the bosome and lap of a woman or being spent about young children But is it not a goodly sight nay a great losse that he that is able for his wisdome and policie to gouerne the whole world should spend his time in the gouernment of a woman and a few children And therefore it was well answered by a great personage being sollicited to marry That he was borne to command men not a woman to counsell Kings and Princes not little children To all this a man may answere that the nature of man is 3 The answere to the aforesaid obiections Cap. 4. not capable of perfection or of any thing against which nothing may be obiected as hath elsewhere beene spoken The best and most expedient remedies that it hath are in some degree or other but sickly mingled with discommodities They are all but necessarie euils And this is the best that man could deuise for his preseruation and multiplication Some as Plato and others would more subtillie haue inuented meanes to haue auoided these thornie inconueniences but besides that they built castels in the aire that could not long continue in vse their inuentions likewise if they could haue been put in practise would not haue been without many discommodities and difficulties Man hath been the cause of them and hath himselfe brought them forth by his vice intemperancie and contrarie passions and we are not to accuse the state nor any other but man who knowes not well how to vse any thing Moreouer a man may say that by reason of these thornes and difficulties it is a schoole of vertue an apprentiship and a familiar and domesticall exercise and Socrates a doctor of wisdome did once say to such as hit him in the teeth with his wiues pettish frowardnes That he did thereby learne euen within his owne dores to be cōstant and patient euery where else and to thinke the crosses of fortune to be sweet and pleasant vnto him It is not to be denied but that he that can liue vnmaried doth best but yet for the honour of mariage a man may say that it was first instituted by God himselfe in Paradise before any other thing and that in the state of innocencie and perfection See heere foure commendations of mariage but the fourth passeth all the rest and is without replie Afterwards the Sonne of God approued it and honored it with his presence at the first miracle that he wrought and that miracle done in the fauour of that state of mariage and maried men yea he hath honored it with this priuiledge that it serueth for a figure of that great vnion of his with the Church and for that cause it is called a mysterie and great Without all doubt mariage is not a thing indifferent It is either wholly a great good or a great euill a great content or 4 Wholly good or wholly ill a great trouble a paradise or a hell It is either a sweet and pleasant way if the choice be good or a rough and dangerous march and a gauling burthensome tye if it be ill It is a bargaine where truly that is verified which is said Homo homini deus aut lupus Mariage is a worke that consisteth of many parts there must be a meeting of many qualities many considerations 5 A good mariage a rare good besides the parties maried For whatsoeuer a man say he marieth not only for himselfe his posteritie familie alliance and other meanes are of great importance and a greeuous burthen See heere the cause why so few good are found and because there are so few good found it is a token of the price and value thereof it is the condition of all great charges Royaltie is full of difficultie and few there are that exercise it well and happily And whereas we see many times that it falleth not out so luckely the reason thereof is the licentious libertie and vnbridled desire of the persons themselues and not in the state and institution of mariage and therefore it is commonly more commodious and better fitted in good simple and vulgar spirits where delicacie curiositie and idlenesse are lesse troublesome vnbridled humours and turbulent wauering minds are not fit for this state or degree Mariage is a step to wisdome a holie and inuiolable band an honorable match If the choyce be good and well ordered 6 A simple description and summary of mariage there is nothing in the world more beautifull It is a sweet societie of life full of constancie trust and an infinite number of profitable offices and mutuall obligations It is a fellowship not of loue but amitie For loue and amitie are as different as the burning sick heate of a feuer from the naturall heate of a sound bodie Mariage hath in it selfe amitie vtilitie iustice honor constancie a plaine pleasure but sound firme and more vniuersall Loue is grounded vpon pleasure only and it is more quicke piercing ardent Few mariages succeede well that haue their beginnings and progresse from beautie and amorous desires Mariage hath neede of foundations more solid and constant and we must walke more warily this boyling affection is worth nothing yea mariage hath a better conduct by a third hand Thus much is said summarily and simplie but more exactly to describe it we know that in Mariage there are two 7 A descriptiō more exact things essentiall vnto it and seeme contraries though indeed they be not that is to say an equalitie sociable and such as is betweene Peeres and an inequalitie that is to say superioritie and inferioritie The equalitie consisteth in an entire and perfect communication and communitie of all things soules wills bodies goods the fundamentall law of Mariage which in some places is extended euen to life and death in such sort that the husband being dead the wife must incontinently follow This is practised in some places by the publick lawes of the countries and many times with so ardent affection that many wiues belonging to one husband they contend and publicklie pleade for the honor to goe first to sleepe with their spouse that is their word alleaging for themselues the better to obtaine their suite and preferment heerein their good seruice that they were best beloued had the last kisse of their deceased husband and haue had children by him Et certamen habent lethi quae viua sequatur coniugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris In other places it was obserued not by publicke lawes but priuate compacts and agreements of mariage as betwixt Marc. Antony and Cleopatra This equalitie doth likewise consist in that power which they haue in commune ouer their family whereby the wife is called the companion of her husband the mistris of the house and family as the husband the master and lord And their ioint authoritie ouer their family is compared to an Aristocracie The distinction of superioritie and inferioritie
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
is honor enough but little rest and ioy or rather none at all It is a publicke and honorable seruitude a noble miserie a rich captiuitie Aureae fulgidae compides clara miseria witnesse that which Augustus Marcus Aurelius Pertinax Diocletian haue said and done and the end that almost all the first twelue Cesars made and many others after them But because few there are that beleeue this but suffer themselues to be deceiued by the beautifull shew I will more particularly quote the inconueniences and miseries that accompanie great Princes First the great difficultie to play their part and to quit themselues of their charge for can it be but a great burthen 8 1 In their charge to gouerne so many people since in the ruling of himselfe there are so many difficulties It is an easier matter and more pleasant to follow than to guide to trauell in a way that is alreadie traced than to finde the way to obey than to command to answere for himselfe only than for others too vt satius multo iam sit parere quietum quà m regere imperio res velle Adde heereunto that it is required that he that commandeth must be a better man than he that is commanded so said Cyrus a great Commander How difficult a thing this is we may see by the paucitie of those that are such as they ought to be Vespasian saith Tacitus was the only Prince that in goodnes excelled his predecessors and another sticks not to say that all the good Princes may be grauen in a ring Secondly in their delights and pleasures wherein it is thought they haue a greater part than other men But they 9 2 In the pleasures and actions of their life are doubtlesse of a worse condition than the pleasures of priuate men for besides that the lustre of their greatnes makes them vnfit to take ioy in their pleasures by reason that they are too cleare and apparent and made as a butt and subiect to censure they are likewise crost and peered into euen to their very thoughts which men take vpon them to diuine and iudge of Againe the great ease and facilitie that they haue to do what pleaseth them because all men applie themselues vnto them takes away the taste sowreth that sweet which should be in their pleasures which delight no man but those that taste them with some scarcitie and difficultie He that giues no time to be thirstie knowes not what a pleasure it is to haue drinke Sacietie is noysome and goes against the stomacke Pinguis amor nimiumque potens in taedia nobis Vertitur stomacho dulcis vt esca nocet There is nothing more tedious and loathsome than abundance yea they are depriued of all true and liuely action which can not be without some difficultie and resistance It is not going liuing acting in them but sleeping and an insensible sliding away The third inconuenience that followeth Princes is in their 10 3 In their marriages marriages The marriages of the vulgar sort are more free and voluntarie made with more affection libertie and contentment One reason heereof may be that the common sort of men finde more of their degree to chuse whereas Kings and Princes who are not of the rout as we know haue no plentifull choice But the other reason is better which is that the common sort in their marriages looke but into their owne affaires and how they may accommodate it best vnto themselues but the marriages of Princes are many times inforced for publike necessity they are great parts of the State and instruments seruing for the generall good and quiet of the world Great personages and Souereignes marrie not for themselues but for the good of the State whereof they must be more amourous and iealous than of their wiues and children for which cause they many times hearken vnto marriages where there is neither loue nor delight and matches are made betweene persons who neither know nor haue seene one another much lesse affect yea such a great man takes such a great ladie whom if he were not so great he would not take but this is to serue the weale-publike to assure the States and to settle peace amongst their people The fourth is That they haue no true part in the attempts that men make one against the other in emulation of honour 11 4 Attempte of honour and valour in the exercises of the minde and of the bodie which is one of the most delightfull things in the commerce and conuersation of men The reason heereof is because all the world giues place vnto them all men spare them and loue rather to hide their owne valour to betray their owne glorie than to hurt or hinder that of their Souereigne especially where they know he affects the victorie This to say the trueth is by force of respect to handle men disdainfully and iniuriously and therefore one said that the children of Princes learned nothing by order and rule but to manage a horse because in all other exercises euery one bowes vnto them and giues them the prise but the horse who is neither flatterer nor Courtier casts as well the Prince to the ground as the Esquire Many great personages haue refused the praises and approbations offered them saying I would accept and esteeme of them and reioyce in them if they came from free men that durst say the contrarie and tax me if there were cause The fift is that they are depriued of the libertie to trauell in the world being as it were emprisoned within their owne 12 5 Libertie of trauell countries yea within their owne palaces being alwaies enclosed with people suters gazers and lookers on and that wheresoeuer they be and in all actions whatsoeuer prying euen through the holes of their chaire whereupon Alphonsus the King said that in this respect the estate of an asse was better than the condition of a King The sixt miserie is that they are depriued of all amitie and mutuall societie which is the sweetest and perfectest fruit of 13 6 Mutuall and hartie amitie humane life and cannot be but betwixt equals or those betwixt whom the difference is but small This great disparitie puts them without the commerce and societie of men all humble seruices and base offices are done vnto them by those that cannot refuse them and proceed not from loue but from subiection or to increase their owne greatnes or of custome and countenance which is plaine because wicked Kings are as well serued and reuerenced as the good they that are hated as they that are beloued there is no difference the selfe-same apparell the selfe-same ceremonie Wherevpon Iulian the Emperour answered his Courtiers that commended him for his iustice Perhaps I should be proud of these praises if they were spoken by such as durst to accuse me and to dispraise my actions when they shall deserue it The seuenth misery worse perhaps than all the rest and
the first Law-breakers for they do nothing and many times do quite contrarie to that they enioyne others like the Pharises Imponunt onera grauia nolunt ea digito mouere So do some Physitians and Diuines so liues the world rules and precepts are enioined and men not only by an irregularitie of life and maners but also by contrarie opinion and iudgement follow others There is likewise another fault full of iniustice they are farre more scrupulous exact and rigorous in things free and accidentall than in necessarie and substantiall in positiue and humane than in naturall and diuine like them that are content to lend but not to pay their debts and all like the Pharises as the great and heauenly Doctour telleth them to their reproch All this is but hypocrisie and deceit CHAP. LII People or vulgar sort THe people we vnderstand heere the vulgar sort the popular rout a kinde of people vnder what couert soeuer of base seruile and mechanicall condition are a strange beast with many heads and which in few words can not be described inconstant and variable without stay like the waues of the sea they are mooued and appeased they allow and disallow one and the same thing at one and the same instant there is nothing more easie than to driue them into what passion he will they loue not warres for the true end thereof nor peace for rest and quietnesse but for varieties sake and the change that there is from the one to the other confusion makes them desire order and when they haue it they like it not they run alwaies one contrary to another and there is no time pleaseth but what is to come hi vulgi mores odisse praesentia ventura cupere praeterita celebrare They are light to beleeue to gather together newes especially such as are most hurtfull holding all reports for assured trueths With a whistle or some sonnet of newes a man may assemble them together like bees at the sound of a bason Without iudgement reason discretion Their iudgement and wisdome is but by chance like a cast at dice vnaduised and headlong of all things and alwayes ruled by opinion or custome or the greater number going all in a line like sheepe that run after those that goe before them and not by reason and truth Plebi non iudicium non veritas ex opinione multa Tacit. Cic. ex veritate paucae iudicat Enuious and malicious enemies to good men contemners of vertue beholding the good hap of another with an ill eye fauouring the more weake and the more wicked and wishing all ill they can to men of honor they know not wherefore except it be because they are honourable and well spoken of by others Treacherous and vntrue amplifying reports smothering of truthes and alwayes making things greater than they are without faith without holde The faith or promise of a people and the thought of a childe are of like durance which change not onely as occasions change but according to the difference of those reports that euery houre of the day may bring forth Mutinous desiring nothing but nouelties and changes seditious enemies to peace and quietnesse ingenio mobili seditiosum discordiosum cupidum rerum nouarum quieti otio aduersum Salust especially when they meet with a leader for then euen as the calme sea of nature tumbleth and foameth and rageth being stirred with the furie of the windes so doe the people swell and grow proud wilde and outragious but take from them their leader they become deiect grow wild are confounded with astonishment sine rectore praeceps pauidus socors nil ausura plebs principibus amotis Procurers and fauorers of broiles and alterations in householde affaires they account modestie simplicitie wisdome rusticitie and contrariwise they giue to fierie and heady violence the name of valour and fortitude They prefer those that haue hot heads and actiue hands before those that haue a setled and temperate iudgement and vpon whom the weight of the affaires must lie boasters and pratlers before those that are simple and stayed They care neither for the publike good nor common honestie but their priuate good only and they refuse no base offices for their gaine and commodity Priuata cuique stimulatio vile decus publicum Alwayes muttering and murmuring against the State alwayes belching out slanders and insolent speeches against those that gouerne and command The meaner and poorer sort haue no better pastime than to speake ill of the great and rich not vpon cause and reason but of enuie being neuer content with their gouernours nor the present State They haue nothing but a mouth they haue tongues that cease not spirits that bowge not they are a monster whose parts are all tongues they speake all things but know nothing they look vpon all but see nothing they laugh at all and weepe at all fit to mutine and rebell not to fight Their propertie is rather to assay to shake off their yoke than to defend their libertie procacia plebis ingenia impigrae linguae Tacit. ignaui animi Salust They neuer know how to holde a measure nor to keepe an honest mediocritie Either like slaues they serue ouer-basely or like lords they are beyond all measure insolent and tyrannicall They can not endure a soft and temperate bit nor are pleased with a lawfull libertie they run alwaies to extremities either out of hope too much trusting or too much distrusting out of feare They will make you afeard if you feare not them when they are frighted you chocke them vnder the chin and you leape with both feet vpon their bellies They are audacious and proud if a man shew not the cudgell and therefore the prouerbe is Tickle them and they will pricke thee pricke them and they will tickle thee Nil in vulgo modicum terrere ni paueant vbi pertimuerint impunè contemni audacia turbidum nisi vbi metuat aut seruit humiliter aut superbè dominatur libertatem quae media nec spernere nec habere Very vnthankfull towards their benefactors The recompense of all those that haue deserued well of the Common-wealth haue alwayes beene banishment reproch conspiracie death Histories are famous of Moyses and all the Prophets Socrates Aristides Phocion Lycurgus Demosthenes Themistocles And the Truth it selfe hath said That he being one that procured the good and health of the people escaped not and contrariwise they that oppresse them are dearest vnto them They feare all they admire all To conclude the people are a sauage beast all that they thinke is vanitie all they say is false and erroneous that they reprooue is good that they approoue is naught that which they praise is infamous that which they doe and vndertake is follie Non tam bene cum rebus humanis geritur vt Seneca meliora pluribus placeant argumentum pessimi turba est The vulgar multitude is the mother of ignorance iniustice inconstancie idolatrie vanitie
company for his solace the Sight in the light is in place of companie The sense of Hearing hath many excellent singularities it is more spirituall and the seruice thereof more inward But the particular comparison of these two which are of the rest the more noble and of speech shall be spoken in the Chapter following As for pleasure or displeasure though all the Senses are capable thereof yet the Sense of Feeling receiueth greatest griefe and almost no pleasure and contrarily the Taste great delight and almost no griefe In the organ and instrument the Touch is vniuersall spred thorow the whole bodie to the end the bodie should feele heat and colde the organs of the rest are assigned to a certaine place member From the weaknesse and incertitude of our senses comes ignorance errour and mistakings for sithens that by their 5 The weakenesse and vncertainnesse of the Senses meanes and mixture we attaine to all knowledge if they deceiue vs in their report we haue no other helpe to sticke vnto But who can say or accuse them that they do deceiue vs considering that by them we begin to learne and to know Some haue assirmed that they do neuer deceiue vs and when they seeme to doe it the fault proceedeth from some thing els and that wee must rather attribute it to any other thing than to the senses Others haue sayd cleane contrarie that they are all false and can teach vs nothing that is certaine But the middle opinion is the more true Now whether the Senses be false or not at the least it is 6 The mutuall deceit of the spirit and senses certaine that they deceiue yea ordinarily enforce the discourse the reason and in exchange are againe mocked by it Do then but consider what kinde of knowledge and certaintie a man may haue when that within and that without is full of deceit and weakenesse and that the principall parts thereof the essentiall instruments of science do deceiue one another That the senses doe deceiue and enforce the vnderstanding it is plaine in those senses whereof some do kindle with furie others delight sweeten others tickle the Soule And why doe they that cause themselues to be let blood lanced cauterised and burnt turne away their eies but that they do well know that great authoritie that the Senses haue ouer their reason The sight of some bottomlesse depth or precipitate downfall astonisheth euen him that is setled in a firme and sure place and to conclude doth not the Sense vanquish and quite ouercome all the beautifull resolutions of vertue and patience So on the other side the senses are likewise deceiued by the vnderstanding which appeareth by this that the Soule being stirred with Choler Loue Hatred or any other passion our senses doe see and heare euery thing others then they are yea sometimes our senses are altogether dulled by the passions of the Soule and it seemeth that the Soule retireth and shutteth vp the operation of the Senses and that the spirit being otherwise employed the eie discerneth not that which is before it and which it seeth yea the sight and the reason iudge diuersly of the greatnesse of the Sunne the starres nay of the figure of a staffe any thing distant In the Senses of Nature the beasts haue as well part as we 7 The senses common to man and beast but diuersly and sometimes excell vs for some haue their hearing more quicke than man some their sight others their smell others their taste and it is held that in the sense of Hearing the Hart excelleth all others of Sight the Eagle of Smell the Dogge of Taste the Ape of Feeling the Tortuis neuerthelesse the preheminence of that sense of Touch is giuen vnto man which of all the rest is the most brutish Now if the Senses are the meanes to attaine vnto knowledge and that beasts haue a part therein yea somtimes the better part why should not they haue knowledge But the Senses are not the only instruments of knowledge 8 The iudgement of the Senses hard and dangerous neither are our Senses alone to be consulted or beleeued for if beasts by their Senses iudge otherwise of things than we by ours as doubtlesse they do who must be beleeued Our spettle cleanseth and drieth our wounds it killeth the Serpent What then is the true qualitie of our spettle To dire and to cleanse or to kill To iudge well of the operation of the senses we must be at some agreement with the beasts nay with our selues for the eie pressed downe and shut seeth otherwise than in it ordinary state the eare stopt receiueth the obiects otherwise than when it is open an infant seeth heareth tasteth otherwise than a man a man than an olde man a sound than a sicke a wise than a foole In this great diuersitie and contrarietie what shall we holde for certaine Seeing that one sense belieth another a picture seemeth to be held vp to the view and the hands are folded together CHAP. XI Of Sight Hearing and Speech THese are the three most rich and excellent iewels of all those that are in this muster and of whose preheminencie 1 A comparison of the three it is disputed Touching their Organes that of the Sight in it composition and forme is admirable and of a liuely and shining beautie by reason of the great varietie and subtiltie of so many small parts or pieces and therefore it is sayd that the eye is one of those parts of the bodie which doe first begin to be formed and the last that is finished and for this verie cause it is so delicate and said to be subiect to six score maladies Afterwards comes that of Speech which helpeth the sense of Hearing to many great aduantages For the seruice of the bodie the Sight is most necessarie and therefore doth more import a beast than Hearing But for the spirit the Hearing challengeth the vpper place The Sight serueth well for the inuention of things which by it haue almost all beene discouered but it bringeth nothing to perfection Againe the Sight is not capable but of corporall things and particular and that only of their crust or superficiall part it is the instrument of ignorant men and vnlearned qui mouentur ad id quod adest quodque praesens est The Eare is a spirituall Sense it is the Intermedler and Agent 2 The preheminencie of hearing of the vnderstanding the instrument of wise and spirituall men capable not only of the secrets and inward parts of particular bodies whereunto the Sight arriueth not but also of the generall kindes and of all spirituall things and diuine in which the Sight serueth rather to disturbe than to helpe and therefore we see not only many blinde great and wise but some also that are depriued of their sight to become great Philosophers but of such as are deafe we neuer heard of any This is the way by which a man entreth the
Now this popular facilitie though it be in truth weakenesse and imbecillitie yet it is not without presumption For so lightly to beleeue and hold for truth and certaintie that which we know not or to enquire of the causes reasons consequents and not of the truth it selfe is to enterprise to presume too much For from what other cause proceeds this If you shall answere from a supposition that it is true why this is nothing a man handleth and stirreth the foundations and effects of a thousand things which neuer were whereby both pro and contra are false How many fables false and supposed miracles visions reuelations are there receiued in the world that neuer were And why should a man beleeue a miracle a thing neither humane nor naturall when he is able by naturall and humane meanes to confute and confound the truth thereof Truth and lying haue like visages like cariage relish gate and we behold them with one and the same eye it a sunt finitima falsa veris vt in praecipitem locum non debeat se sapiens committere A man ought not to beleeue that of a man which is not humane except he be warranted by supernaturall and superhumane approbation which is only God who is only to be beleeued in that he saith only because he saith it The other contrary vice is an audacious temeritie to condemne and reiect as false all things that are not easily vnderstood and that please not the palat It is the propertie of those that haue a good opinion of themselues which play the parts of men of dexteritie and vnderstanding especially heretikes Sophists Pedanties for they finding in themselues some speciall point of the spirit and that they see a little more cleerely than the common sort they assume vnto themselues law and authoritie to decide and determine all things This vice is farre greater and more base than the former for it is an enraged folly to thinke to know as much as possiblie is to be knowne the iurisdiction and limits of nature the capacitie of the power and will of God to frame vnto himselfe and his sufficiencie the truth and falshood of things which must needs be in so certaine and assured resolution and definition of them for see their ordinarie language that is false impossible absurd and how many things are there which at one time we haue reiected with laughter as impossible which we haue been constrained afterwards to confesse and approue yea and others too more strange than they And on the other side how many things haue wee receiued as articles of our faith that haue afterwards prooued vanities and lies The second degree of presumption which followeth and commonly proceedeth from the former is certainly and obstinatelie 2 To affirme and condemne to affirme or disprooue that which he hath lightly beleeued or misbeleeued So that it addeth vnto the first obstinacie in opinion and so the presumption increaseth This facilitie to beleeue with time is confirmed and degenerateth into an obstinacie inuincible and vncapable of amendment yea a man proceeds so farre in this obstinacie that he defends those things that he knowes and vnderstands least Maiorem fidem homines adhibent ijs quae non intelligunt cupiditate humani ingenij lubentius obscura creduntur he speaks of all things with resolution Now affirmation and opinatiue obstinacie are signes of negligence and ignorance accompanied with follie and arrogancie The third degree which followeth these two and which 8 3. To perswade is the height of presumption is to perswade others to receiue as canonicall whatsoeuer he beleeueth yea imperiously to impose a beleefe as it were by obligation and inhibition to doubt What tyranny is this Whosoeuer beleeueth a thing thinks it a worke of charitie to perswade another to beleeue the same and that he may the better do it he feareth not to adde of his owne inuention so much as he seeth necessarie for his purpose to supplie that want and vnwillingnes which he thinks to be in the conceit of another of that he tels There is nothing vnto which men are commonly more prone than to giue way to their owne opinions Nemo sibi tantùm errat sed alijs erroris causa author est Where the ordinarie meane wanteth there a man addeth commandement force fire sword This vice is proper vnto dogmatists and such as will gouerne and giue lawes vnto the world Now to attaine to the end heereof and to captiuate the beliefs of men vnto themselues they vse two meanes First they bring in certain generall and fundamentall propositions which they call principles and presuppositions wherof they say we must neither doubt nor dispute vpon which they afterwards build whatsoeuer they please and leade the world at their pleasure which is a mockerie whereby the world is replenished with errours and lies And to say the trueth if a man should examine these principles he should finde as great or greater vntrueths and weaknesses in them than in all that which they would haue to depend vpon them and as great an appearance of trueth in propositions quite contrarie There haue Copernicus Paracelsus beene some in our time that haue changed and quite altered the principles and rules of our Ancients and best Professors in Astronomie Phisicke Geometrie in nature and the motion of the windes Euery humane proposition hath as much authoritie as another if reason make not the difference Trueth dependeth not vpon the authoritie and testimonie of man there are no principles in man if Diuinitie haue not reuealed them all the rest is but a dreame and smoake Now these great masters will that whatsoeuer they say should be beleeued and receiued and that euery man should trust them without iudging or examining what they teach which is a tyrannicall iustice God onely as hath beene sayd is to be beleeued in all that he saith because he saith it Qui a semetipso loquitur mendax est The other meane is by supposition of some miraculous thing done new and celestiall reuelation and apparition which hath beene cunningly practised by Law-makers Generals in the field or priuate Captaines The perswasion taken from the subiect it selfe possesseth the simpler sort but at the first it is so tender and fraile that the least offence mistaking or imprudencie that shall happen vndoeth all for it is a great maruell how from so vaine beginnings and friuolous causes there should arise the most famous impressions Now this first impression being once gotten doth woonderfully grow and increase in such sort that it fasteneth euen vpon the most expert and skilfull by reason of the multitude of beleeuers witnesses yeeres wherewith a man suffereth himselfe to be carried if he see not well into it and be not well prepared against it for then it is to small purpose to spurne against it or to enquire farther into it but simply to beleeue it The greatest and most powerfull meane to perswade and the best touch-stone of
