trample them vnder foot the other to do all for the publike good and profit of the subiects or to employ all to his particular profit pleasure Now a prince that he may be such as he should must alwaies remember that as it is a felicitie to haue power to do what a man will so it is true greatnes to will that that a man should Caesari cum Plin. de Traia omnia licent propter hoc minus licet vt felicitatis est posse quantum velis sic magnitudinis velle quantum possis vel potius quantū debeas The greatest infelicitie that can happen to a prince is to beleeue that all things are lawfull that he can and that pleaseth him So soone as he consenteth to this thought of good he is made wicked Now this opinion is setled in them by the help of flatterers who neuer cease alwaies to preach vnto them the greatnes of their power and very few faithfull seruitours there are that dare to tell them what their dutie is But there is not in the world a more dangerous flattery than that where with a man flattereth himselfe when the flatterer and flattered is one and the same there is no remedie for this disease Neuerthelesse it falleth out sometimes in consideration of the times persons places occasions that a good king must do those things which in outward appearance may seeme tyrannicall as when it is a question of repressing another tyrannie that is to say of a furious people the licentious libertie of whom is a true tyrannie or of the noble and rich who tyrannize ouer the poore and meaner people or when the king is poore and needie not knowing where to get siluer to raise loanes vpon the richest And we must not thinke that the seueritie of a prince is alwaies tyrannie or his gards fortresses or the maiestie of his imperious commaunds which are sometimes profitable yea necessarie and are more to be desired than the sweet prayers of tyrants These are the two true stayes and pillars of a prince and of a state if by them a prince know how to maintaine and preserue 10 Hate and contempt two murtherers of ae prince himselfe from the two contraries which are the murtherers of a prince and state that is to say hatred and contempt whereof the better to auoid them and to take heed of them a word or two Hatred contrarie to beneuolence is a wicked and obstinate affection of subiects against the prince and his A rist lib. 5. Pol. Hatred state It ordinarily proceedeth from feare of what is to come or desire of reuenge of what is past or from them both This hatred when it is great and of many a prince can hardly escape it Multorum odijs nullae opes possunt resistere He is exposed Cicero to all and there needs but one to make an end of all Multae illis manus illi vna ceruix It standeth him vpon therefore to preserue himselfe which he shall do by flying those things that ingender it that is to say crueltie and auarice the contraries to the aforesaid instruments of beneuolence He must preserue himselfe pure and free from base cruelty 11 Hatred proceedeth from crueltie Cap. 2. art 12. vnworthie greatnes very infamous to a prince But contrarily he must arme himselfe with clemencie as hath been said before in the vertues required in a prince But for as much as punishments though they be iust and necessarie in a state haue some image of crueltie he must take heed to carie himselfe therein with dexteritie and for this end I will giue him this aduice Let him not put his hand to the sword of iustice An aduice for punishments Senec. but very seldome and vnwillinglie libenter damnat qui cito ergo illi parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis 2. Enforced for the publike good and rather for example to terrifie others from the like offence 3. That it be to punish the faultie and that without choler or ioy or other passion And if he must needs shew some passion that it be compassion 4. That it be according to the accustomed maner of the countrie and not after a new for new punishments are testimonies of crueltie 5. Without giuing his assistance or being present at the execution 6. And if he must punish many he must dispatch it speedily and all at a blow for to make delayes and to vse one correction after another is a token that he taketh delight pleaseth and feedeth himselfe therewith He must likewise preserue himselfe from auarice a sinne ill 12 Auarice befitting a great personage It is shewed either by exacting and gathering ouermuch or by giuing too little The first doth much displease the people by nature couetous to whom their goods are as their blood and their life The second men of seruice and merit who haue laboured for the publike good and haue reason to thinke that they deserue some recompence Now how a prince should gouerne himselfe heerein and in his treasure and exchequer affaires either in laying their foundation or spending or preseruing them hath beene more at large discoursed in the second chapter I will heere only say that a prince must carefully preserue himselfe from three things First from resembling by ouer great and excessiue impositions these tyrants subiectmongers canibals qui deuorant plebem sicut escam panis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quorum aerarium spoliarium ciuium cruentarum que praedarum receptaculum for this breeds danger of tumult witnesse so many examples and miserable accidents Secondly from base vnhonest parsimony as well in gathering together indignum lucrum ex omni occasioue odorari vt dicitur etiam à mortuo auferre and therefore hee must not serue his turne heerein with accusations confiscations vniust spoiles as in giuing nothing or too little and that mercenarily and with long and importunate suite Thirdly from violence in the leuie of his prouision and that if it be possible he neuer sease vpon the moueables and vtensils of husbandrie This doth principally belong to receiuers and puruoyers who by their rigorous courses expose the prince to the hatred of the people and dishonour him a people subtile cruell with six hands and three heads as one saith A prince therefore must prouide that they be honest men and if they faile in their duties to correct them seuerely with rough chastisement and great amends to the the end they may restore and disgorge like spunges that which they haue sucked and drawne vniustly from the people Let vs come to the other worse enemie contempt which 13 Contempt is a sinister base and abiect opinion of the prince and the state This is the death of a state as authoritie is the soule and life thereof What doth maintaine one only man yea an old and worne man ouer so many thousands of men if not authoritie and the great esteeme of his person which if it be once
word or two of them all The first is not approued by men of vnderstanding though by the greater part it be practised a testimonie of great weaknesse 5 To feare death Against these kinde of men and for your better comfort either against your owne death or the death of another thus much briefly There is not a thing that men feare more or haue more in horrour than death neuerthelesse there is not a thing where there is lesse occasion or matter of feare or that contrarily yeeldeth greater reasons to perswade vs with resolution to accept of it And therefore we must say that it is a meere opinion and a vulgar errour that hath woon the world thus to thinke of it Wee giue too much credit to the It is opinion inconsiderate vulgar sort who tell vs That it is a very great euill and to little credit to wisedome it selfe which teacheth vs that it is a freedome from all euils and the hauen of life Neuer did a present death do hurt to any man and some that haue made triall and partly knew what it is complaine not of it and if death be counted an euill it is of all the euils the only that doth no harme that hath no euill in it it is the imagination only of death before it come that maketh vs to feare it when it is come It is then but opinion not verity and it is truely where opinion bandeth it selfe most against reason and goeth about to deface it in vs with the maske of death there cannot be any reason to feare it because no man knowes what it is that hee should feare it for why or how should a man feare that he knoweth not And therefore wisely said he that of all others was accounted the wisest that to feare death is to make shew of greater vnderstanding and sufficiency than can be in a man by seeming to know that that no man knoweth and what he spake he practised himselfe for being sollicited at his death by his friends to pleade before the Iudges for his iustification and for his life this oration he made vnto them My masters and friends if I should plead for my life and desire you that I may not die I doubt I may speak against my selfe and desire my owne losse and hinderance because I know not what it is to die nor what good or ill there is in death they that feare to die presume to know it as for my selfe I am vtterly ignorant what it is or what is done in the other world perhaps death is a thing indifferent perhaps a good thing and to be desired Those things that I know to be euill as to offend my neighbour I flie and auoid those that I know not to be euill as death I cannot feare And therefore I commit my selfe vnto your selues and because I cannot know whether it is more expedient for me to die or not to dy determine you thereof as you shall thinke good For a man to torment himselfe with the feare of death it is 6 It is weaknes first great weaknesse and cowardlinesse There is not a woman that in few daies is not appeased and content with the death yea the most painefull that may be either of her husband or her child And why should not reason and wisdome do that in an houre at an instant as we haue a thousand examples which time performeth in a foole in the weakest sex What vse is there of wisdome and constancie in man to what end serue they if they speed him not in a good action if he can do no more with their help than a foole with his follie From this weaknes it is that the most part of men dying cannot resolue themselues that it is their last houre and there is not any thing where this deceitfull hope doth more busie man which it may be doth likewise proceed from this that we account our death a great matter and that all things haue an interest in vs and at our death must suffer with vs so much do we esteeme our selues Againe a man sheweth himselfe heerein vniust for if death be a good thing as it is why doth he feare it If an euill thing 7 Iniustice why doth he make it worse and adde vnto death euill vpon euill sorrow and griefe where there is none like him that being robbed of a part of his goods by the enemie casteth the rest into the sea to let men know how little he is greeued with his losses Finally to feare death is for a man to be