feeling thereof as the Poets fiction made miserable Niobe to approue and feele who afflicted her selfe with the murther of her children although they departed out of most extreame sorrow and melancholly Wee must diuert and attract the spirits to Hearing as the most subtill and industrious sense for this cure and remedy especially those who are preualent and delicate in this sense So Dauid by the sweet melody of his Harpe charmed and expelled the deuill out of Saul So Orpheus hauing enchanted his sorrow and lull'd a sleepe his griefe for the remembrance of his losse by the sweet tunes and harmony of his Lute Hee thought hee had againe drawne his deare Euridice from her Tombe hauing for a small time calmed the stormes and tempests in his soule of his violent griefes and sorrowes And if we may beleeue the Masters of this Art and Mysterie of Loue they haue practised no more assured remedy to cut off and appease the violence of their passion then by the diuerting and diuiding of their hearts and thoughts as it were into two riuers which they leaue to streame and slide away to the discretion and seruice of their Mistresses Or if they yet feele them selues too much oppressed and afflicted with this halfe diuided Empire they can then enlarge themselues and breathe more at their ease vnder the gouernment of many by changing if they can so please the Monarchie of Loue into an Aristocratie or Democratie And time which we see proues the sweetest Physitian of afflicted hearts and soules what hearbs doth it not imploy in their cure which the vse and practise of diuers iests and replies that mannage and surprise our imagination doe in their turnes thereby cast into a slumbering Lethargie or obliuion the remembrance of these our afflictions as some sweet and sense-pleasing Nepenthe or drinke of obliuion Yea the change of ayre contributes something to the cure of our spirituall afflictions and diseases And briefely as poysons are profitably vsed and employed in our Physicke So passions the true poysons of the soule serue to the cure of her troubles and perturbations which cannot bee so speedily or easily appeased as by applying the power of some different and contrary passion And these are the weapons and armour wherwiâ—h our Vertue couereth her selfe hauing not any other sufficient force and courage to appeare in the face of her Enemie vnarmed and vncouered SECTION II. The life of a Wise man is a circle whereof Temporance is the center whereunto all the lines I meane all his actions should conduce and ayme STormes doe not much hurt or endomage Ships which are in harbours and the tempest of humane actions doth not much disturbe the tranquillity of that minde which rides at an anchor in the harbour of Temperance If man in his infirmities will yet preuaile ouer any perdurable felicity hee muâ—t with full sayles and top and top gallant striue to ariue there although the rockes and shelues are so frequent in his way that he can difficultly secure himselfe from shipwrack And yet he is likewise happy who sauing himselfe vpon the broken ribbes or plankes of his Ship can yet steare and conduct the rest of his life to this place of secuâ—rity and safety Some wise men haue approued the excesse of intemperancie and the distast of an extreame satiety before they could resolue to containe themselues within the bounds and limits of this Vertue imagining that her grauity contained some hard and anxious thing vntill experience had taught them that Temperance is the seasoning and ordering of pleasure as intemperancie is the only plague and scourge therof Or if you will tearme intemperancie to bee the daughter of pleasure and voluptuousnes say then withall that shee is cruell and a Parricide because by her life she giues vs death and doth hugge and embrace vs so fast that shee strangles vs Contrariwise Temperance sharpens her desire and caries vs into the very bosome of true pleasure yet not to engage our soule there but to please her and not to lose her but to finde her Considering this vertue mee thinkes it may be said of her as of Bacchus that shee is twice borne Her first birth shee deriues from Vice as he doth his from a simple woman because to ariue to this point and this mid way where shee is situated she must necessarily proceed from the one or other of these vitious extreames which are neighbours to this Vertue For hee which is not yet liberall or bountifull before he be he must either be a niggard or a prodigall But afterwards shee ripeneth and perfecteth his being in the power and vigour of the Wise mans minde and opinion as the Sonne of Semele in the thighes of Iupiter Strange effects of a corrupted nature which from the infected wombe of Vice snatcheth Vertue and from that of Vertue likewise drawes Vice Choler giues weapons to valour valour lends them to rashnesse and yet all three neuerthelesse hold themselues so close together and are vnited with so naturall a cyment that it is extreamely difficult to obserue their bounds so much they are intermixed and confounded on their confines Wee must