and hinder one the other Miserie and Pride Vanitie and Presumption See then how strange and monstrous a patch-coat man is Forasmuch as man is composed of two diuers parts the soule and the body it is a matter of difficulty well to describe him entire in his perfection and declining state Some refer vnto the body whatsoeuer ill can be spoken of man they make him an excellent creature and in regard of his spirit extoll him aboue all other creatures but on the other side whatsoeuer is ill either in man or in the whole world is forged and proceedeth from this spirit of man and in it there is farre more vanity inconstancy misery presumption than in the body wherein there is little matter of reproch in respect of the spirit and therefore Democritus calleth it a world of hidden miseries and Plutarch prooueth it in a booke written of that subiect Now let vs consider man more according to the life than heeretofore we haue done and pinch him where it itcheth not referring all to these fiue points vanity weaknesse inconstancy misery and presumption which are his more naturall and vniuersall qualities but the two latter touch him more neerely Againe there are some things common to many of these fiue which a man knowes not to which to attribute it and especially imbecillity and misery CHAP. XXXVI 1. Vanity VAnity is the most essentiall and proper quality of humane nature There is nothing so much in man bee it malice infelicity inconstancy irresolution and of all these there is alwaies abundance as base feeblenesse sottishnesse and ridiculous vanity And therefore Democritus met better with it with a kind of disdaine of humane condition mocking and laughing at it than Heraclitus that wept and tormented himselfe whereby he gaue some testimony that he made some account thereof and Diogenes who scorned it than Timon that hater and flier of the company of men Pindarus hath expressed it more to the life than any other by the two vainest things in the world calling it the dreame of ashadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is that that hath wrought in the wisest so great a contempt of man that hearing of some great designment and honourable enterprise and iudging it such were wont neuerthelesse to say that the world was not worthy a mans labour and paines so answered Statilius to Brutus talking with him about the conspiracie against Caesar and that a wise man should doe nothing but for himselfe for it is not reason that wise men and wisedome should put themselues in danger for fooles This vanitie is shewed and expressed many waies and after 2 Thoughts a diuers maner first in our thoughts and priuate imaginations which are many times more than vaine friuolous and ridiculous wherein neuerthelesse we spend much time and yet perceiue it not Wee enter into them we dwell in them and we come foorth againe insensibly which is a double vanitie and a great forgetfulnesse of our selues One walking in a hall considereth how he may frame his paces after a certaine fashion vpon the boords of the floure another discourseth in his minde with much time and great attention how he should carry himselfe if he were a king a Pope or some other thing that he is assured can neuer come to passe and so hee feedeth himselfe with winde yea lesse than winde that that neither is nor euer shall be Another dreameth how he shall compose his body his countenances his gestures his speech after an affected fashion and pleaseth himselfe therein as with a thing that wonderfully becomes him and that euery man should take delight in But what a vanitie and sottish weakenesse in our desires is this that brings forth beliefs and hopes farre more vaine And all this falleth out not only when we haue nothing to doe when we are swallowed vp with idlenesse but many times in the midst of our most necessarie affaires so naturall and powerfull is vanitie that it robbeth and plucketh out of our hands the truth soliditie and substance of things and fills vs with winde yea with nothing Another more sottish vanitie is a troublesome care of what shall heere fall out when we are dead We extend our desires 3 Care for times to come and affections beyond our selues and our being wee would prouide that some thing should bee done vnto vs when wee know not what is done vnto vs owe desire to be praised after our death what greater vanitie It is not ambition as it seemeth a man may thinke it for that is the desire of a sensible and perceptible honor if this praise of our selues when we are gone might any way profit either our children our parents or our friends that suruiue vs it were well there were some benefit though not to our selues but to desire that as a good which shall no way touch vs nor benefit others is a meere vanitie like that of those who feare their wiues will marrie after their departure and therefore they desire them with great passion to continue vnmarried and binde them by their willes so to do leauing vnto them a great part of their goods vpon that condition This is vanitie and many times iniustice It was contrariwise a commendable thing in those great men in times past which dying exhorted their wiues to marry speedily for the better increase of the Commonwealth Others ordeine that for the loue of them and for their sakes a friend keepe such and such a thing or that he do this or that vnto their dead bodies which rather sheweth their vanitie than doth any good to soule or bodie See heere another vanitie we liue not but by relation vnto another we take not so much care what we are in our selues in effect and truth as what we are in the publike knowledge of men in such sort that we do many times deceiue and depriue our selues of our owne goods and commodities and torment our selues to frame our outward appearances to the common opinion This is true not onely in outward things and such as belong to the bodie and the expense and charge of our meanes but also in the goods of the spirit which seeme vnto vs to be without fruit if others enioy them not and they be not produced to the view and approbation of strangers Our vanity is not only in our simple thoughts desires and discourses but it likewise troubleth shaketh and tormenteth 5 Agitations of the spirit both soule and bodie Many times men trouble and torment themselues more for light occasions and matters of no moment than for the greatest and most important affaires that are Our soule is many times troubled with small fantasies dreames shadowes fooleries without bodie without subiect it is intangled and molested with choler hatred sorow ioy building castles in Spaine The remembrance of a farewell of some particular grace or action afflicteth vs more than a whole discourse of a matter of greater importance The sound of names and certaine words
OF WISDOME THREE BOOKES WRITTEN IN FRENCH by PETER CHARRŌ Doct of Lawe in Paris Translated by Samson Lennard AT LONDON PRINTED For Edward Blount Will Aspley Gulielmus Hole fecit The subiect and order of these three Books THe First Booke teacheth the knowledge of our selues and our humane condition which is the foundation of Wisdome by fiue great and principall considerations of man and conteineth 62. Chapters The Second conteineth the principall rules of Wisdome the priuileges and proper qualities of a wise man and hath 12. Chapters The Third in a Discourse of the foure Morall vertues Prudence Iustice Fortitude Temperance setteth downe the particular instructions of Wisdome in 43. Chapters TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY Prince HENRY Prince of GREAT BRITAINE Sonne and Heire apparent to our Souereigne Lord the King DEceit is in the heart of them that imagine euill but to the Counsellers of peace shall be ioy It is the saying most excellent Prince of the wisest Prince that euer liued and it is the vnspeakable happinesse of vs that liue vnder the gratious gouernment of your renowmed Father that he doth not onely approoue what he sayd but practise it too and in the whole course of his gouernment findes it to be true for peace he counselleth and ioy and peace and content he enioyeth nay it is by his wisdome and prouident care that we are all at peace with the whole world and the whole world with vs a blessing that few Kingdomes of the earth do truly enioy and the greatnesse whereof we know not because we enioy it Jt is an Argument vnto my selfe of that inward