14 7 Ignorance of things more dangerous to the weale-publicke is that they are not free in the choice of men nor in the true knowledge of things They are not suffered truly to know the state of their affaires and consequently not to call and employ such as they would and as were most fit and necessarie They are shut vp and beset with a certaine kind of people that are either of their own bloud or by the greatnes of their houses and offices or by prescription are so farre in authoritie power and managing of affaires before others that it is not lawfull without putting all to hazard to discontent or in any sort to suspect them Now these kind of people that couer and hold as it were hidden the Prince do prouide that all the truth of things shall not appeare vnto him and that better men and more profitable to the state come not neere him lest they be knowne what they are It is a pitifull thing not to see but by the eyes not to vnderstand but by the eares of another as Princes doe And that which perfecteth in all points this miserie is that commonly and as it were by destinie Princes and great personages are possessed by three sorts of people the plagues of humane kinde Flatterers Inuenters of imposts or tributes Informers who vnder a faire and false pretext of zeale and amitie towards the Prince as the two first or of loyaltie and reformation as the latter spoile and ruinate both Prince and State The eight miserie is that they are lesse free and masters of their owne wills than all other for they are inforced in their 15 8 Not maesters of their wills proceedings by a thousand considerations and respects whereby many times they must captiuate their designments desires and wills in maxima fortuna minima licentia And in the meane time in stead of being plaintiffes they are more rudely handled and iudged than any other For men will not stick to diuine of their designes penetrate into their hearts and inuentions which they cannot doe Abditos principis sensus si quid occultius parat exquirere illicitum anceps nec ideo assequare and looking into things with another visage where they vnderstand not sufficientlie the affaires of the state they require of their Princes what they thinke should be done blame their actions refusing to submit themselues to what is necessarie they commonly proceed in their businesse rudely enough Finally it falleth out many times that they make a miserable end not only tyrants and vsurpers for it belongs to 16 9 A miserable end them but such as haue a true title to their Crowne witnes so many Romane Emperours after Pompey the Great and Caesar and in our time Mary Queene of Scotland who lost her life by the hand of an executioner and Henry the third wilfullie murthered in the middle of fortie thousand armed men by a little Monke and a thousand the like examples It seemeth that as lightning and tempests oppose themselues against the pride and height of our buildings so there are likewise spirits that enuie and emulate greatnes below vpon earth Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saeuasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur To conclude the condition of Soueraignes is hard and dangerous Their life if it be innocent is infinitly painefull 17 The conclusion of their miseries if it be wicked it is subiect to the hate and slaunder of the world and in both cases exposed to a thousand dangers for the greater a Prince is the lesse may he trust others and the more must he trust himselfe So that we see that it is a thing as it were annexed to soueraigntie to be betrayed Of their duty See the third booke Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Magistrates THere are diuers degrees of Magistrates as well in honor as power which are the two things to be considered in 1 The distinction the distinction of them and which haue nothing common the one with the other and many times they that are more honorable haue lesse power as Counsellors of the priuie Counsell the Secretaries of the state Some haue but one of the two others haue both and that of diuers degrees but they are properly called Magistrates that haue both The Magistrates that are in the middle betwixt the Soueraigne the particulars in the presence of their Soueraignes haue no power to command As riuers lose both their name and power at the mouth or entrance into the sea and the starres their light in the presence of the sunne so all power of Magistrates is but vpon sufferance in the presence of their Soueraigne as also the power of inferiours and subalternate Magistrates in the presence of their superiours Amongst equals there is neither power nor superioritie but the one may hinder the other by opposition and preuention All Magistrates iudge condemne and command either according to the law and then their sentence is but the execution of the law or according to equitie and such iudgement is called the office or dutie of the Magistrate Magistrates can not change nor correct their iudgements except the Soueraigne permit it vnder paine of iniustice they may reuoke their commands or make stay of them but not that which they haue iudged and pronounced with knowledge of the cause Of the dutie of Magistrates See lib. 3. CHAP. LI. Lawyers Doctours Teachers IT is one of the vanities follies of man to prescribe lawes and rules that exceed the vse and capacitie of men as some Philosophers and Doctors haue done They propose strange and eleuated formes or images of life or at leastwise so difficult and austere that the practise of them is impossible at least for a long time yea the attempt is dangerous to manie These are castles in the aire as the Common-wealth of Plato and More the Oratour of Cicero the Poet of Horace beautifull and excellent imaginations but he was yet neuer found that put them in vse The soueraigne and perfect Lawgiuer and Doctor tooke heed of this who both in himselfe his life and his doctrine hath not sought these extrauagancies and formes diuided from the common capacitie of men and therefore he calleth his yoke easie and his burden light Iugum meum suaue onus meum leue And they that haue instituted and ordered their companie vnder his name haue very wisely considered of the matter that though they make speciall profession of vertue deuotion and to serue the weale-publike aboue all others neuerthelesse they differ very little from the common and ciuill life Wherein there is first great iustice for there must alwaies be kept a proportion betwixt the commandement and the obedience the duetie and the power the rule and the workmaster and these binde themselues and others to be necessarilie in want cutting out more worke than they know how to finish and many times these goodly Law-makers are
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
a wise man 4 Wisely to examine all things whom I heere endeuour to describe to examine all things to consider apart and afterwards to compare together all the lawes and customes of the world which shall come to his knowledge and to iudge of them not to rule his obedience by them as hath beene said but to exercise his office since he hath a spirit to that end faithfully and without passion according to the rule of truth and vniuerfall reason and nature whereunto he is first obliged not flattering himselfe or staining his iudgement with error and to content himselfe to yeeld obedience vnto those whereunto hee is secondly and particularly bound whereby none shall haue cause to complaine of him It may fall out sometimes that wee may doe that by a second particular and municipall obligation obeying the lawes and customes of the country which is against the first and more ancient that is to say vniuersall nature and reason but yet we satisfie nature by keeping our iudgements and opinions true and iust according to it For wee haue nothing so much ours and whereof we may freely dispose the world hath nothing to do with out thoughts but the outward man is engaged to the publicke course of the world and must giue an account thereof so that manie times wee doe iustlie that which iustly we approoue not There is no remedie for so goes the world After these two mistresses Law and Custome comes the 8 Of Ceremonies third which hath no lesse authority power with many yea is more rough tyrannicall to those that too much tie themselues thereunto This is the ceremony of the world which to say the truth is for the most part but vanity yet holdeth such place and vsurpeth such authority by the remisnesse and contagious corruption of the world that manie thinke that wisedome consisteth in the obseruation thereof and in such sort do voluntarilie enthrall themselues thereunto that rather than they wil contradict it they preiudice their health benefit businesse libertie conscience and all which is a very great follie and the fault and infelicity of manie Courtiers who aboue others are the idolaters of ceremonie Now my will is that this my Wise-man do carefullie defend himselfe from this captiuity I doe not meane that out of a kind of loose inciuilitie he abuse a ceremonie for we must forgiue the world in some thing and as much as may be outwardlie conforme our selues to that which is in practise but my will is that he tie not and enthrall himselfe thereunto but that with a gallant and generous boldnesse hee know how to leaue it when he will and when it is fit and in such maner as that he giue all men to know that it is not out of carelesnes or delicacie or ignorance or contempt but because he would not seeme ignorant how to esteeme of it as is fit not suffer his iudgement and will to be corrupted with such a vanitie and that he lendeth himselfe to the world when it pleaseth him but neuer giueth himselfe CHAP. IX To carie himselfe well with another THis matter belongeth to the vertue of iustice which teacheth how to liue well with all and to giue to euery one that which appertaineth vnto him which shall be handled in the booke following where shall be set downe the particular and diuers opinions according to the diuersitie of persons Heere are only the generall following the purpose and subiect of this booke There is heere a two-fold consideration and consequently two parts in this Chapter according to the two maners of conuersing with the world the one is simple generall and common the ordinarie commerce of the world whereunto the times the affaires the voyages and encounters do daily leade and change acquaintance from those we know to those we know not strangers without our choice or voluntarie consents the other speciall is in affected and desired companie and acquaintance either sought after and chosen or being offered and presented hath beene embraced and that either for spirituall or corporall profit or pleasure wherein there is conference communication priuitie and familiaritie each of them haue their aduisements apart But before we enter into them it shall not be amisse by way of preface to giue you some generall and fundamentall aduice of all therest It is a great vice whereof this our Wise-man must take heed and a defect inconuenient both to himselfe and to another 3 Facilitie and vniuersalitie of humours to be bound and subiect to certaine humours and complexions to one only course that is to be a slaue to himselfe so to be captiuated to his proper inclinations that he cannot be bent to any other a testimonie of an anxious scrupulous mind and ill bred too amorous and too partiall to it selfe These kind of people haue much to endure and to contest and contrariwise it is a great sufficiencie and wisdome to accommodate himselfe to all I stud est sapere qui vbicunque opus sit animum possis flectere to be supple and manaiable to know how to rise and fall to bring himselfe into order when there is neede The fairest minds and the best borne are the more vniuersall the more common appliable to all vnderstandings communicatiue and open to all people It is a beautifull qualitie which resembleth and imitateth the goodnes of God it is the honor which was giuen to old Cato huic versatile ingenium sic pariter adomnia fuit vt natum ad id vnum diceres quodcunque ageret Let vs see the aduisements of the first consideration of the simple and common conuersation I wil heere set downe some 4 The first part Aduice touching simple and common conuersation whereof the first shall be to keepe silence and modestie The second not to be ouer-formall in not applying himselfe to the follies indiscretions and lightnesses which may be committed in his presence for it is an indiscretion to condemne all that pleaseth not our palat The third to spare and thriftily to order that which a man knoweth and that sufficiencie that he hath attained and to be more willing to heare than to speake to learne than to teach for it is a vice to be more readie and forward to make himselfe knowne to talke of himselfe and to shew all that is in him than to learne knowledge of another and to spend his owne stock than to get new The fourth not to enter into discourse and contestation against all neither against great men to whom we owe a dutie and respect nor against our inferiours where the match is not equall The fift to be honestlie curious in the enquirie of all things and knowing them to order them frugallie to make profit by them The sixt and principall is to employ his iudgement in all things which is the chiefe part which worketh ruleth and doth all without the vnderstanding all other things are blind deafe and without a soule it is least to know
