not Cato dyed in the defence of his country and common wealth his fame had dyed with his body thus are the actions of the worlde full of dangers without iudgement of destruction But come to the managing of a state with iudgement thou canst not be throwne what though thou seest examples of ingratitude of dangers of death these in iudgement thou seest rather terrours then dangers thy end is to doe good and these letter resisted innobles thy intendement my country gaue me life it is my duety to giue it her againe but what is life in respect of vertue alas too meane a purchase I haue a soule whose perfection rests in resisting the childish opinions of the body and that soule knowes it is ignominious to deny a publike good for a priuate perill no vertue comes to vs pleasingly but after come pleaseth it is vices baite to seeme sweet at the first tast the coÌ„tinuance is the vertue which shews her the child of eternity safenes entertaining pleasure demonstrates mortality dust It is not danger with iudgement what the world calles danger the losse of vertue not of life is vnhappines then for our country all our endeuours should bend not because honor and promotion goeth that way but because it is one of the lessons of vertue we must not looke after danger and corruption but after the purity of vertue had Caesar died when his conquestes and gouernement of the Gaules made his Countrye hould him a true seruant how much more cleere and shining had he left his memory then it is now with his perpetuall dictatorship what might haue beene vertue is now polluted with ambition and all those vertues that without this might haue beene called fortitude temperance liberallity and pacience are now not these but counterfaites of this he was not but seemed vertuous for vnspotted uertue calles none vertuous that haue any other end but her selfe howsoeuer the grosnesse of our sight vsed rather to colours then truth would perswade vertue to put one a more mixt body yet thus is vertue and thus she may be brought acquainted with our soules though our vile bodily composition cannot comprehend her none can tell but they that haue felt the many conflicts the soule indures with the body whose impurity not tasting the purities of vertue drawes the naturall well inclined parts of the minde into the vnnaturall naturall affections of the body In this Caesar questionlesse were more many graces had they not beene disgraced with conuerting the sweete abilities of his soule to the bodies gaine Bâ—â— thus a young experience may produce many examples where the abouÌ„dance of vertues reward ouerwaying men hath sunck them for the eyes tonge of the worst haue this inforced instinct though they do not well yet must they praise well doers and in the middest of thereill exalt vertue I thinke Caesar meant well to his common wealth so long as his common wealth was his maister but declined when their power declined to his will thus betweene too much and too little wauers the life of man no reward makes him desperate too much ambitious but iudgement swimmes betweene these and neuer touches any of these extremities she labours for vertue noâ— power she runnes without the stopâ— eyther of feare or couetousnes I wonder at this infection of greatnes that it can so blind vertue thinkes no further then death the reasons to ouerthrow tâ—is theft will shew them reasonlesse that affect it neither in number proportion nor quality can one equall thousands what reason is there then hee should be preferred before them there is iustice against it one cannot withstand thousands there is safety against it and could hee wante danger yet he that wantes not guiltinesse is neuer without the torments of feare and suspition Ne vitima quidem sortis homiâ—um conspiratione periculo caruit as hee is a man he wantes them not but beeing an ill man are they not increased and fame the roabe of greatnesse is it not ouer-throwne by this Yes who seeth not that the best priuate performance answeres not a meane publike a greate deale of petill and paines of a priuate souldier ranckes not in mens mouthes with a generalls but comming within shotte the least mannaged Duello carries not the grace of the hauing but beene at a skirmishe of small moment hee that dooth but for himselfe though hee doe well yet it is no woonder it may bee mentioned perhaps in a ballad neuer in an historie Fame is not so light as to saile with a small gale it must be a winde of force that mooues her sayles which neuer is so forcible as when a good action is good for all But Caesar robde the worlde brought all the proffits of his common-wealth to be his onely of which that it was in-iustice all sees that it was daungerous he felte and for fame the spirite of his actions are commended the disposing of them because not hurtfull vnto vs not exclaymde agaynst but aske Iudgement and surelye hee will condemne him for killing vertue which ambition if after death we behold them impartially who would not choose to be Camillus the sauer of his countrey rather then Caesar the destroyer of his countrie how warme and cherishing to the soule are actions like Camillus is what a sweetenesse comes from the ayre of such a meditation when the other feeles as much cruelty inwardly as he effects outwardly and byes a beautifull out side with the tortures of his hart That corrupt speach of Caesars vpon Scilla Scillam nesciuisse literas qui Dictaturam deposuerit Had Scilla out liued Caesar how well might he haue mocked his greedy body when in spite of it greatnesse it lay intangled and liuelesse in the Senate Scilla saw this and eschewed it Caesar marked his iudgement and found to late there was wisedome in moderating power But all this saues not greatnesse all are tempted many yeeld few hould out wee vse power commonly as meate not nourishing ourselues but surfetting to please our tast we ouerlaye our stomackes thus we abuse the preciousnesse of things that it needes no wonder though there be a frailty and weaknesse in what we are and haue for we pull it vpon them and vs with abusing all this is the oddes and preciousnesse of greatnesse ouer meaner fortunes that by their greatnesse they may doe more good vertue in lowe states lies buryed in high it standes a lost poore men may thinke well but ritch men both thinke and doe well here is all greatnesse hath no other circuit no other ought be his end for power is giuen him by the incomprehensible greatnesse compared to whome his is leste then nothing to no other ende that he hath then to support the weaknesse of mens fortunes and vnderstanding head to dispatch it not that he hath a body to consume is his desert power is not to do wrong but to punish doâ—ers of wrong and wealth I should holde a burthensome companion were
more then trees in Autumne recall the spring with shedding their leaues if it be the worke of chaunce I will ouercome chaunce with immoueable embrasing her enmity Sertorius vsed Fortune brauely in the losse of his eye others saith he leaue their markes crownes of glory at home for loosing but I haue mine still on I weare it it withers not I cannot loose it who likes not this better then bewailings and teares he hath vntuned eares and bleare eyes I doe not thinke but Fortune wished shee had rather tryed to melt him with smiles and dandlings then to haue hardened him with her frownes Thus may we conuert those things which wee call mishaps into blessings pulling the sting out of Fortunes taile and inforcing her to be our seruant If she powre wealth and honour let vs vse them to vphold our honour and profit our countrie but if she kick nettle her againe with despising her power making the raine of her afflictions washe the secret spots of our soule and outwardly be a soyle to our patience and constancie Man if you will end there excels not other creatures but mans preheminencie is granted him for his discretion which abused defaced by the vse his euidence gone his iurisdiction is gone and his definition must be a creature with two legges made long-wayes Man knoweth he is mortall that what he hath is transitorie he is vnhaâ—py that is not armed against the turnings of the world with the experience of the turnings of the world Ad cuncta non genuit tâ— Agamemnois prospera Atreus dolenà uÌ„ gaudenduÌ„ inuiceÌ„tibi Es namque mortalis genitus If he know this and will weepe is he not worthy to haue another stand by and laugh at him whither can knowledge go but hither where is she profitable but here Hee that reades to speake ends with the commendations of an olde wiues tale he that reades to applye his reading to his owne life is wise he poureth oyle into the lamp that will giue him light the other 〈◊〉 it without supplying it Anoxagoras made good vse of his Philosophie when his sonnes death assaulted him Scieba◠〈◊〉 alem me genuissa fâ—â—uÌ„ To know himselfe and the appurtenances to himselfe is the vse of knowledge and this knowledge vnmaskes his eies shews him wonders in himself he becomes in this like vnto God Est nosce teipsum non quideÌ„ ample â—â—ctio Sed tanta res solus quam nonuit Iupiter To know himselfe is to know before hand what may happen to himselfe so shall he in despight of the apparitions of the worlde stand vnmoueable so shall he not be cosined by expectation