that the knowledge I seeke in them is there so scatteringly and loosely handled that whosoever readeth them is not tied to plod long vpon them whereof I am vncapable And so are Plutarkes little workes and Senecaes Epistles which are the best and most profitable partes of their writings It is no great matter to draw mee to them and I leave them where I list For they succeed not and depend not one of another Both jumpe and suite together in most true and profitable opinions And fortune brought them both into the world in one age Both were Tutors vnto two Roman Emperours Both were strangers and came from farre Countries both rich and mighty in the common-wealth and in credite with their masters Their instruction is the prime and creame of Philosophie and presented with a plaine vnaffected and pertinent fashion Plutarke is more vniforme and constant Seneca more waving and diverse This doth labour force and extend himselfe to arme and strengthen vertue against weaknesse feare and vitious desires the other seemeth nothing so much to feare their force or attempt and in a maner scorneth to hasten or change his pace about them and to put himselfe vpon his guarde Plutarkes opinions are Platonicall gentle and accommodable vnto civill societie Senacaes Stoicall and Epicurian further from common vse but in my conceit more proper particular and more solide It appeareth in Seneca that he somewhat inclineth and yeeldeth to the tyrannie of the Emperors which were in his daies for I verily beleeve it is with a forced judgement he condemneth the cause of those noblie-minded murtherers of Caesar Plutarke is every where free and open-hearted Seneca full-fraught with points and sallies Plutarke stuft with matters The former doth moove and enflame you more the latter content please and pay you better This doth guide you the other drive you on As for Cicero of all his works those that treat of Philosophie namely morall are they which best serve my turne and square with my intent But boldly to confesse the trueth For Since the bars of impudencie were broken downe all curbing is taken away his maner of writing seemeth verie tedious vnto me as doth all such-like stuffe For his prefaces definitions divisions and Etymologies consume the greatest part of his Works whatsoever quicke wittie and pithie conceit is in him is surcharged and confounded by those his long and far-fetcht preambles If I bestow but one houre in reading him which is much for me and let me call to minde what substance or juice I have drawne from him for the most part I find nothing but winde ostentation in him for he is not yet come to the arguments which make for his purpose and reasons that properly concerne the knot or pith I seek-after These Logicall and Aristotelian ordinances are not availfull for me who onely endevour to become more wise and sufficient and not more wittie or eloquent I would have one begin with the last point I vnderstand sufficiently what death and voluptuousnesse are let not a man busie himselfe to anatomize them At the first reading of a Booke I seeke for good and solide reasons that may instruct me how to sustaine their assaults It is nether gramaticall subtilties nor logicall quiddities nor the wittie contexture of choise words or arguments and syllogismes that will serve my turne I like those discourses that give the first charge to the strongest part of the doubt his are but flourishes and languish every where They are good for Schooles at the barre or for Orators and Preachers where we may slumber and though we wake a quarter of an houre after we may find and trace him soone enough Such a maner of speech is fit for those Iudges that a man would corrupt by hooke or crooke by right or wrong or for children and the common people vnto whom a man must tell all and see what the event will be I would not have a man go about and labour by circumlocutions to induce and win me to attention and that as our Herolds or Criers do they shall ring out their words Now heare me now listen or â—oâ—yes The Romanes in their Religion were wont to say Hoc age which in ours we say Sursum corda There are so many lost words for me I come readie prepared from my house I need no allurement nor sawce my stomacke is good enough to digest raw meat And whereas with these preparatives and flourishes or preambles they thinke to sharpen my taste or stir my stomacke they cloy and make it wallowish Shall the priviledge of times excuse me from this sacrilegious boldnesse to deeme Platoes Dialogismes to be as languishing by over-filling and stuffing his matter And to bewaile the time that a man who had so many thousands of things to vtter spends about so many so long so vaine and idle interloquutions and preparatives My ignorance shall better excuse me in that I see nothing in the beautie of his language I generally enquire after Bookes that vse sciences and not after such as institute them The two first and Plinie with others of their ranke have no Hoc age in them they will have to doe with men that have forewarned themselves or if they have it is a materiall and substantiall Hoc age and that hath his bodie apart I likewise love to read the Epistles and ad Atticum not onely because they containe a most ample instruction of the Historie and affaires of his times but much more because in them I descrie his private humours For as I have said elsewhere I am wonderfull curious to discover and know the minde the soule the genuine disposition and naturall judgement of my Authors A man ought to judge their sufficiencie and not their customes nor them by the shew of their writings Which they set forth on this worlds Theatre I have sorrowed a thousand times that ever we lost the booke that Brutus writ of Virtue Oh it is a goodly thing to learne the Theorike of such as vnderstand the practise well But forsomuch as the Sermon is one thing and the Preacher an other I love as much to see Brutus in Plutarke as in himselfe I would rather make choise to know certainly what talke he had in his Tent with some of his familiar friends the night fore-going the battell then the speach he made the morrow after to his Armie and what he did in his chamber or closet then what in the Senate or market place As for Cicero I am of the common judgement that besides learning there was no exquisite excellencie in him He was a good Citizen of an honest-gentle nature as are commonly fat and burly men for so was he But to speake truely of him full of ambitious vanitie and remisse nicenesse And I know not well how to excuse him in that he deemed his Poesie worthy to be published It is no great imperfection to make bad verses but it is an imperfection in him that he never perceived
eyeing a bird sitting vpon a tree that he seeing the Cat they both so wistly fixed their looks one vpon another so long that at last the bird tell downe as dead in the Cats pawes either drunken by his owne strong imagination or drawne by some attractiue power of the Cat. Those that love hawking have happily heard the Falkners tale who earnestly fixing his sight vpon a Kite in the aire laide a wager that with the onely force of his looke he would make it come stooping downe to the ground and as some report did it many times The Histories I borrow I referre to the consciences of those I take them from The discourses are mine and holde together by the proofe of reason not of experiences each man may adde his example to them and who hath none considering the number and varietie of accidents let him not leave to think there are store of them If I come not well for my selfe let another come for me So in the studie wherein I treat of our manners and motions the fabulous testimonies alwaies provided they be likely and possible may serve to the purpose as well as the true whether it hapned or no be it at Rome or at Paris to Iohn or Peter it is alwaies a tricke of humane capacitie of which I am profitably advised by this report I see it and reape profit by it as well in shadow as in bodie And in divers lessons that often histories affoord I commonly make vse of that which is most rare and memorable Some writers there are whose end is but to relate the events Mine if I could attaine to it should be to declare what may come to passe touching the same It is justly allowed in schooles to suppose similitudes when they have none Yet do not I so and concerning that point in superstitious religion I exceed all historicall credit To the examples I here set down of what I have read heard done or seene I have sorbid my selfe so much as to dare to change the least or alter the idlest circumstances My conscience doth not falsifie the least iot I wot not whether my insight doth Concerning this subject I doe sometimes enter into conceit that it may well become a Divine a Philosopher or rather men of exquisite conscience and exact wisdome to write histories How can they otherwise engage their credit vpon a popular reputation How can they answer for the thoughts of vnknowne persons And make their bare conjectures passe for currant paiment Of the actions of divers members acted in their presence they would refuse to beare witnes of them if by a judge they were put to their corporall oath And there is no man so familiarly knowne to them of whose inward intention they would vndertake to answer at full I hold it leâ—â—e hazardous to write of things past then present forasmuch as the writer is not bound to give account but of a borrowed trueth Some perswade mee to write the affaires of my time imagining I can see them with a sight lesse blinded with passion then other men and perhaps neerer by reason of the accesse which fortune hath given me to the chiefest of divers factions But they will not say how for the glory of Salust I would not take the paines as one that am a vowed enemie to observance to assiduitie and to constancie and that there is nothing so contrarie to my stile as a continued narration I doe so often for want of breath breake off and interrupt my selfe I have neither composition nor explication of any woorth I am as ignorant as a childe of the phrases and vowels belonging to common things And therefore have I attempted to say what I can accommodating the matter to my power Should I take any man for a guid my measure might differ from his For my libertie being so farre I might happily publish judgements agreeing with me and consonant to reason yet vnlawfull and punishable Plutarke would peradventure tell vs of that which he hath written that it is the worke of others that his examples are in all and everiewhere true that they are profitable to posteritie and presented with a lustre that lights and directs vs vnto vertue and that is his worke It is not dangerous as in a medicinable drugge whether in an old tale or report be it thus or thus so or so The one and twentieth Chapter The profit of one man is the dâ—mage of an other DEmades the Athenian condemned a man of the Citie whose trade was to sell such necessaries as belonged to burials vnder colour hee asked too much profit for them and that such profit could not come vnto him without the death of many people This judgement seemeth to be ill taken because no man profiteth but by the losse of others by which reason a man should condemne all maner of gaine The Marchant thrives not but by the licentiousnesse of youth the Husband man by dearth of corne the Architect but by the ruine of houses the Lawyer by sutes and controversies betweene men Honour it selfe and practise of religious Ministers is drawne from our death and vices No Phisitian delighteth in the health of his owne friend saith the auncient Greeke Comike nor no Souldier is pleased with the peace of his Cittie and so of the rest And which is worse let every man sound his owne conscience hee shall finde that our inward desires are for the most part nourished and bred in vs by the losse and hurt of others which when I considered I began to thinke how Nature doth not gainesay herselfe in this concerning her generall policie for Phisitians hold that The birth increase and augmentation of every thing is the alteration and corruption of another Nam quodcunque suis mutatum finibus exit Continuo hoc mors est illius quod fuit ante What ever from it's bounds doth changed passe That strait is death of that which erst it was The two and twentieth Chapter Of custome and how a receiued law should not easily be changed MY opinion is that hee conveied aright of the force of custome that first invented this tale how a countrey woman having enured herselfe to cherish and beare a yoong calfe in her armes which continuing shee got such a custome that when he grew to be a great oxe shee carried him still in her armes For truely Custome is a violent and deceiving schoole mistris She by little and little and as it were by stealth establisheth the foote of her authoritie in vs by which milde and gentle beginning if once by the aide of time it have setled and planted the same in vs it will soone discouer a furious and tyrannicall countenance vnto vs against which we have no more the libertie to lift so much as our eies wee may plainly see her vpon every occasion to force the rules of Nature Vsus efficacissimus reruÌ„ omnium magister Vse is the most effectuall master of all things I beleeve Platoes
round about and every-where For I note that the chiefe places are vsually seazed vpon by the most vnworthie and lesse capable and that height of fortune is seldome joyned with sufficiencie I have seene that whilst they at the vpper end of a board were busie entertaining themselves with talking of the beautie of the hangings about a chamber or of the taste of some good cup of wine many good discourses at the lower end have vtterly been lost He shall weigh the carriage of every man in his calling a Heardsman a Mason a Stranger or a traveller all must be imployed every one according to his worth for all helps to make-vp houshold yea the follie and the simplicitie of others shall be as instructions to him By controlling the graces and maners of others he shall acquire vnto himselfe envie of the good and contempt of the bad Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things let him survay what soever is rare and singulare about him a building a fountaine a man a place where any battell hath been fought or the passages of Caesar or Charlemaint Quae tellus sit lâ—â—ta gelu quae putris ab aestu Ventus in Italiam quis bene vela ferat What land is parcht with heat what clog'd with frost What wind drives kindly to th' Italian coast He shall endevour to be familiarly acquainted with the customes with the meanes with the state with the dependances and alliances of all Princes they are things soone and pleasant to be learned and most profitable to be knowne In this acquaintance of men my meaning is that hee chiefely comprehend them that live but by the memorie of bookes He shall by the help of Histories informe himselfe of the worthiest minds that were in the best ages It is a frivolous studie if a man list but of vnvaluable worth to such as can make vse of it And as Plato saith the onely studie the Lacedemonâ—ans resâ—â—ved for themselves What profit shall he not reap touching this point reading the lives of our Plutarke Alwaies conditioned the master bethinke himselfe whereto his charge tendeth and that he imprint not so much in his schollers mind the date of the ruâ—â—e of Carthage as the manners of Hâ—nniball and Scipio nor so much where Marcâ—llus died as because he was vnworthy of his devoire he died there that he teach him not somuch to know Histories as to judge of them It is amongst things that best agree with my humour the subject to which our spirits doe most diversly applie themselves I have read in T 〈…〉 Liviâ—s a number of things which peradventure others never read in whom Plutarke happly read a hundred â—ore then ever I could read and which perhaps the author himselfe did never intend to â—â—t downe To some kind of men it is a meere gramaticall studie but to others a