1 Naturall materiall whereby the spirits remaine sottish feeble lesse capable plaine diminished obscure such as that is for the most part of the common sort of people or too hot ardent and drie which maketh the spirits foolish audacious vitious These are the two extremes Sottishnesse and Follie Water and Fire Lead and Mercurie altogether improper or vnapt to wisdom which requireth a spirit full of vigor and generous and yet sweet pliant and modest but the second is more easily amended by discipline than the former The second which is Acquired proceedeth either 2 Acquired from no culture and instruction or from that which is euill which amongst other things consisteth in an obstinate and sworne preiudicate preuention of opinions wherewith the minde is made drunken and taketh so strong a tincture that it is made vnapt and vncapable to see or to finde better whereby to raise and inrich it selfe It is sayd of these kinde of men That they are wounded and stricken that they haue a hurt or blow in the head vnto which wound if likewise learning be ioined because that puffeth vp it bringeth with it presumption and temeritie and somtimes armes to maintaine and defend those anticipated opinions it altogether perfecteth the forme and frame of follie and maketh it incurable So that naturall weaknesse and acquired preuention are two great hinderances but science if it do not wholly cure them which seldome it doth strengtheneth them and maketh them inuincible which turneth not any way to the dishonour of learning as a man may well thinke but to the greater honour thereof Science or Learning is a very good and profitable 10 Of Learning staffe or waster but which will not be handled with all hands and he that knowes not well how to rule it receiueth thereby more hurt than profit It besotteth and maketh foolish saith a great learned writer the weake See heerof Li. 3. ca. 14. and sicke spirit it polisheth and perfecteth the naturally strong and good The feeble spirit knowes not how to possesse science how to handle it and how to make vse thereof as he should but contrariwise is possessed and ruled by it whereby he submits himselfe and remaines a slaue to it like a weake stomacke ouercharged with more victuals than it can digest A weake arme wanting power and skill well to weld a waster or staffe that is somewhat too heauie for it wearieth it selfe and fainteth A wise and courageous spirit ouermastereth his wisdome enioyeth it vseth it and employeth it to his best aduantage enformeth his owne iudgement rectifieth his will helpeth and fortifieth his naturall light and maketh himselfe more quicke and actiue wheras the other is made thereby more sottish more vnapt and therewithall more presumptuous so that the fault or reproch is not in learning no more than that wine or other good drugge is faultie which a man knoweth not how to apply and accommodate to his owne needs Non est culpa vini sed culpa bibentis Now then against such spirits weake by nature preoccupated puffed vp and hindred by acquired wisdome I make open warre in this Booke and that often times vnder the word Pedante not finding any other more Of the vvord Pedante or Schoole-master proper and which by many good Authours is vsed in this sense In it owne Greeke Originall it was taken in the better sense but in other later languages by reason of the abuse and bad carriage of such men in the profession of their learning it is accounted base vile questuous contentious opinatiue vain-glorious and presumptuous by too many practised and vsed but by way of iniurie and derision and is in the number of those words that by continuance of time haue changed their signification as Tyrant Sophister and diuers other Le sieur de Bellay after the rehearsall of many notorious vices concludeth as with the greatest But of all the rest Knowledge pedanticall I detest And in another place Sayd I thou didst liue but to eat and drinke Then poore were my reuenge thy faults scantie But that which most doth make thy name to stinke Is to be short thou art a Pedantie It may be some will take offence at this word thinking An aduertisement it likewise toucheth them and that I thereby haue a will to tax or scoffe the Professors and Teachers of learning but let them be pleased to content themselues with this free and open declaration which I here make That it is no part of my meaning to note by this word any gown-men or learned profession whatsoeuer yea I am so farre from it that Philosophers are in so high esteeme with me that I should oppose my selfe against my selfe because I account my selfe one of them and professe the same learning only I touch a certaine degree and qualitie of spirits before desciphered that is such as haue naturall capacitie and sufficiencie after a common and indifferent maner but afterwards not well tilled preoccupated possessed with certaine opinions and these are men of all fortunes all conditions and goe as well in short garments as in long gownes Vulgum tam chlamidatos quà m coronam voco If any man can furnish me with any other word as significant as this to expresse these kinde of spirits I will willingly forgo this After this my declaration he that findeth himselfe agrieued shall but accuse and shew himselfe too scrupulous It is true that a man may finde other opposites to a wise man besides a Pedante but it is in some particular sense as the common prophane vulgar sort of people and often times I vse these opposits but this is as the low is opposite to the high the weake to the strong the valley to the hill the common to the rare the seruant to the master the prophane to the holy as also a foole which indeed according to the true sound of the word is his truest opposite but this