Conquerours of Sea and Land A Man hath no greater enemy then himselfe Their Crownes are now metamorphosed into dust their renowne into wind themselves into corruption and for a surplusage of mishap after the conquest of the whole World they dye in the miseries whereunto they were borne Cyrus could not bound his Ambition lesse then to the vast extention of the Universe and yet a * TOMYRIS simple woman onely prescrib'd him an allay and placed his head in the range of his owne Trophies Arthomides playes Iupiter upon Earth his portraict is the onely Idoll of his subjects and yet one turne of the wheele casts him a sacrifice upon the same altar which hee had erected to his Glory his life glistering with triumphs but his death in such a ruine clouded even the memory of his name All those stately Triumphers There is nothing more vaine then Vaine-glory 't is a body without soule or life having no subsistance but in Imagination of whom Antiquity trumpets-out wonders have had no other recompence of their labours but this vaine conceipt that one day men would talke of them But what felicity is it to be praised in this world to which they are dead and tormented in the other wherein they live even yet and ever I care very little that men should talke of me after my Death the esteeme of men is of so small importance that I would not buy it so deare as with a wish onely It behooves to search reputation in the puritie of the conscience if a man would have the glory of it last for ever The renowne of a good man is much greater then that of Caesar or Alexander for this has no other foundation then the soyle where it was sowed and where the goodlyest things display themselves like flowers and like flowers also have but a morning-flourish But the other having for a firme stay Eternitie this object ennobleth it to perfection The renowne of a good man onely lasts alwayes and thus desiring nothing else but heaven it remaines to us at the end for recompence Blondus in his Treatise of Rome in its triumphant glory reckons up three hundred and twenty triumphs all remarkable but where are now these pompes these magnificences this infinite number of Trophies and a thousand other ornaments which rattled out their glory Where are I say these Conquerours where are their slaves their Idolaters their admirers These pompes have but flash't like lightning 'T is some comfort yet to a wise man though himselfe fade away to see that all things else doe so too and so passed away with the day that accompanyed their lustre These magnificences have beene but seene and so tooke their passage in flight These trophies being onely bravadoes of the time times inconstancy made them vanish in an instant all those other ornaments made but ostentation of their continuall vicissitude as being an inseparable accident of their nature These vanquishers onely had the name on 't since Death led them away also in triumph for all their triumphings Their captives were rather slaves of the miseries whereunto they were borne then so by the absolute power of him who captived theÌ„ Their Idolaters have beene immolated to the fury of yeeres which spare none and their admirers have incurred the same fate with the subject which they admired Insomuch that of all together remaineâ— nothing but a faint remembrance which as it waxeth old is effac't by little and little out of memory and scarcely will it subsist so much in the imagination as to be in the end buryed among fables Since Eternitie onely triumphs over Time wee should onely strive to attaine that Behold here the Anatomie of the glory of the world see the true portraict of its false Image Contemplate meditate you will avouch with me that All is full of vanitie O how stately and magnificent is the Triumph of Ages what trophies may a man see at their ever-rowling Chariot what Conquerours are not in the number of their subjection what soveraigne power can resist their violence what newer can Triumph then this of yeares Who can give in account the number of their victories and â—esse the captives which Death serves â—n for their trophies What newer triumph againe evermore then of moâ—eths of dayes of houres and moâ—ents For consider to your selfe how many Kings Princes and Lords die â—n one age in all the places of the world All these vanquishers are vanquisht â—nd led in triumph to the grave Every Yeare makes its conquest a part gives â—attell and carryes away the victory over so many A righteous man onely stands exempt from the terror of death and so many men that hardly can one conceive so lamentable a truth Months Dayes Houres and Moments triumph in their courses who can number all those who dyed yesterday out-right or are dead to day Nay more how many dye at this houre and at this very instant that I entertaine you with this discourse And all these defeats of mortalitie mark out to us the Triumphs whereof time onely beares away the glory But let us not pretend to share in 't 't is not worthy our Ambition Let Ages Yeeres Moneths Dayes Houres and Moments triumph over us A good conscience is ever under shelter from all the inconstant tempests of ages Vertue alwayes limits their puissance and with it wee may prescribe a bound to all these Triumphants Faire leave may they take to ruinate out-ward beauty but that of innocence is of proofe ' gainst all their strokes Well may they impaire outward graces but those of heaven contemne their assaults No doubt they may change the visage of all the marvels of Art and miracles of Nature Our Resolution is a rocke in midst of all their stormes and may remaine alwayes it selfe without undergoing other rules then its owne So that thus wee may lead Time it selfe along in triumph if wee live for nothing more then for Eternitie He which lives for eternitie dreads no death I scorne the Tyranny of Ages my ayme is beyond 'em all I despise the power of yeeres my Ambition raignes already out of their reach Let Months Dayes Houres and Moments entraile all things along with 'em I for my part franchise their carreere since my scope is much more farther yet Let them triumph fully my very defeat shall lead them in triumph at the end of their terme for the eternity whither I aspire already assignes out their tombe Let us stay no longer in so cragged a way The Emperour Trajan caused his Sepulcher to be enfram'd in the midst of Rome's greatest place as upon a stateâ—y Theater on which his successors were to act their parts Every man dies â—or himselfe Seriùs aut citiùs metam properamus ad unam sooner or later wee must â—rrive to the place to which uncessantly â—ee walke Be it to morrow or today â—t the end of the terme all 's equall Nor old nor yong can
fury and rage have assassinated even Natures-selfe and that we now alone remaine in the world to celebrate its funerals by our lamentations and regreets Fathers Mothers Death is a severe Iudge and pardons none Children Nobles and Plebeians Kings and their subjects are all pell-mell in this stacke of rotten wood which Time like a covert but burning fire consumes by little and little not able to suffer that ashes should be exalted above dust Proud Spirits behold here the dreadfull reverse of the medall All these sad objects of mortality and yet actively animated with horror affright by their own silence enjoyne the same to you thus to amuze your Spirits in the contemplation of their deplorable ruines If you be rich See here those who have possessed the greatest treasures of the world are not now worth the marrow of their owne bones whereof the wormes have already shared the spoyle If you be happy The greatest favorites of fortune are reduced to the same noysomnesse as you see the filth that enrounds them If you be valiant Hector and Achilles are thus here overcome behold the shamefull markes of their overthrow If you be men of Science Death may be contemned but not avoided Here lyes the most learned of the world 'T is the Epitaph on their tombe Reade it I grant more-over you may be the greatest Princes of the earth An infinite number of your companions are buried under these corrupted ruines Suppose in fine that your Soveraignety did extend it selfe over all the Empire of the world A thousand and a thousand too of your semblables have now nothing more their owne then that corruption which devoures even to the very bones Ambitious Heart see here a Mirrour which flatters not since it represents to the life the reality of thy miseries Well maist thou perhaps pretend the conquest of the Universe even those who have borne away that universall Crowne are now crowned but with dust and ashes 'T is no wonder the Miser ne're thinks of Death his thoughts are onely taken up for this Life Covetous wretch behold the booke of thy accounts calculate all that is due to thee after payment of thy debts learne yet after all this that thy soule is already morgaged to devils thy body to wormes and thus notwithstanding all thy treasures there will not abide with thee one haire upon thy head one tooth in thy chops nor one drop of blood in thy veynes nor ne're so little marrow in thy bones nay the very memory of thy being would be extinguish't if thy crimes did not render it eternall both here and in the torments of hell Pride is but like the noone-flourish of a flower which at Sun-set perisheth Proud arrogant man measure with thy bristled browes the dilatation of the earth Brave with thy menacing regards the heavens and the flarres These mole-hills of rottennesse whereof thy carkasse is shap't prepare toward the tombe of thy vanity Seneca Epist These are the shades of Death inseparable from thy body Quotidie morimur quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae since it dyes every houre If thou elevate thy selfe to day even to the clouds to morrow thou shalt be debased to nothing But if thou doubt of this truth behold here a thousand witnesses which have made experience of it Luxurious Wanton give thy body a prey to voluptuousnesse deny nothing to thy pleasures but yet consider the horrour and dreadfulnesse of that Metamorphosis when thy flesh shall be turned to filth and even that to wormes and those still to fresh ones which shall devoure even thy coffin and so efface the very hast markes of thy Sepulture How remarkable is the answere of Diogenes to Alexander What art thou musing on Cynicke says this Monarch to him one day having found him in a Charnell-yard I amuze my selfe here answers he in search of thy father Philips bones among this great number which thou see'st but my labour is in vaine for one differs not from another Great Kings the discusse of this answer may serve you now as a fresh instruction to insinuate to you the knowledge of your selves You walke in triumph to the Tombe followed with all the traine of your ordinary