an enemy to himselfe 8 To be enemy to his owne life and to his owne life for he can neuer liue at ease and contentedlie that feareth to dye That man is only a free man which feareth not death and contrarily life is but a slauery if it were not made free by death For death is the only stay of our libertie the common and readie receptacle of all euils It is then a miserie and miserable are all that do it to trouble our life with the care and feare of death and our death with the care of life But to say the truth what complaints and murmuring would there be against nature if death were not if we should haue continued heere will we nill we with and against our owne wils doubtlesse men would haue cursed nature for it Imagin with thy selfe how much more insupportable and painefull a durable life would haue beene then a life with a condition to leaue it Chiron refused immortalitie being informed of the conditions therof by the god of Time Saturne his father Doubtlesse death is a very beautifull and rich inuention of nature optimum naturae inuentum nusquam satis laudatum and a very proper and profitable necessarie to many things If it were quite taken from vs we should desire it more than now we feare it yea thirst after it more than life it selfe such a remedie is it against so many euils such a meane to so many goods What were it on the other side if there were not mingled with death some little bitternesse doubtlesse men would runne vnto it with great desire and indiscretion To keepe therefore a moderation that is that men might neither loue life too much nor flie it feare death nor runne after it both of them sweetnes and sharpnes are therein tempered together The remedie that the vulgar sort do giue heerein is too simple and that is neuer to thinke or speake thereof Besides 10 Remedies not to feare death that such a kind of carelesnes cannot lodge in the head of a man of vnderstanding it would likewise at the last cost him deere for death comming vnawares and vnexpected what torments outcryes furies and dispaires are there commonlie seene Wisdome aduiseth much better that is to attend and expect death with a constant foot and to encounter it and the better to do this it giueth vs contrarie counsell to the vulgar sort that is to haue it
caeli latus totam lucem suo loco propè totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias procul intueris miraris To conclude it taketh vs from that death which began in the wombe of our mother and now endeth to bring vs to that life which shall neuer end Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est The second maner of the cariage of man in this matter of 12 2 To attend death it is good death is of a good sweete and moderate soule and is iustly practised in a common and peaceable life by those that with reason account of this condition of life and content themselues to indure it but gouerning themselues according to reason and accepting of death when it commeth This is a well tempered mediocritie sutable to such a condition of life betweene the extremities which are to desire and feare to seeke and to flie vitious and faultie summum ne metuas diem nec optes mortem concupiscentes timentes aequè obiurgat Epicurus if they be not couered and excused by some reason not common and ordinarie as shall be said in his place To seeke and desire death is ill it is iniustice to desire death without a cause and to be out of charitie with the world which our liues may be beneficiall vnto It is to be vnthankfull to nature to contemne it and not to make the best vse thereof to be ouer anxious and scrupulous and not to endure that estate that is not burthensome and wee are called vnto To flie and feare death on the other side is against nature reason iustice and all dutie For to die is a thing naturall necessarie and ineuitable iust 13 Death is naturall and reasonable Naturall for it is a part of the order of the whole Vniuerse of the life of the world wilt thou then that the world be ruinated and a new made for thy selfe Death holdeth a high place in the policie great common-wealth of the world and it is very profitable for the succession and continuance of the workes of nature the fading or corruption of one life is the passage to a thousand others Sicrerum summa nouatur And it is not only a part of this great whole Vniuerse but of our particular essence not lesse essential than to liue to be borne In flying death thou fliest thy selfe thy essence is equally parted into these two life and death it is the condition of thy creation If it grieueth thee to die why wert thou borne Men come not into the world with any other purpose but to goe foorth againe and therefore he that is not willing to goe foorth let him not come in The first day of thy birth bindeth thee and setteth thee as well in the way to deat as to life Naseentes morimur sinisque ab origine pendet Sola mors ius aequum est generis humani viuere noluit qui mori non vult vita cum exceptione mortis data est tam stultus qui timet mortem quà m qui senectutem To be vnwilling to die is to be vnwilling to be a man for all men are mortall and therefore a wise man said and that without passion hauing receiued newes of the death of his sonne I knew I begot and bred him vp a mortall man Death being then a thing so naturall and essentiall both for the world in grosse and forthy self in particular why should it be horrible vnto thee Thou goest against nature the feare of griefe and paine is naturall but not of death for being so seruiceable to nature and nature hauing instituted it to what end should it imprint in vs a hatred and horror thereof Children and beasts feare not death yea many times they suffer it cheerefully it is not then nature that teacheth vs to feare it but rather to attend and receiue it as being sent by it Secondly it is necessarie fatale ineuitable and this thou knowest that fearest and weepest What greater follie can 14 Necessarie there be than for a man to torment himselfe for nothing and that willingly and of purpose to pray and importune him whom he knowes to bee inexorable to knocke at that dore that cannot be opened What is there more inexorable and deafe than death Wee must therefore feare things vncertaine doe our best endeuours in things that are not remedilesse but such as are certaine as death we must attend and grow resolute in things past remedie The sot feareth and flieth death the foole seekes it and runs after it the wise man attendeth it It is follie to grieue at that that cannot be mended to feare that that cannot be auoided Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest The example of Dauid is excellent who vnderstanding of the death of his deare childe put on his best apparell and made himselfe merry saying to those that wondered at this kinde of carriage that whilest his son liued he importuned God for his recouerie but being dead that care was ended and there was no remedie The foole thinks he maketh a better answer to say that that is the cause of his griefe and that he tormenteth himselfe because there is no remedie but he doubleth and perfecteth his owne follie thereby Scienter frustra niti extremae dementiae est Now death being so necessarie and ineuitable it is not only to no purpose to feare but making of necessitie a vertue wee must welcome it and receiue it kindely for it is better for vs to goe to death than that death should come to vs to catch that before that catch vs. Thirdly to die is a thing reasonable and iust it is reason to 15 Iust and râ—asonable ariue to that place towards which we are alwaies walking and if a man feare to come thither let him not walke but stay himselfe or turne backe againe which is impossible to doe It is reason that thou giue place to others since others haue giuen place to thee If thou haue made thy commoditie of this life thou must be satisfied and be gone as he that is inuited to a banquet takes his refection and departeth If thou haue not knowen how to make vse and profit thereof what needest thou care if thou lose it or to what end wouldest thou keepe it It is a debt that must be paid a pawne that must bee restored whensoeuer it is demanded Why pleadest thou against thy own schedule thy faith thy duty It is then against reason to spurne against death since that thereby thou acquitest thy selfe of so much and dischargest thy selfe of so great an account It is a thing generall and common to all to die why then troublest thou thy selfe Wilt thou haue a new priuiledge that was yet neuer seene and bee a lone man by thy selfe Why fearest thou to goe whither all the world goeth where so many millions are gone before thee and so many millions shall follow thee Death is equally
certaine to all and equallity is the first part of equity omnes eodem cogimur omnium versatur vrna serius ocyus sors exitura c. The third is the part of a valiant and generous minde which is practised with reason in a publike eleuated difficult 16 To contemne death is good if it be for a thing that deserues it and busie condition of life where there are many things to be preferred before life and for which a man should not doubt to die In such a case howsoeuer matters go a man must more account thereof than of his life which is placed vpon the stage and scaffold of this world hee must runne his race with resolution that he may giue a lustre to his other actions and performe those things that are profitable and exemplary Hee must lay downe his life and let it runne his fortune He that knoweth not how to contemne death shall neuer not only performe any thing of worth but he exposeth himselfe to diuers dangers for whilest he goeth about to keepe his life safe and sure hee laieth open and hazardeth his deuoire his honour his vertue and honestie The contempt of death is that which produceth the boldest and most honourable exploits whether in good or euill Hee that feareth not to die feares nothing he doth whatsoeuer he will hee makes him-himselfe a master both of his owne life and of anothers the contempt of death is the true and liuely source of all the beautifull and generous actions of men from hence are deriued the braue resolutions and free speeches of vertue vttered by so many great personages Fluidius Priscus whom the Emperour Vespasian had commanded not to come to the senat or comming to speake as he would haue him answered That as he was a Senator it was fit he should be at the Senate and if being there he were required to giue his aduice he would speake freely that which his conscience commaunded him Being threatned by the same man that if he spake he should die Did I euer tell you saith he that I was immortall Do you what you will and I will do what I ought It is in your power to put me vniustlie