the line thirtie on that that is to say all that part which is betwixt the two tropicks or somewhat more where are the hot and Southerne countries Africke and Aethiope in the middle betwixt the East and the West Arabia Calicut the Moluques Ianes Taprobana towards the Orient Peru and the great Seas towards the Occident The other middle part hath thirtie degrees beyond the Tropicks both on this side the line and on that towards the Poles where are the middle and temperate regions all Europe with the Mediterrane Sea in the middle betwixt the East and West all Asia both the lesse and the greater which is towards the East with China Iapan and America towards the West The third which is the thirtie degrees which are next to the two Poles on both sides which are the cold and Icie countries the Septentrionall people Tartary Muscony Estotilan Magelan which is not yet throughly discouered Following this generall partition of the world the natures of men are likewise different in euery thing body soule religion 3 Their natures maners as wee may see in this little Table For the  Northerne people are Middle are Southerne are 1 In their Bodies High and great phlegmaticke sanguin white and yellow sociable the voyce strong the skin soft and hairie great eaters and drinkers puissant Indifferent and temperate in all those things as neuters or partakers a little of those two extremities participating most of that region to which they are nearest neighbours Little melancholicke cold and dry blacke Solitary the voyce shrill the skin hard with little haire and curled abstinent feeble 2 Spirit Heauy obtuse stupid sottish facill light inconstant Ingenious wise subtile opinatiue 3 Religion Little religious and deuout Superstitious contemplatiue 4 Manners Warriers valiant painfull chast free from iealousie cruell and inhumane No warriers idle vnchast iealous cruell and inhumane All these differences are easily prooued As for those of the bodie they are knowne by the eye and if there be any exceptions 4 The proofes of these differences of the Body they are rare and proceed from the mixture of the people or from the winds the waters and particular situation of the place whereby a mountaine is a notable difference in the selfe-same degree yea the selfe-same countrie and citie They of the higher part of the citie of Athens were of a quite contrary humor as Plutarke affirmeth to those that dwelt about the gate of Pyreus and they that dwell in the North side of a mountaine differ as much from those that dwell on the South side as they do both differ from those in the valley As for the differences of the spirit we know that mechanicall 2 The spirit and manuall artes belong to the North where men are made for labour Speculatiue sciences came from the South Caesar and other ancients of those times called the Aegyptians ingenious and subtile Moyses is said to be instructed in their wisdome and Philosophie came from thence into Greece Greatnesse began rather with them because of their spirit and subtiltie The gards of Princes yea in the Southerne partes are Northerne men as hauing more strength and lesse subtiltie and malice So likewise the Southerne people are indued with great vertues and subiect to great vices as it is said of Hannibal The Northerne haue goodnes and simplicitie The lesser and middle sciences as policies lawes and eloquence are in the middle nations wherein the greatest Empires and policies haue flourished As touching the third point religions haue come from the South Egypt Arabia Chaldea more superstition in 3 Religion Africke than the whole world besides witnesse their vowes so frequent their temples so magnificent The Northerne people saith Caesar haue little care of religion being whollie giuen to the warres and to hunting As for manners and first touching warres it is certaine that the greatest armies artes military instruments and inuentions 4 Manners haue come from the North. The Scythians Gothes Vandals Huns Tartarians Turks Germanes haue beaten and conquered all other nations and ransaked the whole world and therefore it is a common saying that all euill comes from the North. Single combats came from them The Northerne people adore a sword fastned in the earth saith Solinus To other nations they are inuincible yea to the Romans who hauing conquered the rest of the world were vtterly destroyed by them They grow weake and languish with the Southerne winds and going towards the South as the Southerne men comming into the North redouble their forces By reason of their warlike fiercenes they will not endure to be commanded by authority they loue their libertie at leastwise electiue commanders Touching chastitie and iealousie in the North saith Tacitus one woman to one man yea one woman sufficeth many men saith Caesar There is no iealousie saith Munster where men and women bathe themselues together with strangers In the South Polygamie is altogether receiued All Africke adoreth Venus saith Solinus The Southerns die with iealousie and therefore they keepe Eunuches as gardians to their wiues which their great Lords haue in great number as they haue stables of horses Touching crueltie the two extreames are alike cruell but the causes are diuers as we shall see anon when we come to speake of the causes Those tortures of the wheele and staking of men aliue came from the North The inhumanities of the Moscouites and Tartars are too well knowne The Almanes saith Tacitus punish not their offenders by lawe but cruelly murther them as enemies The Southerns flea their offenders aliue and their desire of reuenge is so great that they become furious if they be not glutted therewith In the middle regions they are mercifull and humane The Romans punished their greatest offenders with banishment The Greeks vsed to put their offenders to death with a sweet drugge made of a kinde of Hemlocke which they gaue them to drinke And Cicero saith that humanitie and courtesie were the conditions of Asia minor and from thence deriued to the rest of the world The cause of all these corporall and spirituall differences is the inequalitie and difference of the inward naturall heate 5 The cause of the aforesaid differences which is in those countries and peoples that is to say strong and vehement in the Northerns by reason of the great outward cold which incloseth and driueth the heate into the inward parts as caues and deepe places are hot in winter so mens stomacks ventres hieme culidiores Weake and feeble is the Southerns the inward heate being dispersed and drawne into the outward parts by the vehemencie of the outward heate as in Sommer vaults and places vnder the earth are cold Meane and temperate in the middle regions From this diuersitie I say and inequalitie of naturall heat proceed these differences not only corporall which are easie to note but also spirituall for the Southerns by reason of their cold temperature are melancholike and therefore staied constant
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
That is to say in the fourth place Counsell the great and principall point of this politique doctrine and so important that it is in a maner all in all It is the soule of the state and the spirit that giueth life motion and action to al the other parts and for that cause it is said that the managing of affaires consisteth in prudence Now it were to be wished that a prince had in himselfe counsell and prudence sufficient to gouerne and to prouide for all which is the first and highest degree of wisdome as hath beene said and if so it were the affaires would goe farre better Chap. 1. but this is rather to be wished than hoped for whether it be for want of a good nature or a good institution and it is almost impossible that one only head should be sufficiently furnished for so many matters Nequit princeps sua scientia cuncta complecti nec vnius mens tantae molis est capax A lone Tacit. man seeth and heareth but little Now kings haue neede of many eies and many eares and great burthens and great affaires haue neede of great helpes And therefore it is requisite that he prouide and furnish himselfe with good counsell and such men as know how to giue it for he whosoeuer hee be that will take all vpon himselfe is rather held to bee proud than discreet or wise A Prince then had neede of faithfull friends and seruitours to be his assistants quos assumat in partem curarum These are his true treasures and profitable instruments Tit. Liui. Tacit. of the state In the choice whereof hee should especially labour and imploy his whole iudgement to the end he may haue them good There are two sorts of them Plin. the one aide the prince with their dutie counsell and tongue and are called Counsellers the other serue him with their hands and actions and may be called Officers The first are farre more honourable for the two greatest philosophers say that it is a sacred and diuine thing well to deliberate and to giue good counsell Now Counsellers must be first faithfull that is to say in a word honest men Optimum quemque fidelissimum puto Secondly 17 The condition of good counsellers Fidelitie Plin. Sufficiencie they must be sufficient in this point that is to say skilfull in the state diuersly experimented and tried for difficulties and afflictions are excellent lessons and instructions mihi fortuna multis rebus ereptis vsum dedit bene suadendi And in a word they must be wise and prudent indifferent quicke and not ouer sharpe for such kind of men are too moueable nouandis quà m gerendis rebus aptiora ingenia illa ignea And that Curtius they may be such it is requisite that they bee old and ripe for besides that yong men by reason of the soft and delicate tendernesse of their age are easily deceiued they do as easily beleeue and receiue euery impression It is good that about Princes there be some wise some subtile but much more such as are wise who are required for honour and for all times the subtile only sometimes for necessitie Thirdly it is necessary that in proposing and giuing good and holesome counsell they carrie themselues freely and couragiously without flattery Liberty or ambiguity or disguisement not accommodating their language to the present state of the prince Ne cum fortuna potius principis loquantur quà m cum ipso but without sparing the Tacit. truth speake that which is fit and requisite For although liberty roundnesse of speech and fidelity hurt and offend for the time those against whom it opposeth it selfe yet afterwards it is reuerenced and esteemed In praesentia quibus risistis offendis deinde illis ipsis suspicitur laudaturque And fourthly constantly without yeelding varying and changing at euery meeting to please and follow the humour pleasure and passion of another but without opinatiue obstinacy and a spirit of contradiction which troubleth and hindereth all good deliberation he must sometimes change his opinion which is not inconstancy but prudence For a wise man marcheth not alwaies with one and the same pase although hee follow the same waie he changeth not but accommodateth himselfe Senec. non semper it vno gradu sed vna via non se mutat sed aptat As a good mariner ordereth his sailes according to the times and the winde it is necessary many times to turne and winde and to arriue to that place obliquely by fetching a compasse when he can not doe it directly and by a straight line Again a religious dexteritie to keepe secret the counsels and deliberations Silence of Princes is a thing verie necessarie in the managing of affaires res magnae sustineri nequeunt ab eo cui tacere graue est And it sufficeth not to bee secret but hee must not prie and Curtius search into the secrets of his Prince this is an ill and a dangerous thing exquirere abditos principis sensus illicitum anceps Tacit. yea he must be vnwilling and auoid all meanes to know them And these are the principall good conditions and qualities of a counseller as the euill which they must warily auoid are presumptuous confidence which maketh a man to deliberate and determine ouer boldly and obstinately for a The vices that counsellers must auoid Presumptuous confidence Tit. Liuius wise man in deliberating thinketh and rethinketh redoubting whatsoeuer may happen that he may be the bolder to execute Nam animus vereri qui scit scit tutò aggredi Contrarily the foole is hardie and violent in his deliberations but when he comes to the issue his nose fals a bleeding Consilia calida audacia prima specie laeta sunt tractâtu dura enentu tristia Secondly all passion of choler enuy hatred auarice concupiscence and all priuate and particular affection Passion the deadly poison of iudgement and all good vnderstanding priuatae res semper offecere officientque publicis consilijs pessimum veri affectus iudicij venenum sua cuique vtilitas Lastly precipitation Tacit. Precipitation Sec lib. 2. cap. 10. Tacit. an enemie to all good counsell and only fit to doe mischiefe And thus you see what maner of men good counsellers ought to be Now a prince must make choice of such as are good either by his owne knowledge and iudgement or if hee cannot so 18 The duty of the prince in abusing good counsellers doe by their reputation which doth seldome deceiue whereupon one of them said to his prince Hold vs for such as we are esteemed to be Nam singuli decipere decipipossunt nemo omnes neminem omnes fefellerunt And let him take heede that he chuse not his minions and fauorites courtiers flatterers slaues who shame their masters and betray them There is nothing more dangerous than the counsell of the cabinet And hauing chosen and found them he must wisely
4 Difficult and dangerous affaires PAGE 406 5 Coniurations PAGE 407 6 Treason PAGE 409 7 Popular commotions PAGE 410 8 Faction and confederacie PAGE 411 9 Sedition PAGE 412 10 Tyrannie and rebellion PAGE 414 11 Ciuill warres PAGE 415 12 Aduisements for particular persons touching the foresayd publike diuisions PAGE 416 13 Of priuate troubles and diuisions PAGE 419 Of Iustice the second vertue CHAP. 5 Of Iustice in generall PAGE 419 CHAP. 6 Of the Iustice and dutie of a man towards himselfe PAGE 422 Of the Iustice and dutie of a man towards man with an Aduertisement PAGE 428 The first part which is of the generall and common duties of all towards all and first CHAP. 7 Of Loue or friendship PAGE 429 CHAP. 8 Of Faith fidelitie treacherie secrecie PAGE 436 CHAP. 9 Veritie and free admonition PAGE 439 CHAP. 10 Of flattery lying and dissimulation PAGE 441 CHAP. 11 Of benefits obligation and thankefulnesse PAGE 446 The second part which concerneth the speciall duties of certeine men towards certeine men by certeine and speciall obligation The Preface PAGE 453 CHAP. 12 The dutie of married folke PAGE 454 CHAP. 13 Householde husbandrie PAGE 456 CHAP. 14 The duty of Parents and children PAGE 457 CHAP. 15 The duty of Masters and seruants PAGE 486 CHAP. 16 The duty of Soueraignes and subiects PAGE 488 CHAP. 17 The duty of Magistrates PAGE 491 CHAP. 18 The duty of great and small PAGE 497 Of Fortitude the third vertue Preface PAGE 498 CHAP. 19 Of Fortitude or valour in generall PAGE 499 Of Fortitude or valour in particular PAGE 503 CHAP. 20 The first part of outward euils PAGE 504 CHAP. 21 Of outward euils considered in their effects and fruits PAGE 509 Of outward euils in themselues and particularly An Aduertisement PAGE 510 CHAP. 22 Of Sicknesse and griefe PAGE 511 CHAP. 23 Of Captiuitie and imprisonment PAGE 513 CHAP. 24 Of Banishment and exile PAGE 515 CHAP. 25 Of Pouertie want losse of goods PAGE 516 CHAP. 26 Of Infamie PAGE 518 27 Of the losse of friends PAGE 519 CHAP. Of Death PAGE 520 The second part of inward euils c. The Preface PAGE 520 CHAP. 28 Against Feare PAGE 521 CHAP. 29 Against Sorrow PAGE 522 CHAP. 30 Against Compassion and mercy PAGE 523 CHAP. 31 Against Choler PAGE 524 CHAP. 32 Against Hatred PAGE 528 CHAP. 33 Against Enuie PAGE 528 CHAP. 34 Against Reuenge PAGE 529 CHAP. 35 Against Iealousie PAGE 530 Of Temperance the fourth vertue CHAP. 36 Of Temperance in generall PAGE 532 CHAP. 37 Of Prosperitie and counsell thereupon PAGE 533 CHAP. 38 Of Pleasure and aduice thereupon PAGE 534 CHAP. 39 Of Eating and drinking Abstinence and sobrietie PAGE 539 CHAP. 40 Of Riot and excesse in apparell and ornaments and of frugalitie PAGE 541 CHAP. 41 Carnall pleasure chastitie continencie PAGE 542 CHAP. 42 Of Glory and ambition PAGE 545 CHAP. 43 Of Temperancie in speech and of Eloquence PAGE 547 The end of the Table OF VVISDOME Three Books THE PREFACE VVhere the Name Subiect Purpose and Method of this VVorke is set downe with an Aduertisement to the Reader IT is required at the first entrie into 1 Of the word Wisdome this Worke that wee know what this Wisdome is and since it beareth that name and title how we purpose to speake thereof All men in generall at the first view of the simple word it selfe doe easily conceiue and imagine it to be some qualitie sufficiencie or habit not common or vulgar but excellent singular and eleuated aboue that which is common and ordinarie be it good or euill For it is taken and vsed though perhaps improperly in both kinds Sapientes sunt vt faciant mala and signifieth not Hierem. 4. Arist lib. 5. Metaphy properly a good and laudable qualitie but exquisite singular excellent in whatsoeuer it be And therefore we doe as well say A wise Tyrant Pirat Theefe as A wise King Pilot Captaine that is to say Sufficient prudent aduised not simply and vulgarly but excellently For there is opposite vnto Wisdome not onely follie which is an irregularitie or loosenesse of life and Wisdome a regularitie or moderation well measured and proportioned but also common basenesse and vulgar Simplicitie For Wisdome is high strong and excellent yea whether it be in good or euill it conteineth two things Sufficiencie that is Prouision or furnture for whatsoeuer is required and necessarie and that it be in some high degree of excellencie So that you see what the simpler sort imagine Wisdome to be at the first view and the simple sound of the word whereby they conclude That there are few wise men that they are rare as euery excellencie is and that to them by right it apperteineth to command and gouerne others that they are as Oracles from whence is that saying Beleeue others and referre thy selfe to the wise But well to define this thing and according to trueth and to distinguish it into his true parts all men know not neither are they of one accord nor is it easie for otherwise doe the common people otherwise the Philosophers otherwise the Diuines speake thereof These are the three floores and degrees of the world The two latter proceed by order and rules and precepts the former confusedly and very imperfectly Now then we may say That there are three sorts 2 The diuision of Wisdome and degrees of wisdome Diuine Humane Mundane which correspond vnto God Nature pure and entire Nature vitiated and corrupted Of all these sorts and euerie of them doe all these three orders of the world which before we speake of write and discourse euerie one according to his owne maner and fashion but properly and formally the common sort that is to say the world of worldly wisdome the Philosopher of humane the Diuine of diuine wisdome Worldly wisdome and of the three the more base 3 Worldly wisdome which is diuers according to the three great Captaines and Leaders of this inferiour world Opulencie Pleasure Glorie or rather Auarice Luxurie Ambition Quicquid est in mundo est concupiscentia oculorum 1. Iohn 3. concupiscentia carnis superbia vitae for which cause it is called by S. Iames Terrena Animalis Diabolica Iames 3. is reprooued by Philosophie and Diuinitie which pronounceth it follie before God Stultam fecit 1. Cor. 1. Deus sapientiam huius mundi Of this wisdome therefore we speake not in this Booke except it be to dispraise and condemne it Diuine wisdome and of the three the highest is defined 4 Diuine wisdome and handled by Philosophers and Diuines but somewhat diuersly As for the common or worldly wisdome I disdaine it and passe by whatsoeuer may be spoken thereof as prophane and too vnworthy in this Treatise to be read The Philosophers make it altogether Speculatiue saying That it is the knowledge of the principles first causes and highest power to iudge of all things euen of the most Souereigne which is God himselfe and
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
of the Soule after death after the naturall separation by death diuers men thinke diuersly and this point belongeth not to the subiect of this booke The Metempsychose and transanimation of Pythagoras hath in some sort been embraced by the Academicks Stoicks Aegyptians and others but yet not of all in the same sense for some doe admit it only for the punishment of the wicked as we reade of Nebuchadnezar who was changed into a beast by the iudgement of God Others and some great haue thought that good soules being separated become Angels the wicked Diuels It had beene more pleasing to haue sayd Like vnto them Non nubent sed erunt sicut Angeli Some haue affirmed that the soules of the wicked at the end of a certaine time were reduced to nothing But the trueth of all this we must learne from Religion and Diuines who speake heereof more cleerely CHAP. VIII Of the Soule in particular and first of the vegetatiue facultie AFter this generall description of the Soule in these ten points we must speake thereof more particularly according 1 The faculties of the Soule to the order of the faculties thereof beginning at the basest that is the Vegetatiue Sensitiue Apprehensible or Imaginatiue Appetible Intellectiue which is the soueraign Soule and truly humane Vnder euery one of these there are diuers others which are subiect vnto them and as parts of them as we shall see handling them in their ranke Of the vegetable and basest Soule which is euen in plants I will not speake much it is the proper subiect of Physitians 2 Of the vegetable her subalternals of health and sicknesse Let me only say that vnder this there are conteined other three great faculties which follow one the other for the first serueth the second and the second the third but the third neither of the former The first then is the nourishing facultie for the conseruation of the Indiuiduum or particular person which diuers others doe serue as the Attractiue of the victuall the Concoctiue the Digestiue separating the good proper from the naught and hurtfull the Retentiue and the Expulsiue of superfluities The second the increasing or growing facultie for the perfection and due quantitie of the Indiuiduum The third is the Generatiue for the conseruation of the kinde Whereby we see that the two first are for the Indiuiduum and worke within in the bodie the third is for the kinde and hath it effect and operation without in another bodie and therefore is more worthy than the other and commeth neerer to a faculty more high which is the Sensitiue This is a great height of perfection to make another thing like it selfe CHAP. IX Of the Sensitiue facultie IN the exercise of this facultie and function of the Senses Six things required to the exercise of this facultie these six things do concurre whereof foure are within and two without That is to say the Soule as the first efficient cause The facultie of Sense which is a qualitie of the Soule and not the Soule it selfe that is of perceiuing and apprehending outward things which is done after a fiue-folde maner which we call The fiue Senses of this number we shall speake hereafter that is to say Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting Touching The corporall instrument of the Sense whereof there are fiue according to the number of the Senses the Eye the Eare the high concauitie of the Nose which is the entrance to the first ventricles of the braine the Tongue the whole Skin of the bodie The Spirit which ariseth from the braine the fountaine of the sensitiue Soule by certaine sinewes in the sayd instruments by which spirit and instrument the soule exerciseth her facultie The sensible Species or obiect offered vnto the instruments which is different according to the diuersitie of the sense The obiect of the eye or sight according to the common opinion is colour which is an adherent quality in bodies whereof there are six simple as White Yellow Red Purple Greene and Blew some adde a seuenth which is blacke but to say the trueth that is no colour but a priuation being like vnto darkenesse as the other colours more or lesse vnto the light Of compound colours the number is infinite but to speake more truely the true obiect is light which is neuer without colour and without which the colours are inuisible Now the light is a qualitie which commeth forth of a luminous body which makes both it selfe visible and all things els and if it be terminated and limited by some solide bodie it reboundeth and redoubleth it beames otherwise if it passe without any stop or termination it can not be seene except it be in the root of that light or luminous bodie from whence it came nor make any thing els to be seene Of the Eare or Hearing the obiect is a sound which is a noise proceeding from the encounter of two bodies and it is diuers the pleasant and melodious sweeteneth and appeaseth the spirit and for it sake the bodie too and driues away maladies from them both the sharpe and penetrant doth contrariwise trouble and wound the spirit Of Tasting the obiect is a fauour or smacke whereof there are six diuers simple kindes Sweet Sowre Sharpe Tart Salt Bitter but there are many compounds Of Smell the obiect is an odour or sent which is a fume rising from an odoriferous obiect ascending by the nose to the first ventricles of the braine the strong and violent hurteth the braine as an ill sound the eare the temperate and good doth contrariwise reioyce delight and comfort Of the sense of Touching the obiect is heat colde drouth moisture either pleasant and polite or sharpe and smarting motion rest tickling The middle or space betwixt the obiect and the instrument which is the Aire neither altered nor corrupted but such as it ought to be So that sense is made when the sensible species presenteth it selfe by the middle to an instrument sound and well disposed and that therein the spirit assisting receiueth it and apprehendeth it in such sort that there is there both action and passion and the senses are not purely passiue for notwithstanding they receiue and are stricken by the obiect yet neuerthelesse in some sense and measure they doe worke or react in apprehending the species and image of the obiect proposed In former times and before Aristotle they did make a difference betwixt the sense of Seeing and the rest of the senses and they all held that the sight was actiue and was made by emitting or sending forth of the eye the beames thereof vnto the outward obiects and that the other senses were passiue receiuing the sensible obiect but after Aristotle they are made all alike and all passiue receiuing in the organ or instrument the kindes and images of things and the reasons of the Ancients to the contrary are easily answered There is more and more excellent matter to be deliuered of the senses