haue wonderfull strong reynes to keepe our temperance firme in this passage for if shee passe or slide neuer so little beyond these fixed and appointed limits shee shall presently finde her selfe to bee in the way and tracke of vice Two enemies are still at her sides and elbowes who watch for her ruine and destruction If shee recoyle or aduance neuer so little shee is instantly endomaged either by the one or the other either by excesse or defectuosity But as to strike the white there is but one way but many yea an infinite number to misse it So for vs to walke to this perfect felicity there is but this only way whereas to misse it and to fall into the one or the other of these vitious extreames wee may doe it by infinite wayes and courses This tranquillity of the Soule which Philosophie represents vnto vs is it any other thing then the obedience of the inferiour part which wee call sensuall appetite to the superiour which we tearme reasonable But how can they remaine of one minde and accord if wee grant and passe not some thing to the desire and will of the law which we feele in our members wholly opposite and contrary to that of our reason This perpetuall Warre and ascending tyrannie which wee will maintaine betweene them Doth it not approue and testifie vnto vs how farre distant we are from this tranquillity There is no peace but is to be preferred to Warre prouided that it can maintaine it selfe Mans life on earth is nothing but a perpetuall warre and it sufficeth that it be a forraigne one without that wee should againe foment a ciuill and intestine one A Souldiour holdes himselfe vnfortunate who in time of peace cannot safely enioy the spoyles and pillage which hee hath wonne in warre and yet farre more he who hauing fought with
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hic vera felicitas THE IVDGMENT OF Humane Actions A most Learned Excellent Treatise of Morrall Philosophie which fights agaynst Vanytie Conduceth to the fyndinge out of true and perfect Felicytie Written in French by Monsieur Leonard Marrande And Englished by Iohn Reynolds LONDON Imprinted by A. Mathewes for Nicholas Bourne at the Royall Exchange 1629 I Cecill sculp TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND truly Noble EDWARD Earle of DORSET Lord Lieutenant of his Majesties Counties of Sussex and Middlesex Lord Chamberlaine to the Queene One of the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Priuie Councell and Knight of the most Illustrious Order of the Garter His Singular good Lord and Master RIGHT HONOVRABLE EIther by Earthly accident or Heauenly prouidence meeting with this late imprinted French Treatise of The Iudgement of Humane Actions written by Monsieur Marande a name that I more honour then know and diuing into the perusall thereof I found it for matter so solide and for phrase so curious a Master-peece of Morall Philosophie that I sawe my selfe engaged yea and in a manner bound to deuest it from its French garbe and to sute it in our English attire and habite as desirous that England as well as France should participate of that benefit and Felicitie But as I was entering into this taske and casting my selfe vpon the resolution of this attempt I was instantly met and assayled by an obstacle of no small importance For considering that France hath now made and declared her selfe Englands enemie and consâ—quently giuen vs no iust cause or reasons to loue French men but many to hate them I therefore in honour to my Prince and Country to whose prosperity and seruice my best blood and life shall euer bee prostrated at first began to reiect this Booke because written by a French man and so to looke on the translation thereof rather with an eye of contempt then of affection But at last recollecting my thoughts and considering that Peace is the gift and blessing of God and Charâ—ty the true marke of a Christian I therefore from my heart and soule wishing and desiring a safe honorable and perdurable peace betweene these two mighty neighbour Sister Kingdomâ—s in particular and to all Christians and the whole Christian world in general And also well knowing that Learning is vniuersally to be cherished and vertue honoured in all persons times and places of the whole world without exception or distinction then these premiâ—es considered this my last consideration preuailed and vanquished my first and so I re-assumed my former designe and resolution to finish it although in regard of the deepe matter and the knottie and elegant stile thereof I ingeniously confesse that many Gentlemen both of England and Scotland had beene farre more capable for the discharge and performance thereof then my selfe Hauing thus made my selfe an English Eccho to this French Author and now in these times of Warre taken this Booke as a rich French prise and landed him on our English shores Where should this Impe of my labour looke but on your Ho on whom my hopes heart haue euer looked or to whom else should it flye for harbour and shelter but onely to your Lordship who in all the stormes and tempests