to death and in me to die constantlie The Lacedemonians being threatned much hard dealing if they did not speedily yeeld themselues to Philip the father of Alexander who was entred into their countrie with a great power one for the rest answered What hard dealing can they suffer that feare not to die And being told by the same Philip that he would breake and hinder all their designments What say they will he likewise hinder vs from dying Another being asked by what meanes a man may liue free answered By contemning death And another youth being taken and sold for a slaue said to him that bought him Thou shalt see what thou hast bought I were a foole to liue a slaue whilest I may be free and whilest he spake cast himself down from the top of the house A wise man said vnto another deliberating with himselfe how he might take away his life to free himselfe from an euil that at that time pressed him sore Thou doest not deliberate of any great matter it is no great thing to liue thy slaues thy beasts do liue but it is a great matter to die honestlie wisely constantly To conclude and crowne this article our religion hath not had a more firme and assured foundation and wherein the authour thereof hath more insisted than the contempt of this life But many there are that make a shew of contemning death when they feare it Many there are that care not to be dead yea they wish they were dead but it greeueth them to die Emori nolo sed me esse mortuum nihili astimo Many deliberate in their health and soundest iudgements to suffer death with constancie nay to murther themselues a part played by many for which end Heliogabalus made many sumptuous preparations but being come to the point some wer terrified by the bleeding of their nose as Lucius Domitius who repented that he had poysoned himselfe Others haue turned away their eyes and their thoughts as if they would steale vpon it swallowing it downe insensiblie as men take pilles according to that saying of Caesar that the best death was the shortest and of Plinie that a short death was the happiest houre of a mans life Now no man can be said to be resolute to die that feareth to confront it and to suffer with his eyes open as Socrates did who had thirtie whole daies to ruminate and to digest the sentence of his death which he did without any passion or alteration yea without any shew of endeuor mildly and cheerfullie Pomponius Atticus Tullius Marcellinus Romans Cleantes the Philosopher all three almost after one maner for hauing assayed to die by abstinence hoping thereby to quit themselues of those maladies that did torment them but finding themselues rather cured thereby neuerthelesse they would not desist till they had ended that they went about taking pleasure by little and little to pine away and to consider the course and progresse of death Otho and Cato hauing prepared all things fit for their death vpon the very point of the execution setled themselues to sleepe and slept profoundly being no more astonished at death than at any other ordinarie and light accident The fourth is the part of a valiant and resolute mind practised in former times by great and holie personages and that 17 To desire death in two cases the one the more naturall and lawfull is a painfull and troublesome life or an apprehension of a far worse death To be briefe a miserable estate which a man cannot remedie This is to desire death as the retrait and only hauen from the torments of this life the soueraigne good of nature the only stay and pillar of our libertie It is imbecillitie to yeeld vnto euils but it is follie to nourish them It is a good time to die when to liue is rather a burthen than a blessing and there is more ill in life than good for to preserue our life to increase our torment is against nature There are some that say that we should desire to die to auoid those pleasures that are according to nature how much more then to flie those miseries that are against nature There are many things in life farre worse than death for which we should rather die and not liue at all than liue And therefore the Lacedemonians being cruelly threatned by Antipater if they yeelded not to his demaund answered If thou threaten vs with any thing that is worse than death death shall be welcome vnto vs. And the wisest were woont to say That a wise man liueth as long as he should not so long as he can death being more at his commaund and in his power than life Life hath but one entrance and that too dependeth vpon the will of another Our death dependeth on our
THe goods of the body are Health Beauty Cheerfulnes 1 The praise of Health Srength Vigor a prompt readinesse and disposition but of all these Health is the first and passeth all the rest Health is the most beautifull and rich present that Nature can bestow vpon vs and aboue all other things to be preferred not only Science Nobility Riches but Wisdome it selfe which the austerest amongst the wise doe affirme It is the only thing that deserueth our whole imploiment yea our life it selfe to attaine vnto it for without it life is no life but a death vertue and wisdome grow weake and faint What comfort can all the wisdome of the world bring to the greatest man that is if he be thorowly stricken with an Apoplexie Doubtlesse there is nothing to be preferred before this bodily health but Honestie which is the health of the Soule Now it is common vnto vs with beasts yea many times it is greater and far more excellent in them than in vs and notwithstanding it be a gift of Nature gaudeant bene nati giuen in the first formation yet that which afterward followeth The milke Good gouernment which consisteth in sobrietie and moderate exercises lightnesse of heart and a continuall auoidance of all passions do preserue it much Griefe and sickenesse are the contraries vnto it which are the greatest if not the only euils that follow man whereof we shall speake hereafter But in the preseruation hereof beasts likewise simply following nature which hath giuen them health do farre exceed men they often times forgetting themselues though afterwards they pay dearly for it Next followeth Beautie a good of great account in the society 2 Beautie of men It is the first meane of reconciling or vniting one to another and it is very likely that the first distinction that hath beene of one man from another and the first consideration that giueth preheminence to one aboue another hath beene the aduantage of beauty It is likewise a powerfull quality there is none that surmounteth it in credit or that hath so great a part in the societie of men for there is none so barbarous none so resolute that hath not been beaten by it It presenteth it selfe vnto the view it seduceth and preoccupateth the iudgement it makes deepe impressions and presseth a man with great authority and therefore Socrates called it a short tyranny and Plato the priuiledge of Nature for it seemeth that he that carieth in his countenance the fauours of Nature imprinted in a rare and excellent beautie hath a kinde of lawfull power ouer vs and that we turning our eies towards him he likewise turneth our affections and enthrawleth them in despight of our selues Aristotle sayth that it apperteineth to those that are beautifull to command that they are venerable next to the gods themselues that there are none but such as are blinde but are touched with it Cyrus Alexander Caesar three great Commanders haue made great vse thereof in their greatest affaires yea Scipio the best of them all Faire and good are neere neighbours and are expressed by the selfe same words both in Greeke and in the Scriptures Many great Philosophers haue attained to their wisdome by the assistance of their beauty It is likewise considerable and much required in beasts themselues 3 The distinction of Beauty There are in Beauty diuers things to be considered That of men is properly the forme and feature of the bodie as for other beauties they belong vnto women There are two sorts of beauties the one setled which moueth not at all and it consisteth in the due proportion and colour of the members a body that is not swolne or puffed vp wherein the sinewes and veines appeare not from far nor the bones presse not the skin but full of bloud and spirits and in good state hauing the muscles eleuated the skin smooth the colour vermillion the other moueable which is called a good grace and is the true guiding or cariage of the motion of the members and aboue all the eyes The former beauty of it selfe is as it were dead this actiue and full of life There are beauties that are rude fierce sowre others that are sweet yea though they be fading Beauty is properly to be considered in the visage There 4 Of the visage is nothing more beautifull in man than his soule and in the body of man than his visage which is as it were the soule abreuiated that is the paterne or image of the soule that is her Escuchion with many quarters representing the collection of all her titles of honour planted and placed in the gate and forefront to the end that men may know that heere is her abode and her palace By the countenance it is that we know the person of a man and therefore arte which imitateth nature takes no care to represent the person of man but only to paint or carue the visage There are many speciall singularities in the visage of man which are not in beasts for to say the truth they haue no visage 5 Seuen singularities in the visage of man nor in the rest of the body of man As the number and diuersitie of the parts and formes of them in beasts there is neither chin nor cheeks nor forehead much lesse any forme or fashion of them Variety of colours as in the eye onely there is blacke white greene blew red crystaline Proportion for the senses are there double answering the one to the other and in such a maner that the greatnesse of the eye is the greatnesse of the mouth the largenesse of the forehead the length of the nose the length of the nose that of the chin and lips An admirable diuersitie of countenances and such that there are hardly found two faces in all respects like one another this is a chiefe point of workmanship which in no other thing can be found This variety is very profitable yea necessary for humane society first to know one another for infinite euils yea the dissipation of humane kinde must needs follow if a man should mistake himselfe by the semblance and similitude of diuers visages yea it would be a confusion worse than that of Babel A man would take his daughter for his sister for a stranger his enemy for his friend If our faces were all alike we should not discerne a man from a beast and if they were not all vnlike one another we could not know how to discerne a man from a man Besides it was an excellent arte of Nature to place in this part some secret that might giue contentment to one another thorow the whole world for by reason of this varietie of faces there is not a person that in some part is not beautifull The dignity and honour of it round figure forme vpright and eleuated on high naked and vncouered without haire feathers scales as in other creatures looking vp vnto heauen Grace sweetnesse a pleasant and decent comlinesse euen to the
