by the Providence of God and yet that some things fall out casually and fatally both and those were the Aristotelians Platonists and many Schoolemen at this day And now give me leave to branch forth a division before I give you the Defini-nition There is a Divine and an Humane Providence Pet. Mar. Divine Providence is defined by Peter Martyr to be Ratio quâ deus utitur in rebus dirigendis ad suos fines in quâ definitione non modo notitia sed voluntas vis id faciendi comprehensa est It is saith hee a reason which God useth in directing things to his owne ends in which definition not onely the knowledge but the will power of his doing is comprehēded Providentia dei est ipsa divina ratio in summo omnium Principe Deo constituta quâ is cuncta praeterita futura videt praecognoscit Hoc est Providentia Dei est Scientia Dei certa in ejus mente concepta ab aeterno de ijs quae olim facta unquà m futura sunt necessariò contingentèr The Providence of God is the very divine reason constituted in God the chiefe Prince of all things wherby hee sees and fore-knowes all things past and to come That is The Providence of God is the certaine knowledge of God conceived in his Vnderstanding from eternity concerning those things which were necessarily and contingently done in times past or which any time are to come Peter Martyr hath it thus Est facultas Dei Pet. Mar quâ res omnes dirigit adducit ad suos fines T is a faculty of God whereby hee directs and reduces all things to his owne ends Trelcatius tells us Trel That Providence is an outward action of God whereby hee keepeth all and severall things that are done to that end which he hath determined according to the liberty of his will and that to the end he might in all and severall things bee glorified The efficient cause of this Providence or government is the same which is of creation sith one and the selfe same beginning is of both from and by which all things doe proceed and are conserved to wit God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost The Father or the love and goodnesse of the Father is the first beginning cause the Sonne in that hee is the Wisedome and Word is the working cause the Holy Ghost in that he is the virtue and power of the Father and Sonne is the finishing cause Sicut Adam a nullo homine Evah ex solo homine Seth ex utroque ita Deus pater a nullo filius ex solo patre Spiritus Sanctus ex utroque Even as Adam was from none Eve from man alone and Seth from them both so God the Father is from none the Sonne from the Father alone and the Holy Ghost from them both Now the workes of God summarily are two That of the Creation that of the Redemption both these workes as in the totall they may appertaine to the Vnity of the Godhead so in their parts they may be referred to the three Persons That of the Creation in the Masse of the matter hee may bee in all his undertakings Magnanimus actu That British tongues may triumphantly say Charolus ille Magnus as in my Soveraignes cause I have plaid the Priest So let the British World bee my Clearkes and say Amen That I may also pray for them Otherwise I shall but curse that soule that will not say so But herein I am loth to divulge the utmost of my thoughts yet I feare that tongue will burne in unquenchable fire that dare presume to scandalize his Soveraigns name or detract from his worth And this dare I justifie For he cannot be a true servant to God that beares not a true heart to his King But mee thinkes I heare Blesensis say Ble. Pro regibus orare est nova traditio To pray for Kings is a new tradition I wonder hee or any dare broach such new Heresie since wee are commanded by S. Peter and S. Paul to pray for them which are in Authority especially for our Supreame Soveraigne Pro Rege quasi praecellenti When Abishai would have slaine Saul the mortall enemy of David David sayd to Abishai Destroy him not for who can stretch foorth his hand against the Lords Annointed and be guiltlesse It was King Iohns very case in the viewing the Castle of Rochester as is to bee seene in our History And thus much for the Reciprocall Duties betwixt Kings and their Subjects The mutuall Duties betweene Parents and their Children CAP. X. THE Children saith S. Paul are not for the Parents but the Parents for the children Begin we therefore with their Office and Duty since theirs is the Precedency When the Childe is borne let not the Mother though good in disposition nurse any unlesse she nurse all I am not against the generall Opinion as if it were not meete for a Mother to nurse her owne Childe Yet this I conceive that if she should nurse one and refuse another she should with much partiality incline to one rather then another For Womens affections are many times transported beyond Judgement And let the Fathers intentions bee never so upright