perfect anatomie of Philosophie by meanes whereof the secretest part of our nature is searched-into There are in Plutarke many ample discourses most worthy to be knowne for in my judgement he is the chiefe work-master of such works whereof there are a thousand whereat he hath but slightly glanced for with his finger he doth but point vs out a way to walke in if we list and is sometimes pleased to give but a touch at the quickest and maine point of a discourse from whence they are by diligent studie to be drawne and so brought into open markeâ— As that saying of his That the inhabitants of Asia served but one alone because they could not pronounce one onely sillable which is Non gave perhaps both subject and occasion to my friend Beotie to compose his booke of voluntarie servitude If it were no more but to see Plutarke wrest a slight action to mans life or a word that seemeth to beare no such sence it will serve for a whole discourse It is p 〈…〉 en of vnderstanding should so much love brevitie without doubt their reputation is thereby better but we the worse Plutarke had rather we should commend him for his judgement then for his knowledge he loveth better to leave a kind of longing-desire in vs of him then a sacietie He knew verie well that even in good things too much may be said and that Alexandridas did justly reprove him who spake verie good sentences to the Ephores but they were overtedious Oh stranger quoth he thou speakest what thou oughtest otherwise then thou shouldest Those that have leane and thin bodies stuffe them vp with bumbasting And such as have but poore matter will puffe-it vp with loftie words There is a marvelous cleerenesse or as I may terme-it an enlightning of mans judgement drawne from the commerce of men and by frequenting abroad in the world we are all so contrived and compact in ourselves that our sight is made shorter by the length of our nose When Socrates was demaunded whence he was he answered not of Athens but of the world for he who had his imagination more full and farther stretching embraced all the world for his native Citie and extended his acquaintance his societie and affections to all man-kind and not as we-do that looke no further then our feet If the frost chance to nâ—p the vines about my village my Priest doth presently argue that the wrath of God hangs over our head and threatneth all mankind and judgeth that the Pippe is alreadie â—alâ—e vpon the Canibals In viewing these intestine and civill broiles of ours who doth not exclaime that this worlds vast-frame is neere vnto a dissolution and that the day of judgement is readie to fall on vs never remembring that many worse revolutions have been seene and that whilest we are plunged in griefe and overwhelmed in sorrow a thousand other parts of the worldbesides are blessed with all happinesse and wallow in pleasures and never thinke on vs whereas when I behold our lives our licence and impunitie I wonder to see them so milde and easie He on whose head it haileth thinks all the Hemispheare besides to be in a storme and tempest And as that dull-pated Savoyard said that if the seelie king of France could cunningly have managed his fortune he might verie well have made himselfe chiefe Steward of his Lords houshold whose imagination conceived no other greatnesse than his Masters we are all insensible of this kind of errour an errour of great consequence and prejudice But whosoever shall present vnto his inward eyes as it were in a Table the Idea of the great image of our vniversall-mother Nature attired in her richest roabes sitting in the throne of her Majestie and in her visage shall read so generall and so constant a varietie he that therein shall view himselfe not himselfe alone but a whole kingdome to be in respect of a great circle but the smallest point that can be imagined he onely can value things according to their essentiall greatnesse and proportion This great vniverse which
some multiplie as Species vnder one Genus is the true looking-glasse wherein we must looke if we will know whether we be of a good stamp or in the right byase To conclude I would have this worlds-frame to be my Schollers choise-booke So many strange humours sundrie sects varying judgements diverse opinions different lawes and fantasticall customes teach-vs to judge rightly of ours and instruct our judgement to acknowledge his imperfections and naturall weaknesse which is no easie an apprentiship So many innovations of estates so many fals of Princes and changes of publike fortune may and ought to teach vs not to make so great accompt of ouâ—s So many names so many victories and so many conquests buried in darke oblivion makes the hope to perpetuate our names but ridiculous by the surprising of â—en Argo lettiers or of a small cottage which is knowne but by his fall The pride and fiercenesse of so many strange and gorgeous shewes the pride-puft majestie of so many courts and of their greatnesse ought to confirme and asâ—ure our sight vndauntedly to beare the affronts and thunder-claps of ours without seeling our eyes So many thousands of men low-laide in their graves afore-vs may encourage-vs not to feare or be â—isâ—aied to go meet so good companie in the other world and so of all things else Our life said Pithagoras drawes-neare vnto the great and populous assemblies of the Olympike games wherein some to get the glorie and to win the goale of the games exercise their bodies with all industrie others for greedinesse of gaine bring thither marchand se to sell others there are and those be not the worst that seek after no other good but to marke how wherefore and to what end all things are done and to be spectators or observers of other mens lives and actions that so they may the better judge and direct their owne Vnto examples may all the most profitable Discourses of Philosophie be sorted which ought to be the touch-stone of humane actions and a rule to square them by to whom may be said quid fas optare quid asper Vâ—â—le â—ummus habet patriae charisque propinquis Quantum elargiri deceat quem te Deus esse Iussis humana qua parte locatus es in re Quid sumus aut quidnam victuri gignimur What thou maiest wish what profit may come cleare From new-stampt coyne to friends and countrie deare What thou ought'st give whom God would have thee bee And in what part mongst men he placed thee What we are and wherefore To live heer we were bore What it is to know and not to know which ought to be the scope of studie what valour what temperance and what justice-is what difference there-is betweene ambition and avarice bondage and freedome subjection and libertie by which markes a man may distinguish true and perfect contentment and how far-forth one ought to feare or apprehend death griefe or shame Et quo quemque modo fugiátque ferátque laborem How ev'ry labour he may plie And beare or ev'ry labour flie What wards or springs move-vs and the causes of so many motions in-vs For me seemeth that the first discourses wherewith his conceit should be sprinkled ought to be those that rule his manners and direct his sense which will both teach him to know himselfe and how to live and how to die-well Among the liberall Sciences let vs begin with that which makes-vs free Indeed they may all in some sort stead-vs as an instruction to our life and vse of-it as all other things-else serve the same to some purpose or other But let vs make especiall choice of that which may directly and pertinently serve the same If we could restraine and adapt the appurtenances of our life to their right byase and naturall limits we should find the best part of the Sciences that now are in vse cleane out of fashion with vs yea and in those that are most in vse there are certaine by-waies and deep-â—lows most profitable which we should do-well to leave and according to the institution of Socrates limit the course of our studies in those where profit is wanting sapere aude Incipe vivendi qui rectè prorogat â—oram Rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis at ille Labitur labâ—tur in omne volubilis aevum Be bold to be wise to begin be strong He that to live well doth the time prolong Clowne-like expects till downe the streame be run That runs and will run till the world be done It is more simplicitie to teach our children Quid moveant Pisces animosáque signa Leonis Lotus Hesperia quid Capricornus aqâ—â— What Pisces move or hot-breath'd Lâ—os beames Or Capricornus bath'd in westerne streames The knowledge of the starres and the motion of the eightspheare before their owne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What longs it to the seaven stars and me Or those about Boôtes be Anaximenes writing to Pithagoras saith with what sence can I ammuse my selfe to the secrets of the Starres having continually â—eath or bondage before mine eies For at that time the Kings of Persia were making preparations to war against his Countrie All men ought to say so Being beaten with ambition with avarice with rashnesse and with superstition and having such other enemies vnto life within him Wherefore shall I study and take care about the mobility and variation of the world When hee is once taught what is fit to make him better and wiser he shal be entertained with Logicke naturall Philosophy Geometry and Rhetoricke then having setled his judgement looke what â—cience he doth most addict himselfe vnto he shall in short time attaine to the perfection of it His lecture shall be somtimes by way of talke and somtimes by booke his tutor may now then supply him with the same Author as an end motiue of his institution sometimes giuing him the pith substance of it ready chewed And if of himselfe he be not so throughly acquainted with bookes that hee may readily find so many notable discourses as are in them to effect his purpose it shall not be amisse that some learned man being appointed to keepe him company who at any time of neede may furnish him with such munition as hee shall stand in neede of that hee may afterward distribute and dispense them to his best vse And that this kinde of lesson be more easie and naturall then that of Gaza who will make question Those are but harsh thornie and vnpleasant precepts vaine idle immateriall words on which small hold may be taken wherin is nothing to quicken the minde In this the spirit findeth substance to bide and feed vpon A fruit without all comparison much better and that will soone bee ripe It is a thing worthy consideration to see what state things are brought vnto in this our age and how Philosophie even to the wisest and men of best vnderstanding is but an idle vaine
Blosius who was one of his chiefest friends what he would have done for him and that he answered All things What All things replied he And what if he had willed thee to burne our Temples Blosius answered He would never have commanded such a thing But what if he had done it replied Lelius The other answered I would have obeyed him If hee were so perfect a friend to Gracchus as Histories report he needed not offend the Consuls with this last and bolde confession and should not have departed from the assurance hee had of Gracchus his minde But yet those who accuse this answer as seditious vnderstand not well this mysterie and doe not presuppose in what termes he stood and that he held Gracchus his will in his sleeve both by power and knowledge They were rather friends than Cittizens rather friends than enemies of their countrey or friends of ambition and trouble Having absolutely committed themselves one to another they perfecty held the reines of one anothers inclination and let this yoke be guided by vertue and conduct of reason because without them it is altogether impossible to combine and proportion the same The answer of Blosius was such as it should be If their affections miscarried according to my meaning they were neither friendes one to other nor friends to themselves As for the rest this answer soundes no more than mine would doe to him that would in such sort enquire of me if your will should commaund you to kill your daughter would you doe it and that I should consent vnto it for that beareth no witnesse of consent to do it because I am not in doubt of my will and as little of such a friends will It is not in the power of the worlds discourse to remove me from the certaintie I have of his intentions and judgements of mine no one of it's actions might be presented vnto me vnder what shape soever but I would presently finde the spring and motion of it Our mindes have jumped so vnitedly together they have with so fervent an aflection considered of each other and with like affection so discovered and sounded even to the very bottome of ech others heart and entrails that I did not onely know his as well as mine owne but I would verily rather have trusted him concerning any matter of mine than my selfe Let no man compare any of the other common friendships to this I have as much knowledge of them as another yea of the perfectest of their kinde yet will I not perswade any man to confound their rules for so a man might be deceived In these other strict friendships a man must march with the bridle of wisdome and precaution in his hand the bond is not so strictly tied but a man may in some sort distrust the same Love him saide Chilon as if you should one day hate him againe Hate him as if you should love him againe This precept so abhominable in this soveraigne and mistris Amitie is necessarie and wholesome in the vse of vulgar and customarie frendships toward which a man must employ the saying Aristotle was woont so often to repeat Oh you my friends there is no perfect friend In this noble commerce offices and benefits nurses of other amities deserve not so much as to bee accounted of this confusion so full of our willes is cause of it for euen as the friendship I beare vnto my selfe admits no accrease by any succour I give my selfe in any time of neede whatsoever the Stoickes alleadge and as I acknowledge no thanks vnto my selfe for any service I doe vnto my selfe so the vnion of such friends being truely perfect makes them loose the feeling of such duties and hate and expell from one another these words of division and difference benefit good deed dutie obligation acknowledgement prayer thanks and such their like All things being by effect common betweene them wils thoughts judgements goods wives children honour and life and their mutuall agreement being no other than one soule in two bodies according to the fit definition of Aristotle they can neither lend or give ought to each other See here the reason why Law-makers to honour marriage with some imaginary resemblance of this divine bond inhibite donations betweene husband and wife meaning thereby to inferre that all things should peculiarly bee proper to each of them and that they have nothing to divide and share together If in the friendship wherof I speake one might give vnto another the receiver of the benefit should binde his fellow For each seeking more than any other thing to doe each other good he who yeelds both matter and occasion is the man sheweth himselfe liberall giving his friend that contentment to effect towards him what he desireth most When the Philosopher Diogenes wanted money he was wont to say That he re-demanded the same of his friends and not that he demanded it And to shew how that is practised by effect I will relate an auncient singular example Eudamidas the Corinthian had two friends Charixenus a Sycionian and Aretheus a Corinthian being vpon his death-bed and very poore and his two friends very rich thus made his last will and testament To Aretheus I bequeath the keeping of my mother and to maintaine her when she shall be â—lde To Charixenus the marrying of my daughter and to give her as great a dowry as he may and in case one of them shall chance to die before I appoint the surviver to substitute his charge and supply his place Those that first saw this testament laughed and mocked at the same but his heires being advertised thereof were very well pleased and received it with singular contentment And Charixenus one of them dying five daies after Eudamidas the substitution being declared in favour of Aretheus he carefully and very kindly kept and maintained his mother and of five talents that he was worth he gave two a halfe in mariage to one only daughter he had and the other two a halfe to the daughter of Eudamidas whom he maried both in one day This example is very ample if one thing were not which is the multitude of friends For this perfect amity I speake-of is indivisible each man doth so wholy give himselfe vnto his friend that he hath nothing left him to divide else-where moreover he is grieved that he is double triple or quadruple and hath not many soules or sundry wils that he might conferre them all vpon this subject Common friendships may bee divided a man may love beautie in one facilitie of behaviour in another liberalitie in one and wisedome in another paternity in this fraternity in that man so forth but this amitie which possesseth the soul and swaies it in all soveraigntie it is impossible it should be double If two at one instant should require helpe to which would you runne Should they crave contrary offâ—ces of you what order would you follow Should one commit a matter to your silence which
