the taking The first fault yoong men and forward hot-spurres commit who for want of patience giue no leasure to time and the heauens to do any thing for them they runne but they catch nothing The second heauie lazie dull spirited men do commonly fall into To know the occasion and to take it a man must haue his spirit valiant and vigilant and likewise patient he must foresee it watch attend it see it comming and prepare for it and so take it iust at that instant when it is readie The seuenth aduice is well to cary himselfe with these two masters superintendants of the affaires of the world which 7 Industrie and Fortune are industrie or vertue and fortune It is an ancient question which of these two hath most credit force and authoritie for it is out of all doubt that both haue and it is clearely false that one only doth all and the other nothing It were perhaps to be wished that it were true and that one only had the whole empire the businesse would go the better a man would wholly attend that whereby it would be the more easie the difficultie is to ioyne them together and to attend them both Commonly they that settle themselues vnto the one contemne the other the yonger and bolder sort respect and trust to fortune hoping much good from it and many times by them it worketh great matters in somuch that it seemes to fauour them the more ancient and stayed trust to their industrie and these of the two haue the more reason If we should compare them and chuse one of the two industrie is the more honest the more certaine glorious for though fortune be contrarie to it and shall make all industrie diligence vaine yet neuerthelesse there remaineth great contentment in that a man hath not kept holy day hath performed his office or dutie hath caried himselfe like a man of courage They that follow the other part are in danger to attend in vaine and though perhaps things succeed according to their owne desires yet they want that honor and glory that the former hath Now the aduice of wisdome is not wholly and so much to settle our selues to the one that we contemne and exclude the other for they haue both a good part yea many times they help and do mutually attend one the other A wise man then must cary himselfe with them both but yet vnequally for the aduantage and preheminence must be giuen as hath beene said to vertue industrie virtute duce comite fortuna This aduice likewise is required to keepe discretion which seasoneth and giueth a taste or relish to all things this is not a particular qualitie but common which mingleth it selfe in all Indiscretion marreth all and taketh away the grace from the best actions whether it be to doe good to another for all gratifications are not well bestowed vpon all sorts of people or to excuse himselfe for inconsiderate excuses serue for accusations or to play the part of an honest and curteous man for a man may exceede and degenerate into rusticitie or whether it be to offer or to accept CHAP. XI To keepe himselfe alwaies ready for death a fruit of wisedome THe day of death is the master day and iudge of all other 1 The day of death daies the triall and touchstone of all the actions of our life Then doe we make our greatest assay and gather the whole fruit of all our studies He that iudgeth of the life of a man must looke how he carried himselfe at his death for the end crowneth the worke and a good death honoureth a mans whole life as an euill defameth and dishonoureth it A man cannot well iudge of any without wronging of him before hee hath plaied the last act of his Comedie which is without all doubt the most difficult Epaminondas one of the wise men of Greece being demanded whom of three men he esteemed most himselfe Chabrias or Iphicrates answered We must first see all three die before we resolue that question the reason is because in all the rest a man may be masked but in this last part it is to no purpose to dissemble Nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo Eijciuntur eripitur persona manet res Fortune from farre seemeth to watch and lie in wait for vs against this last day as a day long since named and appointed to shew her power and in a moment to ouerthrow all that wee haue built and gathered together in many yeers and to make vs crie out with Laberius Nimirum hac die vna plùs vixi mihi quà m viuendum fuit And so was it well and wisely said of Solon to Croesus Ante obitum nemo beatus It is an excellent thing to learne to die it is the studie of wisedome which aimeth wholly at this end hee hath not 2 To know how to die spent his life ill that hath learned to die well and hee hath lost his whole time that knowes not well how to end it Malè viuet quisquis nesciet bene mori non frustra nascitur qui bene Senec. moritur nec inutiliter vixit qui foeliciter desijt Mori tota vita discendum est praecipuum ex vitae officijs est Hee shootes not well that lookes not on the marke and he cannot liue well that hath not an eie to his death To be briefe the science of dying is the science of libertie the way to feare nothing to liue well contentedly and peaceably without this knowledge there is no more pleasure in life than in the fruition of that thing which a man feareth alwaies to lose First and aboue all we must endeuour that our sinnes die before our selues Secondly that we be alwaies ready and prepared for death O what an excellent thing is it for a man to end his life before his death in such sort that at that houre he haue no other thing to doe but to die that hee haue no more neede of any thing not of time not of himselfe but sweetly and contentedly departeth this life saying Vixi quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi Thirdly wee must endeuour that our death be voluntarie for to die well is to die willingly It seemeth that a man may carry himselfe in death fiue diuers waies He may feare and flie it as a very great euill attend 4 A fiue fold maner of carriage in death it sweetly and patiently as a thing naturall ineuitable reasonable contemne it as a thing indifferent and of no great importance desire and seeke after it as the only hauen of rest from all the torments of this life yea a very great gaine giue it to himselfe by taking away his owne life Of these fiue the three middlemost are good befitting a good and setled soule although diuersly and in a different condition of life the two extreames are vitious and out of weakenesse though it be with diuers visages A