vnwoorthy as a wife honoureth or dishonoureth her selfe by that husband that she hath taken Experience teacheth vs that three things do sharpen our will Difficultie Raritie and Absence or feare to lose the thing as the three contrary dull it Facilitie Abundance or Satietie and dayly presence or assured fruition The three former giue price and credit to things the three latter ingender contempt Our will is sharpened by opposition it opposeth it selfe against deniall On the other side our appetite contemneth and letteth passe that which it hath in possession and runnes after that which it hath not permissum fit vile nefas quod licet ingratum est quod non licet acrius vrit yea it is seene in all sorts of pleasures omnium rerum voluptas ipso quo debet fugare periculo cresit insomuch that the two extreames the defect and the abundance the desire and the fruition do put vs to like paine And this is the cause why things are not truely esteemed as they ought and that there is no Prophet in his owne countrey How we are to direct and rule our willes shall be sayd heereafter PASSIONS and AFFECTIONS An aduertisement THe matter of the passions of the minde is very great and Lib. 2. cap. 6. 7. lib. 3. in the vertues of fortitude and temperance plentifull and takes vp a great roome in this doctrine of Wisdome To learne how to know them and to distinguish them is the subiect of this booke The generall remedies to bridle rule and gouerne them the subiect of the second booke The particular remedies of euery one of them of the third booke following that method of this booke set downe in the Preface Now that in this first booke we may attaine the knowledge of them we will first speake of them in generall in this first Chapter afterward in the Chapters following particularly of euery one of them I haue not seene any that painteth them out more richly and to the life than Le Sieur du Vair in his little morall books whereof I haue made good vse in this passionate subiect CHAP. XVIII Of the passions in generall PAssion is a violent motion of the Soule in the sensitiue 1 The description of passions part thereof which is made either to follow that which the Soule thinketh to be good for it or to flie that which it takes to be euill But it is necessarie that we know how these motions are made how they arise and kindle themselues in vs which a man may represent by diuers meanes and comparisons first in regard of their agitation and violence The Soule which 1. Their agitation is but one in the bodie hath many and diuers powers according to the diuers vessels wherein it is retained the instruments whereof it maketh vse and the obiects which are presented vnto it Now when the parts wherein it is inclosed doe not retaine and occupie it but according to the proportion of their capacitie and as farre forth as it is necessarie for their true vse the effects thereof are sweet benigne and well gouerned but when contrariwise the parts thereof haue more motion and heat than is needfull for them they change and become hurtfull no otherwise than the beames of the Sunne which wandering according to their naturall libertie do sweetly and pleasingly warme if they be recollected and gathered into the concauities of a burning glasse they burne and consume that they were woont to nourish and quicken Againe they haue diuers degrees in their force of agitation and as they haue more or lesse so they are distinguished the indifferent suffer themselues to be tasted and digested expressing themselues by words and teares the greater and more violent astonish the soule oppresse it and hinder the libertie of it actions Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent Secondly in regard of the vice disorder and iniustice that is in these passions we may compare man to a Common-weale 3 2. Of their vice and irregularitie and the state of the soule to a state royall wherein the Soueraigne for the gouernment of so many people hath vnder-magistrates vnto whom for the exercise of their charges he giueth lawes and ordinances reseruing vnto himselfe the censuring of the greatest and most important occurrents Vpon this order dependeth the peace and prosperitie of the state and contrariwise if the magistrates which are as the middle sort betwixt the Prince and the people shall suffer themselues either to be deceiued by facilitie or corrupted by fauour and without respect either of their Soueraigne or the lawes by him established shall vse their owne authoritie in the execution of their affaires they fill all with disorder and confusion Euen so in man the vnderstanding is the Soueraigne which hath vnder it a power estimatiue and imaginatiue as a magistrate both to take knowledge and to iudge by the report of the senses of all things that shal be presented and to moue our affections for the better execution of the iudgements thereof for the conduct and direction whereof in the exercise of it charge the law and light of Nature was giuen vnto it and moreouer as a helpe in all doubts it may haue recourse vnto the counsell of the superiour and soueraigne the vnderstanding And thus you see the order of the happie state heereof but the vnhappie is when this power which is vnder the vnderstanding and aboue the senses whereunto the first iudgement of things appertaineth suffereth it selfe for the most part to be corrupted and deceiued whereby it iudgeth wrongfully and rashly and afterwards manageth and mooueth our affections to ill purpose and filleth vs with much trouble and vnquietnesse That which molesteth and corrupteth this power are first the senses which comprehend not the true and inward nature of things but only the face and outward forme carrying vnto the soule the image of things with some fauourable commendation and as it were a fore-iudgement and preiudicate opinion of their qualities according as they finde them pleasing and agreeable to their particular and not profitable and necessarie for the vniuersall good of man and secondly the mixture of the false and indifferent iudgement of the vulgar sort From these two false aduisements and reports of the Opinion Senses and vulgar sort is formed in the soule an inconsiderate opinion which we conceiue of things whether good or ill profitable or hurtfull to be followed or eschewed which doubtlesse is a very dangerous guide and rash mistresse for it is no sooner conceiued but presently without the committing of any thing to discourse and vnderstanding it possesseth it selfe of our imagination and as within a Citidell holdeth the fort against right and reason afterwards it descendeth into our hearts and remooueth our affections with violent motiues of hope feare heauinesse pleasure To be briefe it makes all the fooles and the seditions of the soule which are the passions to arise I will likewise declare the same thing by another
vs in such sort that it maketh vs beleeue that what is without the bounds thereof is without the bounds of reason and there is nothing good and iust but what it approueth ratione non componimur Senec. sed consuetudine abducimur honestius putamus quod frequentius recti apud nos locum tenet error vbi publicus factus This is tolerable with idiots and the vulgar sort who wanting sufficiencie to looke into the depth of things to trie and to iudge do well to hold and settle themselues to that which is commonlie held and receiued but to wise men who play another part it is a base thing to suffer themselues to be caried with customes Now the aduice which I heere giue vnto him that would be wise is to keepe and obserue both in word and deede the 7 An aduice lawes customes which he findeth established in the countrie where he is and in like maner to respect and obey the magistrates and all superiors but alwaies with a noble spirit and after a generous maner and not seruilely pedanticallie superstitiously and withall not taking offence nor lightly condemning other strange lawes and customes but freely and soundly iudging and examining the one and the other as hath been said and not binding his iudgement and beleefe but vnto reason only Heereof a word or two In the first place according to all the wisest the rule of rules and the generall law of lawes is to follow and obserue 1 Lawes and customes are to be obserued the lawes and customes of the countrie where he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auoyding carefullie all singularitie and strange extrauagant particularitie different from the common and ordinarie for whatsoeuer it be it alwaies hurteth and woundeth another is suspected of follie hypocrisie ambitious passion though perhaps it proceede from a sicke and weake soule Non conturbabit sapiens publicos mores nec populum in se nouitate vitae conuertet We must alwaies walke vnder the couert of the lawes customes superiours without disputation or tergiuersation without vndertaking sometimes to dispence with the lawes sometimes like a frugall seruant to enhaunce the price But that it be which is the second rule out of a good mind and after a good maner nobly and wisely neither for the loue 2 Not for their iustice and equity nor feare of them nor for the iustice or equitie that is in them nor for feare of that punishment that may follow for not obeiing them to be briefe not of superstition nor constrained scrupulous fearefull seruitude eadem quae populus sed non eodem modo nec eodem proposito faciet sapiens but freely and simply for publike reuerence and for their authoritie Lawes and customes are maintained in credit not because they are iust and good but because they are lawes and customes this is the mysticall foundation of their authoritie they haue no other and so is it with superiours because they are superiours quia supra Cathedram sedent not because they are vertuous and honest quae faciunt nolite facere Hee that obeyeth them for any other cause obeyeth them not because hee should this is an euill and a dangerous subiect it is not true obedience which must be pure and simple vnde vocatur depositio discretionis mera executio abnegatio sui Now to goe about to measure one obedience by the iustice and goodnesse of lawes and superiours were by submitting them to our iudgement to serue them with processe and to call our obedience into doubt and disputation and consequently the state and the policie according to the inconstancie and diuersitie of iudgements How many vniust and strange lawes are there in the world not only in the particular iudgements of men but of vniuersall reason wherewith the world hath liued a long time in continuall peace and rest with as great satisfaction as if they had beene very iust and reasonable And he that should goe about to change or mend them would be accounted an enemie to the weale-publike and neuer bee admitted The nature of man doth accommodate it selfe to all with the times and hauing once caught his fish it is an act of hostilitie to goe about to alter any thing we must leaue the world where it is these trouble-houses and newfangled spirits vnder a pretext of reformation marre all All change and alteration of lawes beleefes customes and Against innouatours obseruances is very dangerous and yeeldeth alwaies more euill than good it bringeth with it certaine and present euils for a good that is vncertaine and to come Innouatours haue alwaies glorious and plausible titles but they are but the more suspected and they cannot escape the note of ambitious presumption in that they thinke to see more cleerely than others and that to establish their opinions the state policie peace and publike quiet must be turned topsy turuy I will not say for all this that hath beene said before that 3 Strange things are not lightly to be condemned we must absolutely obey all lawes all commandements of superiours for such as a man knoweth euidently to be either against God or nature hee is not to obey and yet not to rebell and to trouble the state how he should gouerne himselfe in such a case shall be taught heereafter in the obedience due vnto princes for to say the truth this inconuenience and infelicitie is rather and more common in the commandements of princes than in the lawes neither is it sufficient to obey the lawes and superiours because of their worth and merrit nor seruilely and for feare as the common and prophane sort doe but a wise man doth nothing by force or feare soli hoc sapienti contingit vt nil faciat inuitus recta sequitur gaudet officio he doth that which he should and keepes the lawes not for feare of them but for the loue of himselfe being iealous of his dutie he hath not to doe with the lawes to doe well that is that wherein he differeth from the common sort who cannot do well nor know what they ought to do without lawes at iusto sapienti non est lex posita By right a wise man is aboue the lawes but in outward and publike effect he is their voluntarie and free obedient subiect In the third place thereof it is an act of lightnesse and iniurious presumption yea a testimonie of weakenesse and insufficiencie to condemne that which agreeth not with the law and custome of his countrie This proceedeth either from want of leasure or sufficiencie to consider the reasons and grounds of others this is to wrong and shame his owne iudgement whereby he is enforced many times to recant and not to remember that the nature of man is capable of all things It is to suffer the eie of his spirit to be hood winked and brought asleepe by a long custome and prescription to haue power ouer iudgement Finally it is the office of a generous spirit and