forme the food thereof is double ambiguitie it is a perpetuall motion without rest without bound The world is a schoole of inquisition agitation and hunting is it proper dish to take or to faile of the pray is another thing But it worketh and pursueth it enterprices rashly and irregularly without order and without measure it is a wandring 9 It worketh rashly instrument mooueable diuersly turning it is an instrument of leade and of wax it boweth and straitneth applieth it selfe to all more supple and facill than the water the aire flexibilis omni humore obsequentior vt spiritus qui omni materia facilior vt tenuior it is the shoo of Theramenes fit for all The cunning is to finde where it is for it goes alwayes athwart and crosse as wel with a lie as with a truth it sporteth it selfe and findeth a seeming reason for euery thing for it maketh that 10 Reason hath diuers faces which is impious vniust abominable in one place pietie iustice and honour in another neither can we name any law or custome or condition that is either generally receiued of all or reiected the marriage of those that are neere of blood the murther of infants parents is condemned in one place lawfull in another Plato refused an embrodered and perfumed robe offered him by Dionysius saying that he was a man and therefore would not adorne himselfe like a woman Aristippus accepted of that robe saying the outward acoutrement can not corrupt a chaste minde Diogenes washing his colewarts and seeing Aristippus passe by sayd vnto him If thou knewest how to liue with colewarts thou wouldest neuer follow the Court of a Tyrant Aristippus answered him If thou knewest how to liue with Kings thou wouldest neuer wash colewarts One perswaded Solon to cease from the bewailing the death of his sonnes because his teares did neither profit nor helpe him Yea therefore sayth he are my teares iust and I haue reason to weepe The wife of Socrates redoubled her griefe because the Iudges put her husband to death vniustly What saith he wouldest thou rather I were iustly condemned There is no good sayth a wise man but that to the losse whereof a man is alwayes prepared In aequo enim est dolor amissae rei timor amittendae Quite contrary faith another we embrace and locke vp that good a great deale the more carefully which we see lesse sure and alwaies feare will be taken from vs. A Cynique Philosopher demanded of Antigonus the King a dram of siluer That sayth he is no gift fit for a King Why then giue me a talent sayth the Philosopher And that saith the King is no gift fit for a Cynique One sayd of a King of Sparta that was gentle and debonaire Hee is a good man euen to the wicked How should hee be good vnto the wicked saith another if he be not wicked with the wicked So that we see that the reason of man hath many visages it is a two-edged sword a staffe with two pikes Ogni medaglia ha il suo riuerso There is no reason but hath a contrary reason sayth the soundest and surest Philosopher Now this volubilitie and flexibilitie proceedeth from many causes from the perpetuall alteration and motion of the bodie which is neuer twice in a mans life in one and the same estate from the obiects which are infinite the aire it selfe and the serenitie of the heauen Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Iuppiter auctiferas lustrauit lampide terras and all outward things inwardly from those shakings and tremblings which the Soule giues vnto it selfe by the agitation and stirreth vp by the passions thereof insomuch that it beholdeth things with diuers countenances for whatsoeuer is in the world hath diuers lustures diuers considerations Epictetus sayd it was a pot with two hands He might better haue sayd with many The reason heereof is because it entangleth it selfe in it 12 The reason of this intanglement owne worke like the Silke-worme for as it thinketh to note from farre I know not what appearance of light and imaginarie truth and flies vnto it there are many difficulties that crosse the way new sents that inebriate and bring it forth of the way The end at which it aimeth is twofold the one more common and naturall which is Trueth which it searcheth and 13 The end is verity which it can neither attaine nor finde pursueth for there is no desire more naturall than to know the trueth we assay all the meanes we can to attaine vnto it but in the end all our endeuours come short for Truth is not an ordinarie bootie or thing that will suffer it selfe to be gotten and handled much lesse to be possessed by any humane Spirit It lodgeth within the bosom of God that is her chamber Reade before Chap. 9. her retiring place Man knoweth not vnderstandeth not any thing aright in puritie and in trueth as he ought appearances doe alwayes compasse him on euery side which are as well in those things that are false as true We are borne to search the truth but to possesse it belongeth to a higher and greater power Truth is not his that thrusts himselfe into it but his that runnes the fairest course towards the marke When it falles out that he hits vpon a trueth it is by chance and hazzard he knowes not how to holde it to possesse it to distinguish it from a lie Errours are receiued into our soule by the selfe same way and conduit that the truth is the spirit hath no meanes either to distinguish or to chuse and as well may he play the sot that telles a trueth as a lie The meanes that it vseth for the discouerie of the truth are reason and experience both of them very weake vncertaine diuers wauering The greatest argument of truth is the generall consent of the world now the number of fooles doth farre exceed the number of the wise and therefore how should that generall consent be agreed vpon but by corruption and an applause giuen without iudgement and knowledge of the cause and by the imitation of some one that first began the dance The other end lesse naturall but more ambitious is Inuention 14 The second end Inuention vnto which it tendeth as to the highest point of honor to the end it may raise it selfe and preuaile the more this is that which is in so high account that it seemeth to be an image of the Diuinitie From the sufficiencie of this inuention haue proceeded all those works which haue rauished the whole world with admiration which if they be such as are for the publike benefit they haue deified their Authours Those works that shew rather finenesse of wit than bring profit with them are painting caruing Architecture the art Perspectiue as the vine of Zeuxis the Venus of Apelles the image of Memnon the horse of Aâ—â—ain the woodden pigeon of Architas the cow of Myron the flie and
the eagle of Montroyall the spheare of Sapor King of the Persians and that of Archimides with his other engins Now art and inuention The praise of inuention seeme not onely to imitate Nature but to excell it and that not only in the indiuiduum or particular for there is not any bodie either of man or beast so vniuersally well made as by art may be shewed but also many things are done by art which are not done by nature I meane besides those compositions and mixtures which are the true diet and proper subiect of art those distillations of waters and oiles made of simples which Nature frameth not But in all this there is no such cause of admiration as we thinke and to speake properly and truly there is no inuention but that which God reuealeth for such as we account and call so are but obseruations of naturall things arguments and conclusions drawen from them as Painting and the art Opticke from shadowes Sun-dials from the shadowes of trees the grauing of seales from precious stones By all this that hath before beene spoken it is easie to see 15 The Spirit very dangerous how rash and dangerous the spirit of man is especially if it be quicke and vigorous for being so industrious so free and vniuersall making it motions so irregularly vsing it libertie so boldly in all things not tying it selfe to any thing it easily shaketh the common opinions and all those rules whereby it should be bridled and restrained as an vniust tyranny it will vndertake to examine all things to iudge the greatest part of things plausibly receiued in the world to be ridiculous and absurd and finding for all an appearance of reason will defend it selfe against all whereby it is to be feared that it wandreth out of the way and loseth it selfe and we can not but see that they that haue any extraordinary viuacity and rare excellency as they that are in the highest roofe of that middle Classis before spoken of are for the most part lawlesse both in opinions and maners There are very few of whose guide and conduct a man may trust and in the libertie of whose iudgements a man may wade without temeritie beyond the common opinion It is a miracle to finde a great and liuely spirit well ruled and gouerned it is a dangerous sword which a man knowes not well how to guide for from whence come all those disorders reuolts heresies and troubles in the world but for this Magni errores non nisi ex magnis ingenijs nihil sapientiae o diosius acumine nimio Doubtlesse that man liues a better time and a longer life is more happie and farre more fit for the gouernment of a Common-wealth sayth Thucydides that hath an indifferent spirit or somewhat beneath a mediocritie than he that hath a spirit so eleuated and transcendent that it serues not for any thing but the torment of himselfe and others From the firmest friendships do spring the greatest enmities and from the soundest health the deadliest maladies and euen so from the rarest and quickest agitation of our soules the most desperate resolutions and disorderly frensies Wisdome and follie are neere neighbors there is but a halfe turne betwixt the one and the other which we may easily see in the actions of madde men Philosophie teacheth that Melancholy is proper to them both Whereof is framed the finest follie but of the finest wit And therefore sayth Aristotle there is no great spirit without some mixture of follie And Plato telleth vs that in vaine a temperate and sound spirit knocketh at the doore of Poetrie And in this sense it is that the wisest and best Poets doe loue sometimes to play the foole and to leape out of the hindges Insanire iucundum est dulce desipere in loco non potest grande sublime quidquam nisi mota mens quamdiu apud se est And this is the cause why man hath good reason to keepe it within narrow bounds to bridle and binde it with Religions 16 It must be bridled why Lawes Customes Sciences Precepts Threatnings Promises mortall and immortall which notwithstanding yet we see that by a lawlesse kinde of libertie it freeth it selfe and escapeth all these so vnruly is it by nature so fierce so opinatiue and therefore it is to be led by art since by force it can not Natura contumax est animus humanus in contrarium atque arduum nitens sequiturque faciliùs quam ducitur vt generosi Seneca nobiles equi melius facili fraeno reguntur It is a surer way gently to tutor it and to lay it asleepe than to suffer it to wander at it owne pleasure for if it be not well and orderly gouerned as they of the highest classis which before we spake of or weake and soft and pliant as those of the lower ranke it will lose it selfe in the libertie of it owne iudgement and therefore it is necessary that it be by some meanes or other held backe as hauing more need of lead than wings of a bridle than of a spurre which the great Lawyers and Founders of States did especially regard as well knowing that people of an indifferent spirit liued in more quiet and content than the ouer-quicke and ingenious There haue been more troubles and seditions in ten yeeres in the only citie of Florence than in fiue hundred yeeres in the countreys of the Heluetians and the Retians And to say the trueth men of a common sufficiencie are more honest better citizens more pliant and willing to submit themselues to the yoke of the lawes their superiours reason it selfe than those quicke and cleere sighted men that can not keepe themselues within their owne skinnes The finest wits are not the wisest men The Spirit hath it maladies defects tares or refuse as well 17 The defect of the spirit as the body and much more more dangerous and more incurable but that wee may the better know them we must distinguish them Some are accidentall and which come from Accidentall proceeding from three causes elsewhere and those arise from three causes the disposition of the bodie for it is manifest that the bodily maladie which alter the temperature thereof do likewise alter the spirit and iudgement or from the ill composition of the substance of 1. The body the braine and organs of the reasonable Soule whether it be by reason of their first formation as in those that haue their heads ill made either too round or too long or too little or by accident of some blow or wound The second is the vniuersall contagion of vulgar and erroneous opinions in the 2. The world world wherewith the Spirit being preoccupated tainted and ouercome or which is worse made drunken and manacled with certain fantasticall opinions it euer afterwards followeth iudgeth according to them without regard either of farther enquiry or recoiling backe from which dangerous deluge all spirits haue not
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
whereby it draweth after it if it go not before many euils all worse than the action it selfe The charge riseth aboue the principall and this is to fish as it is sayd with threeds of golde and purple And all this is purely humane Beasts that follow simple nature are quit from all these troubles But the art of man on the one side sets a strait gard about it planteth at the gate shame to giue it a relish on the other side ô the cousinage of men it inflameth and sharpneth the desire it deuiseth remoueth troubleth turneth all topsie turuie to attaine vnto it witnesse Poetrie which sportteh not it selfe in any thing so much as in this subiect and findeth euery entrance vnto it to be better than by the gate and the lawfull way and followeth euery wandring way rather than the common way of marriage CHAP. XXIII Desires Concupiscence THere arise not so many billowes and waues in the sea as 1 The bottomlesse depth of desire desires in the heart of man it is a bottomlesse depth it is infinite diuers inconstant confused and irresolute yea many times horrible and detestable but ordinarily vaine and ridiculous in it owne desires But first it shall not be amisse to distinguish them Some 2 Their distinction Naturall necessarie lib. 2. cap. 6. are naturall and they are iust and lawfull they are likewise in beasts they haue their limits and bounds a man may see the end of them and liuing according to those there is no man a begger Of these shall be spoken heereafter more at large for to say the trueth these are not passions Others Not naturall are besides nature proceeding from our opinion and fantasie artificiall superfluous which we may for distinctions sake call Concupiscences or Lusts These are purely humane beasts know not what they are only man is immoderate in his appetites these are without limits without end and are naught els but confusion Desideria naturalia finita sunt ex falsa opinione nascentia vbi desinant non habent Nullus enim Seneca terminus falso est via eunti aliquid extremum est error immensus est And therefore liuing according to these there is no man can be rch and contented Of these it is properly that wee haue spoken in the beginning of this Chapter and that we farther intend in this matter of the passions It is for these that a man sweats and trauels ad superuacua sudatur that a man iourneyeth by sea and by land goeth to warre killes himselfe drownes betrayes loseth himselfe and therefore it was well sayd That concupiscence is the root of all euill Now it falleth out many times a iust punishment that when a man seeketh how to satisfie his desires and to glut himselfe with the goods and pleasures of Fortune he loseth and is depriued of those of Nature and therefore Diogenes hauing refused that money that Alexander offered him desired him to giue him that he had taken from him to go out of the Sunne CHAP. XXIIII Hope Despaire OVr desires and concupiscences gather heat and redouble their force by hope which inflameth with the soft and gentle aire thereof our foolish desires kindleth in our mindes a fire from whence ariseth a thicke smoake which blindeth our vnderstanding carrieth with it our thoughts holds them hanging in the clouds makes vs dreame waking So long as our hopes endure or desires endure with them it is a play-game wherewith Nature busieth our mindes Contrariwise when despaire is once lodged neere vs it tormenteth our soules in such sort with an opinion of neuer obteining that we desire that all businesse besides must yeeld vnto it And for the loue of that which wee thinke neuer to obteine wee lose euen the rest of whatsoeuer wee possesse This passion is like vnto little children who to be reuenged of him that hath taken one of their play-games from them cast the rest into the fire It is angry with it selfe and requireth of it selfe the punishment of it owne follie and infelicitie After those passions that respect the apparent good come we to those that respect the euill CHAP. XXV Of Choler CHoler is a foolish passion which putteth vs wholly out 1 The description of our selues and with seeking the meanes to withstand and beat backe the euill which it threatneth vs or hath already procured vs maketh the blood to boile in our hearts and stirreth vp furious vapors in our spirits which blinde vs and cast vs headlong to whatsoeuer may satisfie the desire which we haue of reuenge It is a short furie a way to madnesse by the prompt and readie impetuositie and violence thereof it carrieth and furmounteth all passions Repentina vis vniuersa eius est The causes that dispose and mooue vnto choler are first 2 The causes thereof weaknesse of spirit as we see by experience in women olde men infants scke men who are commonly more cholericke than others Inualidum omne natura quaerulum est A man deceiueth himselfe to thinke that there is courage where there is violence violent motions are like the endeuours of children and olde men who runne when they thinke to goe for there is nothing more weake than an immoderate motion and a great imbecillitie is it in a man to be cholericke Secondly the maladie of the minde whereby it is made ouer-tender to beare blowes as the vlcerate parts of the bodie where the sound being interessed therein are astonished and wounded with light matters Nusquam sine quaerela aegra tanguntur The losse of a penie or the omission of a gaine puts into choler a couetous man a laughter or glance of his wife stirres this passion in a iealous man Thirdly lust vaine nicenesse selfe-loue which makes a man anxious and angry puts him into choler for the least cause that may be Nulla res magis iracundiam alit quam luxuria This loue of trisles of a glasse a dogge a bird is a kinde of follie that troubleth vs much and stirres vp this cholericke passion in vs. Fourthly too much curiositie qui nimis inquirit seipsum inquietat This is to seeke occasions and out of the lightnesse of the heart to cast a man into choler not attending any cause thereof Saepe ad nos ira venit saepius nos ad illam Fiftly lightnesse in beleeuing what comes first to the eare But the principall and formall cause is an opinion of contempt and misusage either by word deed countenance These are the reasons whereby we pretend to iustifie our choler The signes and symptomes are very manifest and more than of any other passion and so strange that they alter and 3 The signes change the whole estate of man they transforme and disfigure him vt sit difficile vtrum magis detestabile vitium aut deforme Some of them are outward the face red and deformed the eyes firie the looks furious the eare deafe the mouth foaming the heart panting the pulse beating the
first teares which proceed from the first encounter of a fresh and new griefe which may fall euen from the eyes of Philosophers themselues who keepe with their humanitie their dignitie and may fall from the eyes vertue not falling from the heart Now it doth not only alter the visage change and dishonestly 7 Inwardly disguise a man outwardly but piercing euen to the marrow of the bone Tristitia exsiecat ossa it weakeneth likewise the soule troubleth the peace thereof makes a man vnapt to good and honourable enterprises taking away the taste the desire and the disposition to doe any thing that is profitable either to himselfe or to another and not only to do good but to receiue it For euen those good fortunes that light vpon him displease him euery thing is tart vnto his soule as victuals to a corrupted stomacke and lastly it maketh bitter our whole life and poisoneth all our actions It is twofolde great and extreame or at leastwise though 8 The distinction not great in it selfe yet great when by reason of a sudden surprise and furious vnexpected alarum it seiseth vpon the hart of a man pierceth it thorow depriueth him of motion and sense like a stone not vnlike that miserable mother Niobe Diriguit visu in medio calor ossa reliquit Labitur longo vix tandem tempore fatur And therfore the Painter diuersly and by degrees presenting vnto vs the sorrow and miserable estate of the parents and friends of Iphygenia when she was sacrificed when he came to her father he painted him with his face couered as confessing his art not sufficient to expresse in the visage a griefe of that degree Yea sometimes a sorrow may be such that it killeth outright The second degree is the indifferent sorrow which though perhaps it may be greater than the former yet in time it is lessened and eased and is expressed by teares sobs sighs and lamentations Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent Particular aduisements and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 29. CHAP. XXXII Compassion WE sigh with those that are afflicted and with a fellow-like feeling pitie their miseries either because by a secret consent we participate one the others euils or because we feare that in our selues which hath happened to others But this is done two wayes whereby there is likewise a twofolde compassion the one good when a man with a good will not troubling or afflicting himselfe not effeminating his owne nature and without impeachment of equitie or honor doth freely and effectually succour those that are afflicted This is that vertue so much commended in religion found in the holiest and wisest in the world the other is a passion of a feeble minde a sottish and feminine pitie which proceedeth from a delicate tendernesse a troubled spirit proper to women infants and to cruell and malicious mindes which are consequently base and cowardly as hath beene prooued in the Chapter of Crueltie who pitie the punishments of offenders which produceth vniust effects not respecting the depth and merit of the cause but the present fortune state and condition Aduisements and remedies against this euill you shall find Lib. 3. cap. 30. CHAP. XXXIII Feare FEare is the apprehension of an euill to come which holdeth 1 The description vs in a continuall care and runnes before those euils that fortune threatneth vs. Wee speake not heere of that feare of God so much commended in Scripture nor of that feare which proceedeth from loue and is a sweet respect towards the thing beloued commendable in subiects and all inferiours towards their superiours but of that vitious feare that troubleth and afflicteth which is the seed of sinne the twinne of shame both of one wombe sprung from that close and cursed marriage of the spirit of man with a diabolicall perswasion Timeo eò quòd nudus essem abscondi me It is a deceitfull and malicious passion and hath no other power ouer vs but to mocke and seduce vs it serues it turne 2 The malice and tyranny thereof with that which is to come where though we seeme to foresee much we see nothing at all and in that doubtfull darkenesse it holdeth vs as in a darke place as theeues do by night to the end they may robbe a man and not be knowen and giue a great and sudden affright with a small number And therefore it tormenteth vs with masks and shewes of euils as men feare children with bug-beares euils that haue nothing but a simple appearance and haue nought in themselues whereby to hurt vs yea are not euils but that wee thinke them so It is the only apprehension which we haue which makes that euill to vs which is not so and draweth euill euen from our owne good to afflict vs withall How many do we see euery day that with feare to become miserable become that they feare and turne their vaine feare into certaine miseries How many haue lost their friends by distrusting their friends haue got diseases by fearing them One hath in such sort conceiued an opinion that his wife hath plaied false play with him that for griefe he languisheth another hath in such sort apprehended such a conceit of pouertie that he falleth sicke and to be briefe some haue died for feare to die And euen so may a man say almost of whatsoeuer we feare for feare seemeth not to other end than to make vs finde that which we flie from Doubtlesse feare is of all other euils the greatest and most tedious for other euils are no longer euils than they continue and the paine endureth no longer than the cause but feare is of that which is and that which is not and that perhaps which neuer shall be yea sometimes of that which can not possible be Beholde then a passion truly malicious and tyrannicall which draweth from an imaginarie euill true and bitter sorrowes and is ouer-greedie by thought and opinion to ouertake nay out-run them Feare doth not only fill vs with euils and many times by false appearances but it likewise spoileth all the good that we haue and all the pleasure of our life as an enemie to our rest A man can take no delight in the fruition of that good which he feareth to lose life it selfe can not be pleasant if a man feare to die Nothing good saith an ancient writer can bring pleasure with it but that against the losse whereof a man is alwayes prepared It is also a strange passion indiscreet and inconsiderate and proceeds as often from the want of iudgement as of heart It ariseth from dangers and many times casteth vs into dangers for it ingendreth in vs such an inconsiderate desire to get out that it astonisheth troubleth and hindereth vs from taking that order that is fit to get out It bringeth a violent kinde of trouble whereby the soule being affrighted withdraweth it selfe into it selfe and debateth with it selfe how to auoid that danger that is
such as descend from them but also those that are voluntarie who either sell for money their libertie or giue it out of the lightnesse of their hearts or for some commoditie as the ancient fensers solde outright women to their mistresses souldiers to their captaines Now there is none of all this in beasts they neuer serue one another nor yeeld themselues to any seruitude either actiue or passiue either to serue or to be serued and are in euery thing more free than men And as man goeth to the chase taketh killeth eateth the beasts so is he taken killed eaten by them in his turne and more honourably too by maine strength not by wit and art as man doth and not only by them is he killed but by his companion by another man a thing base and dishonorable Beasts assemble not themselues in troops to go to kill to destroy to ransacke to inthrall another troope of their kinde as men do The fourth and greatest aduantage pretended by man is in vertue but of morall it is disputable I meane morall materially 12 4. Vertue by the outward action for formallie the moralitie good or euill vertue and vice can not be in a beast Kinde acknowledgement officious amitie fidelitie magnanimitie and many other vertues which consist in societie and conuersation are more liuely more expresse and constant than can be in the common sort of people Hircanus the dogge of Lysimachus continued vpon the bed of his dead master refusing all kinde of sustenance and afterwards cast himselfe into that fire wherein his master was burnt and there died with him The selfe same did another belonging to one Pyrrhus That dogge of wise Hesiodus discouered the murther of his master Another in like sort in the presence of King Pyrrhus and his whole armie Another which neuer ceased as Plutarch affirmeth going from citie to citie vntill that sacrilegious Robber of the Temple of Athens was apprehended and brought to iudgements That historie is famous of the lion that was host and nurse to Androdus the slaue and his Physitian which would not touch him being cast out vnto him which Appion affirmeth to haue seene at Rome An Elephant hauing in choler killed his gouernour repenting himselfe of it refused any longer to eat drinke or liue Contrariwise there is not a creature in the world more vniust vnthankfull traiterous perfidious lying and deceitfull than man Againe forasmuch as vertue consisteth in the moderation of our appetites and the bridling of our pleasures beasts are much more moderate therein than wee and doe better containe themselues within the limits of nature For they are not only not touched with vnnaturall superfluous and artificiall passions and desires which are all vitious and infinite as men who for the most part are plunged in them but also in the naturall as eating and drinking the acquaintance betwixt the male and the female they are farre more moderate and staied But that we may see which is the more vertuous or vitious a man or a beast and in good earnest to shame a man more than a beast let vs take the vertue most proper and agreeable vnto man that is as the word it selfe importeth humanity as the most strange and contrary vice is cruelty Now heerin beasts Humanity Cruelty haue aduantage enough euen to make men blush for shame They neuer assaile and seldome offend those of their kind maior serpentum ferarumque concordia quà m hominum They neuer fight but for great and iust causes as the defence and preseruation of their liues liberty and their little ones and that they doe with their naturall and open armes by their only force and valour and that one to one as in single combates and not in troupes nor by designements Their combates are short and soone ended vntill one of them be either wounded or yeeldeth and the combate ended the quarrell hatred and choler is likewise at an end But man hath no quarrell but against man for not only light vaine and friuolous causes but many times vniust with artificiall and traiterous armes by deceits and wicked meanes in troupe and assembly gathered by assignement and lastly his wars are long and neuer ended but with death and when he is able no longer to hurt yet the hatred and choler endureth The conclusion of this comparison is that vntruely and 12 The conclusion of this second consideration vainly doth man glorifie himselfe aboue beasts For if man haue in him something more than they as especially the viuacity of the spirit and vnderstanding and those great faculties of the soule so likewise in exchange is hee subiect to a thousand euils from which the beasts are freed inconstancie irresolution superstition a painfull care of things to come ambition auarice enuie curiositie detraction lying and a world of disordered appetites discontentments emulations This spirit wherewith man maketh himselfe so mery brings him a thousand inconueniences and then most when it is most stirred and enforced For it doth not only hurt the body trouble breake and weaken the bodily forces and functions but also it hurts and hindereth it selfe What casteth man into follie and madnesse but the sharpenesse agility and proper force of the spirit The most subtile follies and excellent lunacies proceede from the rarest and quickest agitations of the spirit as from greatest amities spring greatest enmities and from soundest healths mortall maladies Melancholie men saith Plato as they are more capeable of knowledge and wisedome so likewise of folly And hee that well marketh it shall finde that in those eleuations and salies of a free soule there is some mixture of folly for to say the truth these things are neere neighbours Touching a simple life and such as is according to nature beasts do farre exceede men they liue more freely securely 13 An exhortation moderately contentedly And that man is wise that considereth heereof and benefiteth himselfe by making them an instruction vnto himselfe which doing he frameth himselfe to innocencie simplicitie libertie and that naturall sweetnesse which shineth in beasts and is wholly altered and corrupteth in vs by our artificiall inuentions and vnbridled licentiousnesse abusing that wherein we say we excell them which is the spirit and iudgement And therefore God doth many times send vs to schoole to birds beasts themselues to the kite the grashopper the swallow the turtle the ant the ox the asse and diuers others Lastly we must remember that there is a kind of commerce betwixt beasts vs a certain relation mutuall obligation whereof there is no other reason but that they belong to one the same master and are of the same family that we are It is an vnworthy thing to tyrannise ouer them we owe iustice vnto men and pitie and gentlenesse to such other creatures as are capeable thereof The third Consideration of Man which is by his life CHAP. XXXV The estimation breuitie description of the life of man and the parts thereof IT is a
