasional Papers (1777)
  • Proposal for Printing William Shaw, An Analysis of the Scotch Celtic Language
  • Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses
  • Preface to Thomas Maurice, Oedipus Tyrannus
  • The Case of Collier v. Flint
  • Translation of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario
  • General Rules of the Essex Head Club
  • On the Character and Duty of an Academick
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Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam
Praemia si tollas?1: For who embraces virtue herself,
if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
The manuscript of the following exercise was formerly owned by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., and is now in the Houghton Library, Harvard University (MS Eng 1386/64). David Fleeman describes it in Handlist I (no. 17) as a college exercise, though others have called it a school exercise. The heading from Juvenal, who was not often taught in schools, suggests Fleeman is correct, though it is difficult to be sure. The single piece of paper, written on both sides, is headed with a quotation from Juvenal’s Satire X (ll. 141–42), known as and loosely translated by Johnson as The Vanity of Human Wishes. The theme is succinctly expressed in Cicero’s honos alit artes (Tusculan Disputations I.2.4)—“honor fosters the arts”—which Edmund Waller used in a speech that Johnson included in his Life of Waller (Yale, XXI.274). Dryden translated Juvenal’s lines as: “For who would Virtue for herself regard, / Or wed, without the portion of reward?” In The Vanity of Human Wishes, Johnson covered the lines with the more general remark: “This pow’r has praise, that virtue scarce can warm, / Till fame supplies the universal charm” (183–84). Some graffitist—perhaps Johnson himself— indignant at so cynical a remark, scribbled on the manuscript beneath the epigraph “Quisquis” (anyone) and (in Roman characters) the Greek “Andres” (men). There is an unexplained numeral “4,” not in Johnson’s hand, in the upper right-hand corner of the recto. One large tear (affecting lines 2–3 and 18 below) suggests the paper may have been pulled away from some fastening. If this was once a numbered page in a notebook, Johnson may have borrowed the leaf from a friend, as notebooks were usually numbered by their users. On the other hand, the number may have been added to the manuscript when it was included in an autograph album. Donald Greene published a facsimile, transcription, and translation, with notes, of this exercise in A Note on Samuel Johnson’s Latin School and College Exercises (1984). He also included the transcription and translation, with notes, in his anthology Samuel Johnson (1984), pp. 39–40 and 799. Bengt Löfstedt commented on Greene’s work and made corrections in the transcription, which we incorporate herewith.2 Barry Baldwin has written more extensively on the small piece, suggesting classical sources for many of Johnson’s phrases.3


Page 10

Nihil magis Principi expedit reipublicae studioso quam ut bonos titulis honoribusque augeat, in m[a]los severissime animadvertat. Ut enim omnes se contem[p-] tos videntes deterrentur, sic si factis dignas ferant mercedes, ad majora eodem tramite ascendere conantur. Invicta et inexpugnabilis cupido no[s]- tris inseritur pectoribus honoris et laudum, quam Naturam nobis sapientem (nihil enim frustra agit) indidisse credam ut ad facta lau- dabilia extimulet. Omnes fere artes, professores deni[que] meritis1 cumulando propagatas fuisse constat, Primi medici ad Deos relati sunt, et templa in illorum honorem aedificabantur. Etsi virtus [ip]sa sibi pretium est, tamen si desit gratia prin- cipis, si boni obscuris latescunt villis dum infa- mes praeturas consulatusque adsequantur, alii illos vix imitabuntur. Constat artes non, nisi mag- [nis vir]ibus excoluntur, florere, nec tanta, Tyrannis reg- nantibus, bellisque regnis ardentibus, ingenia, quan- ta sub optimo principe, nascuntur. Omnes vero ad [r]egum exempla sese conformant, si ab illo spretae jac- ent musae ab aliis itidem contemnuntur. Si2 nisi ex suo exemplo populum ad relligionis Divorum- que trahit observantiam, omnis pietas cito sordebit. Primis Romanae reipublicae aetatibus, dum boni, ortu nihil aestimato, ad grande de- cus sublati sunt, virtus quotidie increvit, mori- bus vero postea depravatis, vitio venientibus seculis obruta est.
Nothing is more advantageous to a ruler concerned for the public welfare than that he promote good men by


Page 11

giving them titles and honors, and take the severest action against the bad. For as all are deterred by seeing themselves despised, so if they receive rewards worthy of their deeds, they try to rise to higher things by the same path. An unsubdued and invincible desire of honor and praise is planted in our hearts, which I would believe wise Nature (for she does nothing in vain) has instilled in us to spur us to praiseworthy deeds. Nearly all the arts, it is agreed, have been advanced in the end by heaping the practitioners with rewards. The first physicians were related to the gods, and temples were built in their honor. Although virtue is its own reward, yet if the favor of the prince is wanting, if good men remain in backwoods obscurity while the infamous obtain praetorships and consulships, others will scarcely imitate them. It is generally agreed that the arts do not flourish unless they are cultivated with great effort, nor do such great talents appear when tyrants rule and kingdoms are aflame with war as under a really good ruler. But everyone will conform to the examples of kings; if the Muses are scorned by him, they will at the same time be despised by others. Unless by his own example he draws the people to respect for religion and the gods, all piety will quickly be sullied. In the early ages of the Roman republic, when good men, irrespective of their origin, were raised to high honor, virtue every day increased; but in later times, when morals became depraved, it was overthrown by vice.
Editorial Notes
1 Juvenal, Satires X.141–42.
2 “On a Latin School Exercise by Samuel Johnson,” Acta Classica, 43 (2000), 161–62.
3 “Johnson’s Juvenile Juvenal,” Latomus, 67 (2008), 1041–46.
1 Greene wrote desideritis; Löfstedt conjectures doni<s> meritis and Baldwin de meritis, though he sees the possibility of deseritis, in the false sense of “just deserts.”
2 Greene believes SJ meant to write Sic.
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Document Details
Document TitleQuis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation DateN/A
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorGreene, Donald
ClassificationSubject: Latin exercises; Subject: Themes; Subject: Juvenal; Subject: Virtue; Subject: Honor; Subject: Rome; Subject: Piety; Genre: Exercises
PrinterN/A
PublisherN/A
Publ. PlaceN/A
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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