of these my weather beaten fortunes haue so graciously and generously serued me both for shelter and harbour when the immerited malice of some and the vndeserued ingratitude of others haue denied it me The which yet I speake and remember more out of sensibility to my selfe â—hen any way out of passion much lesse of Enuie to them as resting contented with this resolution to keepe the griefe thereof to my selfe to leaue the shame to them and to giue the thankes and glory to your Honour As this Booke of Marande is curious so he made his Dedication thereof wherefore led by the fame and lustre of his example I could doe no lesse then immitate him herein for as he directed it to the Cardinall of Richelieu So your Lordships Merits and my dutie enforce me to inscribe it to your Honour who are as much the Cardinalls equall in Vertues as by many degrees his superiour in bloud and extraction And although I well know that shall rather wrong mine Author then right my selfe to erect or proffer any Paâ—â—gerike to his Merits and Iudgement on this his Booke because of it selfe iâ— sufficiently peâ—formes and acts that part Yet when your Lordshipâ— leasure and pleasure shall borow so much time from your great and weighty â—ffâ—ires of the State to giue it to the perusâ—ll and contemplation of this his Booke I doubt not but you will then see and acknowledge that Marande herein as another Cornelius Agrippa learnedly fights against the Vanitie of Humane Sciences and as a second Montaigne iudiciously contests against the poyson of our hearts I meane against our intemperate and therefore our pernicious Passions For in this worke of his as in a rich Treasurie and Sacrary of Nature He with a zeale and iudgement euery way worthy of himselfe laughes at the Vanitie of all Humane Artes and Actions as also generally at all the presumptuous and profane professors thereof and by reasons as cleare as the Sunne passeth his iudgement on them prouing GOD to bee the sole Author and Giuer of Wisdome and that GOD and none but GOD ought to bee the onely obiect of our desires and affections Here hee hath deuested and stript our passions naked and curiously delineated and depointed them to vs in their true colours and naturall deformity Heere he hath taught vs to beleeue and our thoughts and resolutions to know that exorbitant Ambition prooues most commonly the bane of our hearts the poyson of our mindes and the Arch-Enemie and Traytor to our owne fortunes and fâ—licitie Here hee hath curiously arraigned and anatomized the power and functions of the Senses and shewed vs how violently and maliciously they euery moment conspire to corrupt our bodies and to betray our soules to sinne and voluptuousnesse Here he hath brought home to our Vnderstanding and Iudgement what power our soules haue ouer our bodies and God ouer our soules and that our bodies can expect no true tranquillity or felicity here on Earth except our soules doe first fetch it from Heauen and deriue it from God And here hee hath crowned Reason to be the Queene of our soules and adopted Vertue to bee no lesse then a Princesse and Daughter of Heauen and taught vs how tenderly and religiously we ought to loue either and honour both of them sith thereby they will then infallibly prooue the two spirituall guides to conduct vs to true happinesse in this life and consequently to bring vs to true felicity and glory in that to come Which considered As also that such is the vniuersall iniquity of our times the generall deprauation and corruption of our liues and manners that through the darke cloudes of our humane Vanitie and Ambition we many times
slauerie by the flight of her thoughts and the labour of a long meditation shee but drawes her chaine after her and despight of her shrill resounding findes her selfe so weake without their assistance that for the time which she is retain'd here in prison she may say shee is wholly indebted for the benefit of her faculties and most free actions to the fauour good disposition and sweet vsage of our senses They are indeede our seruants and our slaues but yet they haue more power and authority in the house then our selues Wee are Masters by the obedience which they voluntarily yeeld vs and not by the command which we haue ouer them Our power lasteth but whiles they please and if any passion throwe them into confusion our soule then retireth into her selfe all perplexed and fearefull vntill the disorder be appeased and pacified in her Estate and that euery one of our senses bee re-established in his Kingdome And how then after so exact and perfect a knowledge of the weakenesse vanity and other imperfections of man shall wee yet haue the courage to place him in the ranke of the Gods according to the opinion of Pythagoras when he spake of Dion whom hee said to be as vertuous as a God yea and by a higher straine and ladder If wee will enter into the schoole of Seneca Then saith he When a wise man by the degrees of Reason hath attained so high that hee hath gotten an absolute power and command ouer his passions hee hath