word or two of them all The first is not approued by men of vnderstanding though by the greater part it be practised a testimonie of great weaknesse 5 To feare death Against these kinde of men and for your better comfort either against your owne death or the death of another thus much briefly There is not a thing that men feare more or haue more in horrour than death neuerthelesse there is not a thing where there is lesse occasion or matter of feare or that contrarily yeeldeth greater reasons to perswade vs with resolution to accept of it And therefore we must say that it is a meere opinion and a vulgar errour that hath woon the world thus to thinke of it Wee giue too much credit to the It is opinion inconsiderate vulgar sort who tell vs That it is a very great euill and to little credit to wisedome it selfe which teacheth vs that it is a freedome from all euils and the hauen of life Neuer did a present death do hurt to any man and some that haue made triall and partly knew what it is complaine not of it and if death be counted an euill it is of all the euils the only that doth no harme that hath no euill in it it is the imagination only of death before it come that maketh vs to feare it when it is come It is then but opinion not verity and it is truely where opinion bandeth it selfe most against reason and goeth about to deface it in vs with the maske of death there cannot be any reason to feare it because no man knowes what it is that hee should feare it for why or how should a man feare that he knoweth not And therefore wisely said he that of all others was accounted the wisest that to feare death is to make shew of greater vnderstanding and sufficiency than can be in a man by seeming to know that that no man knoweth and what he spake he practised himselfe for being sollicited at his death by his friends to pleade before the Iudges for his iustification and for his life this oration he made vnto them My masters and friends if I should plead for my life and desire you that I may not die I doubt I may speak against my selfe and desire my owne losse and hinderance because I know not what it is to die nor what good or ill there is in death they that feare to die presume to know it as for my selfe I am vtterly ignorant what it is or what is done in the other world perhaps death is a thing indifferent perhaps a good thing and to be desired Those things that I know to be euill as to offend my neighbour I flie and auoid those that I know not to be euill as death I cannot feare And therefore I commit my selfe vnto your selues and because I cannot know whether it is more expedient for me to die or not to dy determine you thereof as you shall thinke good For a man to torment himselfe with the feare of death it is 6 It is weaknes first great weaknesse and cowardlinesse There is not a woman that in few daies is not appeased and content with the death yea the most painefull that may be either of her husband or her child And why should not reason and wisdome do that in an houre at an instant as we haue a thousand examples which time performeth in a foole in the weakest sex What vse is there of wisdome and constancie in man to what end serue they if they speed him not in a good action if he can do no more with their help than a foole with his follie From this weaknes it is that the most part of men dying cannot resolue themselues that it is their last houre and there is not any thing where this deceitfull hope doth more busie man which it may be doth likewise proceed from this that we account our death a great matter and that all things haue an interest in vs and at our death must suffer with vs so much do we esteeme our selues Againe a man sheweth himselfe heerein vniust for if death be a good thing as it is why doth he feare it If an euill thing 7 Iniustice why doth he make it worse and adde vnto death euill vpon euill sorrow and griefe where there is none like him that being robbed of a part of his goods by the enemie casteth the rest into the sea to let men know how little he is greeued with his losses Finally to feare death is for a man to be an enemy to himselfe 8 To be enemy to his owne life and to his owne life for he can neuer liue at ease and contentedlie that feareth to dye That man is only a free man which feareth not death and contrarily life is but a slauery if it were not made free by death For death is the only stay of our libertie the common and readie receptacle of all euils It is then a miserie and miserable are all that do it to trouble our life with the care and feare of death and our death with the care of life But to say the truth what complaints and murmuring would there be against nature if death were not if we should haue continued heere will we nill we with and against our owne wils doubtlesse men would haue cursed nature for it Imagin with thy selfe how much more insupportable and painefull a durable life would haue beene then a life with a condition to leaue it Chiron refused immortalitie being informed of the conditions therof by the god of Time Saturne his father Doubtlesse death is a very beautifull and rich inuention of nature optimum naturae inuentum nusquam satis laudatum and a very proper and profitable necessarie to many things If it were quite taken from vs we should desire it more than now we feare it yea thirst after it more than life it selfe such a remedie is it against so many euils such a meane to so many goods What were it on the other side if there were not mingled with death some little bitternesse doubtlesse men would runne vnto it with great desire and indiscretion To keepe therefore a moderation that is that men might neither loue life too much nor flie it feare death nor runne after it both of them sweetnes and sharpnes are therein tempered together The remedie that the vulgar sort do giue heerein is too simple and that is neuer to thinke or speake thereof Besides 10 Remedies not to feare death that such a kind of carelesnes cannot lodge in the head of a man of vnderstanding it would likewise at the last cost him deere for death comming vnawares and vnexpected what torments outcryes furies and dispaires are there commonlie seene Wisdome aduiseth much better that is to attend and expect death with a constant foot and to encounter it and the better to do this it giueth vs contrarie counsell to the vulgar sort that is to haue it
caeli latus totam lucem suo loco propè totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias procul intueris miraris To conclude it taketh vs from that death which began in the wombe of our mother and now endeth to bring vs to that life which shall neuer end Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est The second maner of the cariage of man in this matter of 12 2 To attend death it is good death is of a good sweete and moderate soule and is iustly practised in a common and peaceable life by those that with reason account of this condition of life and content themselues to indure it but gouerning themselues according to reason and accepting of death when it commeth This is a well tempered mediocritie sutable to such a condition of life betweene the extremities which are to desire and feare to seeke and to flie vitious and faultie summum ne metuas diem nec optes mortem concupiscentes timentes aequè obiurgat Epicurus if they be not couered and excused by some reason not common and ordinarie as shall be said in his place To seeke and desire death is ill it is iniustice to desire death without a cause and to be out of charitie with the world which our liues may be beneficiall vnto It is to be vnthankfull to nature to contemne it and not to make the best vse thereof to be ouer anxious and scrupulous and not to endure that estate that is not burthensome and wee are called vnto To flie and feare death on the other side is against nature reason iustice and all dutie For to die is a thing naturall necessarie and ineuitable iust 13 Death is naturall and reasonable Naturall for it is a part of the order