yet the Mothers survivorship may finde out new inventions to performe her Naturall Affections Choose if you be droven to a choice for your Nurse a Woman Witty Handsome and if you can having the two former qualities Honest For that Childe that receiveth nutriment from his Foster Mother will goe neere to Sympathize with her in condition And now the Horne-booke appeares If thou hast Daughters Musicke Dancing Needle-working may serve turne to keepe them from Idlenesse They are hardly got and quickly lost To make them schollers were frivolous it being by some observed That Learning in a Woman is like a Sunne-diall in a Grave And we have a Caveat given us from our late Solomon in his Proverbs King Iames It hath like operation to make Women learned as to make Foxes tame which only teacheth them to steale more cunningly The possibility is not equall for where it doth one good it doth twenty harme True it is divers Women have beene very well learned I have read that Zenobia Queene of the Palmerians being skilfull in the Greeke Latine Aegyptian tongues taught them to her two sons and wrote an Epitome of the Easterne parts Cornelia taught her two sonnes the Gracchi the Latine tongue And Aretia taught her son Aristippus philosophy but he proved a Sycophantical Philosopher Indeed knowledge in a Woman commonly purchaseth more Inconvenience then profit Exempli gratia A Romane and a Grecian Embassadour meeting in the Senate of the Rhodians the Grecian spake these words True it is Romane you are bold in Armes but unskilfull in Sciences for the Women of Greece are more skilfull in Learning then the Men of Rome in Weapons These words caused Warre in Sicily At last the Rhodians perswaded
Acting them diligently Secondly In not beguiling Thirdly In not reporting that before his face which hee will not justifie behinde his backe Lastly In seeking all things for his Masters good in his Goods and otherwise This last Duty in the chiefest Points thereof is two-fold First In not harshly replying to his Masters words for nothing is so odious as a scurrilous Answer especially from an Inferiour Secondly In keeping his Masters secrets at home and abroad But by the way Hee shall not locke up his Secrets safely that makes choice of his Servants Heart for a Cabinet I must confesse hee is like a Ladder ascending and descending bound like a Shadow neither to be longer nor shorter His Livery being rather a badge of Servitude then Devotion And when all is done hee is but like him who in a Winters night takes a long slumber over a dying fire as loath to depatt from it yet parts thence as cold as when hee first 〈◊〉 downe As for his Duty you may reade it 〈◊〉 divers places of Holy Writ especially in Genesis the Epistle to the Ephesians Colossians Titus c. I might here give them a Morall Instruction but they will performe what they list say what you will they will doe what they please And thus much for Providence Of Subtilty of Vnderstanding by some esteemed a Branch of Prudence but indeed an Appendix to its Intellectuall part CAP. XII I Come now to write De Astutiâ mentis which as was formerly said I conceived to be an Appendix of the three former Species of Prudence Yet will I allow it a distinct Definition Astutia mentis est quâ in rebus industrijs cautum captatur consilium acutè discernitur quid bonum quid malum quid utile quid incommodum The Subtilty of the Vnderstanding is that whereby wee take wary Counsell in industrious matters and punctually discerne what is good what evill what profitable what incommodious But such is our broken-bellied Age that this Astutia is turned into Versutia and wee terme those most Astute which are most Versute D. Aug. Saint Augustine maketh a difference betweene them For saith hee Astutia est quiddam quod nùnc in bonam nùnc in malam partem accipitur Versutia est observatio nostri commodi in aliquâ re cum alterius detrimento Astutia is a subtilty which is taken sometime in a good Sense sometime in in a bad Versutia is a crafty heeding our owne profit with anothers dammage And this is called Callidity The end of this base craft is First to get Riches then Honour The way to attaine unto these is by that ugly uncouth Monster Dissimulation or Flattery which because it lights casually on my Pen. A word or two of it Of divers ends of the Vnderstandings Subtilty and meanes thereto and first of the High-way Flattery CAP. XIII THis is the old Sicknes of the Roman Common-wealth and the most Pestilent contagion of our British Nation The Originall of this Flattery first came from the Devill the Devill put it over to the Serpent the Serpent left it to the Woman Where it had its beginning it is probable it will have its ending And here Com. by the way Petrus Comestor in his Scholasticall History gives us this note That at the time when the