It counselleth vs and comforteth vs in our griefes and afflictions but yet it is only good for the mind whereby the bodie remaineth without action altereth and languisheth We must now speake of that order of proceeding and formalitie which a teacher of youth must keepe that he may 28 4 To make the scholler to speake and to reason happilie ariue to his proposed end It hath many parts we will touch some of them First hee must often examin his scholler aske his iudgement and opinion of whatsoeuer shall present it selfe vnto him This is quite contrarie to the ordinarie stile which is that the master do alwaies speake and teach his child with authoritie and worke into his head as into a vessell whatsoeuer he will in so much that children are only auditours and receiuers which maner of teaching I can not commend obest plerunque ijs qui discere volunt authoritas eorum qui docent Their spirits must be awakened and inflamed by demaunds make them first to giue their opinions and then giue them the same libertie to aske others to enquire and to open the way at their owne will If without questioning with them a man speake wholly vnto them it is a labour in a maner lost the child is not profited thereby because he thinks it belongs not vnto him so long as he yeelds not an account thereof he lends only his eares and those coldly too he sets not forward with so good a pase as when he is a partie in the businesse Neither is it enough to make them giue their iudgement but that they maintaine it and be able to giue a reason of their saying to the end that they speake not by rote but that they be attentiue and carefull of that they speake and to giue them the better incouragement thereunto a man must not seeme to neglect that they say but commend at the least their good essay and indeuor This forme of teaching by questions and demaunds is excellentlie obserued both by Socrates the principall in this businesse as wee see euery where in Plato where by a long connexion and enfolding of demaunds wittilie and dexteriouslie made he sweetlie leadeth a man to the closet of veritie and also by the Doctor of veritie Mat. 16. 22. Luk. 10. 24. in his Gospell Now these questions must not be only of things touching science and memorie as hath been said but matter of iudgement For to this exercise all things may serue euen the least that are as the follies of a Laquey the malice of a Page a discourse at table for the worke of iudgement is not to handle and to vnderstand great and high matters but iustlie to weigh them and consider of them whatsoeuer they bee Questions therefore must bee mooued touching the iudgement of men and their actions and by reason determined to the end that thereby men may frame their iudgement and their conscience The tutor or instructor of Cyrus in Xenophon for a lecture proposed this question A great youth hauing a little coat or cassocke gaue it to one of his companions of a lesse stature and tooke from him his cassocke which was the greater vpon which fact he demanded his iudgement Cyrus answered that it was wel because both of them were thereby the better fitted But his master reprehended him sharpely for it because hee considered onely the fitnesse and conueniencie thereof and not the iustice which should first and especially haue beene thought of which was that no man may be enforced in that which was his owne And this no doubt is an excellent maner of instruction And though a man may recite authorities out of books the sayings of Cicero or Aristotle yet it is not onely to recite them but to iudge of them and so to frame and fashion them to all vses and to apply them to diuers subiects It is not enough to report as a historie that Cato kilde himselfe at Vtique that he might not fall into the hands of Caesar and that Brutus and Cassius were the authors of the death of Caesar for this is the least but I will that he proceed and iudge whether they did well heerein or no whether they deserued well of the common-weale whether they carried themselues therein according to wisdome iustice valour and wherein they did ill wherein well Finally and generally in all these discourses demands answers the conueniencie order veritie must be inquired into a worke of iudgement conscience These things a man by any means must not dissemble but euer presse them and hold him subiect vnto them Secondly he must accustome and frame him to an honest curiosity to know all things whereby he must first haue his 29 5 An aduisement touching honest curiositie eies vpon euery thing the better to consider all that may be saide done or attempted concerning himselfe and nothing must passe his hands before it passe and repasse his iudgement and then he must make an enquirie into other matters as well of right as of action He that enquireth after nothing knowes nothing saith one He that busieth not his minde suffereth it to rust and becomes a foole and therefore he must make profit of all apply euery thing to himselfe take aduice and counsell as well of what is past the better to see the errour he hath committed as of that which is to come the better to rule and to direct himselfe Children must not be suffered to be idle to bring themselues asleepe to entertaine themselues with their owne prattle for wanting sufficiencie to furnish themselues with good and worthy matter they will feed vpon vanities they must therefore be alwaies busied in some imploiment and kept in breath and this curiositie must be ingendred in them the better to awaken them and to spurre them forward which being such as is said shall be neither vaine in it selfe nor tedious to another He must likewise fashion and mould his spirit to the generall paterne and modell of the world and of nature make it 30 6 Aduice vniuersall that is to say represent vnto him in all things the vniuersall face of nature that the whole world may be his booke that of what subiect soeuer a man talke he cast his eie and his thought vpon the large immensitie of the world vpon so many different fashions and opinions which haue beene and are in the world touching that subiect The most excellent and noble mindes are the more vniuersall and more free and by this meanes the minde is contented learneth not to be astonished at any thing is formed to a resolution and stedfast constancie To be breefe such a man doth no more admire any thing which is the highest and last point of wisdome For whatsoeuer doth happen or a man may report vnto him he easily findeth that there is nothing in the world either new or strange that the condition of man is capable of all things that they haue come from others and that elsewhere
consisteth in this that the husband hath power ouer the wife and the 8 Inequalitie wife is subiect to the husband This agreeth with all lawes and policies but yet more or lesse according to the diuersitie of them In all things the wife though she be far more noble and more rich yet is subiect to the husband This superioritie and inferioritie is naturall founded vpon the strength and sufficiencie of the one the weaknes and insufficiencie of the other The Diuines ground it vpon other reasons drawen from the Bible Man was first made by God alone and immediatly expresly for God his head and according to his image and perfect for nature doth always begin with things perfect The woman was made in the second place after man of the substance of man by occasion and for another thing mulier est vir occasionatus to serue as an aide and as a second to man who is her head and therefore imperfect And this is the difference by order of generation That of corruption and sinne proueth the same for the woman was the first in preuarication and by hir own weakenes and will did sinne man the second and by occasion of the woman the woman then the last in good and in generation and by occasion the first in euill and the occasion thereof is iustly subiect vnto man the first in good and last in euill This superioritie and power of the husband hath beene in some places such as that of the father ouer life and death as 9 The power of the husband Dion Halicar l. 2. Lib. 2. Lib. 6. bel Gal. with the Romans by the law of Romulus and the husband had power to kill his wife in foure cases Adulterie Suborning of children counterfeiting of false keyes and drinking of wine So likewise with the Greeks as Polybius and the ancient French as Caesar affirmeth the power of the husband was ouer the life and death of his wife Elswhere and there too afterwards this power was moderated but almost in all places the power of the husband and the subiection of the wife doth inferre thus much That the husband is master of the actions and vowes of his wife and may with words correct her and hold her to the stocks as for blowes they are vnworthy a woman of honour or honestie saith the Law and the wife is bound to holde the condition follow the qualitie countrey familie habitation and rancke of her husband she must accompanie and follow him in all things in his iourneys if need be his banishment his imprisonment yea a wandring person a vagabond a fugitiue The examples heereof are many and excellent of Sulpitia who followed her husband Lentulus being banished into Cicilie Erithrea her husband Phalaris Ipsicrates the wife of King Mithridate vanquished by Pompey who wandred thorow the world Some adde vnto this That wiues are to follow their husbands euen in the warres and into those prouinces whither the husband is sent with publike charge Neither can the wife bring any thing into question of law whether she be plaintiffe or defendant without Corn. Tacit the authority of her husband or of the Iudge if he refuse neither can she call her husband into iudgement without the permission of the Magistrate Marriage is not carried after one and the same fashion neither 10 The diuers rules of mariage hath it in euery place the same lawes and rules but according to the diuersitie of religions and countreys it hath rules either more easie or more streight according to the rules of Christianitie of all others the streightest marriage is more subiect and held more short There is nothing but the entrance left free the continuance is by constraint depending of some thing els than our owne willes Other nations and religions to make marriage more easie free and fertile haue receiued and practised Polygamie and repudiation libertie to take and leaue wiues they accuse Christianitie for taking away these two by which meanes amity and multiplication the principall ends of marriage are much preiudiced inasmuch as amitie is an enemie to all constraint and they doe better maintaine themselues in an honest libertie and multiplication is made by the woman as Nature doth richly make knowen vnto vs in wolues of whom the race is so fertile in the production of their yoong euen to the number of twelue or thirteene that they farre excell all other profitable creatures of these there are great numbers killed euery day by which meanes there are but few and they though of all others the most fertile yet by accident the most barren the reason is because of so great a number as they bring there is one only female which for the most part beareth not by reason of the multitude of males that concurre in the generation of which the greatest part die without fruit by the want of females So likewise we may see how much Polygamy helpeth to multiplication in those nations that receiue it Iewes Turks and other Barbarians who are able to raise forces of three or foure thousand fighting men fit for warres Contrariwise in Christendome there are many linked together in matrimony the one of which if not both are barren which being placed with others both the one and the other may happely leaue great posteritie behinde them But to speake more truly all his fertilitie consisteth in the fertilitie of one only woman Finally they obiect That this Christianlike restraint is the cause of many lasciuious pranks and adulteries To all which we may answer That Christianitie considereth not of marriage by reasons purely humane naturall temporall but it beholds it with another visage and weigheth it with reasons more high and noble as hath beene said Adde vnto this That experience sheweth in the greatest part of marriages that constraint increaseth amitie especially in simple and debonaire mindes who doe easily accommodate themselues where they finde themselues in such sort linked And as for lasciuious and wicked persons it is the immodestie of their maners that makes them such which no libertie can amend And to say the truth Adulteries are as common where Polygamie and repudiation are in force witnesse the Iewes and Dauid who for all the wiues that hee had could not defend himselfe from it and contrariwise they haue beene a long time vnknowen in policies well gouerned where there was neither Polygamie nor repudiation witnesse Sparta and Rome a long time after the foundation And therefore it is absurd to attribute it vnto religion which teacheth nothing but puritie and continencie The libertie of Polygamie which seemeth in some sort naturall 11 Polygamie diuers is caried diuersly according to the diuersitie of nations and policies In some all the wiues that belong to one husband liue in common and are equall in degree and so are their children In others there is one who is the principall and as the mistresse whose children inherit the goods honours and titles of the husband the rest
yong actiue the ordinarie view of so many accidents and spectacles libertie and conuersation without arte a manly fashion of life without ceremonie the varietie of diuers actions a couragious harmonie of warlike musike which entertaines vs and stirres our blood our eares our soule those warlike commotions which rauish vs with their horror and feare that confused tempest of sounds and cries that fearefull ordering of so many thousands of men with so much furie ardour and courage But on the other side a man may say that the arte and experience of vndoing one another of killing ruinating destroying 2 The dispraise our owne proper kinde seemes to be vnnaturall and to proceed from an alienation of our sense and vnderstanding it is a great testimonie of our weaknesse and imperfection and it is not found in beasts themselues in whom the image of nature continueth farre more entire What follie what rage is it to make such commotions to torment so many people to runne thorow so many dangers and hazzards both by sea and land for a thing so vncertaine and doubtfull as the issue of warre to runne with such greedinesse and fiercenesse after death which is easily found euery where and without hope of sepulture to kill those he hates not nor euer saw But whence proceedeth this great furie and ardor for it is not for any offence committed What frensie and madnesse is this for a man to abandon his owne bodie his time his rest his life his libertie and to leaue it to the mercie of another to expose himselfe to the losse of his owne members and to that which is a thousand times worse than death fire and sword to be troden to be pinched with hot iron to be cut to be torne in pieces broken and put to the gallies for euer And all this to serue the passion of another for a cause which a man knowes not to be iust and which is commonly vniust for warres are commonly vniust and for him whom a man knowes not who takes so little care for him that fights for him that he will be content to mount vpon his dead bodie to helpe his owne stature that he may see the farther I speake not heere of the dutie of subiects towards their Prince and countrey but of voluntaries and mercenarie souldiers The fift and last distinction and difference of men drawen from the fauors and disfauors of Nature and Fortune THE PREFACE THis last distinction and difference is apparent enough and sufficiently knowen and hath many members and considerations but may all be reduced