and DEMOCRITUS were of opinion that all things were made by Necessitie and that destinie justice providence and the Creatour of the world were all one CHAP. XXVI Of the Essence of Necessitie PLATO referreth some events to providence and others he attributeth to Necessitie EMPEDOCLES saith that the Essence of Necessitie is a cause apt to make use of the principles and elements DEMOCRITUS affirmeth it to be the resistance the lation motion and permission of the matter PLATO holdeth it to be one while matter it selfe and another while the habitude of that which is agent to the matter CHAP. XXVII Of Destinie HERACLITUS affirmeth that all things were done by fatall Destinie and that it and Necessitie be both one PLATO admitteth willingly this Destinie in the soules lives and actions of men but hee inferreth withall a cause proceeding from our selves The STOICKES likewise according with the opinion of Plato do hold that Necessitie is a cause invincible most violent and inforcing all things also that Destinie is a connexion of causes interlaced linked orderly in which concatenation or chaine is therein comprised also that cause which proceedeth from us in such sort as some events are destined and others not CHAP. XXVIII Of the substance of 〈◊〉 HERACLITUS saith that the substance of Destinie is the reason that pierceth throughout the substance of the universall world PLATO affirmeth it to be an eternall reason and a perpetuall law of the nature of the whole world CHRYSIPPUS holdeth it to be a certaine puissance spirituall which by order governeth and administreth all things And againe in his booke of definitions hee writeth thus Destinie is the reason of the world or rather the law of all things in the world administred and governed by providence or else the reason whereby things past have beene things present are and future things shall be The STOICKES are of opinion that it is the chaine of causes that is to say an order and connexion which cannot be surmounted and transgressed POSIDONIUS supposeth it to be the third after Jupiter for that Jupiter is in the first degree Nature in the second and fatall Destinie in the third CHAP. XXIX Of Fortune PLATO defineth Fortune to be in things proceeding from mans counsell and election a cause by accident and a verie casuall consequence ARISTOTLE holdeth it to be an accidentall cause in those things which from some deliberate purpose and impulsion tend to a certaine end which cause is not apparent but hidden and uncertaine And he putteth a difference between Fortune and rash adventure for that all Fortune in the affaires and actions of this world is adventurous but everie adventure is not by and by Fortune for that it consisteth in things without action againe Fortune is properly in actions of reasonable creatures but adventure indifferently in creatures as well unreasonable as reasonable yea and in those bodies which have neither life nor soule EPICURUS saith that Fortune is a cause which will not stand and accord with persons times and manners ANAXAGORAS and the STOICKS affirme it to be a cause unknowne and hidden to humane reason for that some things come by necessitie others by fatall destinie some by deliberate counsell others by Fortune and some againe by casualitie or adventure CHAP. XXX Of Nature 〈◊〉 holdeth that Nature is nothing only that there is a mixture and divulsion or separation of Elements for in this manner writeth he in the first booke of his Phisicks This one thing more I will yet say of things that be humane And Mortall mature none there is and deaths end is but vaine Amixture and divulsion of Elements and of all Onely there is and this is that which men do Nature call Semblably ANAXAGORAS saith that Nature is nothing else but a concretion and dissipation that is to say generation and corruption THE SECOND BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme HAving now finished the Treatise of PRINCIPLES ELEMENTS and such other matters linked and concurring with them I will turne my pen unto the discourse as touching their effects and works composed of them beginning first at that which is most spatious and capable of all things CHAP. I. Of the World PYTHAGORAS was the first who called the Roundle that containeth and comprehendeth all to wit the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the orderly digestion observed therein THALES and his disciples held that there is but one World DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and their scholler METRODORUS affirme that there be innumerable Worlds in an infinite space according to all dimensions and circumstances EMPEDOCLES saith that the course and race of the Sunne is the verie circumscription of the bounds and limits of the World and that it is the verie confinement thereof SELEUCUS held the World to be infinite DIOGENES affirmed the universalitie to be infinite but the world finite and determinate The STOICKS put a difference betweene universall and whole for they say that the universall together with voidnesse is infinite and that the whole without voidnes is the World so as these termes the Whole and the World be not both one CHAP. II. Of the figure and forme of the World THe STOICKS affirme the World to be round some say it is pointed or pyramidal others that it is fashioned in manner of an egge but EPICURUS holdeth that his Worlds may be round and it may be that they are apt besides to receive other formes CHAP. III. Whether the World be animate or endued with a soule ALL other Philosophers agree that the World is animate governed by providence but DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and as many as maintaine ATOMES and with all bring in VACUITY that it is neither animate nor governed by providence but by a certaine nature void of reason ARISTOTLE holdeth that it is not animate wholy and throughout all parts nor sensitive nor reasonable nor yet intellectuall or directed by providence True it is quoth he that celestiall bodies be capable of all these qualities as being compassed about with sphaeres both animate and vitall whereas bodies terrestriall and approching neere unto the earth are endued with none of them and as for the order and decent composition therein it came by accident and not by prepensed reason and counsell CHAP. IIII. Whether the World be incorruptible and eternall PYTHAGORAS and PLATO affirme that the world was ingendred and made by God and of the owne nature being corruptible shall perish for sensible it is and therefore corporall howbeit in regard of the divine providence which preserveth and mainteineth it perish it shall never EPICURUS saith that it is corruptible for that it is engendred like as a living creature or a plant XENOPHANES holdeth the world to be eternall ingenerable uncreated and incorruptible ARISTOTLE is of opinion that the part of the world under the moone is passible wherein the bodies also adjacent to the earth be subject to corruption CHAP. V. Whereof the World is nourished ARISTOTLE saith that if the World be nourished it is
sober countenance better conceiveth and reteineth the good things uttered and withall hath more leasure to marke observe and discerne that which is either unprofitable or false He sheweth himselfe besides to be a lover of the trueth and is not taken for a litigious quareller a rash wrangler or abitterbrawler And therefore some there be who not unaptly say That we ought no lesse but rather more to void out of the minds of yoong men that presumption and foolish opinion which they have of their owne selves than to rid and exclude the winde and aire out of leather bagges or bladders wherewith they are puft and blowen up if we meane to infuse and put any good thing into them for otherwise if they be still full of that swelling winde of arrogancie and overweening of themselves they will never receive and admit any goodnesse Moreover envie accompanied with a maligne eie and ill will is good in no action whatsoever where it is present but as it is an impediment and hinderance to all honest causes so it is the woorst counsellor and assistant that he can have who would be an auditor making all those things that be profitable and for his benefit to seeme odious unpleasant harsh to the eare and hardly admitted for that the nature of envious persons is to take more pleasure in any thing else than in that which is well spoken And verily whosoever repineth and is vexed at the heart to see others rich beautifull or in authoritie is onely envious for greeved he is at the welfare of others but he that taketh discontentment in hearing a wise and sententious speech is offended with the good of his owne selfe for like as the light is a benefit to them that see even so is speech unto the hearers if they will embrace and entertaine the same As for those kinds of envie which arise in regard of other things there be some naughtie passions and vitious conditions of the minde besides that breed and ingender them but that maner of envie which is conceived against them that speake excellently well springeth from a certeine important desire of vaine glorie and unjust ambition which will not suffer him that is so indisposed to give eare and attend unto the words spoken but troubleth disquieteth and distracteth the minde and understanding both to consider at one instant his owne state and sufficiencie whether it be inferior to the conceit and eloquence of the speaker and also to regard and looke upon the countenance of other hearers whether they take contentment and are in admiration of him that maketh the speech yea and withall is happly he be praifed the same minde is woonderfully galled and amazed angrie and ready to fall out with all that be present in case they approove his speech with applanse Herewith it letteth slip also and rejecteth the matter and good sayings that were delivered already for that the remembrance thereof is unsaverie and unpleasant and still he is disquieted and wotteth not what to do hearing out the rest with feare and trembling list haply they should be better than the former never so desirous that the speakers should hasten to an end and have done as when they