so shall he not be seduced to thinke her ouerthrow his but catch the Poets description and crowne himselfe with it Virtute praedui sapientis est viri Non in rebus òuris in Diuos fremere This life is like a continuall battaile and yet in battailes men are prepared better to indure what may happen the losse of a friend there is not his life but of honour this is accounted losse and lamented not that He that dyes in a ranke strikes not his next neighbour with terrour nor dooth he thinke death calles him though he be at his elbow an ouerthrow they seeke to recouer by ouerthrowing not lamenting and brauely they make resistance and resolution supplye the place of all other affections Thus I thinke euery morning I see no sooner day but I thinke that light will discouer some assault and with the Poet Mando a cantar la matiulina tromba Essay 42. Of Solitarinesse and Company HOw true a principle of vertue is it that crossing our appetite is the way of vertue Appetite is the childe of the sences and sencelesse when hee vseth but his parents counsaile how true a testimonie is this Axiome of our vile inclinations when it needes not the exception of good desires for all our desires ate naught Thus hath solitarinesse fallen into knowledge because speach and reason loue trafficke and exercise the former of which is vnecchoed without company the last naked for reason is made forcible by exercise Societies sweeten the bitternesse of life for life without societie is Viuere non bene viuere the obiection of calamities attending it as well as happinesse is resisted by the whole vnderstanding of man foâ— what knowes he that is not answered with a contrarie that excellent supernaturall blessing of man his Creator his God hath a contrary the cursse the pitche of his extreame danger perill lower what goodnesse is without temptations what happinesse not possible to bee transformed to her contrary who then seekes shelter in a caue outwardly imbalmeth his malady which cures Phisick saith he doth but leasurely cure it delaies not ends his wars for he caries with him a body which like childrens fancies will wheresoeuer find sportes and delights The life of contemplation at once bearing the functions and pleasures of the body makes the body striue for imployment helpes not that it is wholy incompassed for it makes it the more furious as when one dissenting elemeÌ„t imbraceth another the stricter his kindnes the more violeÌ„t the others rage Thus holinesse sequestred sequestring the bodyes exercise makes it flie to the meditation of this life will be glorious admirable in the world He must thinke and those thoughts come through his body and there are polluted with vaine-glory or hipocrisie or some other such malady incident to this retired course If from the scorne of the worlde or the being scorned by the worlde if from the despaire of not being greatest we can feede vpon nothing but extremities and therefore will be least if from losses or a feare of loosing we are not eased of the cares and danger of the world but rather ingrosse a map of her miseries and differ from the other life onely in desperation for we steale the deuouring monsters of dispaire selfe-loue disdaine scorne into a corner and there sacrifice ourselues vnto their insatiate appetites past danger for hope here cannot hope of rescue vnknowne diseases beeing diseases vncurable For secular fortunes this cloystered life is not tollerable it resists reason and goodnesse which both ioyne in guiding vs to societie the common good which hath neede of the worst of vs euen of those whose handes are their best partes for execution sets more a worke then direction There is a last time of life when decrepitnesse kills experience and when age hath not onely set vp his markes of triumph of wrinkles and gray haires but playes the Prologue of death and drawes the Curtaine not onely before our sences but euen before meditatioÌ„ It is then time to giue that life leaue to thinke onely of death and to prepare for his last iourney Thus haue many kings wilfully deposed themselues for which power which performance I thinke they were more bound to God then for making them kings But a life in the streÌ„gth of minde and body commits sacriledge
Diuinitie so easie to be comprehended by our sences neither is there any that carries more terrour with it When our inticing Fantasie hath dressed a Delight pleasingly and presents it to the râ—st they all like it and it is speedily bought afterward our Conscience showes vs our choyse when behold it is most ougly and deformed our Senses we cry out haue deceiued vs but that will not serue our once kissing it makes it follow vs perpetually Here hath she cause to weep and to pittie our torments enforcing vs to remorse and an after care with impression of her lamentations Essay 18. Of Sleepe MY custome is about this time of day to sleepe to auoide which now I choose to write so if this be a drowsie stile and sleepily done yet if it be not worse then sleepe I goe not backward for it serues in sleeps roome This Sleepe is to me in the nature that Dung is to Ground it makes the soyle of my Apprehension more solid and tough it makes it not so light and pleasant and I am glad of it for I finde my selfe too much subiect to a verball quicknesse thus I thinke it good for me that am of a drye barraine mould but for others it may hap to make them too waterish the cause of this is common as the effect yet as some bodyes are more subiect to it then others so meates of one kinde prouoke it more then another This makes me often play the Epicure making my stomack a coward to fight with Partridge Phesant and such fowle whose Airye parts are more fine and poyson not the Braine with thick vapours These foure-footed Beafts are dull and grosse and so is what proceeds from them Well for my part I will put away this sleepy Humour for it is an extreame spender When I come at the end of a weeke to reckon how I haue bestowed it in that seuen Dayes I finde nothing but Item in sleepe Item in sleepe And in the end Summa totalis seuen nights seuen Afternoones beside halfe houres and quarters at vnaccustomed times there is no proportion in this especially to bestowe so much on winking I cannot blame Alexander though he misliked it and held that and Lust the Arguments of Mortalitie If he had vsed eight of clock-houres the Persian Empire might yet haue stood Not so much but good Husbands hate it And Pedantes haue made it a mayne supporter of their instructions I would liken it to Death but that it is more terrible for it is Idlenesse yet thus it is Death for it killes Eternitie Fame neuer yet knew a perpetuall Bed-presser Is it not a pittifull thing to see a fellow bestow halfe his Patrimony in hobby-horses then pitty all them who hauing but a little time dedicate halfe that to sleepe But this is the effect of our Bodies who in despight of our soules Diuinitie will follow their naturall Inclinations to lye along and be sencelesse like their Earthly Originall Essay 19. Of Life and the fashions of Life THere haue beene great Contentions about my Minde and my Body about this Argument of Life they are both very obstinate in their Desires I cannot blame them for which so euer preuailes depriues the other of the greatest Authority My Soule extolles Contemplation and perswades me that way my Body vnderstands not that language but is all for Action He tels me it is vnproper being of the world not to liue so and that I am borne to my Countrey to whom imbracing this contemplatiue life I am vnprofitable the other wants not reasons forcible and celestiall It hath beene my continuall labour to worke a reconciliation between them for I could not perfect any course by reason of this Diuision Earth Heauen cannot be made one therefore impossible to ioyne them together onely thus much I haue done they are content I shall take my choise All this time I was not Masterlesse nor idle I put the common phrase out of fashion he that sayes of me onely He liues well speakes too sparingly of me for I liue to better my minde and to cure my body of his Innate diseases I must choose the Actiue course my birth commaunds me to that I am set aboue many other in the Herralds bookes not to sit â—ighest at a Table nor to be worshipped with caps and knees but to haue a care of my countrey The aduancer of my House first did certainely see some worth in my predecessours meete to gouerne or at least wise to be an example to lower degrees to that end they were erected higher then ordinarie that euery eye might behold them If their blood were refined by the Prince on that condition if I pay it not after them I am worthy to forfeite it I will then religiously obserue the dooing my Country seruice If she imploy me not I sinne not though I betake my selfe to the secret betterer of mindes Contemplation Howsoeuer I must begin here for as Nurâ—â—es Lectures instruct little Children by seuerall obiects to know sensible things and by that little giue them the knowledge of a Boy Being past that Age and come to the new life of a man Philosophy must then be his Nurse and as his first institution taught him words and to distinguish of things by words this teacheth him the meaning of those and to distinguish things by