beasts and men for by the death of beasts the Soule dieth and is annihilated áccording vnto that rule by the corruption of the subiect the forme perisheth 1. Naturall and ordinary the matter remaineth by the death of man the Soule is separated from the body but is not lost but remaineth inasmuch as it is immortall The immortalitie of the Soule is a thing vniuersally religiously 2. The immortalitie of the Soule for it is the principall foundation of all religion and peaceably receiued and concluded vpon throughout the world I meane by an outward and publique profession seriously and inwardly not so witnesse so many Epicures Libertines and mockers in the world yea the Saduces the greatest Lordes of the Iewes did not sticke with open mouth to denie it though a thing profitable to be beleeued and in some sort proued by many naturall and humane reasons but properly and better established by the authority of religion than any other way It seemeth that there is in a man a kinde of inclination and disposition of nature to beleeue it for man desireth naturally to continue and perpetuate his being from whence likewise proceedeth that great yea furious care and loue of our posterity and succession Againe two things there are that giue strength thereunto and make it more plausible the one is the hope of glory and reputation and the desire of the immortalitie of our name which how vaine soeuer it be carrieth a great credit in the world the other is an impression that vice which robbeth a man of the view and knowledge of humane iustice remaining alwaies opposite to the diuine iustice must thereby be chastised yea after death so that besides that a man is altogether carried and disposed by nature to desire it and consequently to beleeue it the Iustice of God doth conclude it From hence we are to learne that there are three differences 3 The proofe and degrees of Soules an order required euen to the perfection of the vniuerse Two extreames the one is that which being altogether materiall is plunged and ouerwhelmed in the matter and inseparable from it and therewithall corruptible which is the Soule of a beast the other quite contrary is that which hath not any commerce or societie with the matter or body as the soule of immortall Angels or Diuels In the middle as the meane betwixt these two is the humane soule which is neither wholly tied to the matter nor altogether without it but is ioyned with it and may likewise subsist and liue without it This order and distinction is an excellent argument of immortalitie for it were a vacuum a defect a deformitie too absurd in nature dishonourable to the authour and a kinde of ruine to the world that betwixt two extreames the corruptible and incorruptible there should be no middle that is partly the one and partly the other there must needs be one that ties and ioynes the two ends or extreames together and that can be none but man Below the lowest and wholly materiall is that which hath no Soule at all as stones aboue the highest and immortall is the eternall only God The other separation not naturall nor ordinary and which 4 2. Not naturall is done by strange impulsions and at times is very difficult to vnderstand and perplex It is that which is done by extasies and rauishments which is diuers and done by different meanes for there is a separation that is diuine such as the Scripture reporteth vnto vs of Daniel Zachary Esdras Ezechiel S. Paul There is another that is demoniacall procured by diuels and good spirits and bad as we reade of many as of Iohn D'vns called Lescot who being in his extasie a long time held for dead was carried into the aire and cast downe vpon the earth but so soone as he felt the blow that he receiued by the fall he came to himselfe but by reason of the great store of blood which he lost his head being broken he died outright Cardan telleth it of himselfe and of his father and it continueth autentiquely verified in many and diuers parts of the world of many and those for the most part of the vulgar sort weake and women possessed whose bodies remaine not only without motion and the beating of the heart and arteries but also without any sense or feeling of the greatest blowes either with iron or fire that could be giuen them and afterwards their soules being returned they haue felt great paine in their limmes and recounted that which they haue seene and done in places far distant Thirdly there is a humane separation which proceedeth either from that maladie which Hipocrates calleth Sacer commonly called The falling sicknes Morbus comitialis the signe whereof is a foming at the mouth which is not in those that are possessed but in stead thereof they haue a stinking sauor or it is occasioned by stiptickes stupifying and benumming medicines or ariseth from the force of imagination which enforcing and bending it selfe with too deepe an attention about a thing carrieth away the whole strength and power of the Soule Now in these three kindes of extasies or rauishments Diuine Diabolicall Humane the question is Whether the Soule be truely and really separated from the body or if remaining in it it be in such sort employed and busied about some outward thing which is foorth of the bodie that it forgetteth it owne bodie whereby followeth a kinde of intermission and vacation of the actions and exercise of the functions thereof Touching the diuine extasie the Apostle speaking of himselfe and his owne act dares not define any thing Si in corpore vel extra corpus nescio Deusscit An instruction that may serue for all others and for other separations of lesse qualitie Touching the Demoniacall extasie as not to feele a blow be it neuer so great to report what hath been done two or three hundred leagues off are two great and violent coniectures of a true separation from the bodie but not altogether necessarie for the diuell can so alienate and occupie the soule within the body that it shall not seeme to haue any action or commerce with the bodie for some certaine time and in that time so beforteth the soule by presenting things vnto the imagination that haue beene done afarre off that a man may speake and discourse thereof for to affirme that certainly the Soule doth wholly depart and abandon the bodie Nature is too bolde and foole-hardie to say that it doth not wholly depart but that the imaginatiue or intellectuall is caried out and that the vegetatiue soule remaineth were more to intangle our selues for so the Soule in it essence should be diuided or the accident only should be carried out and not the substance Touching the humane extasie doubtlesse there is no separation of the Soule but only a suspension of the patent and outward actions thereof What becomes of the Soule and what the state thereof is 11 The estate
refusing and trampling glory vnder foot than in the desire and fruition thereof as Plato told Diogenes And ambition is neuer better caried better guided than by wandering and vnusuall wayes Ambition is a follie and a vanitie for it is as much as if a 10 It is a folly man should run to catch the smoake in stead of the light the shadow in stead of the bodie to fasten the contentment of his minde vpon the opinion of the vulgar sort voluntarily to renounce his owne libertie to follow the passions of others to enforce himselfe to displease himselfe for the pleasure of the beholders to let his owne affections depend vpon the eyes of another so farre foorth to loue vertue as may be to the liking of the common sort to doe good not for the loue of good but reputation This is to be like vnto vessels when they are pierced a man can draw nothing foorth before hee giue thm a vent Ambition hath no limits it is a gulfe that hath neither 11 It is insatiable brinke nor bottome it is that vacuitie which the Philosophers could neuer finde in Nature a fire which encreaseth by that nourishment that is giuen vnto it Wherein it truly paieth his master for ambition is only iust in this that it sufficeth for his owne punishment and is executioner to it selfe The wheele of Ixion is the motion of his desires which turne and returne vp and downe neuer giuing rest vnto his minde They that will flatter ambition say it is a seruant or helpe vnto vertue and a spurre to beautifull actions for it quitteth 12 The excuses of ambition vaine a man of all other sinnes and in the end of himselfe too and all for vertue but it is so farre from this that it hideth sometimes our vices but it takes them not away but it couereth or rather hatcheth them for a time vnder the deceitfull cinders of a malicious hypocrisie with hope to set them on fire altogether when they haue gotten authoritie sufficient to raigne publikely and with impietie Serpents lose not their venim though they be frozen with colde nor an ambitious man his vices though with a colde dissimulation hee couer them for when he is arriued to that pitch of height that he desired he then makes them feele what he is And though ambition quit a man of all other vices yet it neuer taketh away it selfe An ambitious man putteth himselfe foorth to great and honourable actions the profit whereof returneth to the publike good but yet he is neuer the better man that performes them because they are not the actions of vertue but of passion no though that saying be often in his mouth We are not borne for our selues but the weale publike The meanes men vse to mount themselues to high estate and their carriages in their states and charges when they are arriued thereunto do sufficiently shew what men they are and their owne consciences telles the most that follow that dance that howsoeuer the publike good be their outward colour yet their owne particular is that they intend Particular aduisements and remedies against this euill you shall finde Lib. 3. cap. 42. CHAP. XXI Of Couetousnesse and her counter-passion TO loue and affect riches is couetousnesse not only the 1 What it is loue and affection but also euery ouer-curious care and industrie about riches yea their dispensations themselues and libertie with art and too much attention procured haue a sent of couetousnesse for they are not woorthie an earnest care and attention The desire of goods and the pleasure we take in possessing 2 The force thereof of them is grounded only vpon opinion The