pronounced with a pitifull voice yea with sighs and exclamations pierceth euen to the quicke as Oratours and Players and other that sell winde and smoake doe well know and practise And this winde catcheth and carrieth away many times men that are most constant and setled if they stand not vpon their gard so puissant is vanitie ouer men And not only light and little things doe shake and trouble vs but also lies and impostures euen those we know to be such a strange thing in such sort that we take pleasure to deceiue our selues in good earnest to feed our fantasies with tales with nothing ad fallendum nosmetipsos ingeniosissimi sumus witnesse they that weepe and afflict themselues hearing a relation or seeing a Tragedie which they know to be an inuention made for delight euen of those things that neuer were I could tell you of one that was so besotted that he died for one whom he knew to be foule olde deformed not because he loued her but because she was well painted and plastered or coloured with other impostures though he alwayes knew them to be such Let vs come from the particular vanitie of euery particular 6 Visitations and offices of courtesie man in his common life to see how much this vanitie is tied to the nature of man not onely as a priuate and personall vice What vanitie and losse of time is there in those visitations salutations congies and mutuall enterteinments those offices of courtesie orations ceremonies offers praises promises How many hyperbolicall speeches hypocrisies and impostures are there in the sight and knowledge of all both of those that giue them that receiue them that heare of them insomuch that it seemeth to be a match and market made together to mocke lie and deceiue one another And that which is woorth all the rest he that knowes that a man doth impudently lie vnto him must yet giue him thanks and he that knowes that when he lies he is not beleeued sets a bolde face vpon the matter attending and obseruing one the other who shall first begin or end when they could both be content they were both asunder What inconueniences doth man endure He faineth counterfeiteth disguiseth himselfe he endureth heat colde troubleth his rest afflicteth his life for those courtly vanities and leaueth his weightie affaires for the winde We are vaine at the charge of our owne ease yea of our health and of our life The accidents and the lighter things trample vnder foot the substance and the winde carrieth the bodie so much is man a slaue to vanitie and he that will do otherwise shall be held for a foole and a man that vnderstands not the world It is dexteritie well to play this Comedie and folly not to be vaine Being entred into speech and familiar discourse how many vaine and vnprofitable false fabulous tales are there not to say wicked and pernitious which are not of this count how many vaunts and vaine boastings Man desireth and delighteth to speake of himselfe and that which is his and if he thinke he haue either done or said or possesse any thing that is worthie estimation he is not at ease vntill he hath vttered it and made it knowen to others when a commoditie first commeth he entreth into an account thereof he valueth it he raiseth the price nay he will not seeme to attend his commoditie though he seeke it with industrie and then to heare what the speech of the people is abroad he thrusts himselfe into companie and it tickleth him at the heart to heare his happie successe spoken of and that men esteeme of him the more and of what hee esteemes But better to make knowen what credit and command this vanitie hath ouer the nature of man let vs call to minde that 7 Publike and vniuersall agitations the greatest alterations of the world the most generall and fearefull agitations of States and Empires armies battels murthers haue risen from light ridiculous and vaine causes witnesse the warres of Troy and Greece of Sylla and Marius Caesar and Pompey Augustus and Antonie The Poets signifie as much when they set all Greece and Asia on fire for an apple The first occasions and motiues arise of nothing afterwards they grow and increase a testimonie of the vanitie and follie of man Many times the accident doth more than the principall the lesser circumstances touch more to the quicke than the greatest nay the causes and subiects themselues The robe of Caesar troubled Rome more than his death did or those 22 stabs with a poignard that were giuen him Lastly the crowne and perfection of the vanitie of man is 8 Felicitie and contentment shewed in that which he most affecteth and seeks after he pleaseth himselfe and placeth his whole felicitie in those vaine and friuolous goods without which hee may well and commodiously liue and takes not that care that he should for the true and essentiall his chance is winde his whole good nothing but opinion and dreames wherein he is matchlesse God hath all good things in essence all euill in vnderstanding man quite contrarie possesseth his good things by fantasie his euill in essence Beasts content not nor feed themselues with opinions and fantasies but with that which is present palpable and in veritie Vanitie hath beene giuen vnto man as his proper part or condition he runnes he stirs he hunts vp and downe hee catcheth a shadow hee adoreth the winde he flies he dies and a mote at the last is the heire of his dayes worke Vanitati creatura subiecta est etiam nolens vniuersa vanitas omnis homo viuens CHAP. XXXVII Debillitie or Infirmitie BEholde heere the second head of this Consideration and humane knowledge for how should vanitie be other than fraile and feeble This weaknesse is confessed and proued by all that account many things easie to be vnderstood of all but is not taken to be such in those things it should as in such wherein a man seemeth to be most strong and least weake in desiring possessing and vsing those things that he hath and holdeth and in euery good and euill and to be short in such wherein he glorieth most wherein he thinketh to excell others and to be some thing These are the true testimonies of his weaknesse but we shall see this better apart First touching desire a man can not settle his contentment in any thing no not his owne desire and imagination It is 2 In desiring chusing not in our power to chuse that we should and whatsoeuer we haue desired or obteined it satisfies vs not but we go bleating after things vnknowen and to come because things present content vs not and wee more esteeme of things absent If one should put a man to his owne choise make him his owne caruer it is not in his power so to chuse as that he repent not his choise or which he will not adde vnto or take from or alter some way
the Ilotes their seruants to be made drunke that by the vgly deformity of their superfluous inundation others might grow into a horror and detestation of that sinne The Romanes to prepare their people to valour and a contempt of the dangers of death ordeined of purpose those furious spectacles of the fencers which at the first they ordained for offendors afterwards for slaues or seruants but innocents and lastly for freemen that gaue themselues thereunto Brothell houses in great Cities vsuries diuorces vnder the law of Moyses and in diuers other nations and religions haue beene permitted for the better auoiding of greater mischiefes ad duritiem cordis eorum In Iustice which cannot subsist cannot be executed without 8 Iustice the mixture of some wrong not onely Iustice commutatiue for that is not strange it is after a sort necessarie and men could not liue and traffique together without mutuall dammage without offence and the lawes allow of the losse which is vnder the moiety of the iust price But also Iustice distributiue as it selfe confesseth Summum ius summa iniuria omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod contra singulos vtilitate publica rependitur Plato alloweth and it is not against the law by deceits and false hopes of fauour and pardon to draw the offender to confesse his fault This is by iniustice deceit and impudencie to doe iustice And what should we say of the inuention of tortures which is rather Of tortures a proofe of patience than verity For both hee that can suffer them and cannot will conceale the truth For why should griefe cause a man rather to speake that which is than that which is not If a man thinke that an innocent is patient enough to endure torments why should not he that is guilty being a meanes to saue his life Illa tormenta gubernat dolor moderatur natura cuiusque tum animi tum corporis regit quaesitor flectit libido corrumpit spes infirmat metus vt in tot rerum angustijs nil veritati loci relinquatur In defence heereof it is said that tortures doe astonish and quell the guiltie and extort from him a truth and contrariwise strengthen the innocent but we doe so often see the contrarie that this may be doubted and to say the truth it is a poore meanes full of vncertaintie full of doubt What will not a man say what will he not doe to auoid such torment etenim innocentes mentiri cogit dolor in such sort that it falleth out that the iudge which giueth the torture to the end an innocent should not die causeth him to die an innocent and tortured too A thousand and a thousand haue falsely accused their owne heads either to shorten their torments or their liues But in the foot of this account is it not a great iniustice and crueltie to torment and to racke a man in pieces for that offence which is yet doubted of To the end they may not kil a man without iust cause they doe worse than kill him if he be innocent and beare the punishment what amends is made him for his vniust torture He shall be quit a goodly recompence and much reason he hath to thanke you But it is the lesser euill that the weakenesse of man could inuent If man bee weake in vertue much more is hee in veritie whether it be eternall and diuine or temporall and humane 9 Veritie That astonisheth him with the lightning beats him downe with the thunder thereof as the bright beames of the sunne the weake eie of the owle if he presume to behold it being oppressed he presently fainteth qui scrutator est maiestatis opprimetur a gloria in such sort that to giue himselfe some breath some tast he must disguise temper and couer it with some shadow or other This that is humane veritie offendeth and woundeth him and he that speakes it is many times holden for an enemie Veritas odium parit It is a strange thing man desireth naturally to know the truth and to attaine thereunto he remooueth all lets whatsoeuer and yet he can not attaine it if it be present he can not apprehend it if he apprehend it he is offended with it The fault is not in the truth for that is alwayes amiable beautifull worthie the knowledge but it is humane imbecillitie that can not endure the splendour thereof Man is strong enough to desire but too weake to receiue and holde what he desireth The two principall means which he vseth to attaine to the knowledge of truth are Reason and Experience Now both of them are so feeble vncertaine though Experience the more weake that nothing certaine can be drawen from them Reason hath so many formes is so pliable so wauering as hath been said Cap. 14. and Experience much more the occurrents are alwayes vnlike there is nothing so vniuersall in Nature as diuersitie nothing so rare and difficult and almost impossible as the likenesle and similitude of things and if a man can not note this dissimilitude it is ignorance and weaknesse I meane this perfect pure and entire similitude and dissimilitude for to say the trueth they are both whole and entire there is no one thing that is wholly like or dislike to another This is an ingenious and maruellous mixture of Nature But after all this what doth better discouer this humane imbecillitie than Religion yea the very intention thereof is 10 Religion to make man feele his owne euill his infirmitie his nothing and to make him to receiue from God his good his strength his all things First it preacheth it vnto him it beats it into our memorie it reprocheth man calling him dust ashes earth flesh blood grasse Afterwards it infinuateth it into him and makes him feele it after an excellent and goodly fashion bringing in God himselfe humbled weakened debased for the loue of him speaking promising swearing chiding threatning and to be briefe conuersing and working with man after a base feeble humane maner like a father that counterfeits his speech and playes the childe with his children The weaknesse of man being such so great so inuincible that to giue it some accesse and commerce with the Diuinitie and to vnite it vnto God it was necessary that God should debase himselfe to the bafest Deus quia in altitudine sua a nobis paruulis apprehendi non poterat ideo se strauit hominibus Againe it makes him see his owne weaknesse by ordinarie effects for all the principall and holiest exercises the most solemne actions of religion are they not the true symptomes and arguments of humane imbecillitie and sicknesse Those sacrifices that in former times haue been vsed thorowout Sacrifices the world and yet in some countreys continue not only of beasts but also of liuing men yea of innocents were they not shamefull marks of humane infirmitie and miserie First because they were signes and symboles of his condemnation and malediction for
of man Doubtlesse our actions doe many times so contradict one the other in so strange a maner that it seemes impossible they should all come foorth of one and the same shop we alter and we feele it not we escape as it were from our selues and we rob our selues ipsi nobis furto subducimur We goe after the inclinations of our appetite and as the wind of occasions carieth vs not according to reason at nil potest esse aequabile quod non a certa ratione proficiscatur Our spirits also and our humours are changed with the change of time Life is an vnequall motion irregular of many fashions In the end wee stirre and trouble our selues by the instabilitie of our behauiour Nemo non quotidiè consilium mutat votum modò vxorem vult modò amicam modò regnare vult modò non est eo officiosior seruus nunc pecuniam spargit nunc rapit modò frugi videtur grauis modò prodigus vanus mutamus subinde personam Quod petijt spernit repetit quod nuper omisit Aestuat vitae disconuenit ordine toto Man is a creature of all others the most hard to be sounded and knowen for he is the most double and artificiall couert and counterfeit and there are in him so many cabinets and blind corners from whence he comes forth sometimes a man sometimes a satyre so many breathing holes from whence hee breathes sometimes heat sometimes colde and from whence comes foorth so much smoake all his carriage and motion is a perpetuall race of errours in the morning to be borne in the euening to die sometimes in the racke sometimes at libertie sometimes a god sometimes a flie hee laughs and weeps for one and the same thing he is content and discontent hee will and hee will not and in the end he knowes not what he will now he is filled with ioy and gladnesse that he can not stay within his owne skinne and presently he falleth out with himselfe nay dares not trust himselfe modò amore nostri modò taedio laboramus CHAP. XXXIX 4. Miserie BEhold heere the maine and principall line and liniament of the picture of man he is as hath beene sayd vaine 1 Miserie proper vnto man feeble fraile inconstant in good in felicitie in pleasure but strong constant and hardned in miserie he is miserie it selfe quicke and incarnate and this is in a word to expresse humanitie for in man is all miserie and without him there is not any in the world It is the propertie of man to be miserable only man and all man is alwayes miserable Homo natus de muliere breui viuens tempore repletur multis miserijs Hee that will take vpon him to represent vnto vs all the parts of humane miserie had need to discouer his whole life his substance his entrance his continuance his end I do not therefore vndertake this businesse it were a worke without end and besides it is a common subiect handled by all but I will heere only quote certaine points which are not common nor taken for miseries either because they are not felt or sufficientlie considered of although they be such as presse man most if he knew how to iudge of them The first point and proofe of the miserie of man is his 2 In his beginning and his end birth his entrance into the world is shamefull vile base contemptible his departure his death ruine glorious and honorable whereby it seemeth that he is a monster and against nature since there is shame in making him honor in destroying him Nostri nosmet poenitet pudet Heerof a word or two The action of planting and making man is shamefull and all the parts thereof the congredients the preparations the instruments and whatsoeuer serues thereunto is called and accounted shamefull and there is nothing more vncleane in the whole nature of man The action of destroying and killing him honourable and that which serues thereunto glorious we gild it we inrich it we adorne our selues with it we carrie it by our sides in our hands vpon our shoulders We disdaine to go to the birth of man euery man runnes to see him die whether it be in his bed or in some publike place or in the field When we goe about to make a man we hide our selues we put out the candle we do it by stealth It is a glorie and a pompe to vnmake a man to kill him wee light the candles to see him die wee execute him at high noone wee sound a trumpet we enter the combat and we slaughter him when the sunne is at highest There is but one way to beget to make a man a thousand and a thousand meanes inuentions arts to destroy him There is no reward honour or recompence assigned to those that know how to increase to preserue humane nature all honours greatnesse riches dignities empires triumphs trophes are appointed for those that know how to afflict trouble destroy it The two principall men of the world Alexander and Caesar haue vnmade haue slaine ech of them as Plinie reporteth more than a million of men but they made none left none behinde them And in ancient times for pleasure onely and pastime to delight the eyes of the people there were publike slaughters and massacres of men made Homo sacra res per iocum lusum Seneca Tertull. de Spectac occiditur satis spectaculi in homine mors est innocentes in ludum veniunt vt publicae voluptatis hostiae fiant There are some nations that curse their birth blesse their death How monstrous a creature is this that is made a horror vnto himselfe None of all this is in any other creature no not in the whole world besides The second point and testimonie of the miserie of man is the diminishing of his pleasures euen those small and slight ones that appertaine vnto him for of such as are great and sound he is not capable as hath beene shewed in his weakenesse and the impairing of the number and sweetnesse of them If it be so that he doe it not for Gods cause what a monster is this that is an enemie vnto himselfe robbes and betrayes himselfe to whom his pleasures are a burthen and a crosse There be some that flie from health ioy comfort as from an euill thing O miseri quorum gaudia crimen habent We are not ingenious but to our owne hurt it is the true diet of the force of the spirit But there is yet that which is worse the spirit of man is not only a diminisher of his ioy a trouble-feast an enemy to his 4 Forging of euils small naturall and iust pleasures as I meane to proue but also a forger of those that are euill it faineth feareth flieth abhorreth as great mischiefs things that are not any way euill in themselues and in trueth which beasts themselues feare not but that by his owne proper discourse and imagination they are
fained to be such as not to be aduanced in honour greatnes riches as cuckoldship sterility death for to say the truth there is nothing but griefe it selfe that is euill and which is felt And though some wise men seem to feare these things yet it is not for their owne sakes but because of that griefe which sometimes doth accompany them afterwards for many times it is a fore-runner of death and sometimes followeth the losse of goods of credit of honour But take from these things grief the rest is nothing but fantasie which hath no other lodging but in the head of man which quits it selfe of other businesse to be miserable and imagineth within it owne bounds false euils besides the true employing and extending his miserie in stead of lessening and contracting it Beasts feele not these euils but are exempted from them because nature iudgeth them not to be such As for sorrow which is the only true euill man is wholly borne thereunto and it is his naturall propertie The Mexicanes 5 He is borne to sorrow thus salute their infants comming forth of the wombe of their mother Infant thou art come into the world to suffer endure suffer and hold thy peace That sorrow is naturall vnto man and contrariwise pleasure but a stranger it appeareth by these three reasons All the parts of man are capable of sorrow very few of delight The parts capable of pleasure can not receiue more than one or two sorts but all can receiue the greatest number of griefs all different heat colde pricking rubbing trampling fleaing beating boiling languishing extension oppression relaxation and infinite others which haue no proper name to omit those of the soule in such sort that man is better able to suffer them than to expresse them Man hath no long continuance in pleasure for that of the bodie is like a fire of straw and if it should continue it would bring with it much enuie and displeasure but sorrowes are more permanent and haue not their certaine seasons as pleasures haue Againe the empire and command of sorrow is farre more great more vniuersall more powerfull more durable and in a word more naturall than that of pleasure To these three a man may adde other three Sorrow and griefe is more frequent and falles out often Pleasure is rare Euil comes easily of it selfe without seeking Pleasure neuer comes willingly it must be sought after and many times we pay more for it than it is woorth Pleasure is neuer pure but alwayes distempered and mingled with some bitternesse and there is alwayes some thing wanting but sorrow and griefe is many times entire and pure After all this the worst of our market and that which doth euidently shew the miserie of our condition is that the greatest pleasures touch vs not so neere as the lightest griefs Segnius homines bona quà m mala sentiunt we feele not so much our soundest health as the least maladie that is pung it in cute vix summa violatum plagula corpus quando valere nil quenquam monet It is not enough that man be indeede and by nature miserable 6 By memorie and anticipation and besides true and substantiall euills he faine forge false and fantasticall as hath beene saide but hee must likewise extend and lengthen them and cause both the true and false to endure and to liue longer than they can so amarous is he of iniserie which he doth diuers waies First by the remembrance of what is past and the anticipation of what is to come so that we cannot faile to be miserable since that those things which are principally good in vs and whereof wee glorie most are instruments of miserie futuro torquemur praeterito mult a bona nostra nobis nocent timoris tormentum memoria reducit prouidentia anticipat nemo praesentibus tantùm miser est It is not enough to be miserable but wee must encrease it by a continual expectation before it come nay seeke it and prouoke it to come like those that kill themselues with the feare of death that is to say either by curiositie or imbecillitie and vaine apprehension to preoccupate euils and inconueniences and to attend them with so much paine ado euen those which peraduenture will neuer come neere vs These kinde of people will be miserable before their time and double miserable both by a reall sense or feeling of their miserie and by a long premeditation therof which many times is a hundred times worse than the euils themselues Minùs afficit sensus fatigatio quà m cogitatio The essence or being of miserie endureth not long but the minde of man must lengthen and extend it and entertaine it before hand Plùs dolet quà m necesse est qui antè dolet quà m necesse est Quaedam magis quaedam antequam debeant quaedam cùm omninò non debeant nos torquent Aut augemus dolorem aut fugimus aut praecipimus Beasts do well defend themselues from this follie and miserie and are much bound to thanke nature that they want that spirit that memorie that prouidence that man hath Caesar said well that the best death was that which was least premeditated And to say the truth the preparation before death hath beene to many a greater torment than the execution it selfe My meaning is not here to speake of that vertuous and philosophicall premeditation which is that temper whereby the soule is made inuincible is fortified to the proofe against all assaults and accidents whereof we shall speake heerafter but Lib. 2. ca 7. of that fearefull and sometimes false and vaine apprehension of euils that may come which afflicteth and darkeneth as it were with smoke all the beauty and serenity of the soule troubleth all the rest and ioy thereof insomuch that it were better to suffer it selfe to be wholly surprised It is more easie and more naturall not to thinke thereof at all But let vs leaue this anticipation of euill for simply euery care and painfull thought bleating after things to come by hope desire feare is a very great misery For besides that we haue not any power ouer that which is to come much lesse ouer what is past and so it is vanity as it hath been said there doth stil remain vnto vs that euill and dammage Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius which robbeth our vnderstanding and taketh from vs the peaceable comfort of our present good and will not suffer vs to settle and content our selues therein But this is not yet enough For to the end man may neuer want matter of misery yea that he may alwaies haue his 7 By vnquiet search full he neuer ceaseth searching and seeking with great study the causes and aliments of misery He thrusteth himselfe into businesse euen with ioy of heart euen such as when they are offered vnto him he should turne his backe towards them and either out of a miserable disquiet of mind or to the end
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
these diuersities of estates and charges CHAP. XLV Of commanding and obeying THese as hath beene sayd are the two foundations of all humane societie and the diuersitie of estates and professions They are Relatiues they do mutually respect ingender and conserue one the other and are alike required in all assemblies and communities but are yet subiect to a naturall kinde of enuie and an euerlasting contestation complaint and obtrectation The popular estate make the Souereigne of woorse condition than a Carter The Monarchie placeth him aboue God himselfe In commanding is the honour the difficultie these two commonly go together the goodnesse the sufficiencie all qualities of greatnesse Command that is to say sufficiencie courage authority is from heauen and of God imperium non nisi diuino fato datur omnis potestas a Deo est And therefore Plato was wont to say That God did not appoint and establish men that is to say men of a common sort and sufficiencie and purely humane to rule others but such as by some diuine touch singular vertue and gift of heauen do excell others and therefore they are called Heroes In obeying is vtilitie procliuitie necessitie in such sort that for the preseruation of the weale publike it is more necessarie than well to command and the deniall of obedience or not to obey as men should is farre more dangerous than for a Prince not to command as he should Euen as in mariage though the husband and the wife be equally obliged to loialtie and fidelitie and haue both bound themselues by promise in the same words the same ceremonies and solemnities yet notwithstanding the inconueniences are incomparably farre greater in the fact of adulterie in the wife than the husband euen so though command and obedience are equally required in euery state and companie yet the inconueniences of disobedience in subiects are farre more dangerous than of ill gouernment in a Commander Many States haue a long time continued and prospered too vnder the command of wicked Princes and Magistrates the subiects obeying and accommodating themselues to their gouernment and therefore a wise man being once asked why the Common-wealth of Sparta was so flourishing and whether it were because their Kings commanded well Nay rather saith he because the Citizens obey well For if the subiects once refuse to obey and shake off their yoke the state must necessarily fall to the ground CHAP. XLVI Of Mariage NOtwithstanding the state of marriage be the first more ancient and most important and as it were the foundation and fountaine of humane societie whence arise families and from them Common-weales Prima societas in coniugio est quod principium vrbis seminarium Reipublicae yet it hath been contemned and defamed by many great personages who haue iudged it vnwoorthy men of heart and spirit and haue framed many obiections against it First they account the band and obligation thereof vniust 2 Obiections against mariage a hard and ouerstreight captiuitie insomuch that by marriage a man is bound and enthralled to the cares and humours of another And if it fall out that hee haue mistaken in his choice and haue met with a hard bargaine more bone than flesh his life is euer afterwards most miserable What iniquitie and iniustice can there be greater than for one houres follie a fault committed without malice and by meere ouersight yea many times to obey the aduice of another a man should be bound to an euerlasting torment It were better for him to put the halter about his necke and to cast himselfe into the sea his head downward to end his miserable life than to liue alwayes in the paines of hell and to suffer without intermission on his side the tempest of iealousie of malice of rage of madnesse of brutish obstinacie and other miserable conditions and therefore one sticks not to say That he that inuented this knot and tie of marriage had found a goodly and beautifull meanes to be reuenged of man a trap or gin to intangle beasts and afterwards to make them languish at a little fire Another saith That to marrie a wise man to a foole or a foole to a wise man is to binde the liuing to the dead which was the cruellest death inuented by Tyrants to make the liuing to languish and die by the companie of the dead Secondly they say that mariage is a corruption and adulterating of good and rare spirits insomuch that the flatteries and smooth speaches of the partie beloued the affection towards children the care of houshold affaires and aduancement of their famelies do lessen dissolue and mollifie the vigour and strength of the most liuely and generous spirit that is witnesse Samson Salomon Marc. Antony And therefore howsoeuer the matter goe we had not neede to marry But those that haue more flesh than spirit strong in bodie and weake in minde tie them to the flesh and giue them the charge of small and base matters such as they are capable of But such as are weake of body haue their spirits great strong and puistant is it not then a pitie to binde them to the flesh and to mariage as men doe beasts in a stable We see that beasts the more noble they are the stronger and fitter for seruice as horses and dogs the more are they kept asunder from the companie and acquaintance of the other sex and it is the maner to put beasts of least esteeme at randon together So likewise such men and women as are ordeined to the most venerable and holiest vocation and which ought to be as the creame and marrow of Christianitie Church-men and religigious are though not by any warrant from the word of God excluded from mariage And the reason is because mariage hindreth and auerteth those beautifull and great eleuations of the soule the contemplation of things high celestiall and diuine which is incompatible with the troubles and molestations of domesticall affaires for which cause the Apostle preferreth the solitarie continent life before mariage Vtilitie may well hold with mariage but honestie is on the other side Againe it troubleth beautifull and holy enterprises as Saint Austin reporteth that hauing determined with some other his friends among whom there were some maried to retire themselues from the citie and the company of men the better to attend to the studie of wisdome and vertue their purpose was quickly broken and altered by the wiues of those that were maried And another wiseman did not doubt to say that if men could liue without women they should be visited and accompaned by Angels Moreouer mariage is a hindrance to such as delight in trauell and to see strange countries whether to learne to make themselues wise or to teach others to be wise and to publish that to others which they know To conclude mariage doth not only corrupt and deiect good and great spirits but it robbeth the weale-publicke of many beautifull and great things which cannot manifest themselues remaining in