peace that his Highnesse hath with God and his owne soule for Pax a nobis incipit quia dum lex carnis repugnat legimentis non modò alteri sed nec nobis possumus esse pacifici sed postquam intus spiritus imperat vt totus homo spiritui seruiat tunc pax ad alios deriuatur vt pacem cum omnibus habeamus And he that neuer spake but wisely sayth When the wayes of a man please the Lord he will make all his enemies at peace with him Euer may all his enemies be at peace with him and he with his enemies and let all that loue the peace of our Jerusalem say A men This peace right excellent Prince whose nature it is to turne swords into mattocks souldiers into husbandmen for as much as my education made mee not fit for that hath turned my sword into a penne Then my profession was armes and J fought for peace which since we now enioy J thought J should dishonour so honourable a profession too much to be idle and abuse so excellent a blessing as peace is by making it the mother of so vntoward a childe Heerupon J hung vp my sword to rust in the scabbard till good occasion might draw it forth againe and long J had not thoght with my selfe which way I might serue my King and my Country in these peaceable times but this booke fell into my hands which when I had read I thoght woorthy the translation and though I had no reason to thinke the translation worthy your Highnes protection yet the matter fittest for a Prince and your Princely clemencie to others in the like kinde haue emboldened me to become humble petitioner to your Highnes that you would be pleased to honor the excellencie of the worke with your patronage and protect my infirmities The subiect of this worke is Wisdome And what fitter for a Prince If you honor it it will honor you as it hath done your royall Father whom it hath crowned with honour as with a garland made the mirrour of Princes and the woonder of the world Long may you liue an heire apparent to his virtues and to his Kingdomes and when God shall haue turned his earthly crowne into a crowne of glorie long may you reigne a glorious Sonne of so glorious a Father Your HIGHNESSE in all humblenes of duty to be commanded Samson Lennard To the Reader I Doubt not gentle Reader but some there are that will not gently censure these my labours for I am not ignorant how hard a thing it is to please all Some are curious whom if I should endeuour to please I should displease my selfe Some are enuious and those I care not whether I please or no. As for the iudicious Reader I confesse I would willingly content him because if he be truly iudicious he will iudge of my faults as if they were his own and rather commend my good endeuors than condemne my infirmities This is the man whom I desire to satisfie and must giue to vnderstand that I haue vsed a plaine English phrase because the grauitie of the matter required it and I loue not to smell of the inkhorne and of all others I haue auoided the French wherein it was written because I would not haue it seeme to be a translation The Latine I haue left vntoucht and if that be a fault I disburden it vpon the Author He did it and why not I And if hee thought all French men vnderstood it why should not I haue as good a conceit of my Countreymen If he thought none fit to reade his booke but such as vnderstood it it is no fault in me if I thinke so too Howsoeuer or whatsoeuer my ouersights may be which I doubt not but a curious eie may make too many let it suffice that I acknowledge mine owne weaknesse and both in respect of the tongue and weight of the matter if selfe should not haue presumed to haue vndergone so heauy a burden had I not been encouraged by my learned iudicious and honest friend M. Roger Webb sometime student and fellow of S. Iohns Colledge in Oxford from whose fulnesse I am not ashamed to confesse I haue receiued that little sufficiencie whatsoeuer it be that is in me and whose learned assistance I haue vsed both in the cull and altering of such points as were either erroneous or not otherwise fit to passe the presse If any man shall thinke that by this ingenious acknowledgment of his worthinesse I detract from mine owne sufficiencie it sufficeth my turne if I adde vnto mine owne honestie by yeelding this thankfull requitall of his loue towards me and his labors bestowed vpon me which forasmuch as they were not mercenarie but friendly and neighbourly they do binde me the rather with my labours to honour him Touching the Authour of this Worke I can say little because I knew him not let his worke commend him and as for the worke let it commend it selfe for I had rather with silence passe that ouer which I can not sufficiently commend than derogate any thing from the worth thereof by speaking too little Let me only say That if I haue any way wronged him in these my labors by turning him out of his holy dayes sute into his worky-dayes apparell I am sorie for it it was not my purpose so to do but to honor
this wisdome is Metaphysicall and resideth wholly in the vnderstanding as being the chiefe good and perfection thereof it is the first and Thom. 1. 2. quaest 57. 2. 2. q. 19. highest of the fiue intellectuall vertues which may be without either honestie action or other morall vertue The Diuines make it not altogether so speculatiue but that it is likewise in some sort Practique for they say That it is the knowledge of Diuine things from which there ariseth a iudgement and rule of humane actions and they make it two-folde The one acquired by studie and comes neere to that of the Philosophers which I am to speake of The other infused and giuen by God De sursum descendens This is the first of the seuen gifts of the Holy Ghost Spiritus Domini spiritus sapientiae which is not found but only in those that are iust and free from sinne In maleuolam animam Sap. 1. non introibit sapientia Of this Diuine wisdome likewise our purpose is not heere to speake it is after some sort and measure handled in my first Veritie and in my Discourses of Diuinitie It followeth therefore that it is Humane wisdome 5 Humane which in this Booke we are to deliuer vnto you and whereof it takes the name and of which in this place we must giue some briefe and generall view which may be as an Argument and Summarie of this whole worke The common descriptions are diuers and insufficient Wisdome according to the cōmon sort Some and the greatest part thinke that it is only a wisdome discretion and aduised carriage in a mans affaires and conuersation This may well be called common as respecting nothing but that which is outward and in action and considereth not at all any other thing than that which outwardly appeareth It is altogether in the eyes and eares of men without any respect or very little of the inward motions of the minde so that according to their opinion wisdome may be without essentiall pietie or probitie that is a beautifull cunning a sweet and modest subtiltie Others thinke that it is a rude vnreasonable rough singularitie a kinde of sullen frowning and frampole austeritie in opinions maners words actions and fashion of life and therfore they call them that are wounded and touched with that humor Philosophers that is to say in their counterfeit language fantasticall diuers different and declining from the customes of other men Now this kinde of wisdome according to the doctrine of our booke is rather a follie and extrauagancie You must therefore know that this wisdome whereof we speake is not that of the common people but of Philosophers and Diuines whereof both haue written in their morall learnings The Philosophers more at According to Philosophers and Diuines large and more professedly as being their true and proper dish they feed on and formall subiect they write of because they applie themselues to that which concerneth Nature and Action Diuinitie mounteth A comparison betwixt Diuinitie Philosophie much higher and is occupied about vertues infused Contemplatiue and Diuine that is to say about Diuine wisdome and Beleefe So that Philosophers are more stayed dispersed more certeine and more common ruling and instructing not onely the particular knowledge or actions of men but the common and publike teaching that which is good and profitable to Families Corporations Common-weales Empires Diuinitie is more sparing and silent in this point looking principallie into the eternall good and saluation of