Serpent tempted the Woman hee was straight and upright like a man but afterwards by the Curse hee was cast downe to the Earth to glide along thereon To this purpose saith Beda the Devill chose a Serpent Bed that had a face like a Woman because Similia similibus applaudant that like may be pleasing to like And Saint Cyril observes Cyr. That Mans first destruction was in Paradise when the Rib was taken out of him to make Woman So that the fashioning of our first Mother hath caused multitudes of her Sonnes to loose their hearts For ever since that time Sinne assailes the heart there where it wants that Rib for defence And the holy Father Ambrose seemes to bee very angry with our Grand-mother Eve D. Ambr. wishing that either Eves Tongue had beene out or both hers and Adams eares stopped before either the Woman had listned to the Serpent or the Man to the beguiled Woman Vtinam aut surdus Adam fuisset aut Eva obmutuisset ille ne vocem uxoris audiret ista ne loquatur marito Would to God saith he Adam had been deafe or Eve dumbe hee deafe in not listning to his Wives Serpentine Tongue or shee Tongue-tied that she could not have spoken the Serpents Language to her Husband Vicissemus si Eva tacuisset We had beene happy saith hee and still kept Paradise could the Woman but have kept her Tongue in her Head which Tongue hath so sorely broken Mans head that all the Balsome in the World can never heale so deepe a Wound But to the purpose Adulatio est excessus delectandi alios verbis vel factis Flattery is an excesse of delighting others by Words or Deeds or Adulatio est peccatum ex sermone vanae laudis alicui exhibitae intentione complacendi laudare enim aliquem qui non est laudandus vel plus quam est laudandus vel non eo fine quo fieri debet peccatum est secundum Alexandrum Alex. Adulation is a Sinne used to any with the speech of vaine praise and an intention of pleasing For to praise any one which is not to be praised or more then he is praise-worthy or not to that end whereto it ought to be done is a sinne if the Author erre not D. Greg. Saint Gregory speaking of the Aegyptian Locusts saith Locustae vocabulo linguae adulantis exprimitur By the name of the Locust the Tongue of the Flatterer is exprest Devorata est herba terrae et quicquid pomorum in arboribus fuit By the first was onely devoured the Grasse of the Earth and the fertility of Trees But these Flatterers Terrenorum hominum mentes si bona aliqua proferre conspiciant haec immoderatiùs laudando corrumpunt Corrupt by immoderate praising the Vnderstanding of Men if they regard to publish ought that is good The Locusts lasted in Aegypt but three dayes this is the customary vice of every day The Locusts were blowne away with a West Wind into the Red Sea no one Wind no not all the Winds can blow these Diabolicke Servants to their Master the Devill till there be no more Posterity upon Earth But some may allege Saint Paul for authority of dissimulation because he would please the Iewes in Timothy and not circumcise Titus to please the Gentiles A Question needing no Answer For it was to save all Non simulantis astu sed compatientis affectu Not by feigned Dissimulation but by compassionate Affection I would willingly here shake hands with it but I am loath to part with it many doe so dearely love it which makes me tell you It is the poysoning of Mans Vnderstanding the Feeder of humors the
hee make one sinne a thousand For let him be assured the first fruits of evill will bee punished in this World the After-crop hee must leave to God Serve then thy sinnes Plin. as Plinies Pigmies doe the Cranes destroy them in the shels or at least-wise assoone as they are hatched lest they grow to multitudes and then it will prove a hard matter to over-come them Zanc. Zanchy observes in his Booke De operibus Dei that the Devill hath twelve severall names in the Hebrew and twenty and one in the Greeke text and all either of Seduciae or Astutiae We know the Devill had foure severall fields wherein hee might exercise the part of a cunning Seeds-man In Heaven as it is in Esayah In Paradise with the Woman as it is in Genesis In the Church as it is now And lastly in every Mans heart D. Chrys Saint Chrysostome makes a Comparison betweene the Devill and a Dogge for saith hee as a Dogge waiting at the Table if you give him any thing will still waite for more if nothing hee will depart So the Devill if once you make much of him he will waite diligently for farther Courtesies but if you reject him hee will forbeare his temptations Man is in perpetuall Action where Non progredi est regredi non procedere recedere est For goodnesse without perseverance is like an Almanacke out of date Wee are like Spring-locks readier to shut then to open to shut goodnesse from us then to receive it to us Or like loose Stones on