of the whole Vniuerse of the life of the world wilt thou then that the world be ruinated and a new made for thy selfe Death holdeth a high place in the policie great common-wealth of the world and it is very profitable for the succession and continuance of the workes of nature the fading or corruption of one life is the passage to a thousand others Sicrerum summa nouatur And it is not only a part of this great whole Vniuerse but of our particular essence not lesse essential than to liue to be borne In flying death thou fliest thy selfe thy essence is equally parted into these two life and death it is the condition of thy creation If it grieueth thee to die why wert thou borne Men come not into the world with any other purpose but to goe foorth againe and therefore he that is not willing to goe foorth let him not come in The first day of thy birth bindeth thee and setteth thee as well in the way to deat as to life Naseentes morimur sinisque ab origine pendet Sola mors ius aequum est generis humani viuere noluit qui mori non vult vita cum exceptione mortis data est tam stultus qui timet mortem quà m qui senectutem To be vnwilling to die is to be vnwilling to be a man for all men are mortall and therefore a wise man said and that without passion hauing receiued newes of the death of his sonne I knew I begot and bred him vp a mortall man Death being then a thing so naturall and essentiall both for the world in grosse and forthy self in particular why should it be horrible vnto thee Thou goest against nature the feare of griefe and paine is naturall but not of death for being so seruiceable to nature and nature hauing instituted it to what end should it imprint in vs a hatred and horror thereof Children and beasts feare not death yea many times they suffer it cheerefully it is not then nature that teacheth vs to feare it but rather to attend and receiue it as being sent by it Secondly it is necessarie fatale ineuitable and this thou knowest that fearest and weepest What greater follie can 14 Necessarie there be than for a man to torment himselfe for nothing and that willingly and of purpose to pray and importune him whom he knowes to bee inexorable to knocke at that dore that cannot be opened What is there more inexorable and deafe than death Wee must therefore feare things vncertaine doe our best endeuours in things that are not remedilesse but such as are certaine as death we must attend and grow resolute in things past remedie The sot feareth and flieth death the foole seekes it and runs after it the wise man attendeth it It is follie to grieue at that that cannot be mended to feare that that cannot be auoided Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest The example of Dauid is excellent who vnderstanding of the death of his deare childe put on his best apparell and made himselfe merry saying to those that wondered at this kinde of carriage that whilest his son liued he importuned God for his recouerie but being dead that care was ended and there was no remedie The foole thinks he maketh a better answer to say that that is the cause of his griefe and that he tormenteth himselfe because there is no remedie but he doubleth and perfecteth his owne follie thereby Scienter frustra niti extremae dementiae est Now death being so necessarie and ineuitable it is not only to no purpose to feare but making of necessitie a vertue wee must welcome it and receiue it kindely for it is better for vs to goe to death than that death should come to vs to catch that before that catch vs. Thirdly to die is a thing reasonable and iust it is reason to 15 Iust and râ—asonable ariue to that place towards which we are alwaies walking and if a man feare to come thither let him not walke but stay himselfe or turne backe againe which is impossible to doe It is reason that thou giue place to others since others haue giuen place to thee If thou haue made thy commoditie of this life thou must be satisfied and be gone as he that is inuited to a banquet takes his refection and departeth If thou haue not knowen how to make vse and profit thereof what needest thou care if thou lose it or to what end wouldest thou keepe it It is a debt that must be paid a pawne that must bee restored whensoeuer it is demanded Why pleadest thou against thy own schedule thy faith thy duty It is then against reason to spurne against death since that thereby thou acquitest thy selfe of so much and dischargest thy selfe of so great an account It is a thing generall and common to all to die why then troublest thou thy selfe Wilt thou haue a new priuiledge that was yet neuer seene and bee a lone man by thy selfe Why fearest thou to goe whither all the world goeth where so many millions are gone before thee and so many millions shall follow thee Death is equally
certaine to all and equallity is the first part of equity omnes eodem cogimur omnium versatur vrna serius ocyus sors exitura c. The third is the part of a valiant and generous minde which is practised with reason in a publike eleuated difficult 16 To contemne death is good if it be for a thing that deserues it and busie condition of life where there are many things to be preferred before life and for which a man should not doubt to die In such a case howsoeuer matters go a man must more account thereof than of his life which is placed vpon the stage and scaffold of this world hee must runne his race with resolution that he may giue a lustre to his other actions and performe those things that are profitable and exemplary Hee must lay downe his life and let it runne his fortune He that knoweth not how to contemne death shall neuer not only performe any thing of worth but he exposeth himselfe to diuers dangers for whilest he goeth about to keepe his life safe and sure hee laieth open and hazardeth his deuoire his honour his vertue and honestie The contempt of death is that which produceth the boldest and most honourable exploits whether in good or euill Hee that feareth not to die feares nothing he doth whatsoeuer he will hee makes him-himselfe a master both of his owne life and of anothers the contempt of death is the true and liuely source of all the beautifull and generous actions of men from hence are deriued the braue resolutions and free speeches of vertue vttered by so many great personages Fluidius Priscus whom the Emperour Vespasian had commanded not to come to the senat or comming to speake as he would haue him answered That as he was a Senator it was fit he should be at the Senate and if being there he were required to giue his aduice he would speake freely that which his conscience commaunded him Being threatned by the same man that if he spake he should die Did I euer tell you saith he that I was immortall Do you what you will and I will do what I ought It is in your power to put me vniustlie to death and in me to die constantlie The Lacedemonians being threatned much hard dealing if they did not speedily yeeld themselues to Philip the father of Alexander who was entred into their countrie with a great power one for the rest answered What hard dealing can they suffer that feare not to die And being told by the same Philip that he would breake and hinder all their designments What