is a moderate man to an immoderate a glorious opinatiue man to a modest the part to the whole the preiudicate and tainted to the neat and free the sicke to the sound but this word Pedante in that sense we take it comprehendeth all these and more too for it noteth and signifieth him that is not only vnlike contrary to a wise man as those before mentioned but such a one as arrogantly and insolently resisteth it to the face and as being armed on all sides raiseth himselfe against it speaking out of resolution and authoritie And forasmuch as after a sort he feareth it by reason that he seeth himselfe discouered euen from the top to the bottome and his sport troubled by it he prosecuteth it with a certaine intestine hatred he taketh vpon him to censure it to defame it to condemne it accounting and carrying himselfe as the truely wise though he be a foole without peere and an ignorant selfe-conceited Gull After the purpose and argument of this Worke we 11 The method of this book
Source Entrance into the bodie Residence therein Seat Sufficiencie to exercise her functions the End and Separation from the bodie It is first very hard to define or truly to say what the soule 1 The Definition verie difficult is as generally all other formes because they are things relatiue which subsist not of themselues but are parts of a whole and this is the reason why there is such and so great diuersity of definitions of them whereof there is not any receiued without contradiction Aristotle hath confuted twelue that were before him and could hardly make good his owne It is easie to say what it is not That it is not Fire Aire 2 Easie to say what it is not Water Nor the temperature of the foure Elements or qualities or humors which is alwaies changeable without which a creature is and liues and besides that this is an accident the Soule a substance Againe Mettals and things inanimate haue likewise a temperature of the foure Elements and first qualities Neither is it blood for there are many things animate and liuing without blood and many creatures die without the shedding of a drop of blood Nor the beginning and cause of motion for diuers things inanimate mooue as the adamant moues the iron amber or iet straw medicins and roots of trees being cut and dried draw and moue Neither is it the act or life or Enargie or perfection for that word Entelechia is diuersly taken and interpreted of a liuing body for all this is but the effect or action of the Soule and not the Soule it selfe as to liue to see to vnderstand is the action of the Soule And it would likewise follow that the Soule should be an accident not a substance and could not subsist without that bodie whereof it is the act and perfection no more than the couer of an house may be without the house and a relatiue without his correlatiue To be briefe it is to say what the soule doth and is to another not what it is in it selfe But to say what the Soule is is very difficult A man may 3 Hard to say what it is simply say that it is an essentiall quickning forme which giueth to the plant the vegetatiue or growing life to a beast a sensible life which comprehendeth the vegetatiue to a man an intellectuall life which comprehendeth the other two as in numbers the greater conteines the lesse and in figures the Pentagone conteines the Tetragone this the Trigone I call it the intellectiue soule rather than the reasonable which is comprehended in the intellectiue as the lesse in the great for the reasonable in some sense and measure according to the opinion of the greatest Philosophers and experience it selfe is likewise in beasts but not the intellectiue as being more high Sicut equus mulus in quibus non est intellectus The Soule then is not the beginning or source that word doth properly belong to the soueraigne first author but an inward cause of life motion sense vnderstanding It moueth the body it selfe is not moued as contrarily the body is moued and moueth not at al it moueth I say the body not it selfe for nothing but God moueth it selfe and whatsoeuer moueth it selfe is eternall and Lord of it selfe and in that it mooueth the bodie it hath it not of it selfe but from an higher cause Concerning the nature and essence of the Soule I meane a humane Soule for the Soule of a beast is without all doubt 4 The nature and essence of the soule corporall materiall bred and borne with the matter and with it corruptible there is a question of greater importance than it seemeth for some affirme it to be corporall some incorporall and this is very agreeable to reason if a man be not opinatiue That it is corporall see what the grounds are Spirits and Diuels good and ill which are wholly separated from all matter are corporall according to the opinion of all Philosophers and our greatest Diuines Tertulltan Origen S. In homil l. de spir l 3. de lib. arb Hom. de Epith. Basil Gregorie Augustine Damascene how much more the Soule of man which hath societie and is vnited to a matter Their resolution is that whatsoeuer is created being compared vnto God is grosse corporall materiall and only God is incorporall that euery spirit is a bodie and hath a bodily nature Next vnto authoritie almost vniuersall the reason is irrefragable Whatsoeuer is included in this finite world is finite limited both in vertue and substance bounded with a superficies inclosed and circumscribed in a place which are the true and naturall conditions of a bodie for there is nothing but a bodie which hath a superficiall part and is barred and fastened in a place God only is wholly infinite incorporall the ordinarie distinctions circumscriptiuè definitiuè effectiuè are but verball and in nothing either helpe or hurt the cause for it alwayes stands