to two heads which a man may call with the vulgar sort Felicitie or good fortune and Infelicitie or ill fortune Greatnesse or littlenesse To Felicitie and greatnesse belong health beautie and the other goods of the bodie libertie nobilitie honor dignitie science riches credit friends To Infelicitie or littlenesse belong all the contraries which are priuations of the other good things From these things doth arise a very great difference because a man is happie in one of these or in two or in three and not in the rest and that more or lesse by infinite degrees few or none at all are happie or vnhappie in them all He that hath the greatest part of these goods and especially three Nobilitie Dignitie or Authoritie and riches is accounted great he that hath not any of these three little But many haue but one or two and are accounted midlings betwixt the great and the little We must speake a little of them all Of Health beautie and other naturall goods of the bodie Chap. 11. hath been spoken before as likewise of their contraries Chap. 6. Sicknesse Griefe CHAP. LVIII Of Libertie and Seruitude LIbertie is accounted by some a souereigne good and Seruitude an extreame euill insomuch that many haue chosen rather to die a cruell death than to be made slaues or to see either the publike good or their owne priuate indangered But of this there may be too much and of these too manie as of all other things There is a twofolde libertie the true which is of the minde or spirit and is in the power of euery one and can not be taken away nor indamaged by another nor by Fortune it selfe contrariwise the seruitude of the spirit is the most miserable of all others to serue our owne affections to suffer our selues to be deuoured by our owne passions to be led by opinions ô pitifull captiuitie The corporall libertie is a good greatly to be esteemed but subiect to Fortune and it is neither iust nor reasonable if it be not by reason of some other circumstance that it should be preferred before life it selfe as some of the ancients haue done who haue rather made choice of death than to lose it and it was accounted a great vertue in them so great an euill was seruitude thought to be Seruitus obedientia est fracti animi abiecti arbitrio carentis suo Many great and wise men haue serued Regulus Valerianus Plato Diogenes euen those that were wicked and yet dishonoured not their owne condition but continued in effect and truth more free than their masters CHAP. LIX Nobilitie NObilitie is a qualitie euery where not common but honourable brought in and established with great reason and for publike vtilitie It is diuers diuersly taken and vnderstood and according to diuers nations and iudgements it hath diuers kindes According The description of nobilitie to the generall and common opinion and custome it is a qualitie of a race or stocke Aristotle saith that it is the antiquitie of a race and of riches Plutarch calleth it the vertue of a race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby a certaine habit and qualitie continued in the linage What this qualitie or vertue is all are not wholly of one accord sauing in this that it is profitable to the weale-publike For to some and the greater part this qualitie is militarie to others it is politike literarie of those that are wise palatine of the officers of the Prince But the militarie hath the aduantage aboue the rest for besides the seruice which it yeeldeth to the weale-publike as the rest do it is painfull laborious dangerous whereby it is accounted more worthy and commendable So hath it caried with vs by excellencie the honourable title of Valour There must then according to this opinion be two things in true and perfect nobilitie profession of this vertue and qualitie profitable to the common-weale which is as the forme and the race as the subiect and matter that is to say a long continuance of this qualitie by many degrees and races and time out of mind whereby they are called in our language Gentlemen that is to say of a race house familie carying of long time the same name and the same profession For he is truely and entirely noble who maketh a singular profession of publick vertue seruing his Prince and Countrie and being descended of parents and ancestors
touch of this follie shall neuer attaine vnto wisdome Faith modestie a hartie and serious acknowledgment of that little that we haue is a great testimonie of a good and sound iudgement of a right will and is an excellent disposition vnto wisdome CHAP. II. A vniuersall and plaine libertie of spirit both in iudgement and will the second disposition to Wisdome THe other disposition vnto Wisdome which followeth the first which doth quit vs from this outward and inward captiuitie and confusion popular and passionate is a plaine entire generous and lord-like libertie of the mind which is two-fold that is to say of iudgement and will The first of iudgement consisteth in the consideration iudgement examination of all things and in not tying himselfe 1 The first part libertie of iudgemēt to any one but remaining free in himselfe vniuersall readie and open for all And this is the highest point the proper law and true priuiledge of a wise and actiue man But few they are that will vnderstand it and acknowledge it fewer that practise it as they should and this is the reason why we must heere establish it against such as are incapable of wisdome And first to auoid all miscountings we explaine the words giue the sense There are heere three things which maintaine cause and conserue one the other that is to iudge of all things not to be maried or bound to any to continue open and readie for all When I say to iudge my meaning is not to resolue affirme determine this were contrarie to the second which is not to bind our selues to any thing but it is to examine and weigh the reasons and counter-reasons on all parts the weight and merit of them and thereby worke out the truth So likewise not to bind our selues to any thing is not to settle our selues and to remaine short of that we should bleating in the aire and to cease our indeuors and to proceed in our necessarie actions and deliberations For I will that in all outward and common actions of our life and in whatsoeuer is ordinarily vsed a man should agree and accommodate himselfe to the common sort for our rule extendeth not it selfe to that which is outward and to the action but to that which is within the thought and secret and inward iudgement yea and therein likewise I consent that a man settle and applie himselfe to that which seemeth most agreeable to the truth most honest and profitable but yet that it be without determination resolution affirmation or condemnation of contrarie or diuers iudgements old or new but alwaies to hold himselfe readie to entertaine better if it appeare yea not to be offended if another shall contest with him against that which he thinketh better but rather desire to heare what may be said for this is the meane to exercise the first which is to iudge and alwaies to enter into the search of the truth These three I say doe maintaine and conserue one the other for he that iudgeth well and without passion of all things findeth in euery thing appearances of reason which hinder his resolution whereby he feareth to settle his iudgement and so remaineth vndetermined indifferent and vniuersall whereas contrariwise he that resolueth iudgeth no more but setleth and resteth himselfe vpon that which he holdeth and so makes himselfe a partaker and a particular To the former fooles simple and weake people are contrarie to the second obstinate opinatiue affirmers to the third both of them which are particulars but all three are practised by the wise modest discreet and temperate searcher of the truth and true Philosophie It remaineth for the explication of this our proposition that I let you know that by all things and some thing for it is said to iudge of all things not to be assured of any we vnderstand not those diuine verities which haue bin reuealed vnto vs which we are to receiue simplie with all humilitie and submission and without all controuersie and discussion submit our selues and captiuate our minds thereunto captiuantes intellectum ad obsequium fidei but we vnderstand heereby all other things without exception This simple explication would be sufficient perhaps to perswade an indifferent spirit to receiue this rule of wisdome but I see and perceiue a sort of people glorious resolute affirmatiue which would rule the world and command it as it were with a rod and as others in former times haue sworne to certaine principles and maried themselues to certaine opinions so they would that all others should do the like whereby they oppose themselues to this noble libertie of the spirit It shall be necessarie therefore to establish it more amplie and by order to confirme and handle these three points and members thereof The first is to iudge of all It is the propertie of a wise and 2 The first to iudge of all spirituall man saith one of the first and wisest of the world Spiritualis omnia dijudicat à nemine iudicatur The true office of man his most proper and naturall exercise his worthiest profession is to iudge Why is he a man discoursing reasoning vnderstanding Why hath he a spirit to build as they say castles in the aire and to feede himselfe with fooleries and vanities as the greatest part of the world doth Quis vnquam oculos tenebrarum causâ habuit No doubtlesse but to vnderstand to iudge of all things and therefore he is called the gouernour the superintendent the keeper of nature of the world of the works of God To go about to depriue him of this right is to make him no more a man but a beast to do it singularly excellently is the part of a wise man If not to iudge hurts the simple and proper nature of man what shall it doe in a wise man who is as farre aboue the common sort of men as a common man is aboue beasts It is then strange that so many men I speake not of idiots and the weaker sort who haue not the facultie and meane to exercise it who either are or make shew of vnderstanding and sufficiencie depriue themselues willinglie of this right and authoritie so naturall so iust and excellent who without the examining or iudging of any thing receiue and approue whatsoeuer is presented either because it hath a faire semblance appearance or because it is in authoritie credit and practise yea they thinke that it is not lawfull to examin or doubt of any thing in such sort do they debase and degrade themselues they are forward and glorious in other things but in this they are fearefull and submisse though it do iustly appertaine vnto them and with so much reason Since there are a thousand lies for one truth a thousand opinions of one and the same thing and but one that is true why should not I examin with the instrument of reason which is the better the truer the more reasonable honest and profitable Is it possible that amongst
the god of pedanties how often hath he been crost in his opinions not knowing what to resolue in that point of the soule wherein he is almost alwaies vnlike to himselfe and in many other things more base which he knew not how to find or vnderstand ingeniously confessing sometimes the great weakenes of man in finding and knowing the truth They that haue come after of a pedanticall and presumptuous spirit who make Aristotle and others say what they 6 Obiects please and are more obstinate in their opinions than euer they were disauowing those for disciples that faint in their opinions hate arrogantlie condemne this rule of wisdome this modestie and academicall stayednes glorying in their obstinate opinions whether they be right or wrong louing better a headie froward affirmer against their owne opinions and against whom they may exercise their wit and skill than a modest peaceable man who doubteth and maketh stay of his iudgement against whom their wits are dulled that is to say a foole than a wise man like to women who loue better to be contradicted euen with iniurie than that a man either out of the coldnes of his nature or contempt should say nothing to them whereby they imagin they are either scorned or condemned wherein they shew their iniquitie For why should it not be as lawfull to doubt and consider of things as doubtfull not determining of any thing as it is to them to affirme Why should it not be lawfull ingenuously to confesse that which a man knoweth not since in veritie he knoweth it not and to hold in suspence that which he is not assured of and against which there are many reasons and oppositions It is certaine according to the opinion of the wisest that we are ignorant of much more than we know that all our knowledge is the lesser part and almost nothing in regard of that we know not the causes of our ignorances are infinit and both in respect of the things themselues either too farre from vs or too neere too great or too little too durable or not durable enough perpetuallie changing and in respect of our selues and the maner of knowing them which as yet is not sufficientlie learned And that which we thinke we know we know not neither can we hold it well for with violence it is got from vs and if it may not be gotten because our obstinacie in opinion is strong yet we are contended with and much troubled Now how should we be capable to know more or lesse if we grow resolute in our opinions settle and repose our selues in certaine things and in such maner that we seeke no farther nor examine any more that which we thinke to hold They thinke this suspension a shame and a weaknes because they know not what it is and they perceiue not that the greatest men that are haue made profession thereof they blush and haue not the heart freely to say I know not so much are they possessed with the opinion and presumption of science and they know not that there is a kind of ignorance doubt more learned and more certaine more noble and generous than all their science and certaintie This is that that hath made Socrates so renoumed and held for the wisest man It is the science of sciences and the fruit of all our studies It is a modest mild innocent and hartie acknowledgement of the mysticall height of truth and of the pouertie of our humane condition full of darknes weaknes