Reason he receiued first single obiects by the intelligence of the sences In that time hee learned to speake the Schoolemaster taught him to put together and to inlarge his building he made him capable of vniuersalities and the highest knowledges Noâ— Radij solis neque lucida tela Dâ—ei Discutiunt animos It is so he gouernes by gesse that is not a Philosopher he is a daungerous states-man for when vncontrowled Affections meete with a high fortune they beget Tyrannie and Oppression I haue not then altogether lost my time I haue beene adorning my house within It is my Desire not to haue it lye slouenly I make it ready for Ghests that is for Imployment if they come not it is no matter it shall be the better for my selfe to liue in I care not though some nice Brainestaxe me of Immodestie for protesting my selfe thus desirous to do my Countrey seruice my Soule can witnesse for me it is no particular Loue thankes be to God I know not much of want neither desire I Riches I am borne to sufficient It is true I thirst after Honour and would be glad to leaue my House some testimonie I haue not beene vnprofitable that way which may be purchased in an honest quiet life aswell as in the other I am afraid of nothing but that in this contemplatiue life I should be thought idle and in eschewing company to be of Domitians â—ect a Fly-catcher We Gentlemen are very subiect to this therefore it is not Iealousie but Prouidence in me to suspect we are indeed generally slothfull our contention is not which is the most honorable life but which affordes most
their vertues knowledge teacheth direction how to commaund direction giueth knowledge maiesty and power These order the sences and makes their effects come to the determined period teaching those belonging to the schoole to gather wisedome for the soule which two destinated seruantes though they present the minde sometime with allurments yet the execution of all vice belongs to the other three the assistants of the body What ariseth from these sences are affections what affection thinketh but opinion affection like the parents medleth with single obiects the minde graspeth vniuersalities the mindes imploiment is about things firme the affections momentary and sading Who seeth not then to bee led by our affections is vaiue and beastiall who seeing this will neglect the minde whose ample territory stretcheth eueÌ„ to the heauens Mens cernit et mens audit caeca caetera et sur da sunt I account our sences and their affections like Phisicke drugges which are one waye poyson another waye preseruatiues when they worke onely in the bodye they preserue the body but if ouercharged with excesse the fumes smother the soule and makes her aguish distasting what she ought to taste furring her mouth with superâ—â—uities and making her not know true pleasure and vanitie by the taste What blessings or cursses can I thinke of in the world but are deriued from these two heads these were the two wayes that Hercules was led vnto these are the two wayes that leades to knowledge and ignorance these are the two wayes that part light and darkenesse in a worde these are the two waies that make mans life either happy or vnfortunate Quisquis profunda mente vestigat verum Cupit que nullis ille deuijs falli In sereuoluaâ— intimi lucem visus Longosque in orbem cogat inflectens motus Animuque doceat quicquid extra molitur Suis retrusum possidere thesauris Thus haue I anatomized the partes of life of which if Phisicke be so carefull as to anatomize bodyes for bodilie diseases in these where minde and body are to be both inquired into care cannot be called curiositie To meddle with effects without the causes is to tell him that is sicke he is sicke not to remedy his sicknesse I will nowe speake more feelingly and speake of euents and actions which in the pettigree of knowledge is knowledges last discent Contemplation thinkes well action ought to do well of contemplation it is too vnsensible to dilate so contrary to custome and nature as it would be hard like Poetry the touch of the phansie But action is euery bodies case he that can but wipe his nose is his acquaintance of which I will speake my opinion concluding all in the managing these three Prosperitie Aduersitie and Danger If I should exempt knowledge from all things but the happinesse of vnderstanding it were well but it is not taken thus by the world no sildome it meetes with the worlds diffinition whose maine is riches and eyther pompe or pleasure luxurie or power of these what one is there whose gaine hath not beene knowledge that the waight of them hath not pressed downe and been like a Milstone tyed about the neeke of a swimmer Is it wealth and is it giuen thee thinkest thou onely to nourish thy sensualitie foole that thou art which hast thirsted after thy destruction how much would pouertie haue become thee better since wealth prooues but an instrument of thy destruction I accompt wealth and wante the touch-stones of dispositions euen in their vttermost extremities they agree in this wealth melting substances not throughly substanciall and wante vndooing their powers with his chilnesse and stormes of immoderate colde and heate man is impatient so of prosperitie and want which are not so vnlike as not to fitte a resemblance There is vertue in wealth as there is in any manuall instrument handsome and proâ—itable if in a skilfull hand that fearefull Simile of the sacred bookes that sayeth It shall be as possible for a ritche man to enter into the kingdome of heauen as a Cammell to passe through the eye of a Needle is meant as I hould not by any propriated course incident to wealth but incident to the disposers of wealth because commonly disposing it to their owne ruines for charitie is a commaundement to whose performance wealth is a visible testimonie It is the vse that carryes the cursse the thing is innocent it is a newter for can we seperate it from vayne glorye and prodigallitie it is a steppe to eternall felicitie and hapipinesse To come to this iourneyes end wee must passe by two daungers not bestowing too much vpon our selues not bestowing where it may bring foorth pride rather then defend want I neuer sawe it yet though I should be happy to see it a man curbing his owne disease of excesse to bestowe it vpon others needie we are content to starue our selues to wante handsomnesse to depriue our selues euen of the necessaries of the worlde to feede the vnsatisfied appetite of couetousnesse in the which we suffer so much as not to thinke of our owne vsing this store during our life we need do no more to do vertuously alter but the person and loue not another better then thy selfe and thou art in the waye of heauen put in thine owne name for thy sonnes or heires and thou hast purchased a diuine inheritance I for them giuing from them thou augmentest their state purchasing a blessing vpon their house and life I know not the thoughts of wealth for I was neuer wealthy but as I am I neuer see excesse that my memory laments not the want of penury How vnequallie nay how foolishly mannage we our states that neglect heauen and buye damnation with surfets and excesses A particuler faith serues a seculer fortune in these holy misteries my knowledge aspires no higher then the saluation of one soule in morallitie common to all men I may speake as well as any man because it is mine as well as an others So strong is my proposition as I neede not the valure of diuinitie morrall reasons will shewe how excellentlie Liberallitie becomes Plentie and Plentie without Knowledge is not Liberallitie but a chest that vnnecessarily maketh much of his store without vse or els prodigallitie which in confuming is no lesse vitious then couetousnesse is in sparing what haue we that the vse makes not precious dominion pallaces riches what els if not vsed lies without any more contentment then the things take in themselues which haue none other but a sencelesse being me thinks contentment can be bestowed vppon nothing more rich then to see creatures by nature neglected by thy good nature maintayned wherein thou surpassest common nature for she gaue them a life but thou giuest more a contentment of life for she gaue them life which ending there would haue proued misery and vnhappinesse but thou giuest him life and from his life remouest those torments which are worse and death How beautifull doe these actions looke vpon vs