say they will he likewise hinder vs from dying Another being asked by what meanes a man may liue free answered By contemning death And another youth being taken and sold for a slaue said to him that bought him Thou shalt see what thou hast bought I were a foole to liue a slaue whilest I may be free and whilest he spake cast himself down from the top of the house A wise man said vnto another deliberating with himselfe how he might take away his life to free himselfe from an euil that at that time pressed him sore Thou doest not deliberate of any great matter it is no great thing to liue thy slaues thy beasts do liue but it is a great matter to die honestlie wisely constantly To conclude and crowne this article our religion hath not had a more firme and assured foundation and wherein the authour thereof hath more insisted than the contempt of this life But many there are that make a shew of contemning death when they feare it Many there are that care not to be dead yea they wish they were dead but it greeueth them to die Emori nolo sed me esse mortuum nihili astimo Many deliberate in their health and soundest iudgements to suffer death with constancie nay to murther themselues a part played by many for which end Heliogabalus made many sumptuous preparations but being come to the point some wer terrified by the bleeding of their nose as Lucius Domitius who repented that he had poysoned himselfe Others haue turned away their eyes and their thoughts as if they would steale vpon it swallowing it downe insensiblie as men take pilles according to that saying of Caesar that the best death was the shortest and of Plinie that a short death was the happiest houre of a mans life Now no man can be said to be resolute to die that feareth to confront it and to suffer with his eyes open as Socrates did who had thirtie whole daies to ruminate and to digest the sentence of his death which he did without any passion or alteration yea without any shew of endeuor mildly and cheerfullie Pomponius Atticus Tullius Marcellinus Romans Cleantes the Philosopher all three almost after one maner for hauing assayed to die by abstinence hoping thereby to quit themselues of those maladies that did torment them but finding themselues rather cured thereby neuerthelesse they would not desist till they had ended that they went about taking pleasure by little and little to pine away and to consider the course and progresse of death Otho and Cato hauing prepared all things fit for their death vpon the very point of the execution setled themselues to sleepe and slept profoundly being no more astonished at death than at any other ordinarie and light accident The fourth is the part of a valiant and resolute mind practised in former times by great and holie personages and that 17 To desire death in two cases the one the more naturall and lawfull is a painfull and troublesome life or an apprehension of a far worse death To be briefe a miserable estate which a man cannot remedie This is to desire death as the retrait and only hauen from the torments of this life the soueraigne good of nature the only stay and pillar of our libertie It is imbecillitie to yeeld vnto euils but it is follie to nourish them It is a good time to die when to liue is rather a burthen than a blessing and there is more ill in life than good for to preserue our life to increase our torment is against nature There are some that say that we should desire to die to auoid those pleasures that are according to nature how much more then to flie those miseries that are against nature There are many things in life farre worse than death for which we should rather die and not liue at all than liue And therefore the Lacedemonians being cruelly threatned by Antipater if they yeelded not to his demaund answered If thou threaten vs with any thing that is worse than death death shall be welcome vnto vs. And the wisest were woont to say That a wise man liueth as long as he should not so long as he can death being more at his commaund and in his power than life Life hath but one entrance and that too dependeth vpon the will of another Our death dependeth on our
great and principall point of wisdome truly to know 1 Of the estimation and woorth of life how to esteeme of life to holde and preserue it to lose or to take it away to keepe and direct it as much as after such a maner as is fit there is not perhaps any thing wherein a man faileth more or is more hindred The vulgar vnlearned sot accounteth it a souereigne good and preferreth it aboue all things yea he will not sticke to redeeme and prolong it by all the delayes that may be vpon what conditions soeuer thinking it can neuer be bought too deare for it is all in all with him his motte is Vita nihil carius He esteemeth and loueth his life for the loue of it selfe he liues not but to liue It is no maruell if hee faile in all the rest if hee be wholly compounded of errours since from his very entrance and in this fundamentall point he mistakes himselfe so grosly It may be likewise with some lesse esteemed and more basely accounted of than it should either by reason of some insufficiencie in iudgement or a proud misknowledge thereof for falling into the hands of those that are good and wise it may be a profitable instrument both to themselues and others And I can not be of their opinion as it is simply taken that say it is best of all not to be at all and that the best is the shortest life optimum non nasci aut quà m citissimè aboleri And it is neither well nor wisely sayd What hurt or what matter had it beene if I had neuer beene A man may answer him with the like question Where had that good beene which is come and being not come had it not beene euill not to haue beene It is a kinde of euill that wanteth good whatsoeuer it be yea though not necessarie These extremities are too extreame and vitious though not equally but that seemes true that a wise man spake That life is such a good as a man would not take if he knew well what it were before he tooke it Vitam Seneca nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus It is well that men are within before they see the entrance and that they are carried hudwinckt into it Now when they are within some doe so cocker and flatter themselues therein that vpon what condition soeuer they will not go forth againe others do nothing but murmure and vex themselues but the wiser sort seeing it to be a market that is made without themselues for a man neither liues nor dies when and how he will and that though the way be rough and hard yet neuerthelesse it is not alwaies so without winsing or striuing and troubling any thing they accomodate themselues vnto it as they may and so passe their life in quietnesse making of necessitie a vertue which is a token of wisdome and industrie and so doing they liue as long as they should and not like fooles as long as they can For there is a time to liue and a time to die and a good death is farre better than an ill life A wise man liues no longer than See heereof lib. 2. ca. 11. that his life may be woorth more than his death for the longest life is not alwaies the better All men doe much complaine of the breuitie of the life of 2 Of the length and breuitie