good that spirits are in such sort in a place that at the selfe same time that they are in a place they can not be elswhere and they are not in a place either infinite or very great or very little but equall to their limited and finited substance and superficies And if it were not so spirits could not change their place nor ascend or descend as the Scripture affirmeth that they doe and so they should be immooueable indiuisible indifferently in all Now if it appeare that they change their place the change conuicteth that they are mooueable diuisible subiect vnto time and to the succession thereof required in the motion and passage from one place to another which are all the qualities of a bodie But because many simple men vnder this word corporall do imagine visible palpable and thinke not that the pure aire or fire without the flame or coale are bodies haue therefore likewise affirmed That spirits both separated and humane are not corporall as in trueth they are not in that sense for they are of an inuisible substance whether airie as the greatest part of Philosophers and Diuines affirm or celestiall as some Hebrewes and Arabiques teach calling by the selfe same name both the heauen and the spirit an essence proper to immortalitie or whether if they will haue it so of a substance more subtile and delicate yet they are alwayes corporall since limited by place mooueable subiect to motion and to times Finally if they were not corporall they should not be passible and capable of suffering as they are the humane receiueth from his bodie pleasure and displeasure sorrow and delight in his turne as the bodie from the spirit and his passions many good qualities many bad vertues vices affections which are all accidents and all as well the spirits separated and Diuels as humane are subiect to punishment and torments They are therefore corporall for there is nothing passible that is not corporall and it is only proper vnto bodies to be subiect
hereafter Now besides these fiue particular senses which are without there is within the common sense where all the diuers obiects apprehended by it are assembled and gathered together to the end they may afterward be compared distinguished and discerned the one from the other which the particular senses could not doe being euery one attentiue to his proper obiect and not able to take knowledge thereof of his companion CHAP. X. Of the senses of Nature ALl knowledge is begun in vs by the senses so say our 1 The importance of the naturall senses Schoole-men but it is not altogether true as we shall see heereafter They are our first masters it beginneth by them and endeth with them they are the beginning and end of all It is not possible to recoile farther backe euery one of them is a captaine and soueraigne lord in his order and hath a great command carrying with it infinite knowledges The one dependeth not or hath need of the other so are they equally great although the one haue a farre greater extent and traine and affaires than the other as a little king is as well a soueraigne in his little narrow command as a great in his great estate It is an opinion amongst vs that there are but fiue senses of Nature because wee marke but fiue in vs but yet there 2 The number may very well be more and it is greatly to be doubted that there are but it is impossible for vs to know them to affirme them or to denie them because a man shall neuer know the want of that sense which he hath neuer had There are many beasts which liue a full and perfect life which want some one of our fiue senses and a creature may liue without the fiue senses saue the sense of Feeling which is only necessary vnto life We liue very commodiously with fiue and yet perhaps we do want one or two or three and yet it can not be knowen One sense can not discouer another and if a man want one by nature yet he knowes not which way to affirme it A man borne blinde can neuer conceiue that he seeth not nor desire to see nor delight in his sight it may be he will say that he would see but that is because he hath heard say and learned of others that it is to be desired the reason is because the senses are the first gates and entrances to knowledge So man not being able to imagine more than the fiue that he hath he can not know how to iudge whether there be more in Nature yet he may haue more Who knoweth whether the difficulties that we finde in many of the works of Nature and the effects of creatures which we can not vnderstand doe proceed from the want of some sense that wee haue not Of the hidden properties which we see in many things a man may say that there are sensible faculties in Nature proper to iudge and apprehend them but yet he must confesse that we haue them not and that the ignorance of such things proceedeth from our owne default Who knoweth whether it be some particular sense that discouereth in the Cocke the houre of mid-night and morning and that moues him to crow Who taught some beasts to chuse certaine herbes for their cure and many such like woonders as these are No man can affirme or denie say this it is or that it is Some haue assayed to giue a reason of this number of the fiue senses and to prooue the sufficiencie of them by distinguishing 3 Their sufficiencie and diuersly comparing their outward obiects which are either all neere the bodie or distant from it if neere but yet remaining without it is the sense of Touching if they enter it is Taste if they be more distant and present by a right line it is the Sight if oblique and by reflexion it is the Hearing A man might better haue sayd thus That these fiue senses being appointed for the seruice of an entire man some are entirely for the bodie that is to say Taste and