vncertaintie cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae adinuentiones nostrae Deus nouit cogitationes hominum quoniam vanae sunt Heere I would tell you that I caused to be grauen ouer the gate of my little house which I built at Condom in the yeare 1600 this word I know not But they will needs that we submit our selues in all dutie to certaine principles which is an vniust tyrannie I yeeld my consent that a man employ them in all iudgement and make vse of them but yet not so as that a man may not spurne against them for against that opinion I oppose my selfe Who is he in the whole world that hath right to command and giue lawes to the world to subiect the spirits of men and to giue principles which may be no more examined that a man may no more denie or doubt of but God himselfe the soueraigne spirit and true principle of the world who is only to be beleeued because he saith it All other things are subiect to triall and opposition and it is weaknes to subiect our selues vnto it If they will that I submit my selfe to principles I will say to them as the Curat said to his parishoners in a matter of time and as a Prince of ours to the Secretaries of this age in a point of religion Do you first agree to these principles and then I will submit my selfe vnto them Now there is as great doubt and dispute in the principles as in the conclusions in the Theses as in the Hypotheses whereby there are so many sects among them that if I yeeld my selfe to the one I offend all the rest They say likewise that it is a great affliction not to be resolued to remaine alwaies in doubt yea that it is a matter of difficultie for a man to continue long in that state They haue reason to say it for they find it so in themselues being the propertie of fooles and weake minds of presumptuous fooles passionate and obstinate in certaine opinions who condemne all others and although they be ouercome neuer yeeld themselues vexing and putting themselues into choler neuer acknowledging any reason If they be constrained to change their opinions being altered they are as resolute and obstinate in their new as they were before in their first opinion not knowing how to hold any thing without passion and neuer disputing to learne and find the truth but to maintaine that which they haue sworne and bound themselues vnto These kind of people know nothing neither know they what it is to know because they thinke to know and to hold the truth in their sleeue Because thou thinkest thou seest thou seest nothing saith the Doctor of truth to the Ioh. 9. glorious and presumptuous man Si quis existimet se scire aliquid nondum cognouit quemadmodum oporteat cum scire It is fit 2. Cor. 8. that weake men that haue not strength to keepe themselues vpright vpon their feet be kept vp with props they cannot liue but in bonds nor maintaine themselues free a people borne to seruitude they feare Bug-beares or that the Wolfe will eate them if they be alone But in wise modest and stayed men it is quite contrarie the surest stay and most happie estate of the spirit which by this meanes keepeth it selfe firme vpright constant inflexible alwaies free and to it selfe hoc liberiores solutiores sumus quia integra nobis iudicandi potestas manet It is a very sweet peaceable
visible world as in the figure of a small point and there reade that generall and constant varietie in all things so many humours iudgements beleefes customes lawes so many alterations of states changes of fortune so many victories and conquests buried and forgotten so many pomps and greatnesses vanished as if they had neuer been Heereby a man may learne to know himselfe to admire nothing to thinke nothing new or strange to settle and resolue himselfe in all things For the better attaining of this vniuersall spirit this generall indifferencie we are to consider these foure or fiue points The great inequalitie and difference of men in their nature forme composition whereof we haue spoken The great diuersitie of lawes customes maners religions opinions whereof we will speake heereafter The diuers opinions reasons sayings of Philosophers touching the vnitie and pluralitie the eternitie and temporalitie the beginning and end the durance and continuance the ages estates changes and interchangeable courses of the world and the parts thereof The Egyptian priests told Herodotus that since their first King which was aboue eleuen thousand yeares before the picture and statue of whom and of all that succeeded him they shewed him drawne to the life the Sun had changed his course four times The Chaldeans in the time of Diodorus as he saith Cicero had a register of seuen hundred thousand yeares Plato saith they of the citie of Sais had memorials in writing of eight thousand yeares and that the citie of Athens was built a thousand yeares before the said citie of Sais Zoroaster Plinie and others haue affirmed that Socrates liued six thousand yeares before the time of Plato Some haue said that the world hath been from all eternitie mortall and growing and being againe by interchangeable courses Others and the more noble Philosophers haue held the world for a god made by another god greater than it or as Plato auerreth and others argue from the motions thereof that it is a creature composed of a bodie and of a soule which soule lodging in the centre thereof disperseth and spreadeth it selfe by musicall numbers into the circumference and parts thereof the heauen the starres composed of bodies and of a soule mortall by reason of their composition immortall by the decree and determination of the Creator Plato saith that the world changeth countenance in all respects that the heauen the starres the sunne change and quite alter by turnes their motions in such sort that that which was first is last the East is made the West and according to the ancient and most authenticall opinion and of the more famous spirits worthie the greatnes of God and founded vpon reason there are many worlds in so much that there is nothing one and only in this world all kinds are multiplied in number whereby it seemeth not to haue semblance of truth that God hath made this only worke without companion and that all is concluded in this one indiuiduum at the least diuinitie saith that God could make many and infinite worlds for if he could make no more but this one visible his power should be finite because the world is such By that which we haue learned of the discouerie of the new world the East and West Indies we see first that all our ancient writers haue beene deceiued thinking to haue found the measure of the habitable earth and to haue comprehended the whole Cosmographie except some scattered Ilands doubting of the Antipodes for now behold another world almost such as ours is and that all vpon firme land inhabited peopled politiquely gouerned distinguished by realmes and Empires beautified with cities that excell in beautie greatnesse opulencie all those of Asia Africa Europe many thousand yeares ago And who doubteth but that in time heereafter there will be discouered diuers others If Ptolemy and other our ancient Writers haue been heeretofore deceiued why should not he be likewise deceiued that affirmeth that all is alreadie found and discouered Say it he that will I will beleeue him as I list Secondly we see that the Zones which were thought inhabitable by reason of their excessiue heate and cold are habitable Thirdly that in these new countries almost all things which we so much esteeme of heere and hold that they were first reuealed and sent from heauen were commonly beleeued and obserued from whence they came I will not say who dares determine it Yea many of them were in vse a thousand yeares before we heard any tidings of them both in the matter of religion as the beleefe of one only man the father of vs all of the vniuersall deluge of one God who sometimes liued in the forme of a man vndefiled and holy of the day of iudgement the resurrection of the dead circumcision like to that of the Iewes and Mahumet And in the matter of policie as that the elder sonne should succeed in the inheritance that he that is exalted to a dignitie loseth his owne name takes a new tyrannicall subsidies armories tumblers musicall instruments all sorts of sports Artillerie Printing From all these discourses we may easily draw these conclusions That this great bodie which we call the world is not that which we thinke and iudge it to be That neither in the whole nor parts thereof it is alwaies the same but in perpetuall flux and reflux That there is nothing said held beleeued at one time and in one place which is not likewise said held beleeued in another yea and contradicted reprooued condemned else-where the spirit of man being capable of all things the world alwaies tumbling sometime the same sometimes diuers That all things are setled and comprehended in this course and reuolution of nature subiect to increase changing ending to the mutation of times places climats heauens aires countries And from these conclusions we learne to marie our selues to sweare to nothing to admire to trouble our selues at nothing but whatsoeuer shall happen whatsoeuer men talke of and trouble themselues about to resolue vpon this point that it is the course of the world that it is nature that worketh these things but yet wisely to prouide that nothing hurt vs by our own weaknes and deiection of mind Enough is said of this perfect libertie of iudgement established by these three parts to iudge of all to iudge nothing to be vniuersall wherein I haue the rather insisted because I know that it pleaseth not the palat of the world it is an enemie to pedanterie as well as wisdome but yet it is a faire floure or ornament of wisdome which preserueth vs from two contrarie rocks whereon the vulgar sort do commonly lose themselues that is to say from being headie opinatiue shamefull gainsayers repenters mutable and a man maintaineth himselfe in a sweet peaceable and assured modestie and great libertie of spirit noble and magnificall vniuersalitie This is that great qualitie and sufficiencie of Socrates the Coricaeus of the wise by the confession of all of whom it is said
I would haue in this my wise man an essentiall and inuincible honestie which dependeth of it selfe and ariseth from it owne root and may as hardlie bee separated and rooted out as humanitie from a man I will that he neuer consent vnto euill and though his honestie be not made knowen to any yet if he know it himselfe what needs any more If all the world besides should know it it is not so much quid tibi prodest non habere conâ—â—ium habenti conscient iam And what though he receiue no great recompence for it For what may it be that concerneth him so neere as his own proper essence This were not to care how bad the horse is so the saddle bee faire I will then that those things be inseparable to be and to consent to liue a man to be and to be willing to bee an honest man This first hath beene sufficientlie pressed Let vs come to the second Now the paterne and rule to bee honest is this nature it 6 Nature teacheth honesty selfe which absolutely requireth that wee be such it is I say this equitie and vniuersall reason which shineth in euery one of vs. Hee which worketh according to it worketh truely according to God for it is God or at least his first fundamentall and vniuersall law which hath brought it into the world and which came first from God for God and nature are in the world as in a state the king the author and founder and the fundamentall law which he hath made for the preseruation and gouernment of the said estate This is a lightning and ray of the diuinitie a streame and dependance of the eternall law which is God himselfe and his will quid natura nisi Deus diuina ratio toti mundo partibus eius inserta He worketh also according to himselfe for he worketh according to the sterne and animated instinct which he hath within himselfe mouing and stirring him and so he is an honest man essentially and not by accident and occasion for this law and light is essentiall and naturall in vs and therefore it is called Nature and the law of nature He is also by consequent an honest man alwaies and perpetually vniformly and equally at all times and in all places for this law of equitie and naturall reason is perpetuall in vs edictum perpetuum inuiolable which can neuer be extinct nor defaced quam nec ipsa delet iniquitas vermis eorum non morietur vniuersall and constant in all things and alwaies the same equall vniforme which neither time nor place can alter nor disguise receiueth neither accesse nor recesse more nor lesse substantia non recipit magis minus What seckest thou elsewhere either law or rule in the world What may a man say or alleadge which thou hast not about thee and within if thou wilt but feele and hearken to thy selfe A man may say to thee as to a bad debtor who asked for what the debt is and will see the bill which he hath about him Quod petis intus habes Thou demandest that which thou hast in thy owne bosome Signatum est super nos lumen vultus tui Gentes naturaliter Psal 4. Rom. 1. August quae legis sunt faciunt ostendunt opus legis scriptum in cordibus suis lex scripta in cordibus nostris The law of Moses in his decalogue is an outward and publike copie the law of the twelue tables and the Romane law the morall instructions of diuines and Philosophers the aduisements and counsels of Lawyers the edicts and ordinances of Princes are no other but petie and particular pourtraies thereof so that if there be any law that straveth the least that may be from this first and originall mistris it is a monster falshood and error To be briefe all the lawes of the world are no other but copies and abstracts brought forth into iudgement against thee that holdest hidden the originall and makest as if thou knewest it not extinguishing as much as in thee lieth this light which enlightneth thee within qui veritatem dei detinent in iniustitia for these lawes had neuer beene published abroad but because that law which was inward whollie celestiall and diuine hath been too much contemned and forgotten These are all riuers but such as neither haue so much water nor so pure as the source and inuisible fountaine which is within thee if thou suffer it not to