discourse and speake best Now when the Sermon is ended and the auditorie dissolved what doth this envious spirit then not ruminate be you sure nor consider of the reason and matter delivered but he stirreth the affections and opinions striaghtwaies and gathereth voice as it were in a scrutinie of the audience If he meet with any that give out good words to the praise of the Preacher them hee avoideth and fleeth from as if he were in a furious fit of madnesse hapneth he upon such as finde fault and be ready to misconstrue and prevert the words that were spoken to the woorst sense these are they whom hee loveth a life to them he runneth and with them hee sorteth and keepeth companie But say that he finde none of that disposition so as he can not wrest any words to a wrong construction then he falleth to make comparisons and to set against him others yoonger than he who of the same theame have discoursed better with more plausible utterance and greater sorce of eloquence he never ceaseth nor giveth over corrupting misinterpreting and disgracing the whole speech untill he have made the same altogether unprofitable and without any edificat at all to his owne selfe It behooveth therefore that he who desireth to heare take truce for the time with ambition to the end that hee may give eare with patience and mildnesse unto him that maketh an oration or sermon and cary himselfe no otherwise than if he were admitted to some sacred and festival banket or an invited guest to the first frmits of a solemne sacrifice praising his eloquence when he hath spoken well and sufficiently to the piint in any matter accepting favourably and in best part his good will to deliver and communicate to others such things as he knew and to perswade his hearers with those reasons and motives which had induced and perswade himselfe Neither must our auditours make this reckoning and conclusion That whatsoever hath beene singularly well delivered by the speaker ought to be ascribed to chance and fortune as if he hada let fall his words at aventuer but impute the same to his diligence labour and art yea and he ought to imitate the same with a kinde of zeale and admiration But whereas he hath faulted and done amisse it is the part of an hearer to bend his minde and consider well and circumspectly what might the cause and occision be of such errour For like as accoding to Xenophon good houshoulders know how to make profit and use aswell of their enemies as their friends even so they that be vigilant and attentive hearers take good not onely by them that speake well but by those also that misse and faile of their purpose for barren triviall and stale invention improper vaine and unsignificant words forced and follish figures abrupt fond and unseemly breakings foorth with joy to some praise and such like impertinences or defects which often times besall unto them that speake in publike place are sooner espied by us that are hearers than observed by themselves who are the speakers And therefore we are to transferre the inquisition and correction of any such fault from them to our selves by examining whether we also may not fault like wise before we be aware For there is nothing in the world more easie than for a man to blame and reprehend his neighbour but such a reprehension verily is vaine and unprofitable unlesse it have a reference to correct and amend the like errours in himselfe In which regard every one ought to be ready in this case according to the advertisement of Plato to say into himselfe Am not I also such an one or doe not I the semblable otherwhiles For even as we see our owne eies shining within the ball or apple or
THE PHILOSOPHIE commonlie called THE MORALS WRITTEN BY the learned Philosopher PLUTARCH of Chaeronea Translated out of Greeke into English and conferred with the Latine translations and the French by PHILEMON HOLLAND of Coventrie Doctor in Physicke Whereunto are annexed the Summaries necessary to be read before every Treatise AT LONDON Printed by Arnold Hatfield 1603 TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE IAMES BY THE Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. IN this generall joy of affectionate and loyall subjects testified by their frequent confluence from all parts longing for nothing so much as the full fruition of that beautiful starre which lately upon the shutting in of the evening with us after our long Summers day immediatly by his radiant beames mainteined still a twilight from the North and within some few houres appeared bright shining above our Horizon suffering neither the dark night and confused Chaos of Anarchie to overspred and subvert nor the turbulent tempests and bloudy broiles of factious sidings to trouble and pervert our State I also for my part could not stay behinde but in testimony of semblable love and allegeance shew my selfe and withall most humbly present unto your Highnesse This Philosophie of PLUTARCH which being first naturally bred in Greece then transplanted in Italie France and other regions of the continent after sundry Nativities if I may so speake reserved not without some divine providence unto these daies is now in this our Iland newly come to light ready both to congratulate your Majesties first entrie upon the inheritance of these Kingdomes and desirous also to enjoy the benefit of that happy Horoscope and fortunate Ascendent under which it was borne even the favourable aspect of your gracious countenance by vertue whereof it may not onely be marked to long life feeble otherwise of it selfe but also yeeld pleasure with profit to the English nation Vouchsafe therefore my deere Lord and dread Soveraine to accept that now at my hands whole entire which in part Trajanus the best Romaine Emperour that ever was received sometime from the first Authour and Stock-father himselfe Protect the same in English habit whom in French attire Amiot dedicated to the late most Christian King and deigne unto her no lesse favour and grace than her yoonger sister to wit the History or Parallele Lives hath already obtained which being transported out of France into England by that woorthy Knight Sir Thomas North our countryman was patronized by our late Soveraigne Lady of famous memory Elizabet And the rather for that considering the prerogative of birth-right and the same accompanied with more variety and depth of knowledge I may be bold to pronounce as much in her commendation as the Poet wrote of Iupiter in comparison of his brother Neptune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These regards albeit they were sufficient motives in themselves to induce me for to attempt none other patronage than the Name of my Liege Lord so gracious nor so submit my labours to the censure of any person before a King so judicious yet was I more animated to enterprise the same by the former experience that I had of a Princes benignity in that behalfe what time as I consecrated my English Translation of the Romane Historie written by Titus Livius unto the immortall memory of the said Noble and renowmed Queene Now seeing that with her Realmes and Dominions the best parts and gifts that were in her be likewise haereditarily descended upon your roiall person and the same multiplied in greater measure proportionable to the dignity of sex the addition of scepters and diademes and the weighty charge of so puissant and populous an Empire it were in me a grosse absurdity if not meere impiety to make any doubt of that excellent vertue of all others whereby Princes come neerest unto the Nature of God whose Majesty heere upon earth they represent To say nothing how the world hath taken knowledge already as well by your vertuous life and politicke regiment hitherto as also by the prudent and religious designements delivered in those sage and learned Compositions of your Highnesse penning That your blessed intention is to holde on the same course still not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a point that the Indian Potentate Porus required of Alexander the Great but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the singular note that our present Author set upon all the actions of the said mighty Monarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Since then both these attributes concurre in your Noble person just cause have we in all devout thankefulnesse to acknowledge the goodnesse of the Almighty who from heaven above hath sent us so wise a Prince under whose reigne we if ever any Nation under the Sunne may assuredly expect that felicity and happinesse which the divine Philosopher Plato so much recommendeth and in due reverence unto your Majesty with one heart and voice both sing and say Hîc ames dici Pater atque Princeps Serus in coelum redeas tuoque Laetus intersis populo Britannûm Prime Monarcha Your Majesties most humble and obedient subject Philémon Holland A CATALOGUE CONTEINING the Titles of every Treatise in order thorow the whole worke with a direction to the page where any one of them beginneth 1 OF the Nouriture and Education of Children 1 2 How a yoong man ought to heare Poets and how he may take profit by reading Poëms 17 3 Of Hearing 51 4 Of Morall vertue 64 5 Of Vertue and Vice 78 6 That Vertue may be taught and learned 80 7 How a man may discerne a flatterer from a friend 83 8 How to Bridle Anger 117 9 Of Curiositie 133 10 Of the Tranquillitie and contentment of Mind 144 11 Of unseemly and naughty Bashfulnesse 162 12 Of Brotherly Love 173 13 Of Intemperate speech or Garrulitie 191 14 Of Avarice or Covetousnesse 208 15 Of the naturall love or kindnesse of Parents to their children 216 16 Of the Pluralitie of Friends 223 17 Of Fortune 229 18 Of Envie and Hatred 233 19 How a man may receive profit by his enemies 236 20 How a man may perceive his owne proceeding and going forward in Vertue 245 21 Of Superstition 258 22 Of Exile or Banishment 269 23 That we ought not to take up money upon Usurie 282 24 That a Philosopher ought to converse especially with princes and great Rulers and with them to discourse 288 25 How a man may praise himselfe without incurring envie or blame 300 26 What passions and maladies be wrose those of the soule or those of the body 312 27 Precepts of Wedlocke 315 28 The banquet of the seven Sages 325 29 Instructions for them that manage affaires of State 346 30 Whether an aged man ought to manage publike affaires 382 31 The Apophthegmes or Notable Sayings of Kings Princes and great Captaines 401 32 Laconicke Apophthegmes or the notable sayings of Lacedaemonians 445 33 The Apophthegmes