immoderate desire to get riches is a gangreene in our soule which with a venimous heat consumeth our naturall affections to the end it might fill vs with virulent humours So soone as it is lodged in our hearts all honest and naturall affection which we owe either to our parents or friends or our selues vanisheth away All the rest in respect of our profit seemeth nothing yea we forget in the end and contemne our selues our bodies our mindes for this transitory trash and as the Prouerbe is We sell our horse to get vs hay Couetousnesse is the vile and base passion of vulgar fooles 3 The follie miserie of couetousnesse in fine points who account riches the principall good of man and feare pouertie as the greatest euill and not contenting themselues with necessarie meanes which are forbidden no man weigh that is good in a Goldsmiths ballance when nature hath taught vs to measure it by the ell of necessitie For what greater follie can there be than to adore that which Nature it selfe hath put vnder our feet and hidden in the bowels of the earth as vnworthy to be seene yea rather to be contemned and trampled vnder foot This is that that the only sinne of man hath torne out of the intrailes of the earth and brought vnto light to kill himselfe In lucem propter quae pugnaremus excutimus nonerube scimus summa apud nos haberi quae fuerunt ima terrarum Nature seemeth euen in the first birth of golde and wombe from whence it proceedeth after a sort to haue presaged the miserie of those that are in loue with it for it hath so ordered the matter that in those countreys where it groweth there growes with it neither grasse nor plant nor other thing that is woorth any thing as giuing vs to vnderstand thereby that in those mindes where the desire of this mettall growes there can not remaine so much as a sparke of true honour and vertue for what thing can be more base than for a man to disgrade and to make himselfe a seruant and a slaue to that which should be subiect vnto him Apud sapientem diuitiae sunt in seruitute apud stultum in imperio For a couetous man serues his riches not they him and he is sayd to haue goods as he hath a feuer which holdeth and tyranniseth ouer a man not he ouer it What thing more vile than to loue that which is not good neither can make a good man yea is common and in the possession of the most wicked of the world which many times peruert good maners but neuer amend them Without which so many wise men haue made themselues happy and by which many wicked men haue come to a miserable end To be briefe what thing more miserable than to binde the liuing vnto the dead as Mezentius did to the end their death might be languishing and the more cruell to tie the spirit to the excrement and scumme of the earth to pierce throw his owne soule with a thousand torments which this amourous passion of riches brings with it and to intangle himselfe with the ties and cords of this malignant thing as the Scripture calleth them which doth likewise terme them thornes and theeues which steale away the heart of man snares of the Diuell idolatrie and
or other for he desires that which he knowes not how to expresse and at the last nothing can content him but he is angrie and falleth out with himselfe The weaknesse of man doth more appeare and is greater 3 In possessing and vsing in the possession and vse of things and that diuers wayes first in that he can not make vse of any thing in it owne puritie and simple nature but he must disguise alter and corrupt them before he can accommodate them to his vse the elements mettals and all things els in their owne nature are not fit for vse Good things delights and pleasures can not be enioyed without some mixture of euill and discommoditie Medio de fonte leporum surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat The highest pleasure that is hath a sigh and a complaint to accompanie it and being come to perfection is but debilitie a deiection of the minde languishment An extreame and full contentment hath more moderate seueritie than wanton delight Ipsa foelicitas se nisi temperat premit and therefore it was well said of him That God selles vnto vs whatsoeuer good thing he sends vs that is to say That he giueth nothing vnto vs purely good but that we buy it at the scales with an addition of some euill to make vp weight So likewise sorrow is neuer pure without the alliance of some pleasure Labor voluptasque dissimillima natura societate quadam naturali inter se sunt iuncta est quaedam flere voluptas So all things in this world are mingled and compounded with their contraries those motions and wrinckles in the visage that serue to laugh serue to weepe as Painters teach vs and we see that the extreamitie of laughter is mingled with teares There is no good thing in vs that hath not some vitious tincture with it omnes iustitiae nostrae sunt tanquam pannus menstruatae as anon shal be shewed in his due place nor no euil without some good nullum sine authoramento malum est Miserie it selfe alwayes serues to some end for there is no euill without good no good in man without euill all is mingled and there is nothing pure in our hands Secondly whatsoeuer happeneth vnto vs we take and enioy with an ill hand our taste is vnresolued and vncertaine it knowes not how to hold and possesse any thing after a good maner and from thence sprang that vndetermined question of the souereigne good The better things many times in our hands by our infirmities vice insufficiencie are made woorse are corrupted become nothing are vnprofitable vnto vs yea sometimes hurtfull and contrary But humane imbecillitie is more richly displaied in good and euill in vertue and vice hence it is that man can not be 4 In good and euill when it seemes good vnto himselfe either wholly good or wholly wicked but he hath his weakenesse his impotencies in them both Touching vertue three points are to be considered the first is That it is not in the power of man to doe all good to put in practise all vertues insomuch that many vertues are incompatible and can not be together at least in one and the same subiect as filiall or maidenly continencie and viduall which are wholly different the married and vnmarried state the two second of widowhood and marriage being more painfull and busie and hauing more difficultie and vertue than the two first of virginitie and the vnmarried estate which haue more puritie grace and ease Virgo felicior vidua laboriosior in illa gratia in ista virtus coronatur that Tertull. constancie which is in pouertie want aduersitie and that which is in abundance and prosperitie patience in beggerie and liberalitie And this is more true in vices which are opposite one against the other The second point is That many times a man can not performe that which belongs to one vertue without the scandall and offence either of another vertue or of it selfe insomuch that they hinder one the other whereby it comes to passe that a man can not satisfie the one but at the charge of the other which wee must not attribute vnto vertue or thinke that the vertues crosse and contrary one another for they agree well enough but vnto the weakenesse of our humane condition all the sufficiencie and industrie thereof being so short and so feeble that it can not finde any certaine vniuersall and constant rule whereby to make an honest man and such order can not be taken but that the meanes to doe well doe many times hinder one the other Let vs take for example Charitie and Iustice if I encounter my father or my friend in the warres on the enemies part in iustice I ought to kill him but in charitie I should spare and saue him If a man be wounded to the death and past all remedie and that there remaineth nothing but a grieuous languishment it were a deed of charitie to make an end of him as he did that killed Saul at his earnest intreatie but this charitie is punished by iustice as he was by Dauid and that iustly Dauid being the minister of publike iustice not priuate charitie yea to be found neere vnto a man in such a case in a suspicious place and where there is doubt of the murderer although hee be there to performe some office of humanitie is very dangerous and the best thing that can happen vnto him is to be called into question and put to answer to that accident whereof he is innocent So that we see that iustice doth not only offend charitie but it hampereth and hindereth it selfe and therefore it was very well sayd and truly Summum ius summa iniuria The third point and the most notable is that a man is constrained many times to vse badde meanes for the better auoidance of some great euill or the execution of what is good in such sort that he must sometimes approoue as lawfull not onely those things that are not good but that are starke naught as if to be good it were necessarie to be somewhat wicked And this is seene in euery thing in Policie Iustice Veritie Religion In Policy how many euils are there permitted and publikly acted not only by conniuence or permission but also by 7 Policy the approbation of the lawes themselues as shall heereafter be said in his due place ex senatusconsultis plebescitis scelera exercentur To disburthen a State or Common-weale either of too great a number of people or of such as are inflamed with a desire of warres which the state like a body repleat with bad or abundant humours cannot beare it is the maner to send them elsewhere and to ease themselues at the charge or disease of another As the French Lombards Gothes Vandales Tartarians Turks haue beene accustomed to do To auoid a ciuill war it is the maner to entertaine a strange war To instruct others in the vertue of Temperance Lycurgus caused