of life man not only the simple vulgar sort who wish it would neuer haue end but also which is more strange the greatest and wisest make it the principall ground of their complaints To say the truth the greatest part thereof being diuerted and otherwise employed there remaines little or nothing for it selfe for the time of our infancie olde age sleepe maladies of minde and bodie and many other times both vnprofitable and vnfit for any good being taken away that which remaineth is little or nothing at all Neuerthelesse without opposing the contrarie opinion to them that holde a short life to be a great good and gift of Nature their complaint seemeth to haue little equitie and reason and rather to proceed from malice For to what end serueth a long life Simplie to liue to breathe to eat to drinke to see this world for all this what needs so long time We haue seene knowen tasted all in a short space and knowing it to desire so long a time to practise it and still to reiterate the same thing to what end is it Who will not be satisfied nay wearied to do alwaies one and the same thing If it be not tedious and irkesome at the least it is superfluous it is a turning wheele where the same things come and go it is alwaies to begin where we end and to respinne the same webbe But perhaps they will say they desire a long life to learne and to profit the more and to proceed to a greater perfection of knowledge and vertue Alas good soules that wee are what should wee know or who should teach vs We employ but badly that little which is giuen vs not only in vanities and those things that yeeld vs no profit but in malice and sinne and then we crie out and complaine that we haue not enough giuen vnto vs. And to say the truth to what end serues so great store of knowledge and experience since in the end wee must leaue it and dislodge it and hauing dislodged it altogether forget and lose it all or know it better and otherwise But you will say that there are beasts that do triple and quadruple the life of man To omit those fables that are tolde heereof Be it so but yet there are a number that liue not a quarter of that time that man doth and few neither that liue out their time By what right or reason or priuiledge can man challenge a longer life than other creatures Is it because he doth better employ it in matters more high and more worthie life By this reason he should liue lesse time than all other creatures for there is none comparable to man in the ill emploiment of his life in wickednesse ingratitude intemperance and all maner of disorder and immodestie in maners as hath been shewed before in the comparison of man with beasts so that as I asked euen now to what end a long life serued now I aske what euils there would be in the world if the life of man were long What would he not enterprise since the shortnesse of life which cuts off his way and as they say interrupts his cast and the vncerteinty thereof which takes away all heart and courage can not stay him liuing as if he should liue euer On the one side he feareth perceiuing himselfe to be mortall but notwithstanding that hee can not bridle himselfe from not coueting hoping enterprising as if he were immortall Tanquam semper victuri viuitis nunquam vobis fragilitas vestra Seneca succurrit omnia tanquam mortales timetis tanquam immortales
which neuer yet could be pleased their mot is Vox populi vox Dei but we may say Vox populi vox stultorum Now the beginning of wisdome is for a man to keepe himselfe cleere and free and not to suffer himselfe to be caried with popular opinions This belongs to the second Lib. 2. ca. 1. booke which is now neere at hand The fourth distinction and difference of men drawen from their diuers professions and conditions of life THE PREFACE BEholde heere another difference of men drawen from the diuersitie of their professions conditions and kindes of life Some follow the ciuill and sociable life others flie it thinking to saue themselues in the solitarie wildernesse some loue armes others hate them some liue in common others in priuate it pleaseth some best to haue charge and to leade a publike life others to hide and keepe themselues priuate some are Courtiers attending wholly vpon others others court none but themselues some delight to liue in the citie others in the fields affecting a countrey life whose choice is the better and which life is to be preferred It is a difficult thing simply to determine and it may be impertinent They haue all their aduantages and disaduantages their good and their ill That which is most to be looked into and considered heerein as shall be said is That euery man know how to chuse that which best befits his owne nature that he might liue the more easily and the more happily But yet a word or two of them all by comparing them together but this shall be after we haue spoken of that life that is common to all which hath three degrees CHAP. LIII The distinction and comparison of the three sorts of degrees of life THere are three sorts of life and as it were three degrees one priuate of euery particular man within himselfe and in the closet of his owne heart where all is hid all is lawfull the second in his house and family in his priuate and ordinarie actions where there is neither studie nor arte and whereof he is not bound to giue any reason the third is publike in the eyes of the world Now to keepe order and rule in this first low and obscure stage it is very difficult and more rare than in the other two and in the second than in the third the reason is because where there is neither Iudge nor Controler nor Regarder and where we haue no imagination either of punishment or recompense we carrie our selues more loosely and carelesly as in priuate liues where conscience and reason only is our guide than in publike where we are still in checke and as a marke to the eyes and iudgement of all where glory feare of reproch base reputation or some other passion doth leade vs for passion commands with greater power than reason whereby we keepe our selues readie standing vpon our guard for which cause it falleth out that many are accounted holy great and admirable in publike who in their owne priuate haue nothing commendable That which is done in publike is but a fable a fiction the truth is secret and in priuat and he that will well iudge of a man must conuerse euery day with him and pry into his ordinarie and naturall cariage the rest is all counterset Vniuersus mundus exercet histrioniam and therefore said a wise man That he is an excellent man who is such within and in himselfe which he is outwardly for feare of the lawes and speech of the world Publick actions thunder in the eares of men to which a man is attentiue when he doth them as exploits in warre sound iudgement in counsell to rule a people to performe an Ambassage Priuate and domesticall actions are quick and sure to chide to laugh to sell to pay to conuerse with his owne a man considers not of them he doth them not thinking of them secret and inward actions much more to loue to hate to desire Againe there is heere another consideration and that is that that is done by the naturall hypocrisie of men which we make most account of and a man is more scrupulous