powreth not she downe with great violence stormes of haile-stones out of the clouds upon the fertile corne-fields was it not vice and malice that stirred up Melitus Anytus and Callixenus to be sycophants and false accusers is it not she that bereaveth folke of their goods empeacheth and disableth men for being commanders and leaders of armies and all to make them unhappie nay she it is that maketh them rich and plentifull she heapeth upon them heritages and possessions she accompanieth them at sea she is alwaies close unto them and neer at hand she causeth them to consume and pine with lusts and desires she enflameth and setteth them on fire with choler and anger she troubleth their minds with vaine superstitions and draweth them away after the lusts of their eies HOW A MAN MAY PRAISE HIMSELFE WITHOUT INCURRING ENVIE AND BLAME The Summarie IMpossible it is during the time that we sojorne in this life that our spirit which knoweth not how to be still and at rest should not stirre and moove the tongue to speakeof the actions either of other men or of our owne whereby we cannot choose but incurre marvellous daungers of flatterie slander or els of selfe-praise insomuch as not without good cause that man hath beene called perfect who knoweth well to moderate this little member which is at it were the bit and bridle of the whole bodie of man and the verie helme and sterne of that ship or vessell in which we row and hull to and fro in the sea of this world Requisite it is therefore that morall philosophie should speake to the end that it may teach us for to speake We have seene before in many discourses the dutie of everie one towards his neighbours as well in words as in deeds but in this treatise Plutarch sheweth the cariage of a man towards himselfe and above all in that may which is most slipperie to wit in the question of our owne praises then after hee hath laide this for a ground and foundation That it is an unseemely thing for a man to make himselfe seeme great by vaine babble and alledged the reasons wherefore he setteth downe one generall exception to wit that a vertuous man may praise himselfe in certeine cases annd occurrences the which after he hath taxed the ambition of those who set up a note of their owne praises to be chaunted aloud by others he particularizeth upon these points to wit if he be driven to answer unto some false slaunderer if a man be in any distresse and adversitie or if he be blamed for the best deeds that he hath done After this he enterlaceth certeine advertisements or corrections to wit that a man ought to mingle his owne praises with those of other men that he ascribe not the whole honor of a woorthy deed to his own selfe that he utter only those things which be chiefe and principall and stand upon that which is most commendable and that he give a certeine luster thereto by the foile of confessing his owne imperfections which done he proceedeth to declare what kinde of men they ought to bee who are allowed to praise themselves to what this praise ought to be referred and have respect and wherefore they should enter into it moreover at what time and for what occasion he ought to make head unto a third who would do sufficiently and for a finall conclusion he proposeth an excellent meanes to avoid the troubles and inconveniences that might arise from importunate praise willing that the partie who speaketh of his owne good parts should flie all ambition not please himselfe in rehearsing and recitall of his owne exploits take heed how in selfe-praising hee feigne praises and neverthelesse in blaming his neighbour to be content for to be praised of another without putting himselfe betweene and speaking in his owne behalfe In summe since there is nothing so odious as to see and heare a man speake exceeding much of himselfe he concludeth that in no wise a man ought so to do unlesse there accrew therby great profit and commoditie to the hearers HOW A MAN MAY PRAISE himselfe without incurring envie and blame TO speake much of ones selfe in praise either what he is in person or of what valour and power among others there is no man friend Herculanus but by word of mouth will professe it is most odious and unbeseeming a person well borne and of good bringing up but in very deed few there be who can take heed and beware of falling into the inconvenience and enormitie thereof no not even those who otherwise do blame and condemne the same as for Euripides when he saith If words were costly men among for to be bought and sold No man to praise and magnifie himselfe would be so bold But now since that each one may take out of the aire so large As much as will his minde suffice without his cost and charge Well pleas'd are all men of themselves to speake what comes in thought As well untruth as what is true for speech them 〈◊〉 nought doth use a most odious and importune vanterie especially in this that he would seeme to interlace amongst the passionate accidents and affaires of Tragicall matters the speech of a mans selfe which is not befitting nor pertinent unto the subject argument semblably Pindarus having said in one place To brag and vaunt unseasonably Sound 's much of 〈◊〉 and vain-folly ceaseth not neverthelesse to magnifie his owne sufficiencie in the gift of poetrie as being in trueth worthy of right great praise as no man can denie But those who are crowned with garlands in those sacred plaies and games are declared victours and conquerours by the voice of others who thereby ease them of that odious displeasure that selfe-praise carrieth with it And in very deed our heart riseth against that vaine glory of Timotheus in that he wrote himselfe as touching the victorie which he atchieved against Phrynis Oh happy man thou Timotheus at what time as the herald proclamed with a loud voice these words Timotheus the Milesian hath conquered Ionocamptes that sonne of Carbo for surely this carrieth with it no grace at all but is a meere absurditie and against all good fashion for a man to be the trumpeter of his owne victorie for true it is according to Xenophon That the most pleasant voice that a man can heare is his owne praise delivered by another but the most odious thing unto others is a man commending himselfe for first and formost we esteeme them to be impudent who praise themselves considering that they ought rather to blush and be ashamed even when others fall to praise them in their presence secondly we repute them unjust herein for that they give and attribute that to themselves which they should receive at the hands of others thirdly either if we keepe silence when we heare one to praise himselfe it seemeth we are discontented or do beare envie unto him or if we feare that compelled we are
him in cure but if peradventure he tumble and tosse in his bedde fling and cast off his clothes by reason that his bodie is tormented with some grievous hot fit no sooner stirreth he never so little but one or other that standeth or sitteth by to tend him is ready to say gently unto him Poore soule be quiet feare none ill Deare heart in bed see thou lie still he staieth and keepeth him downe that he shall not start and leape out of his bed but contrariwise those that be surprised with the passions of the soule at such a time be most busie then they be least in repose and quiet for their violent motions be the causes moving their actions and their passions are the vehement fits of such motions this is the cause that they will not let the soule to be at rest but even then when as a man hath most need of patience silence and quiet retrait they draw him most of all abroad into the open aire then are discovered soonest his cholerike passions his opinionative and contentious humors his wanton love and his grievous sorrowes enforcing him to commit many enormities against the lawes and to speake many words unseasonably and not befitting the time Like as therefore much more perillous is the tempest at sea which impeacheth and putteth backe a ship that it can not come into the harbour to ride at anchor than that which will not suffer it to get out of the haven and make saile in open sea even so those tempestuous passions of the soule are more dangerous which will not permit to be at rest nor to settle his discourse of reason once troubled but overturneth it upside downe as being disfurnished of pilots and cables not well balllaised in the storme wandring to and fro without a guide and steeresmen carried mauger into rash and dangerous courses so long untill in the end it falleth into some shipwracke and where it overthroweth the whole life in such sort that in regard of these reasons and others semblable I conclude that woorse it is to be soule-sicke than diseased in bodie for the bodies being sicke suffer onely but the soules if they be sicke both suffer and doe also amisse To proove this what neede we further to particularize and alledge for examples many other passions considering that the occasion of this present time is sufficient to admonish us thereof and to refresh our memorie See you not this great multitude and preasse of people thrusting and thronging here about the Tribunall and common place of the citie they are not all assembled hither to sacrifice unto the Tutelar gods Protectors of their native countrey nor to participate in common the same religion and sacred ceremonies of divine service they are not all met heere together for to offer an oblation unto Jupiter Astraeus out of the first fruits of Lydia and to celebrate and solemnize in the honor of Bacchus during these holy nights his festivall revils with daunses masks and mummeries accustomed but like as by yeerly accesse and anniversarie revolutions the forcible vigor of the pestilence returneth for to irritate and provoke