magnificences but being arrived at this Port blowne thither with the continuall gale of your sighs your pompe vanisheth away your Royall Majestie abandons you your greatnesse gives you the last Adieu and this your mortall fall equals you now to all that were below you The dunghill of your body hath no preheminence above others unlesse it be in a worse degree of rottennesse Corruptio optimi pessima as being of a matter more disposed to corruption But if you doubt of this truth behold and contemplate the deplorable estate to which are reduced your semblables Their bald scalps have now no other Crowne then the circle of horrour which environes them their disincarnated hands hold now no other Scepter but a pile of worms and all these wretchednesses together give them to see a strange change from what they were in all the gloryes of their Court These palpable and sensible objects are witnesses not to be excepted against The serious meditation of his miserable condition is capable to make any man wise Let then your soules submit to the experiment of your senses But what a Prodigie of wonder 's here doe I not see the great Army of Xerxes reduced and metamorphosed into a handfull of dust All that world of men in those dayes which with its umbragious body covered a great part of the earth shades not so much as a foot on 't with its presence Be never weary of thinking of these important truths In Hercule Octaeo Seneca in the Tragedie of Herculeâ— brings in Alcmena with grievous lamentation bearing in an urne the ashes of that great Monster-Tamer Ecce vix totam Hercules Complevit urnam quà m leve est pondus mihi Câ—i totus aether pondus incubuit leve And to this effect makes her speake Behold how easily I carry him in my hand who bore the Heavens upon his shoulders The sense of these wordes ought to engage our spirits to a deepe meditation upon the vanity of things which seeme to us most durable All those great Monarchs who sought an immortalitie in their victories and triumphs have miss't that and found Death at last the enjoyment of their Crownes and splendours being buried in the same Tombe with their bodyes See here then a new subject of astonishment The Mathematicians give this Axiome All lines drawne from the Center to the Circumference are equall Kings Princes abate your haughtines The world is a Game at Chesse where every of the Sett ha's his particular Name and Place designed but the Game done all the Pieces are pellmell'd into the Bagge and even so are all motrals into the grave your subjects march fellow-like with you to the Center of the grave If life gave you preheminence
sayes hee which beat at the eares to enter into your hearts A Voyce which rustles in a moment and passes away at the same instant What Humility Is there any thing which is lesse any thing then a Voyce 'T is a puffe of wind which a fresh one carries I know not where since both lose themselves in the ayre after its ne're solittle agitation with their gentle violence 'T is nothing in effect yet notwithstanding the proper name of this great Prophet Christus verbum Iohannes vox They would elevate him and he abaseth himselfe so low that he would render himself invisible as a Voyce so much he feares to be taken for him whose shooe-latchet he judgeth himself unworthy to unloose Lord what are we also but a little Wind enclosed in a handfull of Earth to what can one compare us Iohn 1.27 A man is to bee estimated in proportion to the undervalue bee makes of himself without attributing us too much vanity True it is that we are the works of thy hands but all other created things beare the same Title but if thy bounty hath beene willing to advantage our nature with many graces proper and ordinated to it alone these are so many witnesses which convince us not to have deserv'd them since our very Ingratitude is yet a Recognizing of this Truth Insomuch that as our Life is nothing but sinne and sinne is a meere privation it may be maintained that wee are nothing else and consequently nothing at all The most just man sinneth seven times a day But how Proud am I O Lord every time I thinke thou hast created me of Earth for this is a Principall which drawes me alwayes to it selfe by a right of propriety from whence I cannot defend my selfe All things seeke their repose in their element What is 〈◊〉 for a man to trumph here of the noâ—â—d the earth expects his spoyle O how happy am I to search mine in that of Dust and Ashes whereof thou hast formed me The Earth demands my Earth and my body as a little Gullet separated from its source speeds by little and little to the same source from whence it had its beginning And this is that which impeaches me from gathering up my selfe to take a higher flight I should doe bravely to hoyse my selfe above my Center Pride hoyses up only to give a fall when the assay of my Vanity and the violence of my fall are but the same thing I give still downewards upon the side of my weakenesses and the weight of my miseries overbeares upon the arrogance of my Ambition O happy deffect A man no doubt may misknow himselfe yet the least hit of mishap teares the vaile of his hoodwink'tnesse and yet more happy the condition which holds me alwayes enchained to the dunghill of my Originall since the links of this easie servitude are so many Mirrours which represent me that I am nothing whensoever I imagine my selfe to be something Let us change our Tone without changing subject Ladyes Remember that you dye every houre behold here a MIRROVR WHICH FLATTERS NOT. It shewes you both what you are and such as you shall be But if notwithstanding you still admire your selves under an other visage full of allurements and sweets A strange thing that death is still as neare us as life and yet wee never thinke on 't This is but Death himselfe who hides him under these faire apparences to the end you may not discerne him It is true you have gracefull Tresses of haire which cover your heads and his is all Bald but doe not you heed how hee pulls them off from yours by little every day and makes those which he leaves you to turne White to the end you may pull them out your selves It is true your Eyes have a sparkling lustre and beauty but of his is seene onely the hideous place where Nature had seated them But doe you not consider how with continuall action hee Dusks the glory of this beauty and in conclusion puts to Eclipse these imaginary Pety-Suns It is true your hue is of Lillyes and your mouth of Roses upon his face is seene onely the stubs of these flowers but call to mind that he blasts this Lilly-teint Ci me and Death are the onely inexorables as well as Lillyes themselves and that the vermillion of this Rosie-mouth lasts but as Roses and if yet you differ to day from him in some thing you may resemble him to-morrow in all I leave you to meditate of these Truths Man is a true Mirrour which represents to the naturall all things which are oppos'd unto it If you turne it downward to the Earth Man is as one picture with two faces and often the most naturall is falsest we can see within nothing but objects of Dust and Ashes but if you turne him to the Heavens-ward there is to be admired in it beauties and graces purely celestiall In effect if we consider Man in his mortall and perishable condition hardly can one find any stay in this consideration since hee is nothing else but a Chimera whose forme every Moment by little and little destroyes to reduce it to its first nothing And indeed not to lye to ye Man is but a Puffe of Wind since he lives by nothing else Man is nothing in himselfe yet comprehends all things is filled with nothing else and dyes onely by Privation of it But if you turne the Medall I would say the Mirrour of his Soule towards his Creator there are seen nothing but Gifts of Immortality but graces of a Soveraigne bounty but favours of an absolute Will The heavens and the Stars appeare in this Crystalline Mirrour What though man be made of earth he is more divine than mortall not by reflection of the object but by a divine vertue proceeding from the Nature of his Cause Let us to the End The slumber of vanities is a mortall malady to the soule Me thinks This Page returnes againe to day within the Chamber of Philâ—â—â— of Macedon and drawing the Câ—â—â—taine cryes out according to his â—â—â—dinary Sir Awake and Remember that you are a Man but why rouzes hee him to thinke of Death since sleepe is its image Alexander knew himselfe mortall by his sleeping and in effect those which have said that sleepe was the Brother of Death have drawne their reason of it from their reciprocall resemblance Awake then Great Kings Not to ponder that you are mortall your sleepe is a trance of this but rather that you are created for immortality Remember you are Men. I will not say A man should not forget his heavenly beginning having heaven for a daily object subject to all the miseries of the Earth but rather capable of all the felicities of heaven Remember that you are Men. I will not say the shittlecocke of Time and the But to all the shafts of Fortune but rather victors over ages and all sorts
much dâ—fference between the one and the other as between the scâ—bberd and the sword Cleare streames of immortality remount then to your eternall source faire rayes of a Sunne without Eclipse rejoyne your selves then to the body of his celestiall light Perfect patternes of the divinity unite your selves then to it as to the independant cause of your Beeing Well may the Earth-quake under your feet your wils are Keys to the gates of its abysses should the Water or'e-whelme againe all your hopes cannot be shipwrack't That the Aire fils all things may bee but your expectations admit of some vacuum Though the Fire devoure all things the object of your hopes is above its flames let the heavens poure downe in a throng Although the puissaences of the soule worke not but by the senses the effects in this point are more noble then the cause their malignant influences here below your soules are under covert from their assaults Let the Sun exhaling vapours make thereof thunders for your ruine you are under the protection of him who ejaculates their flashes Man needs feare nothing being aâ—evated above a.l. insomuch that instead of hurting you all things doe you homage The Earth supports you the Water refresheth you the Aire imbreaths you the Fire warmes you Man could not be more happy then be is since God is his last felicity the Sun lights you Heaven attends you the Angels honour you the Divels feare you Nature obeyes you and God himselfe gives himselfe to you to obliege you to the like reciprocation Is not this to possesse with advancement all the felicities which you can hope I dare you to wish more A wake thy selfe then Reader and let thy