For it is a common vice not onely in the vulgar sorte but as it were in all men to bend their ayme and frame their thoughts vnto the fashons wherein they were borne I am pleased when he shall see Fabricius or Laelius who because they are neither attired nor fashioned according to our manner that he condemne their countenance to be strange and their cariage barbarous But I bewaile his particular indiscretion in that he suffereth him selfe to be so blinded and deceived by the authoritie of present custome and that if custome pleaseth he is readie to change opinion and varie advise every moneth nay every day and judgeth so diversly of himselfe When he wore short-wasted doublets and but little lower then his breast he would maintaine by militant reasons that the waste was in his right place but when not long after he came to weare them so long-wasted yea almost so low as his privities then began he to condemne the former fashion as fond intollerable and deformed and to commend the latter as comely handsome and commendable A new fashion of apparell creepeth no sooner into vse but presently he blameth and dispraiseth the old and that with so earnest a resolution and vniversall a consent that you would say it is some kind of madnesse or selfe-fond humor that giddieth his vnderstanding And for asmuch as our changing or altering of fashions is so sudden and new-fangled that the inventions and new devises of all the tailors in the world cannot so fast invent novelties it must necessarily follow that neglected and stale reiected fashions doe often come into credite and vse againe And the latest and newest within a while-after come to be outcast and despised and that one selfe same judgement within the space of fifteene or twenty yeares admitteth not onely two or three different but also cleane contrary opinions with so light and incredible inconstancie that any man would wonder at it There is no man so suttle-crafty amongst vs that suffreth not himselfe to be enveigled and over-reached by this contradiction and that is not insensibly dazeled both with his inward and externall eies I will heere huddle-vp some few ancient fashions that I remember Some of them like vnto ours other-some farre differing from them To the end that having ever this continual variation of humane things in our minde we may the better enlighten and confirme our transported judgement That maner of fight which we vse now adaies with rapier and cloke was also vsed among the Romans as saith Caesar Sinistris sagos involvunt gladiosque distringnnt They wrap their left armes in their clokes and draw their swordes We may to this day observe this vice to be amongst vs and which we haue taken from them that is to stay such passengers as we meete by the way and force them to tell vs who they are whence they come whither they goe and to count it as an injurie and cause of quarrell if they refuse to answer our demand In Baths which our forefathers vsed daily before meales as ordinarily as we vse water to wash our hands when first they came into them they washed but their armes and legges but afterward which custome lasted many after-ages and to this day continueth amongst divers nations of the world their whole body over with compounded and perfumed waters in such sort as they held it as a great testimonie of simplicitie to wash themselves in pure and vncompounded water Such as were most delicate and effeminate were wont to perfume their whole bodies over and over three or foure times every day And often as our French women have lately taken vp to picke and snip out the haires of their forehead so they of all their body Quod pectus quod cruratibi quodbrachia vellis That you from breast legges armes the haire Neately pull off to make them faire Although they had choise of ointments fit for that purpose Psilotro nitet aut arida latet abdita creta She shines with ointments that make haire to fall Or with dry chalke she over-covers all They loved to lie soft and on fine downe-beds alleaging lying on hard matresses as a signe of patience They fed lying on their beds neere after the maner of the Turkes nowadaies Inde thoro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto Father Aeneas thus gan say From stately couch where then he lay And it is reported of Cato Iunior that after the battell of Pharsalia and that he began to mourne and bewaile the miserable state of the common-wealth and ill condition of publike affaires he ever eate sitting on the ground folowing an austere and observing a strict kinde of life The Besolas manos was vsed as a signe of honor and humilitie onely toward great persons If friends met after friendly salutations they vsed to kisse one another as the Venetians doe at this day Gratatúsque darem cum dulcibus osculaverbis Give hir I would with greetings graced Kisses with sweete words enterlaced And in saluting or suing to any great man they touched his knees Pasicles the Philosopher brother vnto Crates comming to salute one whereas he should have caried his hand to his knee caried the same vnto his genitories The partie saluted having rudely push't him away What quoth he is not that part yours as well as the other Their manner of seeding was as ours their fruit last They were wont to wipe their tailes this vaine superstition of wordes must bee left vnto women with a sponge and that 's the reason why Spongia in Latine is counted an obscene word which sponge was ever tied to the end of a staffe as witnesseth the storie of him that was carried to be devoured of the wild beasts before the people who desiring leave to goe to a privie before his death and having no other meanes to kil himselfe thrust downe the sponge and staffe hee found in the privie into his throte wherewith he choked himselfe Having ended the delights of nature they were wont to wipe their privities with perfumed wooll At â—â—â—i nil faciam sed lot â mentula land To thee no such thing will I bring But with wash't wooll another thing In every streete of Rome were placed tubs and such vessels for passengers to make water-in Pusi saepe lacum propter se ac dolia curta Somno deiuncti credunt extollere veslem Children asleepe oft thinke they take vp all Neere to some pissing tub some lake some wall They vsed to breake their fast and nonchion betweene meales and all summer time had men that solde snowe vp and downe the streetes wherewith they refreshed their wines of whom some were so daintie that all winter long they vsed to put snow into their wine not deeming it colde enough Principall and noble men had their cup-bearers tasters carvers and buffons to make them merrie In Winter their viandes were brought and set on the boord vpon arches as we vse chafing disnes and
more regarde to one thing then to another and who as much as I can take care for the general to have a regardfull respect of that which you leave behind you But to returne to my former discourse me thinkes we seldome see that woman borne to whom the superioritie or majestie over men is due except the motherly and naturall vnles it be for the chastisement of such as by some fond-febricitant humor have voluntarily submitted themselves vnto them But that doth nothing concerne old women of whom we speake here It is the apparance of this consideration hath made vs to frame and willingly to establish this law never seene else where that barreth women from the succession of this crowne and there are few principalities in the world where it is not aleaged aswel as here by a likely and apparant reason which authoriseth the same But fortune hath given more credit vnto-it in some places then in other some It is dangerous to leave the dispensation of our succession vnto their judgement according to the choyse they shall make of their children which is most commonly vnjust and fantasticall For the same vnrulie appetite and distasted relish or strange longings which they have when they are great with child the same have they aâ— al times in their minds They are commonly seene to affect the weakest the simplest and most abject or such if they have any that had more neede to sucke For wanting reasonable discourse to chuse and embrace what they ought they rather suffer themselves to be directed where natures impressions are most single as other creatures which take no longer knowledge of their yong-ones then they are sucking Moreover experience doth manifestly snew vnto vs that the same naturall affection to which we ascribe so much authoritie hath but a weake foundation For a very small gaine we daily take mothers owne children from them and induce them to take charge of ours Doe we not often procure them to bequeath their children to some fond filthie sluttish and vnhealthie nurce to whom we would be very loth to commit ours or to some brutish Goate not onely forbidding them to nurce and feede their owne children what danger soever may betide them but also to have any care of them to the end they may the more diligently follow and carefully attend the service of ours Whereby wee soone see through custome a certaine kinde of bastard-affection to be engendred in them more vehement then the naturall and to be much more tender and carefull for the well fare and preservation of other mens children then for their owne And the reason why I have made mention of Goates is because it is an ordinarie thing round about me where I dwell to see the countrie women when they have not milke enough to feed their infants with their owne breasts to call for Goates to helpe them And my selfe have now two lacke is wayting vpon me who except it were eight daies never suck't other milke then Goates They are presently to come at call and give yong infants sucke and become so well acquainted with their voice that when they heare them crie they runne forthwith vnto them And if by chance they have any other child put to their teates then their nurseling they refuse and reject him and so doth the childe a strange Goate My selfe saw that one not long since from whom the father tooke a Goate which he had sucked two or three daies because he had but borrowed it of one his neighbours who could never be induced to sucke any other whereby he shortly died and as I verely thinke of meere hunger Beasts as well as we doe soone alter and easily bastardize their naturall affection I beleeve that in that which Hero dotus reporteth of a certaine province of Libia there often followeth great error and mistaking He saith that men doe indifferently vse and as it were in common frequent women And that the childe as soone as he is able to goe comming to any solemne meetings and great assemblies led by a naturall instinct findeth out his owne father where being turned loose in the middest of the multitude looke what man the childe doth first addresse his steps vnto and then goe to him the same is ever afterward reputed to be his right father Now if we shal duely consider this simple occasion of loving our children because we have begotten them for which we call them our other selves It seemes there is another production comming from vs and which is of no lesse recommendation and consequence For what we engender by the minde the fruites of our courage sufficiencie or spirite are brought forth by a far more noble part then the corporall and are more our owne We are both father and mother together in this generation such fruites cost vs much dearer and bring vs more honour and chiefly if they have any good or rare thing in them For the value of our other children is much more theire then ours The share we have in them is but little but of these all the beautie all the grace and all the worth is ours And therefore doe they represent and resemble vs much more lively then others Plate addeth moreover that these are immortall issues and immortalize their fathers yea and deifie them as Licurgus Solen and Minos All histories being full of examples of this mutuall friendship of fathers toward their children I have not thought it amisse to set downe some choise one of this kinde Heliodorus that good Bishop of Tricea loved rather to loose the dignity profit and devotion of so venerable a Prelateship then to for-goe his daughter a yong woman to this day commended for hir beautie but happily somewhat more curiously and wantonly pranked-vp then beseemed the daughter of a churchman and a Bishop and of over-amorous behavior There was one Labienus in Rome a man of great worth and authority and an ongst other commendable qualities most excellent in all maner of learning who as I think was the sonne of that great Labienus cheife of all the captaines that followed and were vnder Caesar in the warres againe the Gaules and who afterward taking great Pompeys part behaved himselfe so valiantly and so constantly that he never forsooke him vntill Caesar defeated him in Spaine This Labienus of whom I spake had many that envied his vertues But aboue all as it is likely courtiers and such as in his time were favored of the Emperors who hated his franknes his fatherly humors and distaste he bare still against tyrannie wherewith it may be supposed he had stuffed his bookes and compositions His adversaries vehemently pursued him before the Magistrate of Rome and prevailed so farre that many of his works which he had published were condemned to be burned He was the first on whom this new example of punishment was put in practise which after continued long in Rome and was executed on divers others to punish learning studies and writings with death