all Asia so they resort hither to entertaine their suits and processes in law to follow their pleas and a world here is of affaires like to many brookes and riverers which run all at once into one channell and maine streame so they are met in the same place which is pestered and filled with an infinite multitude of people to hurt themselves and others From what fevers or colde ague-fits proceed these effects from what tensions or remissions augmentations or diminutions from what distemperature of heat or overspreading of cold humours comes all this If you aske of everie severall cause here in suite as if they were men and able to answere you from whence it arose how it grew and whereupon it came and first began you shall finde that one matter was engendred by some wilfull and proud anger another proceeded from a troublesome and litigious spirit and a third was caused by some unjust desire and unlawfull lust THE PRECEPTS OF WEDLOCKE The Summarie WE have heere a mixture and medley of rules for married folke who in the persons of Pollianus and Eurydice are taught their mutuall duety upon which argument needlesse it is to discourse at large considering that the whole matter is set out particularly and tendeth to this point That both at the beginning in the sequell also and continuation of mariage man and wife ought to assist support and love one another with a single heart and affection farre remooved from disdainfull pride violence vanitie and fill hinesse the which is specified and comprised in 45. articles howbeit in such sort that there be some of those precepts which savour of the corruption of those times bewraying the insufficiency of humane wisedome unlesse it be lightened with Gods truth We see also in this Treatise more particular advertisements appropriate to both parties touching their devoir as well at home as abroad and all enriched with notable similitudes and excellent examples In summe if these precepts following be well weighed and practised they are able to make mans life much more easie and commodious than it is But Plutarch sheweth sufficiently by the thirtieth rule how hard a matter it is to reteine each one in their severall dutie and that in manner all doe regard and looke upon things with another eie than they ought How ever it be those persons whom vertue hath linked and joined together in matrimonie may finde here whereby to profit and so much the more for that they have one lesson which naturall equitie and conscience putteth them in minde of everie day if they will enter never so little into themselves which being joined with the commandements of the heavenly wisedome it can not be but husband and wife shall live in contentment and blessed estate THE PRECEPTS OF WEDLOCKE PLUTARCH to POLLIANUS and EURYDICE sendeth greeting AFter the accustomed ceremoniall linke of marriage in this countrie which the Priestresse of Ceres hath put upon you in coupling you both together in one bed-chamber I suppose that this discourse of mine comming as it doth to favorize and second this bond and conjunction of yours in furnishing you with good lessons and wise nuptiall advertisements will not be unprofitable but sound verie fitting and comformable to the customarie wedding song observed in these parts The musicians among other tunes that they had with the haut-boies used one kind of note which they called Hippotharos which is asmuch to say as Leape-mare having this opinion that it stirred and provoked stallions to cover mares But of many beautifull and good discourses which philosophie affoordeth unto us one there is which deserveth no lesse to be esteemed than any other by which shee seeming to enchant and charme those who are come together to live all the daies of their life in mutuall societie maketh them to be more buxome kinde tractable and pliable one to
good and fit a time appeased the tumult and repressed the sedition and insurrection that was like to grow For like as a learned and expert physician after hee hath taken away a great quantitie of corrupt blood from his patient giveth him anon some little nourishment that is good and holsome even so a discreet and well advised ruler of a popular State when he hath put the people by some great matter which tended to their shame and losse will againe by some light gratuitie and pleasure which he is content to graunt cheere and recomfort them yea and allay their moode when they bee readie to whine and complaine And otherwhiles good pollicie it is of purpose to withdraw them from some foolerie unto which without all sense and reason their minde and affection standeth to draw and leade them unto other things that be good and profitable like as Demades his practise was at what time as he had the receit of all the revenues of the citie under his hands for when the people of Athens were fully bent to send foorth certeing gallies for to succour those who had taken armes and rebelled against Alexander the great and to that effect commaunded him to disburse money for the charges hee made this speech unto them My masters there is money ready for you for I have provided so that I purpose to deale among you at this feast of Bacchanales that everie one of you may have halfe a Mua of silver now if you list to employ the fame money to the setting out of a fleet you may doe what pleaseth you with your owne use it or abuse it at your pleasure it is all one to mee by this cunning device having turned them from the rigging and manning of the armado which they purposed to set out and all for feare they should lose the benefit of the foresaid dole or largesse which hee promised and pretended he staied them from offending king Alexander that he had no cause to finde himselfe greeved with them Many such fits and humors are the people given unto both hurtfull and dammageable unto them which it were impossible to breake them of going directly to worke but a man must go about with them by turnings windings compasse them to his mind like as Phocion did upon a time when the Athenians would have had him in al haste to make a road invade the countrey of Boeotia for he caused incontinently proclamation to be made by sound of trumpet That all citizens from fourteene yeeres of age upward unto threescore should shew themselves in armes and follow him upon which proclamation when there arose a great noise and stirre among the elder sort who began to mutine for that he woulde force them at those yeeres to the warres What a strange matter sirs is this quoth he I my selfe am fourescore yeeres of age and you shall have me with you for your captaine By this meanes a politicke governour may put by and breake the ranke of many unseasonable and needlesse embassages namely by joining many of them in commission together and those whom he seeth to be unfit altogether for such voiages thus may he stay the enterprises of going in hand with many great buildings unnecessary and to no purpose in commanding them at such times to contribute money thereto out of their owne purses also hinder the processe of many uncivill and undecent sures namely by assigning one and the same time for apparance in court and for to be emploied in solliciting causes abroad in forren parts for to bring these things about he must draw and associate unto him those principall authors who have drawne out in writing any such bils to be proposed or have incited the people and put those matters in their heads and to them he shall intimate those crosse courses abovesaid for either if they start backe and keepe out of the way they shall seeme themselves to breake that which they proposed or if they accept thereof and be present they shall be sure to take part of the trouble and paines that is imposed upon them Now when there shall be question of any exploit to be done of great consequence and tending much to the good of the State which requireth no small travell industrie and diligence then have a speciall regard and endevour I advise you to chuse those friends of yours who are of most sufficiencie and of greatest authoritie and those among the rest which are of the mildest and best nature for such you may be sure will crosse you least and assist you most so long as they have wit at will and be withall voide of jealousie and contention And heerein it behooveth a man to know wel his owne nature and finding that whereunto he is lesse apt than an other to chuse for his adjuncts those rather whō he perceiveth to be better able to go through with the businesse in hand than such as otherwise be like unto himselfe for so Diomedes being deputed to go in espiall for to view the campe of the enimies chose for his cōpanion the wariest best advised person of all the Greeks let passe the most valiant souldiours By this meanes all actions shall be counterpoised best lesse jealousie and emulation will grow betweene them who are desirous to have their good parts valor seeme indifferent in vertues qualities If you have a cause to plead or be to go in embassage chuse for your companion assistant if you find your selfe not meet to speak some man that is eloquent like as Pelopidas in the like case chose Epaminondas If you thinke your selfe unmeet to enterteine the common people with courtesie affability and of too high and loftie a minde for to debase your selfe and make court unto them as Callicratidas the captaine of the Lacedemonians was take one unto you who is gracious and can skill to court it and give enterteinment If your bodie be weake or feeble and not able to endure much paines have one with you who hath a stronger bodie and who can away with travell as Nicias did Lamachus For this is the reason that Geryones was so woonderfull because that having many legs many armes and many eies yet hee with all them was ruled and governed by one soule But wise governors if they accord and agree well may conferre and lay together not onely their bodies and goods but also their fortunes their credits and their vertues and make use of them all in one affaire in such sort that they shall compasse and execute fully whatsoever they enterprise much better than any other whatsoever and not as the Argonautes did who after they had left Hercules were constrained to have recourse unto the charmes sorceries and enchantments of women for to save themselves and to steale away the golden fleece Certeine temples there be into which whosoever did enter must leave without doores all the gold that they had about them and as for iron they