consisteth in this that the husband hath power ouer the wife and the 8 Inequalitie wife is subiect to the husband This agreeth with all lawes and policies but yet more or lesse according to the diuersitie of them In all things the wife though she be far more noble and more rich yet is subiect to the husband This superioritie and inferioritie is naturall founded vpon the strength and sufficiencie of the one the weaknes and insufficiencie of the other The Diuines ground it vpon other reasons drawen from the Bible Man was first made by God alone and immediatly expresly for God his head and according to his image and perfect for nature doth always begin with things perfect The woman was made in the second place after man of the substance of man by occasion and for another thing mulier est vir occasionatus to serue as an aide and as a second to man who is her head and therefore imperfect And this is the difference by order of generation That of corruption and sinne proueth the same for the woman was the first in preuarication and by hir own weakenes and will did sinne man the second and by occasion of the woman the woman then the last in good and in generation and by occasion the first in euill and the occasion thereof is iustly subiect vnto man the first in good and last in euill This superioritie and power of the husband hath beene in some places such as that of the father ouer life and death as 9 The power of the husband Dion Halicar l. 2. Lib. 2. Lib. 6. bel Gal. with the Romans by the law of Romulus and the husband had power to kill his wife in foure cases Adulterie Suborning of children counterfeiting of false keyes and drinking of wine So likewise with the Greeks as Polybius and the ancient French as Caesar affirmeth the power of the husband was ouer the life and death of his wife Elswhere and there too afterwards this power was moderated but almost in all places the power of the husband and the subiection of the wife doth inferre thus much That the husband is master of the actions and vowes of his wife and may with words correct her and hold her to the stocks as for blowes they are vnworthy a woman of honour or honestie saith the Law and the wife is bound to holde the condition follow the qualitie countrey familie habitation and rancke of her husband she must accompanie and follow him in all things in his iourneys if need be his banishment his imprisonment yea a wandring person a vagabond a fugitiue The examples heereof are many and excellent of Sulpitia who followed her husband Lentulus being banished into Cicilie Erithrea her husband Phalaris Ipsicrates the wife of King Mithridate vanquished by Pompey who wandred thorow the world Some adde vnto this That wiues are to follow their husbands euen in the warres and into those prouinces whither the husband is sent with publike charge Neither can the wife bring any thing into question of law whether she be plaintiffe or defendant without Corn. Tacit the authority of her husband or of the Iudge if he refuse neither can she call her husband into iudgement without the permission of the Magistrate Marriage is not carried after one and the same fashion neither 10 The diuers rules of mariage hath it in euery place the same lawes and rules but according to the diuersitie of religions and countreys it hath rules either more easie or more streight according to the rules of Christianitie of all others the streightest marriage is more subiect and held more short There is nothing but the entrance left free the continuance is by constraint depending of some thing els than our owne willes Other nations and religions to make marriage more easie free and fertile haue receiued and practised Polygamie and repudiation libertie to take and leaue wiues they accuse Christianitie for taking away these two by which meanes amity and multiplication the principall ends of marriage are much preiudiced inasmuch as amitie is an enemie to all constraint and they doe better maintaine themselues in an honest libertie and multiplication is made by the woman as Nature doth richly make knowen vnto vs in wolues of whom the race is so fertile in the production of their yoong euen to the number of twelue or thirteene that they farre excell all other profitable creatures of these there are great numbers killed euery day by which meanes there are but few and they though of all others the most fertile yet by accident the most barren the reason is because of so great a number as they bring there is one only female which for the most part beareth not by reason of the multitude of males that concurre in the generation of which the greatest part die without fruit by the want of females So likewise we may see how much Polygamy helpeth to multiplication in those nations that receiue it Iewes Turks and other Barbarians who are able to raise forces of three or foure thousand fighting men fit for warres Contrariwise in Christendome there are many linked together in matrimony the one of which if not both are barren which being placed with others both the one and the other may happely leaue great posteritie behinde them But to speake more truly all his fertilitie consisteth in the fertilitie of one only woman Finally they obiect That this Christianlike restraint is the cause of many lasciuious pranks and adulteries To all which we may answer That Christianitie considereth not of marriage by reasons purely humane naturall temporall but it beholds it with another visage and weigheth it with reasons more high and noble as hath beene said Adde vnto this That experience sheweth in the greatest part of marriages that constraint increaseth amitie especially in simple and debonaire mindes who doe easily accommodate themselues where they finde themselues in such sort linked And as for lasciuious and wicked persons it is the immodestie of their maners that makes them such which no libertie can amend And to say the truth Adulteries are as common where Polygamie and repudiation are in force witnesse the Iewes and Dauid who for all the wiues that hee had could not defend himselfe from it and contrariwise they haue beene a long time vnknowen in policies well gouerned where there was neither Polygamie nor repudiation witnesse Sparta and Rome a long time after the foundation And therefore it is absurd to attribute it vnto religion which teacheth nothing but puritie and continencie The libertie of Polygamie which seemeth in some sort naturall 11 Polygamie diuers is caried diuersly according to the diuersitie of nations and policies In some all the wiues that belong to one husband liue in common and are equall in degree and so are their children In others there is one who is the principall and as the mistresse whose children inherit the goods honours and titles of the husband the rest
freedome and libertie to all those that were of their religion in such sort that about the twelue hundred yeare there were almost no slaues in the world but where these two religions had no authoritie But as the number of slaues diminished the number of beggers and vagabonds increased for so many slaues being 7 The increase of poore people and vagabonds set at libertie come from the houses and subiection of their Lords not hauing wherewithall to liue and perhaps hauing children too filled the world with poore people This pouertie made them returne to seruitude and to become 8 Returne to seruitude voluntarie slaues paying changing selling their libertie to the end they might haue their maintenance and life assured and be quit of the burthen of their children Besides this cause and this voluntarie seruitude the world is returned to the vse of slaues because the Christians and Turks alwaies mainteining warres one against the other as likewise against the Gentiles both orientall and occidentall although by the example of the Iewes they haue no slaues of their owne nation yet they haue of others whom though they turne to their religion they hold slaues by force The power and authoritie of masters ouer their seruants is not very great nor imperious and in no sort can be preiudiciall to the libertie of seruants only they may chastise and correct them with discretion and moderation This power is much lesse ouer those that are mercenarie ouer whom they haue neither power nor correction The dutie of Masters and Seruants See lib. 3. cap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of the State Soueraigntie Soueraignes HAuing spoken of priuate power we come to the publicke 1 The description and necessitie of the state that of the state The state that is to say Rule dominion or a certaine order in commanding and obeying is the prop the cement and the soule of humane things It is the bond of societie which cannot otherwise subsist It is the vitall spirit whereby so many millions of men doe breath and the whole nature of things Now notwithstanding it be the piller and prop of all yet it is a thing not so sure very difficult subiect to changes arduuin 2 The nature of the state Tacit. subiectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus which declineth and sometimes falleth by hidden and vnknowne causes and that altogether at an instant from the highest step to the lowest and not by degrees as it vseth to be long arising It is likewise exposed to the hatred both of great and small wherby it is gauled subiect to ambushments vnderminings and dangers which hapneth likewise many times by the corrupt and wicked manners of the soueraignes and the nature of the soueraigntie which we are about to describe Soueraigntie is a perpetuall and absolute power without constraint either of time or condition It consisteth in a power 3 The description of soueraigntie to giue lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular without the consent of any other or the gift of any person And as another saith to derogate from the common law Soueraigntie is so called and absolute because it is not subiect to any humane lawes no not his owne For it is against nature to giue lawes vnto all and to command himselfe in a thing that dependeth vpon his will Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae a voluntate promittent is statum capit nor of another whether liuing or of his predecessors or the countrie Soueraigne power is compared to fire to the sea to a wilde beast it is a hard matter to tame it to handle it it will not be crost nor offended but being is very dangerous potestas res est quae moneri docerique non vult castigationem aegrè ferat The marks and properties thereof are to iudge the last appeales to ordaine lawes in time of peace and warre to create 4 The properties and appoint magistrates and officers to giue graces and dispensations against the law to impose tributes to appoint money to receiue homages ambassages oathes But all this is comprehended vnder the absolute power to giue and make lawes according to their pleasure Other marks there are of lesse weight as the law of the sea and shipwracke confiscation for treason power to change the tongue title of Maiestie Greatnes and Soueraigntie is so much desired of all because all the good that is in it appeareth outwardly and all the ill is altogether inward As also because to commaund others is a thing as beautifull and diuine as great and difficult and for this cause they are esteemed and reuerenced for more than men Which beliefe in the people and credit of theirs is very necessarie and commodious to extort from the people due respect and obedience the nource of peace and quietnes But in the end they prooue to be men cast in the same mould that other men are and many times worse borne and worse qualified in nature than many of the common sort of people It seemeth that their actions because they are weightie and important doe proceed from weightie and important causes but they are nothing and of the same condition that other mens are The same occasion that breeds a brawle betwixt vs and our neighbour is ground enough of a warre betwixt Princes and that offence for which a Lackey deserues a whipping lighting vpon a King is the ruine of a whole prouince They will as lightly as we and we as they but they can do more than we the selfe-same appetites moue a flie and an elephant Finally besides these passions defects and naturall conditions which they haue common with the meanest of those that doe adore them they haue likewise vices and discommodities which their greatnes and soueraigntie beares them out in peculiar vnto themselues The ordinarie maners of great personages are vntamed 6 The maners of Soueraignes pride durus est veri insolens ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor violence too licentious id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid alijs non licet solis licet quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest Their mott that best pleaseth them is Senec. Tacit. quod libet licet suspition icalousie suapte natura potentiae anxij yea euen of their owne infants suspectus semper inuisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo vt displiceant etiam ciuilia filiorum ingenia whereby it falleth out that they are many times in alarum and feare ingenia regum prona ad formidinem The aduantages of Kings and soueraigne Princes aboue 7 The miseries and discommodities their people which seeme so great and glittering are indeed but light and almost imaginarie but they are repayed with great true and solid disaduantages and inconueniences The name and title of a soueraigne the shew and outside is beautifull pleasant and ambitious but the burthen and the inside is hard difficult and yrksome There
14 7 Ignorance of things more dangerous to the weale-publicke is that they are not free in the choice of men nor in the true knowledge of things They are not suffered truly to know the state of their affaires and consequently not to call and employ such as they would and as were most fit and necessarie They are shut vp and beset with a certaine kind of people that are either of their own bloud or by the greatnes of their houses and offices or by prescription are so farre in authoritie power and managing of affaires before others that it is not lawfull without putting all to hazard to discontent or in any sort to suspect them Now these kind of people that couer and hold as it were hidden the Prince do prouide that all the truth of things shall not appeare vnto him and that better men and more profitable to the state come not neere him lest they be knowne what they are It is a pitifull thing not to see but by the eyes not to vnderstand but by the eares of another as Princes doe And that which perfecteth in all points this miserie is that commonly and as it were by destinie Princes and great personages are possessed by three sorts of people the plagues of humane kinde Flatterers Inuenters of imposts or tributes Informers who vnder a faire and false pretext of zeale and amitie towards the Prince as the two first or of loyaltie and reformation as the latter spoile and ruinate both Prince and State The eight miserie is that they are lesse free and masters of their owne wills than all other for they are inforced in their 15 8 Not maesters of their wills proceedings by a thousand considerations and respects whereby many times they must captiuate their designments desires and wills in maxima fortuna minima licentia And in the meane time in stead of being plaintiffes they are more rudely handled and iudged than any other For men will not stick to diuine of their designes penetrate into their hearts and inuentions which they cannot doe Abditos principis sensus si quid occultius parat exquirere illicitum anceps nec ideo assequare and looking into things with another visage where they vnderstand not sufficientlie the affaires of the state they require of their Princes what they thinke should be done blame their actions refusing to submit themselues to what is necessarie they commonly proceed in their businesse rudely enough Finally it falleth out many times that they make a miserable end not only tyrants and vsurpers for it belongs to 16 9 A miserable end them but such as haue a true title to their Crowne witnes so many Romane Emperours after Pompey the Great and Caesar and in our time Mary Queene of Scotland who lost her life by the hand of an executioner and Henry the third wilfullie murthered in the middle of fortie thousand armed men by a little Monke and a thousand the like examples It seemeth that as lightning and tempests oppose themselues against the pride and height of our buildings so there are likewise spirits that enuie and emulate greatnes below vpon earth Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saeuasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur To conclude the condition of Soueraignes is hard and dangerous Their life if it be innocent is infinitly painefull 17 The conclusion of their miseries if it be wicked it is subiect to the hate and slaunder of the world and in both cases exposed to a thousand dangers for the greater a Prince is the lesse may he trust others and the more must he trust himselfe So that we see that it is a thing as it were annexed to soueraigntie to be betrayed Of their duty See the third booke Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Magistrates THere are diuers degrees of Magistrates as well in honor as power which are the two things to be considered in 1 The distinction the distinction of them and which haue nothing common the one with the other and many times they that are more honorable haue lesse power as Counsellors of the priuie Counsell the Secretaries of the state Some haue but one of the two others haue both and that of diuers degrees but they are properly called Magistrates that haue both The Magistrates that are in the middle betwixt the Soueraigne the particulars in the presence of their Soueraignes haue no power to command As riuers lose both their name and power at the mouth or entrance into the sea and the starres their light in the presence of the sunne so all power of Magistrates is but vpon sufferance in the presence of their Soueraigne as also the power of inferiours and subalternate Magistrates in the presence of their superiours Amongst equals there is neither power nor superioritie but the one may hinder the other by opposition and preuention All Magistrates iudge condemne and command either according to the law and then their sentence is but the execution of the law or according to equitie and such iudgement is called the office or dutie of the Magistrate Magistrates can not change nor correct their iudgements except the Soueraigne permit it vnder paine of iniustice they may reuoke their commands or make stay of them but not that which they haue iudged and pronounced with knowledge of the cause Of the dutie of Magistrates See lib. 3. CHAP. LI. Lawyers Doctours Teachers IT is one of the vanities follies of man to prescribe lawes and rules that exceed the vse and capacitie of men as some Philosophers and Doctors haue done They propose strange and eleuated formes or images of life or at leastwise so difficult and austere that the practise of them is impossible at least for a long time yea the attempt is dangerous to manie These are castles in the aire as the Common-wealth of Plato and More the Oratour of Cicero the Poet of Horace beautifull and excellent imaginations but he was yet neuer found that put them in vse The soueraigne and perfect Lawgiuer and Doctor tooke heed of this who both in himselfe his life and his doctrine hath not sought these extrauagancies and formes diuided from the common capacitie of men and therefore he calleth his yoke easie and his burden light Iugum meum suaue onus meum leue And they that haue instituted and ordered their companie vnder his name haue very wisely considered of the matter that though they make speciall profession of vertue deuotion and to serue the weale-publike aboue all others neuerthelesse they differ very little from the common and ciuill life Wherein there is first great iustice for there must alwaies be kept a proportion betwixt the commandement and the obedience the duetie and the power the rule and the workmaster and these binde themselues and others to be necessarilie in want cutting out more worke than they know how to finish and many times these goodly Law-makers are
which neuer yet could be pleased their mot is Vox populi vox Dei but we may say Vox populi vox stultorum Now the beginning of wisdome is for a man to keepe himselfe cleere and free and not to suffer himselfe to be caried with popular opinions This belongs to the second Lib. 2. ca. 1. booke which is now neere at hand The fourth distinction and difference of men drawen from their diuers professions and conditions of life THE PREFACE BEholde heere another difference of men drawen from the diuersitie of their professions conditions and kindes of life Some follow the ciuill and sociable life others flie it thinking to saue themselues in the solitarie wildernesse some loue armes others hate them some liue in common others in priuate it pleaseth some best to haue charge and to leade a publike life others to hide and keepe themselues priuate some are Courtiers attending wholly vpon others others court none but themselues some delight to liue in the citie others in the fields affecting a countrey life whose choice is the better and which life is to be preferred It is a difficult thing simply to determine and it may be impertinent They haue all their aduantages and disaduantages their good and their ill That which is most to be looked into and considered heerein as shall be said is That euery man know how to chuse that which best befits his owne nature that he might liue the more easily and the more happily But yet a word or two of them all by comparing them together but this shall be after we haue spoken of that life that is common to all which hath three degrees CHAP. LIII The distinction and comparison of the three sorts of degrees of life THere are three sorts of life and as it were three degrees one priuate of euery particular man within himselfe and in the closet of his owne heart where all is hid all is lawfull the second in his house and family in his priuate and ordinarie actions where there is neither studie nor arte and whereof he is not bound to giue any reason the third is publike in the eyes of the world Now to keepe order and rule in this first low and obscure stage it is very difficult and more rare than in the other two and in the second than in the third the reason is because where there is neither Iudge nor Controler nor Regarder and where we haue no imagination either of punishment or recompense we carrie our selues more loosely and carelesly as in priuate liues where conscience and reason only is our guide than in publike where we are still in checke and as a marke to the eyes and iudgement of all where glory feare of reproch base reputation or some other passion doth leade vs for passion commands with greater power than reason whereby we keepe our selues readie standing vpon our guard for which cause it falleth out that many are accounted holy great and admirable in publike who in their owne priuate haue nothing commendable That which is done in publike is but a fable a fiction the truth is secret and in priuat and he that will well iudge of a man must conuerse euery day with him and pry into his ordinarie and naturall cariage the rest is all counterset Vniuersus mundus exercet histrioniam and therefore said a wise man That he is an excellent man who is such within and in himselfe which he is outwardly for feare of the lawes and speech of the world Publick actions thunder in the eares of men to which a man is attentiue when he doth them as exploits in warre sound iudgement in counsell to rule a people to performe an Ambassage Priuate and domesticall actions are quick and sure to chide to laugh to sell to pay to conuerse with his owne a man considers not of them he doth them not thinking of them secret and inward actions much more to loue to hate to desire Againe there is heere another consideration and that is that that is done by the naturall hypocrisie of men which we make most account of and a man is more scrupulous in outward actions that are in shew but yet are free of small importance and almost all in countenances and ceremonies and therefore are of little cost and as little effect than in inward and secret actions that make no shew but are yet requisite and necessarie and therefore they are the more difficult Of those depend the reformation of the soule the moderation of the passions the rule of the life yea by the attainement of these outward a man becomes carelesse of the inward Now of these three liues inward domesticall publicke he that is to leade but one of them as Hermits doth guide and order his life at a better rate than he that hath two and he that hath but two his condition is more easie than he that hath all three CHAP. LIIII A comparison of the eiuill and sociable life with the solitarie THey that esteeme and commend so much the solitarie and retired life as a great stay and sure retraite from the molestations and troubles of the world and a fit meanes to preserue and maintaine themselues pure and free from many vices in as much as the worse part is the greater of a thousand there is not one good the number of fooles is infinite contagion in a prease is dangerous they seeme to haue reason on their side for the companie of the wicked is a dangerous thing and therefore they that aduenture themselues vpon the sea are to take heed that no blasphemer or dissolute and wicked person enter their ship one only Ionas with whom God was angrie had almost lost all Bias to those that were in the ship with him crying out in a great danger for help vnto their gods pleasantlie said Hold you your peace for the gods perceiue not that you are heere with me Albuquerque the Vice-roy of the Indies for Emmanuel king of Portingall in a great danger at sea tooke vpon his shoulders a little child to the end that his innocencie might serue as a suretie to God for his sinnes But to thinke that a solitarie life is better more excellent and perfect more fit for the exercise of vertue more difficult sharp laborious and painfull as some would make vs beleeue they grossely deceiue themselues for contrarily it is a great discharge and ease of life and it is but an indifferent profession yea a simple apprentiship and disposition to vertue This is not to enter into busines troubles and difficulties but it is to flie them and to hide themselues from them to practise the counsell of the Epicures Hide thy selfe it is to runne to death to flie a good life It is out of all doubt that a King a Prelat a Pastor is a farre more noble calling more perfect more difficult than that of a Monke or a Hermit And to say the truth in times past the companies of Monks were but