the tops of Hils willing enough to tumble downe but slow enough to mount up without ayde Like the Bird that Saint Anselme found tyed to a Stone D. Ansel which no sooner mounted but presently was puld backe The consideration whereof procured teares from this Holy Father who bewailed the miserable estate of man who endeavours by the Spirit to flye to Heaven yet is stopt by the Flesh It is with men as it is with Raspisses one Stalke growing another growne up and a third withered Or as with Flowers Grow up Seed and dye Like the three Sisters of Destiny Clotho Lachesis and Atropos The first spinning the second drawing out and the third cutting off the Thread of mans life Men are like billowes of the Sea which tumble one after another till they come to the Shoare Or like water powred out of a Bucket which the earth quickly sucketh up and it appeareth not againe Or if you will like a Glasse-house wherein no man knowes what Glasse shall first be broken but hee that owes the house Plaine then it is That wee must dy the Poet can tell us That there is no Redemption from Death Hor. Non si tricenis quotquot eunt dies Amice places illachrymabilem Plutona tauris Hence is it Iuv. that Iuvenall playes with the danger of Mariners and concludes them not certaine of an houres Lease of their lives because at all times there is but an Inch betwixt them and Death And aptly doth my Kinsman translate the danger of one under Shipwracke in his Ovid George Sandys Art failes Hart sinks on every rising Wave Death sits in Triumph and presents a Grave It is concluded that wee must dye observe then the rule of Seneca Sen. Who in his Youth exercised the Art Benè vivendi and in his Age Benè moriendi For thy life is like a Journey the lighter thy Burden the easier thy Journey Life is but a Parenthesis in a long Period and who knowes what will become of us till wee heare that Watch-word Venite Benedicti or Abite maledicti Let the heart then of each Christian embrace Saint Bernards Legacie which if Story lye not standeth in this manner on his Tombe Tria vobis fratres observanda relinquo quae ut potui observavi Primò nemini scandalum feci si quando incidit sedavi ut potui Secundò Minùs semper sensui meo quam alterius credidi Tertiò Laesus de laedente nunquà m vindictam petij Ecce Charitatem Humilitatem Patientiam vobis relinquo Brethren saith he there be three things that I bequeath to your observation which aswell as I could I have observed my selfe First I never gave scandall to any person if any scandall happened I pacified the matter to my power Secondly I stood upon mine owne conceite lesse then I did upon other mens Thirdly when I was wronged I never sought Revenge Behold Charity Humilitie and Patience I bequeath unto you What was said of all the Kings that were mentioned in the Hebrew Text They lived they dyed Well or Ill. For our parts let us live that wee may dye dye that wee may live For as there is no Habeas Corpus from death so no Habeas Animam from Hell that remaines for ever Each man is a Comedian Acts his Part then to the Tiring house and ther 's an end Snore not then supinely in the state of sinne Let us expect the first houre of the day to be the houre of our death Brevis est hora passionis sequitur gloria sempiterna Fer. As Ferus noteth Let every Third thought be thy Grave and climbe up by the rounds of Contemplation into Heaven Mentem in sublimi supra illum eximium coeli globum defixam habe Death is but the Orient of Weale and the Occident of Woe The uprising of Consolation and the downe-setting of Perturbation The deliverer from Servitude the curer of Cares the Period to Paine the Porter to Paradise and the conductor to the Deity Thinke not then of any worldly thing for all comes within the compasse of Vanitie and vexation of the Spirit And whosoever thinkes any Temporall thing to be Summum bonum fastâ—eth felicity but to a rotten Cable Only think thou of that â—ver blessed name Iesus which is Mel in ore In aure melos in corde Iubilum I conclude with those old but true Verses Si tibi pulchra domus si splendida mensa quid inde Si species auri argenti quoque massa quid inde Si tibi sponsa decens si sit generosa quid inde Si tibi sint nati si praedia magna quid inde Si fueris pulcher fortis divesque quid inde Si longus servorum inserviat ordo quid inde Si doceas alios in qualibet arte quid inde Si faveat mundus si prospera cuncta quid inde Si Prior aut Abbas si Rex si Papa quid inde Si rota fortunae te tollat ad astra quid inde Annos si foelix regnes per mille quid inde Tam citò tam citò praetereunt haec nihil inde Sola manet virtus quâ glorificabimur inde Ergo Deo servi quià tunc tibi provenit inde Quod fecisse voles in tempore quo morieris Hoc facias juvenis dum corpore sanus haberis FINIS THE CONTENTS OF each severall Chapter CHAP I. AN