perish and to be lost I say not so much water Quam multa pietas humanitas liberalitas fides exigunt quae extra tabulas sunt O the miserable honestie of formalists who hold themselues to the words of the law and so thinke themselues discharged How many duties are there required besides Quam angusta innocentia ad legem bonum esse latius officiorum patet quam iuris regula The rule of our dutie is farre larger than that of the law which is neither so strong nor so liuely witnes this one thing that well to vnderstand and know their intention to quit our selues of ambiguitie difficultie contrarietie we must bring them to the source and reentring into the inward part put them to the touch and rule of nature Anima leg is ratio Behold then an essentiall radicall and fundamentall honestie sprung in vs from it owne proper rootes by the seed of that vniuersall reason which is in the soule as the spring and ballance in a clock as the naturall heate in the bodie maintaining it selfe of it selfe strong and inuincible whereby a man worketh according to God according to himselfe nature the vniuersall order and policie of the world quietly sweetly and as silently without noyse as a Ship that is not driuen but by the naturall and ordinarie course of the water All other is ingrafted by arte and by accidentall discipline as the heate and cold offeuers acquired and conducted by strange occasions and considerations working with clamor and clatter ambitiously This is the reason why the doctrine of all the Sages doth 7 We must follow nature teach that to liue well is to liue according to nature that the chiefest good in this world is to consent to nature that in following nature as our guide and mistris we can neuer erre Naturam si sequaris ducem nusquam aberrabis bonum est quod secundùm naturam omnia vitia contra naturam sunt Idem beatè viuere secundum naturam vnderstanding by nature that equitie and vniuersall reason which shineth in vs which conteineth and hatcheth in it the seeds of all vertues probitie iustice and is the matrix from whence all good and excellent lawes do spring and arise yea those true and iust iudgements that are sometimes pronounced by the mouth of an idiot Nature hath disposed all things in the best state that they could be and hath giuen them the first motion to good and the end which they should seeke in such sort that he that will follow hir need not
many places by common vse The little care of hauing children the murther of parents of children of himselfe mariage of the neerest in bloud theft publike marchandize of their libertie and bodies as well of males as females are receiued by publike vse in many nations Doubtlesse there remaineth no more any image or trace of nature in vs we must go seeke it in beasts where this troublesome 11 And we must seeke it elsewhere and vnquiet spirit this quick-siluer neither arte nor beautifull ceremonie hath power to alter it they haue it pure and entire if it be not corrupted by our vsage and contagion as sometimes it is All the world followeth nature the first and vniuersall rule which the author thereof hath giuen and established except man only who troubleth the policie and state of the world with his gentle spirit and his free-will to wickednesse he is the only irregular creature and enemy of nature So then the true honestie the foundation and piller of wisdome is to follow nature that is to say reason The good and 12 True honestie the end of man in whom consisteth his rest his libertie his contentment and in a word his perfection in this world is to liue and do according to nature when that which is the most excellent thing in him commaundeth that is to say reason True honestie is a right and firme disposition of the will to follow the counsell of reason And as the heedle touched with the adamant neuer resteth it selfe vntill he see the north point and thereby ordereth and directeth the nauigation so a man is neuer well yea he is as it were vndone and dislocated vntill he see this law and directeth the course of his life his maners his iudgements and willes according to the first diuine naturall law which is an inward domesticall light whereof all the rest are but beames But to effect it and to come to the practise it is farre more easie to some than to others There are some that haue their 13 The distinction of true honestie particular nature that is to say their temper and temperature so good and pleasing which especially proceedeth from the first formation in the womb of the mother and afterwards from the milke of the nurse and this first and tender education that they find themselues without endeuor and without arte or discipline whollie caried and disposed to goodnesse and honestie that is to say to follow and conforme themselues to the vniuersall nature whereby they are tearmed well-borne gaudeant bene nati This kind of naturall and easie honestie and as it were Naturall goodnes borne with vs is properly called goodnesse a qualitie of a soule well borne and well gouerned it is a sweetnesse facilitie and debonairie mildnesse of nature and not lest any bodie should be deceiued a softnesse a feminine sottish calmenesse and vitious facilitie whereby a man delighteth to please all and not to displease or offend any although he haue a iust and a lawfull cause and it be for the seruice of reason and iustice whereby it comes to passe that they will not employ themselues in lawfull actions when it is against those that take offence thereat nor altogether refuse the vnlawfull when they please thereby those that consent thereunto Of these kind of people it is said and this commendation is iniurious He is good since he is good euen to the wicked and this accusation true How should he be good since he is not euill to those that are euill We should rather call this kind of goodnesse innocencie as men call little children sheepe and the like innocent creatures But an actiue valiant manly and effectuall goodnesse is that I require which is a readie easie and constant affection vnto that which is good right iust according to reason and nature There are others so ill borne and bred that it seemeth that like monsters their particular natures are made as it were in despite of the vniuersall nature so crosse and contrarie are they thereunto In this case the remedie to correct reforme sweeten make tame and amend this euill rough sauage and crooked nature to bend it and applie it to the rule of this generall and great mistris the vniuersall nature is to haue recourse to the study of philosophie as Socrates did and vnto Acquired vertue vertue which is a combate and painfull endeuor against vice a labourious studie which requireth time labour and discipline Virtus in arduo circa difficile ad ianuam virtutis excubant labor sudor Dij mortalibus virtutem laboris pretio vendiderunt This is not to bring in a new strange or artificiall honestie and so accidentall and such as I haue said before is not the true but it is by taking away the lets and hinderances to stirre vp and enlighten this light almost extinct and languishing and to reuiue those seeds almost choked by the particular vice and ill temperature of the particular person as by taking away the moat from the eie the sight is recouered and the dust from off the glasse a man seeth the clearer By all this that hath beene said it appeareth that there are 14 Three degrees of perfection two sorts of true honestie the one naturall sweet easie iust called goodnesse the other acquired difficult painfull and laborious called vertue But to say the truth there is also a third which is as it were composed of the two and so there should be three degrees of perfection The lowest of the three is a facill and debonairie nature distasted by it selfe by reason of vice we haue named it goodnesse innocencie The second more high which wee haue named vertue is with a liuelie force to hinder the progresse of vice and hauing suffered himselfe to be surprised with the first motions of the passions to arme and bend himselfe to staie their course and to ouercome them The third and chiefest is out of a high resolution and a perfect habit to be so well framed that temptations cannot so much as grow in him and the seedes of vice are whollie rooted out in so much that his vertue is turned into a complexion and into nature This last may be called perfection That the first which is called goodnesse do resemble one the other and differ from the second in that they are without stirre paine or endeuour This is the true tincture of the soule hir naturall and ordinary course which costeth nothing The second is alwaies in care and in awe The last and perfect is acquired by the long studie and serious exercise of the rules of philosophie ioined to a beautifull and rich nature For both are necessarie the naturall and the acquired This is that those two sects did so much studie the Stoickes and much more the Epicures which would haue seemed strange if Seneca and other ancient Philosophers did not testifie it who are rather to bee credited than all the other more moderne who
and are as much offended with ours as we with theirs they cut a man short after their maner tearming them beasts and barbarians which is alwaies to say the same thing A wise man is more aduised as shall be said he maketh not such haste to iudge for feare lest he wrong his owne iudgment and to say the truth there are many lawes and customes which seeme at the first view to be sauage inhumane and contrarie to all reason which if they were without passion and soundly considered of if they were not found to be altogether iust and good yet at the least they would not be without some reason and defence Let vs take amongst the rest for example the two first which wee haue spoken of which seeme to be both the strangest and farthest off from the dutie of pietie to kill their owne parents at a certaine age and to eate them They that haue this custome do take it to be a testimonie of pietie and good affection endeuoring therby first of meere pitie to deliuer their old parents not only vnprofitable to themselues and others but burthensome languishing and leading a painfull and troublesome life and to place them in rest and ease afterwards giuing them the most worthie and commendable sepulchre lodging in themselues and their owne bowels the bodies and reliques of their parents in a maner reuiuing them againe and regenerating them by a kind of transmutation into their liuing flesh by the meanes of the digestion and nourishment These reasons would not seeme ouer-light to him that is not possessed with a contrarie opinion and it is an easie matter to consider what crueltie and abomination it had been to these people to see their parents before their owne eies to suffer such griefe and torment and they not able to succour them and afterwards to cast their spoiles to the corruption of the earth to stench and rottennes and the foode of wormes which is the worst that can be done vnto it Darius made a triall asking some Greekes for what they would be perswaded to follow the custome of the Indians in eating their dead fathers To whom they answered that they would not do it for any thing in the world And on the other side assaying to perswade the Indians to burne the bodies of their dead parents as the Greekes did it seemed to them a matter of such difficultie and horror as that they would neuer be drawne vnto it I will adde only one other which concerneth only matter of decencie and comelinesse and is more light and more pleasant One that alwaies blew his nose with his hand being reprehended for inciuilitie in the defence of himselfe asked what priuiledge that filthie excrement had that a man must affoord it a faire handker chiefe to receiue and afterwards carefullie wrap fold it vp which he thought was a matter of greater lothsomnes than to cast it frō him So that we see that for all things there may be found some seeming reason and therefore we are not suddenly and lightlie to condemne any thing But who would beleeue how great and imperious the authoritie of custome is He that said it was another nature did 6 The authoritie thereof not sufficientlie expresse it for it doth more than nature it conquereth nature for hence it is that the most beautifull daughters of men draw not vnto loue their naturall parents nor brethren though excellent in beautie winne not the loue of their sisters This kind of chastirie is not properly of nature but of the vse of lawes and customes which forbid them and make of incest a great sinne as we may see in the fact not Gen. 11. 20. 29. 35. Exod. 6. Leuit. 28. only of the children of Adam where there was an inforced necessitie but of Abraham and Nachor brethren of Iacob and Iudas Patriarches Amram the father of Moses and other holy men And it is the law of Moses which forbad it in these first degrees but it hath also sometimes dispensed therewith not only in the colaterall line and betwixt brothers and their brothers wiues which was a commandement and not a dispensation Deut. 25. 2. Reg. 12. 3. Reg. 2. and which is more betweene the naturall brother and sister of diuers wombs but also in the right line of alliance that is to say of the sonne with the mother in law for in the right line of bloud it seemeth to be altogether against nature notwithstanding the fact of the daughters of Lot with their father which neuerthelesse was produced purely by nature in that extreame apprehension and feare of the end of humane kind for which cause they haue beene excused by Chrysost Ambrose August great and learned doctors Now against nature there is not any dispensation if God the only superior thereunto giue it not Finally of casuall incests and not voluntarie the world is full as Tertullian teacheth Moreouer custome doth enforce In Apolog. the rules of nature witnes those Physitians who many times leaue the naturall reasons of their arte by their owne authoritie as they that by custome do liue and sustaine their liues with poyson Spiders Emmets Lyzards Toades which is a common practise amongst the people of the West Indies It likewise dulleth our senses witnes they that liue neere the fall of the riuer of Nilus neere clocks armories milles and the whole world according to some Philosophers with the sound of a heauenly kind of musick and the continuall and diuers motions of the heauens dulleth our senses that we heare not that which we heare To conclude and it is the principall fruit thereof it ouercommeth all difficultie maketh things easie that seeme impossible sweetneth all sower and therefore by the meanes heereof a man liues in all things content but yet it mastereth our soules our beliefs our iudgements with a most vniust and tyrannicall authoritie It doth and vndoeth authoriseth and disauthoriseth whatsoeuer it please without rhythme or reason yea many times against all reason It establisheth in the world against reason iudgement all the opinions religions beleefs obseruances maners and sorts of life most fantasticall and rude as before hath been said And contrarily it wrongfully degradeth robbeth beateth downe in things that are truly great and admirable their price and estimation and maketh them base and vile Nil adeo magnum nec tam mirabile quidquam Principiò quod non cessent mirarier omnes Paulatim So that we see that custome is a thing great and powerfull Plato hauing reprehended a youth for playing at cobnut or chery-pit and receiuing this answere from him That he controuled him for a matter of small moment replied My child custome is not a matter of small moment A speech wel worth the noting for all such as haue youth to bring vp But it exerciseth it power with so absolute authoritie that there is no striuing against it neither is it lawfull to reason or call into question the ordinances thereof it enchanteth