in outward actions that are in shew but yet are free of small importance and almost all in countenances and ceremonies and therefore are of little cost and as little effect than in inward and secret actions that make no shew but are yet requisite and necessarie and therefore they are the more difficult Of those depend the reformation of the soule the moderation of the passions the rule of the life yea by the attainement of these outward a man becomes carelesse of the inward Now of these three liues inward domesticall publicke he that is to leade but one of them as Hermits doth guide and order his life at a better rate than he that hath two and he that hath but two his condition is more easie than he that hath all three CHAP. LIIII A comparison of the eiuill and sociable life with the solitarie THey that esteeme and commend so much the solitarie and retired life as a great stay and sure retraite from the molestations and troubles of the world and a fit meanes to preserue and maintaine themselues pure and free from many vices in as much as the worse part is the greater of a thousand there is not one good the number of fooles is infinite contagion in a prease is dangerous they seeme to haue reason on their side for the companie of the wicked is a dangerous thing and therefore they that aduenture themselues vpon the sea are to take heed that no blasphemer or dissolute and wicked person enter their ship one only Ionas with whom God was angrie had almost lost all Bias to those that were in the ship with him crying out in a great danger for help vnto their gods pleasantlie said Hold you your peace for the gods perceiue not that you are heere with me Albuquerque the Vice-roy of the Indies for Emmanuel king of Portingall in a great danger at sea tooke vpon his shoulders a little child to the end that his innocencie might serue as a suretie to God for his sinnes But to thinke that a solitarie life is better more excellent and perfect more fit for the exercise of vertue more difficult sharp laborious and painfull as some would make vs beleeue they grossely deceiue themselues for contrarily it is a great discharge and ease of life and it is but an indifferent profession yea a simple apprentiship and disposition to vertue This is not to enter into busines troubles and difficulties but it is to flie them and to hide themselues from them to practise the counsell of the Epicures Hide thy selfe it is to runne to death to flie a good life It is out of all doubt that a King a Prelat a Pastor is a farre more noble calling more perfect more difficult than that of a Monke or a Hermit And to say the truth in times past the companies of Monks were but
nothing that a man is constrained to hide but contrarily euery man is discret and secret in confession but not in action Boldnes to sinne is in some sort bridled by boldnes to confesse If it be vndecent to do a thing it is farre more vndecent not to dare to auouch it Many great and holy men as Saint Austin Origen Hippocrates haue published the errours of their opinions and we should doe the like of our maners By going about to hide them a man falleth many times into greater euils as he that solemnly denieth that he hath abused his bodie with another by thinking to mend the matter marres it at leastwise multiplies his sinne This is not to excuse vice but to adde thereunto CHAP. IIII. To haue a certaine end and forme of life the second foundation of Wisdome AFter this first foundation of true and inward honestie there commeth as it were by way of preamble a second foundation necessarie for the gouernment of our life which is to prepare and frame our selues to a certaine and assured course of life to make choyce of that calling which doth best befit vs and is proper vnto vs that is to say which our particular nature following alwaies the vniuersall our great and generall mistris and gouernor doth willinglie accommodate and applie it selfe vnto Wisdome is a sweet and regular conduct and cariage of our soule guiding it with measure and proportion and consisteth in an equalitie of life and maners This choyce then is a matter of great difficultie wherein a 2 This choyce a difficult thing wherin a man carieth himself diuersty man carieth himselfe very diuerslie and wherein he findeth himselfe hindered by diuers considerations which draw him into diuers parts and many times hurt and hinder one another Some are happie therein who by a great goodnes and felicitie of nature haue knowne both speedily and easily how to choose and either by a certaine good hap without any great deliberation are as it were whollie caried into that course of life which doth best befit them in such sort that fortune hath been their chooser and led them vnto it or by the friendly and prouident hand of another they haue been guided and directed Others contrarily are vnhappie who hauing failed euen from the entrance and wanting the spirit or industrie to know themselues and in a good houre to be readuifed how they might cunningly withdraw their stake in the middest of the game are in such sort engaged that they can no more recall themselues and so constrained to lead a life full of inconuenience and repentance But it likewise proceedeth many times from the great default of him that deliberateth either in not knowing himselfe well and presuming too much of himselfe whereby it falleth out that he must either shamefully desist from that which he hath vndertaken or endure much paine and torment in persisting therein Hee must remember that to carrie a burthen it is necessary there be more strength than burthen otherwise a man is constrained either to leaue it or to sinke vnder it A wise man doth neuer charge himselfe with more businesse than he knoweth how to goe thorow or in not setling himselfe in any thing but changing from day to day as they doe that are neuer pleased nor satisfied with any thing but that which they haue not euery thing discontenteth them as well ease as businesse to command as to obey These kind of people liue miserablie and without rest as men constrained The other likewise cannot hold themselues quiet they cease not to go and come to no purpose they seeme to do much and do nothing the actions of a wise man do alwaies tend to some certaine end Magnam rem puta vnum hominem agere praeter sapientem nemo vnum agit multiformes sumus But the most part doe not deliberate and consult of any thing they suffer themselues to be led like oxen or carried according to the times company occasion and they know not how to giue a reason why they are rather of this calling than another except it be because their father profest the same or that they were vnawares carried into it and so haue continued therein in such sort that as they did neuer well consider of their entrance so they know not which way to get out Pauci sunt qui consilio se suaque disponant caeteri eorum more qui fluminibus innatant non eunt sed feruntur Now that a man may carrie himselfe well heerein choose well and well acquite himselfe he must know two things and 3 Counsell in chose afairs two natures his owne that is his complexion his port and capacity his temperature in what a man excelleth in what he is feeble what he is fit for for what