reuolutions of the worlde they are not straunge to mee Omnia teÌ„pus edax depascitur omnia capit Nil sinit esse diâ—s I think nothing wold more troble me theÌ„ that they shuld loose their reputation I loue that well and it wold grieue me sure to be preuented of that patrimony For other friends thankes be to God I haue but fewe I would I could affirme the same of my acquaintance The cause fewe haue corrupted mee and out of my owne choyse there are few that I hold worthy of that nearnesse Some I haue whoÌ„ I hold so vertuous that they wold be sorry to see me lameÌ„t for any of their trialls Thus I haue bene content to hold you in mine own example the longer as taking the opportunitie of recording these honest thoughts whose wil I hope I shall the better follow since I haue set my hand to their choyse and I see no reason but I should be as carefull of not breaking with them as common men are of a bonde the penaltie is as much the law to punish recouer lies opeÌ„ the court of Conscience with whom it is alwaies Terme time To speak now of the contrary it hath much moued me to see the strange alterations of men vpon slight occasions at the receit of a letter yea before the reading at a message at newes I haue bene so charitable as to be sorry for them for these intollerable bendings of theirs There are others but it is no matter for they are commonly hawking or dogging fellowes that hoping the return of some messenger imploied about these woorthie occasions haue suffered great extremitie betweene hope feare in that time at sight of the messenger behold the very heigth of Disquietnesse and wherefore alas for a Dogge or a Hawke beleeue me a pittifull disease which in my opinioÌ„ ought to be praied for as earnestly as one that is vpoÌ„ the point of taking his leaue of his bodie When Seneca writ the definition of Hope Spes nomen est boni Incerti I am sure he meant not that good this way Banish these grosse perturbations all noble spirites they are daungerous and the enemies of Resolution I do not poetically deifie Resolue neither do I set vp a marke impossible to hit no it is in the power of a lowe stature to wade here without drowning I speake of no impossibilitie perhappes at the first some little difficultie there belonges so to the basest trades and shall thy estimation be so tender hearted as to refuse it for so meane a price beware of such couetousnesse for it is worse then to loue money Our misfortunes in general me thinks should not be so neare a kinne to vs they are no part of vs wee may stand without them God hath giuen vs Bodies Soules seperate from others and hath tied neither lands nor treasures vnto them they are no part of their buildings we are worse then women if we cannot see without these Habiliments and tricks without question it is a true signe of a maimed Soule and a deformed Body to seeke luker from these outward things It is more base then to bee out of countenance at a feast if not graced by the Hoste I am my selfe still though the world were turned with the wrong side outward If I loose ground in vertue I will repent not wash Handkercheifes in my teares Man knowes not himselfe vntill he hath tasted of both fortunes Euery milke-sop can endure to swim in hot bathes any maÌ„ shews gloriously in pomp and no maruell for he feeds Flatterers and they him but to endure the tempests of winter to be able with his strength to endure the most violent tides and still to swimme aloft he is the man You shall finde no man that dares goe wet-shod but will protest in his Ambition how much he loues Honour what exploits what famous Acts he would do if he had bene borne mightie do you heare my friend you are out of the way if you thinke any other estate but your owne capable of true Honor the poorer the better the stroÌ„ger your enemy the more worthy your conquest vanquish your owne sicke wishes and desires and the Chariot of triumph belongs more truly to you then to Caesar. I write thus I thinke thus and I hope to do thus but that blessed time is not yet come Now to particularities In the outward habit and in some actions I am not so precise I like not to be bound to one it becomes not secular men it tastes of affectation and Hipocrisie It is naught it comes too neare singularitie and a desire to be noted for those things I would conforme my selfe I am not of their mindes that tax Alexanders putting on the habit of the Persians It was a politick inteÌ„t he ioyned theÌ„ to him by that yeelding For some actions if they be not wholely vicious humanitie and good nature shall make me sociable I will hauke with a faulkoner hunt with hunters talke of Husbandrie with the seruants of Thrift bee amorous with the Italian and drinke with the Dutch man Non ad Ebrietatem sed ad voluptatem The fruite you shal therby winne their loues and you may with that interest make them honest A course neglected but wel-becomming a wise honest man Your determination being not to put on their imperfections but to make them perfect So doth the Grafter ioyne good fruite to a Crabbe stocke and thus humilitie alters not the good but makes that which is ill good Some may wonder I haue not yet touched Death the chiefe If thou think'st so thou art a coward for in my opinion all affections are more strong and though to some it is the chiefe instrument of Feare I thinke not so thou mistakest it it is past feare for thou art sure of it Thou art vnreasonable if thou wilt buy a thing and not pay for it thou boughtest life and payest for it with death The lapidary is not sory when he hath gotten the rinde or barke of a Iewell from what is precious Thy body is no otherwise thou art neuer precious before thy seperation thou shinest not thou hast no vertue in thee thou art not sound vntill the couer of thy perfection be withdrawne In truth at this time though my face would hinder me from being thought of Age and so by course my lease might bee long yet I am not afraid to be put out of my Farme It is a dyrtie thing I dwel in ful of mistie grosse aires and yet barren I haue bene so vaineglorious sometimes as to say so when I haue bene answered by more yeares that I would change that minde when I grew older I haue searched into that speech supposing there had bin some concealed mistery in it but I could find none then I thought they imagined my boldnes the effect of ignorance if it be so I shall loue knowledge the worse while I liue To cure this disease in a woman I would apply no other medicine but
he did well to die If the Senate of Rome had seene Caesar weepe that hee was not vp assoone as Alexander I think they would haue cuâ—b'd him shorter but hee offended worse in that iourny when he protested among his Companions that the first place in a little Village was in his estimation more worthie then the second in Rome I like not this opennesse it was not sutable to Caesar he played his Game well but there was no cast like the reconciling of Cassus and Pompey it wonne him the wager Euen this one Action deserues a volume for there is muche in it but I will thinke the rest and giue it onelye a scratche with my pen his Gouernment generally was like Caesar onely there rests two thinges that I am determined to touch the one his erecting again the Statues of Sylla and Pompey throwne downe by theyr misfortunes it was too late for their memories to hurt him yet this elemeÌ„cy to his enemies made his friends not doubt to speed wel vnder him and those indifferent to finde him a good Lord this was wel done The other as ill that hauing brought a gouernment free to a particular and forestalled all Dominion not to be content with the thing but to thirst after the name of a Monarch it was vnseasonably done and in my opinion the hastener of his death This puts me in minde of the contrary course vsed by the house of the Medici who did pull the staffe of liberty so easily out of the peoples hands that they had it before they were mistrusted so by degrees did the sonne get farther then the Father and the Grandchilde farther then the Grandfather as if their soules before their communicating with their bodies had set in counsell about it Augustus the heire of Caesars labours was borne fit in my opinion to settle a new erected Empire Militem Donis Populum annona cunctos dulceâ—ine Otij pellexit hee tooke the right course for there is in the multitude a strength more then they knowe of and in this new worlde seueritie might haue brought them to trickes of Restinesse able to haue indangered their Rider but hee loosened them and gaue them lawes and restrained the excesse of the mightie things acceptable to the people and with these good Innouations he turned their eyes from looking into times past or practising to recouer libertie But of all the Princes that euer my eyes haue met with in my reading or my eares haue heard of by others the onely Politian was Tiberius his beginning was not ill but full of wisedome and somewhat vertuous yet somewhat the better as it is thought for feare to be excelled by Germanicus whose power in souldiers wisedom to mannage great matters and loue to possesse himself of great matters was such as Tiberius liued iealous as long as Germanicuâ— liued at all there was no lesse honest pollicy in Germanicus who sawe Tiberius yet was not able to shunne him After a great Conquest of the Germanes markes of Tryumph being set vp Tiberius was mentioned in the Insculpture and the Conquerour left out for hee knew well the couetousnesse of Tiranny Tiberius course with Germanicus was full of safetie I cannot say honestie first to remoue him from the gouernment of France where he was stroÌ„g in the loue and multitude of his souldiers was vnder the cloake of rewarding his vertues with Tryumph afterwards an Insurrection in the East parts was acceptable vnto him to suppresse which he sent Germanicus where he might bee nearer daunger remote from Loue and conuersaunt with Chaunce to effect which hee sent thither Piso by base flattery to winne the Souldiours and by opposing himselfe to Germanicus to keepe forraine Princes from vniting themselues to him Germanicus died there as it is