APPLICATION.
No peace is to be expected among those who are naturally fierce, quarrelsome, and inhospitable; and people of a different disposition should avoid, as much as possible, having any thing to do with them. But when we cannot help coming into contact with such characters, there is no remedy but patience; and this virtue a wise man will call to his aid under every misfortune. When our sufferings are inflicted by the wickedness of others, it is some consolation to reflect, that people of this character are continually waging war among themselves, and punishing each other; and that the consequences of their own wickedness follow them like their shadow, besides rendering them the objects of general aversion. No virtue was more universally practised, or more strongly recommended, by the ancients, than a mild conduct to our companions, and an hospitable entertainment of strangers; and when this is not the general character of any people, it shews, in greater or less degrees, the wretched state of society in which they live.