the historie the iudgement is all The seuenth is neuer to speake affirmatiuely and imperiously with obstinacie and resolution that hurteth and woundeth all Peremptorie affirmation and obstinacie in opinion are ordinarie signes of senslesnesse and ignorance The stile of the ancient Romans was that the witnesses deposing and the iudges determining that which of their owne proper knowledge they knew to be true they expressed their mind by this word It seemeth it a videtur And if these did thus what should others do It were good to learne to vse such words as may sweeten and moderate the temeritie of our propositions as It may be It is said I thinke It seemeth and the like and in answering I vnderstand it not What is that to say It may be It is true I will shut vp this generall part in these few The conclusion words To haue the countenance and the outward shew open and agreeable to all his mind and thought couered and hid from all his tongue sober and discreet alwaies to keepe himselfe to himselfe and to stand on his gard frons aperta lingua parca mens clausa nulli fidere to see and heare much to speake little to iudge of all vide audi iudica Let vs come to the other consideration and kind of conuersation more speciall whereof the instructions are these 11 The second part of speciall conuersation The first is to seeke to conferre and conuerse with men of constancie and dexteritie for thereby the mind is confirmed and fortified and is eleuated aboue it selfe as with base and weake spirits it is debased and vtterly lost the contagion heerein is as in the bodie and also more The second is not to be astonished at the opinions of another for how contrarie soeuer to the common sort how strange how friuolous or extrauagant they seeme yet they are sutable to the spirit of man which is capable to produce all things and therfore it is weaknes to be astonished at them The third is not to feare or to be troubled with the rude inciuilitie and bitter speeches of men whereunto he must harden and accustome himselfe Gallant men beare them with courage this tendernes and fearefull ceremonious mildnes is for women This societie and familiaritie must be valiant and manly it must be couragious both to giue hard speeches and to endure them to correct and to be corrected It is a fading pleasure to haue to do with a people that yeeld flatter and applaud a man in all things The fourth is to aime alwaies at the truth to acknowledge it ingenuously and cheerefully to yeeld vnto it of what side soeuer it be vsing alwaies and in all things sinceritie and not as many especiallie pedanties by right or by wrong to defend himselfe and to quell his aduersarie It is a fairer victorie to range himselfe according to reason and to vanquish himselfe than to ouercome his aduersarie whereunto his own weaknesse doth many times help being farre from all passion To acknowledge his fault to confesse his doubt and ignorance to yeeld when there is occasion are actes of iudgement gentlenes and sinceritie which are the principall qualities of an honest and wise man whereas obstinacie in opinion accuseth a man of many vices and imperfections The fift is in disputation not to employ all the meanes that a man may haue but such as are best and fittest that are more pertinent and pressing and that with breuitie for euen in a good cause a man may say too much for long discourses amplifications and repetitions are a testimonie of ostentation desire to speake and tedious to the whole companie The sixt and principall is in all things to keepe a forme order and aptnes O what a troublesome thing it is to dispute and conferre with a foole a trifler that vttereth nothing but matter impertinent to the matter It is the only iust excuse to cut off all conference for what can a man gaine but torment that knowes not how or what to speake as he should Not to vnderstand the argument that is made to wed himselfe to his owne opinion not to answere directly to tye himselfe to words and to leaue the principall to mingle and trouble the conference with vaine amplifications to denie all not to follow the forme of disputation to vse vnprofitable prefaces and digressions to be obstinate in opinion and to mouth it out to tye himselfe to formes and neuer to diue into the bottome are things that are ordinarily practised by pedanties and Sophisters See heere how wisdome is discerned from follie this is presumptuous rash obstinate assured that neuer satisfieth it selfe is fearefull aduised modest this pleaseth it selfe goes foorth of the lists merrily and gloriously as hauing wonne the victorie when it neuer came neere it The seuenth if there be place of contradiction hee must take heede that he be not bold obstinate bitter for either of these three makes it vnwelcome doth more hurt himselfe than an other That it may winne good entertainment of the companie it must arise from that very houre of the controuersie that is handled from the present occasion and not from elsewhere nor from any former precedent ground neither must it touch the person but the matter onely with some commendation of the person if there be cause CHAP. X. To cary himselfe wisely in his affaires THis doth properly belong to the vertue of prudence whereof wee shall speake in the beginning of the booke following where shall bee set downe in particular diuers counsels and aduisements according to the diuers kindes of prudence and occurrents in our affaires But I will heere set downe the principall points and heads of wisedome which are generall common aduisements to instruct in grosse our disciple to carrie himselfe well and wisely in the trafficke and commerce of the world and the managing of all affaires and they are eight The first consisteth in vnderstanding that is well to know the persons with whom a man hath to deale their proper and 1 Knowledge of the persōs and affaires particular nature their humour their spirit inclinatino designement and intention their proceedings to know likewise the nature of the businesse which he hath in hand and which is proposed vnto him not only in their superficiall and outward appearance but to penetrate into the inside thereof not only to see and know things in themselues but the accidents and consequents that belong thereunto The better to doe this he must looke into them with all maner of visages consider them in all senses for there are some that in one side are very pretious and pleasing and on the other base and pernicious Now it is certaine that according to the diuers natures of the persons and affaires we must change our stile and maner of proceeding like a Seaman who according to the diuers state of the sea and the diuersitie of the windes doth diuersly turne and guide his sailes and his oares
For he that in all things shall direct and carrie himselfe after one and the same fashion would quickly marre all play the foole and make himselfe ridiculous Now this twofold knowledge of the persons and affaires is no easie matter so much is man disguised and counterfeited but the way to attaine thereunto is to consider them attentiuely and aduisedly reuoluing them many times in our mindes and that without passion Wee must likewise learne to esteeme of things according to their true worth giuing vnto them that price and place 2 Estimation of things which appertaineth vnto them which is the true office of wisedome and sufficiencie This is a high point of philosophie but the better to attaine thereunto we must take heede of passion and the iudgement of the vulgar sort There are Not according to the vulgar iudgement six or seuen things which mooue and leade vulgar spirits and make them to esteeme of things by false ensignes whereof wise men will take heed which are noueltie raritie strangenesse difficultie Art inuention absence and priuation or deniall and aboue all report shew and prouision They esteeme not of things if they be not polished by Art and science if they be not pointed and paâ—nted out The simple and naturall of what value soeuer they be they attend not they escape and droppe away insensibly or at least are accounted plaine base and foolish a great testimonie of humane vanitie and imbecillitie which is paied with winde with false and counterfeit mony in steede of currant from whence it is that a man preferreth Art before nature that which is studied and difficult before that which is easie vehement motions and impulsions before complexion constitution habit the extraordinary before the ordinary ostentation pompe before true and secret veritie another mans and that which is strange which is borrowed before that which is proper and naturall And what greater follie can there bee than all this Now the rule of the wise is not to suffer themselues by all this to be caught and carried but to measure and iudge But according to the wise and esteeme of things first by their true naturall and essentiall value which is many times inward and secret and then by their profit and commoditie the rest is but deceit or mockerie This is a matter of difficultie all things being so disguised and sophisticated many times the false and wicked being more plausible than the true and good And Aristotle saith that there are many falshoods which are more probable and haue a better outward appearance than verities But as it is difficult so is it excellent and diuine Si separaueris pretiosum Difficult Excellent Nâ—cessary â—eneca a vili quasi os meum eris And necessarie before all workes quà m necessarium pretiarebus imponere for to small purpose doth a man endeuour to know the precepts of a good life if first he know not in what ranke to place things riches health beauty nobility science and so foorth with 〈…〉 their contraries This precedency preheminence of things is a high and excellent knowledge and yet difficult especially when many present themselues for plurality hindreth and heerein men are neuer of one accord The particular tastes and iudgements of men are diuers and it is fit and commodious it should be so to the end that all runne not together after one and the same thing and so bee a let or hindrance to another For example let vs take the eight principall heads of Eight principall heads of goods spirituall and corporall all goods spirituall and corporall foure of each kind that is to say Honesty Health Wisedome Beauty Ability or Aptnesse Nobility Science Riches We do heere take the words according to the common sense and vse wisdome for a prudent and discreet maner of life and carriage with and towards all Abilitie for sufficiency in affaires Science for the knowledge of things acquired out of bookes the other are cleare enough Now touching the ranging of these eight how many diuers opinions are there I haue told my owne and I haue mingled and in such sort enterlaced them together that after and next vnto a spirituall there is a corporall corrospondent therunto to the end we may couple the soule and the body together Health is in the body that which honestie is in the soule the health of the soule is the honestie of the body mens sana in corpore sano Beauty is as wisedome the measure proportion and comelinesse of the body and wisedome a spirituall beauty Nobility is a great aptnesse and disposition to vertue Sciences are the riches of the spirit Others do range these parts otherwise some place all the spirituall first before they come to the first corporall and the least of the spirit aboue the greatest of the bodie some place them apart and all diuersly euery one aboundeth in his owne sense After and from this sufficiencie and part of prudence to know well how to esteeme of things doth spring and arise 3 Choice and election of things another that is to know well how to choose where not only the conscience but also the sufficiencie and prudence is likewise many times shewed There are choices very easie as of a difficultie of a vice of that which is honest and that which is commodious of dutie and of profit for the preheminence of the one is so great aboue the other that when they come to encounter honestie alwaies winneth the field except it may be some exception very rare and with great circumstance and in publike affaires only as shall be said heereafter in the vertue of Prudence but there are other choices farre more hard and troublesome as when a man is caught or driuen into a narrow streit betweene two vices as was that Doctor Origen either to become an Idolater or to prostitute hunselfe to the carnall pleasure of a base impure Aethiopian The rule is that when a man findeth himselfe in any doubt or perplexitie touching the choice of those things that are not euill he must choose that part that hath most honestie and iustice in it for though it fall out otherwise than well yet it shall be alwaies some comfort and glorie to a man to haue chosen the better and besides a man knoweth not if he had chosen the contrarie part what would haue hapned or whether he had escaped his destinie when a man doubteth which is the better and shortest way hee must take the streitest And in those things that are euill whereof there is neuer any choice a man must auoid the more base and vniust this is a rule of conscience and belongeth to honestie But to know which is the more honest iust and profitable which the more dishonest vniust and vnprofitable it is many times very difficult and belongeth to prudence and sufficiencie It seemeth that in such like streits and extremities the surer and better way is to follow nature and to iudge