conscience and thy miserie each in its turne serve thee as a Page every morning to put thee in mind That thou art a Man To dye is proper to man I meane a pourtraict animated with Death rather then with Life since thou canst doe nothing but dye but in this continuall dying amid the throng of evils and paines which are enjoyned to thy condition Consider also that thou art created to possesse an Eternity both of life and happinesse How happy is man thus to bee able to be as much as he desires and that all these infinite good things are exposed as an ayme of honour and glory to the addresses of thy will for if thou wilt Paradise shall bee thine though Hell gape at thee Heaven shall be thy share it's delights thy Succession and God alone thy Soveraigne felicity A PROLVSIVE upon the EMBLEME of the second Chapter SWell on unbounded Spirits whose vast hope Scornes the streight limits of all moderate scope Be Crescent still fix not i' th' Positive Graspe still at more reach the Superlative And beyond that too and beyond the Moone Yet al 's but vaine and you shall find too soone These great acquists are bubbles for a spurt And Death wil leave you nothing but your Shirt Be Richest Greatest Pow'rfullest and Split Fames Trumpet with the blast on 't there 's it That 's all a Coffin and a Sheet and then You 're dead and buried like to Common men This Saladine foresaw and wisely stoopes Unto his Fate ' midst his triumphant troopes A world of wealth and Asiaticke Spoyles Guerdon his glorious military toyles Ensignes and Banners shade his armyes Eyes With flying Colours of fled enemyes Yet humbly he doth his chiefe Standard reare Onely his Shirt displayd upon a Speare Meanewhile his valorous Colonels were clad In rich Coate-armours which they forced had From subdu'de foes and 't seem'd a glorious thing Each man to be apparreld like a King The very common Souldiers out-side spoke Commander now and did respect provoke Their former ornaments were cast aside Which 'fore the victory were al theirpride To check their Pompe with clang'ring trumpetsound A Herald loud proclaim 's in Tone profound See what the Emperour doth present your Eye 'T is all that you must looke for when you dye This Shirt is all even Saladine shall have Of all his Trophy's with him to the grave Then be not over-heightned with the splendour Of your rich braveries which you so much tender Nor let your honours puff you least you find The breath of Eame jade ye with broken wind This solemne passage of this Monarchs story VVith greatest luster doth advance his glory Victorious SALADINE caus'd to be Proclaim'd to all his Armie that he carried nothing with him to the Graue but a SHIRT after all his Conquests THE MIRROVR WHICH FLATTERS NOT. CHAP. II. The horrour and misery of the grave makes the haire stand on end to the proudest ARrogant spirits ambitious Hearts be silent and lend an eare to the publicke cry of this Herald who with a voyce animated with horrour and affright as well as with compassion and truth proclaimeth aloud in the view of heaven and earth and in the presence of a world of people That this Great SALADINE magnificent Conquerour of Asia and Monarch of the whole East carryes away to the grave for fruit of his victories but onely a shirt which covers the mould of his body and even this scrap of linnen too Fortune leaves him but to give the wormes Absolute Kings puissant Soveraignes what will you reply to these discourses for to you they are addrest I doubt well that shame confusion and astonishment barre your speech This necessily of dying serves for temperament to the vanity of the greatest Monarchs of the world and that this sensible object of your proper miseries affects you so with ruth to force from your bosomes a thousand sighs The greatest Monarch of the earth becomes at a clap so little as not to be found no not in his miseries for the wind begins already to carry away the dust whereof hee was formed The powerfullest King of the world is reduc'd to such a point of weakenesse that he cannot resist the wormes after vanquishment and subjugation of entire Nations The richest Prince of the East takes a glory of all his treasures to carry away but onely a shirt to his Sepulture What can you answer to these verities This famous Saladine the terrour of men the valour of the earth and the wonder of the world Man cannot complaine of the world since at his death he gives him a shirt which at his birth his mother Nature refused him esteemes himselfe so happy and so advantaged by fortune in respect she leaves him this old ragge to cover his corruption that he makes this favour to be published with sound of trumpet in the midst of his Army that none might be in doubt on 't what beyond this can be your pretentions I grant you may be seated like Xerxes upon a Throne all of massie gold canopied with a glistering firmament of precious stones and that on what side somever you turne your menacing regards you see nothing but objects humbled before your Royall Majesties You never seate your selves
upon these Thrones of magnificence but as it were to take leave of the assembly All the speeches of Men are but discourses of adieu leave-taking since every day be marches straight forward toward Death continuing still to give your last God-bwyes like a man who is upon point to depart continually since he dyes every moment Insomuch that all this Pompe which accompanyes you and which gives shadow to the luster wherewith you are environed vanishes away with you and all those who are its admirers and idolaters runne the same fortune being of the same nature Be it from me granted that the report of your glory admits no vacuity no more then the Ayre does and that your name is as well knowne as the Sunne and more redoubted then the thunder This voyce of renowne is but as the sound of a Bell To what purpose doth the renown of a Man make a noyse in the world the noyse â—eâ—seth the renowne passeth which redoubles a noyse to its owne detriment to advertise those that doubt on 't and this name so famous and dreadfull finding no memory here below to the proofe of ages buryes it selfe at last in the nothingnesse of its beginning Be it againe that all the Gold of the Indies can be valewed but to a part of your Estate and that all the world together possesse lesse treasure then you alone what advantage thinke you to beare away more then the most miserable of the world that in this you should be vaine Enjoyes not he the same Sunne which lights you hath not he the same usage of the Elements The tranquillity of tâ—e mind and the health of body are the only riches of the world whereof you make use But if you have more then he a gloriousnesse of apparell and a thousand other superfluous things which are altogether estranged to vertue as being imaginary goods whose appearance alone is the onely foundation hee may answere you with Seneca that with whatsomever coverture a Man hides the shame of his nakednesse he shall passe for well-clothed among wise men And to come to the point a Man hath alwayes enough wherewith to follow his way and to finish his voyage The surplus is but a burden of cares which are metamorphosed into so many bryars when Death would discharge us of them Besides Riches consists but in opinion though their treasures be palpable and sensible A man is Rich equall to that which he beleeves himselfe to be He is the most rich who is most conient And though hee hath nothing this Grace wherewith hee is treasured to finde rest in his miseries is above all the Gold of the world What difference thinke you there is betwixt the Rich and the poore both the one and the other are equally pilgrims and travellers and goe alike to the same place Then if the Rich passe through the fairer way they rencounter when they dye All Mortals togethâ—r make a dance of blind men who in dancing runne to death without sâ—â—â—g the way they passe all the thorns of those roses which they have past upon There is no arrivall to the Haven of the grave without being tempested sooner or later in the storme of those miseries which accompany us And me thinks it is a comfort to suffer in good time those evils which we cannot avoyd Rich-ones how miserable doe I hold you if the goods of the earth be your onely treasures Rich-ones how unhappy are you if your felicities be but of Gold The treasure of good workes only inriches us eternally and Silver Rich-ones how you compell my pity of your greatnesses if you have no other titles then those of your Lord-ships Rich-ones how frightfull only at the houre of Death are your names since the misery wherein you are borne accompanyes you in the sepulchre True it is that the Ayre of the Region where you dwell may be very temperate the Seasons of it faire and the lands fertile but you consider not that while you live you often sigh backe the ayre which you receive that this sweet time which smiles on you entraines you in flying to the season of teares The content of riches is like an odor ferous fume but it passes and so doth their enjoyment also and there is all and that very soone the dunghill of your bodyes shall perhaps render the lands yet more fertile The Rich Men of the world have done nought but passe away with the ages that gave them birth you are borne in this and this very same goes away and leads you with it and all the rest of Men without skilling what you are or in what fashion you are vested well may you possesse an infinite number of treasures you must alwayes trot and rise as soone i' the morning as others but if you play the slugs and sleep too long 'T is strange whether we shift place and sâ—at or no we yet runne incessantly to Death Death comes in the end to awake you and interrupt your repose with an eternall disquiet What will you say to this The fable of Midas comprehends in it important verities Apollo grants him all that hee demands he satiates the appetite of his unmeasurable ambition by the vertue which he gives to his touch to be able to turne all things into gold See him now rich for a day his hands are as new Philosophers-stones which make the grossest and most impure metals change both nature To what purpose is it to be environed with riches they are a strange kind of good whereof one can enjoy the usage but for a moment onely and price he sees himselfe enrounded in a moment with so great a number of treasures that he begins to apprehend the enjoyment of those goods which he desired with so much passion and from feare hee comes to astonishment then when prest with hunger all the Viandes which he touches with his hands lips or tongue are metamorphosed into Gold O inseparable amazement from a mortall griefe caused by a semblable regreet that hee could not limit his ambition but to the desire of his owne ruine Rich-men you are as so many Midasses since with all your treasures you never importune heaven for any other thing but to increase their number to which effect you destinate your cares your watchings and your labours But make no more imploring vows behold your selves at last heard The glistering of your riches dazles me your greatnesses and magnificences give you cheerefull tincture yet let us see the reverse of the Medall After your so many strong wishes for Gold and Silver The covetous growes poore in measure as hee growes rich since in encreasing his treasures encreases the famine of his insatiable avarice and thus of what he possesses he enjoyes nothing their treasures remaines to you for to satiate at least in dying the unruled appetite of the ambition of your life Riches I say environ you on all sides after your so passionate covetize