would say pined or famished Or rather it may allude unto the tale that goeth of the shirt empoisoned with the blood of Nessus the Centaure which ladie Deianira gave unto Hercules 61 How commeth it to passe that it is expresly for bidden at Rome either to name or to demaund ought as touching the Tutelar god who hath in particular recommendation and patronage the safetie and preservation of the citie of Rome nor so much as to enquire whether the said deitie be male or female And verely this prohibition proceedeth from a superstitious feare that they have for that they say that Valerius Soranus died an ill death because he presumed to utter and publish so much IS it in regard of a certaine reason that some latin historians do alledge namely that there be certaine evocations and enchantings of the gods by spels and charmes through the power wherof they are of opinion that they might be able to call forth and draw away the Tutelar gods of their enemies and to cause them to come and dwell with them and therefore the Romans be afraid left they may do as much for them For like as in times past the Tyrians as we find upon record when their citie was besieged enchained the images of their gods to their shrines for feare they would abandon their citieand be gone and as others demanded pledges and fureties that they should come againe to their place whensoever they sent them to any bath to be washed or let them go to any expiation to be clensed even so the Romans thought that to be altogether unknowen and not once named was the best meanes and surest way to keepe with their Tutelar god Or rather as Homer verie well wrote The earth to men all is common great and small That thereby men should worship all the gods and honour the earth seeing she is common to them all even so the ancient Romans have concealed and suppresse the god or angell which hath the particular gard of their citie to the end that their citizens should adore not him alone but all others likewise 62 What is the cause that among those priests whom they name Faeciales signifying as much as in geeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Officers going between to make treatre of peace or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Agents for truce and leagues he whom they call Pater Patratus is esteemed the chiefest Now Pater Patratus is he whose father is yet living who hath children of his owne and in truth this chiefe Faecial or Herault hath still at this day a certain prerogative speciall credit above the rest For the emperours themselves and generall captains if they have any persons about them who in regard of the prime of youth or of their beautifull bodies had need of a faithfull diligent and trustie guard commit them ordinarily into the hands of such as these for safe custodie IS it not for that these Patres Patrati for reverent feare of their fathers of one side and for modest shames to scandalize or offend their children on the other side are enforced to be wise and discreet Or may it not be in regard of that cause which their verie denomination doth minister and declare for this word PATRATUS signifieth as much as compleat entire and accomplished as if he were one more perfect and absolute every way than the rest as being so happie as to have his owne father living and be a father also himselfe Or is it not for that the man who hath the superintendance of treaties of peace and of othes ought to see as Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say before and behind And in all reason such an one is he like to be who hath a child for whom and a father with whom he may consult 63 What is the reason that the officer at Rome called Rex sacrorum that is to say the king of sacrifices is debarred both from exercising any magistracie and also to make a speech unto the people in publike place IS it for that in old time the kings themselves in person performed the most part of sacred rites and those that were greater yea and together with the priests offered sacrifices but by reason that they grew insolent proud and arrogant so as they became intollcrable most of the Greeke nations deprived them of this authoritie and left unto them the preheminence onely to offer publike sacrifice unto the gods but the Romans having cleane chased and expelled their kings established in their stead another under officer whom they called King unto whom they granted the oversight and charge of sacrifices onely but permitted him not to exercise or execute any office of State nor to intermedle in publick affaires to the end it should be knowen to the whole world that they would not suffer any person to raigne at Rome but onely over the ceremonies of sacrifices nor endure the verie name of Roialtie but in respect of the gods And to this purpose upon the verie common place neere unto 〈◊〉 they use to have a solemn sacrifice for the good estate of the citie which so soone as ever this king hath performed he taketh his legs and runnes out of the place as fast as ever he can 64 Why suffer not they the table to be taken cleane away and voided quite but will have somewhat alwaies remaining upon it GIve they not heereby covertly to understand that wee ought of that which is present to reserve evermore something for the time to come and on this day to remember the morrow Or thought they it not a point of civill honesty and elegance to represse and keepe downe their appetite when they have before them enough still to content and satisfie it to the full for lesse will they desire that which they have not when they accustome themselves to absteine from that which they have Or is not this a custome of courtesie and humanitie to their domesticall servants who are not so well pleased to take their victuals simply as to partake the same supposing that by this meanes in some sort they doe participate with their masters at the table Or rather is it not because we ought to suffer no sacred thing to be emptie and the boord you wot well is held sacred 65 What is the reason that the Bridegrome commeth the first time to lie with his new wedded bride not with any light but in the darke IS it because he is yet abashed as taking her to be a stranger and not his owne before he hath companied carnally with her Or for that he would then acquaint himselfe to come even unto his owne espoused wife with shamefacednesse and modestie Or rather like as Solon in his Statutes ordeined that the new maried wife should eat of a quince before she enter into the bride bed-chamber to the end that this first encounter and embracing should not be odious or unpleasant to her husband
the cause that the Eliens when their mares be hot after the horse leade them out of their owne confines to be covered by the stalions IS it for that Oenomaus was a prince who of all others loved best a good race of horses took greatest pleasure in these kind of beasts cursed with al maner of execrations those stalions which covered his mares in Elis And therefore they fearing to fall into any of these maledictions avoid them by this maner 53 What was the reasons of this custom among the Gnosians that those who tooke up any money at any interest snatched it and ran away with all WAS it to this end that if they should denie the debt and seeme to defraud the usurers they might lay an action of felonie and violent wrong upon them and the other by this meanes might be more punished 54 What is the cause that in the citie of Samos they invocate Venus of Dexicreon IS it for that that when in times past the women of Samos were exceedingly given to enormious wantonesse lechery so that the brake out into many lewd acts there was one Dexicreon a mounte-banke or cousening jugler who by I wot not what ceremonies and expiatorie sacrifices cured them of their unbridled lust Or because this Dexicreon being a merchant-venturer who did traffike and trade by sea went into the Isle of Cyprus when he was ready to load or charge his ship with merchandize Venus commanded him to fraight it with nothing else but water and then immediately to hoise up saile according to which he did and having put a great quantie of water within his vessell he set saile and departed Now by that time they were in the maine sea they were verie much becalmed so as for want of a gale of winde many daies to gether the rest of the mariners and merchants a ship boord thought verily they should all die for verie thirst whereupon he sold unto them his water which he had aboord and thereby gat a great quantitie of silver of which afterwards he caused to be made an image of Venus which he called after his owne name Dexicreon his Venus Now if this be true it seemeth that the goddesse purposed thereby not onely to enrich one man but to save also the lives of many 55 How commeth it to passe that in the Isle of Samos when they sacrifice unto Mercurie surnamed Charidotes it is lawfull for whosoever will to rob and rifle all passengers BEcause in times past according to the commandement and direction of a certaine oracle the ancient inhabitants departed out of Samos and went into Mycale where they lived and maintained themselves for ten yeeres space by pyracie and depredation at sea and afterwards being returned againe into Samos obtained a brave victorie against their enemies 56 Why is there one place within the Isle Samos called Panaema IS it for that the Amazones to avoid the furie of Bacchus fled out of the Ephesians countrey into Samos and there saved themselves But he having caused ships to be built and rigged gathered together a great fleet and gave them battell where he had the killing of a great number of them about this verie place which for the carnage and quantitie of blood-shed there they who saw it marvelled thereat and called it Panaema But of them who were slaine in this conflict there were by the report of some many that