done that thing which God cannot doe because it is beyond all passions Is it not from mans impotencie to deriue a power more soueraigne then that of God For for man to glory in his actions he doth a thing which God cannot doe Is not this a faire consequence of our reasons O vanity of man vanity of Science and Knowledge the more wee aduance the more wee still haue to aduance Can we then beleeue that this reason which so puffes vp our heart and fills and enflames our courage hath any thing permanent or subsistent in it but pride and vaine glorious outward apparance Shee knowes not how to fight but faignedly Our reasons impetuously follow their point but meeting with a stronger they conniue they escape and commonly those which are Diametrally contrary and so affirmatiuely maintained that they seeme to partake and engage in their quarell the authority of the greatest wits are yet Diametrally false and as much distant from the centre of the truth one as another Wee haue nothing more certaine then doubts And for me if I doubt of the reasons and principles of those Sciences whereof we haue aboue discoursed it may be I doubt more of the reasons which I haue alledged to the contrary The end of the second Discourse The third Discourse Of Opinion SECTION I. To cut off the liberty of Iudgement is to bereaue the Sunne of her light and to depriue Man of his fairest Ornament THe senses conduct vs as by the hand to the knowledge of things but our Iudgement stumbles at euery step and many times Shipwracks her selfe against the errour of Opinion For if the eye of the body iudge of the difference of colours the eye of our reason very often horrowes a strange light to iudge the qualities of her obiect As if our passions and vices did not fill vs with defects and faults enough without hauing neede to ioyne those of others thereby to bring vs the more anxiety and trouble and the more to obscure vs the knowledge of the truth This abuse teacheth vs that to know well how to keepe and maintaine the opinion of others is the end of our knowledge That Philosopher seeking in the secrets of Nature the Being and Essence of things notwithstanding any liuely conceptions and true apprehensions wherewith his soule shall be possessed hee shall be likewise fed with many false and absurd ones the which wee confusedly embrace and espouse with an equall passion through the reputation which they haue purchased and gotten among vs vpon the pasport of a popular Iudgement Good money should not authorise the course and passage of false nor for bad opinions to condemne those which deserue to be approued and applauded It is one and the same fault absolutely to praise or to condemne all things in a man and I hold it cannot bee performed with Iustice. Those who haue sought the truth before vs should bee our guides but not our Masters in such manner that they rather teach vs how to beleeue then dispute But this aduantage and profit which we receiue by them should be but as a sparkle to enkindle and enflame our courage with a generous desire of enioying this truth All the world seeke her their wayes are open and free to all those who will approach her Some one thinke they haue giuen her some assault Others stay halfe way and yet there will be place found for our reasons It is the Butte whereat all ayme but none can strike it is too farre distant from vs And I beleeue that as many powers as wee employ to attaine thereto they are so many arrowes darted vp against this diuine Sunne which are scattered and lost in the cloudes of our weake and vaine imaginations Neuerthelesse to beleeue the onely report of others and to content our selues of their proofes I hold it better to essay and bee assured of our owne weakenesse then to relie vpon the reputation and authority of other men Our actions are of so small importance and consequence that if in their losse they yet enwrappe that of our time we should lesse grieue to employ them in this curious research then yet to consume them vnprofitably in the vanitie of things where wee feele our selues caried away by the streame and current of the water I meane by the errour of opinion Our senses haue formerly taught vs that without them reason is nothing nor hath no place from whence to drawe her forces or from whence shee may take her motions thereby to know the truth of things and to establish a firme foundation to the end that by the perquisition which shee makes of things knowne and discouered shee may passe on to the knowledge of those which are obscured and hidden Let vs for this regard content our selues of the vice and fault which is in vs without contributing any more through the vice of our owne opinion and the weakenesse of our Iudgement which dares not vndertake to conâ—roule the opinion of others and lesse to weigh or balance the the reasons which many times are more esteem'd and considerable in the white beards of their Authors then in a solid or lawfull value which makes that wee ought not to admire if wee finde so many learned personages among vs It is that relying and resting our selues vpon principles which we haue neuer proued or essayed wee by this way finde our reason well grounded and still assiâ—â—ed by truth her selfe if it bee true that authority and opinion ought