one face and sometimes of another for such as looke neere vnto it Those who reconcile Lawyers ought first to have reconciled them every one vnto himselfe Plato hath in my seeming loved this manner of Philosophying Dialogue wise in good earnest that therby he might more decently place in sundry moutâ—es the diversity and variation of his owne conceites Diversly to treat of matters is as good and better as to treate them conformably that is to say more copiously and more profitably Let vs take example by our selves Definite sentences make the last period of dogmaticall and resolving speech yet see we that those which our Parlaments present vnto our people as the most exemplare and fittest to nourish in them the reverence they owe vnto this dignitie especialy by reason of the sufficiencie of those persons which exercise the same taking their glory not by the conclusion which to them is dayly and is common to al judges as much as the debating of diverse and agitations of contrary reasonings of law causes will admit And the largest scope for reprehensions of some Philosophers against others draweth contradictions and diversities with it wherein every one of them findeth himselfe so entangled either by intent to shew the wavering of mans minde aboue all matters or ignorantly forced by the volubilitie and incomprehensiblenesse of all matters What meaneth this burdon In a slippery and gliding place let vs suspend our beliefe For as Euripides saith Les oeuures de Dieu en diverses Facons nous donnent des traverses Gods workes doe travers our imaginations And crosse our workes in divers different fashions Like vnto that which Empedocles was wont often to scatter amongst his bookes as moved by a divine furie and forced by truth No no we feele nothing we see nothing all things are hid from vs There is not one that we may establish how and what it is But returning to this holy word Cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae adinventiones nostrae providentiae The thoughts of mortal men are feareful our devices and foresights are vncertaine It must not be thought strange if men disparing of the goale have yet taken pleasure in the chase of it studie being in it selfe a pleasing occupation yea so pleasing that amid sensualities the Stoikes forbid also that which comes from the exercise of the minde and require a bridle to it and finde intemperance in over much knowledge Democritus having at his table eaten some figges that tasted of honny began presently in his minde to seeke out whence this vnusuall sweetnes in them might proceede and to be resolved rose from the board to view the place where those figges had beene gathered His maide servant noting this alteration in her master smilingly saide vnto him that hee should no more busie himselfe about it the reason was she had laide them in a vessell where honny had beene whereat he seemed to be wroth in that shee had deprived him of the occasion of his intended search and robbed his curiositie of matter to worke vpon Away quoth he vnto her thou hast much offended mee yet will I not omit to finde out the cause as if it were naturally so Who perhaps would not have missed to finde some likely or true reason for a false and supposed effect This storie of a famous and great Philosopher dooth evidently represent vnto vs this studious passion which so dooth ammuse vs in pursuite of things of whose obtaining wee dispaire Plutarke reporteth a like example of one who would not bee resolved of what hee doubted because hee would not loose the pleasure hee had in seeking it As another that would not have his Phisitian remove the thirst hee felt in his ague because hee would not loose the pleasure he tooke in quenching the same with drinking Sâ—tius est supervacua discere quà m nihil It is better to learne more then wee neede then nothing at all Even as in all feeding pleasure is alwayes alone and single and all wee take that is pleasant is not ever nourishing and wholesome So likewise what our minde drawes from learning leaveth not to be voluptuous although it neither nourish nor be wholesome Note what their saying is The consideration of nature is a foode proper for our mindes it raiseth and puffeth vs vp it makes vs by the comparison of heavenly and high things to disdaine base and low matters the search of hidden and great causes is very pleasant yea vnto him that attaines nought but thereverence and feare to iudge of them These are the very words of their profession The vaine image of this crazed curiositie is more manifestly seene in this other example which they for honour-sake have so often in their mouths Eudoxus wished and praid to the Gods that he might once view the Sunne neere at hand to comprehend his forme his greatnesse and his beautie on condition he might immediately be burnt and consumed by it Thus with the price of his owne life would he attaine a Science whereof both vse and possession shall therewith bee taken from him and for so sudden and fleeting knowledge loose and forgoe all the knowledges he either now hath or ever hereafter may have I can not easily be perswaded that Epicurus Plato or Pithagoras have sold vs their Atomes their Ideas and their Numbers for ready payment They were overwise to establish their articles of faith vpon things so vncertaine and disputable But in this obscuritie and ignorance of the world each of these notable men hath endevoured to bring some kinde of shew or image of light and have busied their mindes about inventions that might at least have a pleasing and wilâ—e apparance provided notwithstanding it were false it might be maintained against contrary oppositions Vnicuiquae ista pro ingento finguntur non ex Scientiae vâ— These things are conceited by every man as his wit serves not as his knowledge stretches and reaches An ancient Philosopher being blamed for professing that Philosophie whereof in his judgement hee made no esteeme answered that that was true Philosophizing They have gone about to consider all to ballance all and have found that it was an occupation fitting the naturall curiositie which is in vs. Some things they have written for the behoofe of common societie as their religions And for this consideration was it reasonable that they would not throughly vnfold common opinions that so they might not breede trouble in the obedience of lawes and customes of their countries Plato treateth this mysterie in a very manifest kinde of sport For where he writeth according to himselfe he prescribeth nothing for certaintie When he institutes a Law giuer he borroweth a very swaying and avouching kinde of stile Wherein he boldly entermingleth his most fantasticall opinions as profitable to perswade the common sorte as ridiculous to perswade himselfe Knowing how apt we are to receive all impressions and chiefly the most wicked and enormous And therefore is he very carefull
tell As I beare it in an Imprese of a paire of ballances Note how some prevaile with this kinde of vnreverent and vnhallowed speach In the disputation that are now-adayes in our religion if you overmuch vrge the adversaries they will roundly tell you that it lieth not in the power of God to make his body at once to be in Paradise and on earth and in many other places together And how that ancient skoffer made profitable vse of it Atleast saith he it is no small comfort vnto man to see that God cannot doe all things for he cannot kill himselfe if he would which is the greatest benefite we have in our condition he cannot make mortall men immortall nor raise the dead to life againe nor make him that hath lived never to have lived and him who hath had honours not to have had them having no other right over what is past but of sorgetfulnesse And that this society betweene God and Man may also be combined with some pleasant examples he cannot make twise ten not to be twenty See what he saith and which a Christian ought to abhor that ever such and so profane words should passe his mouth Whereas on the contrary part it seemeth that fond men endevour to finde out this foolish-boldnesse of speech that so they may turne and winde God almighty according to their measure cras vel atra Nube polum pater occupato Vel sole puro non tamen irritum Quodeúmque retro est efficiet neque Diffinget infectúmque reddet Quod fugiens semel hora vexit To morrow let our father fill the skie With darke clowde or with cleare Sunne he thereby Shall not'make voyde what once is overpast Nor shall he vndoe or in new molde cast What time hath once caught that flyes hence so fast When we say that the infinitie of ages as well past as to come is but one instant with God that his wisedome goodnesse and power are one selfe-same thing with his essence our tongue speakes-it but our vnderstanding can no whit apprehend it Yet will our selfe-overweening sift his divinitie through our searce whence are engendred all the vanities and errours wherewith the world is so full-fraught reducing and weighing with his vncertaine balance a thing so farre from his reach and so distant from his weight Mirum quò procedat improbitas cordis humani parvulo aliquo invitata successu It is a wonder whether the perverse wickednesse of mans heart will proceede if it be but called-on with any little successe How insolently doe the Stoikes charge Epicurus because he holds that to be perfectly good and absolutely happy belongs but onely vnto God and that the wiseman hath but a shadow and similitude thereof How rashly have they joyned God vnto destiny Which at my request let none that beareth the surname of a Christian doe at this day And Thales Plato and Pithagoras have subjected him vnto necessitie This over-boldnesse or rather bold-fiercensse to seeke to discover God by and with our eyes hath beene the cause that a notable man of our times hath attributed a corporall forme vnto divinitie and is the cause of that which dayly hapneth vnto vs which is by a particular assignation to impute all important events to God which because they touch vs it seemeth they also touch him and that he regardeth them with more care and attention then those that are but slight and ordinary vnto vs. Magna dij curant parva negligunt The Gods take some care for great things but none for litle Note his example he wil enlighten you with his reason Nec inregnis quidem reges omnia minima curant Nor doe Kings in their Kingdomes much care for the least matters As if it were all one to that King either to remove an Empire or a leafe of a tree and if his providence were otherwise exercised inclining or regarding no more the successe of a battel then the skip of a flea The hand of his government affords it selfe to all things after a like tenure fashion and order our interest addeth nothing vnto it our motions and our measures concerne him nothing and move him no whit Deus it a artifex magnus in magnis vt minor non sit in parvis God is so great a workeman in great things as he is no lesse in small things Our arrogancie setteth ever before vs this blasphemous equality because our occupations charge-vs State hath presented the Gods with all immunitie of offices as are their Priests He maketh nature to produce and preserve all things and by hir weights and motions to compact all parts of the world discharging humane nature from the feare of divine judgements Quod beatum aeternumque sit id nec habere negotij quicquam ne◠exhibere alteri That which is blessed and eternall nor is troubled it selfe nor troubleth others Nature willeth that in all things alike there be also like relation Then the infinite number of mortall men concludeth a like number of immortall The infinite things that kill and destroy presuppose as many that preserve and profit As the soules of the Gods sanse tongues sanse eyes and sanse eares have each one in themselves a feeling of that which the other feele and judge of our thoughts so mens soules when they are free and severed from the body either by sleepe or any distraction divine prognosticate and see things which being conjoyned to their bodies they could not see Men saith Saint Paul when they professed themselves to bee wise they became fooles for they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man Marke I pray you a little the jugling of ancient Deifications After the great solemne and prowd pompe of funeralls when the fire began to burne the top of the Pyramis and to take hold of the bed or hearce wherein the dead corps lay even at that instant they let flie an Eagle which taking her flight aloft vpward signified that the soule went directly to Paradise We have yet a thousand medailes and monuments namely of that honest woman Faustina wherein that Eagle is represented carrying a cocke-horse vp towards heaven those Deified soules It is pity we should so deceive our selves with our owne foolish devises and apish inventions Quod finxere timent Of that they stand in feare Which they in fancy beare as children will be afeard of their fellowes visage which them selues have besmeared and blackt Quasi quicquam infoelicius sit homine cui sua figment a dominantur As though any thing were more wretched then man over whom his owne imaginations beare sway and domineere To honour him whom we have made is farre from honouring him that hath made vs. Augustus had as many Temples as Iupiter and served with as much religion and opinion of myracles The Thrasians in requitall of the benefits they had received of Agesilaus came to tell him how they had canonized
best Bees wax melteth by the Sun And handled into many formes doth â—â—n And is made aptly fit For vse by vsing it As much will the second doe for the thrid which is a cause that difficultie doth not make me despaire much lesse my vnabilitie for it is but mine owne Man is as well capable of all things as of some And if as Theophrastus saith he avow the ignorance of the first causes and beginnings let him hardly quit all the rest of his knowledge If his foundation faile him his discourse is overthrowne The dispute hath no other scope and to enquire no other end but the principles If this end stay not his course he casteth himselfe into an infinite irresolution Non potest aliud alio magis minúsque comprehendi quoniam omnium rerum vna est definitio comprehendendi One thing can neither more nor lesse be comprehended then another since of all things there is one definition of comprehending Now is it likely that if the soule knew any thing she first knew her selfe and if she knew any without and besides her selfe it must be her vaile and body before any thing else If even at this day the Gods of Physicke are seene to wrangle about our Anatomie Mulciber in Troiam pro Troia stabat Apollo Apollo stoode for Troy Vulcan Troy to destroy When shall we expect that they will be agreed We are neerer vnto our selves then is whitenesse vnto snow or weight vnto a stone If man know not himselfe how can he know his functions and forces It is not by fortune that some true notice doth not lodge with vs but by hazard And forasmuch as by the same way fashion and conduct errours are received into our soule she hath not wherewithall to distinguish them nor whereby to chuse the truth from falshood The Academikes received some inclination of judgement and found it over raw to say it was no more likely snow should be white then blacke and that we should be no more assured of the moving of a stone which goeth from our hand then of that of the eight Spheare And to avoide this difficulty and strangenesse which in trueth can not but hardly lodge in our imagination how beit they establish that we were no way capable of knowledge and that truth is engulfed in the deepest Abysses where mans sight can no way enter yet avowed they somethings to be more likely and possible then others and received this faculty in their judgement that they might rather encline to one apparance then to an other They allowed hir this propension interdicting hir all resolution The Pyrrhonians advise is more hardy and therewithall more likely For this Academicall inclination and this propension rather to one then another proposition what else is it then a reacknowledging of some apparant truth in this than in that If our vnderstanding be capable of the forme of the lineaments of the behaviour and face of truth it might as well see it all compleate as but halfe growing and imperfect For this apparance of verisimilitude which makes them rather take the left then the right hand doe you augment it this one ounce of likelyhood which turnes the ballance doe you multiply it by a hundred nay by a thousand ounces it will in the end come to passe that the ballance will absolutely resolve and conclude one choise and perfect truth But how do they suffer themselves to be made tractable by likelyhood if they know not truth How know they the semblance of that wherof they vnderstand not the essence Either we are able to judge absolutely or absolutly we cannot If our intellectual and sensible faculties are without ground or footing if they but hull vp and downe and drive with the wind for nothing suffer we our judgement to be caried away to any part of their operation what apparance soever it seemeth to present vs with And the surest