died about Phloeon for their bones are there to be seene And there be that say that Phloeon also clave in sunder and became broken by that occasion their crie was so loud and there voice so piercing and forcible 57 How commeth it that there is a publike hall at Samos called Pedetes AFter that Damoteles was murdered and his monarchie overthrowen so that the nobles or Senators Geomori had the whole government of the State in their hands the Megarians tooke armes and made warre upon the Perinthians a colonie drawen and descended from Samos carying with them into the field fetters and other irons to hang upon the feet of their captive prisoners the said Geomori having intelligence thereof sent them aide with all speed having chosen ten captaines manned also and furnished thirtie ships of warre whereof twaine readie to saile caught fire by lightning and so consumed in the verie mouth of the haven howbeit the foresaid captaines followed on in their voyage with the rest vanquished the Megarians in battell and tooke sixe hundred prisoners Upon which victorie being puffed up with pride they intended to ruinate the Oligarchie of those noble men at home called Geomori and to depose them from their government and verily those rulers themselves ministred unto them occasion for to set in hand with this their desseigne namely by writing unto them that they should leade those Megarians prisoners fettered with the same gives which they themselves had brought for no sooner had they received these letters but they did impart and shew them secretly unto the said Megarians perswading them to band combine with them for to restore their citie unto libertie And when they devised and consulted together about the execution of this complotted conspiracie agreed it was betweene them to knocke the rings off or lockers of the fetters open and so to hang them about the Megarians legs that with leather thongs they might be fastened also to their girdles about the waste for feare that being slacke as they were they should fall off and be readie to drop from their legs as they went Having in this wise set foorth and dressed these men and given everie one of them a sword they made all the haste they could to Samos where being arrived and set aland they led the Megarians through the market place to the Senate house where all the nobles called Geomori were assembled and sat in consultation hereupon was the signall given and the Megarians fell upon the Senators and massacred them everie one Thus having received the freedome of the citie they gave unto as many of the Megarians as would accept thereof the right of free burgeosie and after that built a faire towne hall about which they hung and fastened the said bolts and fetters of irons calling it upon this occasion Pedetes that is to say the Hall of Fetters 58 What is the reason that in the Isle of Coos within the citie Antimachia the priest of Hercules being arrated in the habit of a woman with a miter on his head beginneth to celebrate the sacrifice HErcules when he was departed from Troy with sixe ships was overtaken with a mightie tempest and with one ship alone for that all the other was lost was cast by the windes upon the Isle of Coos and landed at a place called Laceter having saved nothing else but his armor and the men that were with him in the ship where finding a flocke of sheepe hee desired the shepherd who tended them to give him a ram The shepherds name was Antagoras who being a
hath recorded in the third booke of his monuments But his sepulchre at this day is quite demolished and no token remaineth thereof to be seene He had a singular name above all other oratours for speaking before the people insomuch as some have ranged him even above Demosthenes There go in his name three score and seventeene orations of which two and fitie are truely attributed unto him and no more Given he was exceeding much to the love of women which was the cause that he drave his owne sonne out of his house and brought in thither Myrrhina the most sumptuous and costly courtisan in those daies and yet in Pyreaeum he kept Aristagora and at Eleusin where his lands and possessions lay he had another at command namely Philte a Thebane borne who cost him twentie pounds weight of silver His ordinarie walke was every day thorow the fish market And when the famous courtisan Phryne whom he loved also was called into question for Atheisme and impietie inquisition was made after him likewise and so he was troubled with her and for her sake as it should seeme for so much he declareth imselfe in the beginning of his oration now when she was at the very point to be condemned he brought the woman foorth in open court before the judges rent her clothes and shewed unto them her bare brest which the judges seeing to be so white and faire in regard of her very beautie absolved and dismissed her He had very closely and secretly framed certeine accusatorie declarations against Demosthenes yet so as they came to light in this maner for when Hyperides lay sicke it fortuned that Demosthenes came one day to his house for to visit him where he found a booke drawen full of articles against him whereat when he was much offended and tooke it in great indignation Hyperides made him this answere So long as you are my friend this shall never hurt you but if you become mine enemie this shall be a curbe to restreine you from enterprising any thing prejudiciall unto me He put up a bill unto the people that certeine honours should be done unto Jolas who gave unto Alexander the cuppe of poison Hee sided with Demosthenes and joined in the raising of the Lamiacke warre and made an admirable oration at the funerals of those who lost their lives therein When king Philip was ready to embark passe over into the isle Eubaea whereupon the Athenians were in great feare and perplexitie he gathered together in a small time a fleete of fortie saile by voluntarie contribution and was the first man who for himselfe and his sonne rigged and set foorth two gallies of warre When there was a controversie in law betweene the Athenians and Delians to be decided unto whether of them apperteined by right the superintendance of the temple at Delos and that Aeschynes was chosen to plead the cause the counsell of Areopagus elected Hyperides and his oration as touching this matter is at this day extant entituled The Deliaque oration Moreover he went in embassage to Rhodes where there arrived other embassadours in the behalfe of Antipater whom they highly praised as a good milde and gracious prince True it is quoth Hyperides unto them again I know well that he is good and gracious but we have no need of him to be our lord and master how good and gracious soever he be It is said that in his orations he shewed no action nor gesture at all his maner was onely to set downe the case and lay open the matter plainely and simply without troubling the judges any otherwise than with a naked narration Sent hee was likewise unto the Elians for to defend the cause of Calippus one of the champions at the sacred games unto whom this imputation was laid that by corruption he had caried away the prize and indirectly obteined the victorie He opposed himselfe also against the gift which was ordeined in the honour of Phocion at the instant sute of Midias of Anagyrra the sonne of Midias the yeere wherein Xenius was provost the 27. day of the moneth of May and in this cause he was cast and had the overthrow DINARCHUS X. DInarchus the sonne of Socrates or Sostratus borne as some thinke in the countrey of Attica or as others would have him in Corinth came to Athens very yoong at what time as king Alexander the Great passed with his armie into Asia where he dwelt and frequented the lecture of Theophrastus who succeeded Aristotle in the Peripateticke schoole he conversed also with Demetrius the Phalerian and tooke his time especially to enter into the administration of State affaires after the death of Antipater when the great oratours and states-men were some dead and made away others banished and driven out of the citie and being besides friended and countenanced by Cassander he grew in short time to be exceeding rich exacting and taking money for his orations of those at whose request he composed them Hee banded against the most renowmed oratours in his time not by putting himselfe foorth to come in open place to speake before the people for no gift nor grace he had therein but by penning orations for those who made head against them And namely when Harpalus had broken prison and was fled he composed divers accusatorie declarations against all such as were suspected to have takē money of him and those he delivered into the hands of their accusers to be pronounced accordingly Long time after being accused himselfe to have communicated conferred and practised with Antipater and Cassander about the time that the haven Munichia was surprised by Antigonus and Demetrius who placed there a garrison in that yeare when Anaxicrates was provost of the city he sold most part of his goods and made money and when hee had done fled out of the way to Chalcis where he lived as it were in exile the space well neere of 15. yeeres during which time he gathered great riches and became very wealthy and so returned againe to Athens by the meanes of Theophrastus who procured both him and other banished persons to be recalled and restored he abode then in the house of one Proxenus his familiar friend where being now very aged and besides weake-sighted he lost his gold that he had gotten together and when Proxenus his host would have given information thereof and seemed to make inquisition Dinarchus called him into question judicially for it and this was the first time that ever he was knowen to speake plead personally at the barre This oration of his is now extant and there are besides in mens hands threescore and foure more acknowledged all to be his and yet some of these are to be excepted as namely that against Aristogiton He did imitate Hyperides or as some thinke Demosthenes in regard of that patheticall spirit in mooving affections and the emphaticall force which appeereth in his stile Certeinly in his figures and exornations he followeth him very evidently DECREES