thought poysoned which the people desirous to reuenge hee suffered to keepe himselfe out of suspition and yet with such hope to Piso as kept him from discouering the secret His speech euen in light matters was obscure and subiect to a subtile construction In the gouernment of forraine Prouinces he made choise rather of a slowe delicate people then of spirites of more excellency as Suetonius saith he did of Vitellius In inferiorem Germaniam missus est contemptu magis quam gratia electus In the ende this course made him grow doubtfull for such people being vncaple of those places indaungered the Empire and such as were worthy hee thought dangerous to his particular person to auoyd which he chose Gouernors of abilitie which exercised their wittes in their places with the bodies of their Lieutenantes and themselues hee kept neare him in person I make no Apology for his vertues for he was vnmeasurably vicious but his pollicy neuer failed him but in his affection to Seianus who surely had gone beyond him had he not bene hindered by the peoples hatred and the number of his successours rather then by himselfe In the end let me ende with Death which last part giues either lustre or blemish to our memories nothing heere can stand therefore let vs make it in our powers to goe out handsomely Feare mee thinkes is destinated to more vncertain euents and therefore should not disturbe our conclusion saying truely I should forbid it in all things but Diuinitie for it hinders our intentions and a seeming makes vs doo things vnbeseeming Quippe etenim quam multa tibi iam fingere possunt Somnia quae vitae rationes vertere possunt Fortunasque tuas omnes turbare timore Tacitus makes one of the Sempronij not wholely to degenerate from his house onely for dying well Constantia mortis haud Indigna Sempronio nomine I know not any thing so certainly in our power that carrieth with it more maiestie and begets a more eternall and continuall Honour nor any thing that we may prouide for so certainely and not be deceiued Let vs a Gods name Hoc agere when we liue liue and when wee are about death tend our businesse Though we haue many examples notable in this kind among the Graecians and that it was so conuersant with the Romanes as nothing was more in fashioÌ„ yet I wil name only two of seueral Sexes it may be they may ingender among vs and beget Resolution I like them the better because vnexpected therefore their manner of entertaining it not affected it was Iulius Caesar and Olimpia the mother of Alexander they dyed comely and had euen then when they were out of daunger of Reproofe a care not to commit any ill beseeming Action There is a last taste of things that giues them the name of sweete or sowre from this wee haue drawne a Metaphor that nothing goeth with full applause that holdes not his perfection to to the end Of life and his appurtenances Death is the last relish which if it taste fearefully looke troubled drawes the Censure to determine it licour full of the lees of Humours rather then of clearnesse and puritie Essay 13. Of Iestes and Iesters I Thinke
that is mine too I haue not beene ashamed to aduenture mine eares with a ballad-singer and they haue come home loaden to my liking doubly satisfied with profit with recreatioÌ„ The profit to see earthlings satisfied with such course stuffe to heare vice rebuked and to see the power of Vertue that pierceth the head of such a base Historian and vile Auditory The recreation to see how thoroughly the standers by are affected what strange gestures come from them what strained stuffe from their Poet what shift they make to stand to heare what extremities he is driuen to for Rime how they aduenture their purses he his wits how well both their paines are recompenced they with a silthy noise hee with a base reward There is not any thing retained in my memory from the fiâ—st that profits me not sometimes I renew my nurses stories and being now strong and able to disgest them I finde theÌ„ not without nourishment My after life though I lament the bestowing it because I shuld haue put things more precious in first yet it is not without profit I was bound then to Arthur of Brittaine and things of that price for my knowledge was not able to trafficke with any thing more rich Stowes Cronicle was the highest yet I haue found good vse of them they haue added to my experieÌ„ce My exercises recreatioÌ„â— or rather as I theÌ„ vsed them occupations I finde worth somewhat I would not loose my knowledge of Hawkes and running Horses for any thing they are not without vse I meete often with people that vnderstand no other language then they make me sociable and not vnpleasing to the company If out of these dregs there bee good iuice to bee got what is there out of more noble obseruations truly an incredible knowledge he that can make vse of them may leaue reading and profit no lesse by these If out of these blotters of paper many things may be extracted not vnworthy of note what may we expect from Homer Virgil and such Poets If in Arthur of Britaine Huon of Burdeaux and such supposed chiualrie a man may better himselfe shall hee not become excellent with conuersing with Tacitus Plutarch Salust and fellowes of that ranke Here stay thy selfe and read with attention Mee thinks Plutarches liues shuld make euery man good that reades them he may take his choise of such a number of courses and fit his nature with his temperature Some onely the seruants of Vertue others vsing her for their own sakes some swayed with their fortunes others immoueable Cicero showeth thee how to speake well and to take a care of thy selfe Scipis onely lookes to the flourishing of his Countrey Themistocles burning with Ambition sleepes not vntill he hath gotten a life answerable to his nature Alcibiades an excellent patterne of wisedome to him that will temporize Alexanander prophesies of himselfe with weeping at his fathers Conquests a testimony that Vertue wil shew it self before it hath power to performe any thing It is older then the bodie is readie long before it Pyrrhus representeth to vs the vncertaintie of the worlde not holding any of his Conquests sure It may be an aduise to some spirits to make them prefer a poore certainty before these wauering fortunes to which purpose one saith Beatior fuit Fabritius animo quam Pirrhus regno It is true the inward Riches are onely our owne but to dedicate a life onely to their vse is to enioy an inuisible commodity to burie wealth Demetrius was a Commixture of vertues and vices and me thinkes his end declares his vices onely to bee naturally his for his chaunge of fortune made him giue ouer Vertue hee was content to forget her on the condition not to remember his fortunes he betrayed Vertue and died a drunken dicer Salust is excellent in his description of men If thou likest a seuere honest grauitie looke vpon Cato this fellow sure was naturally good but somewhat too well contented to bee thought so If I were not a Christian I should like well of his death especially of the manner of it It is nothing to die but that night to studie earnestly I do infinitely allow since I may not admire him I will pittie his death and withal the feeling the points of the two swords that was not sutable I am afraid he was afraid of paine I am sory for this the rest was very good his other calmenesse shall make me pardon this motion From Cateline may bee taken many obseruations but they are like the man daungerous then but this All qualities without the direction of vertue profit not but ouerthrowe their possessours From Tacitus concise stile there are many Iâ—wels to be gotten he begins 〈◊〉 the common Iudgement that followes a cruell luxurious gouernment All that I can say of Nero is I blame him not for being afraide of Death it was not hee it was the remembraâ—ce of an iâ—l life and riches the betrayers of men to cowardise Galba teacheth Princes there is daunger in trusting seruants too farre he witnesseth the indiscretioÌ„ of the people wishing for Nero againe because he was yong and handsome and faire wheras Galba was riueld and old their eares are their Iudges I haue bene content to taste Histories and their obseruations that I might tell them that yet know it not that there is yet something else to be noted besides the Series of the History As out of these so from our liuing RelatioÌ„s from men and from their actions of all which I â—â—cretion will make as much vse as an obseruing stomacke doth of meates agreeing or disagreeing with his disgestion Essay 16. Of Opinion IT befalleth me now to speake of the straungest thing of the world yet it is nothing and for al that scareth the most mightie It is a monster halfe Truthe and halfe Falshood It receiues all formes sometimes taking resemblances most pleasing other times most terrible It cleaues most to great Fortunes and yet liueth vpon the breath of the vulgar It is desired and shunned serued and scorned Sometimes it maketh her seruants Industrious sometimes treacherous It is often a cause of things looking like good faire more often of wickednesse and sinne In a word it seemes to doo much and doth nothing And all her followers looking like spirit and Resolution are the very essence of basenesse and cowardise they are worse then blind meÌ„ that haue a dog for their guide for they dare doo nothing of themselues vnlesse they first aske counsaile of Opinion She is much made loue too by base Ambition by Thirsters after promotion Some attempt to win her with little ruffes short haire and a graue habit decent lookes fewe words and sobrietie These would faine haue her say they are graue wise sober temperate men worthy of promotion meete to bee part of the tacklings of a Common-wealth There is an other sort court her with fine speeches would bee thought wise and learned but these neuer vtter their