that which cannot offend vs despight our selues Nature hath caused vs to be all borne equally rich esteemes so little of the goods she giues vs which we tearme riches as of our passions and the feare to lose them Seneca sayes that the Gods were more propitious and fauourable when they were but of earth then since when they were made of Gold or Siluer meaning thereby that the rest and tranquillity of the mind was more frequently found in the life of our fore-fathers who sought no other riches then the fruites of their labours then it hath done since when men being curious to open the bosome and rip vp the bowells of the earth haue therein found Mines of Gold and Siluer which shee hath dispersed and sowen among vs as seed of discord and diuision The meanest estate and condition and those steps which are neerest the earth are still the firmest and surest as the highest are the most dangerous And if Pouertie bee any way harsh or distastfull it is onely because she can throw vs into the armes of Hunger Thirst Heate Cold or other discommodities So in Pouertie it is not she which is to be feared but rather Griefe and Paine whereof we will hereafter speake in its proper place But some one will say who is he that apprehends and feares not Death There is no pouerty so poore which findes not wherewith to liue The body is easily accustomed and hardned to endure Heate or Cold but what remedy is there against Death who with his sharpe sithe cuts and reapes away so many pleasures yea the very threed of our life which can neuer be regained for although old men approach Death in despight of themselues and that their distast of worldly pleasures the forerunner thereof should yet giue them resolution to aduance boldly neuerthelesse they retire backe they tremble at the ghastly sight and shadow of Death yea they are affraide sincke downe in their beds and wrap themselues vp in their couerlets and to vse but one word they dye euery moment at the onely feare and thought of Death And I who am in the Spring-time of my age cherished of the Muses and beloued of Fortune in the very hight of all pleasures and voluptuousnesse shall not I yet feare Death So many Griefes and Sorrowes so many conuulsions and gnashing of our teeth are they not to be apprehended and feared can the linkes of that marriage of the Body and Soule be dissolued and broken but by some violent effect and power those who are insensible feare their dissolution Flowers and Trees seeme to mourne at the edge of the Knife and shall not then our sense and feeling bee sensible thereof yea and remarke and see it in our feare I answere It is true that of all things which Nature representeth vnto vs most terrible there is nothing which shee hath depainted in such fearefull colours as the figure and image of Death Euery thing tendes to the conseruaâ—ion of its being and generously oppose and fight against those who seeke to destroy it But the feare which wee entermixe with it is not of the match oâ— party but is onely of our owne proper beliefe and inuention Paine which seemes to be the iustest cause to make vs apprehend it is excluded and hath nothing to doe with it because the seperation of the soule and body is done in so sodaine a moment and instanâ— that our Vnderstanding hardly perceiuing it it iâ— very difficult for our sense to doe it Those gastly lookes which deuance it or the rewâ—rd of good or euill which followes it are no appurtenances â—or dependancies of this instant or moment But I will say more For as there is no time in this instant so likewise there is no paine because the senses cannot operate or agitate according to the opinion of Philosophers but with some certaine Interim of time and which is more that those last panges are passed away without any sense or feeling thereof And contrariwise if in this seperation the paine should be either in the body or soule or both First the body feeles it not because there is nothing but the senses which can perceiue it who being in disorder and confusion by the disturbance of the vitall spirits which they oppresse and restraine their disposition is thereby vitiated The function of the senses being interrupted they cease to operate and therefore of feeling the effect of paine but more especially when the spirits abandon them and retire and withdrawe themselues from the heart The which wee perceiue and see in those who fall in a swoone whose eyes remaine yet open without seeing and without operation which happeneth and comes to passe because the spirits which should make the wheeles of the sight to moue and operate haue abandoned their places and functions The Soule of her selfe cannot remedy it no more then a Fountainer can cause his water-workes to play when there is no water the which by reason thereof is then meerely out of his power And as the eye by the defect hereof performes not