fained to be such as not to be aduanced in honour greatnes riches as cuckoldship sterility death for to say the truth there is nothing but griefe it selfe that is euill and which is felt And though some wise men seem to feare these things yet it is not for their owne sakes but because of that griefe which sometimes doth accompany them afterwards for many times it is a fore-runner of death and sometimes followeth the losse of goods of credit of honour But take from these things grief the rest is nothing but fantasie which hath no other lodging but in the head of man which quits it selfe of other businesse to be miserable and imagineth within it owne bounds false euils besides the true employing and extending his miserie in stead of lessening and contracting it Beasts feele not these euils but are exempted from them because nature iudgeth them not to be such As for sorrow which is the only true euill man is wholly borne thereunto and it is his naturall propertie The Mexicanes 5 He is borne to sorrow thus salute their infants comming forth of the wombe of their mother Infant thou art come into the world to suffer endure suffer and hold thy peace That sorrow is naturall vnto man and contrariwise pleasure but a stranger it appeareth by these three reasons All the parts of man are capable of sorrow very few of delight The parts capable of pleasure can not receiue more than one or two sorts but all can receiue the greatest number of griefs all different heat colde pricking rubbing trampling fleaing beating boiling languishing extension oppression relaxation and infinite others which haue no proper name to omit those of the soule in such sort that man is better able to suffer them than to expresse them Man hath no long continuance in pleasure for that of the bodie is like a fire of straw and if it should continue it would bring with it much enuie and displeasure but sorrowes are more permanent and haue not their certaine seasons as pleasures haue Againe the empire and command of sorrow is farre more great more vniuersall more powerfull more durable and in a word more naturall than that of pleasure To these three a man may adde other three Sorrow and griefe is more frequent and falles out often Pleasure is rare Euil comes easily of it selfe without seeking Pleasure neuer comes willingly it must be sought after and many times we pay more for it than it is woorth Pleasure is neuer pure but alwayes distempered and mingled with some bitternesse and there is alwayes some thing wanting but sorrow and griefe is many times entire and pure After all this the worst of our market and that which doth euidently shew the miserie of our condition is that the greatest pleasures touch vs not so neere as the lightest griefs Segnius homines bona quà m mala sentiunt we feele not so much our soundest health as the least maladie that is pung it in cute vix summa violatum plagula corpus quando valere nil quenquam monet It is not enough that man be indeede and by nature miserable 6 By memorie and anticipation and besides true and substantiall euills he faine forge false and fantasticall as hath beene saide but hee must likewise extend and lengthen them and cause both the true and false to endure and to liue longer than they can so amarous is he of iniserie which he doth diuers waies First by the remembrance of what is past and the anticipation of what is to come so that we cannot faile to be miserable since that those things which are principally good in vs and whereof wee glorie most are instruments of miserie futuro torquemur praeterito mult a bona nostra nobis nocent timoris tormentum memoria reducit prouidentia anticipat nemo praesentibus tantùm miser est It is not enough to be miserable but wee must encrease it by a continual expectation before it come nay seeke it and prouoke it to come like those that kill themselues with the feare of death that is to say either by curiositie or imbecillitie and vaine apprehension to preoccupate euils and inconueniences and to attend them with so much paine ado euen those which peraduenture will neuer come neere vs These kinde of people will be miserable before their time and double miserable both by a reall sense or feeling of their miserie and by a long premeditation therof which many times is a hundred times worse than the euils themselues Minùs afficit sensus fatigatio quà m cogitatio The essence or being of miserie endureth not long but the minde of man must lengthen and extend it and entertaine it before hand Plùs dolet quà m necesse est qui antè dolet quà m necesse est Quaedam magis quaedam antequam debeant quaedam cùm omninò non debeant nos torquent Aut augemus dolorem aut fugimus aut praecipimus Beasts do well defend themselues from this follie and miserie and are much bound to thanke nature that they want that spirit that memorie that prouidence that man hath Caesar said well that the best death was that which was least premeditated And to say the truth the preparation before death hath beene to many a greater torment than the execution it selfe My meaning is not here to speake of that vertuous and philosophicall premeditation which is that temper whereby the soule is made inuincible is fortified to the proofe against all assaults and accidents whereof we shall speake heerafter but Lib. 2. ca 7. of that fearefull and sometimes false and vaine apprehension of euils that may come which afflicteth and darkeneth as it were with smoke all the beauty and serenity of the soule troubleth all the rest and ioy thereof insomuch that it were better to suffer it selfe to be wholly surprised It is more easie and more naturall not to thinke thereof at all But let vs leaue this anticipation of euill for simply euery care and painfull thought bleating after things to come by hope desire feare is a very great misery For besides that we haue not any power ouer that which is to come much lesse ouer what is past and so it is vanity as it hath been said there doth stil remain vnto vs that euill and dammage Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius which robbeth our vnderstanding and taketh from vs the peaceable comfort of our present good and will not suffer vs to settle and content our selues therein But this is not yet enough For to the end man may neuer want matter of misery yea that he may alwaies haue his 7 By vnquiet search full he neuer ceaseth searching and seeking with great study the causes and aliments of misery He thrusteth himselfe into businesse euen with ioy of heart euen such as when they are offered vnto him he should turne his backe towards them and either out of a miserable disquiet of mind or to the end
alwaies in our thoughts to practise it to accustome our selues vnto it to tame it to present it vnto vs at all houres to expect it not only in places suspected and dangerous but in the middest of feasts and sports that the burthen of our song be Remember thy end that others are dead that thought to haue liued as long as our selues that that which hapned then to them may happen now to vs following heerein the custome of the Egyptians who in their solemne banquets placed the image of death before their eies and of the Christians and all other who haue their Church-yards neere their temples and other publike and frequented places that men might alwaies as saith Licurgus be put in mind of death It is vncertaine in what place death attends vs and therefore let vs attend death in all places and be alwaies readie to receiue it Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Grata superueniet quae non sperabitur hora. But let vs consider the excuses and greeuances that these poore people alleadge to couer and colour their complaints which are all vaine and friuolous It grieueth them to die The greeuances and excuses of fearefull men answered young and they complaine as well in regard of others as themselues that death preuenteth them and cutteth them off in the flowre and strength of their yeares The complaint of the vulgar sort who measure all by the ell and account nothing pretious but that which is long and durable whereas contrarily things exquisite and excellent are commonly thin fine and delicate It is the marke of a skilfull worke-master to enclose much in a little space and a man may say that it is fatall to great and glorious men not to liue long Great vertue and great or long life do seldome or neuer meet together Life is measured by the end prouided that that be good and all the rest hath a proportion thereunto the quantitie is nothing to make it more or lesse happie no more than the greatnes of a circle makes the circle more round than the lesse the figure heere doth all A little man is as perfect a man as a greater Neither men nor their liues are measured by the ell Againe it troubleth them to die farre from their friends or to be slaine and to remaine vnburied they desire to die in peace in their beds amongst their friends being comforted by them comforting them All they that follow the warres and ride post to be in the battell are not of this mind these men runne willinglie to their end and seeke a tombe amongst the dead bodies of their enemies Little children feare men when they are masked discouer their faces and they feare them no more And euen so beleeue it fire and sword astonish vs when we thinke of them take off their maske the death wherewith they threaten vs is but the same death wherewith women and children die They are troubled to thinke they must leaue all the world And why They haue seene all one day is like another there is no other light nor other night nor other sunne nor other course of the world One yeare telleth vs that all things grow euery yeare worse and worse they haue seene the childhood the youth the virilitie the old age of the world there is no arte no way to begin againe Yea but they leaue their parents and their friends Where they go they shall find more and such as they haue neuer yet seene and they they leaue behind them and desire so much shall shortly follow them But what shall become of their small children and orphans left without guide without support As if those their children were more theirs than Gods or as if they could loue them more than he that is their first and their truest father and how many such so left haue risen to higher place and greater abilitie than other men But it may be they feare to go alone This is great simplicitie so many people dying with them and at the selfe-same houre Finallie they go into a place where they shall not desire this life How desire it If it were lawfull to resume it they would refuse it and if a man were worthie to know what it is before he receiueth it he would neuer accept of it vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus Why or how should they desire it since they are either wholly nothing as miscreants beleeue or in farre better state than before as the wisest of the world do affirme Why then are they offended with death since it quits them of all griefe The selfe-same iourney they haue made from death that is to say from nothing to life without passion without feare they make againe from life vnto death reuerti vnde veneris quid graue est But it may be that the spectacle of death displeaseth them because they that die looke gastlie It is true but this is not death but the maske of death that which is hid vnder it is very beautifull for death hath nothing in it that is fearefull we haue sent idle and poore spies to know it who report not what they haue seene but what they haue heard and what they feare But it taketh out of our hands so many things or rather taketh vs from them and vs from our selues it taketh vs from that we know and haue been accustomed vnto and bringeth vs to an estate vnknowne at horremus ignota it taketh vs from the light to bring vs into darknes and to conclude it is our end our ruine our dissolution These are the weightiest obiections whereunto in a word a man may answere that death being the ineuitable law of nature as shall be said hereafter we neede not dispute so much thereof for it is a follie to feare that which a man cannot auoid Dementis est timere mortem quia certa expectantur dubia metuuntur mors habet necessitatem aequam inuictam But these kind of people make not their count well for it is quite contrarie to that which they say for in steed of taking any thing from vs it giueth vs all in stead of taking vs from our selues it sets vs in libertie and makes vs free to our selues in steed of bringing vs into darknes it taketh it from vs and puts vs into the light and it doth the same to vs that we do to all fruits spoyling them of their barks their shells their foldings their speres their skinnes to bring them into sight vse nature ita solet sieri pereunt semper velamenta nascentium it taketh vs from a strait incommodious rumatike darke place where we see but a small part of the heauens and the light but afarre off through the two narrow holes of our eyes to bring vs into an open libertie an assured health a perpetuall light into such a place such an estate where we may wholly see the whole heauens and the light in his naturall place aequaliter tibi splendebit omne