others prouokes them to enuie extreame iealousie furie despaire and to attempt fortunes Plato calleth them the plagues of a Common-wealth But which of the two is the more dangerous is not thorowly resolued amongst all According to Aristotle it is abundance for a State needs not doubt of those that desire but to liue but of such as are ambitious and rich According to Plato it is pouertie for desperate poore men are terrible and furious creatures for wanting either bread or worke to exercise their arts and occupation s or too excessiuely charged with imposts they learne that of the mistresse of the schoole Necessitie which of themselues they neuer durst to haue learned and they dare because their number is great But yet there is a better remedie for these than for the rich and it is an easie matter to hinder this euill for so long as they haue bread and emploiment to exercise their mysteries and liue they will neuer stir And therefore the rich are to be feared for their owne sakes their vice and condition the poore by reason of the imprudencie of gouernours Now many Law-makers and great States-men haue gone 2 Against the equalitie inequalitie of riches about to take away these two extreamities and this great inequalitie of goods and fortunes and to bring in a mediocritie and equalitie which they called the noursing-mother of peace and amitie and others likewise haue attempted to make all things common which could neuer be but by imagination But besides that it is impossible to establish an equalitie by reason of the number of children which increase in one familie and not in another and that it can hardly be put in practise although a man be enforced and it cost much to attaine thereunto it were also inexpedient and to small purpose and by another way to fall into the same mischiefe for there is no hatred more capitall than betwixt equals the enuie and iealousie of equals is the seminarie of troubles seditions and cruell warres Inequalitie is good so it be moderate Harmonie consisteth not of like sounds but different and well according Nihil est aequalitate inaequalius This great and deformed inequalitie of goods proceedeth from many causes especially two the one is from vniust lones as vsuries and interests whereby the one eat the other and grow fat with the substance of another qui deuorant plebem sicut escam panis The other from dispositions whether amongst the liuing as alienations donations endowments in mariages or testamentaries by reason of death By both which meanes some doe excessiuely increase aboue others who continue poore The heires of rich men marrie with those that are rich whereby some houses are dismembred and brought to nothing and others made rich and exalted All which inconueniences must be ruled and moderated by auoiding excessiue extremities and in some sort approching to some mediocritie and reasonable equality for to haue either entire is neither possible nor good nor expedient as hath beene sayd And this shall be handled in the vertue of Iustice FINIS OF WISDOME THE SECOND BOOKE Conteining the generall instructions and rules of Wisdome THE PREFACE Wherein is conteined a generall portrait of Wisdome and the summe of this Booke HAuing in the First Booke layd open vnto man many and diuers meanes to know himselfe and our humane condition which is the first part and a great introduction to Wisdome we are now to enter into the doctrine and to vnderstand in this Second Booke the generall rules and opinions thereof reseruing the more particular to the Third and last Booke It is worthiest consideration and as a Preamble to the rest to call man vnto himselfe to taste sound studie himselfe to the end he may know and vnderstand his defects and miserable condition and so make himselfe capable of holsome and necessarie remedies which are the aduisements and instructions of wisdome But it is a strange thing that the world should take so little care of it owne good and amendment What wit is it for a man to be vtterly carelesse that his businesse be well done Man would only liue but he eares not to know how to liue well That which a man should especiallie and only know is that which he knowes least and cares least to know Our inclinations designments studies are as we see from our youth diuers according to the diuersitie of natures companies instructions occasions but there is not any that casteth his eies to the other side that indeuoreth to make himselfe wise not any that ruminateth hereupon or that doth so much as thinke thereon And if perhaps sometimes he do it is but by chance and as it were passing by and he attendeth it as newes that is told which concerneth him not at all The word pleaseth some well but that is all the thing it selfe is neither accounted of nor sought for in this world of so vniuersall corruption and contagion To vnderstand the merit and worth of wisdome some kind of aire or tincture of nature is necessarie for men are willing to vse studie and indeuor rather for those things that haue their effects and fruits glorious outward and sensible such as ambition auarice passion haue than for wisdome whose effects are sweet darke inward and lesse visible O how much doth the world erre in this account it loueth better the wind with noise than the bodie it selfe the essence without it opinion and reputation than veritie Man as hath been said in the first booke is nothing but vanitie and miserie vncapable of wisdome Euery man hath a taste of that aire which he breatheth and where he liueth followeth the traine and custome of liuing followed by all how then should he aduise himselfe of any other We follow the steps of another yea we presse and inflame one another we inuest our vices and passions one into another no man stayes vs or cryes hola vnto it so much do we faile and mistake our selues We haue neede of some speciall fauour from heauen and withall a great and generous force and constancie of nature to note that common error which no man findeth in aduising and consulting of that which no man considereth and resoluing our selues quite contrarie to the course of other men There are some though rare I see them I vnderstand them I smell them with pleasure and admiration but what they are all Democrites or Heraclites the one sort do nothing but mock and gibe thinking they shew truth wisdome enough in laughing at error and follie They laugh at the world for it is ridiculous they are pleasant but not good and charitable The other are weake and poore they speake with a low voice their mouths halfe open they disguise their language they mingle and stuffe their propositions to make them passe more currantlie with so many other things and with such arte that they are hardly discerned They speake not distinctly clearely assuredly but doubtfully like oracles I come after them and vnder
euery thought word action Doubtlesse we shall in the end learne that man is in truth on the one side a poore weake pitifull and miserable thing and we cannot but pitie him and on the other we shall find him swollen and puffed vp with wind presumption pride desires and we cannot but disdaine and detest him Now he hath beene sufficientlie deciphered and presented vnto vs euen to the life in the first booke by diuers meanes in all senses and according to all his visages and this is the reason why we speake no more of this knowledge of man and of our selues in this place but we set downe heere for the first rule of wisdome the fruit of this knowledge to the end that the end and fruit of the first booke might be the beginning and entrance of the second This fruit is to defend and preserue men from the contagion of the world and of themselues these are the two euils and formall hindrances of wisdome the one outward as popular opinions vices the generall corruption of the world the other inward that is our passions Now we are to see how difficult this is and how a man may defend himselfe against these two Wisdome is difficult and rare and the greatest yea almost the only endeuor that we haue to attaine vnto it is to set at libertie to free our selues from that miserable double captiuitie publick and domesticall of another and of our selues this being attained the rest will be easie Let vs speake of these two euils distinctlie and apart As concerning the outward we haue before sufficientlie diplayed the vulgar nature the strange humors of the world 2 Exemption of vulgar errours and the common sort of people whereby it is easie enough to know what can proceed from them for since they are worshippers of vanitie enuious malitious vniust without iudgement discretion mediocritie what can they deliberat thinke iudge resolue speake do well and iustlie We haue likewise as it were by example reported and quoted in presenting the miserie of mankind many great faults which the world doth generally commit in iudgement and will whereby it is easie to know that it is whollie composed of error and vice wherevnto all the sayings of the wisest of the world do accord affirming that the worser part is the greater of a thousand there is not one good the number of fooles are infinit and contagion is most dangerous in a prease And therefore they counsell vs not only to preserue our selues neate and cleare from popular opinions designments and affections as being all base feeble indigested impertinent and very often false at the least imperfect but also to flie aboue all things the multitude the companie and conuersation of the vulgar sort because a man cannot approch neere vnto it without some losse and empeachment The frequentation of the people is contagious and very dangerous euen to the wisest and best setled men that are for who is able to withstand the force and charge of vices comming with so great a troope One example of couetousnesse or incontinencie doth much harme The companie of one delicate effeminat person doth soften and make nice by little and little those that liue with him One rich neighbour giues light and life to our couetousnesse One dissolute person worketh if I may so say and applieth his vice like rust into the neatest and purest minds What then can we looke for from such maners after which the world runneth as it were with a loose bridle But what it is very rare and difficult so to do It is a plausible thing and that hath great appearance of goodnes and iustice to follow the way approued by all the great beaten way doth easily deceiue lata est via ad mortem multi per eam mundus in maligno positus we goe one after another like beasts for companie we neuer diue into the reason the merit the equitie of the cause we follow examples and customes and as it were of enuie and emulation we stumble and fall one vpon another we throng one another and draw euery one to a head-long downe-fall We borrow our owne ouerthrow and perish vpon credit alienis perimus exemplis Now he that would be wise must alwaies suspect whatsoeuer pleaseth and is approued by the people by the greater number and must looke into that that is true and good in it selfe and not into that which seemeth to them and that is most vsed and frequented and not suffer himselfe to be cunny-catcht and caried by the multitude which should not be accounted but for one vnus mihi pro populo populus pro vno And when to stop his mouth and to beate him downe at a blow it shall be said that the whole world saith it beleeues it doth it he must say in his heart it is so much the worse it is but a simple and a wicked caution I esteeme it the lesse because the world esteemes it so much like wise Phocion who seeing the people highlie to applaud something which he had spoken turned to his friends that stood by him and said vnto them Hath any follie vnwitting to my selfe escaped my mouth or any loose or wicked word that all this people do so approue me Quis placere potest populo cui placet virtus malis artibus quaeritur popularis fauor We must then as much as is possible flie the haunt and companie of the sottish illiterate ill-composed people but aboue all preserue our selues from their iudgements opinions vitious behauiour and without any stirre keepe alwayes our owne thoughts apart by themselues Quod scio non probat populus quod probat populus ego nescio Sapiens non respicit quid homines iudicent non it quâ populus sed vt sidera mundi contrarium iter intendunt it a hic aduersus opiniones omnium vadit remaining in the world without being of the world like the kidneies couered with fat but haue none themselues non estis de mundo ideo odit vos mundus odi prophanum vulgus arceo This is that solitarinesse so much commended by the wise which is to disburthen the soule of all vices and popular opinions and to free it from this confusion and captiuitie to draw it to it selfe and to set it at libertie The other euill and hinderance to wisdome which a man must carefullie auoid and which is inward and therefore the 5 The second part exemption of passions more dangerous is the confusion and captiuitie of his passions and turbulent affections whereof he must disfurnish and free himselfe to the end he may be emptie and neate like a white paper and be made a subiect more fit to receiue the tincture and impressions of wisdome against which the passions do formallie oppose themselues and therefore the wisest were wont to say that it was impossible euen for Iupiter himselfe to loue to be in choler to be touched with any passion and to be wise at
as Plutarch discourseth That he neuer brought forth but seruing as a Midwife he made others to bring foorth This is very neere and in some sense the disorder of the Pyrhonians the neutralitie and indifferencie of the Academicks from whence proceedeth not to be astonished at any thing not to admire any thing the soueraigne good of Pythagoras the magnanimitie of Aristotle Nil admirari prope res est vna Numici Solaque quae possit facere seruare beatum It is a strange thing that man will not so much as taste it yea is offended to heare speach thereof loueth better to continue a slaue to runne from one part to another than to be to himselfe to liue of his owne to be aboue all and to passe equallie through all 5. Hath he not reason to cry with Tiberius and farre more iustly O homines ad seruitutem nati What monster is this to desire to haue all things free his bodie his members his goods and not his spirit which neuerthelesse is only borne vnto libertie A man will willinglie make benefit of whatsoeuer is in the world that comes from the East or the West for the good and seruice of his bodie nourishment health ornament and accommodate it all vnto his vse but not for the culture of his spirit benefit and enriching giuing his bodie the libertie of the fields and holding his spirit in close prison The other libertie which is of the will must likewise be in high esteeme with a wise man We speake not heere of the 7 2 The second part libertie of will free will of man according to the maner of Diuines we say that a wise man to maintaine himselfe in rest and libertie must manage his will and his affections in giuing himselfe and affecting but few things and those iust for the iust are but few in number if a man iudge well and that without violence and asperitie There enter heere into combat or to speake more mildly there are to be explicated and vnderstood two popular and plausible opinions in the world the one teacheth to be readie and willing in the seruice of another to forget our selues for our neighbor and principallie for the weale-publike in respect whereof the particular is not to be respected the other to cary our selues couragiously with actiuitie zeale affection He that doth not the first is accused not to haue any charitie He that doth not the second suspected to be cold not to be a friend and not to haue that zeale or sufficiencie that he ought Some would haue these two opinions to preuaile beyond reason and measure and there is not any thing which hath not been spoken heerof for the heads or Cheeftaines many times preach things according to that vse for which they serue not according as they are And many times the truest opinions are not the more profitable And afterwards seeing we hold our selues too much to our selues and with a tye too naturall they would distract vs and draw vs along as they that go about to streighten a crooked staffe bend it as much more the contrary way But these opinions ill vnderstood and ill taken as they are by diuers bring with them iniustice trouble paine and much 8 The description of others euill as a man may see in those who backbite and detract from all giuing themselues to hire and the seruice of another They do not only suffer themselues to be caried and feased vpon but they likewise thrust themselues into all matters as well into those that concerne them not as those that do as well into small as great and many times for no other cause but to employ and busie themselues in negotijs sunt negotij causa and because they cannot hold and stay themselues asif they had nothing to doe with and within themselues and that for want of inward essentiall proper and domesticall affaires they seeke and vndergoe those that are strange vnto them They are good husbands and frugall enough of their purse but prodigall of their soules their liues their time affection and willes the good husbandrie whereof is only profitable and commendable And if they giue themselues to any thing it is with such passion and violence that they are no more their owne men so whollie doe they engage and insinuate themselues thereinto Great men seeke after such people that will grow into passion and kill themselues for them and they allure them with faire promises and much Arte to win them vnto them and they alwaies find fooles enow that beleeue them but thev that are wise will take heed of them This is first vniust it wholly troubleth the state driues away the rest and libertie of the spirit It is not to know that which euery one ought to know and by how many offices euery man is obliged vnto himselfe whilest they seeke to be officious and seruiceable to another they are vniust to themselues Wee haue all businesse enough with and within our selues and neede not seeke meanes to lose our selues without and to giue our selues vnto others euery man must hold him to himselfe He that knowes not how to liue honestly healthfully and merrily is ill aduised and takes an ill and vnnaturall course if he thinke to doe it by seruing another He must affect and tie himselfe but to a few things and those iust Secondly this sharpe intention and passionate affection troubleth all and hindreth the conduct of those affaires to which he so much giueth himselfe as in a precipitate pase too much hast makes a man stumble and enterfeare and so staies him whether he will or no Ipsa se volocitas implicat vnde festinatio tarda est Qui nimium properat seriùs absoluit So likewise a man being drunken with this violent intention he entangleth and fettereth himselfe commits many indiscretions and wrongs growes into hard conceits and suspicions of others becomes impatient in crosse or slow occurrents that fall not out according to his owne desire malè cuncta ministrat impetus This is seene not only in serious affaires but also vaine and friuolous as in play where hee that is carried with an ardent thirst of gaining troubleth himselfe and the more hee troubleth himselfe the more hee loseth Hee that walkes moderately is alwaies with himselfe directeth his businesse with better aduantage and more suredly and cheerfully he dissembleth applieth deferreth all to his owne leasure and as his occasions shall fall out if hee chance to be conuicted in a matter it is without torment and affliction being alwaies readie for a new charge hee alwaies marcheth with the bridle in his hand festinat lentè Thirdly this violent affection infecteth and corrupteth euen the iudgement it selfe for following one part and desiring the aduantage thereof they wax mad if they be contradicted attributing to their partie false praises and conditions and to the contrary false accusations interpreting all prognostications and occurrents at their owne pleasure and making them serue their
and pourtraites as lesser lights thereunto But before we enter thereinto let me heere say in generall and by way of preface that of so many diuers religions and maners of seruing God which are or may be in the world they seeme to be the most noble and to haue greatest appearance of truth which without great externall and corporall seruice draw the soule into itselfe and raise it by pure contemplation to admire and adore the greatnesse and infinite maiestie of the first cause of all things and the essence of essences without any great declaration or determination thereof or prescription of his seruice but acknowledging it indefinitly to be goodnes perfection and infinitnes whollie incomprehensible not to be known as the Pythagoreans and most famous Philosophers do teach This is to approch vnto the religion of the angels and to put in practise that word of the sonne of God to adore in spirit and truth for God accounteth such worshippers the best There are others on the other side and in another extremitie who will haue a visible Deitie capable by the senses which base and grosse error hath mocked almost all the world euen Israel in the desert in framing to themselues a molten calfe And of these they that haue chosen the sunne for their god seeme to haue more reason than the rest because of the greatnes beautie and resplendent and vnknowne vertue thereof euen such as enforce the whole world to the admiration and reuerence of itselfe The eye seeth nothing that is like vnto it or that approcheth neere vnto it in the whole vniuerse it is one sunne and without companion Christianitie as in the middle tempereth the sensible and outward with the insensible and inward seruing God with spirit and body and accommodating itselfe to great and little whereby it is better established and more durable But euen in that too as there is a diuersitie and degrees of soules of sufficiencie and capacitie of diuine grace so is there a difference in the maner of seruing of God the more high perfect incline more to the first maner more spirituall and contemplatiue and lesse externall the lesse and imperfect quasi sub paedagogo remaine in the other and do participate of the outward and vulgar deformities Religion consisteth in the knowledge of God and of our selues for it is a relatiue action betweene both the office 15 Diuers descriptions of religion thereof is to extoll God to the vttermost of our power and to beate downe man as low as low may be as if he were vtterly lost and afterwards to furnish himselfe with meanes to rise againe to make him feele his misery his nothing to the end he may put his whole confidence in God alone The office of religion is to ioyne vs to the author and principall cause of all our good to reunite and fasten man to his first cause as to his roote wherein so long as he continueth firme and setled he preserueth himselfe in his owne perfection and contrariwise when he is separated he instantly fainteth and languisheth The end and effect of religion is faithfullie to yeeld all the honor and glorie vnto God and all the benefit vnto man All good things may be reduced to these two The profit which is an amendment and an essentiall and inward good is due vnto poore wretched and in all points miserable man the glory which is an outward ornament is due vnto God alone who is the perfection and fulnes of all good whereunto nothing can be added Gloria in excelsis Deo in terra pax hominibus Thus much being first knowen our instruction to pietie is 18 An instruction to pietie 1. To know God first to learn to know God for from the knowledge of things proceedeth that honor we do vnto them First then we must beleeue that he is that he hath created the world by his power goodnesse wisdome and that by it he gouerneth it that his prouidence watcheth ouer all things yea the least that are that whatsoeuer he sendeth vs is for our good and that whatsoeuer is euill proceedeth from our selues If we account those fortunes euill that he sendeth vs we blaspheme his holy name because naturally we honour those that do vs good and hate those that hurt vs. We must then resolue to obey him and to take all in good part which commeth from his hand to commit and submit our selues vnto him Secondly we must honour him and the most excellent 19 2. To honor him and deuoutest way to doe it is first to mount vp our spirits from all carnall earthly and corruptible imagination and by the chastest highest and holiest conceits exercise our selues in the contemplation of the Diuinitie and after that we haue adorned it with all the most magnificall and excellent names and praises that our spirit can imagine that we acknowledge that we haue presented nothing vnto it woorthy it selfe but that the fault is in our weaknesle and imbecillitie which can conceiue nothing more high God is the last endeuour and highest pitch of our imagination euery man amplifying the Ideaa according to his owne capacitie and to speake better God is infinitly aboue all our last and highest endeuours and imaginations of perfection Againe we must serue him with our heart and spirit it is 20 3. To serue him in spirit the seruice answerable to his nature Deus spiritus est si Deus est animus sit tibi pura mente colendus It is that which he requireth that which pleaseth him Pater tales quaer is adoratores The most acceptable sacrifice vnto his Maiestie is a pure free and humble heart Sacrificium Deo spiritus An innocent soule an innocent life Optimus animus pulcherrimus Seneca Lactan. Merc. Trism Dei cultus religiosissimus cultus imitari vnicus Dei cultus non esse malum A wise man is a true sacrifice of the great God his spirit is his temple his soule is his image his affections are his offerings his greatest and most solemne sacrifice is to imitate him to serue and implore him for it is the part of those that are great to giue of those that are poore to aske Beatius dare quà m accipere Neuerthelesse we are not to contemne and disdaine the 21 4. To serue him with our bodies outward and publike seruice which must be as an assistant to the other by obseruing the ceremonies or chnances and customes with moderation without vanity without ambition or hypocrisie without auarice alwaies with this thought That God wil be serued in spirit and That that which is outwardly done is rather for our selues than for God for humane vnitie and edification than for diuine veritie quae potius ad moremquam ad rempertinent Our vowes and prayers vnto God should be all subiect 22 5. To pray vnto him vnto his will we should neither desire nor aske any thing but as he hath ordeined hauing alwayes for our bridle
that the more iust and honest which commeth neerest vnto nature that the more vniust and dishonest which is farthest from it Before we leaue this discourse of the choice election of things in two words let vs remoue this question From whence commeth in our soules the choice of two indifferent things in all things alike The Stoicks say from an extraordinarie immoderate strange and rash operation of the soule But a man may say that neuer do two things present themselues vnto vs wherein there is not some difference or other be it neuer so little and that there is alwaies something in the one which moueth vs to that choice although it be insensible and such as we cannot expresle He that is equallie ballanced betwixt two desires can neuer choose for euery choice and inclination doth inferre an inequalitie Another precept in this matter is to take aduice and counsell of another for for a man to beleeue himselfe and to trust 4 Consultation only in himselfe is very dangerous Now heere are required two aduertisements of Prudence the one is in the choice of those to whom a man must addresse himselfe for counsell for there are some whose counsell we should rather auoid and flie from First they must be honest and faithfull men which is heere all one and secondly men sensible aduised wise and of experience These are the two qualities of good counsellers honestie and sufficiencie A man may adde a third and that is that neither they nor their neerest and inward friends haue any particular interest in the businesse for although a man may say that this cannot hinder them to giue good counsell being as is said honest men yet I may answere that besides that this so great and philosophicall honestie which is no way touched with it owne proper interest be very rare it is also a great point of follie to bring it into doubt and anxictie and as it were to put the finger betwixt two stones The other aduertisement is well to heare and entertaine the counsels receiuing them without attending the euent with iudgement and gentlenes delighting in the free deliuerie of the truth Hauing entertained and followed it as good and comming from a good hand and a friendly he must not repent himselfe of it although it succeed not well and according to expectation Many times good counsels haue bad euents But a wise man must rather content himselfe to haue followed good counsell which hath brought foorth bad effects than bad counsell which hath had a happie euent as Marius sic correcti Marij temeritas gloriam ex culpa inuenit and not to do like fooles who hauing aduisedly deliberated and chosen thinke afterwards to haue chosen the worse because they weigh only the reasons of the contrarie opinion neuer counterpoising them with those with first induced them thereunto Thus much breefly be said of those that seeke counsell Lib. 3. ca. 2. art 17. of those that giue it we shal speake in the vertue of Prudence whereof the counsell is a great and sufficient part The fift aduice which I heere giue to carie himselfe well in his affaires is a temperature and mediocritie betwixt too 5 Temperature betwixt feare and assurance great a confidence and distrust feare and assurance To trust and secure himselfe doth many times hurt and to distrust offendeth he must take speciall heed of making any shew of distrust euen when there is cause for it displeaseth yea offendeth much and many times maketh a friend an enemy But yet a man is not to be ouer-credulous and confident except it be of his best assured friends he must alwaies keepe the bridle in his hands holding it neither too loose nor too streight He must neuer speake all and let that which he speaketh be euer true He must neuer deceiue but yet let him take heed he be not deceiued He must euer temper and moderate that columbine innocencie and simplicitie in not offending any man with his serpentine wisdome and subtiltie and keeping himselfe vpon his gard and preseruing himselfe from the deceits treasons and ambushments of another Subtiltie to defend is as commendable as it is dishonest to offend He must neuer therefore aduance and engage himselfe so farre but that he haue alwaies a meane when he will and when it shall be necessarie to retire himselfe without great dammage or dislike He must neuer forsake his owne hold nor so much despise another and presume of himselfe that he fall into a kind of presumption and carelesnes of his affaires like those that thinke that no man sees so cleere as themselues that looke that euery man should yeeld vnto them that no man should dare to entertaine a thought to displease them and by that meanes become dissolute and cast away care and in the end they are blinded surprised and deceiued Another aduice and very important is to take all things in their times and seasons and to good purpose and for that To take time and occasion cause he must aboue all things auoid precipitation an enemie to wisdome the step-mother of all good actions a vice much to be feared in yong and youthfull people It is in truth the Against precipitation worke of a skilfull and actiue man to applie euery thing to his true end well to manage all occasions and commodities to make vse both of the times and the meanes All things haue their seasons and euen the good which a man may doe without purpose Now too much speed and precipitation is contrarie heereunto which troubleth marreth and confoundeth all canis festinans caecos facit catulos It proceedeth commonly for that passion which carieth vs Nam qui cupit festinat qui festinat euertit vnde festinatio improuida caeca duo aduersissima rectae menticeleritas ira and often enough from insufficiencie The contrarie vice lazinesse sloth carelesnesse Idlenesse which seemeth sometimes to haue some aire of maturitie and wisdome is likewise pernitious and dangerous especiallie in the execution For it is said that it is lawfull to be slow and long in deliberation and consultation but not in the execution and therefore the wisest say That a man must consult slowly execute speedely deliberate with leisure and with speede accomplish It falleth out sometimes that the contrarie is practised with good successe and that a man is happie in the euent though he haue been suddaine and rash in his deliberation Subiti consilijs euentu faelices but this is very seldome and by chaunce or fortune according to which wee must not rule and direct ourselues but take heed lest enuie and emulation ouertake vs for commonly a long and vnprofitable repentance is the reward of headlong hastinesse Behold then two rocks and extremities which we must equallie auoid for it is as great a fault to take occasions before they be readie whilest they be greene and raw as to suffer them to grow till they be ouer-ripe past