shortnesse and the others eternitie life being but like a Prentises holy-day but more neere when we thinke of our knowledges which are here impotent and defectiue but are there complete and full all things appearing there vnmasked and the borrowed coulours and vaine apparitions of Affection beeing withdrawne those vnlimmtied and rich lights of the minde beholde euerie thing in the right proportion all the deformities and misdemeanors of the world are the children of affection which bindes vp our sight in darkenesse and leads vs blindfolded from hence Opinion which is the destinated censure of Affection as Iudgement is the Soules from hence proceedes the irresolution of our thoughts and our wauerings and changings from one thing to another for Affection likes his present satisfaction and iudgeth that best which if in Opinion bettered he changeth his sentence and so not able to penetrate into the depth of things is euery day ready for a new impression All that I haue heard all that I haue read all that by any meanes hath come to my knowledge performed well hath beene where Reason hath made Affection his seruant contrariwise destructions dishonours dangers haue beene inforced by the tyrannie of Pride Disdaine Hate Selfe-loue or some other of those Affections vnrestrained so can I fetch Calamitie from none other originall but this not happinesse but from the depriuation of this frailtie Euen that honest harmlesse Affection which possesseth Parents towards their children me thinkes whiles they are yet but lumpes of flesh and things without all merit should not be so ardent and vehement pitty and commiseration fits them better then Loue of which they are no way worthy for howsoeuer we abuse loue with casting it away vpon trifles yet it is the pretiousnesse of Loue appointed onely to attend deserts and to ioyne no peeces together that are not of this kinde but it is well that Nature hath cast the extremitie of this disease vpon mothers it becomes them not so ill to be fond as men besides these little ones being their charges Affection makes them more carefull and so it is for those first yeares neuer the worse for the childe whatsoeuer it is for the mother Iustice being for example and no more destroying a common-wealth then the husbandman the trees with executing the water boughes which he dooth as well in respect of their vnprofitablenesse as also to shew malefactors in a glasse their owne state while they beholde the guiltie vnder-going the seueritie of the lawe but yet the creatures bound to profit others with their owne destruction should bee picked out monsters whose natures might be seene incorrigible and those of whom mercy may coniecture amendment to be spared thus in the ambiguitie of things which doubt will not haue resolued mercy may haue a hand Thus commiseration and a charitable eye to the distrested all which though they leaue more to affection then to the strictnesse of iustice yet must we so farre tolerate them for so God lookes vpon vs and so should we vpon our bretheren being all borne lame which fault of ours if it were punished with death none should liue yet I go not with Montangnia who in his Essay of Crueltie bribes wit to take part with commiseration so extreamly and so womanish as not to indure the death of Birdes and Beasts alas this gentlenesse of nature is a plaine weaknesse wee may safely see the deaths of these yea of men without motion it belongs to vs to looke into the cause of their deaths not into the manner onely but fetching it from the desert wee shall see plainely it is not the Iudge nor the executionner that committes this abhorred spectacle but them-selues them-selues doe execution vppon them-selues Might there bee that vnspeakable blessing giuen to the imprisoned soule that she might here view things in sincere trueth how would vice and sinne flie light when vnmasked light might discouer their deformities how profoundly should we be able to censure things how would we scorne lawes and compulsion when the most ragged-vnderstanding should flye farre aboue them Lastly all the enemies of wealth and pouerty should be banished for we should not know want and so should want them and the laborious life of Studye should end whose trauels ayme at no other end but an ability to knowe euery thing in his propper kinde this is not because Affection is who dayly ouercomes reason not by strength but flattery and sometimes makes the weapons of Reason treacherously turne head vpon Reason with corrupting his taste and making him fortifie pleasure with arguments I would be glad to looke vpon my brother with the same eye that I behould a stranger and may the strangers worthe excell his I would preferre him He is deceiued that thinkes vertue respects bloud and aliaunces she is not so bodely hauing commerce with vs whiles we haue bodyes not because we hauing bodyes should loue our bodyes but because we should with the ordering and subiecting them win her It is Affection that hath skil of colours and hath set vp the estimation of White and Red. I verely beleeue Vertue was neuer Paynter nor Armorist all those choyses and allowances that come from tall and fatte or slender and well bodied are all Affections choise the minde sees the minde and giues the body leaue to looke how it will for she loues the abilities and graces of the mind whose neuer fading beauties makes their imbracements blessed Here is the choise of all things made sure thus friends are to bee entertained whose perfection may be better discoursed of then it is possible to finde it actually the reason because Affection beares so great sway our causes of combination being commonly more beholding to Affection then Reason which makes vs so often complaine of the vnstablenesse of friends friendships incōstancie No other are those leauges which looke into the fortune rather then vertue of friends that cunningly make Loue the broker to supply their wants how can these hould since the hould of their hould blinde Dame Fortune is brittle and flitting But amongst all I finde no body hath so iust cause to complaine of this as Iustice which being the very soule and life of gouernment is oft time compelled to help the lightest scoale with her finger whiles Partialities burden makes the other heauie I can pittie the distresse of no vertue so much as this since no vertue carryes with her a greater maiestie and in that maiestie knowledge the life of life the ioy of man his surest euidence of participating with the deuine nature Surely were it not for the orderly working of this vertue we should make the world in a worse state thē the Chaos where was a confusion but it was innocent though deformed but now it would be turned into a guilty deformity the picture of which though not fully are those sick states that are continually letting blood where the sweet wisdom of laws are turned into those doubtful arbitrators blowes and where Iustice
Moone had passed Scorpio hee answered hee feared not Scorpio but the Archers These things are least of all to bee feared they begge feare that picke them out of these occasions hee that will interprete mischaunces out of these things may take his leaue of tranquillitie for some of them happen euery daye which being inforced to these ill presages makes the vulgar so full of sighs exclamations and vncertainties Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus There are no mischances there is no fortune there is no miserie in our humaine liues except we looke into the feeblenesse of our merits our Creators bountie in other things we are deceiued by imagination the circuÌ„stances of things are more then themselues Exovitur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum It may be so is it any more then death tush cruelty can do no more and for that put but away opinion and it is soone gone In the meane time see the behauiour of the suppressed Troyans weaklings the children of Fortitude and thinke who carried theÌ„selues to the graue most gratiously Apparent Priami vetâ—rum penetralia regum Armitosqâ—e vident stantes in limine primâ— At domus viterior gem tu miseroque tumultu Miscetur peâ—tasque caâ—e psangoribus â—der Faâ—â—ers uâ—nâ—â—t ferit aurea sidera clamor Tum paâ—ida tectis matres ingentibus errant Amplexoeque tenent postos atque oscula figunt Now who would adde to the furie of an insulting enemy prayers and petitions no let it be death let it be paine there is yet left vs to conquer the victours patience there let vs end for those terrours that are exhaled by a guilty conscience they are more incurable then any other in spight of vice our knowledge miscaried will returne and complaine of her abuse and the impression