gaine than a losse Dignities are but honorable seruitudes whereby a man by giuing himselfe to the weale-publike is depriued of himselfe Honors are but the torches of enuie iealousie and in the end exile pouertie If a man shall call to minde the historie of all antiquitie he shall finde that all they that haue liued and haue caried themselues woorthily and vertuously haue ended their course either by exile or poison or some other violent death witnesse among the Greekes Aristides Themistocles Phocion Socrates amongst the Romans Camillus Scipio Cicero Papinian among the Hebrues the Prophets In such sort that it should seeme to be the liuerie of the more honest men for it is the ordinarie recompence of a publike state to such kinde of people And therefore a man of a gallant and generous spirit should contemne it and make small account thereof for he dishonoureth himselfe and shewes how little he hath profited in the studie of wisdome that regardeth in any respect the censures reports and speeches of the people be they good or euill CHAP. XXVII Of the losse of Friends I Heere comprehend parents children and whatsoeuer is neere and deere vnto a man First wee must know vpon what this pretended complaint or affliction is grounded whether vpon the interest or good of our friends or our owne Vpon that of our friends I doubt we shall say yea to that but yet we must not be too credulous to beleeue it It is an ambitious faining of pietie whereby we make a shew of sorrow and griefe for the hurt of another or the hindrance of the weale-publike but if wee shall withdraw the vaile of dissimulation and sound it to the quicke we shall finde that it is our owne particular good that is hid therein that toucheth vs neerest Wee complaine that our owne candle burneth and is consumed or at least is in some danger This is rather a kinde of enuie than true pietie for that which we so much complaine of touching the losse of our friends their absence their distance from vs is their true and great good moerere hoc euentum inuidi magis quà m amici est The true vse of death is to make an end of our miseries If God had made our life more miserable he had made it longer And therefore to say the truth it is vpon our owne good that this complaint and affliction is grounded now that becommeth vs not it is a kind of iniurie to be grieued with the rest and quiet of those that loue vs because we our selues are hurt thereby Suis incommodis angi non amicum sed seipsum amantis est Againe there is a good remedie for this which fortune can not take from vs and that is that suruiuing our friends we haue meanes to make new friends Friendship as it is one of the greatest blessings of our life so it is most easily gotten God makes men and men make friends Hee that wanteth not vertue shall neuer want friends It is the instrument wherewith they are made and wherewith when he hath lost his old he makes new If fortune haue taken away our friends let vs endeuour to make newe by this meanes wee shall not lose them but multiply them Of death VVE haue spoken heereof so much at large and in all respects in the eleuenth and last chapter of the second booke that there remaineth not any thing else to be spoken and therefore to that place I referre the Reader The second part of inward euils tedious and troublesome passions THE PREFACE FRom all these aboue named euils there spring and arise in vs diuers passions and cruell affections for these being taken and considered simply as they are they breed feare which apprehendeth euils as yet to come sorrow for present euils and if they be in another pitie and compassion Being considered as comming and procured by the act of another they stirre vp in vs the passions of choler hatred enuie iealousie despite reuenge and all those that procure displeasure or make vs to looke vpon another with an enuious eie Now this vertue of fortitude and valour consisteth in the gouernment and receit of these euils according to reason in the resolute and couragious cariage of a man and the keeping of himselfe free and cleere from all passions that spring thereof But because they subsist not but by these euils if by the meanes and help of so many aduisements and remedies before deliuered a man can vanquish and contemne them all there can be no more place left vnto these passions And this is the true meane to free himselfe and to come to the end as the best way to put out a fire is to withdraw the fuell that giues it nourishment Neuerthelesse wee will yet adde some particular counsels against these passions though they haue bin in such sort before deciphered that it is a matter of no difficultie to bring them into hatred and detestation CHAP. XXVIII Against Feare LEt no man attend euils before they come because it may be they will neuer come our feares are as likely to deceiue vs as our hopes and it may be that those times that we thinke will bring most affliction with them may bring greatest comfort How many vnexpected aduentures may happen that may defend a man from that blow we feare Lightning is put by with the winde of a mans hatte and the fortunes of the greatest states with accidents of small moment The turne of a wheele mounteth him that was of lowest degree to the highest step of honour and many times it falleth out that wee are preserued by that which we thought would haue beene our ouerthrow There is nothing so easily deceiued as humane foresight That which it hopeth it wanteth that which it feareth vanisheth that which it expecteth hapneth not God hath his counsell by himselfe That which man determineth after one maner he resolueth after another Let vs not therefore make our selues vnfortunate before our time nay when perhaps we are neuer likely to be so Time to come which deceiueth so many will likewise deceiue vs as soone in our feares as in our hopes It is a maxime commonly receiued in Physicke that in sharp maladies the predictions are neuer certaine and euen so is it in the most furious threatnings of fortune so long as there is life there is hope for hope continues as long in the body as the soule quamdiu spiro spero But forasmuch as this feare proceedeth not alwaies from the disposition of nature but many times from an ouer delicate education for by the want of exercise and continuall trauell and labour euen from our youth we many times apprehend things without reason we must by a long practise accustome our selues vnto that which may most terrifie vs present vnto our selues the most fearefull dangers that may light vpon vs and with cheerefulnesse of heart attempt sometimes casuall aduentures the better to trie our courage to preuent euill occurrents and to sease vpon
held through all Christendome is that they are all created of God and infused into bodies prepared in such maner that the creation and infusion is done at one and the same instant These foure opinions are all affirmatiue but there is a fift much reteined which determineth nothing and is content to say that it is a secret vnknowen vnto men of which opinion was S. Austin Greg. and others who neuerthelesse De orig Epl. 28. 157. thought the two latter affirmatiue opinions more like to be true than the former Let vs now see when and how the Soule entreth into the 6 The entrāce of the soule into the bodie bodie whether altogether at one instant or successiuely I meane the humane Soule for of that of a beast there is no doubt since it is naturall in the seed according to Aristotle whom most do follow that is by succession of times and by degrees as an artificiall forme which a man maketh by pieces the one after the other the head afterwards the throat the bellie the legs insomuch that the vegetatiue and sensitiue Soule altogether materiall and corporall is in the seed and with the descent of the parents which fashioneth the bodie in the matrix and that done the reasonable Soule arriueth from without And therefore there are neither two nor three soules neither together nor successiuely neither is the vegetatiue corrupted by the arriuall of the sensitiue nor the sensitiue by the arriuall of the intellectuall but it is but one Soule which is made finished and perfected in that time which nature hath prescribed Others are of opinion that the soule entreth with all her faculties at one instant that is to say then when all the bodie is furnished with organs formed and wholly finished and that vntill then there was no Soule but only a naturall vertue and Enargie an essentiall forme of the seed which working by the spirits which are in the sayd seed with the heat of the matrix and materiall blood as with instruments do forme and build vp the body prepare all the members nourish mooue and increase them which being done this Enargie and seminall forme vanisheth and is quite lost so that the seed ceaseth to be seed losing it forme by the arriuall of another more noble which is the humane Soule which causeth that which was seed or an Embryon that is a substance without shape to be no longer seed but a man The Soule being entred into the bodie we are likewise to 7 The residence of the Soule in the Bodie know what kinde of existence therein it hath and how it is there resident Some Philosophers not knowing what to say or how to ioyne and vnite the Soule with the bodie make it to abide and reside therein as a Master in his house a Pilot in his ship a Coach-man in his coach