of the breeding and feeding of fishes the meanes also that they use either to assaile one another or to defend themselves wherein I assure you there be actions of prudence memory societie and equity not a few which because they are not knowen it cannot chuse but our discourse as touching this argument will be lesse enriched and enlarged with examples and so by consequence the cause more hardly defended and mainteined Over and besides this advantage have land beasts that by reason of their affinity as it were and daily conversation with men they get a tincture as it were from them of their maners and fashions and consequently enjoy a kinde of nurture teaching discipline and apprentising by imitation which is able to dulce allay and mittigate all the bitternesse and austerity of their nature no lesse than fresh water mingled with the sea maketh it more sweet and potable likewise all the unsociable wildenesse and heavy unweldinesse therein it stirreth up when the same is once mooved and set on foot by the motions that it learneth by conversing with men whereas on the otherside the life of sea-creatures being farre remote and devided by long and large confines from the frequentation of men as having no helpe of any thing without nor any thing to be taught it by use and custome is altogether solitarie and by it selfe as nature brought it soorth so it continueth and goeth not abroad neither mingled nor mixed with forren fashions and all by reason of the place which they inhabit and not occasioned by the quality of their owne nature for surely their nature conceiving and reteining within it selfe as much discipline and knowledge as it is possible for to atteine unto and apprehend exhibiteth unto us many tame and familiar eeles which they call sacred that use to come to hand such as are among the rest of those in the fountaine Arethusa besides many other fishes imdivers places which are very obeisant and obsequious when they be called by their names as is reported of Marcus Crassus his lamprey for which he wept when it was dead and when Domitus upon a time reproched him for it by way of mockerie in this wise Were not you the man who wept for your lamprey when it was dead he came upon him presently in this maner And were not you the kinde and sweet husband who having buried three wives never shed teare for the matter the crocodiles not only know the voice of the preists when they call unto them and endure to be handled and stroked by them but also yawne and offer there teeth unto them to be picked and clensed with there hands yea and to be skowred and rubbed all over with linen clothes It is not long since that Philinus a right good man and well reputed after his returne from his voiage out of Aegypt where he had bin to see the countrey recounted unto us that in the city of Anteus he had seene an olde woman ly a sleepe on a little pallet together with a crocodile who very decently and modestly couched close along by her side And it is found in old records that when one of the kings called Ptolomaei called unto the sacred crocodile it would not come nor obey the voice of the priests notwithstanding they gently praied and intreated her a signe thought to be a prognosticke and presage of his death which soone after ensued whereby it is plaine that the kind and generation of these water beasts is neither incapable nor deprived of that sacred and highly esteemed science of divination and foretelling future things considering that even in the countrey of Lycia betweene the cities of Phellos and Myrz that is a village called Sura where I heare say the inhabitants use to sit and behold the fishes swimming in the water like as in other places they observe birds flying in the aire marking their lying in wait and ambush their scudding away and pursute after them whereby according to a certeine skill that is among them they can foretell future things to come But this may suffice to shew and declare that their nature is not altogether estranged from us nor unsociable As touching their proper wit and naturall prudence wherein there is no mixture at all borrowed from other this is ingenerall a great argument thereof that there is no creature that swimmeth or liveth in the waters except those which sticke to stones and cleave to rocks that is so easie to be caught by man or otherwise to be taken without trouble as asses are by wolves bees by the birds Meropes grashoppers by swallowes or serpents by stagges who are so easily caught up by them in Greeke they tooke the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of lightnesse but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of drawing up serpent out of his hole The sheepe calleth as it were the woolfe by the foote like as by report the leopard allureth unto him the most part of beasts who are willing to approch him for the pleasure they take in his smell and above all others the ape But sea creatures generally all have a certeine inbred sagacity a wary perceivance before hand which maketh them to be suspicious and circumspect yea and to stand upon their guard against all fore-laying so that the arte of hunting and catching them is not a small piece of worke and a simple cunning but that which requireth a great number of engins of all sorts and asketh woonderfull devices and subtill sleights to compasse and goe beyond them and this appeereth by the experience of such things as we have daily in our hands For first and formost the cane or reed of which the angle rodde is made fishers would not have to bee bigge and thicke and yet they had need of such an one as is tough and strong for to plucke up and hold the fishes which commonly doe mightily fling and struggle when they be caught but they chuse rather that which is small and slender for feare lest if it cast abroad shadow it might moove the doubt and suspicion that is naturally in fishes moreover the line they make not with many water-knots but desire to have it as plaine and even as possibly may be without any roughnesse for that this giveth as it were some denuntiation unto them of fraud and deceit they take order likewise that the haires which reach to the hooke should seeme as white as possibly they can devise for the whiter they be the lesse are they seene in the water for the conformity and likenesse in colour to it as for that which the poet Homer saith Downe right to bottome of the sea like plumbe of leade she went That peiseth downe the fishers hooke and holdes the line extent Which passing through transparent horne that rurall oxes head bare To greedy fishes secretly brings death ere they be ware Some misunderstanding these verses would infer therupon that men in old
lute and stringed instrument or else the interpretation or elocution of the said Poemes which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is the noise of the pipe or of the voice and such like unperfect as those which tend heereto and are for them ordeined as by the parts of that which is called interpretation Secondly by Poesie or fiction whereof the case is alike because a man may as well judge if hee heare the minstrell play or sing whether his pipes accord or no and whether his dialect or dittie be cleere or contrariwise obscure for ech of these is a part of the foresaid interpretation of pipes not the end it selfe but that which respecteth the end for the affection of the interpretations shall be judged heerby and by all such causes whether they be well fitted accommodate to the Poeme composed which the agent hath taken in hand to treat of to handle to expresse and interpret Semblable is the reason also of the affections and passions which are signified in the Poemes by Poesie Our ancients then as those who made principall account of the affection preferred and esteemed best that fashion of antique Musicke which was grave not curious nor much affected For it is said that the Argives did set downe in times past a punishment for those who brake the lawes of Musicke yea and condemned him to pay a good fine who first used more than seven strings who went about to bring in the use of the Myxolydian Musicke But Pythagoras that grave and venerable personage reproved all judgement of Musicke which is by the eare for he said that the intelligence and vertue thereof was verie subtile slender and therfore he judged thereof not by hearing but by proportionall harmonie and he thought it sufficient to proceed as farre as to Diapason and there to stay the knowledge of Musicke Whereas Musicians in these daies disesteeme and reject wholly that kinde of Musicke which was in greatest reputation among our ancestors for the gravitie thereof insomuch as the most part of them make no reckoning of any apprehension of Euharmonian intervals and spaces So idle and lazie they be that they thinke and say the harmonicall diesis giveth no apparence at all nor representation of those things that fall under the sense of hearing yea and banish it quite out of their tunes and songs counting those no better than prating vaine and toyish persons who have either written or spoken thereof or used that kinde and for proofe heereof that they say true they suppose they have found a doubty good argument and demonstration drawen from their owne grosse stupiditie and senselessenesse as if all that which their sense apprehended not must needs incontinently have no subsistence at all in nature and be altogether unprofitable And then moreover they hold that there can no magnitude be apprehended by symphonie and consonance of voice as the halfe note and other such intervals Meane while they doe not perceive such is their ignorance that they may as well banish the third magnitude the fifth and the seventh whereof the first consisteth of three the second of five and the third of seven Dieses and generally they should reject and reproove all the intervals that be odde as superfluous and good for nothing inasmuch as none of them can be found by consent or symphonie And these they may be which the least Diesis doeth measure in odde number whereupon it followeth