foure principall and princely vertues 3 Especially 4. vertues in principalitie And therefore that great Prince Augustus was wont to say that Pietie and Iustice did deifie Princes And Seneca saith that clemencie agreeth better with a Prince than any other The pietie of a soueraigne consisteth in his care for the maintenance and preseruation of religion as the protector thereof This maketh for his owne honor and preseruation of himselfe for they that feare God dare not attempt nay thinke of any thing either against their Prince who is the image of God vpon earth or against the state For as Lactantius doth many times teach it is a religion that maintaineth humane societie which cannot otherwise subsist and would soone be filled with all maner of wickednes and sauage cruelties if the respect and feare of religion did not bridle men and keepe them in order The state of the Romans did increase and flourish more by religion saith Cicero himselfe than by all other meanes Wherefore a Prince must take care and endeuor that religion be preserued in it puritie according to the ancient lawes and ceremonies of the countrie and hinder all innouation and controuersies therein roughlie chastising those that goe about to breake the peace thereof For doubtlesse change in religion and a wrong done thereunto draweth with it a change and declination in the Common-wealth Dion as Mecenas well discourseth to Augustus After pietie commeth Iustice without which states are but 4 Iustice. robberies which a Prince must keepe and practise both in himselfe and others In himselfe for he must detest all those tyrannicall barbarous speeches which dispence with soueraignes quitting them from all lawes reason equitie obligation which tell them that they are not bound vnto any other dutie than to their owne willes and pleasures that there is no law for them that all is good and iust that serueth their turnes that their equitie is their force their dutie is in their power Principi leges nemo scripsit licet si libet In summa fortuna Plin. Pan. Tacitus Senec. in tr id aequius quod validius nihil iniustum quod fructuosum Sanctitas pietas fides priuata bona sunt quà iuuat reges eant And he must oppose against them those excellent and holy counsels of the wise that he that hath most power in him to breake lawes should take most care to keepe them and liue most in order The greatest power should be the streightest bridle the rule of power is dutie minimum decet liberè cui Senec. Euripides nimium licet non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas The Prince then must first be iust keeping well and inuiolablie his faith the foundation of iustice to all and euery one whosoeuer he be Then he must cause that his iustice be kept and maintained in others for it is his proper charge and for that cause he is installed He must vnderstand the causes and the persons giue vnto euery one that which appertaineth to him iustly according to the lawes without delay labyrinths of suits and controuersies inuolution of processe abolishing that villanous and pernitious mysterie of pleading which is an open fayre or marchandize a lawfull and honorable robberie concessum latrocinium auoiding the multiplicitie of lawes and ordinances a testimonie of a sicke Common-weale Corruptissimae Colum. Tacit. reipublicae plurimae leges as medicines and plaisters of a bodie ill disposed and all this to the end that that which is established by good lawes be not destroyed by too many Plin. Pan. lawes But you must know that the iustice vertue and probitie of a soueraigne goeth after another maner than that of An aduertisement priuate men it hath a gate more large and more free by reason of the great weight and dangerous charge which he carieth and swayeth for which cause it is fit to march with a pase which seemeth to others vneasie and irregular but yet is necessarie and lawfull for him He must sometimes step aside and goe out of the way mingle prudence with iustice and as they say couer himselfe with the skin of the Lion if that of the Foxe serue not the turne But this is not alwaies to be done and in all cases but with these three conditions that it be for the euident and important necessitie of the weale-publike For the weale-pub that is to say of the State and of the Prince which are things conioyned vnto which he must runne this is a naturall obligation and not to be dispensed with and to procure the good of the Common-weale is but to do his dutie Salus populi suprema lex esto That it be to defend and not to offend to preserue himselfe and not to increase his greatnes to saue and shield himselfe For defence and conseruation either from deceits and subtilties or from wicked and dangerous enterprises and not to practise them It is lawfull by subtiltie to preuent subtiltie and among foxes to counterfet the foxe The world is full of arte and malicious cousenage and by deceits and cunning subtilties states are commonlie ouerthrowne saith Aristotle Why then should it not be lawfull nay why should it not be necessarie to hinder and to diuert such euill and to saue the weale-publike by the selfe-same meanes that others would vndermine and ouerthrow it Alwaies to deale simplie and plainly with such people and to follow the streight line of true reason and equitie were many times to betray the State and to vndo it Thirdly it must be with discretion to the end that others abuse it not and such as are wicked take from thence occasion 5 Discreetly without wickednes to giue credit and countenance to their owne wickednes For it is neuer permitted to leaue vertue and honestie to follow vice and dishonestie There is no composition or compensation betwixt these two extremities And therefore away with all iniustice treacherie treason and disloyaltie Cursed be the doctrine of those who teach as hath beene said that all things are good and lawfull for soueraignes but yet it is sometimes necessarie and required that he mingle profit with honestie and that he enter into composition with both He must neuer turne his back to honestie but yet sometimes goe about and coast it employing therein his skill and cunning which is good honest and lawfull as saith that great S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doing for the weale-publike as mothers and physitians who feede their children and sick with faire speeches deceiue them for their health To be brief doing that closely which he may not do openly ioyne wisdome to valor arte and spirit where nature and the hand sufficeth not be as Pindarus saith a Lyon in his blowes a Fox in his counsell a Doue and a Serpent as diuine veritie speaketh And to this matter more distinctly there is required in a soueraigne distrust and that he keepe himselfe close yet so as
to recouer their owne againe and that they shall lose nothing besides the credit they receiue by succoring the weale-publike and afterwards the necessitie being past and the warres ended to repay it againe as the Romans did being put to an extremitie by Hanibal And if the common treasurie be so poore that it cannot repay it and that they must needs proceed by way of imposition it is necessarie that it be with the consent of the subiects making knowne vnto them the pouertie and necessitie and preaching the word of that king of kings Dominus ijs opus habet insomuch that they make them see if need be both the receit and the charge And if it may be let perswasion preuaile without constraint as Themistocles said Impetrare melius quà m imperare It is true that the prayers of soueraignes are commandements Satis imperat qui rogat potentiâ armatae sunt preces regum but yet let it be in the forme of a free donation at the least that they be extraordinarie monies for a certaine prefixt time and not ordinarie and neuer prescribe this law vpon the subiects except it be with their owne consent Thirdly that such impositions be leuied vpon the goods and not the heads of men capitation being odious to all honest people be reall and not personall being vniust that the rich the great the nobles should not pay at all and the poorer people of the countrie should pay all Fourthly that they be equallie vpon all Inequalitie afflicteth much and to these ends these monies must be bestowed vpon such things as the whole world hath need of as salt wine to the end that all may contribute to the present necessitie Well may a man and he ought to lay ordinarie imposts and great vpon such marchandize and other things as are vitious and that serue to no other end than to corrupt the subiects as whatsoeuer serueth for the increase of luxurie insolencie curiositie superfluitie in viands apparell pleasures and all maner of licentious liuing without any other prohibition of these things For the deniall of a thing sharpneth the appetite The second point of this science is well to employ the treasure And these in order are the articles of this employment 22 To employ the treasure and charge The maintenance of the kings house the pay of men of warre the wages of officers the iust rewards of those that haue deserued well of the Common-weale pensions and charitable succors to poore yet commendable persons These fiue are necessarie after which come those that are very profitable to repaire cities to fortifie and to defend the frontiers to mend the high waies bridges and passages to establish colledges of honor of vertue and learning to build publike houses From these fiue sorts of reparations fortifications and foundations commeth very great profit besides the publike good artes and artificers are maintained the enuie and malice of the people because of the leuie of monies ceaseth when they see them well employed and these two plagues of a common-weale idlenesse and pouertie are driuen away Contrarily the great bounties and vnreasonable gifts to some particular fauorites the great proud and vnnecessarie edifices superfluous and vaine charges are odious to the subiects who murmure that a man should spoile a thousand to cloath one that others should braue it with their substance build vpon their bloud and their labours The third point consisteth in the reseruation which a man 23 3 To make spare and reseruation must make for necessitie to the end he be not constrained at a need to haue recourse to ready vniust violent means remedies this is that which is called the treasury or exchequer Now as to gather together too great abundance of treasure of gold and siluer though it be by honest and iust meanes is not alwaies the best because it is an occasion of warre actiue or passiue either by breeding enuie in others to see it done when there is no cause there being plentie of other meanes or else because it is a bait to allure an enemie to come and it were Esay 30. more honorable to employ them as hath been said So to spend all and to leaue nothing in the Exchequer is far worse for this were to play to lose all wise princes take heed of this The greatest treasuries that haue beene in former times are that of Darius the last king of the Persians where Alexander found foure score millions of gold That of Tiberius 67. millions of Traian 55. millions kept in Egypt But that of Dauid 2. Paralip did farre exceed all these a thing almost incredible in so small a state wherein there were sixe score millions Now to prouide that these great treasuries be not spent violated or robbed the ancients caused them to be melted and cast into great wedges and bowles as the Persians and Romans or they put them into the temples of their gods as the safest places as the Greekes in the temple of Apollo which neuerthelesse hath bin many times pilled and robbed the Romans in the temple of Saturne But the best and securest way and most profitable is as hath been said to lend them with some small profit to particular persons vpon good gages or sufficient securitie So likewise for the safer custodie of the treasures from theeues and robbers the managing of them and the exchequer offices must not be sold to base and mechanicall persons but giuen to gentlemen and men of honor as the ancient Romans were accustomed to do who chose out young men from amongst their nobles and great houses and such as aspired to the greatest honors and charges of the common-wealth After counsell and treasure I thinke it not amisse to put armes which cannot subsist nor be well and happily leuied 24 The sixt head of this prouision An armed power and conducted without these two Now an armed power is very necessarie for a prince to guard his person and his state for it is an abuse to thinke to gouerne a state long without armes There is neuer any surety betweene the weake and the strong and there are alwaies some that will bee stirring either within or without the state Now this power is either ordinarie at all times or extraordinarie in times of warre The ordinarie consisteth in the persons and places The persons are of two sorts the guard for the bodie and person of the souereigne which serue not only for the surety and conseruation but also for his honour and ornament for that good saying of Agesilaus is not perpetually true and it were too dangerous to trie trust vnto it That a prince may liue safely enough without guard if hee command his subiects as a good father doth his children for the malice of man stayeth not it selfe in so faire a way And certaine companies maintained and alwaies ready for those necessities and sudden occurrences that may fall out For at such times to be busied in leuying powers
institution Veget. and discipline that doth it Now it is hard to say how necessarie and profitable good discipline is in warre This is all in all it is this that made Rome to flourish and that woon it the seignorie of the world yea it was in greater account than the loue of their children Now the principall point of discipline is obedience to which end serued that ancient precept That a souldier must more feare his captaine than his enemie Now this discipline must tend to two ends to make the souldiers valiant and honest men and therefore it hath two Discipline hath two parts 1 Valour which is attained by exercise parts valour and maners To valour three things are required daily exercise in armes wherein they must alwaies keepe themselues in practise without intermission and from hence commeth the Latin word Exercitus which signifieth an armie This exercise in armes is an instruction to manage and vse them well to prepare themselues for combats to draw benefit from armes with dexteritie to defend themselues to discouer and present vnto them whatsoeuer may fal out in the fight and come to the triall as in a ranged battell to propose rewards to the most apt and actiue to enflame them Secondly trauell or paines which is as well to harden 2 Trauell them to labour to sweatings to dust exercitue labore proficit otio consenescit as for the good and seruice of the army and fortification of the field whereby they must learne to digge to plant a pallisade to order a barricado to runne to carrie heauie burthens These are necessarie things as well to defend themselues as to offend and surprise the enemie Thirdly order which is of great vse and must be kept in warre for 3 Order diuers causes and after a diuers maner First in the distribution of the troopes into battallions regiments ensignes camerades Secondly in the situation of the campe that it be disposed into quarters with proportion hauing the places entries issues lodgings fitted both for the horsemen and footemen whereby it may bee easie for euerie man to finde his quarter his companion Thirdly in the march in the field and against the enemie that euery one hold his ranke that they be equally distant the one from the other neither too neere nor too farre from one an other Now this order is very necessarie and serues for many purposes It is very pleasing to the eie cheereth vp friends astonisheth the enemie secureth the armie maketh all the remooues and the commands of the captaines easie in such sort that without stir without confusion the Generall commandeth and from hand to hand his intents and purposes come euen to the least Imperium ducis simul omne copiae sentiunt ad nutum regentis sine tumultu respondent To be briefe this order well kept maketh an armie almost inuincible and contrarily many haue lost the field for want of this order and good intelligence The second part of this military discipline concerneth maners which are commonly very dissolute and in armies hardly Maners the second part of discipline ordered assiduè dimicantibus difficile morum custodire mensuram Neuerthelesse there must be paines taken and especially to enstale if it may be three vertues Continencie whereby Continencie all gluttonie drunkennesse whordome and all maner of dishonest pleasures are chased away which doe make a souldier loose and licentious Degenerat à robore ac virtute miles assuetudine voluptatum witnesse Hannibal who by delicacie Tacit. and delights in a winter was effeminated and he by vice was vanquished that was inuincible and by armes vanquished all others Modestie in words driuing away all vanitie vaine Modestie boasting brauerie of speech for true valour stirreth not the tongue but the hands doth not speake but execute Viri nati militae factis magni ad verborum linguaeque certamina rudes discrimen ipsum certaminis differt viri fortes in opere acres ante id placidi And contrarily great speakers are small doers Nimij verbis linguaferoces Now the tongue is for counsell the hand for combat saith Homer Modestie in action that is a simple and readie obedience without merchandizing or contradicting the commands of the captaines haec sunt bonae militiae velle vereri obedire Abstinencie whereby souldiers keepe their hands cleane from all violence forraging roberie Abstinencie And this is a briefe summe in the militarie discipline the which the Generall must strengthen by rewards and recompences of honour towards the good and valorous and by seuere punishments against offenders for indulgence vndoeth souldiers Let this suffice of souldiers Now a word or two of captaines without whom the souldier can doe nothing they 33 Of captaines are a body without a soule a ship with oares without a master to hold the sterne There are two sorts the Generall and first and afterwards the subalterne the master of the Campe Collonels But the General who must neuer be but one vnder Of the Generall paine of losing all is all in all And therefore it is said that an armie can doe as much as a General can doe and as much account must be made of him as of all the rest plus in duce repones Tacit. quà m in exercitu Now this Generall is either the prince himselfe and souereigne or such as hee hath committed the charge vnto and made choice of The presence of a prince is of great importance to the obtaining of a victorie it doubleth the force and courage of his men and it seemeth to be requisite when it standeth vpon the safegard and health of his state and of a prouince In warres of lesse consequence he may depute another dubijs praeliorum exemtus summae rerum Tacit. imperij seipsum reseruet Finallie a Generall must haue these qualities he must be wise and experienced in the arte militarie hauing seene and suffered both fortunes Secundarum ambiguarumque rerum sciens eoque interitus Secondly hee must be prouident and well aduised and therefore staid cold Tacit. and setled farre from all temerity and precipitation which is not only foolish but vnfortunate For faults in warre cannot be mended Non licet in bello his peccare And therefore hee Sertori in Plut. must rather looke backe than before him Ducem oportet potius respicere quà m prospicere Thirdly hee must be vigilant and actiue and by his owne example teaching his souldiers to doe his will Fourthlie happie good fortune comes from heauen but yet willinglie it followeth and accompanieth these three first qualities After the munitions and men of warre let vs come to the 34 The third head of the rules and counsels to make warre rules and generall aduisements to make warre This third point is a very great and necessarie instrument of war without which both munitions and men are but phantasies Plura consilio quà m vi perficiuntur Now to prescribe certaine rules
the end to assaile too The bitings of dying beasts are mortall Fractis rebus violentior vltima virtus And againe the issue is alwaies vncertaine Melior tutiorque certa pax sperata victoria illa in tua haec in decrum manu est And many times the poison lieth in the taile and the more fauourable fortune is the more it is to bee feared Nemo se tuto diu periculis offerre tam crebris potest But it is truly honorable it is a glory hauing a victorie in his hands Honorable to be facill and easily perswaded vnto peace it is to make knowen that he vndertaketh a warre iustly and doth wisely finish it And contrarilie to refuse it and afterwards by some ill successe to repent the refusall it is very dishonourable and will be said that glory hath vndone him Hee refused peace S. Bernard and would haue honour and so hath lost them both But hee must offer a gratious and a debonaire peace to the end it may be durable For if it be ouer rough and cruell at the first aduantage that may be offered the vanquished will reuolt Si bonam de deritis fidam perpetuam si malam haud diuturnam Liuius It is as great greatnesse to shew as much lenitie towards the suppliant vanquished as valour against the enemie The Romanes did verie well put this in practise and it did them no harme CHAP. IIII. Of that prudence which is required in difficult affaires and ill accidents publicke and priuate THE PREFACE HAuing spoken of that politicke prudence required in a soueraigne for the cariage of himselfe and his good gouernment wee will heere seuerally speake of that prudence that is necessarie for the preseruation of himselfe and the remedying of those affaires and difficult and dangerous accidents which may happen either to himselfe or his particular subiects First these affaires and accidents are very diuers they are either publike or particular either to come and such as threaten The diuision of this matter by distinction of the accidents vs or present and pressing vs the one are onely doubtfull and ambiguous the other dangerous and important because of their violence And they that are the greater and more difficult are either secret and hid and they are two that is to say conspiracy against the person of the Prince or the state and treason against the places and companies or manifest and open and these are of diuers sorts For they bee either without forme of warre and certaine order as popular commotions for small and light occasions factions and leagues betweene subiects of the one against the other in small and great number great or little seditions of the people against the prince or magistrate rebellion against the authoritie and head of the Prince or they are ripe and formed into a warre and are called ciuill warres which are of so many kindes as the aboue named troubles and commotions which are the causes foundations and seedes of them but haue growen and are come into consequence and continuance Of them all wee will speake distinctly and wee will giue aduice and counsell as well to soueraignes as particular persons great and small how to carrie themselues wisely therein I. Of the euils and accidents that doe threaten vs. IN those crosse and contrarie accidents whereunto wee are subiect there are two diuers maners of cariage they may be both good according to the diuers natures both of the accidents and of those to whom they happen The one is strongly to contest and to oppose a mans selfe against the accident to remoue all things that may hinder the diuerting thereof or at least to blunt the point to dead the blow thereof either to escape it or to force it This requireth a strong and obstinate mind and hath need of hard and painfull care The other is incontinently to take and receiue these accidents at the woorst and to resolue himselfe to beare them sweetly and patiently and in the meane time to attend peaceablie whatsoeuer shall happen without tormenting himselfe or hindering it The former studieth how to range the accidents this himselfe That seemeth to be more couragious this more sure That continueth in suspence is tossed betweene feare and hope this putteth himselfe into safetie and lieth so low that he cannot fall lower The lowest march is the surest and the seat of constancie That laboureth to escape this to suffer and many times this maketh the better bargaine Often times it falleth out that there is greater inconuenience and losse in pleading and contending than in losing in flying for safety than in suffering A couetous man tormenteth himselfe more than a poore a zealous than a cuckold In the former prudence is more requisite because hee is in action in this patience But what hindreth but that a man may performe both in order and that where prudence and vigilancie can do nothing there patience may succeed Doubtlesse in publike euils a man must assay the first which such are bound to do as haue the charge and can do it in particular let euerie one chuse the best II. Of euils and accidents present pressing and extreame THe proper meanes to lighten euils and to sweeten passions is not for a man to oppose himselfe for opposition enflameth and increaseth them much more A man by the iealousie of contention and contradiction sharpneth and stirreth the euill but it is either in diuerting them else-where as Physitians vse to doe who knowing not how to purge and wholly to cure a disease seeke to diuert it into some other part lesse dangerous which must be done sweetly and insensiblie This is an excellent remedie against all euils and which is practised in all things if a man marke it well whereby we are made to swallow the sowrest morsels yea death it selfe and that insensiblie abducendus animus est ad alia studia curas negotia loci denique mutatione tanquam aegroti non conualescentes saepe curandus est As a man counselleth those that are to passe ouer some fearefull deepe place either to shut or to diuert their eies When a man hath occasion to launce a sore in a child he flattereth him and withdraweth his mind to some other matter A man must practise the experiment and subtiltie of Hypomenes who being to runne with Atlanta a damsell of excellent beautie and to lose his life if he lost the goale to marrie the damsell if he woon it furnished himselfe with three faire apples of gold which at diuers times he let fall to stay the course of the damsell whilest she tooke them vp and so by diuerting hir get the aduantage of hir and gained hir selfe so if the consideration of some present vnhappie accident or the memorie of any that is past do much afflict vs or some violent passion which a man cannot tame do moue and torment vs we must change and turne our thoughts to some thing else and substitute vnto our selues some