he is vnfit For to goe against his owne nature is to tempt God to spit against the heauens to leaue the businesse vndone because hee cannot doe it nec quidquam sequi quod assequinequeas and to expose himselfe to laughter and mockery Afterwards hee must know that which belongs to his affires that is to say the estate profession and kinde of life that is proposed There are some wherein the affaires are great and weighty others where they are dangerous others where they are not so great but are mingled and full of entaglements and that draw after them many other businesses these charges doe much afflict the spirit Euery profession requireth more specially one certaine facultie of the soule one the vnderstanding another the imagination another the memorie Now to know these two natures his owne and that of the profession and course of life that which hath beene said of the diuers temperatures of the inward parts and faculties will helpe much Knowing these two natures we must compare them together to see whether they can well ioine and endure together for it is necessarie that they agree if a man be to contest with his owne nature and to enforce it for the seruice and performance of a function and charge which he vndertaketh or contrarily if to follow his nature whether willingly or that by force and insensibly it draw him a man happen to faile or erre in his dutie what disorder is there Where is equitie Where is decencie Si quicquam decorum nihil profectò magis quà m aequabilitas vitae vniuersae singularum actionum quam conseruare non possis si aliorum imiteris naturam omittas tuam This is the account wee must make when we thinke to doe any thing that hath worth or grace in it if nature it selfe be wanting Tu nihil inuita dices faciesue Minerua Id quemque decet quod est suum maximè sic est faciendum vt contra naturam vniuersam nil contendamus ea seruata propriam sequamur And if it fall out that by mishap imprudency or otherwise a man finde himselfe engaged in a vocation and course of life painfull and vnprofitable and that a man cannot flie backe it
alwaies in our thoughts to practise it to accustome our selues vnto it to tame it to present it vnto vs at all houres to expect it not only in places suspected and dangerous but in the middest of feasts and sports that the burthen of our song be Remember thy end that others are dead that thought to haue liued as long as our selues that that which hapned then to them may happen now to vs following heerein the custome of the Egyptians who in their solemne banquets placed the image of death before their eies and of the Christians and all other who haue their Church-yards neere their temples and other publike and frequented places that men might alwaies as saith Licurgus be put in mind of death It is vncertaine in what place death attends vs and therefore let vs attend death in all places and be alwaies readie to receiue it Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum Grata superueniet quae non sperabitur hora. But let vs consider the excuses and greeuances that these poore people alleadge to couer and colour their complaints which are all vaine and friuolous It grieueth them to die The greeuances and excuses of fearefull men answered young and they complaine as well in regard of others as themselues that death preuenteth them and cutteth them off in the flowre and strength of their yeares The complaint of the vulgar sort who measure all by the ell and account nothing pretious but that which is long and durable whereas contrarily things exquisite and excellent are commonly thin fine and delicate It is the marke of a skilfull worke-master to enclose much in a little space and a man may say that it is fatall to great and glorious men not to liue long Great vertue and great or long life do seldome or neuer meet together Life is measured by the end prouided that that be good and all the rest hath a proportion thereunto the quantitie is nothing to make it more or lesse happie no more than the greatnes of a circle makes the circle more round than the lesse the figure heere doth all A little man is as perfect a man as a greater Neither men nor their liues are measured by the ell Againe it troubleth them to die farre from their friends or to be slaine and to remaine vnburied they desire to die in peace in their beds amongst their friends being comforted by them comforting them All they that follow the warres and ride post to be in the battell are not of this mind these men runne willinglie to their end and seeke a tombe amongst the dead bodies of their enemies Little children feare men when they are masked discouer their faces and they feare them no more And euen so beleeue it fire and sword astonish vs when we thinke of them take off their maske the death wherewith they threaten vs is but the same death wherewith women and children die They are troubled to thinke they must leaue all the world And why They haue seene all one day is like another there is no other light nor other night nor other sunne nor other course of the world One yeare telleth vs that all things grow euery yeare worse and worse they haue seene the childhood the youth the virilitie the old age of the world there is no arte no way to begin againe Yea but they leaue their parents and their friends Where they go they shall find more and such as they haue neuer yet seene and they they leaue behind them and desire so much shall shortly follow them But what shall become of their small children and orphans left without guide without support As if those their children were more theirs than Gods or as if they could loue them more than he that is their first and their truest father and how many such so left haue risen to higher place and greater abilitie than other men But it may be they feare to go alone This is great simplicitie so many people dying with them and at the selfe-same houre Finallie they go into a place where they shall not desire this life How desire it If it were lawfull to resume it they would refuse it and if a man were worthie to know what it is before he receiueth it he would neuer accept of it vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus Why or how should they desire it since they are either wholly nothing as miscreants beleeue or in farre better state than before as the wisest of the world do affirme Why then are they offended with death since it quits them of all griefe The selfe-same iourney they haue made from death that is to say from nothing to life without passion without feare they make againe from life vnto death reuerti vnde veneris quid graue est But it may be that the spectacle of death displeaseth them because they that die looke gastlie It is true but this is not death but the maske of death that which is hid vnder it is very beautifull for death hath nothing in it that is fearefull we haue sent idle and poore spies to know it who report not what they haue seene but what they haue heard and what they feare But it taketh out of our hands so many things or rather taketh vs from them and vs from our selues it taketh vs from that we know and haue been accustomed vnto and bringeth vs to an estate vnknowne at horremus ignota it taketh vs from the light to