of her fault bring feare and feare presents thoughts of terror thus Nero beheld his murthered mother thus tyrants are no where safe though in the midst of their strengths This made Dionisius make an Image that singed off his sonnes haire not daring to trust a Barbar this made Alexander Pheraeus vse to haue his wife searched for feare of murdering him guiltinesse cannot be without feare neither will Iustice long delaye their execution which in themselues they finde and so feare euery thing is a hangman Many of the Romane Emperours at the hearing of the thunder would creep vnder their beddes and seeke shelter of the most vnable things to defend theÌ„ poore people it was not the thunder but their consciences put them in minde like sea sicke persons that complaine of the sea when it is their troubled stomackes that diseaseth them but this argumeÌ„t fitteth a more diuine hand to them I leaue the examination of this honest remembrancer conscice and end with the example of Numa Pompilius and Aurelius who neede no gardes for they were honest men they feared not for they were vertuous and vertue cannot feare such is the power of that excellent and true guide of humanity Essay 33. Of Silence and Secrecie IT is pitye this quality must borrow wordes to expresse it worth but it is no more infortunate then all things which to become knowne must borrow sound and ayer for though wee can thinke yet thinke we not that enough without sending our thoughtes abroad to the censures of men I confesse speach is to the minde as conuenient hauens to townes by whose currents they grow ritch and mightye but it dooth as these places of traffique doe bring in not onely commodities profitable and wholesome but luxuries corruption and delicacie I cannot well tell then which I should preferre of speach and silence since the one doth to much the other to litle speache inritching and corrupting silence being poore but honest but these are extremities which neuer prosper vntill brought into the meane whose mediocritie keepes each end from falling with-holding and paizing each side with the holdfast of the middest I am not against speach but babling which consumes time and profiteth no body it is one of the blessings of nature speache but to ride still vpon the top of it is too vehement they are at great paines with feeding hungrie â—ares and to speake truly are the very bellowes to kindle laughter it carieth not onely this fault for with all it is vnsafe wordes discouering the minde and negligently giuing all eyes the sight of the heart There is a wise Philosopher that calles wordes the shadowes of deeds Sermo operis vmbra this is his best which is so slender as the true affectors of things will giue their thoughts bodies and translate them more substancially There is a more noblenes in deeds in which may be read the worthinesse and vnworthines of men truely whiles words greatest gaines dooth but promise things performing nothing I finde no men affecting actions more throughly then these people of faire wordes which makes mee feare these ingrossers of speech are constituted of too much winde and ayre and want that solidity which is meete in the generation of this deere issue of ours our actions which neuer faile to resemble vs more neerely then the children of our body PhocioÌ„ was preferred before Demosthenes because he spake not much but fild his speach with stuffe and was sparing of Rhetoricke and full of reason If he tels me their nature a right I ioyne with his choise it is with these for bettering the hearers as it is betweene a few dishes well dressed and a great feast the sparing speaker giues you that which is wholsome and ouerburdens not your memory with superfluitie the wording Orator is like our English feasts where the stomack must winne way to the second course with bearing the burthen of the first when he comes to it hath lost the bettering himselfe by it through the heauinesse of his first receipt wheÌ„ I heare one of these common speakers laying vp his stomack I let his words passe without any more attention then I bestow vpon a clock when I care not for the howre but he that solicits my eares but seldome I receiue his pleasure with pleasure and willingly graunt him a roome in my memorie It was well aduised by Cleanthes to one that intreated him to instruct his sonne hee saide be silent for besides the aduantage that he hath of a talker of hauing all he knowes without paying him any thing for it receauing it scot-free it is also more becomming instructing for his behauiour is not carryed out of the way with following his wordes and out of that silent behauiour there is more wisedome to be learned then from a multitude of wordes and more with intertaining this silence for he receiues from her her wise and safe daughter Secrecie Were I sure all men thought iust with me secrecie were not necessarie but since the speaker and expositor vtter and receiue with different mindes and that speach cannot carry her selfe to meane iust as I would haue her I must defend her aequiuocall impotencie with bestowing her
like a singing catch some are beginning when others are ending others in the middest when another begins againe Let another bee absent from this mint and without the discipline of a Tailour but a few monthes and at his next appearance his friends shall not knowe whether hee bee a man or a Ghoast of times past or a spirite mouing a Westminster Statue The money-maisters haue not ingrossed all vanitye though they haue money for these people haue a chaunge where to bee out of fashion is to be banquerupt and as the ones billes are protested so the others discretion This is not to haue a head but a hat buttond vp on the side It is no matter what soule so a body in fashion of which though I doe despise it enough yet I wishe it no other mischiefe then the Painters Shoppe where a picture of seauen yeares since lookes more like an Anticke Dauncer than a man But thus shall I be if I speake more of them for I drawe them and Time drawes them out of fashion and they if I laye any more holde on them drawe me But now the motions of man by reason of his reason called Actions what an Eclipse doe they suffer with vanityes darke bodye getting betweene them and the clearenesse of reason what see wee almost performed How neerely soeuer resembling vertue which more deepelye examined would not prooue vanity euen Diuinitie is not free for Hipocrisie killes many actions which without hipocrisie would be vertues but I will leaue this office to Diuines whose sightes can better discouer the inuisible walkings of professours of good-dooing ill In secular professions I hardly see euen the grauest goe without touching vanity performing as much for osteÌ„tations sake as for vertues the obseruation of which hath made me so incredulous as I beleeue light actions no more theÌ„ I do words he that protests he loues his country in some aduenture of his pursse and paines showes it I am neuer the more mooued to extoll him but when in a breache he defends his countrie when he calleth the forces of his scattered countrimen shattered by Fortune and so out of hope as his action may bee called the dying with his Countrey I will begin then to trust him or if like the keeper of a Forte in the olde Florentine dissentions who being beseiged and his Castle fired threwe his owne children into the flame willing them to take those giftes of Fortune but for his honour he held that in his brest which no shocke of fortune should ouerthrowe nor fire melte Were there not such men to inriche Histories how idle a thing were a Historie for who is not mooued to followe this honorable patterne his children were not more inflamed with the fire then the vertuous reader mee thinkes should be with his throwing them in the fier now may we sweare he loued his countrie and honour and from him may distingush betweene the louers of Fame and Vertue for Fames seruantes loue commendations but with all they loue to heare it themselues the other thinkes of vertue not of Life It needes no wonder though their valures differ that imploy them for fame from those for vertue Were I the seruant of Fame it should be my case for her rewardes are fainte and leane the fire nourishing valour comes from no outward thing but from the sweetnesse of the meditation of vertue but Fame thinks not on that but lookes who seeth her and dooth worse then louers that drawe their vigour from their Mistresse eyes Vertue hath Fame though vertue workes not for fame which mee thinkes is an excellent testimonie of the diuine goodnesse when not onelie his and humaine lawes teache it but euen from the example of our familiars may be read good and bad Thus preuailed Benedetto Alberti banished by the Florentines for after his death they confessed their errour and fetched home his bones buying them with solemne pompe and honour whome being aliue they had persecuted with slaunder and reproache In matters of pollicie vanitie beares no lesse swaye when from the force of rules and institutions they thinke to maintaine states Policie conducted by vertue I thinke the life of Gouernment without which a common-wealth can no more liue then a bodie without a soule but policie as it is commonly taken and vsed is no more certaine