euery one Againe the Philosopher handleth this subiect more sweetly and pleasingly the Diuine more austerely and drily Againe Philosophie which is the elder for Nature is more ancient than Grace and the Naturall than the Supernaturall seemeth to perswade gratiously as being willing to please in profiting as the Poet speaketh Simul iucunda idonea dicere vita Horace Lectorem delect ando pariterque monando It is enriched with discourses reasons inuentions examples similitudes decked with speeches Apophthegmes sententious mots adorned with Eloquence and Arte. Theologie which came after altogether austere it seemeth to command and imperiously like a Master to enioyne And to conclude the vertue and honestie of Diuines is too anxious scrupulous deiect sad fearefull and vulgar Philosophie such as this Booke teacheth is altogether pleasant free bucksom and if I may so say wanton too and yet notwithstanding puissant noble generous and rare Doubtlesse the Philosophers haue heerin been excellent not only in writing and teaching but in the rich and liuely representation thereof in their honourable and heroicall liues I vnderstand heere by Philosophers and Wise men not onely those that haue carried the name of Wise men such as Thales Solon and the rest of that ranke that liued in the time of Cyrus Cresus Pisistrates nor those that came afterwards and haue publikely taught it as Pythagoras Socrates Plato Aristotle Aristippus Zenon Antisthenes all chiefe Professours apart and many other their Disciples different and diuided in sects but also all those great men who haue made singular and exemplary profession of vertue and wisdome as Phocion Aristides Pericles Alexander whom Plutarch called as well a Philosopher as a King Epaminondas and diuers other Greeks The Fabricij Fabij Camilli Catoni Torquati Reguli Lelij Scipioni Romans who for the most part haue beene Generals in armies And these are the reasons why in this my Booke I doe more willingly and ordinarily follow the aduice and sayings of Philosophers not in the mean time omitting or reiecting those of the Diuines For both in substance they doe all agree and are verie sold me different and Diuinitie doth nothing disdaine to employ and to make good vse of the wise sayings of Philosophie If I had vndertaken to instruct the cloister and the retired life that is that profession which attendeth the secrets Euangelicall I must necessarily haue followed adamussim the aduice of the Diuines but our Booke instructeth a ciuill life formeth a man for the world that is to say to humane wisdome not diuine We say then naturally and generally both with the 6 A generall description of humane wisdome Philosopher and the Diuine that this humane wisdome is a kinde of law or reason a beautifull and noble composition of the entire man both in his inward part and his outward his thoughts his words his actions and all his motions It is the excellencie and perfection of man as he is man that is to say according to that which the first fundamentall and naturall law doth require as wee say That that worke is well wrought and excellent that is compleat and perfectin all the parts thereof and wherein all the rules of Arte haue beene obserued that man is accounted a wise man that best knoweth after the best and most excellent maner to play the man that is to say to giue a more particular picture thereof that knowing himselfe and the condition of man doth keepe and preserue himselfe from all vices errours
passions and defects as well inward and proper to himselfe as outward and common to other men mainteining his spirit pure free vniuersall considering and iudging of all things without band or affection alwayes ruling and directing himself in all things according to nature that is to say that first reason and vniuersall law and light inspired by God and which shineth in vs vnto which he doth apply and accommodate his owne proper and particular light liuing in the outward view of the world and with all men according to their lawes customes and ceremonies of the countrey where he is without the offence of any carrying himselfe wisely and discreetly in all affaires walking alwaies vprightly constant comfortable and content in himselfe attending peaceably whatsoeuer may happen and at the last death it selfe All these parts or qualities which are many for our better ease and facilitie may be drawen to foure principall heads Knowledge of our selues Libertie of spirit pure and generous Imitation of Nature this hath a very large field and alone might almost suffice True contentment These can no where be found but in him that is wise and he that wanteth any of these can not be wise He that hath an erroneous knowledge of himselfe that subiecteth his minde to any kinde of seruitude either of passions or popular opinions makes himselfe partiall and by enthralling himselfe to some particular opinion is depriued of the libertie and iurisdiction of discerning iudging and examining all things Hee that striueth against Nature vnder what pretence soeuer it be following rather opinion or passion than reason he that carrieth himselfe troubledly disquietly malcontent fearing death is not wise Beholde heere in a few words the picture of Humane wisdome and folly and the sum of that which I purpose to handle in this Worke especially in the Second Booke which expresly containeth the rules treatise and offices of Wisdome which is more mine than the other two and which I once thought to haue published by it selfe This verball description of Wisdome is represented vnto the eye euen at the entrance or threshall of this Booke by a woman all naked in a place void and empty resting her selfe vpon nothing in her pure and simple nature beholding her selfe in a glasse her countenance cheerefull merry and manly vpright her feet close ioyned vpon a square pillar and imbracing herselfe hauing vnder her feet inchained foure other women as slaues vnto her that is to say Passion with a changed and hideous countenance Opinion with wandering eyes inconstant giddy borne vpon the heads of the people Superstition astonished and in a trance and her hands fastened the one to the other Vertue or Honestie and Pedanticall Science with a sullen visage her eye-lids eleuated reading in a Booke where was written Yea No. All this needs no other explication than that which heereafter followeth but heereof more at large in the Second Booke To attaine vnto this wisdome there are two meanes 7 Two ways to attaine this wisdome the first is in the originall forming and first temper that is to say in the temperature of the seed of the Parents the milke of the Nurse and the first education whereby a man is sayd to be either well borne or ill borne that is to say either well or ill formed and disposed vnto wisdome A man would little thinke of what power and importance this beginning is for if men did know it there would be more care taken and diligence vsed therein than there is It is a strange and lamentable thing that so reachlesse a carelesnesse should be in vs of the life and good life of those whom we desire to make our other selues when in matters of lesse importance we take more care vse more diligence more counsell than we should neuer thinking of our greatest affaires and most honourable but by hazzard and peraduenture Who is he that taketh counsell with himselfe or endeuoureth to do that which is required for the preseruing and preparing of himselfe as he ought to the generation of male-children healthfull of spirit and apt for wisdome For that which serueth for the one serueth for the other and Nature after one maner attendeth them all This is that which men thinke of least yea little or not at all in the act of generation doth it enter into their thoughts to frame a new creature like themselues but only like beasts to satisfie their lustfull pleasures This is one of the most important faults and of greatest note in a Common weale whereof there is not one that thinketh or complaineth neither is there concerning it either law or rule or publike aduice It is most certeine that if men did heerein carrie themselues as they ought we should haue other men of more excellent spirit and condition than we haue amongst vs. What is required heerein and to the first nourishment and education is briefly set downe in our Third Booke Chap. 14. The second meanes to attaine wisdome is