and most happy situation of our vnderstanding should be that where without any tottering or agitation it might maintaine it selfe setled vpright and inflexible Inter visa vera aut falsa ad animi assensum â—hilâ—nterest There is no difference betwixt true and false visions concerning the minds assent That things lodge not in vs in their proper forme and essence and make not their entrance into vs of their owne power and authority we see it most evidently For if it were so we should receive them all alike wine would be such in a sicke mans mouth as in a healthy mans He whose fingers are chopt through cold and stiffe or benummed with frost should finde the same hardnesse in the wood or iron he might handle which another doth Then strange subjects yeeld vnto our mercy and lodge with vs according to our pleasure Now if on our part we receive any thing without alteration if mans hold-fasts were capable and suficiently powerfull by our proper meanes to seize on truth those meanes being common to all this truth would successively remove it selfe from one to an other And of so many things as are in the world at least one should be found that by an vniversall consent should be believed of all But that no proposition is feene which is not controversied and debated amongst vs or that may not be declareth plainly that our judgment doth not absolutely and cleerely seize on that which it seizeth for my judgement cannot make my fellowes judgement to receive the same which is a signe that I have seized vpon it by some other meane then by a naturall power in me or other men Leave we aparte this infinite confusion of opinions which is seene amongst Phylosophers themselves and this vniversall and perpetuall disputation in and concerning the knowledge of things For it is most truly presupposed that men I meane the wisest the best borne yea and the most sufficient do never agree no not so much that heaven is over our heads For they who doubt of all doe also doubt of this and such as affirme that we cannot conceive any thing say we have not conceived whether heaven be over our heads which two opinions are in number without any comparison the most forcible Besides this diversity and infinite division by reason of the trouble which our owne judgement layeth vpon our selves and the vncertainty which every man findes in himselfe it may manifestly be perceived that this situation is very vncertaine and vnstaid How diversly judge we of things How often change we our fantasies What I hold and believe this day I believe and hold with all my beleefe all my implements springs and motions embrace and claspe this opinion and to the vtmost of their power warrant the same I could not possibly embrace any verity nor with more assurance keepe it then I doe this I am wholy and absolutely given to it but hath it not been my fortune not once but a hundred nay a thousand times nay dayly to have embraced some other thing with the very same instruments
and condition which vpon better advise I have afterward judged false A man should at least become wise at his owne cost and learne by others harmes If vnder this colour I have often found my selfe deceived if my Touch-stone be commonly found false and my ballance vn-even and vnjust What assurance may I more take of it at this time then at others Is it not folly in me to suffer my selfe so often to be beguiled and couzened by one guide Neverthelesse let fortune remoove vs five hundered times from our place let hir doe nothing but vncessantly empty and fill as in a vessell other and other opinions in our minde the present and last is alwaies supposed certaine and infallible For this must a man leave goods honour life state health and all posterior res illa reperta Perdit immutat sensus ad pristina quaeque The later thing destroies all found before And altars sense at all things lik't of yore Whatsoever is tould vs and what ever we learne we should ever remember it is man who delivereth and man that receiveth It is a mortall hand that presents it and a mortall hand that receives it Onely things which come to vs from heaven have right and authority of perswasion and markes of truth Which we neither see with our eyes nor receive by our meanes this scred and great image would be of no force in so wretched a Mansion except God prepare it to that vse and purpose vnlesse God by his particular grace and supernaturall favor reforme and strengthen the same Our fraile-defective condition ought at least make vs demaene our selves more moderately and more circumspectly in our changes We should remember that whatsoever we receive in our vnderstanding we often receive false things and that it is by the same instruments which many times contradict and deceive themselves And no marvell if they contradict themselves being so easie to encline and vpon very slight occasions subject to waver and turne Certaine it is that our apprehension our judgement and our soules faculties in generall doe suffer according to the bodies motions and alterations which are continuall Have we not our spirits more vigilant our memorie more ready and our discourses more lively in time of health then in sickenesse Doth not joy and blithnesse make vs receive the subjects that present themselves vnto our soule with another kind of countenance then lowring vexation and drooping melancholy doth Doe you imagine that Catullus or Saphoes verses delight and please an old covetous Chuff-penny wretch as they doe a lusty and vigorous yong-man Cleomenes the sonne of Anaxandridas being sicke his friends reproved him saying he had new strange humors and vnvsuall fantasies It is not vnlikely answered he for I am not the man I was wont to be in time of health But being other so are my fantasies and my humors In the rabble case-canvasing of our plea-cours this by-word Gaudeat de bonafortuna Let him ioy in his good fortune Is much in vse and is spoken of criminall offendors who happen to meete with judges in some milde temper or well-pleased moode For it is most certaine that in times of condemnation the judges doome or sentence is some times perceived to be more sharpe mercilesse and forward and at other times more tractable facile and enclined to shadow or excuse an offence according as he is well or ill pleased in minde A man that commeth out of his house troubled with the paine of the goute vexed with jelousie or angry that his servant hath robbed him and whose mind is overcome with griefe and plunged with vexation and distracted with anger there is not question to be made but his judgement is at that instant much distempred and much transported that way That venerable Senate of the Areopagites was wont to iudge and sentence by night for feare the sight of the suters â—ight corrupt iustice The ayre it'selfe and the clearenes of the firmament doth forebode vs some change and alteration of weather as saith that Greeke verse in Cicero Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Iupiter auctifer a lustravit lampade terras Such are mens mindes as with increasefull light Our father Iove survayes the world in sight It is not onely fevers drinkes and great accidents that over-whelme our judgment The least things in the world wil turne it topsiturvie And although we feele it not it is not to bee doubted if a continual ague may in the end suppresse our minde a tertiani will also according to hir measure and proportion breed some alteration in it If an Apoplexie doth altogether stupifie and extinguish the sight of our vnderstanding it is not to be doubted but a cold and rhume will likewise dazle the same And by consequence hardly shall a man in all his life finde one houre wherein our judgement may alwaies be found in his right byase our body being subiect to so many continuall alterations and stuft with so divers sortes of ginnes and motions that giving credit to Phisitions it is very hard to finde one in perfect plight and that doth not alwaies mistake his marke and shute wide As for the rest this disease is not so easily discovered except it be altogether extreame and remedilesse forasmuch as reason marcheth ever crooked halting and broken-hipt and with falsehood as with truth And therefore it is very hard to discover hir mistaking and disorder I alwaies call reason that apparance or shew of discourses which every man deviseth or forgeth in himselfe That reason of whose condition there may be a hundred one contrary to another about one selfe same subject It is an instrument of Lead and Wax stretching pliable and that may be fitted to all byases and squared to all measures There remaines nothing but the skil and sufficiency to know how to turne and winde the same How well soever a judge meaneth and what good minde so ever he beareth if diligent eare be not given vnto him to which few ammuse themselves his inclination vnto friendship vnto kindred vnto beauty and vnto revenge and not onely matters of so weighty consequence but this innated and casuall instinct which makes vs to favour one thing more then another and encline to one man more then to another and which without any leave of reason giveth vs the choise in two like subjects or some shadow of like vanity may insensibly insinuate in his judgement the commendation and applause or disfavour and disallowance of a cause and give the ballance a twitch I that nearest prie into my selfe and who have mine eyes vncessantly fixt vpon me as one that hath much else to doe else where quis sub arctâ— Rex gelidae metuatur orae Quid Tyridatem terreat vnicè Securus Onely secure who in cold coast Vnder the North-pole rules the rost And there is feard or what would fright And Tyridates put to flight dare very hardly report the vanity and weaknesse I feele in my selfe
at my selfe to see in so great a distance of times and places the simpathy or jumping of so great a number of popular and wilde opinions and of extravagant customes and beliefes and which by no meanes seeme to hold with our naturall discourse Mans spirit is a wonderful worker of miracles But this relation hath yet a kind of I wot not what more Heteroclite which is found both in names and in a thousand other things For there were found Nations which as far as we know had never heard of vs where circumcision was held in request where great states and common wealths were maintained onely by Women and no men Where our fasts and Lent was represented adding thervnto the abstinence from women where our crosies were severall waies in great esteeme In some places they adorned and honored their sepulchres with them and elswhere especially that of Saint Andrew they employed to shield themselves from nightly visions and to lay them vpon childrens couches as good against enchantments and witch-crafts In another place they found one made of Wood of an exceeding height worshipped for the God of rayne which was thrust very deepe into the ground There was found a very expresse and lively image of our Penitentiaries the vse of Myters-the Priestes single life the Arte of Divination by the entrailes of sacrificed beastes the abstinence from all sorts of flesh fish for their food the order amongst Priests in saying of their divine service to vse a not vulgar but a particular tongue and this erronious and fond conceipt that the first God was expelled his throne by a yoonger brother of his That they were at â—â—â—â— created with all commodities which afterward by reason of their sinnes were abridged them That their territory hath beene changed that their naturall condition hath beene much impaired That they have heeretofore beene drowned by the inundation of Waters come from heaven that none were saved but a few families which cast themselves into the crackes or hollow of high Mountaines which crackes they stopped very close so that the Waters could not enter in having before shutte therein many kinds of beasts That when they perceived the Raine to cease and Waters to sal they first sent out certaine dogs which returning clean-wasâ—t and wet they judged that the waters were not yet much falne and that afterward sending out some other which seeing to returne all muddy and foule they issued forth of the mountaines to repeople the world againe which they found replenished onely with Serpents There were places found where they vsed the perswasion of the day of judgement so that they grew wondrous wroth and offended with the Spaniards who in digging and searching of riches in their graves scattered here and there the bones of their deceased friends saying that those dispersed bones could very hardly be reconjoyned together againe They also found where they vsed traffike by exchange and no otherwise and had Faires and Markets for that purpose They found dwarfes and such other deformed creatures vsed for the ornament of Princes tables They found the vse of hawking and fowling according to the Nature of their birdes tyrannicall subsides and grievances vppon subjects delicate in pleasant gardens dancing tumbling leaping and jugling musike of instruments armories dicing-houses tennisse-courtes and casting lottes or mumne-chaunce wherein they are often so earnest and moody that they will play themselves and their liberty vsing no other physicke but by charmes the manner of writing by figures believing in one first man vniversall father of all people The adoration of one God who heretofore lived man in perfect Virginitie fasting and penance preaching the law of Nature and the cerimonies of religion and who vanished out of the world without any naturall death The opinion of Gyants the vse of drunkennesse with their manner of drinks and drinking and pledging of healths religious ornaments painted over with bones and dead-mens sculs surplices holy-Water and holy-Water sprinckles Women and Servaunts which strivingly present themselves to be burned or enterred with their deceased husbands or masters a law that the eldest or first borne child shall succeed and inherit all where nothing is reserved for Punies but obedience a custome to the promotion of certaine officers of great authority and where he that is promoted takes vpon him a new name and quiteth his owne Where they vse to cast lime vpon the knees of new borne children saying vnto him from dust thou camest and to dust thou shalt returne again the Arts of Augures or prediction These vaine shadowes of our religion which are seene in some of these examples witnesse the dignity and divinity thereof It hath not onely in some sort insinuated it selfe among all the infidell Nations on this side by some imitations but amongst those barbarous Nations beyond as it were by a common and supernaturall inspiration For amongst them was also found the beliefe of Purgatory but after a new forme For what we ascribe vnto fire they impute vnto cold and imagine that soules are both purged and punished by the vigor of an extreame coldnesse This example putteth me in minde of another pleasant diversity For as there were some people found who tooke pleasure to vnhood the end of their yard and to cut off the fore-skinne after the manner of the Mahometans and Iewes some there were found that made so great a conscience to vnhood it that with little strings they carried their fore-skin very carefully out-stretched and fastened above for feare that end should see the aire And of this other diversity also that as we honour our Kings and celebrate our Holy-daies with decking and trimming our selves with the best habilliements we have in some regions there to shew all disparity and submission to their King their subjects present themselves vnto him in their basest and meanest apparrell and entring into his pallace they take some old torne garment and put it over their other attire to the end all the glory and ornament may shine in their Soveraigne and Maister But let vs goe on If Nature enclose within the limites of hir ordinary progresse as all other things so the beliefes the judgements and the opinions of men if they have their revolutions their seasons their birth and their death even as Cabiches If heaven doth moove agitate and rowle them at his pleasure what powerfull and permanent authority doe we ascribe vnto them If by vncontroled experience we palpably touch that the forme of our being depends of the aire of the climate and of the soile wherein we are borne and not onely the hew the stature the complexion and the countenance but also the soules faculties Et plaga coeli non solúm ad rebur corporum sed eiam animorum facit The climate helpeth not onely for strength of body but of mindes saith Vegetius And that the Goddesse foundresse of the Citie of Athens chose a temperature of a countrie to situate it in that mightmake the men wise as