nor profitable then a Farmers drawing all his Councell from a Kalender It raines of which Philosophy will say the sunnes drawing vp of moysture from the earth is the cause alas this is the last cause but the cause of causes we vnderstand not Tracke by Philosophie the most impotent naturall thing for some discentes you may go with it but the ende is you must leaue it attributing it to the intelligences and to the first cause past the ability of our meditations strength for wee are yet humaine they meerelie diuine As this so this pollicie is coniecturall and vncertaine full of perill neuer safe Of men of this kinde Caesar Borgia is a fitte example in whome was as much wicked wisedome as I thinke euer in anye with which hee fared like a Cock-boate in a storme now alofte now suncke and still in his desseignes rather increased in his sinnes then in his power at last when hee meant one that should not haue assisted his rising hee killed the supporter of his heigth Hee that will with naturall accidents seeke to diminishe the diuine hand in this worke doth impiously and is in the waye of Atheisme for it is manifest God meant to punish and to teache in this example that hee did it rather by his ministers then immediately explaining his diuine wisedome which inforced them to runne into their owne plots laide for others Not onely dooth heauen detest this course but euen among men it is vaine though the strength of a state may be knowne their vse lyes hidden Euery daye doth the witte of industrie inlarge it selfe and deuise vses of things which without the spirite of Prophecie or chaunce may be without his rules and then who seeth him not apt to fall into the worste errours Thus hath Artillery put the auncient Romaine and Graecian Histories out of fashion in many things thus hath the experience of their times and the witte of these changed almost the whole body of gouernment Who heareth of Lycurgus common-wealth not skilled in Antiquities and beleeues it not rather a thing thought then done Doubtlesse the witte of man is too excellent a thing to bee catcht in a snare which hee seeth lye before him he goeth not alwayes one waye though lawes can fadome the driftes of vice yet those of wisedome this pollicie cannot for it is vpwarde euen to heauen is her flight the other earthly and visible But I may in this offende like some confutours that haue ended their paines with making their cause worse This paper is yet in my handes but in whose it may be I knowe not and howsoeâ—â—â— I meane others not meaning well may make helpe their
ill It must be God that in these and all other things must helpe vs wee are no other then his instrumentes when we vndertake to bee handes we sin in presumption vnder his conduct things come to a conclusion Those that prosper for a while without his counsaile and direction they are but the Instruments of his scourge and prosper no longer then while they are in their executioners office we go blind fold without the Sunne can we then go without his licence that made the Sunne Wee are to impotent to stand without a supporter our actions rest in doubt and our discourse cannot resolue them but euer wee shall thinke La tardita noi toglie L'occasione la celerita â—e forâ—e I account in this list all that account their countrey vngratefull or that repine at her commaundementes shee cannot bee for thou art for her vse and if thou bee'st vnprofitable with iustice shee may put thee awaye Wee must not thinke shee can doe vniustlye it is Arrogancy and partiality to compare thy knowledge with hers our soules are for heauen our bodyes for our Countrey and that excellent Issue of heauen is destinated to no worke vpon the earth but to vphould this our common mother How may wee blush that are ouercome by heathens and yet haue the oddes of diuinity by them that knew vertues preciousnesse onely in fame when wee know shee is curraunt in the worlde of worldes this hath come from an opinion that their ignoraunce produced valour but this opinion is as full of sinne as follye Is valour prohibited because murder and selfe murther is prohibited the building cannot stand where the foundation is falseâ— they faile in the definition of fortitude which is as all other single vertues are but the colour of the substanciall body of vertue which when cast-vpon another substaunce is not vertue though like vertue These hold that fortitude hath runne her perfectest course when shee hath passed the gates of death no fortitude indures stronger assaults then death But were it so Is he that comes neare death valiaunt why then hang Tropheys ouer the gallowes the cause the cause must in all things tell whose child the effect is He that fights with fury is not valiant but he that lendes iustice force Cato dyed in as fit a time to make his death looke nobly as could be and at the fittest course of naturall reason it will seeme good reason not to out liue his countries liberty but had it not beene more compassionately done of him to haue accompanied his country in misery had it not beene more wisely done to haue repriued hope and to haue watch'd time when happily by opportunity hee might haue ransomed his country I account not his valour no more then he that winkes at the blow of death the one hiding his eyes because he would not see death the other seeking death because he would not feele misery Cato is not held by mee a paterne of fortitude hee helped not his country by his death if to dare dye you thinke so excellent the women among the Romans could doe it aswell as he because it is prohibited we like it because contrary to our selfe-louing mindes we admire it in that respect were it not against diuinity I should allowe of it for he comes nerest vertue that throwes against the bias of his affections Camillus whom I once mentioned was a patterne of fortitude so was among the Graecians Pelopidas and his companions who plotted and effected the ouerthrow of tiranny with the aduenture of their liues yet killed not themselues because their country was oppressed by a tirant Fortitude take her in her vttermost boundes incircleth the ouercomming Passions the bearing the assaults of the world she goeth euen into the confines of temperaunce for to curbe appetite mee thinkes is fortitude but bind her now to her managing peril and to the seruing her common wealth to make her herselfe there must be in her pretence reason profit and iustice Reason in the plotting profit in the obtaining iustice in the vse for without these it is a bestiall daring not fortitude Now to my comparison of the valour of those times with this of Christianity can his reason be so exact that knowes not from whence his reason comes for their wisest did but gesse at the immortality of the soule as his that doth continually coÌ„uerse with his soule for so ought Christians Or shall his profit that lookes no farther then the body bee compared to him that profits both soule and body Bud for iustice what vnderderstanding wil prefer humane lawes whose end is but proffit to diuine iustice whose end is vertue who seeth not now that will see times past had not the way of fortitude for their best were but shaddowes neither had they that cause for fortitude at that time was not known They durst die but wee know how to vse death they durst aduenture but we know how to profit by aduenturing then it is Idlenes that hath fouÌ„ded this opinion for if we wil do wel none euer knew better how neuer had any better cause for we are certaine of our reward Of the repinings vpbraidings of a man reiected by his countrie I should speake a little more how contrary it is to right and vertue for thy body is thy countries and thy soule ought to follow vertue dooth thy soule consent to thy bodies rebellious thoughtes both body and soule forsake right and vertue for thy soule maintaines wrong so looseth vertue thy body doth wrong and so looseth right In this both the Graecian and Romane common wealthes brought forth many more faithull the repetition of whome those eyes that haue seene historye can as redily produce as I whom I will therefore omit and saue that labour Onely thus to vpbraide our country with our good desertes is to aske reward at the worldes handes not at vertues out all is not all wee are bound to doe for it but our best shall be called well because our vttermost Not to professe much but to vse it well is the way of felicitie and then doth our body not hurt our soule when it is content to imploy his force to blowe the fire while shee is extracting the quintessence of things For the lighter performaunce of men how drunkenly doth vanity make euery thing that comes from them looke one gildes himselfe with hauing much lookes big doubtes not of himselfe speakes peremptorily when asked for his warrant he throwes out the big-swolne wordes of a 1000 pound a yeare not from his wit but reuenew drawes he the strength of his ability it is seene allowed by custome to the terrour of wisdome that from that 1000 pound a yeare are fetch'd all vertues he shall bee honest temperate wise valiant learned for he hath a thousand pound a yeare who seeth not here a conspiracie betweene ignorance and adulation to confound knowledge and vertue for neuer was there yet so vnchast and poore a vertue as