the studie 8 Acquired of Philosophie I meane not of all the parts thereof but Morall yet not forgetting the Naturall which is the light the guide the rule of our life which explaineth and representeth vnto vs the law of Nature instructeth man vniuersally in all things both publike and priuate alone and in companie in all domesticall and ciuill conuersation taketh away all that sauage nature that is in vs sweetneth and tameth our naturall rudenesse crueltie and wildnesse and worketh and fashioneth it to wisdome To be briefe it is the true science of man all the rest in respect of it is but vanitie or at the leastwise not necessarie or little profitable for it giueth instructions to liue and to die well which is all in all it teacheth vs perfect wisdome an apt iudicious well aduised honesty But this second meane is almost as little practised and as ill employed as the first for no man careth greatly for this wisdome so much are all giuen to that which is worldly Thus you see the two principall meanes to attaine to wisdome the Naturall and Acquired He that hath beene fortunate in the first that is to say that hath been fauourably formed by Nature that is of a good and sweet temperature which bringeth forth a great goodnesse in nature and sweetnes in maners hath made a faire march without great paine to the second But that man with whom it is otherwise must with great and painfull studie of the second beautifie and supplie that which is wanting as Socrates one of the wisest sayd of himselfe That by the studie of Philosophie he had corrected and reformed his naturall infirmities There are contrariwise two formall lets or hinderances 9 The lets to Wisdome and means to folly are tvvo to wisdome and two counter-meanes or powerfull wayes vnto follie Naturall and Acquired The first which is naturall proceedeth from the originall temper and temperature which maketh the braine either too soft moist and the parts thereof grosse and
consulted of and problematically and Academically disputed that to me and mine opinions which I deliuer from report and is the opinion of another man that to the outward state profession and condition which is proper to the spirit and inward sufficiencie that to religion and faith which is but the opinion of man that to grace and supernaturall inspiration which is proper to naturall and morall vertue and action All passion and preoccupation being taken away hee shall finde in these seuen points well vnderstood how to resolue himselfe in his doubts how to answer all obiections made by himselfe or by others and informe himselfe touching my intention in this worke And if neuerthelesse after all this he will neither rest satisfied and contented nor approue what I haue written let him boldly and speedily disproue it for onely to speake ill to bite to slander the name of another man though it be easie enough yet it is base and pedanticall and he shall as speedily receiue either a free confession and assent for this Booke doth glory and feast it selfe in the truth and ingenuitie thereof or an examination of the impertinencies and follies thereof FINIS OF WISDOME THE FIRST BOOKE Which is the knowledge of our selues and our humane condition An exhortation to the studie and knowledge of our selues THE PREFACE TO THE First Booke THE most excellent and diuine counsell 1 The knowledge of our selues the first thing the best and most profitable aduertisement of all others but the least practised is to study and learne how to know our selues This is the foundation of Wisdome and the high way to whatsoeuer is good and there is no folly comparable to this To be painfull and diligent to know all things els whatsoeuer rather than our selues for the true science and studie of man is man himselfe God Nature the wise the world preach man and exhort 2 Enioyned to all by all reason him both by word and deed to the studie and knowledge of himselfe God eternally and without intermission beholdeth considereth knoweth himselfe The world hath all the lights thereof contracted and vnited within it selfe and the eies open to see and behold it selfe It is as necessarie for man to learne how to know himselfe as it is naturall vnto him to thinke or to be neere vnto himselfe Nature hath enioyned this worke vnto all To meditate to entertain our thoughts therein is a thing aboue all things easie ordinarie naturall it is the food sustentation life of the spirit Cuius viuere est cogitare Now where can a man begin or continue his meditations more truly more naturally than with himselfe Is there any thing that toucheth him more neerely Doubtlesse to studie other learnings and to forget our selues is a thing both vnnaturall and vniust The true and principall vacation of euery man is to imploy his thoughts vpon himselfe and to tie himselfe to himselfe for so doth euery thing els setting bounds and limits to their other businesse and desires And thou man which wilt seeme to containe the whole vniuers to know all things to controule to iudge neither knowest nor endeuourest the knowledge of thy selfe and so going about to make thy selfe skilfull and a Iudge of Nature thou proouest the only foole of the world thou art of all other the most beggerly the most vaine and miserable and yet most proud and arrogant Looke therefore into thy selfe know thy selfe hold thy selfe to thy selfe thy spirit and will which is els where imployed reduce it vnto thy selfe Thou forgettest thy selfe and losest thy selfe about outward things thou betrayest and disrobest thy selfe thou lookest alwaies before thee gather thy selfe vnto thy selfe and shut vp thy selfe within thy selfe examine search know thy selfe Nosce teipsum nec te quaesiueris extra Respue quod non es Tecum habita noris quam sit tibi curta supellex Tu te consule Teipsum concute nunquid vitiorum Inseuerit olim natura aut etiam consuetudo mala By the knowledge of himselfe man ariueth sooner and better 3 The ladder to the knowlege of the diuine nature to the knowledge of God than by any other meanes both because he findeth in himselfe better helps more marks and footsteps of the diuine nature than in whatsoeuer besides he can any way know and because he can better vnderstand and know that which is in himselfe than in another thing Formasti me posuisti super me manum tuam ideo mirabilis Psalm facta est scientia tua id est tui ex me And therefore there was engrauen in letters of gold ouer the Porch of the Temple of Apollo the god according to the Panims of Knowledge and Light this sentence KNOW THY SELFE as a salutation and aduertisement of God vnto all signifying vnto them that he that would haue accesse vnto that Diuinitie and entrance into that Temple must first know himselfe and could not otherwise be admitted Si te ignoras ô pulcherrima Cantic egredere abi post hoedos tuos To become truly wise and to leade a life more regular and 4 Disposition vnto wisedome pleasant there needs no other instruction but from our selues and doubtlesse if we were good scholars there are no books could better instruct vs than we teach our selues He that shall call to mind and consider the excesse of his passed choller euen how farre this feuer and frensie hath caried him shall better be perswaded of the foule deformitie of this passion than by all the reason that Aristotle or Plato can alledge against it and so of all other passions and motions of the soule whatsoeuer He that shall call to minde how often he hath miscaried in his iudgement and been deceiued by his memorie shall learne thereby to trust it no more He that shall note how often he hath held an opinion and in such sort vnderstood a thing euen to the engaging of his owne credit and the satisfying of himselfe and any other therein and that afterwards time hath made him see the truth euen the contrarie to that he formerly held may learne to distrust his owne iudgement and to shake off that importunate arrogancie and querulous presumption a capitall enemie to discipline trueth He that shall wel note and consider all those euils that he hath run into that haue threatened him the light occasions that haue altered his courses and turned him from one estate to another how often repentances and mislikes haue come into his head will prepare himselfe against future changes learne to know his owne condition will preserue his modestie containe himselfe within his owne ranke offend no man trouble nothing nor enterprise any thing that may passe his owne forces And what were this but to see iustice and peace in euery thing To be briefe we haue no cleerer looking glasse no better booke than our selues if as we ought we doe studie our selues alwayes keeping our eyes open ouer vs and prying more narrowly into