Touching that in that it entreth this in that it remaines without Others first and principally for the soule as sight and hearing the Sight for inuention the Hearing for acquisition and communication and one in the middle for the middle spirits and ties of the soule and body which is the Smell Againe they answer to the foure Elements and their qualities The sense of Feeling to the earth of Hearing to the aire of Taste to the water and moisture the Smell to the fire The Sight is a compound and partakes both of water and fire by reason of the bright splendor of the eie Againe they say that there are so many senses as there are kinds of sensible things which are colour sound odour taste or sauour and the fift which hath no proper name the obiect of Feeling which is heat cold rough plaine and so foorth But men deceiue themselues for the number of the senses is not to be iudged by the number of sensible things which are no cause that there are so many By this reason there should bee many more and one and the same sense should receiue many diuers heads of obiects and one and the same obiect be apprehended by diuers senses so that the tickling of a feather and the pleasures of Venus are distinguished from the fiue Senses and by some comprehended in the sense of Feeling But the cause is rather for that the spirit hath no power to attaine to the knowledge of things but by the fiue Sences and that Nature hath giuen it so many because it was necessary for it end and benefit Their comparisons are diuers in dignity and nobility The 4 Comparison Sense of Seeing excelleth all the rest in fiue things It apprehendeth farther off and extendeth it selfe euen to the fixed starres It hath more variety of obiects for to all things generally in all there is light and colour the obiects of the eie It is more exquisit exact and particular euen in the least and finest things that are It is more prompt and sudden apprehending euen in a moment and without motion euen the heauens themselues in the other senses there is a motion that requireth time It is more diuine and the markes of Diuinity are many Liberty incomparable aboue others whereby the eie seeth or seeth not and therefore it hath lids ready to open and to shut power not to turmoile it selfe and not to suffer it selfe to bee seene Actiuitie and abilitie to please or displease to signifie and insinuate our thoughts willes and affections for the eye speaketh and striketh it serueth for a tongue and a hand the other Senses are purely passiue But that which is most noble in this Sense is that the priuation of the obiect thereof which is darknesse brings feare and that naturally and the reason is because a man findeth himselfe robbed of so excellent a guide and therefore whereas a man desireth
after another the younger doth alwayes build vpon the more ancient and next precedent 5 The latter are built vpon the former which from the toppe to the bottome it doth not wholly disproue condemn for then it could not be heard or take footing but it only accuseth it either of imperfection or of the end and that therfore it commeth to succeed it and to perfect it and so by little and little ouerthroweth it and inricheth it selfe with the spoiles therof as the Iudaicall which hath retained many things of the Gentile Egyptian religion the elder the Hebrewes not being easily purified of their customes the Christian built vpon the verities and promises of the Iudaicall the Turkish vpon them both retaining almost all the verities of Christ Iesus except the first and principall which is his Diuinity so that if a man will leape from Iudaisme to Mahumatisme he must passe by Christianity and such there haue beene among the Mahumatists as haue exposed themselues to torments to maintaine the trueth of Christian religion as a Christian would do to maintaine the truth of the Old Testament But yet the elder and more ancient doe wholly condemne the yonger and holde them for capitall enemies All religions haue this in them that they are strange and 6 All are strange to nature horrible to the common sense for they propose and are built and composed of parts whereof some seeme to the iudgement of man base vnworthy and vnbefitting wherewith the spirit of man somwhat strong and vigorous iesteth and sporteth it selfe others too high bright wonderfull and mysticall where he can know nothing wherewith it is offended Now the spirit of man is not capable but of indifferent things it contemneth and disdaineth the small it is astonished and confounded with the great and therefore it is no maruell if it be hardly perswaded at the first onset to receiue all religion where there is nothing indifferent and common and therefore must be drawen thereunto by some occasion for if it be strong it disdaineth and laugheth at it if it be feeble and superstitious it is astonished and scandalized praedicamus Iesum crucifixum Iudaeis scandalum gentib us stultitiam Whereof it comes to passe that there are so many mis-beleeuers and irreligious persons because they consult and hearken too much to their owne iudgements thinking to examine and iudge of the affaires of religion according to their owne capacitie and to handle it with their owne proper and naturall instruments We must be simple obedient and debonaire if we will be fit to receiue religion to beleeue and liue vnder the law by reuerence and obedience to subiect our iudgement and to suffer our selues to be led and conducted by publike authoritie Captiuantes intellectum ad obsequium fidei But it was required so to proceed otherwise religion should not be respected and had in admiration as it ought now it is necessarie that it be receiued and sworne to as well authenticallie and reuerentlie as