but this were to destroy all for so the Soule should not be the forme nor inward and essentiall part of a creature or of a man it should haue no need of the members of the bodie to abide there nor any feeling at all of the contagion of the bodie but it should be a substance wholly distinct from the bodie of it selfe subsisting which at it pleasure might come and goe and separate it selfe from the body without the distinction and diminution of all the functions thereof which are all absurdities The Soule is in the bodie as the forme in the matter extended and spred thorowout the body giuing life motion sense to all the parts thereof and both of them together make but one Hypostasis one intire subiect which is the creature and there is no mean or middle that doth vnite and knit them together for betwixt the matter and the forme there is no middle according to all Philosophie The Soule then is all in all the bodie I adde not though it be commonly sayd and all in euery part of the bodie for that implieth a contradiction and diuideth the Soule Now notwithstanding the Soule as it is sayd be diffused 8 The seat instruments of the soule and spred thorow the whole bodie yet neuerthelesse to excite and exercise it faculties it is more specially and expresly in some parts of the bodie than in others in which it is sayd to haue place yet not to be wholly there lest the rest should be without Soule without forme And as it hath foure principall and chiefe faculties so men giue it foure seats that is those foure regions which we haue noted before in the composition of the body the foure first principall instruments of the soule the rest referre themselues vnto them as also all the faculties to these that is to say the engendring faculty to the ingendring parts the naturall to the liuer the vitall to the heart the animall and intellectuall to the braine We are now come to speake in generall of the exercise of 9 The sufficiency of the Soule for the exercise of hir faculties the faculties of the Soule whereunto the soule of it selfe is wise and sufficient insomuch that it faileth not to produce that which it knoweth to exercise it functions as it ought if it be not hindered and that the instruments thereof be well disposed And therefore it was well and truly said of the wise that Nature is wise discreet industrious a sufficient mistrisse which maketh a man apt to all things Insita sunt nobis omnium artium ac virtutum semina magisterque ex occulto Deus producit ingenium which is easily shewed by induction The vegetatiue soule without instruction formeth the body in the matrix with excellent arte afterwards it nourisheth it and makes it grow drawing the victuall vnto it retaining and concocting it afterwards casting out the excrements it ingendreth and reformeth the parts that faile these are things that are seene in plants beasts and men The sensitiue Soule of it selfe without instruction maketh both beasts and men to moue their feet their hands and other members to stretch to rub to shake to moue the lips to presse the dug to crie to laugh The reasonable of it selfe not according to the opinion of Plato by the remembrance of that which it knew before it entred into the body nor according to Aristotle by reception and acquisition comming from without by the senses being of it selfe as a white paper void of impression although that serue to good purpose but of it selfe without instruction imagineth vnderstandeth retaineth reasoneth discourseth But because this of the reasonable Soule seemeth to be more difficult than the other and woundeth in some sort Aristotle himselfe it shall be handled again in his place in the discourse of the intellectuall Soule It remaineth that wee speake of the last point that is of 10 The separation of the body twofold the separation of the Soule from the body which is after a diuers sort and maner the one and the ordinarie is naturall by death and this not the same in
of the Soule after death after the naturall separation by death diuers men thinke diuersly and this point belongeth not to the subiect of this booke The Metempsychose and transanimation of Pythagoras hath in some sort been embraced by the Academicks Stoicks Aegyptians and others but yet not of all in the same sense for some doe admit it only for the punishment of the wicked as we reade of Nebuchadnezar who was changed into a beast by the iudgement of God Others and some great haue thought that good soules being separated become Angels the wicked Diuels It had beene more pleasing to haue sayd Like vnto them Non nubent sed erunt sicut Angeli Some haue affirmed that the soules of the wicked at the end of a certaine time were reduced to nothing But the trueth of all this we must learne from Religion and Diuines who speake heereof more cleerely CHAP. VIII Of the Soule in particular and first of the vegetatiue facultie AFter this generall description of the Soule in these ten points we must speake thereof more particularly according 1 The faculties of the Soule to the order of the faculties thereof beginning at the basest that is the Vegetatiue Sensitiue Apprehensible or Imaginatiue Appetible Intellectiue which is the soueraign Soule and truly humane Vnder euery one of these there are diuers others which are subiect vnto them and as parts of them as we shall see handling them in their ranke Of the vegetable and basest Soule which is euen in plants I will not speake much it is the proper subiect of Physitians 2 Of the vegetable her subalternals of health and sicknesse Let me only say that vnder this there are conteined other three great faculties which follow one the other for the first serueth the second and the second the third but the third neither of the former The first then is the nourishing facultie for the conseruation of the Indiuiduum or particular person which diuers others doe serue as the Attractiue of the victuall the Concoctiue the Digestiue separating the good proper from the naught and hurtfull the Retentiue and the Expulsiue of superfluities The second the increasing or growing facultie for the perfection and due quantitie of the Indiuiduum The third is the Generatiue for the conseruation of the kinde Whereby we see that the two first are for the Indiuiduum and worke within in the bodie the third is for the kinde and hath it effect and operation without in another bodie and therefore is more worthy than the other and commeth neerer to a faculty more high which is the Sensitiue This is a great height of perfection to make another thing like it selfe CHAP. IX Of the Sensitiue facultie IN the exercise of this facultie and function of the Senses Six things required to the exercise of this facultie these six things do concurre whereof foure are within and two without That is to say the Soule as the first efficient cause The facultie of Sense which is a qualitie of the Soule and not the Soule it selfe that is of perceiuing and apprehending outward things which is done after a fiue-folde maner which we call The fiue Senses of this number we shall speake hereafter that is to say Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting Touching The corporall instrument of the Sense whereof there are fiue according to the number of the Senses the Eye the Eare the high concauitie of the Nose which is the entrance to the first ventricles of the braine the Tongue the whole Skin of the bodie The Spirit which ariseth from the braine the fountaine of the sensitiue Soule by certaine sinewes in the sayd instruments by which spirit and instrument the soule exerciseth her facultie The sensible Species or obiect offered vnto the instruments which is different according to the diuersitie of the sense The obiect of the eye or sight according to the common opinion is colour which is an adherent quality in bodies whereof there are six simple as White Yellow Red Purple Greene and Blew some adde a seuenth which is blacke but to say the trueth that is no colour but a priuation being like vnto darkenesse as the other colours more or lesse vnto the light Of compound colours the number is infinite but to speake more truely the true obiect is light which is neuer without colour and without which the colours are inuisible Now the light is a qualitie which commeth forth of a luminous body which makes both it selfe visible and all things els and if it be terminated and limited by some solide bodie it reboundeth and redoubleth it beames otherwise if it passe without any stop or termination it can not be seene except it be in the root of that light or luminous bodie from whence it came nor make any thing els to be seene Of the Eare or Hearing the obiect is a sound which is a noise proceeding from the encounter of two bodies and it is diuers the pleasant and melodious sweeteneth and appeaseth the spirit and for it sake the bodie too and driues away maladies from them both the sharpe and penetrant doth contrariwise trouble and wound the spirit Of Tasting the obiect is a fauour or smacke whereof there are six diuers simple kindes Sweet Sowre Sharpe Tart Salt Bitter but there are many compounds Of Smell the obiect is an odour or sent which is a fume rising from an odoriferous obiect ascending by the nose to the first ventricles of the braine the strong and violent hurteth the braine as an ill sound the eare the temperate and good doth contrariwise reioyce delight and comfort Of the sense of Touching the obiect is heat colde drouth moisture either pleasant and polite or sharpe and smarting motion rest tickling The middle or space betwixt the obiect and the instrument which is the Aire neither altered nor corrupted but such as it ought to be So that sense is made when the sensible species presenteth it selfe by the middle to an instrument sound and well disposed and that therein the spirit assisting receiueth it and apprehendeth it in such sort that there is there both action and passion and the senses are not purely passiue for notwithstanding they receiue and are stricken by the obiect yet neuerthelesse in some sense and measure they doe worke or react in apprehending the species and image of the obiect proposed In former times and before Aristotle they did make a difference betwixt the sense of Seeing and the rest of the senses and they all held that the sight was actiue and was made by emitting or sending forth of the eye the beames thereof vnto the outward obiects and that the other senses were passiue receiuing the sensible obiect but after Aristotle they are made all alike and all passiue receiuing in the organ or instrument the kindes and images of things and the reasons of the Ancients to the contrary are easily answered There is more and more excellent matter to be deliuered of the senses