force and strength to defend themselues The third much more neere is the maladie and corruption 3. The passions of the will and the force of the passions this is a world turned topsie turuy the wil is made to follow the vnderstanding as a guide and lampe vnto it but being corrupted and seased on by the force of the passions or rather by the fall of our first father Adam doth likewise perhaps corrupt the vnderstanding and so from hence come the greatest part of our erroneous iudgements Enuie Malice Hatred Loue Feare make vs to respect to iudge to take things others than they are quite otherwise than we ought from whence commeth that common crie Iudge without passion From hence it is that the beautifull and generous actions of another man are obscured by vile and base misconstructions that vaine and wicked causes occasions are feined This is a great vice and a proofe of a malignant nature and sicke iudgement in which there is neither great subtiltie nor sufficiencie but malice enough This proceedeth either from the enuy they beare to the glorie of another man or because they iudge of others according to themselues or because they haue their taste altered and their sight so troubled that they cannot discerne the cleere splendour of vertue in it natiue purity From this selfe same cause and source it commeth that we make the vertues and vices of another man to preuaile so much and extend them farther than we ought that from particularities wee draw consequents and generall conclusions if he be a friend all sits well about him his vices shall be vertues if he be an enemie or of a contrary faction there is nothing good in him insomuch that we shame our owne iudgement to smooth vp our owne passions But this rests not heere but goeth yet farther for the greatest part of those impieties heresies errours in our faith and religion if we looke well into it is sprung from our wicked and corrupt willes from a violent and voluptuous Exod. 31. 2. Paral. 15. 3. Reg. 15. August lib. 2. De ciuitate Dei passion which afterwards draweth vnto it the vnderstanding it selfe Sedit populus manducare bibere c. quod vult non quod est credit qui cupit errare in such sort that what was done in the beginning with some scruple and doubt hath beene afterwards held and maintained for a veritie and reuelation from heauen that which was onely in the sensualitie hath taken place in the highest part of the vnderstanding that which was nothing els but a passion and a pleasure hath beene made a religious matter and an article of faith so strong and dangerous is the contagion of the faculties of the Soule amongst themselues These are the three outward causes of the faults and miscariages of the Spirit iudgement and vnderstanding of man The body especially the head sicke or wounded or ill fashioned The world with the anticipated opinions and suppositions thereof The ill estate of the other faculties of the reasonable Soule which are all inferiour vnto it The first are pitifull and some of them to be cured some not the second are excusable and pardonable the third are accusable and punishable for suffring such a disorder so neere them as this is those that should obey the law to take vpon them to giue the law There are other defects of the Spirit which are more naturall vnto it and in it The greatest and the root of all the rest 18 Naturall is pride and presumption the first and originall fault of all the world the plague of all spirits and the cause of all euils by which a man is only content with himselfe will not giue place to another disdaineth his counsels reposeth himselfe in his owne opinions takes vpon him to iudge and condemne others yea euen that which he vnderstands not It is truly said that the best and happiest distribution that God euer made is of iudgement because euery man is content with his owne and thinkes he hath inough Now this malady proceedeth from the ignorance of our selues We neuer vnderstand sufficiently and truly the weaknesse of our spirit but the greatest disease of the spirit is ignorance not of Arts and Sciences and what is included in the writings of others but of it selfe for which cause this first booke hath beene written CHAP. XV. Of Memory MEmory is many times taken by the vulgar sort for the sense and vnderstanding but not so truly and properly for both by reason as hath beene said and by experience the excellency of the one is ordinarily accompanied with the weaknesse of the other and to say the truth it is a faculty very profitable for the world but yet comes far short of the vnderstanding and of all the parts of the Soule is the more delicate and most fraile The excellency thereof is not very requisite but to three sorts of people Merchants or men of Trade great talkers for the storehouse of the memory is more full and furnished than that of inuention for hee that wants it comes short and must be faine to frame his speech out of the forge of his owne inuention and liars mendacem oportet esse memorem From the want of memory proceed these commodities to lie seldome to talke little to forget offences An indifferent memory sufficeth for all CHAP. XVI Of the imagination and opinion THe imagination is a thing very strong and powerfull it is it that makes all the stirre all the clarter yea the perturbation of the world proceeds from it as we haue sayd before it is either the onely or at least the most actiue and stirring The effects of the imagination maruellous facultie of the Soule The effects thereof are maruellous and strange it worketh not only in it owne proper bodie and Soule but in that of another man yea it produceth contrary effects it makes a man blush wax pale tremble dote to wauer these are the least and the best it takes away the power and vse of the ingendring parts yea when there is most need of them and is the cause why men are more sharpe and austere not only towards themselues but others witnesse those ties and bands whereof the world is full which are for the most part impressions of the apprehension and of feare And contrariwise without endeuor without obiect euen in sleepe it satisfieth the amorous desires yea changeth the sex witnesse Lucius Cossitius whom Pliny affirmeth to haue seene to be changed from a woman to a man the day of his mariag and diuers the like it marketh sometimes ignominiously yea it killeth and makes abortiue the fruit within the wombe it takes away a mans speech and giues it to him that neuer had it as to the sonne of Croesus it taketh away motion sense respiration Thus we see how it worketh in the bodie Touching the Soule it makes a man to lose his vnderstanding his knowledge iudgement it turnes him
so high as when it is most deiected So that it must needs be miserable because to be happy it must be as it were lost and without it selfe This toucheth not in any sort the diuine disposition for God can to whom and when it pleaseth him reueale himselfe man in the meane time continuing setled in his sense and vnderstanding as the scripture makes mention of Moyses and diuers others 16 To conclude can there be a greater fault in iudgement than not to esteeme of iudgement not to exercise it and to preferre the memory and imagination or fantasie before it We see those great goodly and learned orations discourses lectures sermons bookes which are so much esteemed and admired written by men of greatest learning in this age I except some few what are they all but a heape and collection of allegations and the labours of other men a worke of memory and reading and a thing very easie being all culled and disposed to their hands and heereof are so many bookes composed with some few poynts handled with a good instruction or two a worke of imagination and heere is all This is many times a vanity and there appeareth not in it any sparke of iudgement or excellent vertue so likewise the authours themselues are many times weake and common in iudgement and in will corrupted how much better is it to heare a countrey swaine or a merchant talking in his counting-house discoursing