humaine imbecilitie the examples which the historie of God it selfe hath left vs of this vse to remit the determination of elections in doubtfull matters vnto fortune and hazard Sors cecidit super Matthiam The lot fell vpon Mathias Humane reason is a two-edged dangerous sworde Even in Socrates his hand her most inward and familiar friend marke what a many-ended staffe it is So am I onely fit to follow and am easily caried away by the throng I do not greatly trust mine owne strength to vndertake to command or to leade I rejoyce to see my steps traced by others If I must runne the hazard of an vncertaine choise I would rather have it be vnder such a one who is more assured of his opinions and more wedded to them than I am of mine the foundation and platforme of which I finde to be very slippery yet am I not very easie to change forsomuch as I perceive a like weakenesse in contrarie opinions Ipsa consuetudo assentiendi periculosa esse videtur lubrica The very custome of assenting seemeth hazerdous and slipperie Namely in politike affaires wherein is a large field open to all motions and to contestation Iusta pari premitur velut cum pondere libra Prona nec hâc plus parte sedet nec surgit ab illa As when an even skale with equall weight is peized Nor falles it downe this way or is it that way raised As for example Machiavels discourses were very solid for the subject yet hath it beene very easie to impugne them and those that have done it have left no lesse facilitie to impugne theirs A man might ever finde answeres enough to such an argument both rejoynders double treble quadruple with this infinit contexture of debates that our pettie-foggers have wyre-drawne and wrested as much as ever they could in favour of their pleas and processes Caedimur totidem plagis consumimus hostem We by our foes are beaten if not slaine We with as many strokes waste them againe Reasons having no other good ground than experience and the diversitie of humane events presenting vs with infinite examples for all manner of formes A wise man of our times saith that where our Almanakes say warme should a man say cold and in liew of drie moyst And ever set downe the contrarie of what they foretell were he to lay a wager of one or others successe he would not care what side he tooke except in such things as admit no vncertaintie as to promise extreame heate at Christmas and exceeding cold at Midsomer The like I thinke of these politike discourses What part soever you are put vnto you have as good a game as your fellow Provided you affront not the apparant and plaine principles And therefore according to my humor in publike affaires there is no course so bad so age and constancie be joyned vnto it that is not better then change and alteration Our manners are exceedingly corrupted and with a merveilous inclination bend toward worse and worse Of our lawes and customes many are barbarous and divers monstrous notwithstanding by reason of the difficultie to reduce vs to better estate and of the danger of this subversion if I could fixe a pegge into our wheele and stay it where it now is I would willingly doe it nunquam adeo foedis adeóque pudendis Vtimur exemplis vi non peiora super sint Examples of so filthy shamefull kinde We never vse but worse remaines behind Instabilitie is the worst I find in our state and that our lawes no more than our garments can take no setled forme It is an easie matter to accuse a state of imperfection since all mortall things are full of it As easie is it to beget in a people a contempt of his ancient observances No man ever vndertooke it but came to an end But to establish a better state in place of that which is condemned and raced out divers who have attempted it have shronke vnder the burthen Touching my conduct my wisedome hath small share therein I am very easily to be directed by the worlds publike order Oh happie people that doth what is commanded better then they which command without vexing themselves about causes which suffer themselves gently to be rowled on according to the heavens rowling Obedience is never pure and quiet in him who talketh pleadeth and contendeth In some to returne to my selfe the onely matter for which I make some accompt of my selfe is that wherein never man did thinke himselfe defective My commendation is vulgar common and popular For who ever thought he wanted wit It were a proposition which in itselfe would imply contradiction It is an infirmity that is never where it is seene it is very strong and fast-holding but yet pierced and dissipated by the first beame of the pacients sight as doth the Sunnes raies scatter and dispearce a gloomie mist For a man to accuse himselfe were to excuse himselfe of that subject and to condemne himselfe an absolving of himselfe There was never so base a porter nor so silly a woman but thought he had sufficient wit for his provision We easely know in others the advantage of courage of bodily strength of experience of disposition and of beautie but we never yeelde the advantage of judgement to any body And the reasons which part from the simple naturall discourse in others we thinke that had we but looked that way wee had surely found them The skill the knowledge the stile and such like partes which we see in strange workes we easily perceive whether they exceede ours but the meere productions of wit and vnderstanding every man deemeth it lyeth in him to meete with the very like and doth hardly perceive the weight and difficultie of it except and that verie scarsely in an extreame and incomparable distance And he that should clearely see the height of a strangers judgement would come and bring his vnto it Thus is it a kind of exercising whereof a man may hope but for meane commendation and small praise and a maner of composition of little or no harme at all And then for whom doe you write The wiser sort vnto whom belongeth bookish jurisdiction know no other price but of doctrine and avow no other proceeding in our wits but that of erudition and arte If you have mistaken one Scipio for an other what of any worth have you left to speake-of He that is ignorant of Aristotle according to them he is there withall ignorant of himselfe Popular and shallow-headed minds cannot perceive the grace or comelinesse nor judge of a smooth and quaint discourse Now these two kindes possesse the world The third vnto whose share you fall of regular wits and that are strong of themselves is so rare that justly it hath neither name or ranke amongst vs he looseth halfe his time that doth aspire or endevour to please it It is commonly said that the justest portion nature hath given vs of
exquisitely vnspotted nor so entire or constant as that of Seneca Now this Booke whereof I speake to come to his intention maketh a most injurious description of Seneca having borrowed his reproaches from Dion the Historian to whose testimony I give no credite at all For besides he is inconstant as one who after hee hath called Seneca exceeding wise and shortly after termed him a mortall enemy to Neroes vices in other places makes him covetous given to vsurie ambitious base-minded voluptuous and vnder false pretences and fained shewes a counterfet Philosopher his vertue appeareth so lively and wisedome so vigorous in his writings and the defence of these imputations is so manifest as well of his riches as of his excessive expences that I beleeve no witnesse to the contrarie Moreover there is great reason wee should rather give credite to Romane Historians in such things then to Graecians and strangers whereas Tacitus and others speake very honourably of his life and death and in all other circumstance declare him to have beene a most excellent and rarely-vertuous man I will alleadge noe other reproch against Dions judgement then this which is vnavoydable that is his vnderstanding of the Roman affaires is so weake and ill advised as he dareth defend and maintaine Iulius Caesars cause against Pompey and blâ—sheth not to justifie Antonius against Cicero But let vs come to Plutarke Iohn Bodine is a good moderne Author and endowed with much more judgement then the common-rabble of Scriblers and blur-papers which now adayes stuffe Stationers shops and who deserveth to bee judged considered and had in more then ordinary esteeme Neverthelesse I finde him somewhat malapert and bolde in that passage of his Methode of Historie when he accuseth Plutarke not onely of ignorance wherein I woulde have let him say his pleasure for that is not within my element but also that he often writeth things altogether incredible and meerely fabulous these are his very words If he had simply said things otherwise than they are it had beene no great reprehension for what we have not seene we receive from others and vpon trust And I see him sometime wittingly and in good earnest report one and same story diversly As the judgemenns of three best captaines that ever were spoken by Hanibal is otherwise in Flaminius his life otherwise in Pyrrhus But to taxe him to have taken incredible and impossible things for ready payment is to accuse the more judicious author of the World of want of judgement And see heere his example As saith he when he reports that a Childe of Lacedemon suffered all his belly and guttes to be torne out by a Cubbe or yoong Foxe which he had stolne and kept close vnder his garment rather than he would discouer his theft First I finde this example ill chosen Forasmuch as it is verie heard to limit the powers of the soules-faculties whereas of corporall forces we have more law to limite and know them And therfore had I beene to write of such a subject I would rather have made choyce of an example of this second kinde And some there be lesse credible As amongest others that which he reportes of Pyrrhus who being fore wounded gave so great a blow with a sword vnto one of his enemies armed at all assayes and with all pieces as he cleft him from the Crowne of the head downe to the groine so that the body fell in two pieces In which example I finde no great wonder nor doe I admit of his excuse wherewith he cloaketh Plutarke to have added this Word as it is said to forewarne vs and restraine our beliefe For if it be not in things received by authoritie and reverence of antiquity or religion neither would himselfe have received nor proposed to vs to believe things in themselves incredible And that as it is saide hee doeth not heere sette downe this phrase to that purpose may easily bee perceived by what himselfe in other places telleth vs vpon the subject of the Lacedemonian Childrens patience of examples happened in his time much harder to be perswaded As that which Cicero hath also witnessed before him because as he saith he had beene there himselfe That even in their times there were Children found prepared to endure all maner of patience whereof they made triall before Dianaes Aulter and which suffered themselves to bee whipped till the blood trilled downe all partes of their body not onely without crying but also without sobbing and some who voluntarily suffered themselvs to bee â—courged to death And what Plutarke also reporteth and a hundreth other witnesses averre that assisting at a sacrifice a burning coale happened to fall into the sleeve of a Lacedemonian childe as he was busie at incensing suffered his arme to burne so long vntill the smell of his burnt flesh came to all the by-standers There was nothing according to their custome so much called their reputation in question and for which they endured more blame and shame than to be surprised stealing I am so well instructed of those mens greatnesse of courage that this report doth not onely not seeme incredible to mee as to Bodine but I doe not so much as deeme it rare or suppose it strange The Spartane story is full of thousands of much more rare and cruell examples then according to this rate it containeth nothing but myracle Concerning this point of stealing Marcellinus reporteth that whilest hee lived there could never be found any kinde of torment that might in any sort compell the Aegyptians surprized filching which was much vsed amongest them to confesse and tell but their names A Spanish Peasant being laide vpon the racke about the complices of the murther of the Pretor Lucius Piso in the midst of his torments cried out his friends should not stir but with all securitie assist him that it was not in the power of any griefe or paine to wrest one word of confession from him and the first day nothing else could possibly be drawne from him The next morrow as he was led toward the racke to be tormented a new he by strong violence freed himselfe from out his keepers hands and so furiously ranne with his head against a Wall that he burst his braines out and presently fell downe dead Epicharis having glutted wearied the moody cruelty of Neroes Satellites or officers and stoutly endured their fire their beatings their engins a whole day long without any one voyce or word of revealing hir conspiracy the next day after being againe brought to the torture with hir limbs bruzed broken convayed the lace or string of hir Gowne over one of the pillers of the Chaire wherein she sate with a sliding knot in it into which sodainely thrusting hir head she strangled herselfe with the weight of hir body Having the courage to dye so and steale from the first torments seemeth shee not purposely to have lent hir life to the triall of hir patience of the