wonders of our dayes but now you are the horrour of this present for the onely thought of the dung-heap of your Ashes poysons my spirit so delicate i' st and I leave farther provocation to the incredulous if they bee willing to bee stronger witnesses of it but let us now leave personall reflections and trouble wee not the repose of Church-yardes I grant that you may bee at this instant that I speake unto you so rich and happy He which esteems himselfe rich and happy in this world knowes not the nature of worldly happinesse and riches that you cannot wish more of Fortune nor Shee able to offer you more Yet thus ought you to consider where you are who you are and what are the goods which you possesse You are in the World where all things fly away and 't is in this way of flying away that you read these verities my meaning is you dwell upon the same earth whereof you are formed and consequently you lodge upon your buriall-places whose entrances will be open at all moments To say who you are I am ashamed in calling you by your proper names for to remembrance you your miseries Corruption conceaves you Horrour infants you Blood nourishes you and infection accompanyes you in the Coffin The treasures which you enjoy are but Chimeras of greatnesse and apparitions of glory whereof living you make experiment and dying you perfectly know the truth on 't There is nothing so constantly present with us as our miseries since alwayes we are miserable enough at best To what end then can stead you your present felicities since at present you scarce enjoy them at all for even at this very instant another which is but newly upon passe robs you of part of them and even thus giving you hint of the cosenage of his companions Cheates you too as well as they and thus they doe altogether to your lives as well as your contentments in ravishing these they intraine the others then what remonstrance can you exhibit of esteeming your selves happy for past felicities and which you have not enjoyed but in way of depart And if this condition be agreeable unto you still there is a necessity of setting up your rest at the end of the carreere and there it is where I attend to contribute to your vaine waylings as many resentments of Pity Take wee another tracke without loosing our selves How ingenious was that famous Queene of Egypt to deceive with good grace her Lover How much better is it to be so happy in fishing as to angle for grace in the teares of penitence She caused underhand dead fishes to be ensnared to the hooke of Antonie as often as the toy tooke him to goe a fishing to the end to make him some sport by those pleasant deceits May we not say that Ambition doth the same for when wee cast our hookes into this vast Ocean of the vanities of the world wee fish but Dead things without soule whose acquirement countervailes not a moment of the Time which we employ to attaine it Had I all the goodliest fardles of the world laded on my backe I meane had I acquir'd all the honours wherewith fortune can tickle an ambitious soule should I thence become greater of body my growing time is past would my Spirit thence become more excellent 'T is to no purpose to be passionate for such goods as a man may loose and the world can give no better these objects are too weake to ennoble her Powers Should I thence become more vertuous Vertue looks for no satisfaction out of it selfe Should I thence be more esteemed of the world This is but the glory of a wind which doth but passe away What happinesse what contentment or what utility would remaine me then that I might be at rest A Man must not suffer himself thus to be fool'd All honours can be but a burden to an innocent soule for so much as they are continuall objects of vanity which stirre up the passions and onely serve but for nourishment to them in their violences to hurry them into all sorts of extremities And after all the necessitie of dying which makes an inseparable accident in our condition gloomes the glittering of all this vaine glory which environs us In the anguishes of Death a man dreames not of the grandeurs of his life and being ever and anon upon point to depart finds himselfe often afflicted most with those good things which hee possesseth 'T is an irbosome remembrance of past happinesse measuring already the depth of the fall by the height of the place whither he is exalted * Galba Hee which found Fortune at his gate found no naile to stay her wheele But if Shee on the one side takes a pleasure to ruine Empires to destroy Realmes and to precipitate her favourites Death on the other side pardons no body alters the temperament of all sorts of humours perverts the order of every kind of habitude and not content yet to beate downe all these great Colosses of Vanitie which would be ta'en for the worlds wonders calls to the sharing of their ruine the elements thus to bury their materials in their first abysses where she hath designed the place of their entombement All things passe away and by their way tell us that we must doe so too What can a Man then find Constant in the world where Constancy doth no where reside Time Fortune Death our Passions and a Thousand other stumbling blocks shall never speake other language to us but of our miseries and yet wee will suffer our selves like A. LEXANDER to be voyc'd immortall Our prosperities our grandeurs our very delights themselves shall tell us as they passe a word in our eare that wee ought not to trust them and yet for all this we will never sigh but after them Be it then at last for very regreet to have vented to the wind so many vain sighs for Chimeras of sweets whereof the remembrance can not be but full of bitternesse no securitie of pleasure to enjoy such things as may every moment be lost Vaine honours of the world tempt me no more your allurements are powerfull but too weake to vanquish me I deride your wreaths of Laurell there grows more on 't in my garden then you can give me If you offer me esteeme and reputation among men what should I doe with your presents Time devoures every day the like of them and yet more precious I undervalue all such Good-things as It can take away againe from me Deceitfull greatnesses of the Earth cease to pursue me you shall never catch me your charmes have given some hits to my heart but not to my soule your sweets have touch't my senses but not my spirit what have you to offer me which can satisfie me Time and Fortune lend you all the Scepters and Crownes which you borrow Worldly Greatnesses are but like Masking-clothes which serve him and tâ— other
but for that time and as you are not the owners they take them away againe when they will and not when it pleaseth you So then I will have no Scepters for an houre nor no Crownes for a day If I have desire to raigne 't is beyond Time that I may thus be under shelter from the inconstancy of Ages Trouble not your selves to follow me This world is a Masse of mirâ— upon which a Man may make impresse of all sorts of Characters but not hinder Time to deface the draught at any time Ambitious Spirits faire leave have you to draw the Stell of your designes upon this ready prim'd cloth Some few yeeres wipe out all Some ages carry away all and the remembrance of your follyes is only immortall in your soules by the eternall regreet which remaines you of them SCIPIO made designe to conquer Carthage and after he had cast the project thereof upon mould he afterwards tooke the body of this shadow and saw the effect of his desires But may not one say that the Trophies of his valour have beene cast in rubbidge within that masse of durt whereof the world is composed since all the marks thereof are effaced Carthage it selfe though it never had life could not avoyd its Death Time hath buried it so deep under its owne ruines that we seeke in vaine the place of its Tombe I leave you to ruminate if its subduer were himselfe able to resist the assaults of this Tyrannie If ALEXANDER had sent his thoughts into heaven there to seeke a new world as well as his desires on earth there to find one he had not lost his time but as he did amuze himselfe to engrave the history of his ambition and triumphs upon the same masse of clay which he had conquered he writ upon water and all the characters on 't are defaced The Realmes which hee subdued There is more glory to despise the world then to conquer it for after its conquest a man knewes not what to doe with it have lost some of them their names and of this Triumpher there remaines us but the Idea as of a Dreame since men are ready to require Security even of his Memorie for the wonders which it preacheth to us of him May wee not then againe justly avow that of all the conditions to which a man may be advanced without the ayde of vertue either by nature or Fortune there is none more infortunate then to be to these a favorite nor any more miserable then to be a Great-one This inconstant Goddesse hath a thousand favours to lend All those who engage themselves to the service of fortune are ill payd and of this every day gives us experiâ—â—â—â— but to give none but haltars poysons poniards and precipices 'T is a fine thing to see Hannibal begging his bread even in view of Scipio after he had cal'd into question the price of the worlds Empire-dome Is it not an object worthy of compassion to consider Nicias upon his knees before Gillippus to beg his owne and the Athenians lives after he had in a manner commanded the winds at Sea and Fortune ashore in a government soveraignly absolute Who will not have the same resentiments of pity reading the history of Crassus then wheÌ„ by excesse of disaster he surviv'd both his glory reputation being constrained to assist at the funerals of his owne renowne All those who hound after fortune are well pleased to be deceived since her deceits are so well knowne and undergoe the hard conditions of his enemies attending death to free him from servitude Will you