difficultlie If it were such as were whollie pleasing to the palat and nature of man without strangenes it would be thought more easily yet lesse reuerently receiued Now the religions and beliefs being such as hath been said strange vnto the common sense very farre exceeding all the 7 Why they are not to be gottē by humane means reach and vnderstanding of man they must not nor cannot be gotten nor setled in vs by naturall and humane meanes for then among so many great minds as there haue been rare and excellent some had attained thereunto but it must needs be that they be giuen vs by extraordinarie and heauenlie reuelation gotten and receiued by diuine inspiration and as sent from heauen In this maner likewise all do affirme that they hold their religion and beleeue it not from men or any other creature but from God But to say the truth and not to flatter or disguise this is 8 And yet they are gotten by humane meanes nothing they are whatsoeuer some say held by humane hands and meanes which is true in euery respect in false religions being nothing but prayers and humane or diabolicall inuentions the true as they haue another iurisdiction so are they both receiued and held by another hand neuerthelesse we must distinguish As touching the receiuing of them the first and generall publication and installation of them hath beene domino cooperante sermonem confirmante sequentes signis diuine and wonderfull the particular is done by humane hands and meanes the nation countrie place giues the religion and that a man professeth which is in force in that place and among those persons where he is borne and where he liueth He is circumcised baptised a Iew a Christian before he knowes that he is a man for religion is not of our choyce or election but man without his knowledge is made a Iew or a Christian because he is borne in Iudaisme or Christianitie and if he had been borne elsewhere among the Gentiles or Mahumetans he had beene likewise a Gentile or a Mahumetan As touching the obseruation the true and good professors thereof besides the outward profession which is common to all yea to misbeleeuers they attribute to the gift of God the testimonie of the Holy Ghost within but this is a thing not common nor ordinarie what faire colour soeuer they giue it witnes the liues and maners of men so ill agreeing with their beleefe who for humane occasions and those very light goe against the tenor of their religion If they were held planted with a diuine hand nothing in the world could shake vs such a tye would not be so easily broken If it had any touch or ray of diuinitie it would appeare in all it would produce wonderfull effects that could not be hid as Truth it selfe hath said If you haue but as much faith as a mustard seed you should remoue mountaines But what proportion or agreement is there betwixt the perswasion of the immortalitie of the soule and a future reward so glorious and blessed or so inglorious and accursed and the life that a man leadeth The only apprehension of those things that a man saith he doth firmely beleeue wil take his senses from him The only apprehension and feare to die by iustice and in publike place or by some other shamefull and dishonorable action hath made many to lose their senses and cast them into strange trances and what is that in respect of the worth of that which religion teacheth vs is to come But is it possible in truth to beleeue to hope for that immortalitie so happie and yet to feare death a necessarie passage thereunto to feare and apprehend that infernall punishment and liue as we do These are things as incompatible as fire and water They say they beleeue it they make themselues beleeue they beleeue it and they will make others beleeue it too but it is nothing neither do they know what it is to beleeue For
take vpon it the guardianship protection of the bodie So farre should it be from seruing the bodie which is the most base vniust shamefull and burthensome seruitude that is that it should assist counsell it and be as a husband vnto it So that it oweth thereunto care not seruice It must handle it as a lord not as a tyrant nourish it not pamper it giuing it to vnderstand that it liueth not for it but that it cannot liue heere below without it This is an instruction to the workeman to know how to vse and make vse of his instruments And it is likewise no small aduantage to a man to know how to vse his bodie and to make it a fit instrument for the exercise of vertue Finallie the bodie is preserued in good estate by moderate nourishment and orderly exercise How the spirit must haue a part and beare it companie in those pleasures that belong vnto it hath been said before and shall heereafter be set downe in the vertue of temperance Touching goods and the dutie of euery man in this case there are many and diuers offices for to gather riches to keep them to husband them to employ them to yeeld vnto them all that is fit are different sciences One is wise in the one of them that in the other vnderstandeth nothing neither is it fit he should The acquisition of riches hath more parts than the rest The employment is more glorious and ambitious The preseruation and custodie which is proper to the woman is the arbour to couer them These are two extremities alike vitious to loue and affect riches to hate and reiect them By riches I vnderstand that which is more than enough and more than is needfull A wise man will do neither of both according to that wish and praier of Salomon Giue me neither riches nor pouertie but he will hold them in their place esteeming them as they are a thing of it selfe indifferent matter of good and euill and to many good things commodious The euils and miseries that follow the