obscuritie procured him Smyrna Rhodos Colophon Salamis Chios Argos Athenae Rhodes Salamis Colophon Chios Argos Smyrna with Athens The other is Alexander the great For who shall consider his age wherein hee beganne his enterprises the small meanes he had to ground so glorious a desseigne vpon the authoritie he attained unto in his infancie amongst the greatest Commaunders and most experienced Captaines in the world by whom he was followed the extraordinarie favour wherwith fortune embraced him and seconded so many of his haughtie-dangerous exploites which I may in a manner call rash or fond-hardie Impellens quicquid sibi summapetenti Obstaret gaudensque viam fecisse ruina While he shot at the high'st all that might stay He for'st and joy de with ruine to make way That eminent greatnesse to have at the age of thirtie yeares passed victorious through all the habitable earth and but with halfe the life of a man to have attained the vtmost endevour of humane nature so that you cannot imagine his continuance lawfull and the lasting of his increase in fortune and progresse in vertue even vnto a just terme of age but you must suppose something above man to have caused so many Royal branches to â—ssue from out the loines of his Souldiers leaving the world after his death to be shared betweene foure succesâ—ours onely Captaines of his Armie whose succeeders have so long time since continued and descendents maintained that large possession So infinite rare and excellent vertues that were in him as justice temperance liberalitie integritie in words love toward his and humanitie toward the conquered For in truth his maners seeme to admit no just cause of reproach indeed some of his particular rare and extraordinary actions may in some fort be taxed For it is impossible to conduct so great and direct so violent motions with the strict rules of justice Such men ought to be judged in grose by the mistris end of their actions The ruine of Thebes the murther of Menander and of Ephestions Phisitian the maslacre of so many Persian prisoners at once of a troupe of Indian Souldiers not without some prejudice vnto his word and promise and of the Cosseyans and their little children are escapes somewhat hard to be excused For concerning Clitus the fault was expiated beyond it's merite and that action as much as any other witnesseth the integritie and cheerefulnes of his complexion and that it was a complexion in it selfe excellently formed to goodnesse And it was wittily saide of one that he had vertues by nature and vices by accident Concerning the point that he was somewhat to lavish a boaster and over-impatient to heare himselfe ill-spoken-of and touching those mangers armes and bits which He caused to be scattered in India respecting his age and the prosperitie of his fortune they are in my conceit pardonable in him He that shall also consider his many military vertues as diligence foresight patience discipline policie magnanimitie resolution and good fortune wherein though Haâ—â—balls authority had not taught it vs he hath been the first and chief of men the rare beauties matchlesse features and incomparable conditions of his person beyond all comparison and wonder-breeding his carriage demeanor and venerable behaviour in a face so yoong so vermâ—ill and heart-enflaming Qualis vbi Occani perfusus Lucifer vnda Quenâ— Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignes Extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrá squere solvit As when the day starre washt in Ocean-streames Which Venus most of all the starres esteemes Shewes sacred ligh tshakes darkenesse-off with beames The excellencie of his wit knowledge and capacitie the continuance and greatnesse of his glorie vnspotted vntainted pure and free from all blame or envie insomuch as long aftet his death it was religiously beleived of many that the medalls or brooches representing his person brought good lucke vnto such as wore or had them about them And that more Kings and Princes have written his gestes and actions then any other historians of what qualitie soever have registred the gests or collected the actions of any other King or Prince that ever was And that even at this day the Mahometists who contemne all other histories by speciall priviledge allow receive and onely honour his All which premises duely considered together hee shall confesse I have had good reason to preferre him before Caesar himselfe who alone might have made me doubt of my choise And it must needes bee granted that in his exploites there was more of his owne but more of fortunes in Alexanders atchievements They have both had many things mutually alike and Caesar happily some greater They were two quicke and devouring fires or two swift and surrounding streames able to ravage the world by sundrie wayes Et velut immissi diversis partibus ignes Arentem in silvam virgulta sonantia lauro Aut vbi decursu rapido de montibus altis Dant sonitum spumosi amnes in aequora currunt Quisque suum populatus iter As when on divers sides fire is applied To crackling bay-shrubs or to woods Sunne dried Or as when foaming streames from mountaines hie With downe-fall swift resound and to sea flie Each-one doth havocâ—e-out his way thereby But grant Caesars ambition were more moderate it is so vnhappy in that it met with this vile subject of the subversion of his countrie and vniversall empairing of the world that all parts imparcially collected and put together in the balance I must necessarily bend to Alexanders side The third and in my judgement most excellent man is Epaminondas Of glorie he hath not so much as some and is farre short of diverse which well considered is no substantiall part of the thing of resolution and true valour not of that which is set-on by ambition but of that which wisedome and reason may settle in a well disposed minde hee had as much as may be imagined or wished for Hee hath in mine opinion made as great triall of his vertues as ever did Alexander or Caesar for although his exploites of warre bee not so frequent and so high-raised yet being throughly considered they are as weightie as resolute as constant yea and as authenticall a testimonie of hardines and militarie sufficiencie as any mans else The Graecians without any contradiction affoorded him the honour to entitle him the chiefe and first man among themselves and to be the first and chiefe man of Greece is without all question to bee chiefe and first man of the world Touching his knowledge and worth this ancient judgement doth yet remaine amongst vs that never was man who know so much nor never man that spake lesse then he For he was by Sect a Pythagorian and what he spake no man ever spake better An excellent and most perswasive Orator was hee And concerning his manners and conscience therein hee farre outwent all that ever medled with managing affaires For in this one part which ought especially to bee noted
proper to a crazed troubled state as is ours at this present you would often say hee pourtrayeth and toucheth vs to the quicke Such as doubt of his faith doe many festly accuse themselues to hate him for somewhat else His opinions be sound and enclâ—â—ing to the better side of the Romane affaires I am neuerthelesse something greeued that he hath more bitterly iudged of Pompey then honest mens opinions who lived and conuersed with him doe well allow-off to have esteemed him altogether equall to Marius and Silla saving that he was more close and secret His intention and canuasing for the gouernment of affaires hath not beene exempted from ambition nor cleared from revenge and his owne friends haue feared that had he gotten the victory it would have transported him beyond the limites of reason but not vnto an vnbridled and raging measure There is nothing in his life that hath threatned vs with so many fest a cruelty and expresse tyranny Yet must not the suspition be counterpoised to the euidence So doe not I beleeue him That his narrations are naturall and right might happily be argued by this That they doe not alwayes exactly apply themselues to the conclusions of his iudgments which hee pursueth according to the course hee hath taken often beyond the matter hee sheweth vs which hee hath dained to stoope vnto with one only glance He needeth no excuse to have approoved the religion of his times according to the lawes which commaunded him and beene ignorant of the true and perfect worship of God That 's his ill fortune not his defect I have principally considered his iudgement whereof I am not every where throughly resolued As namely these wordes contayned in the letter which Tiberius being sicke and aged sent to the Senate What shall I write to you my masters or how shall I write to you or what shall I not write to you in these times May the Gods and Goddesses loose mee worse then I dayly feele my selfe to perish if I can tell I cannot perceiue why hee should so certainely apply them vnto a stinging remorse tormentiug the conscience of Tiberius At least when my selfe was in the same plight I saw it not That hath likewise seemed somwhat demisse and base vnto me that having said how hee had exercised a certayne honourable magistracy in Rome he goeth about to excuse himselfe that it is not for ostentation he spake it This on tricke namely in a minde of his quality seemeth but base and cource vnto me For not to dare speake roundly of himselfe accuseth some want of courage A constant resolute and high judgement and which iudgeth soundly and surely euery hand while vseth his owne examples as well as of any strange thing and witnesseth as freely of himselfe as of a third person A man must ouergoe these populare reasons of ciuility in fauour of trueth and liberty I dare not onely speake of my selfe but speake alone of my selfe I stragle when I write of any other matter and digresse from my subiect I doe not so discreetly love my selfe and am so tide and commixt to my selfe as that I can not distinguish and consider my selfe a part as a neighbour as a tree it is an equall error eyther not to see how farre a mans worth stretcheth or to say more of it then one seeth good cause We owe more love to God then to our selues and know him lesse and yet we talke our fill of him If his writings relate any thing of his conditions he was a notable man vpright and couragious not with a superstitious vertue but Philosophicall and generous He may be found over-hardy in his testimonies As where hee holdeth that a souldier carrying a burden of wood his hands were so stifly benummed with cold that they stucke to his woode and remayned so fast vnto it that as dead flesh they were divided from his armes In such cases I am wont to yeeld vnto the authoritie of so great testimonies Where he also saith that Vespasian by the fauour of the God Serapis healed in the â—itie of Alexandria a blinde woman with the rubbing and anointing her eies with fasting spertle and some other miracles which I remember not well now hee doth it by the example and devoire of all good historians They keepe a register of important euents among publike accidents are also populare reports and vulgar opinions It is their part to relate common conceits but not to sway them This part belongeth to Diuines and Philosophers directors of consciences Therefore that companion of his and as great a man as hee saide most wisely Equidem plura transcribâ— quam credo Nam nec affirmare sustineo de quibus dubito nec subducere quae accepi I write out more then I beleeue for neither can I bide to affirme what I doubt of nor to withdrawe what I have heard And that other Haec neque affirmare neque refellere operae precium est fama rerum standum est It is not worth the talke or to avouch or to refute these things wee must stand to report And writing in an age wherein the beliefe of prodigies began to decline he saith he would notwithstanding not ommit to insert in his Annals and giue footing to a thing receiued and allowed of so many honest men and with so great reuerence by antiquity It is very well said That they yeelde vs the history more according as they receaue then according as they esteeme it I who am king of the matter I treat of and am not to giue accompt of it to any creature liuing doe neuerthelesse not altogether beleeue my selfe for it I often hazard vpon certaine outslips of my minde for which I distruct my selfe and certaine verball wilie-beguilies whereat I shake mine eares but I let them runne at hab or nab I see some honour them selues with such like things T' is not for me alone to iudge of them I present my selfe standing and lying before and behinde on the right and left side and in all by naturall motions Spirits alike in force are not euer alike in application and taste Loe here what my memory doth in grose and yet very vncertainely present vnto me of it In breefe all iudgements are weake demisse and imperfect The ninth Chapter Of Vanitie THere is peraduenture no vanity more manyfest then so vainely to write of it What Divinity hath so divinely expressed thereof vnto vs ought of all men of vnderstanding to be diligently and continually meditated vpon Who seeth not that I have entred so large a field and vndertaken so high a pitch wherein so long as there is either Inke or Paper in the world I may vncessantly wander and fly without encombrance I can keepe no register of my life by my actions fortune placeth them too Iowe I hould them of my fantasies Yet haue I seen a gentleman who neuer communicated his life but by the operations of his belly you might haue seene in his house set
and with the other hand at the same instant the most sharpe-railing reformation according to Divinitie that happily the World hath seene these many-many yeeres Thus goes the world and so goe men We let the lawes and precepts follow their way but we keepe another course Not onely by disorder of manners but often by opinion and contrary iudgement Heare but a discourse of Philosophie read the invention the eloquence and the pertinencie doth presently tickle your spirit and moove you There is nothing tickleth or pricketh your conscience it is not to her that men speakâ— Is it not true Ariston said that Neither Bath nor Lecture are of any worth except the one wash cleane and the other cleanse all filth away One may busie himselfe about the barke when once the pith is gotten out As when wee have drunke off the Wine wee consider the graving and workmanship of the cuppe In all the parts of ancient Philosophie this one thing may be noted that one same worke-man publisheth some rules of temperance and therewithall some compositions of love and licentiousnesse And Xenophon in Cliniaes bosome writ against the Aristippâ—an vertue It is not a miraculous conversion that so doth wave and hull them to and fro But it is that Solon doth sometimes represent himselfe in his owne colours and somtimes in forme of a Law-giver now he speaketh for the multitude and now for himselfe And takes the free and naturall rules to himselfe warranting himselfe with a constant and perfect soundnesse Curentur dubij medicis maioribus â—gri Let patients in great doubt Seeke great Physitians out Antisthenes alloweth a wise man to love and doe what hee list without respect of lawes especially in things he deemeth needefull and sit Forasmuch as he hath a better vnderstanding than they and more knowledge of vertue His Disciple Diogenes said To perturbations we should oppose reason to fortune confidence and to lawes nature To dainty and tender stomacks constrained and artificiall or dinances Good stomackes are simplie served with the prescriptions of their naturall appetiâ—â— So doe our Phisitions who whilst they tie their pacients to a strik 't diet of a panada or a sirope feede themselves vpon a melone dainty fruits much good meat and drinke all maner of good Wine I wot not what Bookes are nor what they meane by wisedome and philosophy quoth the Curtizan Lais but sure I am those kinds of people knocke as often at my gates as any other men Because our licenciousnesse transports vs commonly beyond what is lawfull and allowed our lives-precepts and lawes have often been wrested or restrained beyond vniversall reason Nemo satis credit tantum delinquere quantum Permittas No man thinks it enough so farre t' offend As you give lawfull leave and thereto end It were to bee wished there were a greater proportion betwene commandement and obedience And vniust seemeth that ayme or goale whereto one cannot possibly attaine No man is so exquisitely honest or vpright in living but brings all his actions and thoughts within compasse and danger of the lawes and that ten times in his life might not lawfully be hanged Yea happily such a man as it were pittie and dangerously-hurtfull to loose and most vnjust to punish him Olle quid ad te De cute quid faciat ille vel illa sua Foole what hast thou to doe what he or shee With their owne skinnes or themselves doing bee And some might never offend the lawes that notwithstanding should not deserve the commendations of vertuovs men and whom philosophie might meritoriously and justly cause to be whipped So troubled dimme-sighted and partiall is this relation Wee are farre enough from being honest according to God For wee â—annot bee such according to our selves Humane wisedome could never reach the duties or attaine the devoires it had prescribed vnto it selfe And had it at any time attained them then would it doubtlesse prescribe some others beyond them to which it might ever aspire and pretend So great an enemy is our condition vnto consistence Man dooth necessarily ordaine vnto himselfe to bee in fault Hee is not very craftie to measure his dutie by the reason of another beeing than his owne To whom prescribes he that which he expects no man will performe Is he vnjust in not dooing that which hee cannot possibly atchieve The lawes which condeâ—â—e vs not to hee able condemne vs for