have no regreet to see enslav'd under the tyrannie of the Kings of Egypt the great Agesilaus whose valour was the onely wonder of his Time What will you say to the deplorable Fate of Cumenes to whom Fortune having offered so often Empires gives him nothing in the end but chaines so to dye in captivitie You see at what price Men have bought the favours of this Goddesse when many times the serenity of a happy life produceth the storme of an unfortunate Death You may judge also at the same time of what Nature are these heights of honour when often the Greatest at Sun-rise find themselves at the end of the Day the most miserable And suppose Fortune meddle not with 'em to what extremitie of miserie thinke you is a man reduc't at the houre of his departure All his Grandeurs though yet present are but as past felicities he enjoyes no more the goods which he possesses griefes only appertaine to him in proper and of what magnificences so'ere hee is environed this object showes him but the image of a funerall pompe I wonder not if rich men be afraid of death since to them it is more dreadfull then to any his bed already Emblemes the Sepulcher the sheets his winding linnen wherein he must be inveloped So that if he yet conceit himselfe Great 't is onely in misery Since all that hee sees heares touches smells and tasts sensibly perswades him nothing else Give Resurrection in your thoughts to great Alexander and then againe conceive him at last gaspe and now consider in this deplorable estate wherein hee finds himselfe involv'd upon his funerall couch to what can stead him all the grandeurs of his life past they being also past with it I grant that all the Earth be his Fortune sells every day the glory of the world to any that will but none but fooles are her chap-men yet you see how the little load of that of his body weighs so heavy on his soule that it is upon point to fall groveling under the burden I grant that all the glory of the world belong to him in proper hee enjoyes nothing but his miseries I yeeld moreover that all Mankind may be his subjects yet this absolute soveraignety is not exempt from the servitude of payne Be it that with the onely thunder of his voyce he makes the Earth to tremble yet he himselfe cannot hold from shaking at the noyse of his owne sighs I grant in fine that all the Kings of the world render him homage yet hee is still the tributary of Death O grandeurs since you fly away without cease Omnis motus tendit ad quietem what are you but a little wind and should I be an Idolater of a litle tossed Ayre and which only moves but to vanish to its repose O greatnesses since you doe but passe away what name should I give you but that of a dreame Alas why should I passe my life in your pursuite still dreaming after you O worldly greatnesses since you bid Adieu to all the world without being able to stay your selves one onely moment Adieu then your allurements have none for me your sweets are bitter to my taste and your pleasures afford me none I cannot runne after that which flyes Worldly Greatnesses are but childrens trifles every wise man despises them I can have no love for
things which passe away and since the world hath nothing else 't is a long while that I have bidden adieu to it It had promised me much and though it had given me nothing yet cannot I reproach it finding my selfe yet too rich by reason of its hardnesse But I returne to the point Men of the World would perswade us that it is impossible to finde any quiet in it to say a firme settling of Spirit The onely meanes to be content is to settle the conscience in peace wherein a man may be content in his condition without ever wishing any other thing And for my part I judge nothing to be more easie if wee leave to reason its absolute power What impossibilitie can there be to regulate a mans will to God's And what contradiction in 't to live upon earth of the pure benedictions of heaven What greater Riches can a man wish then this to be able to undergoe the Decrees of his Fate without murmuring and complaint If Riches consisted onely in Gold Diamonds Pearles or such like things of like raritie those which have not of 'em might count themselves miserable But every man carryes his treasure in his conscience Hee which lives without just scandall lives happily and who can complaine of a happy life Riches are of use to humane life but not of necessitie for without them a man may live content But if to have the hap of these felicities of this life a man judge presently that hee ought of necessity to have a great number of riches This is to enslave himselfe to his owne opinion abounding in his proper sense and condemning reason for being of the contrary part I know well that a man is naturally swayed to love himselfe more then all things of the world Philautia that this love proceeds from the passion of our interests seeking with much care and paine all that may contribute to our contentments and whereas Riches seeme to be Nurses of them this consequence is incident to be drawne that without them is no contented living But at first dash it is necessary to distinguish this love into Naturall and Brutall and beleeve that with the illumination of reason When Reason reignes the passions obey wee may purifie the relishes of the first even to the point of rendring them innocent without departing from our interests and consequently the enjoyment of our pleasures giving them for object the establishment of our setled content in misprision of all those things of the world which may destroy it As for this brutish Love which estranging us from God separates us also from our selves the passion of it becomes so strong by our weaknesse that without a speciall grace wee grow old in this maladie of Spirit of contenting our Senses rather then obeying our Reason making a new God of the Treasures of the Earth But in conclusion these Gods abandon our bodies to the Wormes and our soules to the Devils And for all their riches the greatesâ— Great ones can onely purchase a glorious Sepulture Is not this a great advantage and a goodly consolation He whose will submits to Gods will lives ever content Maintaine we boldly that a man may finde quietnesse of life in all sorts oâ— condition with the onely richenesse of â—tractable Soule resign'd to take the time as it comes and as God sends it without ever arguing with his providence There is no affliction The Spirit of a Man will beare his infirmitie whereto our Soule cannot give us asswage There is no ill whereto it selfe is not capable to furnish us a remedie A man how miserable somever may finde his contentment amidst his miseries if he lives for his soule more then for his bodies behalfe God makes us to be borne where he will and of what Parents hee pleases if the poorenesse of our birth accompanie us even to death hee hath so ordained it what can wee else doe but let him so doe Can he be accounted miserable that obey's with good grace his soveraignes decrees 'T is a greater danger to be very rich then very poore for riches often make men loose their way but povertie keepes 'em in the streight path O how is it farre more easie to undergoe the burthen of much povertie then of great riches For a man extremely poore is troubled with no thoughts more important then onely how to finde meanes to passe his life in the austerities whereto hee is alreadie habituated without repining after other fortune as being estranged equally both from his knowledge and reach in which respects hee may well be stil'd happie But a man very rich dreames of nothing but to eternize the continuance of his dayes although this fancie be in vaine in stead of letting them quietly slide away insomuch that being possest with no passion more then love of life hee thinkes alwayes to live and never to die Death cannot be said to deceive any body for it is infallible and yet the world complaines of it But Death comes ere hee thinks on 't and taking from him all to his very Shirt constraines him to confesse that riches are onely profitable by misprision since by the contempt a man makes of them he may become the richest of the world O what a sensible pleasure 't is to be Rich say wordly men alwayes but I would faine know in what consists this contentment what satisfaction can there be had to possesse much treasure knowing what an infinit number of our companions are reduc'd to the last point of povertie Some in Hospitals where they lye in straw o'rewhelmed with a thousand fresh griefes Others at the corner of a street where a piece of a Dung-hill serves them at once both for bed and board Some againe in Dangeons where horrour and affright hunger and despaire tyrannize equally over their unfortunate spirits And others in some Desert to which ill fate has confined them to make their ills remedilesse as being farre removed from all sorts of succours There is no emptinesse in nature for miseries fill all How with the knowledge of these truths a man shall be able to relish greedily the vaine sweets of wordly riches it must needs be for want of reason or pity and consequently to be altogether brutish or insensible I shall have suppose a hundred thousand crownes in rents and all this revenue shall serve but to nourish my body and its pleasures without considering that a hundred thousand poore soules sigh under the heavy burden of their miseries every Day and yet men shall esteeme me happy in being rich in this fate O how dangerous are the treasures which produce these felicities 'T is a brave generositie to be sensible of other mens miseries Is it possible that the Great-ones of the world doe not thinke at all in the middle of their Feasts of the extreame poverty of an infinite number of persons and that in themselves they doe not reason secretly in