affecting and hating of them haue been spoken of before Now in fiue words we set downe a rule touching a mediocritie therein 1. To desire them but not to loue them sapiens non amat diuitias sed mauult As a little man and weake of bodie would willinglie be higher and stronger but this his desire is without care or paine vnto himselfe seeking that without passion which nature desireth and fortune knoweth not how to take from him 2. And much lesse to seeke them at the cost and dammage of another or by arte and bad and base meanes to the end no man should complaine or enuie his gaines 3. When they come vpon him entring at an honest gate not to reiect them but cheerfullie to accept them and to receiue them into his house not his heart into his possession not his loue as being vnworthie thereof 4. When he possesseth them to employ them honestlie and discreetlie to the good of other men that their departure may at the least be as honest as their entrance 5. If they happen to depart without leaue be lost or stollen from him that he be not sorrowfull but that he suffer them to depart with themselues without any thing of his si diuitiae effluxerint non auferent nisi semetipsas To conclude he deserueth not to be accepted of God and is vnworthie his loue and the profession of vertue that makes account of the riches of this world Aude hospes contemnere te quoque dignum singe deo Of the iustice and dutie of man towards man An aduertisment THis dutie is great and hath many parts we will reduce them to two great ones In the first we will place the generall simple and common duties required in all and euery one towards all and euery one whether in heart word or deed which are amitie faith veritie and free admonition good deeds humanitie liberalitie acknowledgement or thankfulnes In the second shall be the speciall duties required for some speciall and expresse reason and obligation betweene certaine persons as betweene a man and his wife parents and children masters and seruants princes and subiects magistrates the great and powerfull and the lesse The first part which is of the generall and common duties of all towards all and first CHAP. VII Of loue or friendship AMitie is a sacred flame kindled in our breasts first by nature and hath expressed it first heate betweene the husband 1 The description and the wife parents and children brothers and sisters and afterwards growing cold hath recouered heate by arte and the inuention of alliances companies fraternities colleges and communities But forasmuch as in all this being diuided into many parts it was weakned and mingled with other profitable pleasant considerations to the end it might restrengthen it selfe and grow more feruent it hath recollected it selfe and vnited it owne forces into a narrower roome betwixt two true friends And this is perfect amitie which is so much more feruent and spirituall than other by how much the heart is hotter than the liuer and the bloud than the vaines Amitie is the soule and life of the world more necessarie say the wise than fire and water amicitia necessitudo amici necessary it is the summe the staffe the salt of our life for without it all is darknes and there is no ioy no stay no taste of life amicitia iustitiae consors naturae vinculum ciuitatis praefidium senectutis solatium vitae humanae portus ea omnia constant discordia cadunt And we must not thinke that friendship 3 How necessary to the weale-pub is profitable and delightfull to priuat men only for it is more commodious to the weale-publike it is the true nursing mother of humane societie the preseruer of states and policies Neither is it suspected nor displeaseth any but tyrants and monsters not because they honor not it in their hearts but because they cannot be of that number for only friendship sufficeth to preserue the world And if it were euery where in force there would be no need of a law which hath not been ordained but as a help and as a second remedie for want of friendship to the end it might enforce and constraine by the authoritie thereof that which for loue and friendship should be freelie and voluntarie but howsoeuer the law taketh place farre below friendship For friendship ruleth the heart the tongue the hand the will and the effects the law cannot prouide but for that which is without This is the reason why Aristotle said That good law-makers haue euer had more care of friendship than of iustice And because the law and iustice do many times lose their credit the third remedie and least of all hath been in armes and force altogether contrarie to the former which is friendship Thus we see by degrees the three meanes of publike gouerment But loue or friendship is worth more than the
by chance for no man goeth to it warily and with such deliberation and disposition of body as hee ought and nature doth require Since then men are made at aduenture and by chance it is no maruell if they seldome fall out to bee beautifull good sound wise and well composed Behold then briefly according to Philosophy the particular aduisements touching this first point that is to say the begetting of male children sound wise and iudicious for that which serueth for the one of these qualities serues for the other 1. A man must not couple himselfe with a woman that is of a vile base and dissolute condition or of a naughty and vitious composition of body 2. He must abstaine from this action and copulation seuen or eight daies 3. During which time hee is to nourish himselfe with wholsome victuals more hot and drie than otherwise and such as may concoct well in the stomacke 4. He must vse a more than moderate exercise All this tendeth to this end and purpose that the seed may be wel concocted and seasoned