SELF-COMMAND, is that steady equanimity which enables a man in every situation to exert his reasoning faculty with coolness, and to do what the present circumstances require. It depends much upon the natural temperament of the body, and much upon the moral cultivation of the mind. He who enjoys good health, and has braced his frame by exercise, has always a greater command of himself than a man of equal mental powers, who has suffered his constitution to become relaxed by indolence; and he who has from his early youth been accustomed to make his passions submit to his reason, must, in any sudden emergency, be more capable of acting properly than he who has tamely yielded to his passion. Hence it is that recluse and literary men, when forced into the bustle of public life, are incapable of acting where promptness is requisite; and that men who have once or twice yielded to a sense of impending danger seldom acquire afterwards that command of themselves which may be necessary to extricate them from subsequent dangers. In one of the earliest battles fought by the late king of Prussia, the sovereign was among the first men who quitted the field: had he behaved in the same manner a second and a third time, he would never have become that hero whose actions astonished Europe. A celebrated engineer among ourselves, who was well known to the writer of this short article, had little science, and was a stranger to the principles of his own art; but being possessed of a firm and vigorous frame, and having been accustomed to struggle with dangers and difficulties, he had such a constant command of himself, as enabled him to employ with great coolness every necessary resource in the day of battle.
But it is not only in battle, and in the face of immediate danger, that self-command is necessary to enable a man to act with propriety. There is no situation in life where difficulties, greater or less, are not to be encountered; and he who would pass through life with comfort to himself, and with utility to the public, must endeavour to keep his passions in constant subjection to his reason. No man can enjoy without inquietude what he cannot lose without pain; and no man who is overwhelmed with despondency under any sudden misfortune can exert the talents necessary to retrieve his circumstances. We ought, therefore, by every means to endeavour to obtain a constant command of ourselves; and nowhere shall we find better lessons for this purpose than in ancient Lacedæmon. There certain occupations were appointed for each sex, for every hour, and for every season of life. In a life always active, the passions have no opportunity to deceive, seduce, or corrupt; and the nervous system acquires a firmness which makes it a fit instrument to a vigorous mind.