Kingdome of Pontus See Pliny's Nat. Historie 7 Bock 26 Chapter Armenia Cappadocia Paphlagonia Media Colchis the Hiberians the Albanians Siria Cilicia Mesopotamia Phoenicia Pride is the passion of fooles for what a senselesnesse is it to be proud having so many miseries about us which are incident to mortall man Palestina Iudea Arabia and the Rovers of all the Seas Who can be comparable to this proud Conquerour and yet I say it having conquered and subjugated the greatest part of the Earth Fate permits him not so much as to expire upon it and the Sea yet more treacherous prepares him shipwracke in mid'st of the Port. What resemblance and what correspondence can there be now betweene this Triumph so sumptuous so stately and magnificent and that whose presentation I show you where lowlinesse humilitie and miserie hold the first ranke and possesse the highest places How poore is the vanitie of men having no other grounds but humane frailtie Assuredly the difference is great but yet this inequalitie here is glorious since it brings along with it the price of that vertue whereof Pompey despised the conquest Hee in his Triumph rays'd wonder to the beauty of those two great precious stones But the Sepulchrall Marbles which appeared in this of ADRIAN were of another estimate because Prudence values them above all price putting them to that employment to which shee had destinated them Againe if he expose to view in vessels of gold Mountaines Animals Trees Vines Statues of the same matter This Herse covered with black which serves for ornament to this Funerall Pompe containes yet much more treasure since the contempt of all together is graven therein Hee makes ostentation of his Statue of gold enrich't with Pearles but our Monarch takes as much glory without them shewing in his owne bare Portraict the originall of his miseries That proud Conquerour had a thousand Garlands and golden Coronets as a novell Trophy Except the Crown of Vertue all other are subject to change But ours here crownes himselfe with Cypresse during his carreere of life to merit those palmes which await him in the end In fine Pompey is the Idoll of hearts and soules and his Triumphall Chariot serves as an Altar where he receives the vowes and Sacrifices But this Prince in stead of causing Idolaters during the sway of his Majestie immolates himselfe up to the view of Heaven and Earth dying already in his owne Funerals and suffering himselfe to be as is were buried by the continuall object which dwels with him of Death and his Tombe But if Pompey lastly boast himselfe to have conquered an infinite number of Realmes or all the world together * ADRIAN This Man having never had worse enemies then his passions hath sought no other glory but to overcome them and in their defeat a Man may well be stil'd the Conquerour of Conquerours for the Coronall wreaths of this Triumph feare nor the Sunnes extremity nor the Ages inconstancie Wee must passe on farther All the objects of Vanitie are so many enemies against which we ought to be alwayes in armes Isidore and Tranquillus doe assure us that to carry away the glory of a Triumph it was necessarily required to vanquish five thousand enemies or gaine five victories as it is reported of Caesar The consent of the Senate was also to be had And the Conquerour was to be clothed in Purple and Crowned with Laurell holding a Scepter in his hand and in this sort hee was conducted to the Capitoll of Iupiter where some famous Orator made a Panegyricke of his prowesse What better Allegory can wee draw from these prophane truths then this of the Victory which wee ought to have of our five Senses as of five thousand enemies whose defeat is necessary to our triumph Still to wage warre against our passions is the way to live in peace These are the five Victories which he must gaine that would acquire such Trophies whose glory is taken away neither by time nor Death This consent of the Senate is the Authority of our reason which alone gives value and esteeme to our actions and 't is of her that we may learne the meanes in obeying her to command over our passions and by the conquest of this sway triumph over our selves which is the bravest Victory of the World These Scepters and Crownes are so many markes of Soveraignty which remaine us in propriety after subjection of so many fierce enemies Heaven is the Capitol whither our good workes conduct us in triumph and where the voyce of Angels serves for Oratour to publish the glory of our deedes whose renowne remaines eternall 'T is not all to love Vertue 't is the practice These great Roman Captaines which made love to vertue though without perfect knowledge of it have sought for honour and glory in the overthrow of their enemies but they could never finde the shadowes of solid Honour which thus they sought from whence it came to passe that they have fashioned to themselves diverse Chimeras for to repast their fancy too greedy of these cheating objects Not that there is no glory in a Conquest but 't was their Ambition led them along in Triumph amidst their owne Triumphing What honour had Caesar borne away if hee had joyned to his Trophies the slavery of Cleopatra hee had exposed to view a Chaptive-Queene who otherwhile had subjected him to her Love-dominion But if the fortune of the warre had delivered him this Princesse He triumphs with an ill grace o're whom his vices triumph the fate of Love would have given even himselfe into her hands Insomuch that the Death of Cleopatra immmortaliz'd the renowne of Cesar Asdrubal according to Iustin triumphed foure times in Carthage but this famous Theater of honour where glory it selfe had appeared so often upon its Throne serves in conclusion for a Trophy to a new Conquerour insomuch that it buried at once the renowne and memory even of those that had presented themselves triumphant personages To day Memphis is all-Triumphant and on the morrow this proud Citie is reduced to slaverie To day the report of its glory makes the world shake and on the morrow Travellers seeke for it upon its owne site but finde it not O goodly triumph O fearefull overthrow What continuall revolution of the Wheele Marcellus shewes himselfe at point of day upon a magnificent Chariot of Triumph and at Sunne-set his glory and his life finish equally their carreere I meane in the twinckling of an eye Fortune takes away from him all those Laurell-wreaths which shee had given him and leaves him nothing at his death but the regreet of having liv'd too-long It may be some consolation in all our miseries to see all else have their changes as well as we Marius triumphed diverse times but with what tempests was the Ship of his fortune entertained Behold him now elevated upon the highest Throne of Honour but if you turne but your
world I say the winning'st or the pleasing'st since they guard themselves onely with such kind of weapons whose hurtings makes us often sigh rather for joy then griefe Certainely the Victory of Reason over all the revolted faculties of our â—oules merits alone the honour of a Triumph and what advantage somâ—â—er a man has over his enemies hee â—imselfe is yet still vanquisht if his â—ices be not subdued I pursue my deâ—â—gne They which have enthronized Vertue in their breasts have laid their foundations upon the ruines of their passions to testifie to us that a Man cannot be vertuous with their predominancy And after essay of diverse meanes upon designe to vanquish them I have found none more powerfull then this The Meditation of Death but if any doubt this the tryall on 't will be profitable for him How is it possible that a Man should let himselfe be mastered with the passion of Revenge if he but muze of that Vengeance which his sins may draw downe every moment upon his head as being every houre in estate to dye Hee shall heare rumble in his eares the thunder of Divine Justice by the continuall murmur of his sighs which advertize him of the approaches of Death What courage can he have to avenge himselfe being upon point himselfe to suffer the torment of eternall vengeance Thou that art Vindicative wilt thou then quench the ardour of thy Choller feele thine owne pulse and consider that this pety slow feaver wherewith thou art stormed leads thee by little and little into the grave 'T is more honour for a man to avenge himselfe of his choler then of his enemie Who can be Ambitious if musing of Death since hee must quitt all with his life Let us ponder a while the fate of those arrogant spirits which ha' muz'd themselves to conquer the vaine greatnesses of the Earth What hath beene in fine their share at the end of the carriere They have had nothing but unprofitable regreets to have so ill employ'd their time finding themselves so poore with all their treasure as if they had beene borne the wreched'st of the world Thou Ambitious-one willt thou be cured of the disease of thy Passion think each houre of the day that that which thou now hearest strike may be thy Last Who would sigh for prophane Love after these objects of dust and ashes Mortall frailtie brings blemish to the fairest visages and mightily takes from their opinion being well considered if he often considered that hee himselfe is made of nothing else and that this noysome and corruptive matter seekaes nothing more then abysses of the grave there to hide within its loath somenesse in effect who would give his flesh a prey to pleasures if he would consider that the wormes do in expectation make their fees thereof already The Meditation of Death serves for temperament to all sorts of delights And if a Man bee capable of love in this muze it cannot be other then of his Salvation since this object is eternall but all others of the world perishable Infortunate Lovers search the solace of your immodest passions in the Anatomy of the subject whereof you are Idolaters Be assistant at that dead view Thinke of your owne Death Behold you are cured He which considers of that wretchednesse which is adjunct to Death easily mispriseth the riches of this life What wretched Rich man would be so much in love with his treasures if he would consider that Death robs him from them every day making him dye continually and that at the end of the terme of his life hee carryes along with him but the good or the evill which hee hath done to be either recompenc'd or punish'd but with a glory or a punishment whereof Eternity alone must terminate the continuance Covetous Misers the onely meanes for you to be so no more is to celebrate your owne funerals by your Meditations and often to consider the Account not of your riches but that which you must render one day of their fruition since your Salvation depends thereon Who in fine would make a God of his Belly seeking with passion all the delights which may tickle the sense of Taste if he represented to himselfe the miseries of the body which hee takes so much paines to nourish and the rigour of those inviolable decrees which destinate him a prey to the wormes and the remaines of their leavings to rottennesse This consideration would be capable to make him loose both appetite and desire at the same time to nourrish so delicately his carkasse O soules all of flesh repasting your selves with nothing else there is no invention to make you change nature but this to Heare your selves dye by the noyse of your sighs to See your selves dye by the wrinkles which furrow every day upon your visages and to Feele your selves die by the beatings of your pulse which indexeth this your hecticke feaver wherewith you are mortally attainted This is a Probatum-remedie the experience thereof is not dangerous May not a man then maintaine with much reason that the thought of Death alone is capable to cure our soules of the disease of their passions