of many goodly propositions and verities plainely and truely without arte or forme and giuing good and wholesome counsell out of a sound strong and solide iudgement In the will there are as many or rather more miseries and 11 Of the Will more miserable they are without number among which these following are some few of them 1 To be willing rather to seeme an honest man than to be and rather to be such to another than to himselfe 2 To be farre more ready and willing to reuenge an offence than to acknowledge a good turne in such sort that it is a corsiue to his heart to acknowledge pleasure and gaine to reuenge a proofe of a malignant nature gratia oneri est vltio in quaestu habetur 3 To be more apt to hate than to loue to slaunder than to commend to feede more willingly and with greater pleasure vpon the euill than the good of another to enlarge it more to display it more in his discourse and the exercise of his stile witnesse Lawyers Oratours and Poets who in reciting the good of any man are idle eloquent in euill The words inuentions figures to speake ill to scoffe are farre otherwise more rich more emphaticall and significant than to prayse or speake well 4 To flye from euill to doe what is good not properly for the good effect by naturall reason and for the loue of vertue but for some other strange consideration sometimes base and idle of gaine and profit vaine-glory hope feare of custome company and to be briefe not simply for himselfe and his duty but for some other outward occasion and circumstance all are honest men by occasion and accident And this is the reason why they are such vnequally diuersly not perpetually constantly vniformely 5 To loue him the lesse whom we haue offended and that because we haue offended him a strange thing and which proceedeth not alwayes from feare that he will take occasion to be reuenged for it may be he wisheth vs neuer the worse but it is because his presence doth accuse vs and brings to memory our fault and indiscretion And if the offendour loue not the offended the worse it is because the offence he committed was against his will for commonly he that hath a will to offend loues him the lesse whom he hath offended Chi offende mai non perdona He that offends neuer forgiues 6 As much may be sayd of him to whom we are much bound for courtesies receiued his presence is a burthen vnto vs he putteth vs in minde of our band and duty he reprocheth vnto vs our ingratitude and inabilities and we wish he were not so we were discharged of that duty Villaines by nature Quidam quo plus debent magis oderunt leue aes alienum debitorem facit graue inimicum 7 To take pleasure in the euill hurt and danger of another to greeue and repine at his good aduancement prosperitie I meane when it is without cause of hatred or priuate quarrell for it is another thing when it proceedeth from the ill desert of a man I speake heere of that common and naturall condition whereby without any particular malice men of indifferent honestie take pleasure to see others aduenture their fortunes at sea and are vexed to see them thriue better than themselues or that fortune should smile more vpon others than them and make themselues merry with the sorrow of another this is a token of a malitious seed in vs. To conclude that I may yet shew you how great our 12 The conclusion of these spirituall miseries misery is let me tell you that the world is replenished with three sorts of people who take vp much roome therein and carry a great sway both in number and reputation the superstitious formalists Pedanties who notwithstanding they are in diuers subiects iurisdictions and theaters the three principall religion life or conuersation and doctrine yet they are all of one stamp weake spirits ill borne or very ill instructed a very dangerous kind of people in iudgement and touched with a disease incurable It is lost labour to speake to these kind of people or to perswade them to change their minds for they account themselues the best and wisest in the world opinatiue obstinacie is there in his proper seate he that is once stricken and touched to the quick with any of these euils there is little hope of his recouery Who is there more sottish and withall more braine-sick and heady than these kind of people Two things there are that doe much hinder them as hath been spoken naturall imbecillitie and incapacitie and afterwards an anticipated opinion to do as well and better than others I do heere but name them and point them with the finger for afterwards in their places heere quoted their faults shall be shewed more at large The Superstitious iniurious to God and enemies to true religion couer themselues with the cloke of pietie zeale and 1 Superstitious See Lib. 2. Cap. 5. loue towards God euen to the punishing and tormenting of themselues more than is needfull thinking thereby to merit much and that God is not only pleased therewith but indebted vnto them for the rest What would you do to these kind of people If you tell them that they do more than they need and that they receiue things with the left hand in not vnderstanding them aright they will not beleeue you but tell you that their intent is good whereby they thinke to saue themselues and that they do it for deuotion Howsoeuer they
gaine than a losse Dignities are but honorable seruitudes whereby a man by giuing himselfe to the weale-publike is depriued of himselfe Honors are but the torches of enuie iealousie and in the end exile pouertie If a man shall call to minde the historie of all antiquitie he shall finde that all they that haue liued and haue caried themselues woorthily and vertuously haue ended their course either by exile or poison or some other violent death witnesse among the Greekes Aristides Themistocles Phocion Socrates amongst the Romans Camillus Scipio Cicero Papinian among the Hebrues the Prophets In such sort that it should seeme to be the liuerie of the more honest men for it is the ordinarie recompence of a publike state to such kinde of people And therefore a man of a gallant and generous spirit should contemne it and make small account thereof for he dishonoureth himselfe and shewes how little he hath profited in the studie of wisdome that regardeth in any respect the censures reports and speeches of the people be they good or euill CHAP. XXVII Of the losse of Friends I Heere comprehend parents children and whatsoeuer is neere and deere vnto a man First wee must know vpon what this pretended complaint or affliction is grounded whether vpon the interest or good of our friends or our owne Vpon that of our friends I doubt we shall say yea to that but yet we must not be too credulous to beleeue it It is an ambitious faining of pietie whereby we make a shew of sorrow and griefe for the hurt of another or the hindrance of the weale-publike but if wee shall withdraw the vaile of dissimulation and sound it to the quicke we shall finde that it is our owne particular good that is hid therein that toucheth vs neerest Wee complaine that our owne candle burneth and is consumed or at least is in some danger This is rather a kinde of enuie than true pietie for that which we so much complaine of touching the losse of our friends their absence their distance from vs is their true and great good moerere hoc euentum inuidi magis quà m amici est The true vse of death is to make an end of our miseries If God had made our life more miserable he had made it longer And therefore to say the truth it is vpon our owne good that this complaint and affliction is grounded now that becommeth vs not it is a kind of iniurie to be grieued with the rest and quiet of those that loue vs because we our selues are hurt thereby Suis incommodis angi non amicum sed seipsum amantis est Againe there is a good remedie for this which fortune can not take from vs and that is that suruiuing our friends we haue meanes to make new friends Friendship as it is one of the greatest blessings of our life so it is most easily gotten God makes men and men make friends Hee that wanteth not vertue shall neuer want friends It is the instrument wherewith they are made and wherewith when he hath lost his old he makes new If fortune haue taken away our friends let vs endeuour to make newe by this meanes wee shall not lose them but multiply them Of death VVE haue spoken heereof so much at large and in all respects