Introduction to the Foure Cardinall Virtues pag. 1. CHAP. II. The Originall of all Virtue whence it springs pag. 26. CHAP. III. The true Subject of Virtue to whom it properly belongs pag. 36. CHAP. IV. The Definition of Prudence The first of the foure Cardinall Virtues pag. 47. CHAP. V. The Definition and severall Branches of Prudence pag. 60. CHAP. VI. Of Memory the first part of Prudence pag. 63. CHAP. VII Of the Vnderstanding the Intellectuall part and second Branch of Prudence pag. 85. CHAP. VIII Of Providence the third part of Prudence pag. 100. CHAP. IX Of the generall Duties of Providence and first of the Mutuall Respect betweene Kings and their Subjects pag. 112 CHAP. X. Of the Mutuall Duties betweene Parents and their Children pag. 126. CHAP. XI Of the Mutuall Duties betweene Masters and their Servants pag. 161. CHAP. XII Of the Subtilty of the Vnderstanding by some esteemed a Branch of Prudence but indeed an Appendix to its Intellectuall part pag. 167 CHAP. XIII Of divers Ends of the Vnderstandings Subtilty and meanes thereto and first of the High-way Flattery pag. 170. CHAP. XIV Of the first End whereunto Subtilty tends Riches pag. 199. CHAP. XV. Of the second end whereunto Subtilty tends Honour pag. 227. LONDON Printed for WILLIAM SHEARES 1634.
Aug. And here this holy Father is almost puzled betwixt ignorance and wonder Adding nescio qui secreti atque ineffabiles ejus sinus I know not saith hee her secret and unspeakable wayes of receipt so infinite is the memories capacity You may by these words of Saint Augustine perceive that all species of things extrinsecally and intrinsecally belonging to the body of man are comprehended within this great receptacle Memory yet let me advise that none hoord up all their treasure in memorie lest time should lessen their stocke Now Memory is two-fold as some would have it one Sensitive the other Intellective according to this distinction Memoria est iterata resumpsio alicujus apprehensi sensu vel intellectu Memory is an iterated resumption of some thing apprehēded by Sense or Vnderstanding Others well learned thinke there is only a Sensitive memory and good reason for it it being one of the internall senses Memoria in parte sensitivâ ponitur quia est alicujus prout cadit sub determinato tempore non enim est nisi praeteriti cum non abstrahatur nisi à singularibus conditionibus non pertinet ad partem intellectivam quae est universalium Memory is placed in the sensitive part saith Thomas Aqui D. Tho. because it is of some thing even as it chanceth in a determinate time for it is not but of things past and since it is not drawne but from singular and particular conditions it doth not belong to the Intellective part which is of universalls And Albertus speakes to the same purpose Alb. Others would have an Intellective memorie Memoria intellectiva soli homini pèculiaris est custos conservatrix fidissima conceptuum imaginum vel rerum quarum species sunt ab intellectu perceptae The Intellective memory say they is peculiar onely to man it is the faithfullest keeper of conceipts and imaginations or of things whose species are perceived by the Vnderstanding But by their owne confession this is not Organicall And this I conceive to bee that Memory which by the Philosopher is called Pars integralis prudentiae Evident is the opinion of Plinie that Dogges Kine Oxen Plin. and Goats c. doe dreame Non somniarent bruta nisi haberent in somnis c. Brute beasts would not dreame unlesse they had in their sleepes encountering imaginations kept in the inward sense which if it hold true what shall wee conceive of Tullies saying Tull. that Inter hominem belluam hoc maximè interest quod haec tantùm quantùm movetur sensu ad id solum quod adest quodque praesens est se accommodat Paululum admodum sentiens praeterium vel futurum Betweene man and beast this is a speciall difference that a Beast onely as farre as hee is moved by sense applyeth himselfe to that alone which is present very little perceiving a thing past or to come Alij authores manifesta indicia memoriae probant quae in brutis deprehenduntur certa loca nidos latibula sobolem suam dignoscunt Other Authours prove manifest shewes of Memory which are discerned in brute Beastes they know certaine places their nests their dennes and their off-springs this opinion causeth the distinction between Memoria and Reminiscentia quod illa brutis animantibus cōpetat solus verò homo reminiscendi facultatem habeat Because Memory as some thinke appertaines to brute creatures but only man hath the faculty of reminiscence Or better thus Memoria differt à reminiscentiâ quia memoria discretè distinctè revertitur ad res componēdo intentiones distinctas cum imaginibus reminiscentia antem sivè recordatio est motus quasi interceptus abscissus per oblivionem et est cum