in doseing them both the meanes If a man should forget all things else but the miseries of his condition this last were enough to exercise the vastest memorie and the Vertue to triumph over them But if of this you desire an example call to mind that which I have proposed you in the beginning of the Chapter How marvellous is it that a great Monarch who is able to maintaine all manner of pleasure in his heart with all the delights which accompany it celebrates himselfe his Funeralls in the midst of his carriere of life beginning to raigne at the end of his raigne since that last object is alwayes present before his eyes His Passions doe assaile him but hee vanquisheth them they give him combate but he leads them in triumph and buryes them altogether in the Tombe which hee prepares himselfe Consider a little the glory which is relucent in this action We read of the Kings of Arabia that they triumphed upon Dromedaries the Kings of Persia upon Elephants of Croatia upon Bulls the Romanes upon horses and yet 't is remarkt of Nero that hee made himselfe be drawne in Triumph by foure Hermaphrodite Mares Camillus by foure white Horses Marke Antony by foure Lions Aurelian by foure Hearts Caesar by forty Elephants Heliogabalus by foure Dogges Moreover the Poets doe assure us that the triumphant Charriot of Bacchus was drawne by Tygers Neptunes by Fishes of Thetis by Dolphins Diana's by Harts of Venus by Doves Iuno's by Peacocks All these objects of pompe and magnificence whereof histories This Vanitie is a most contagious maladie and the onely preservative is the remembrance of Death and Fables would eternize the vanity have for all that done nothing but passe away and though a little remembrance of ' them stay with us 't is but the
memoriall of a Chimera and of a fantosme since it preaches nothing else to us but the ruine and non-entity of that which hath beene other-while O how glorious a Triumph is it These things ruminated on will make us wise when wee our selves are encharioted over our passions now enslaved and subjected under the Empire of Reason There is nothing so glorious there is nothing so magnificent For these Dromedaries these Elephants these Bulls these Horses these Hermaphrodite Mares these Lyons Stags and Tygres afore-mentioned are but brute beasts which draw along in traine after them others as brutish as themselves as suffering themselves to be transported with vanitie which onely reduceth them to this beastly-semblant vanitie Let us turne our face to another side SABELLICUS in his ENNEADS actively perswades us to beleeve that the Christians of Aethiopia doe carry in their processions great vessels full of ashes Let the fire of Divine Love glow upon our ashes to emblematize apparently the frailty of our nature But may not wee say upon too much reason that wee are earthen vessels full of ashes and what object more sensibly can be presented before our eyes to shew us the truth of our miseries then this of our selves From Earth is our production and the same serves us with nourishment and for sepulture also as if ashamed the Sunne should afford his light to our wretchednesse Make we then every day Funerall processions or at least visit in meditation every houre our Tombeâ— as the place where our bodyes must make so long abode Celebrate we our selves our owne Funerals and invite to our exequies The thought of our end is a soveraigne remedie against our passions Ambition Avarice Pride Choller Luxurie Gluttony and all the other Passions wherewith we may be attainted to the end to be Conquerours even by our owne proper defeate For when a Man yeelds to the Meditation of Death then reason commands sense All obey to this apprehension of frailty and feeblenesse Pleasures by little and little abandon us the sweets of life seeme sowre and wee can find no other quiet but in the hope of that which Truth it selfe hath promised us after so much trouble Proud Spirits be ye Spectators of this Funerall Pompe which this great Monarch celebrates to day Hee invites the Heaven and the Earth to his Exequies since in their view hee accompanies his pourtrayed gkeleton unto the Tombe his Body conducts thither its shadow the originall the painted figure in attendance till a Metamorphosis be made both of one and t'other O glorious action where the Living takes a pride to appeare Dead as dying alreadie by his owne choice as well as necessitie O glorious action where the Triumpher takes a glory in the appearance of his overthrow O glorious action where all the honour depends upon the contempt of the worlds honour O glorious action where Garlands of Cypresse dispute the preheminence with Laurell and Palme O glorious action where the Conquerour under-going the Lawes of Nature elevates himselfe above it making his puissance to be admired in his voluntarie weakenesse But I engage my selfe too farre in 't Herodotus remarkes that the Queene Semiramis made her Sepulcher be erected upon the entrances of the principall Gate of the * Babylon Citie to the end that this sad object of wretchednesse might serve for Schoole-master to passengers to teach them the Art to know themselves O blessed Lesson is that no better Schoole then the Church-yard which the Tombes can affoord us O gracious Science is that which they instruct us Strabo testifies that the Persians made Pipes of dead-mens bones which they used at Festivals to the end that the sad harmonie which issued thence might temper the excesse of joy But may not we say our Lungs to be to us such kind of Whistles and that our dolorous sighs which produce thence the harmonie are capable to moderate the violence of our contentments A strange thing it is that all the animated objects which are affected by our senses beare the image of Death and yet wee never thinke but of Life Let our eyes but fairely turne their regards on all sides All that lives they may see dyes and what ha's no life passes away before ' em Our eares are tickled with the sweet harmonie of Voices or Instruments or Tabors or Trumpets But these sounds are but Organs spirited with blasts whose borrowed wind is lost when the motion ceaseth and there behold the Faile of their life And for Instruments 't is true they warble delightfully yet their melodie is often dolefull to the mind The object of our nothingnesse ha's a grace and allurement capable to ravish the best spirits when it considers that it proceedes from certaine guts of dead beasts which Art hath so contrived Tabors being of the same nature must also necessarily produce the same effects and Trumpets also doe but sobbe in our eares since their clangor is forced onely by the violence of a blast of sighs Our Taste cannot satiate the hunger of its appetite but with dead and breathlesse things and all our other senses are subject to the same necessitie Insomuch that Death environs us on all sides though we be alwayes her owne and yet wee never thinke on 't Death is ever present and at hand to our heart but still absent from our memorie but in extremities as if wee were onely to learne at the last instant that wee are Mortall and the hard experience which wee make on 't were the onely Lesson which by Nature is given us LORD render me capable if it please thee of this Science which may effectually teach me the Art to know my selfe to the end that this knowledge may represent to me alwayes the realitie of my wretchednesse Make me that I may see my selfe may understand and feele my selfe to dye every moment but so that I may see it with the eyes of my heart perceive it with the eyes of my soule and feele it by the sense of my conscience therein to finde my repose and safetie I know well that Nature mournes uncessantly the death of its workes which are devoured every houre by time and though no where thus can I see but Sadnesse it selfe yet ne'rethelesse remaine I insensible of the horrour of these objects and though they be terrible my spirit not affrighted Render me therefore if it please thee render me fearefull and make me even to tremble in thinking of it since the thought of it is so important and suffer me not to live a kind of Death without meditating of that life which is exempt from Death and whereof Eternitie is the Limit All my votes doe terminate at this and all my wishes which I addresse to thy bounty that I may one day see the effects of my hopes Let us advance on our first proposiâ—ion O how celebrious and glorious is the Triumph over our selves Let us leave the Laurels and Palmes to those famous
he sees at his feet the bones and dust of an infinite number of persons To what purpose is Courage against those perils which cannot be avoyded who were as valiant as he what thoughts can he have but of submission and humilitie considering that one part of himselfe is already reduced into dust and filth I say a part of himselfe since he himselfe is but a piece of the same matter which now serves him for object and to the same last point will be extended one day the line of his life When Virgil tells us of the fate of Priam Aeneid lib. 2. lacetingens litore truncus Avulsumque humeris caput sine no mine corâ—uâ— hee bring in Aeneas astonish't at it that so great a Monarch should leave to posteritie no other Monument of his greatnesse but a Tronck of flâ—sh a head separated from the shoulders and a carkasse without name or shape He which makes himselfe rightly sensible of his miseries is partly in way to be exempted from their tyranny Great Kings This truth is a Mirrour which flatters not Gaze here often in these meditations and you will surely at length consider that All is full of vanity and that this glory of the world whereof you are so strongly Idolaters is but a Phantasie and Chimera to which your imaginations give that beauty which charmes you and that delicacie which ravishes you What thinke you is it to be the greatest of the world 'T is an honour whereof miserie and inconstancy are the foundations for all the felicities which can arrive us are of the same nature as wee are and consequently as miserable as our condition and as changing This Earth whereon you live is the lodging of the dead what eternitie beleeve you to find in it Eternitie of honours riches and contentments there was never any but in imagination and this Idea which wee have of them is but a reflection from the lightning of Truth where-with heaven illuminates noble soules thus to guide them to the search of the true source of all by the ayde of these small rivolets There is nothing eternall in this world but this scope of truth It is time to finish this worke I have made appeare to you in the first Chapter the particular study which a man ought to take to come to the * Hoc jubet illa Pyrhicis oraculis adscripta vox Nosce Te. Knowledge of himselfe Seneca wherein lyes