hot and drie fit and proper for a masculine sound and wise temperature Vagabounds idle and lazie people great drinkers who haue commonly an ill concoction euer beget effeminate idle and dissolute children as Hippocrates recounteth of the Scythians Againe a man must applie himselfe to this encounter after one maner a long time after his repast that is to say his bellie being empty and he fasting for a full panch performes nothing good either for the mind or for the body and therefore Diogenes reproched a licentious yong man for that his father had begotten him being drunke And the law of the Carthaginians is commended by Plato which enioined a man to abstaine from L. 2. de leg wine that day that he lay with his wife 6. And not neere the monthly tearmes of a woman but six or seuen daies before or as much after them 7. And vpon the point of conception and retention of the seed the woman turning and gathering hirselfe together vpon the right side let hir so rest for a time 8. This direction touching the viands and exercise must be continued during the time of hir burthen To come to the second point of this office after the birth of the infant these foure points are to be obserued 1. The infant must be washed in warme water somewhat brinish to make The second part of the office of parents Ezech. 16. the members supple and firme to cleanse and drie the flesh the braine to strengthen the sinewes a very good custome in the Easterne parts among the Iewes 2. The nurse if she be to be chosen let hir be young of a temperature or complexion the least cold and moist that may be brought vp in labour hard lodging slender diet hardned against cold and heate I say if she be to be chosen because according to reason and the opinion of the wisest it should be the mother and therefore they crie out against hir when she refuseth this charge being inuited and as it were bound thereunto by nature who to that end hath giuen hir milke and dugs by the example of beasts and that loue and iealousie that she ought to haue of hir little ones who receiue a very great hurt by the change of their aliment now accustomed in a stranger and perhaps a bad one too of a constitution quite contrarie to the former whereby they are not to be accounted mothers but by halfes Quod est hoc contra naturam imperfectum ac dimidiatum matris genus peperisse staim ab se abiecisse aluisse in vtero Aul. Gell. L. 12. c. 1. sanguine suo nescio quid quod non videret non alere autem nunc suo lacte quod videat iam viuentem iam hominem iam matris officia implorantem 3. The nourishment besides the dugge should be goates milke or rather creame the most subtile and aerie part of the milke sod with honie and a little salt These are things very fit for the bodie and the mind by the aduice of all the wise and great Physitians Greeks and Hebrews Galen multis locis Homer 10. Iliad I say 7. Butyrum mel comedet vt sciat reprobare malum eligere bonum The qualitie of milke or creame is very temperate and full of good nourishment the drinesse of the honie and salt consumeth the too great humiditie of the braine and disposeth it vnto wisdome 4. The infant must by little and little be accustomed and hardned to the aire to heate and cold and we are not to be fearefull thereof for in the Northerne parts of the world they wash their children so soone as they come out of the womb of their mothers in cold water and are neuer the worse The two first parts of the office of parents we haue soone dispatched whereby it appeareth that they are not true fathers that haue not that care affection and diligence in these matters that is fit for they are the cause and occasion either by carelesnesse or otherwise of the death and vntimely birth of their children and when they are borne they care not for them but expose them to their own fortunes for which cause they are depriued by law of that fatherlie power ouer them that is due vnto them and the children to the shame of their parents are made slaues by those that haue nourished them and brought them vp who are farre from taking care to preserue them from fire and water and all other crosses and afflictions that may light vpon them The third part which concerneth the instruction of children 6 The third part of the office of parents we are to handle more seriouslie So soone as this infant is able to goe and to speake and shall begin to employ his mind and his bodie and that the faculties thereof shall be awakened and shew themselues the memorie imagination reason which begin at the fourth or fift yeare there must be An instruction very important a great care and diligence vsed in the well forming thereof for this first tincture and liquor wherewith the mind must be seasoned hath a very great power It cannot be expressed how much this first impression and formation of youth preuaileth euen to the conquering of nature it selfe Nourture saith one excelleth nature Lycurgus made it plaine to all the world by two little dogs of one litter but diuerslie brought vp to whom presenting before them in an open place a pot of pottage and a hare that which was brought vp tenderlie in the house fell to the pottage the other that had beene euer trained vp in hunting forsooke the pottage andranne after the hare The force of this instruction proceeds from this that it entreth easily and departeth with difficultie for being the first that entreth it taketh such place and winneth such Quint Senec. credit as a man will there being no other precedent matter to contest with it