in the eleuenth and last chapter of the second booke that there remaineth not any thing else to be spoken and therefore to that place I referre the Reader The second part of inward euils tedious and troublesome passions THE PREFACE FRom all these aboue named euils there spring and arise in vs diuers passions and cruell affections for these being taken and considered simply as they are they breed feare which apprehendeth euils as yet to come sorrow for present euils and if they be in another pitie and compassion Being considered as comming and procured by the act of another they stirre vp in vs the passions of choler hatred enuie iealousie despite reuenge and all those that procure displeasure or make vs to looke vpon another with an enuious eie Now this vertue of fortitude and valour consisteth in the gouernment and receit of these euils according to reason in the resolute and couragious cariage of a man and the keeping of himselfe free and cleere from all passions that spring thereof But because they subsist not but by these euils if by the meanes and help of so many aduisements and remedies before deliuered a man can vanquish and contemne them all there can be no more place left vnto these passions And this is the true meane to free himselfe and to come to the end as the best way to put out a fire is to withdraw the fuell that giues it nourishment Neuerthelesse wee will yet adde some particular counsels against these passions though they haue bin in such sort before deciphered that it is a matter of no difficultie to bring them into hatred and detestation CHAP. XXVIII Against Feare LEt no man attend euils before they come because it may be they will neuer come our feares are as likely to deceiue vs as our hopes and it may be that those times that we thinke will bring most affliction with them may bring greatest comfort How many vnexpected aduentures may happen that may defend a man from that blow we feare Lightning is put by with the winde of a mans hatte and the fortunes of the greatest states with accidents of small moment The turne of a wheele mounteth him that was of lowest degree to the highest step of honour and many times it falleth out that wee are preserued by that which we thought would haue beene our ouerthrow There is nothing so easily deceiued as humane foresight That which it hopeth it wanteth that which it feareth vanisheth that which it expecteth hapneth not God hath his counsell by himselfe That which man determineth after one maner he resolueth after another Let vs not therefore make our selues vnfortunate before our time nay when perhaps we are neuer likely to be so Time to come which deceiueth so many will likewise deceiue vs as soone in our feares as in our hopes It is a maxime commonly receiued in Physicke that in sharp maladies the predictions are neuer certaine and euen so is it in the most furious threatnings of fortune so long as there is life there is hope for hope continues as long in the body as the soule quamdiu spiro spero But forasmuch as this feare proceedeth not alwaies from the disposition of nature but many times from an ouer delicate education for by the want of exercise and continuall trauell and labour euen from our youth we many times apprehend things without reason we must by a long practise accustome our selues vnto that which may most terrifie vs present vnto our selues the most fearefull dangers that may light vpon vs and with cheerefulnesse of heart attempt sometimes casuall aduentures the better to trie our courage to preuent euill occurrents and to sease vpon
our selues But this is that which we thinke least of Nemo in se tentat 5 Against such as misknow themselues descendere whereby it commeth to passe that we fall many times to the ground and tumble headlong into the same fault neither perceiuing it nor knowing to what course to betake vs we make our selues fooles at our owne charges Difficulties in euery thing are not discerned but by those that know them and some degree of vnderstanding is necessarie euen in the marking of our owne ignorance We must knocke at the doore to know whether the doore be shut for when men see themselues resolued satisfied of a thing and think they sufficiently vnderstand it it is a token they vnderstand nothing at all for if we know our selues well we would prouide farre better for our selues and our affaires nay we should be ashamed of our selues and our estate and frame our selues to be others than we are He that knowes not his owne infirmities takes no care to amend them he that is ignorant of his owne wants takes as little care to prouide for them he that feeles not his owne euils and miseries aduiseth not with himselfe of helps nor seeks for remedies Deprehendas te oportet priusquam emendes sanitatis initium sentire sibi opus esse remedio And heere beholde our vnhappinesse for we thinke all things goes well with vs and we are in safetie and we liue in content with our selues and so double our miseries Socrates was accounted the wisest man of the world not because his knowledge was more compleat or his sufficiencie greater than others but because his knowledge of himselfe was better than others in that he held himselfe within his owne ranke and knew better how to play the man He was the king of men as it is said that he that hath but one eye is a king in respect of him that hath neuer an eye that is to say doubly depriued of his sense for they are by nature weake and miserable and therewithall proud and feele not their miserie Socrates was but purblind for being a man as others were weake and miserable he knew it and ingeniously acknowledged his condition and liued and gouerned himselfe according vnto it This is that which the Truth it selfe spake vnto those which were full of presumption and by way of mockery said vnto him Are we blind also If ye were blind saith he that is if Ioh. 9. you thought your selues blind you should see but because ye thinke ye see therefore you are blind therefore your sinne remaineth For they that in their owne opinion see much are in truth starke blinde and they that are blinde in their owne opinion see best It is a miserable thing in a man to make himselfe a beast by forgetting himselfe to be a man Homo enim cum sis id fac semper intelligas Many great personages as a rule or bridle to themselues haue ordained that one or other should euer buz into their eares that they were men O what an excellent thing was this if it entred aswel into their hearts as it sounded in their eares That Mot of the Atheniens to Pompey the Great Thou art so much a God as thou acknowledgest thy selfe to be a man was no ill saying for at the least to be an excellent man is to confesse himselfe to be a man The knowledge of our selues a thing as difficult and rare 6 False means to know our selues as to misdeeme and deceiue our selues easie is not obtained by any other that is to say by the comparison rule or example of another Plus alijs de te quam tu tibi credere noli much lesse also by our speech and iudgement which oftentimes commeth short to discerne and we disloyall and fearefull to speake nor by any singular act which sometimes vnawares hath escaped a man pricked forward by some new rare and accidentall occasion and is rather a trick of Fortune or an eruption of some extraordinary lunacy than any production of fruit truly ours A man iudgeth not of the greatnesse or depth of a riuer by that water which by reason of some sudden inundation of neighbour riuers ouerfloweth the bankes One valiant act makes not a valiant man nor one iust a iust man The circumstances and source of occasions doth import much and alter vs and oftentimes a man is prouoked to doe good by vice it selfe So hard a thing is it for man to know man Nor likewise by all those outward things that are outwardly adiacent vnto vs as offices dignities riches nobilitie grace and applause of the greatest peeres and common people Nor by the cariages of a man in publicke places is a man knowen for as a king at chesse so he standeth vpon his guard he bridleth and contracteth himselfe feare and shame and ambition and other passions make him play that part that you see But truely to know him we must looke into his inward part his priuy chamber and there not how to day but euery day he carieth himselfe He is many times a different man in his house from that he is in the countrey