that we cannot performe If the worst happen this deformed libertie for one to present himselfe in two places and the actions after one fashion the discourses after an other is lawfull in them which report things But it cannot bee in them that acknowledge themselves as I doe I must walke with my penne as I goe with my feete The common high way must have conference with other wayes Catoes vertue was vigorous beyond the reason of the age he lived in and for a man that entermedled with governing other men destinated for the common service it might bee said to have beene a justice if not vnjust at least vaine and out of season Mine owne manners which scarse disagree one inch from those now currant make me notwithstanding in some sort strange vncouth and vnsociable to my age I wot not whether it be without reason I am so distasted and out of liking with the world wherein I live and frequent but well I know I should have small reason to complaine the world were distasted and out of liking with mee since I am so with it The vertue assigned to the worlds affaires it is a vertue with sundry byases turnings bendings and elbowes to apply and joyne it selfe to humane imbecilitie mixed and artificiall neither right pure or costant nor meerely innocent Our Annales even to this day blamesome one of our Kings to have over-simply suffred himselfe to be led or mis-led by the conscientious perswasions of his Confessor Matters of state have more bold precepts exeat aula Qui vult esse pius He that will godly bee From Court let him be free I have heretofore assayd to employ my opinions and rules of life as new as rude as impâ—lished or as vnpolluted as they were naturally borne with me or as I have attained them by my institution and wherewith if not so commodiously at least safely in particular I serve mine owne turne vnto the service of publike affaires and benefit of my Common-wealth A scholasticall and novice vertue but I have found them very vnapt and dangerous for that purpose He that goeth in a â—resse or throng of people must sometimes step aside hold in his elbowes crosse the way advance himselfe start backe and forsake the right way according as it falls out Live he not so much as he would himselfe but as others will not according to that he proposeth to himselfe but to that which is proposed to him according to times to men and to affaires and as the skilfull Mariner saile with the winde Plato saith that who escapes
desires must be circumscribed and tied to strict bounds of neerest and contiguous commodities Moreover their course should be managed not in a straight line having another end but round whose two points hold together and end in our selves with a short compasse The actions governed without this reflection I meane a neere and essentiall reflection as these of the covetous of the ambitious and so many others that runne directly point-blancke the course of which carrieth them away before them are erronious and crazed actions Most of our vacations are like playes Mundus vniversus exercet histrioniam All the world doth practise stage-playing Wee must play our parts duly but as the part of a borrowed personage Of a visard and apparance wee should not make a reall essence nor proper of that which is another Wee cannot distinguish the skinne from the shirt It is sufficient to disguise the face without deforming the breast I see some transforme and transubstantiate themselves into as many new formes and strange beings as they vndertake charges and who emprelate themselves even to the heart and entrailes and entraine their offices even sitting on their close stoole I cannot teach them to distinguish the salutations and cappings of such as regard them from those that respect either their office their traine or their mule Tantum se fortunae permitunt etiam vt naturam dediscant They give themselves so much over to Fortune as they forget Nature They swell in mind and puffe vp their naturall discourse according to the dignity of their office The Maior of Bourdeaux and Michaell Lord of Montaigne have ever beene two by an evident separation To bee an advocate or a Treasurer one should not be ignorant of the craft incident to such callings An honest man is not comptable for the vice and folly of his trade and therfore ought not to refuse the exercise of it It is the custome of his country and there is profite in it Wee must live by the worlde and such as we finde it so make vse of it But the judgement of an Emperour should be above his Empire and to see and consider the same as a strange accident Hee should know how to enjoy himselfe apart and communicate himselfe as Iames and Peter at least to himselfe I cannot so absolutely or so deeply engage my selfe When my will gives me to any party it is not with so violent a bond that my vnderstanding is thereby infected In the present intestine trouble of our State my interest hath not made mee forget neither the commendable qualities of our adversaries nor the reproachfull of those I have followed They partially extoll what ever is on their side I doe not so much as excuse the greater number of my friends-actions A good Oratour looseth not his grace by pleading against me The inticratenesse of our debate remooved I have maintained my selfe in equanimity and pure indifferency Neque extra necessitates belli praecipuum odium gero Nor beare I capitall hatred when I am out of the necessitie of warre Wherein I glory for that commonly I see men erre in the contrary Such as extend the choller and hatred beyond their affaires as most men doe shew that it proceedes elsewhence and from some private cause Even as one being cured of an vlcer and his fever remaineth still declareth it had another more hidden begining It is the reason they beare none vnto the cause in generall and forsomuch as it concerneth the interest of all and of the state But they are vexed at it onely for this that it toucheth them in private And therefore are they distempered with a particular passion both beyond justice and publicke reason Non tam omnia vniversi quà m ea qua ad quemque pertinent singuli carpebant All did not so much finde fault withall as every one with those that appertained to every one I will have the advantage to be for vs which though it be not I enrage not I stand firmely to the â—ounder parts But I affect not to be noted a private enemy to others and beyond generall reason I greatly accuse this vicious forme of obstinate contesting He is of the League because he admireth the grace of the Duke of Guise or he is a Hugonote forsomuch as the King of Navarres activity amazeth him He findes fault in the Kings behaviours therefore he is sedicious in his heart I would not give the magistrate my voice that he had reason to condemne a booke because an hereticke was therein named and extolled to be one of the best Poets of this age Dare wee not say that a theefe hath a good leg if he have so indeede If she be a strumpet must she needes have a stinking breath In wiser ages revoked they the prowd title of Capitolinus they had formely given to Marcus Manlius as the preserver of religion and publicke liberty Suppressed they the memory of his liberality his deeds of armes and military rewards granted to his vertues because to the prejudice of his countries lawes he afterward affected a Royalty If they once conceive a hatred against an Orator or an advocate the next day he becommeth barbarous and vneloquent I have elsewhere discoursed of zeale which hath driven good men into like errours For my selfe I can say that he doth wickedly and this vertuously Likewise in prognostickes or sinister events of affaires they will have every man blinde or dull in his owne cause and that our perswasion and judgement serve not the truth but the project of our desires I should rather erre in the other extreamity So much I feare my desire might corrupt me Considering I somewhat tenderly distrust my selfe in things I most desire I have in my dayes seene wonders in the indiscreete and prodigious facility of people suffering their hopes and beliefes to bee led and governed as it hath pleased and best fitted their leaders above a hundred discontents one in the neck of another and beyond their fantasies and dreames I wonder no more at those whom the apish toyes of Apollonius and Mahomet have seduced and blinded Their sence and vnderstanding is wholly smothered in their passion Their discretion hath no other choise but what pleaseth them and furthereth their cause Which I had especially observed in the beginning of our distempered factions and factious troubles This other which is growne since by imitation surmounteth the same Whereby I observe that it is an inseparable quality of popular errours The first beeing gone opinions entershocke one another following the winde as waves doe They are no members of the body if they may renounce it if they folow not the common course But truely they wrong the just partes when they seeke to helpe them with fraude or deceipts I have alwayes contradicted the same This meane is but for sicke braines The healthy have surer and honester wayes to maintaine their resolutions and excuse all contrary accidents The Heavens never saw so weighty a discord and so harmefull a
But yet I doe it vpon condition that to the first that brings mee home againe and enquireth for the bare and simple truth at my hands I sodainely give over my hold and without exaggeration emphasis or amplification I yeeld both my selfe and it vnto him A lively earnest and ready speech as mine is easie transported vnto hyperboles There is nothing whereunto men are ordinarily more prone then to give way to their opinions Where ever vsuall meanes faile vs wee adde commandement force fire and sword It is not without some ill fortune to come to that passe that the multitude of believers in a throng where fooles doe in number so farre exceede the wise should bee the best touch-stone of truth Quasi verò quidquam sit tam valdè quà m nilsapere vulgare Sanitatis patrocinium est insanientium turba As though any thing were so common as to have no wit The multitude of them that are mad is a defence for them that are in their wits It is a hard matter for a man to resolve his judgement against common opinions The first perswasion taken from the very subject seizeth on the simple whence vnder th' authority of the number and antiquity of testimonies it extends it selfe on the wiser sort As for me in a matter which I could not believe being reported by one I should never credite the same though affirmed by a hundred And I judge not opinions by yeares It is not long since one of our Princes in whom the gowt had spoiled a gentle disposition and blithe composition suffered himselfe so farre to bee perswaded or mis-led by the report made vnto him of the wondrous deedes of a Priest who by way of charmes spells and gestures cured all diseases that hee vndertooke a long-tedious jonrny to finde him out and by the vertue of his apprehension did so perswade and for certaine houres so â—ull his legs asleepe that for a while hee brought them to doe him that service which for a long time they had forgotten Had fortune heaped five or six like accidents one in the necke of another they had doubtlesse beene able to bring this miracle into nature Whereas afterward there was so much simplicity and so little skill found in the architect of these workes that he was deemed vnworthy of any punishment As likewise should bee done with most such-like things were they throughly knowen in their nature Miramur ex intervallo fallentia Wee wonder at those things that deceive vs by distance Our sight doth in such sort often represent vs a farre-off with strange images which vanish in approaching neerer Nnnquam ad liquidum fama perducitur Fame is never brought to be cleare It is a wonder to see how from many vaine beginnings and frivolous causes so famous impressions doe ordinarily arise and ensue Even that hindereth the information of them For whilst a man endevoureth to finde out causes forcible and weighty ends and worthy so great a name hee looseth the true and essentiall They are so little that they escape our sight And verily a right wise heedy and subtile inquisitor is required in such questings imparciall and not preoccupated All these miracles and strange events are vntill this day hidden from me I have seene no such monster or more expresse wonder in this world then my selfe With time and custome a man doth acquaint and enure him selfe to all strangenesse But the more I frequent and know my selfe the more my deformity astonieth me and the lesse I vnderstand my selfe The chiefest priviledge to produce and advance such accidents is reserved vnto fortune Travelling yesterday thorough a village within two leagues of my house I found the place yet warme of a miracle that was but newly failed and discovered wherewith all the country thereabout had for many months beene ammused and abused and diverse bordering Provinces began to listen vnto it and severall troupes of all qualities ceased not thicke and threefold to flocke thither A yong man of that towne vndertooke one night in his owne house never dreaming of any knavery to counterfeit the voice of a spirit or ghost but onely for sport to make himselfe merry for that present which succeeding better then he had imagined to make the jest extend further and himselfe the merrier he made a country-maiden acquainted with his devise who because she was both seely and harmelesse consented to beesecret and to second him In the end they got another and were now three all of one age and like sufficiency and from private spirit-talking they beganne with hideous voices to cry and roare aloud and in and about churches hiding themselves vnder the chiefe Altar speaking but by night forbidding any light to bee set vp From speeches tending the worldes subversion and threatning of the day of judgement which are the subjects by whose authority and abusive reverence imposture and illusion is more easily lurked they proceeded to certaine visions and strange gestures so foolish and ridiculous that ther is scarse any thing more grosse and absurd vsed among Children in their childish sports Suppose I pray you that fortune would have seconded this harmelesse devise or jugling tricke Who knoweth how farre it would have extended and to what it would have growen The poore seely three Divels are now in prison and may happily e're long pay deere for their common sottishnesse and I wot not whether some cheverell judge or other will bee avenged of them for his It is manifestly seene in this which now is discovered as also in divers other things of like quality exceeding our knowledge I am of opinion that we vphold our judgement as well to reject as to receive Many abuses are engendered in the World or to speake more boldly all the abuses of the World are engendered vpon this that we are taught to feare to make profession of our ignorance and are bound to accept and allow all that wee cannot refute Wee speake of all things by precepts and resolution The Stile of Rome did beare that even the same that a witnes deposed because he had seene it with his owne eyes and that which a Iudge ordained of his most assured knowledge was conceived in this form of speech It seemeth so vnto me I am drawen to hate likely things when men goe about to set them downe as infallible I love these wordes or phrases which mollifie and moderate the temerity of our propositions It may be Peradventure In some sort Some It is saide I thinke and such like And had I beene to instruct children I would so often have put this manner of answering in their mouth enquiring and not resolving What meanes it I vnderstand it not It may well bee Is it true that they should rather have kept the forme of learners vntill three score yeeres of age than present themselves Doctors at ten as many doe Whosoever will be cured of ignorance must confesse the same Iris is the daughter of Thaumantis Admiration is the ground of all