the accomplishment of perfection And herein the precept is The Consideration of the miseries which are destinated to our Nature as being so many objects capable enough to force up the power of our reason to give credence to the resentments of frailty which are proper to us But this is not all to be meerely sensible of our wretchednesse Serious Consideration must often renew the Ideas of them in our soules more then the hard experience of them And this to the end that vanitie to which wee are too incident may not surprize us He that searches into himselfe shall not lose his labour during the intervals of a meditation so important Wee must often dive into our selves and seeke in the truth of our nothingnesse some light to make us thus to know our selves Afterwards making a rise a little higher it is necessary to consider the End for which wee were created and in this consideration to employ all the powers of the severall faculties of our soules to the generous designe of getting possession of that glory Behold the Corollarie of my first Argument or Chapter The second instructs us a new meanes to resist powerfully the hits of the vanities of the world from the example of the wretchednesse of * Saladine one of the greatest Monarchs of the world Fortune had refused him nothing because she meant to take all from him for in the height of his glory he finds himselfe reduced to the poorenesse of his shirt onely which is all he carryes with him into the grave Povetty and Riches depend upon opinion and a noble soule is above his fortune in what condition somever he be And this makes us sensibly perceive that the greatnesses of the earth are Goods as good as estranged from humane nature since in this mortall and perishing condition wee can onely possesse their usance and the terme of this possession is of so short endurance that wee see as soone the end as the beginning Reader represent unto thy selfe how thou shalt be dealt with at thy death both by Fortune and the world since the Minion of this blind Goddesse Et quae veneraris quae-despicis unus exae quabit cinis and the greatest of the Universe is exposed all naked in his shirt in sight of all his subjects to be given in prey to the wormes Sen. as well as the most miserable of the Earth The Third Chapter where Life leads Death in Triumph teaches us the Art to vanquish this untamable by considering its weakenesse for in effect if Death be but a privation The horrour of Death is purely in the weakenes of imagination 't is to be deprived of reason and judgement to give it a being since it cannot subsist but in our impaired imaginations The fantosme of an Idea is it whose very forme is immateriall as having no other subsistance I say but that which the weakenesse of our spirit gives it And againe to come to the most important point Let this be the close of the recapitulation that you may have meanes not to stand in feare on 't Sen. * Incertum est quo te loco Mors expectet itaque tu illam omni loco expecta Muze on it alwayes looke for it in all places and o'recomming your selves you shall triumph over it Never did an unblemisht life feare Death The last Chapter where the object of Caemiteries and Sepulchers is laid before your eyes may now againe serve for the last touch since it is a Theater where you must play the Tragedie of your lives All this great number of Actors Hodie mihi Cras tibi Thinke on that Reader it may be thy turne to morrow whose bones and ashes you see there have every one playd their part and it may be that the houre will soone Knell that you must act yours Reader live ever in this providence a Man cannot too soone resolve to doe that well which howsomever must be done of necessitie God grant that these last lines may once againe reproach thee the bad estate of thy Conscience delay not too long this Check to thy selfe least too late the regreets be then in vaine Thy salvation is fastned to an instant Momentum est unde pendet aeteâ—nitas consider the infinite number of them which are already slip't away when perhaps at that moment thou wert in estate if dying to incurre the punishment of a second Death and that eternall If thou trust to thy youth put thy head out of
the window and thou shalt see carryed to the grave some not so old as thy selfe If thou relye upon the health which thou now enjoyest 't is but a false going-dyall The calme of a perfect health Saepe optimus status corpotis periculâ— susimuuuml s. hath oftentimes ushered the Tempest of a suddaine Death What hopest thou for Hip. hope is deceitfull what stayest thou soâ— Sera nimis Vita est crastina vive hodie A wise man ought never to defer till to morrow what should be done to day Lastly what desirest thou The peace of conscience is the only desirable good Goe on then right forward thou canst not misse the way which I have chalk't thee FINIS PERLECTORI The TRANSLATOVR'S COROLLARIE SO Now 't is done although it be no Taske That did much Braines or toylesome Study aske The meaning I ' vouch good but Merit small In rendring English the FRENCH PRINCIPALL It is but a Translation I confesse And yet the Rubs of Death in 't nerethelesse May trippe some cap'ring Fancies of the Time That Domineere and Swagger it in Rime That Charge upon the Reader and give Fire On all that doe not as they doe admire Either their rugged Satyrs cruell veine Or puffe-paste Notes 'bove Ela in high straine Then in prevention quarrell like a curst Scold who being guilty yet will call Whore first When any dyes whose Muse was rich in Verse They claime Succession and prophane his Herse They onely are Heires of his Braine-estate Others are base and illegitimate All but their owne Abettors they defie And LORD-it in their Wit-Supremacy Others they say but Sculke or lye i' th' lurch As we hold Schismaticks from the true Church So hold they all that doe decline their way Nor sweare by Heaven Al 's excellent they say T were well they 'd see the fing'ring on these frets Can neither save their Soules nor pay their Debts Or would they they thinke of Death as they should doe They would live better and more honourd too T is base to doe base deeds yet for false fame To Keepe a stirre and bustle into Name Whilst each applauds his owne contemnes an others Becons his owne deserts but his he smothers They feare Fame's out of breath and therefore they Trumpet their owne praises in their owne way Or ioyne in Tricke of Stale Confed'racy Cal'd Quid pro Quo Claw me and I le claw thee Marry at others Tooth and Naile they flye That do not tread their Path but would goe bye Farewell to these my ayme not here insists Leave we these wranglers unto equall lists To Nobler Natures I my brest expose The Good I bow to in an humble Cloze To such as knowing how vaine this Life is Exalt their thoughts to one better then This. 'T is the best Method to be out of Love With things below and thence to soare above To which effect my soules integrity In L'envoy thus salutes each courteous eye L'ENVOY INgenuous READER thou do'st crowne The Morall active course layd downe By De la SERRE what is pen'd If thy ACTIONS recommend Relating to the first EMBLEME WHen haughtie thoughts impuffe thee than Dictate thy selfe Thou art but Man A fabricke of commixed Dust That 's all the prop of humane trust How dares a Clod of mouldring Clay Be Proud decaying every day And yet there is away beside Wherein may be a lawfull Pride When sly Temptations stirre thee Than Againe the Word Thou art a Man Rouze up thy Spirits doe not yeeld A brave resistance winnes the Field Shall a soule of Heavenly breath Grovell so farre its worth beneath Fouly to bee pollute with slime Of any base and shamefull crime Thou art a Man for Heaven borne Reflect on Earth disdainefull scorne Bee not abus'd since Life is short Squander it not away in sport Nor hazard heavens eternall Joyes For a small spurt of wordly Toyes Doe Something ere thou doe bequeath To Wormes thy flesh to Aire thy breath Something that may when thou art dead With honour of thy name be read Something that may when thou art cold Thaw frozen Spirits when t is told Something that may the grave controule And shew thou hadst a noble Soule Doe something to advance thy blisse Both in the other World and This. Relating to the second EMBLEME WEre both the Indias treasures Thine And thou LORD of every Mine Or hadst thou all the golden Ore On Tagus or Factolus Shore And were thy Cabinet the Shrine Where thousand pearles and Diamonds shine All must be left and thou allowd A little linnen for thy Shrowd Or if 't were so thy Testament Perhaps a goodly Monument What better is a golden Chase Or Marble then a Charnell place Charon hence no advantage makes A halfe-penny a soule he takes Thy heires will leave thee but a Shirt Enough to hide thy rotten Dirt. Then bee not Greedy of much pelfe He that gets all may lose himselfe And Riches are of this Dilemme Or they leave us or we must them Death brings to Misers double Woe They loose their Cash and their soules too Change then thy scope to heavenly gaines That wealth eternally remaines Relatory to the third EMBLEME BE not curious to amaze With glitt'ring pompe the Vulgar gaze Strive not to cheat with vaine delight Those that are catcht with each brave sight How soone will any gawdy show Make their low Spirits overflow Whose Soules are ready to runne-ore At any Toy nere seene before Rather thy better thoughts apply For to addresse thy selfe to dye Bee ne're so glorious after all Thy latest pompe's thy Funerall Shall a dresse of Tyrian Dye Or Venice gold Embroyderie Or new-fash'on-varied Vest Tympanize thy out-strutting brest There 's none of these will hold thee tacke But thy last colour shall be Blacke Bee not deceiv'd There comes a Day Will sweepe thy Gloryes all away Meane while the thought on 't may abate Th' Excesses of thy present ' state Death never can that Man surprize That watches for 't with wary Eyes Doe Soe And thou shalt make thereby A Vertue of Necessitie And when thy Dying-day is come Goe like a Man that 's walking home Heav'n Guard thee with Angelicke pow'r To be prepared for that houre When ev'ry Soule shall feele what 'T is To have liv'd Well or done Amisse Relating to the fourth EMBLEME LEt not the Splendour of high Birth Bee all thy Glosse without true worth Let neither honour nor vast wealth Beautie nor Valour nor firme health Make thee beare up too high thy head All men alike are buried Stare not with Supercilious brow Poore folkes are Dast and so art Thou Triumph not in thy worldly Odds They dye like men whom we count Gods And in the Grave it is all one Who enjoy'd all or who had none Death cuts off all superfluous And makes the proudest One of us Nor shall there diffr'ence then betweene The dust of LORDS or slaves be seene Together under ground they lye