or refusing company but cheerefully to goe on with or without companie as either our owne or anothers need do require but yet not so to shut vp our selues and to settle and establish our pleasure as some that are halfe lost being alone A man must haue within himselfe wherwith to entertaine content himselfe in sinu suo gaudere He that hath woon this point pleaseth himselfe in all places and in all things He must cary a countenance conformable to the company and the affaires that are in hand and present themselues and accommodate himselfe vnto another be sad if need be but inwardly to keep himselfe one and the same this is the meditation and consideration which is the nourishment and life of the spirit cuius viuere est cogitare Now for the benefit of nature there is not any businesse which we do more often continue longer that is more easie more naturall and more our owne than to meditate and to entertaine our thoughts But this meditation is not in all after one maner but very diuers according to the diuersity of spirits In some it is weake in others strong in some it is languishing idlenesse a vacancy and want of other businesse But the greater spirits make it their principall vacation and most serious study whereby they are neuer more busied nor lesse alone as it is said of Scipio than when they are alone and quitting themselues of affaires in imitation of God himselfe who liueth and feedeth himselfe with his eternall thoughts and meditations It is the businesse of the goddes saith Aristotle from whence doth spring both their 3 To know and culture himselfe and our blessednesse Now this solitary imployment and this cheerefull entertainment of a mans selfe must not be in vanity much lesse in any thing that is vitious but in study and profound knowledge and afterwards in the diligent culture of himselfe This is the price agreed the principall first and plainest trauell of euerie man Hee must alwaies watch taste sound himselfe neuer abandon but be alwaies neere and keepe himselfe to himselfe and finding that manie things go not well whether by reason of vice and defect of nature or the contagion of another or other casuall accident that troubleth him hee must quietlie and sweetlie correct them and prouide for them He must reason with himselfe correct and recall himselfe couragiouslie and not suffer himselfe to be caried away either with disdaine or carelesnesse He must likewise in auoiding all idlenesse which doth but 4 To keepe himselfe in exercise rust and marre both the soule and body keepe himselfe alwaies in breath in office and exercise but yet not ouer bent violent and painfull but aboue all honest vertuous and serious And that he may the better do it he must quit himselfe of other businesse and propose vnto himselfe such designments as may delight him conferring with honest men and good bookes dispensing his time well and well ordering his houres and not liue tumultuouslie and by chaunce and hazard Again he must well husband and make profit of all things 5 To make vse of all things that are presented vnto him done said and make them an instruction vnto him applie them vnto himselfe without any shew or semblance thereof And to particularise a little more we know that the duty of man towards himselfe consisteth in three points according 6 To gouerne his spirit that is his iudgement to his three parts to rule and gouerne his spirit his body his goods Touching his spirit the first and principall whereunto especially do belong these generall aduisements which we are to deliuer we know that all the motions thereof are reduced to two to thinke and to desire the vnderstanding and the will whereunto do answer science and vertue the two ornaments of the spirit Touching the former which is the vnderstanding he must preserue it from two things in some sort contrarie and extreame that is sottishnesse and follie that is to say from vanities and childish follies on the one side this is to bastardise and to lose it it was not made to play the nouice or baboun non ad iocum lusum genitus sed ad seueritatem potius and from phantasticall absurd and extrauagant opinions on the other side this is to pollute and debase it It must be fed and entertained with things profitable and serious and furnished and indued with sound sweet and naturall opinions and so much care must not be taken to eleuate and mount it to extend it beyond the reach as to rule and order it For order and continencie is the effect of wisdome and which giueth price to the soule and aboue all to be free from presumption and obstinacie in opinion vices very familiar with those that haue any extraordinarie force and vigor of spirit and rather to continue in doubt and suspence especiallie in things that are doubtfull and capable of oppositions and reasons on both parts not easily digested and determined It is an excellent thing and the securest way well to know how to doubt and to be ignorant and the most noble philosophers haue not beene ashamed to make profession thereof yea it is the principall fruit and effect of science Touching the will it must in all things be gouerned and submit it selfe to the rule of reason which is the office of vertue and not vnto fleeting inconstant opinion which is commonly false and much lesse vnto passion These are the three that moue and gouerne our soules But yet this is the difference that a wise man ruleth and rangeth himselfe according to nature and reason regardeth his duty holdeth for apocryphall and suspects whatsoeuer dependeth vpon opinion or passion and therfore he liueth in peace passeth away his life cheerefully and pleasingly is not subiect to repentance recantations changes because whatsoeuer falleth out he could neither do nor choose better and therfore he is neuer kindled nor stirred for reason is alwaies peaceable The foole that suffereth himselfe to bee led by these two doth nothing but wander and warre with himselfe and neuer resteth He is alwaies readuising changing mending repenting and is neuer contented which to say the truth belongeth to a wise man who hath reason and vertue to make himselfe such a one Nulla placidior quies nisi quam ratio composuit An honest man must gouerne and respect himselfe and feare his reason and his conscience which is his bonus genius his good spirit in such sort that hee cannot without shame stumble in their presence rarum est vt satis se quisque vereatur As touching the bodie we owe thereunto assistance and conduct or direction It is follie to goe about to separate and sunder these two principall parts the one from the other but contrarily it is fit and necessarie they be vnited and ioyned together Nature hath giuen vs a bodie as a necessarie instrument to life and it is fit that the spirit as the principall should
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
vnmanaged horse neither doth a man enter into affaires of importance if he hath not beene instructed and prepared for it before so before a man vndertakes these affaires and enters vpon the stage and theater of this world he ought to correct that imperfect and sauage part in vs to bridle and restraine the libertie of affections to learne the lawes the parts and measures thereof wherewith it ought to be handled in all occasions But contrarily it is a ve-very lamentable and absurd thing as Socrates saith that although no man vndertaketh the profession of any mysterie or mechanicall arte which formerly he hath not learned yet in publike charges in the skill to command and obey well to gouerne the world the deepest and difficultest mysterie of all they are accepted and vndertake it that know nothing at all Magistrates are intermixed persons placed betweene the soueraigne and priuate men and therefore it behooueth 3 A generall description of magistrates them to know how to command and to obey how to obey their soueraigne yeeld to the power of superior magistrates honour their equals command their inferiors defend the weake make head against the great and be iust to all and therefore it was well said That magistracie descrieth a man being to play in publike so many parts In regard of his soueraigne the magistrate according to the diuersitie of the commands ought diuersly to gouerne 4 The dutie of magistrates as touching the soueraigne or readily or not at all to obey or surcease his obedience First in those commands which yeeld vnto him acknowledgement and allowance as are all the warrants of Iustice and all other where this clause or any equiualent vnto it if it appeare vnto you or which are without attribution of allowance iust and indifferent of themselues he ought to obey and hee may easily discharge himselfe without any scruple and danger 2 In those commands which attribute vnto him no acknowledgement but onely the execution as are warrants of command if they be against right and ciuill Iustice and that haue in them clauses derogatorie he ought simplie to obey for the soueraigne may derogate from the ordinarie law and this is properly that wherein soueraigntie consisteth 3 To those which are contrarie to right and conteine no derogatorie clause but are wholly preiudiciall to the good and vtilitie of the common-wealth what clause soeuer it hath and though the magistrate knoweth it to be false and inforced against right and by violence he ought not to yeeld readily in these three causes but to hold them in suspence and to make resistance once or twice and at the second or third command to yeeld 4 Touching those which are repugnant to the law of God and nature he ought to dismisse and acquit himselfe of his office yea to indure any thing rather than obey or consent and he need not say that the former commands may haue some doubt in them because naturall Iustice is more cleere than the light of the Sunne 5 All this is good to be done in respect of the things themselues But after they are once done by the soueraigne how euill soeuer they be it is better to dissemble them and burie the memorie of them than to stirre and lose all as Papinian did frustra niti mihi aliud nisi odium quaerere extremae dementiae est In respect of priuate subiects magistrates ought to remember that the authority which they haue ouer them they 5 As touching priuate men haue but at a second hand and hold it of the soueraigne who alwaies remaineth absolute lord and their authoritie is limited to a prefixed time The magistrate ought to be of easie accesse ready to heare and vnderstand all complaints and sutes hauing his gate open to all and himselfe alway at hand considering he is not for himselfe but for all and seruant of the common-wealth Magna seruitus magna fortuna And for this cause the law of Moyses prouided that the Iudges and iudgement seats were Deut. 16. held at the gates of the cities to the end euery man might haue easie accesse thereto He ought also indifferently to receiue and heare all great and little rich and poore being open to all Therefore a wise man compareth him to an altar whereto a man repaireth being oppressed and afflicted to receiue succour and comfort But he ought not to conuerse and be familiar with many but with very few and those very wise and aduised and that secretly for it debaseth authoritie it diminisheth and dissolueth the grace and reputation thereof Cleon called to the gouernment of the common-wealth assembled all his friends and there renounced and disclaimed all intimation or inward amitie with them as a thing incompatible with his charge for Cicero saith he depriueth himselfe of the person of a friend that vndertaketh that of a Iudge His office is especially in two things to vphold and defend the honor the dignitie and the right of his soueraigne and 5 Cic. lib. 1. Officior of the weale publike which he representeth gerere personam ciuitatis eius dignitatem decus sustinere with authority and a milde seueritie Then as a good and loyall interpreter and officer of the Prince he ought exactly to see that his will be performed that is to say the law of which he is the minister and it is his charge to see it diligently executed towards all therefore he is called the liuing law the speaking law Although the magistrate ought wisely to temper mildenesse with rigour yet it is better for a magistrate to be seuere and cruell than gentle facill and pitifull and God forbiddeth to be pitifull in iudgement A seuere Iudge holdeth subiects in obedience of the lawes a milde and pitifull makes them to contemne the lawes the magistrates and the Prince who made both To be briefe to discharge well his office there is required two things honesty and courage The first hath need of the second The first preserueth the magistrate free from auarice respect of persons of bribes which is the plague and smotherer of truth Acceptatio munerum praeuaricatio est veritatis from the corruption of iustice which Plato calleth an hallowed virgin Also from passions of hatred of loue and others all enemies to right and equity But to carrie himselfe well against the threatnings of great men the importunate intreaties of his friends the lamentations and teares of the poore distressed which are all violent and forceable things and yet haue some colour of reason and iustice and which maketh sometimes the most resolute to relent he had need of courage Firme and inflexible constancie is a principall qualitie and vertue in a magistrate to the end he may not feare the great and mightie and be not mooued and mollified with the miserie of another though it cary with it some shew of goodnesse But yet it is forbid to haue pitie of the poore in iudgement CHAP. XVIII The dutie of the great