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[How does it happen that this man, so distressed at the death of his wife and his only son, or who has some great lawsuit which annoys him, is not at this moment sad, and that he seems so free from all painful and disquieting thoughts?  We need not wonder; for a ball has been served him, and he must return it to his companion.  He is occupied in catching it in its fall from the roof, to win a game.  How can he think of his own affairs, pray, when he has this other matter in hand?  Here is a care worthy of occupying this great soul, and taking away from him every other thought of the mind.  This man, born to know the universe, to judge all causes, to govern a whole state, is altogether occupied and taken up with the business of catching a hare.  And if he does not lower himself to this, and wants always to be on the strain, he will be more foolish still, because he would raise himself above humanity; and after all he is only a man, that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and of nothing; he is neither angel nor brute, but man.]

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Men spend their time in following a ball or a hare; it is the pleasure even of kings.

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Diversion.—­Is not the royal dignity sufficiently great in itself to make its possessor happy by the mere contemplation of what he is?  Must he be diverted from this thought like ordinary folk?  I see well that a man is made happy by diverting him from the view of his domestic sorrows so as to occupy all his thoughts with the care of dancing well.  But will it be the same with a king, and will he be happier in the pursuit of these idle amusements than in the contemplation of his greatness?  And what more satisfactory object could be presented to his mind?  Would it not be a deprivation of his delight for him to occupy his soul with the thought of how to adjust his steps to the cadence of an air, or of how to throw a [ball] skilfully, instead of leaving it to enjoy quietly the contemplation of the majestic glory which encompasses him?  Let us make the trial; let us leave a king all alone to reflect on himself quite at leisure, without any gratification of the senses, without any care in his mind, without society; and we will see that a king without diversion is a man full of wretchedness.  So this is carefully avoided, and near the persons of kings there never fail to be a great number of people who see to it that amusement follows business, and who watch all the time of their leisure to supply them with delights and games, so that there is no blank in it.  In fact, kings are surrounded with persons who are wonderfully attentive in taking care that the king be not alone and in a state to think of himself, knowing well that he will be miserable, king though he be, if he meditate on self.

In all this I am not talking of Christian kings as Christians, but only as kings.

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