her function and without perceiuing thereof ceaseth to operate so all the other senses by the same rule and reason doe faile vs. When our Soule will take her last farewell of our body shee flyes to the regions of the Liuer and Heart as to her publique places all the spirits being dispierced and bending here and there in the body to take her last fare-well of them which retire without that the parts or members farther off doe feele any paine of this seperation but because henceforth they can no more feele it for that they carie away with them the heat and strength of feeling If therefore there be any paine it must be in the noble parts who profer their last farewell and thankes to the Soule for the care labour and paine which shee hath had to giue them life and motion The Husband cannot lâ—aue or goe from his Wife without a great sense and feeling of sorrowe for his sighes griefes and teares testifie how bitter and displeasing this seperation is to him Can therefore this seperation of the soule from the body bee performed with lesse griefe and paine Some will say that the most remote parts and members shall be insensible thereof and endure and suffer nothing in this reluctation and conflict which is onely because they haue giuen this charge and conferred this commission to the noble parts to performe it As in the seperation of one whom we deerely affect and loue all the whole body which suffereth in this farewell to make his griefe and sorrowes the more apparent commits the charge thereof to the eyes by their teares and to his breast by her sighes to expresse his sense and feeling thereof I answere that there is no paine because the spirits who withdrawe themselues by the defects and failing of others in these interiour parts are either in good and perfect order and their function is common and therefore without paine or else
misfortune and the fairest fruites which she is capable to produce are Sighes Teares and Groanes the irreproachfull witnesses of the small courage of those who foment and cherish them But if it violently proceede from the good which we see others possesse then we tearme it Enuie A most infamous passion which being not able to offend others seeks to annoy and destroy himselfe and busking euery where seekes onely his owne tortures in other mens contentments Those who are eminent and sublime in Vertue seeme to haue their reputation exempt from the assaults and blowes of Enuie because commonly it ingendereth not but among equalls and those which by the same competition and concurrence aime at the same ends Iniust in their designes and onely iust in that they are sufficient for their owne proper vexation and to tie themselues to their owne torments Or if it happen that we are melancholly to see another participate of our goods then it is no more Sorrow but Ielousie which proceedes from the diffidence of himselfe and of his owne merits or from the defect of that which hee loues as Inconstancy or Leuitie whereof our heart secretly accuseth him or from the vertue or excellent parts which we see and obserue in our riuall Among all other passions it is she alone to whom most things serue for Phisique but least for remedie She screwes and insinuates her selfe vnder the title of good will and affection and yet on the foundation thereof she buildes her chiefest hatred And if any one contrariwise pretend that it is a signe of Loue I say that like as a fâ—auer in the body is a signe of life but yet of distempered corrupted life that so Iealousie may be a testimony of Loue but yet it is of an imperfect defâ—ctiue Loue for that which we suspect either is or is not If it be not we offeÌ„d that which we loue if it be is it not properly to ruine affection But is there a greater folly then to be eager in the knowledge of our owne shame and misery when there is no Phisique which doeth not augment and inflame it Bâ—t he who is curious in his owne damage informes himselfe thereof and hauing discouered it findes no remedie but which is a thousand times worse then his griefe and vexation me thinkes the sight of his passions is sufficient to make him detest them they haue deformity enough in them to exasperate our anger and hatred against them They are the seditious and factious persons of our Soule and the professed Enemies of our pâ—ace and tranquillity It is true that we may throw them to the ground and trample on them by the assistance addresse and subtilty of Vertue but doe what we can they will seeme anew to reuiue and re-enforce themselues as Antaeus the son of the Earth the blow of their fall makes them glance and rebound against vs and if they cannot wholly support and raise themselues they will yet enforce themselues to fight with vs on their knees The end of the fourth Discourse The fift Discourse Of Felicitie SECTION I. Euery thing naturally tends to its repose onely Man strayes from his Felicitie or if hee approach it he stayes at the branches insteede of embracing the truncke or body of the tree IN interiour diseases there is not much lesse art to know them then to