Perhaps a letter of this nature, sent to so reasonable a man as Crassus, might have put him upon Examining into himself, and correcting that little sordid appetite, so utterly inconsistent with all pretences to a hero.  A youth in the heat of blood may plead with some shew of reason, that he is not able to subdue his lusts; An ambitious man may use the same arguments for his love of power, or perhaps other arguments to justify it.  But, excess of avarice hath neither of these pleas to offer; it is not to be justified, and cannot pretend temptation for excuse:  Whence can the temptation come?  Reason disclaims it altogether, and it cannot be said to lodge in the blood, or the animal spirits.  So that I conclude, no man of true valour and true understanding, upon whom this vice has stolen unawares, when he is convinced he is guilty, will suffer it to remain in his breast an hour.

[Footnote 1:  No. 27 in the reprint. [T.S.]]

[Footnote 2:  “It is of the greatest importance in the discharge of every office of trade, or of the public treasury, that the least suspicion of avarice should be avoided.” [T.S.]]

[Footnote 3:  The Commissioners for examining the public accounts reported to the House of Commons (December 21st, 1711) that the Duke of Marlborough had received from Sir Solomon de Medina (army contractor for bread) and his predecessor, during the years 1702 to 1711, a sum of L63,319 3s. 7d.  “In this report was contained the deposition of Sir Solomon Medina, charging the Duke of Marlborough and Adam Cardonell, his secretary, of various peculations, with regard to the contracts for bread and bread-wagons for the army in Flanders.”  The Duke admitted the fact in a letter to the Queen, dated November 10th, 1711, but said that the whole sum had “been constantly employed for the service of the public, in keeping secret correspondence, and in getting intelligence of the enemy’s motions and designs” (Macpherson’s “Great Britain,” ii. 512; Tindal’s “History,” iv. 232; and “Journals of House of Commons,” xvii. 16). [T.S.]]

[Footnote 4:  See the remarks in No. 39, post, p.250. [T.S.]]

[Footnote 5:  Sallust, “Catiline,” 5.  “Greedy of what was not his own, lavish of what was.”  Catiline was extravagant and profligate, and quite unscrupulous in the pursuit of his many pleasures. [T.S.]]

[Footnote 6:  A most severe censure on the Duke of Marlborough. [T.S.]]

[Footnote 7:  Commenting on this “The Medley” (No. 20, February 12th, 1711) remarks:  “Of all that ever made it their business to defame, there never was such a bungler sure as my friend.  He writes a letter now to Crassus, as a man marked out for destruction, because that hint was given him six months ago; and does not seem to know yet that he is still employed, and that in attacking him, he affronts the Q[uee]n.”

Writing to Stella, under date February 18th, Swift says:  “Lord Rivers, talking to me the other day, cursed the paper called ‘The Examiner,’ for speaking civilly of the Duke of Marlborough:  this I happened to talk of to the Secretary [St. John], who blamed the warmth of that lord, and some others, and swore, that, if their advice were followed, they would be blown up in twenty-four hours” (vol. ii., p. 123 of present edition). [T.S.]]