weal-publike They are enemies to the libertie good and peace of all Iustice requireth it But yet wisdome and discretion is necessarie heerein and a man must not alwaies carie himselfe after one and the same maner Sometimes he must execute suddainely especiallie if the number of the conspiratours be small But whether the number be little or great he must not seeke by tortures to know the confederates if otherwise and secretlie he may know them and to make as though he knew them not is good for a man seeketh that which he would not find It is sufficient that by the punishment of a small number good subiects are conteined in their dutie and they diuerted from their attempts that either are not or thinke not themselues bewrayed To know all by tortures doth perhaps stirre vp mens hearts against him Sometimes he must delay the punishment but yet neuer be slow in procuring his safetie But yet the conspiratours may be such and the treason discouered at such a time that a man must not dissemble and to punish them instantlie is to play and lose all The best way of all others is to preuent the conspiracie to frustrate it faining neuerthelesse not to know the conspiratours but so to cary himselfe as if he would prouide for another thing as the Carthaginians did to Hannon their Captaine optimum solum saepe Iustin li. 1. Tacit. insidiarum remedium si non intelligantur And which is more a prince must sometimes pardon especiallie if he be a great man that hath deserued well of the prince and state and to whom they are both in some sort bound whose children parents friends are mightie For what should he do How should he breake this band If with safetie he may let him pardon or at least lessen the punishment Clemencie in this case is sometimes not only glorious to a prince nil gloriosius principe impunè laeso but it helpeth much for safetie to come diuerteth others from the like designments and worketh either shame in them or repentance the example of Augustus towards Cinna is very excellent VI. Treason TReason is a secret conspiracy or enterprise against a place or a troup or company it is as a coniuration a secret 1 Description euill dangerous and hardly auoided for many times a traitour is in the middle and bosome of the company or place which he selleth and betraieth To this vnhappie mysterie are willingly subiect such as are couetous light spirits hypocrites and this is commonly in them that they make a faire shew of trust and fidelity they commend and keepe it carefully in small matters and by that meanes endeuouring to couer they discouer themselues It is the marke whereby to know them The aduisements are almost the same that belong to coniurations except in the punishments which heere must bee 2 Aduisements and remedies speedie grieuous and irremissible for they are a kinde of people ill borne and bred incorrigible pernicious to the world whom to pitie it is crueltie VII Commotions of the people THere are many sorts according to the diuersitie of the causes persons maner and continuance as wee shall see heereafter faction confederacie sedition tyrannie ciuill warres But we will speake heere simplie and in generall of 2 Aduisements and remedies those that are raised in a heat as sudden tumults that endure not long The aduisements and remedies are to procure some one or other to speake and shew himselfe vnto them that is of authoritie vertue and singular reputation eloquent hauing grauitie mingled with grace and industrie with smooth speech to winne the people for at the presence of such a man as at a sudden lightning the people grow calme and quiet Veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta Seditio est saeuitque animis ignobile vulgus Iamque faces saxa volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate grauem ac meritis si fortè virum quem Conspexere silent arrectisque auribus adstant Ille regit dictis animos pectora mulcet Sometimes the captaine himselfe must vndertake this businesse But it must be done with an open front a strong assurance hauing his mind free and pure from all imagination of death and the worst that may happen vnto him for to goe amongst them with a fearefull and vnconstant countenance with flatterie and humble cariage is to wrong himselfe and to doe little good This Caesar did excellently put in practise vpon those mutinous legions and armies that rose vp against him stetit aggere fulti Cespitis intrepidus vultu meruitque timeri Nil metuens And Augustus did as much to his Actiaque legions saith Tacitus There are then two meanes to quiet and appease a moued and furious people the one is by rough vsage and pure authority and reason This is the better and more noble and becommeth a captaine if it stand him vpon but yet he must take heed how he do it as hath beene said The other more ordinarie is by flatterie and faire speeches for hee must not make an open resistance Sauage beasts are neuer tamed with blowes and therefore a man must not be sparing of good words and faire promises In this case the wise haue permitted a man to lie as men vse to doe with children and sicke folke Heerein Pericles was excellent who woone the people by the eies the eares and the bellie that is to say by shewes comedies feasts and heereby did what he list This meanes more base and seruile but yet necessarie must be practised by him whom the captaine sendeth as Menenius Agrippa did at Rome For if he thinke to winne them by maine force when they are without the bounds of reason no way yeelding vnto them as Appius Corcolanus Cato Phocion endeuoured to doe he is mistaken and deceiueth himselfe VIII Faction and confederacy FAction or confedracie is a complot and association of one Description against another betweene the subiects whether it bee betweene the great or the small in great numbers or little It ariseth sometimes from the hatreds that are betweene priuate men and certaine families but for the most part from ambition the plague of states euerie one coueting the first ranke That which falleth out betweene great personages is more pernitious There are some that sticke not to say that it is in some sort profitable for a soueraigne and it doth the selfe same seruice to a common-weale that brawles of seruants doe in families saith Cato But that cannot be true except it bee in tyrants who feare lest their subiects should agree too well or in small and light quarrels betweene cities or betweene ladies of the Court to know newes But not important factions which must bee extinguished in their first birth with their markes names habiliments which are many times the seeds of villanous effects witnesse that great deflagration and those bloudy murthers happened in Constantinople for the colours of greene and blew vnder Iustinian The aduisements heereupon
a ciuill warre which is no other thing but a presse and conduct of armies by the subiects either amongst themselues and this is a popular commotion or faction and confederacy or against the prince the state the magistrate and this is sedition or rebellion Now there is not a mischiefe more miserable nor more shamefull it is a sea of infelicities And a wise man said very well That it is not properly warre but a maladie of the state a fierie sicknesse and frensie And to say the truth hee that is the author thereof should be put out from the number of men and banished out of the borders of humane nature There is no kind of wickednesse that it is freed from impietie and crueltie betweene parents themselues murthers with all maner of impunitie Occidere palam ignoscere non nisi fallendo licet non aetas non dignitas quenquam protegit nobilitas cum plebe perit lateque vagatur ensis All kind of disloialtie discipline abolisheth In omne fas nefasque auidos aut venales non sacro non prophano abstinentes The inferiour and basest sort are companions with the best Rheni mihi Caesar in vndis dux erat his socius Facinus quos inquinat aequat He dareth not to open his mouth for he is of the same profession though he approoue it not obnoxijs ducibus prohibere non ausis It is a horrible confusion Metu ac necessitate huc illuc mutantur To conclude it is nothing but miserie But there is nothing so miserable as the victory For though it fall into the hands of him that hath the right on his side yet there followeth this inconuenience that it maketh him insolent cruell inhumane yea though hee were before of a mild and generous nature So much doth this intestine warre flesh a man in bloud yea it is a poison that consumeth all humanitie Neither is it in the power of the captaines to withhold the rest There are two causes to be considered of ciuill warres The one is secret which as it is neither knowne nor seene so it cannot 2 The causes be hindred nor remedied It is destinie the will of God who will chastise or wholly dispeople a state In se magna ruunt laetis hunc numina rebus crescendi posuere modum The other is well vnderstood by the wise and may happily be remedied if men will and they to whom it appertaineth set to their helping hand This is the dissolution and generall corruption of maners whereby men of no woorth and that haue nothing to do endeuor to turne all topsy turuie to put all into combustion couer their wounds with the hurt of the state for they loue better to be ouerwhelmed with the publike ruine than their owne particular Miscere cuncta priuata vulnera reipublicae malis operire nam ita se res habet vt publicaruina quisque malit quà m sua proteri idem passurus minus conspici Now the aduisements and remedies for this mischiefe of ciuill warre are to end it as soone as may be which is done by 3 The counsels and remedies two meanes agreement and victorie The first is the better although it be not such as a man desireth time will help the rest A man sometimes must suffer himselfe to be deceiued to the end he may end a ciuill warre as it is said of Antipater bellum finire cupienti opus erat decipi Victorie is dangerous because it is to be feared that the conquerour will abuse it wherby a tyrannie may ensue To the end a man may cary himselfe well heerein hee must quit himselfe of all the authours of troubles and other commotions and such like bloud-suckers as well on the one part as the other whether it be by sending them farre off with some charge or vnder some faire pretext and so diuiding them or by employing them against the stranger and handling the meaner sort with lenitie and gentlenes XII Aduisements for particular persons touching the foresaid publike diuisions THus we haue seene many kinds of publike troubles and diuisions for which and euery one of them we haue giuen counsels and remedies in respect of the prince it remaineth that we now giue them for particular persons This cannot be determined in a word there are two questions the Two questions one whether it be lawfull for an honest man to ioyne himselfe to one part or to remaine quiet and indifferent the second how a man must cary himselfe in both cases that is to say being ioyned to one part or not ioyned to either Touching the The first first point it is proposed for such as are free and are not yet ingaged to any part for if they be this first question belongs not to them but we send them to the second This I say because a man may ioyne himselfe to the one part not of purpose and by election yea to that part which he approueth not but only because he findeth himselfe caried and bound with strong and puisant bands which hee may not easily breake which cary with them a sufficient excuse being naturall and equiualent Now the first question hath contrarie reasons and examples It seemeth on the one side that an honest man cannot do better than to keepe himselfe quiet for he knoweth not how to betake himselfe to either part without offence because all these diuisions are in their owne natures vnlawfull and cannot be caried nor subsist without inhumanitie and iniustice And many good people haue abhorred it as Asinius Pollio answered Augustus who desired him to follow him against Marc Anthony On the other side is it not a thing reasonable for a man to ioyne with the good and such as haue right on their side Wise Solon hath iudged affirmatiuely yea roughlie chastised him that retireth himselfe and taketh not part The professor of vertue Cato hath likewise put it in practice not being content to take one part but commaunding it To determine this doubt it seemeth that men of worth and renowme who haue both publike charge and credit and sufficiencie in the state may and ought to range themselues into that part which they shall iudge the better for they must not abandon in a tempest the sterne of that ship which in a calme sea they are content to gouerne especiallie being an honorable part to prouide for the safetie of the state And secondly that priuat men and such as are of a lower degree in the charge of the state should stay and retire themselues into some peaceable and secure place during the diuision and both of them so to cary themselues as shall be said heereafter Finally touching the choice of the part sometimes there is no difficultie for the one is so vniust and so vnfortunate that a man can not with any reason ioyne himselfe thereunto But at another time the difficultie is very great and there are many things to be thought of besides the iustice and equitie of
rest for second and subsidiarie helps are no way comparable to the first and principall The diuersitie and distinction of friendship is great That of the ancients into foure kinds Naturall Sociable Hospitall 4 The first distinction of the causes Venereous is not sufficient We may note three The first is drawne from the causes which ingender it which are foure nature vertue profit pleasure which sometimes goe together in troope sometimes two or three and very often one alone But vertue is the more noble and the stronger for that is spirituall and in the heart as friendship is Nature in the bloud profit in the purse pleasure in some part or sense of the body So likewise vertue is more liberall more free and pure and without it the other causes are poore and idle and fraile He that loueth for vertue is neuer weary with louing and if friendship be broken complaineth not He that loueth for profit if it faile complaineth and it turneth to his reproch that when he hath done all he can he hath lost all He that loueth for pleasure if his pleasure cease his loue ceaseth with it and without complaint enstrangeth himselfe The second distinction which is in regard of the persons is 5 2 Of persons in three kinds the one is in a straight line betweene superiours and inferiours and it is either naturall as betweene parents and children vncles and nephues or lawfull as between the prince and the subiects the lord his vassals the master and his seruants the doctor and the disciple the prelat or gouernor and the people Now this kind to speake properly is not friendship both because of the great disparitie that is betwixt them which hindreth that inwardnes and familiaritie and entire communication which is the principall fruit and effect of friendship as likewise because of the obligation that is therein which is the cause why there is lesse libertie and lesse choice and affection therein And this is the reason why men giue it other names than of friendship for in inferiours there is required of them honor respect obedience in superiours care and vigilancie ouer their inferiours The second kind of friendship in regard of the persons is in a collaterall line betweene equals or such as are neere equals And this is likewise two-fold for either it is naturall as betweene brothers sisters cosens and this comes neerer to friendship than the former because there is lesse disparitie But yet there is a bond of nature which as on the one side it knitteth and fastneth so on the other it looseth for by reason of goods and diuisions and affaires it is not possible but brothers and kinsfolke must sometimes differ Besides that many times the correspondencie and relation of humours and wills which is the essence of friendship is not found amongst them He is my brother or my kinsman but yet he is a wicked man a foole Or it is free and voluntarie as betweene companions and friends who touch not in bloud and hold of nothing but only of friendship and loue and this is properly and truly friendship 3 The third kind of friendship in regard of the persons is mixt and as it were compounded of the other two whereby it is or it should be more strong this is matrimoniall of maried couples which holdeth of loue or friendship in a streight line because of the superioritie of the husband and the inferioritie of the wife and of collaterall friendship being both of them companions ioined together by equall bands And therefore the wife was not taken out of the head nor foote but the side of man Againe such as are maried in all things and by turnes exercise and shew both these friendships that which is in a streight line in publike for a wise woman honoreth and respecteth hir husband that which is collaterall in priuat by priuat familiaritie This matrimoniall friendship is likewise after another fashion double and compounded for it is spirituall corporall which is not in other friendships saue only in that which is reproued by all good lawes and by nature it selfe Matrimoniall friendship then is great strong and puissant There are neuerthelesse two or three things that stay and hinder it that it cannot attaine to the perfection of friendship The one that there is no part of mariage free but the entrance for the progresse and continuance thereof is altogether constrained enforced I meane in christian mariages for euery where else it is lesse enforced by reason of those diuorcements which are permitted The other is the weaknes and insufficiencie of the wise which can no way correspond to that perfect conference and communication of thoughts and iudgements hir soule is not strong and constant enough to endure the streightnes of a knot so fast so strong so durable it is as if a man should sow a strong and course peece of cloth to a soft and delicate This filleth not the place but vanisheth and is easily torne from the other Againe this inconuenience followeth the friendship of maried cupples that it is mingled with so many other strange matters children parents of the one side the other and so many other distaffe busines that doe many times trouble and interrupt a liuely affection The third distinction of friendship respecteth the force and intention or the weaknes and diminution of friendship 7 3 Of degrees According to this reason there is a two-fold friendship the common and imperfect which we may call good will familiaritie priuate acquaintance and it hath infinite degrees one more strict intimate and strong than another and the perfect which is inuisible and is a Phenix in the world yea hardly conceiued by imagination We shall know them both by confronting them together 8 The differēces of friendship common and perfect and by knowing their differences The common may be attained in a short time Of the perfect it is said that we must take long time to deliberate and they must eate much salt togther before it be perfected 2 The common is attained built and ordered by diuers profitable and delightfull occasions occurrents and therefore a wise man hath set downe two meanes to attaine vnto it to speake things pleasant and to doe things profitable the perfect is acquired by an only true and liuely vertue reciprocallie knowne 3 The common may be with and betweene diuers the perfect is with one only who is another selfe and betweene two only who are but one It would intangle and hinder it selfe amongst many for if two at one time should desire to be succoured if they should request of me contrarie offices if the one should commit to my secrecie a thing that is expedient for another to know what course what order may be kept heerein Doubtlesse diuision is an enemie to perfection and vnion hir cosen-germaine 4 The common is capable of more and lesse of exceptions restraints and modifications it is kindled and cooled subiect to
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
internall the one proceedeth from without it is called by diuers names aduersitie affliction iniurie vnhappinesse euill and sinister accidents The other is inward in the mind but caused by that which is outward These are hatefull and hurtfull passions of feare sadnesse choler and diuers others We must speake of them both prescribe meanes and remedies to ouercome suppresse and rule them These are the arguments and counsels of our vertue fortitude and valour It consisteth then heere of two parts the one of euils or ill accidents the other of passions which proceed thereof The generall aduice against all good and euill fortune hath beene declared before we will speake heere more specially and particularly thereof CHAP. XX. The first part of outward euils VVE will consider these outward euils three waies in 1 The distinction and comparison of euils by their causes their causes which shall be declared in this chapter afterward in their effects lastly in themselues distinctly and particularly euery kinde of them And we will giue aduice and meanes in them all by vertue to be armed against them The cause of euill and hatefull accidents which happen to vs all are either common and generall when at the same instant they concerne many as pestilence famine warre tyranny And these euils are for the most part scourges sent of God and from heauen or at least the proper and neerest cause thereof we cannot easily know Or particulars and those that are knowne that is to say by the meanes of another And so there are two sorts of euils publike and priuate Now the common euils that is to say proceeding of a publike cause though they concerne euery one in particular are in diuers kinds more or lesse grieuous weightie and dangerous than the priuate whose causes are knowne More grieuous for they come by flockes and troopes they assaile more violently with greater stirre of vehemencie and furie they haue a greater concurse and traine they are more tempestuous they bring foorth greater disorder and confusion Lesse grieuous because generalitie and communitie seemeth to mitigate and lessen euery mans euill It is a kinde of comfort not to be alone in miserie it is thought to be rather a common vnhappinesse where the course of the world and the cause is naturall than personall affliction And indeed those wrongs which a man doth vs torment vs more wound vs to the quicke and much more alter vs. Both these two haue their remedies and comforts Against publicke euils a man ought to consider from whom and by whom they are sent and to marke their cause 2 The aduice against publicke euils Prouidence Destinie It is God his prouidence from whence commeth and dependeth an absolute necessitie which gouerneth and ruleth all whereunto all things are subiect His prouidence and destinie or necessitie are not to say the truth two distinct laws in essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither are they one The diuersitie is only in the consideration and different reason Now to murmure and to be grieued at the contrarie is first of all such impietie as the like is not elsewhere found for all things doe quietlie obey man only torments himselfe And againe it is a folly because it is vaine and to no purpose If a man will not follow this soueraigne and absolute mistris willinglie it shall cary all by force ad hoc sacramentum adacti sumus ferre mortalia nec perturbari ijs quae vitare nostrae potestatis non est in regno nati sumus deo parere libertas est Desine fata deûm flecti sperare querendo There is no better remedie than to applie our willes to the will thereof and according to the aduice of wisdome to make a vertue of necessitie Non est aliud effugium necessitatis quà m velle quod ipsa cogat In seeking to contend or dispute against it we doe but sharpen and stirre the euill Laeto animo ferre quicquid acciderit quasi tibi volueris accidere debuisses enim velle si scisses ex decreto Dei fieri Besides we shall better profit our selues we shall do that which we ought to do which is to follow our generall and soueraigne who hath so ordeined it Optimum pati quod emendare non possis deum quo authore cuncta proueniunt sine murmuratione comitari Malus miles est qui imperatorem gemens sequitur And without contestation to allow for good whatsoeuer he will It is magnanimitie of courage to yeeld vnto him Magnus animus qui se Deo tradidit It is effeminacie and dastardlines to murmure or complaine pusillus degener qui obluctatur de ordine mundi male existimat emendare mauult Deum quà m se Against those priuat euils which do proceed from the act of another and which pierce vs more we ought first well to 3 The distinction Of priuat euils distinguish them lest we mistake them There is displeasure there is offence We often conceiue ill of another who notwithstanding hath not offended vs neither in deed nor will as when he hath either demaunded or refused any thing with reason but yet was then hurtfull vnto vs for such causes it is too great simplicitie to be offended since that they are not offences Now there are two sorts of offences the one crosseth our affaires against equitie this is to wrong vs the others are applied to the person who is contemned by it and handled otherwise than it ought be it in deed or in word These are more grieuous and harder to be indured than any other kind of affliction The first and generall aduice against all these sorts of euils is to be firme and resolute not to suffer himselfe to be lead by 4 The aduice against them in generall common opinion but without passion to consider of what weight and importance things are according to veritie and reason The world suffereth it selfe to be perswaded and lead by impression How many are there that make lesse account to receiue a great wound than a little blow more account of a word than of death To be briefe all is measured by opinion and opinion offendeth more than the euill and our impatience hurts vs more than those of whom wee complaine The other more particular counsels and remedies are drawne first from our selues and this is that we must first 5 Particular aduisements drawne from our selues looke into These pretended offences may arise of our owne defects and weaknesse This might be a follic grounded vpon some defect in our owne person which any one in derision would counterfait It is follie to greeue and vex himselfe for that which proceedeth not from his owne fault The way to preuent others in their scoffes is first to speake and to let them know that you know as much as they can tell you if it be that the iniurie hath taken his beginning by our default and that we haue giuen the occasion of this abuse why should we be offended
are weary with liuing or for priuate causes loath to liue any longer Neither is it sufficient that the cause be great and iust but that it be necessarie and remedilesse and that all maner of meanes to preserue life be first put in practise For precipitation and anticipated despaire is very vitious as in Brutus and Cassius who killing themselues before the time and occasion lost the reliques of the Romane libertie whereof they were protectors A man saith Cleomenes must manage his life and make vse thereof to the vttermost for to take it away a man neuer wants time it is a remedie which he hath alwaies in his owne hands but the state of things may change and grow better Ioseph and diuers others haue to their great benefit practised this counsell things that seeme altogether desperate do many times change and haue a happie successe aliquis carnifici suo superstes fuit Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aeui Retulit in melius A man must carie himselfe in his place and calling as a defendant against him that assaileth him cum moderamine inculpatae tutelae he must trie all maner of meanes before he come to this extremitie Secondly and without doubt it is farre better and more commendable to suffer and to continue constant and firme to the end than fearefullie cowardlie to flie or die but forasmuch as it is a gift not giuen vnto all no more than continencie is non omnes capiunt verbum istud vnde melius nubere quam vri the question is whether an insupportable and remedilesse euill hapning which may vtterlie vndoe and turne topsy-turuie our whole resolution and driue vs into despaire despite and murmuring against God it be more expedient or a lesse euill for a man couragiouslie to deliuer himselfe hauing his senses sound and setled than by standing to it for feare of failing in his dutie expose himselfe to the danger of sinking and being vtterly lost It is not a lesse euill to quit the place than to be obstinate and perish to flie than to be taken It is true that it seemeth by all humane and philosoph call reason to be practised as hath been said by so many famous people of all countries and climats But Christianitie doth no way approue it nor alloweth therein any dispensation Finally it is a great point of wisdome to learne to know the point and period to chuse a fit houre to die Euery man hath his time and season to die some preuent it others prolong it there is weakenesse and valour in them both but there is required discretion How many men haue suruiued their glorie and by a desire to lengthen their life but a little haue darkened it againe and liued to helpe bury their owne honour And that which lastly sticketh by them hath no relish or feeling of what is past but continueth like an old filthie clout sowed to the hemme of a rich and beautifull ornament There is a time to gather fruit from the tree which if it hang too long it rotteth and growes worse and worse and the losse is as great too if it bee gathered too soone Many saints and holy men haue fled from death because they are yet profitable to the church and weale-publike though in respect of their owne particular they could be content to die It is an act of charitie to desire to liue for the benefit of an other Si populo tuo sum necessarius non recuso laborem Death hath diuers formes some more easie than other and 21 Formes of deaths diuers taketh diuers qualities according to the fantasie of euery one Among those that are naturall they that proceed from weaknesse and a numnesse of the members are the sweetest and the easiest among those that are violent the best is the shortest the least premeditated Some desire to make an exemplarie and demonstratiue death of constancie and sufficiencie this is to consider another thing and to seeke their owne reputation but this is vanitie for this is no act of societie but of one only person who hath enough to doe with himselfe to minister to himselfe inward comfort and hath no neede to trouble himselfe with what belongeth to another especially all the interest hee hath in his reputation ceasing with his death That is the best death which is well recollected in it selfe quiet solitarie and attendeth wholly to that which at that time is fittest That great assistance of parents friends bringeth a thousand discommodities it oppresseth and smoothereth him that is dying one tormenteth his eares another his eies another his mouth their cries and complaints if they be true stifle the heart if fained afflict and torment it Many great personages haue sought to die farre from their friends to auoide this inconuenience accounting it a childish thing and a foolish humour to be willing by their miseries to moue sorrow and compassion in their friends wee commend constancie to suffer bad fortune wee accuse and hate it in our friends and when it is our owne case it is not sufficient that they suffer with vs but they must afflict themselues too A wise man that is sicke should content himselfe with the setled countenance of his assistants CHAP. XII To maintaine himselfe in true tranquillitie of spirit the fruit and crowne of wisedome and the conclusion of this booke THe tranquillitie of the spirit is the souereigne good of man This is that great and rich treasure which the wisest seeke by sea and by land on foote and a horsebacke all our care should tend thereunto it is the fruit of all our labors and studies the crowne of wisdome But lest a man should mistake himselfe heerein you must know that this tranquillitie is not a retrait or vacation from all affaires a delightfull solitarinesse and corporally pleasant or a profound carelesnesse of all things if it were so many women idle dissolute and voluptuous persons would at their pleasure enioy as great a good as the wisest can aspire vnto with all their studie Neither multitude nor scarsitie of businesse doth any thing heerein It is a beautifull sweete equall iust firme and pleasant estate of the soule which neither businesse nor idlenesse nor good accidents nor ill nor time can any way trouble alter mend or depresse Vera tranquillitas non concuti The meanes to attaine thereunto to get and preserue it are the points that I haue handled in this second booke whereof this is a briefe collection They consist in freeing and disfurnishing of a man from all lets and impediments and furnishing him with those things that entertaine and preserue it The things that doe most hinder and trouble the rest and tranquillitie of the spirit are common and vulgar opinions which for the most part are erroneous and secondly desires and passions which ingender in vs a kinde of delicacy and difficulty which are the cause that a man is neuer content and these are kindled and stirred in him by those