cure them but especially then when their poyson hauing surprised the most secret and hidden parts is stollen from our sight yea and from the sense and feeling of him who harboureth it in his brest the most apparant and truest signe of curing such diseases is to expell the paine and to awaken in the patient his sleepie or benummed parts to the end that the feeling which he findes thereof make him assume the strength and courage to practise the remedies the which we haue already formerly done It remaines now that thou lend a strong hand to the remedies thereby to pull and roote vp these virulent humours Thinke not that thesâ— diseases are of the number and quality of those who are inchanted and which are cured with bare words The Phisitian and sicke patient doe neither aduance nor performe any good by discourse or words if they adde not effects thereto If occasion require we must vse Irons and fire to extirpe this plant there is such a distance from the Estate wherein this contagion hath reduced vs to that point which we seeke and desire that the changing of one to the other cannot bee performed with lesse violence To approoue any other way is to attempt an impossibility and herein to want courage is to dispaire of the cure and remedy of his disease Neuerthelesse we will attempt the most pleasing remedies and make vse of Irons and fire but in the greatest extreamities I conceiue and apprehend that some one will say to me thou wilt make me forsake my hold and so abandon a good in effect although it be some what sharpe and bitter to follow this felicity which thou proposest which it may be is a good in shew which in its selfe hath no other body but contempt nor soule but vntrueth and lies Hath any one discouered it out of the Empire of Fortune and what else is it but the fulnesse and the loade-stone of his fauours which attracts the eyes of all the World as the white and leuell of our desires and the center of our affections But that which we terme felicity without which there is nothing found but is false and imaginary No no I will not snatch out of your hands that which you affect and cherish so deerely nor bereaue your eyes of these obiects whose lustre vnites and ties them to it I will not cut off your pensions nor reuenewes and least of all diminish your credit and authority But by the increase and surplus of a 〈◊〉 good I will adde to that heape this soueraigne contentment which is not of their nâ—ture and grouth if we will beleeue 〈◊〉 disturbance which we meet with in the 〈◊〉 of their affluence This faire Goddesse Vertue whose 〈…〉 is beloued and honoured of all the World yea of her proper Enemies ought to lead and conduct vs by the hand in this passage and to put vs in possession of that felicity whereof we affect and cherish but the shadowes It is she which beares the key of the Treasury which hauing vnshut and opened we may all thrust in our hands for it is inexhaustible Our affections shall finde the inioyance of their desires and our insatiable thirst of loue shall finde wherewithall to quench this violent fire who in enioying the goods of Fortune did but the more enflame it Wee shall haue so much the more accesse and familiarity as our Nature doth sweetly encline vs. Doe I say that shee constraines vs with some degree of violence The desire which wee feele in our heart is it any other thing but a sparke of felicity which would ioyne as to his element and the place of
none but to those of the first Classe or Schoole and who with Socrates can tame Death so well that they will seeke for no consolation out of it Life and death seemed to this wise Philosopher as naturall one as the other Hee considered the first point of his birth as the first graine of sand which begins the houre and the last motion of his life as the last graine which ended it and yet both the one and the other with a regard and looke equally fixed and constant If we rush out of our selues and that sometimes our Vertue drawe and enforce vs to this last point wee are more indebted for this sally to irregularity then to the power constancie or vigour of our minde the which likewise cannot long remaine in this high seate because it as soone feeles it selfe depressed and beaten downe by the weight of the body to re-integrate it in this obscure prison from whence hee was but as it were escaped and then comming againe to himselfe hee knowes no more the trace or way whereby hee hath performed so faire a Cariere So that trembling with astonishment he may say that there is nothing more different or dis-semblable to man then himselfe If wee will giue an exact and sound iudgement of Vertue wee must as much consider her defects in whom it meetes and resides as her proper force and power To see her stark naked it is a ray or sparke of the Diuinity but our weake nature hauing married and espoused her doth stifle her in the crowd of her vices and corruptions Pythagoras affirmes that men assume new soules when they approach the Statues of the Gods to receiue their Oracles and I say that wee doe the like when wee resolue