collatione tēporis loci hujusmodi Memory differs frō reminiscence because Memory discerningly distinctly reverts unto things by cōparing distinct intentions with imaginations but Reminiscence or recordation is a motion as it were intercepted and quite lost through oblivion but is attained againe by collation of time and place and the like Ioh. de Comb as Iohannes de Combis observes Now Memoriae est retinere species intelligibiles Reminiscentiae est mortuas species resuscitare oblivioni tradita recordari It is Memories office to retaine intelligible species whereas Reminiscence doth renew lost species and as it were recall to memory things delivered over to oblivion To this purpose wee may find by cōmon experience that those things which wee have heard seene or knowne and for a little space kept in memory when once oblivion hath got the superiority wee thinke no more of then if wee had never knowne them nor could remember them were there not some body or evident token to put us in minde againe thereof Saint Augustine tels us D. Aug. Arist Memory is in beasts Aristotle confesseth it but withall That the memory that is in beasts is imperfect and in mine owne opinion so imperfect that I rather thinke it a customary imagination helpt by the externall senses then any memory at all And now inquire wee where it is seated Tres tanquà m ventriculi cerebri demonstrantur Vnus anterior ad faciem à quo sensus omnis Alter posterior ad cervicem à quo omnis motus Tertius inter utrumque in quo memoriam vigere demonstrant There are as it were three Ventricles of the Braine demonstrated saith Saint Augustine One before D. Aug. towards the face from which all sense Another behinde towards the hinder part of the necke from which all motion A third between both in which they shew that Memory flourisheth But the truth is Divines as well as Philosophers doe cōclude That Memory is seated in the hinder part of the head And thus they prove it by a threefold reason Primò quià laesa illâ parte offenditur memoria eo loco percusso rerum caepit oblivio Secundò quta ejus partis soliditas ad id videtùr potissimùm procurata à naturâ ut tenacius haereant infixae species Postremò quià cùm recordari volumus quasi naturâ nos docente occipitium scalpimus ut memorandi vim quodammodò excitemus acuamus First of all because that part being hurt the Memory is offended and blowes or hurts on that place beget oblivion Secondly because the solidity of that place especially seemes to be procured from nature that the infixed species may take the more sound hold Last of all because when wee would remember as it were by natures instinct wee scratch the hinder part of the head that after a sort we may stirre up or sharpen the facultie of remembring If these reasons serve not Fr. Ac. The French Academie will tell you That God hath assigned Memories seate or lodging in the hindermost part of the braine to the end that after such things as are to be committed to it have passed all the other senses they should be kept there as by a
into Hell with an Itum est in viscera terra If thou hadst all the Treasures that lie hid in the Bowels of the Earth envelloped in the Concave of thine owne Belly what would it gaine thee thou Foole if thou gaine the whole World and loose thine owne Soule I Remember a Storie of a poore Man who for want of sustenance tooke an Halter in his hand with a resolution to hang himselfe and comming to the place where he intended to bee his owne Executioner found a Bagge of Gold takes away the Gold and leaves the Halter in the steed He that hid the Gold comming to the place where hee left it found it metamorphosed into an Halter takes the Halter and hangs himselfe Lord what strange effects this Gold workes The one for the want of it would have hanged himselfe the other for the losse of it dispatching his worke did hang himselfe Mee thinkes Midas his eares should forwarne us of such Hellish thrift Midas the Image of a covetous Man who while he seekes to augment his Riches denies to himselfe the use of his owne and starves in abundance And of this Divine Verity the Barbarous Indians had a naturall notion who imagined that Gold was the God of the Spaniards in that they hunted after it so greedily There is a Storie in Plutarch not unlike Plut. or unworthy the recitall of one Pithius an avaritious Prince in the dayes of Xerxes who exhausted his Subjects in the diging and refining of Gold whose Wife commiserating the cryes of the people caused certaine admirable Worke-men in the absence of her Husband to make a golden Table with variety of Viands all of the same Mettall which at his returne shee caused to be set before him Who long feasting his eyes with so rare and beloved a Spectacle at length called for Meate to satisfie his hunger When the like Artificiall Food was