in the palace in the market place another man amongst his domesticall friends from that he is amongst strangers when he goeth foorth of his house into some publicke place he goeth to play a Comedy and therefore stay not thou there for it is not himselfe that plaieth but another man and thou knowest him not The knowledge of a mans selfe is not acquired by all these 7 True means foure meanes neither must we trust them but by a true long and daily study of himselfe a serious and attentiue examination not only of his words and actions but of his most secret thoughts their birth progresse continuance repetition and whatsoeuer is in him euen his nightly dreames prying narrowly into him trying him often and at all howres pressing and pinching him euen to the quicke For there are many vices hid in vs and are not felt for want of force and meanes so that the venemous serpent that is benummed with cold suffereth himselfe to be handled without danger neither doth it suffice afterwards to acknowledge the fault by tale or peecemeale and so thinke to mend it by marring it but he must in generall reacknowledge his weaknesse his misery and come to a vniuersall amendment and reformation Now if we will know man we must take more than ordinary 8 The Proposition diuision of this Booke paines in this first booke taking him in all senses beholding him with all visages feeling his poulse sounding him to to the quicke entring into him with a candle and a snuffer searching and creeping into euery hole corner turning closet and secret place and not without cause For this is the most subtile and hypocriticall couert and counterfait of all the rest and almost not to be knowen Let vs then consider him after fiue manners set downe in this table which is the summe
of the booke There are fiue considerations of man humane condition The first Naturall of all the parts whereof he is composed and their appurtinances The second Naturall and Morall by comparison of man with beasts The third of his life in declining state The fourth Morall of his maners humours conditions which are referred to fiue things 1 Vanity 2 Weaknesse 3 Inconstancie 4 Misery 5 Presumption The fift Naturall and Morall of the differences that are betweene men in their 1 Natures 2 Spirits and sufficiencies 3 Charges and degrees of superiority inferiority 4 Professions and conditions of life aduantages and disaduantages Naturall Acquired Casuall The first Consideration of Man which is naturall by all the parts and members whereof he is composed CHAPTER I. Of the frame or formation of Man IT is twofold and to be considered after a twofold maner the first and originall once immediately by God in his supernaturall creation the second and ordinary in his naturall generation According to that description which Moyses setteth downe touching the workmanship and creation of the world the boldest 1 Man made last Gen. 1. 2. c. and richest peece of worke that euer man brought vnto light I meane the historie of the nine first chapters of Genesis which is of the world newly borne and reborne man was made of God not onely after all other creatures as the most perfect the master and superintendent of all Vt praesit piscibus maris volatilibus coeli be stijs terrae And in the selfe same day wherein the fowre-footed beasts of the earth that come neerest vnto him were created although those two that resemble him most are for the inward parts the Swine for the outward the Ape but also after all was done and ended as the closing vp seale and signe of his workes he hath also there imprinted his armes and his pourtrait Exemplumque Dei quisquis est in imagine parua Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui As a Summary recapitulation of all things and an Epitome of the world which is all in man but gathered into a small volume whereby he is called the little world as the whole vniuers may be called the great man as the tie and ligament of Angels and beasts things heauenly and earthly spirituall and corporall and in one word as the last hand the accomplishment the perfection of the worke the honor and miracle of Nature The reason is because God hauing made him with deliberation counsell and preparation dixit faciamus hominem ad imaginem similitudinem nostram he rested And this rest also was made for man Sabbathum propter hominem non contra And afterwards he had nothing to make new but to make himselfe man and that he did likewise for the loue of man propter nos homines proter nostram salutem Whereby wee see that in all things God hath aimed at man finally in him and by him breui manu to accommodate all vnto himselfe the beginning and end of all Secondly he was created all naked because more beautifull 2 Naked than the rest being pure neat and delicate by reason of his thin humours well tempered and seasoned Thirdly vpright but little touching the earth his head 3 Vpright directly tending vnto heauen whereon he gazeth and sees and knowes himselfe as in a glasse quite opposite vnto the plant which hath it head and root within the earth so that man is a diuine plant that flourisheth growes vp vnto heauen a beast as in the middle betwixt a man and a plant goes as it were athwart hauing his two extreames towards the bounds or extremities of the Horizon more or lesse The cause of this vprightnesse in man besides the will of his Master-workman is not properly the reasonable soule as we see in those that are crookbacked crupshouldered lame nor in the straight line of the back-bone which is likewise in serpents nor in the naturall or vitall heat which is equalled or rather greater in diuers beasts although all these may perhaps serue to some purpose but this vpright gate is due and belonging to man both as he is man the holiest diuinest creature Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae and as king in this lower region To small and particular roialties there belong certaine markes of Maiesty as we see in the crowned Dolphin the Crocadile the Lion with his coller the colour of his haire and his eies in the Eagle the king of the Bees so man the vniuersall king of these lower parts walketh with an vpright countenance as a master in his house ruling and by loue or force taming euery thing His body was first framed of virgin earth and red from whence he tooke his proper name Adam for the appellatiue 4 How framed Gen. 2. was Is And that being not yet moistned with raine but with the water of the fountaine Mixtam fluuialibus vndis Finxit in effigiem By reason the body is the first born or elder than the soule as the matter than the forme the house must bee made and trimmed before it be inhabited the shoppe before the workman can vse it Afterwards the Soule was by diuine inspiration infused and so the body by the soule made a liuing creature inspirauit infaciem eius spiraculum vitae c. In that ordinary and naturall generation and formation which is made of the seed in the wombe of the woman the 5 He is made in the matrix selfe same order is obserued The body is first formed as well by the elementary force of the Enargie and forming vertue which is in the seed aiding in some sort the heat of the matrix as the celestiall which is the influence and vertue of the Sunne Sol homo generant hominem In such order that the Conceiued of coagulated seed seuen first daies the seed of the father and mother do mingle vnite and curdle together like creame and are made one body which is the conception Nonne sicut lac mulsisti me sicut caseum me coagulasti The next seuen daies this seed is concocted Changed thickned and changed into a masse of flesh and indigested formlesse blood which is the proper matter of a humane bodie The third seuen dayes following of this masse or lumpe is made and fashioned the bodie in grosse so that Formed in grosse about the twentieth day are brought foorth the three noble and heroicall parts the Liuer Heart Braine distant an ouall length or as the Hebrewes say holding themselues by thin commisures or ioynts which afterwards fill themselues with flesh after the fashion of an ant where there are three grosser parts ioyned by two thin The fourth seuen dayes which end neere thirtie the whole body is ended perfected ioynted organized and so it beginnes to be no more an Embrion Iointed organized First furnished with fit instruments for sense that is vnperfect in shape but capable as a matter