to see and consult with Vertue For it seemes that then our soule doth cleanse and purifie her selfe from the filâ—hines which she hath gathered among the crowd and throng of people and who discharging her selfe of this troublesome burthen she richly dressed and clad runnes to sit downe on the sacred seat of this Goddesse But againe after that we re-assume our olde custome and vices which wee haue forsaken at our first entrance as he whom wee see in a fooles habit after hee hath represented the personage of a King in a Comedie If Vanities if the dreames of lyes did not take vp and preoccupate our thoughts insteed of these Philosophicall reasons there could bee nothing more commendable noble or generous then he who consulting and conuersing with reason passeth his time in obseruing the familiar conferences which they haue together So that if Fortune apparelled in all her brauest and richest ornaments should arriue at the very instant to offer him all her most pretious treasure to embrace her side and party I am sure shee should receiue nothing from him but a short refusall and shame but if she chance to come to him eight dayes after I beleeue that if she doe not wholy vanquish him that she will at least make a great breach in his heart affections The minde of man cannot be still extended and prepared He must continually haue his weapons in his hand and put himselfe on his guard to defend himselfe from those blowes which Fortune still giues vs Shee but feignedly fights with vs for she leuels at our head but strikes vs at our heart We defend and auoid our selues from Ambition and Couetousnesse but yet wee inconsideratly permit our selues to bee transported and ouerthrowne by choler So the blowe is not dangerous or violent because it struck vs with the butt end and although it neither reuersed nor ouerthrew vs yet it made vs recule at least a pace backward What good countenance so euer our Vertue shewes shee is still subiect to many imperfections If shee had but our minde to gouerne and conduct then nothing were impossible to her But when she must take vp and loade on her shoulders the body wherein this minde is enchained and imprisoned shee then stoopes and faints vnder this burthen and all shaking and trembling shee hath much a doe to support her selfe by her owne proper strength and vigour For shee is constrained to seeke ayde and helpe to prop her selfe vp yea and to begge assistance to keepe and stay her from reeling and falling Where the Lyons skin cannot suffice wee must sowe on that of the Foxe and where courage hath not power enough to support and defend it selfe from the iniuries of Fortune wee must in her behalfe substitute subtilty to oppose and diuert it The vertue of Socrates fore-sawe his affliction he inured tamed himselfe to it yea laughed and played with it and ours makes vs to looke a thwart and squint-eyed yea to turne and diuert our eyes from the remotest obiects thereof to steale away vnseene from the very thought of it which otherwise by little and little growes sharpe and contentious in our minde and so by its gall corrupts all which seemes most sweet and pleasing to our pallats We haue named that heroicall and this we will tearme morall Vertue or Temperance which as Plato said is a mutuall consent of the parts and faculties of the Soule which makes reason to follow as a rule and curbe to all licentious and vnbridled desires the which Pythagoras calls the light which chaseth from her all the darknesse and obscurity of passions This Vertue seemes to me to be wonderfully bold and audacious vnder one or the other of these descriptions and differs nothing from the precedent For she caries the Axe to the rootes whereas ours is contented to loppe and prune off the twigges and smaller branches That takes away and cuts off euill humours and this diuerts and turnes them vpon some part or member lesse dangerous The remedies are not so sharpe and bitter and so they serue not but to palliat and sweeten the Euill or Disease But the other in the meane time without flattering it doth at first teare it off and cuts vpon the quicke the griefe of a sensible losse by the very edge of his reasons That is to say That complaint according to his precepts is not an action either iust or commendable That a wise man should foresee the blowe which threatens him at the very point of the birth of his affection That succeeding yeares and the sweetnesse of the fauours of Fortune should not so bewitch or make him drunke as to cast him into a swoone or lethargie and be able wholly to shut his eyes to these infallible accidents There is none but an ignorant person who findes any thing new In a word that this accident was still present with him and that hauing so often re-chewed this bad meat hee may in the end accustome himselfe to it and so resolue to swallow it downe without any distast or bitternesse But as it appertaines to none but to the birdes of Diomedes to separate the Athenians from the Greekes so it belongs to none but to Socrates or spirits which haue raised themselues to