set before him he in rage crying out that hee was ready to famish his Wife replyed wee have nothing Sir to entertaine you with but this For while you employ the labour of the Citizens and their Art in the getting of Gold a number dye in the Mines and all for that which is least usefull the Fields lye unculturated the Vineyards undressed the Orchards unplanted so that you must eate your Gold or prevent the cause of this Scarcitie Add to this that of Catiphus Governour of the Citie of Susa who had therein a Tower full of Gold and Iewels but for Avarice would not disperse bis heaped Treasure amongst his Souldiers afterwards Alan King of the Tartarians surprised his Citie and taking Catiphus shut him up in his Tower saying unto him If thou hadst not so greedily walled up this Treasure thou hadst saved thy selfe and this Citie Now therefore eate and drinke and take thy fill of that thou lovest so dearely So died he miserably through Famine in the midst of excessive Riches Observe that of Solon to Craesus who being asked of him who was more happy then hee since hee was Splendens auro gemmis Solon told three times who was more happy This three-fold Answer of Solon caused a triple wrath in Craesus Indeed it was with Craesus then as it is with too many now making many simple Conversions Fooles Philosophers and Philosophers Fooles but let them take heed with Craesus that they be not taken by Cyrus and led to the stake and then being demanded of Cyrus who that Solon is must confesse that he is not Vnus stultorum but Vnus sapientum And indeed his Answer was right for Vltima semper Expectanda dies homini est dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Suppose then thou hadst the goods of Fortune fast locked in a Coffer yet thy case may bee as was this Kings of Lydia who thought both God and Men his Friends To tell you what Riches are perhaps were frivolous since others are better acquainted with them then my selfe To attaine unto Riches Many wayes we know unto this Wood but the ordinary way is Vsurie which though it bee forbidden in holy Writ and I thinke scarce allowed of by the Fathers yet some good Authors have approved that some kind of Vsurie may be tolerable some certaine I am is intolerable I will not insist upon the Point onely acquaint you with the words of Bishop Andrewes Vsuras cum dico B. Andr. hoc dico pactum ex mutuo lucrum Tria haec mutuum lucrum pactum vim omnem faenoris appositè circumscribunt Yet I am not so precise as hee that told a Holy Sister That shee should lend looking for nothing againe So to cleare his Sister from the Sinne of Vsury he kept the Principle But I come to treate of those which are Avaritious whom I might yoke to Beggars You will say That the linkes are unfit one being made of Gold and the other of Iron Yet their conditions hold a fit Correspondencie both not willing to part with any thing before they dye Therefore I make this Comparison because there are Multitudes that Inter opes are mendici opum S. Bernard Saint Bernard affirmes That Avarus esurit ut Mendicus Fidelis contemnit ut Dominus ille possidendo mendicat iste contemnendo servat The Covetous man hungers as a Beggar the Faithfull contemnes it as a Lord Hee by possessing begs the other by contemning possesseth Or more properly to the Estridge Plinie That as Pliny reports hath the wings of an Eagle yet never mounts Or they are like the Cardinall who would not loose his part in Paris for his part in Paradise These men have an Itch which hath alwayes need of clawing Never satisfied like Tantalus in Hell or like a Dog in a Wheele which roasteth meate for others eating or like Ionathan who for Hony-combs endangered his life And were not unsatisfied desire too peremptory for Counsell too confident for dislike too potent for Remorse I would advise a man to live as Salust prescribes Vt nec sordidè custodiat nec prodigè-spargat That hee neither Basely hoord up nor Prodigally scatter it about the one denominateth an ignoble mind the other an improvident Indiscretion Spare not then where Reputation layeth claime for Expence nor expend where Frugalitie with Moderation will arraigne and condemne thee of Prodigality lest thou be forced to looke Necessitie in the face for to be a Bankerupt is to bee a Thiefe in an Honourable kind Living above Fortune is but to bee a History to after times Let those Lavishers then that made the Covetous their Voyders Live so thriftily as to pay their debts in their life time so may they deprive their Executors of a trouble And here by the way I meete a difference among the Philosophers The Aristotelians were of opinion that Superfluity of Riches might cause a tumult in a Common-wealth Because if Arrogancie and Riches should chance to linke together as too often they doe then is great danger of Bellum civile I