necessarily that no division of the Tetrachord is profitable but this onely by which we may use all even intervals and this verily were that of Syntonos Diatonos and Toniaean Chroma But to give out or to conceive such things were the part not of those onely who contradicted that which is apparent and evident but also of such as went against themselves for they use more than any other such partitions of Tetrachords wherein all the intervals be either odde or else proportionable to those that be odde for evermore they mollifie all the notes called Lichani and Paranete yea and they let downe a little those very notes which are stedfast and firme by I wot not what intervall without al reason and together with them they let slacke also very absurdly the Thirds and the Paranetae they suppose that the use of such compositions is most commendable wherein the most part of the intervals be without al reason proportion by letting downe not onely those sounds which naturally are woont to stir bemooved but also some of them which are innumerable as appeareth manifestly to those who are sufficient and able to judge of such things To come now to the use of Musicke how meet and seemely it is for a valiant man gentle Homer hath given us very well to understand for to proove unto us how commodious Musicke is in many respects he feigned and devised Achilles to concoct his anger which he had conceived against Agamemnon by the meanes of Musicke which he had learned of that most prudent and wise Chiron for thus he writeth They found him then within his tent with sound of lute so shrill His heart that was now discontent to solice and to still An instrument right faire in sight this was and trimly wrought The necke with silver richly dight which he himselfe had caught Out of the spoiles then lately won of Thebes that stately towne And citie of Eetion when it was rased downe Heerewith I say he pass'd his time this was his hearts delight He sung withall the praise in rhyme of many a valiant knight Note heereby and learne quoth Homer what use we ought to make of Musicke for he sung unto the lute the noble exploits of brave men and the glorious acts of woorthies and demi-gods a thing that full well beseemed Achilles the sonne of most righteous Peleus Over and besides Homer teaching us the proper and convenient time of using Musicke found out an exercise both profitable and pleasant for a man at leisure and not occupied otherwise in affaires For Achilles being a martiall man of action yet for the anger that he had conceived against Agamemnon had no hand in the perils and hazards of warre Homer thought therefore that it became very well this heroique and hardy knight to what his courage by these excellent songs to the end that he might be provided and ready against that sallie and skirmish which soone after he undertooke and this no doubt he performed very well by calling to remembrance the doubty deeds and feasts of armes achieved by others in times past Such verily was the ancient Musicke and for this purpose it served For we doe heare that both Hercules made use of Musicke and also Achilles with many other valourous knights whom Chiron that most sage and learned master and bringer up of youth taught who was a teacher not of Musicke onely but of justice beside and Physicke In summe a man of wisedome and sound judgement will thus deeme that good sciences are not to
facultie of seeing and power of hearing by reason and providence For in summe as I have said and doe still averre whereas all generation proceedeth of two causes the most ancient Theologians and Poets vouchsafed to set their minde upon the better onely and that which was more excellent chaunting evermore this common refraine and foot as it were of the song in all things and actions whatsoever Jove is the first the midst the last all things of him depend By him begin they and proceed in him they come to end After other necessary and naturall causes they never sought farther nor came neere unto them whereas the moderne Philosophers who succeeded after them and were named naturalists tooke a contrary course and turning cleane aside from that most excellent and divine principle ascribed al unto bodies unto passions also of bodies and I wot not what percussions mutations and temperatures And thus it is come to passe that as well the one sort as the other are in their opinions defective and come short of that which they should For as these either of ignorance know not or of negligence regard not to set downe the efficient principall cause whereby and from which so the other before leave out the materiall causes of which and the instrumentall meanes by which things are done But he who first manifestly touched both causes and coupled with the reason that freely worketh and moveth the matter which necessarily is subject and suffreth he I say for himselfe us answereth all calumniations and putteth by all surmizes and suspicions whatsoever For we bereave not divination either of God or of reason for as much as we graunt unto it for the subject matter the soule of man and for an instrument and plectre as it were to set it aworke we allow a spirit or winde and an exhalation enthusiasticke First and formost the earth it is that engendreth such exhalations then that which giveth unto the earth all power and vertue of this temperature and mutation is the Sunne who as we have learned by tradition from our fore fathers is a god After this we adjoine thereto the Daemons as superintendants overseers and keepers of this temperature as if it were some harmony and consonance who in due and convenient time let downe and slacke or else set up and stretch hard the vertue of this exhalation taking from it otherwhiles the over-active efficacy that it hath to torment the soule and transport it beside it selfe tempering therewith a motive vertue without working any paine or hurt and damage to them that are inspired and possessed therewith Wherein me thinkes we doe nothing that seemeth either absurd or impossible neither in killing sacrifices before we come to moove the Oracle and adorning them with coronets of flowers and powring upon them sacred liquors and libations doe we ought that is contrary to this discourse and opinion of ours For the priests and sacrificers and whosoever have the charge to kill the beast and to powre upon it the holy libations of wine or other liquors who also observe and consider the motion trembling and the whole demeanour thereof doe the same for no other end or cause but to have a signe that God giveth eare unto their demaund For necessary it is that the beast sacrificed unto the gods be pure sound entier immaculate and uncorrupt both in soule and bodie And verily for the body it is no hard matter to judge and know the markes as for the soule they make an experiment by setting before bulles meale by presenting unto swine cich-pease for if they will not fall to nor tast thereof it is a certaine token that they be not right For the goat cold water is the triall Now if the beast make no shew and semblance of being mooved or affected when as the said water is powred aloft on it be sure the soule thereof is not disposed as it ought to be by nature Now say it go for currant and be constantly beleeved that it is an undoubted and insallible signe that the God will give answer when the host or sacrifice thus drenched doth stire and contrariwise that he will not answer if the beast quetch not I see nothing herein repugnant unto that which we have before delivered For every natural power produceth the effect for which it is ordained better or worse according as the time and season is more or lesse convenient and probable it is that God giveth us certeine signes whereby we may know when the opportunity is past For mine owne part I am of this minde that the very exhalation it selfe which ariseth out of the earth is not alwaies of the same sort but at one time is slacke and feeble at another stretched out and strong And the argument which maketh me thus to judge I may easily confirme and verisie by the testimonie of many strangers and of all those ministers who serve in the temple For the chamber or roume wherein they are set and give attendance who come to demand the answer of the Oracle is filled thorow not often nor at certeine set times but as it falleth out after some space betweene with so fragrant an odour and pleasant breath as the most pretious ointments and sweetest perfumes in the world can yeeld no better And this ariseth from the sanctuarie and vault of the temple as out of some source and lively fountaine and very like it is that it is heat or at leastwise some other puissance that sendeth it forth Now if peradventure this may seeme unto you not probable nor to sound of trueth yet will ye at leastwise confesse unto me that the Prophetesse Pythia hath that part of the soule unto which this winde or propheticall spirit approacheth disposed some time in this sort and otherwhiles in that and keepeth not alwaies the same temperature as an harmonie immutable For many troubles and passions there be that possesse her body and enter likewise in her soule some apparent but more secret and unseene with which she finding herselfe seized and replenished better it were for her not to present and exhibit herselfe to this divine inspiration of the god being not altogether cleane and pure from all perturbations like unto an instrument of Musicke well set in tune and sounding sweetly but passionate and out of order For neither wine doth surprise the drunken man alwaies alike and as much at one time as at another nor the sound of the slute or shaulme affecteth after one and the same sort at al times him who naturally is given to be soone ravished with divine inspiration but the same persons are one time more and another while lesse transported beside themselves and drunken likewise more or lesse The reason is because in their bodies there is a divers temperature but principally the imaginative part of the soule and which receiveth the images and fantasies is possessed by the body and subject to change with it as appeareth evidently by dreames for sometimes there