and if this meane faile vs and deceiue vs there is an end of all there is no liuing in the world But of lying we haue alreadie spoken Cap. 10. The third that it be naturall modest and chaste not accompanied with vehemencie and contention whereby it may seeme to proceede from passion not artificiall nor affected not wicked immodest licentious The fourth that it be serious and profitable not vaine and vnprofitable A man must not be too attentiue in relating what hath hapned in the market place or theater or repeating of sonets and meriments it bewrayes too great and vnprofitable leasure otio abundantis abutentis Neither is it good to enter into any large discourse of his owne actions and fortunes for others take not so much pleasure to heare them as he to relate them But aboue all it must neuer be offensiue for speech is the instrument and fore-runner of charitie and therefore to vse it against it is to abuse it contrarie to the purpose of nature All kind of foule speech detraction mockerie is vnworthie a man of wisedome and honour The sixt to be gentle and pleasing not crabbed harsh and enuious and therefore in common speech acute and subtile questions must be auoided which resemble crafishes where there is more picking worke than meate to eate and their end is nothing else but brawles and contentions Lastly that it be constant strong and generous not loose effeminate languishing whereby wee auoid the maner of speech of Pedanties pleaders women To this point of Temperancie belongeth secrecie whereof 8 Chap. 8. wee haue spoken in the Chapter of faith or fidelitie not onely that which is committed vnto vs and giuen vs to keepe but that which wisdome and discretion telleth vs ought to be suppressed Now as speech makes a man more excellent then a beast 9 Of eloquence and the commendation thereof so eloquence makes the professours thereof more excellent then other men For this is the profession or arte of speech it is a more exquisite communication of discourse and of reason the stearne or roother of our soules which disposeth the hearts and affections like certaine notes to make a melodious harmonie Eloquence is not onely a puritie and elegancie of speech 10 The description a discret choice of words properly applied ending in a true and a iust fall but it must likewise be full of ornaments graces motions the words must bee liuely first by a cleare and distinct voyce raysing it selfe and falling by little and little Afterwards by a graue and naturall action wherein a man may see the visage hands and members of the Orator to speake with his mouth follow with their motion that of the minde and represent the affections for an Orator must first put on those passions which hee would stirre vp in others As Brusidus drew from his owne wound the dart wherewith he slew his enemie So passion being conceiued in our heart is incontinentlie formed into our speech and by it proceeding from vs entreth into another and there giueth the like impression which wee our selues haue by a subtle and liuely contagion Heereby wee see that a sweet and a mild nature is not so fit for eloquence because it cannot conceiue strong and couragious passions such as it ought to giue life vnto the Oration in such sort that when he should display the master-sailes of eloquence in a great and vehement action hee commeth farre short thereof as Cicero knew well how to reproch Callidius who accused Gallus with a cold and ouermild voyce and action in nisi fingeres sic ageres But being likewise vigorous and furnished as hath beene said it hath not lesse force and violence then the commaunds of tyrants enuironed with their gards and halberds It doth not only leade the hearer but intangleth him it reigneth ouer the people and establisheth a violent empire ouer our soules A man may say against Eloquence that truth is sufficiently 11 Obiections answored maintained and defended by it selfe and that there is nothing more eloquent then it selfe which I confesse is true where the minds of men are pure and free from passions but the greatest part of the world either by nature or arte and ill instruction is preoccupated and ill disposed vnto vertue and veritie whereby it is necessary that men be handled like iron which a man must soften with fire before he temper it with water So by the firie motions of eloquence they must be made supple and manageable apt to take the temper of veritie This is that whereunto Eloquence especiallie tendeth and the true fruit thereof is to arme vertue against vice truth against lying calumnies The Orator saith Theophrastus is the true Physitian of the soule to whom it belongeth to cure the biting of serpents by the musicke of the pipe that is the calumnies of wicked men by the harmonie of reason Now since no man can hinder but that some there are that sease vpon eloquence to the end they may execute their pernicious designments how can a man do lesse than defend himselfe with the same armes for if we present our selues naked to the combat do we not betray vertue and veritie But many haue abused eloquence to wicked purposes and the ruine of their countrie It is true but that is no reason why eloquence should be despised for that is common to it with all the excellent things of the world to be vsed or abused well or ill applied according to the good and bad disposition of those that possesse them Most men abuse their vnderstanding but yet we must not therefore conclude that vnderstanding is not necessarie FINIS ERRATA PAge 89. lin 23. which we most flie Page 118. lin 19. vncleane seed Page 215. lin 4. with those that know them Page 244. lin 7. ouerruleth the minde Page 292. lin 23. liue seuerely Page 336. lin 23. in the way to death Page 357. lin 1. it is religion Page 395. lin 24. And this in a briefe summe is the military discipline Page 433. lin 24. constant Page 502. lin 24. wherefore if it be for gaine Page 540. lin 24. and stifleth it in the seed