bring vs into darknes and to conclude it is our end our ruine our dissolution These are the weightiest obiections whereunto in a word a man may answere that death being the ineuitable law of nature as shall be said hereafter we neede not dispute so much thereof for it is a follie to feare that which a man cannot auoid Dementis est timere mortem quia certa expectantur dubia metuuntur mors habet necessitatem aequam inuictam But these kind of people make not their count well for it is quite contrarie to that which they say for in steed of taking any thing from vs it giueth vs all in stead of taking vs from our selues it sets vs in libertie and makes vs free to our selues in steed of bringing vs into darknes it taketh it from vs and puts vs into the light and it doth the same to vs that we do to all fruits spoyling them of their barks their shells their foldings their speres their skinnes to bring them into sight vse nature ita solet sieri pereunt semper velamenta nascentium it taketh vs from a strait incommodious rumatike darke place where we see but a small part of the heauens and the light but afarre off through the two narrow holes of our eyes to bring vs into an open libertie an assured health a perpetuall light into such a place such an estate where we may wholly see the whole heauens and the light in his naturall place aequaliter tibi splendebit omne
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
trample them vnder foot the other to do all for the publike good and profit of the subiects or to employ all to his particular profit pleasure Now a prince that he may be such as he should must alwaies remember that as it is a felicitie to haue power to do what a man will so it is true greatnes to will that that a man should Caesari cum Plin. de Traia omnia licent propter hoc minus licet vt felicitatis est posse quantum velis sic magnitudinis velle quantum possis vel potius quantū debeas The greatest infelicitie that can happen to a prince is to beleeue that all things are lawfull that he can and that pleaseth him So soone as he consenteth to this thought of good he is made wicked Now this opinion is setled in them by the help of flatterers who neuer cease alwaies to preach vnto them the greatnes of their power and very few faithfull seruitours there are that dare to tell them what their dutie is But there is not in the world a more dangerous flattery than that where with a man flattereth himselfe when the flatterer and flattered is one and the same there is no remedie for this disease Neuerthelesse it falleth out sometimes in consideration of the times persons places occasions that a good king must do those things which in outward appearance may seeme tyrannicall as when it is a question of repressing another tyrannie that is to say of a furious people the licentious libertie of whom is a true tyrannie or of the noble and rich who tyrannize ouer the poore and meaner people or when the king is poore and needie not knowing where to get siluer to raise loanes vpon the richest And we must not thinke that the seueritie of a prince is alwaies tyrannie or his gards fortresses or the maiestie of his imperious commaunds which are sometimes profitable yea necessarie and are more to be desired than the sweet prayers of tyrants These are the two true stayes and pillars of a prince and of a state if by them a prince know how to maintaine and preserue 10 Hate and contempt two murtherers of ae prince himselfe from the two contraries which are the murtherers of a prince and state that is to say hatred and contempt whereof the better to auoid them and to take heed of them a word or two Hatred contrarie to beneuolence is a wicked and obstinate affection of subiects against the prince and his A rist lib. 5. Pol. Hatred state It ordinarily proceedeth from feare of what is to come or desire of reuenge of what is past or from them both This hatred when it is great and of many a prince can hardly escape it Multorum odijs nullae opes possunt resistere He is exposed Cicero to all and there needs but one to make an end of all Multae illis manus illi vna ceruix It standeth him vpon therefore to preserue himselfe which he shall do by flying those things that ingender it that is to say crueltie and auarice the contraries to the aforesaid instruments of beneuolence He must preserue himselfe pure and free from base cruelty 11 Hatred proceedeth from crueltie Cap. 2. art 12. vnworthie greatnes very infamous to a prince But contrarily he must arme himselfe with clemencie as hath been said before in the vertues required in a prince But for as much as punishments though they be iust and necessarie in a state haue some image of crueltie he must take heed to carie himselfe therein with dexteritie and for this end I will giue him this aduice Let him not put his hand to the sword of iustice An aduice for punishments Senec. but very seldome and vnwillinglie libenter damnat qui cito ergo illi parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis 2. Enforced for the publike good and rather for example to terrifie others from the like offence 3. That it be to punish the faultie and that without choler or ioy or other passion And if he must needs shew some passion that it be compassion 4. That it be according to the accustomed maner of the countrie and not after a new for new punishments are testimonies of crueltie 5. Without giuing his assistance or being present at the execution 6. And if he must punish many he must dispatch it speedily and all at a blow for to make delayes and to vse one correction after another is a token that he taketh delight pleaseth and feedeth himselfe therewith He must likewise preserue himselfe from auarice a sinne ill 12 Auarice befitting a great personage It is shewed either by exacting and gathering ouermuch or by giuing too little The first doth much displease the people by nature couetous to whom their goods are as their blood and their life The second men of seruice and merit who haue laboured for the publike good and haue reason to thinke that they deserue some recompence Now how a prince should gouerne himselfe heerein and in his treasure and exchequer affaires either in laying their foundation or spending or preseruing them hath beene more at large discoursed in the second chapter I will heere only say that a prince must carefully preserue himselfe from three things First from resembling by ouer great and excessiue impositions these tyrants subiectmongers canibals qui deuorant plebem sicut escam panis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quorum aerarium spoliarium ciuium cruentarum que praedarum receptaculum for this breeds danger of tumult witnesse so many examples and miserable accidents Secondly from base vnhonest parsimony as well in gathering together indignum lucrum ex omni occasioue odorari vt dicitur etiam à mortuo auferre and therefore hee must not serue his turne heerein with accusations confiscations vniust spoiles as in giuing nothing or too little and that mercenarily and with long and importunate suite Thirdly from violence in the leuie of his prouision and that if it be possible he neuer sease vpon the moueables and vtensils of husbandrie This doth principally belong to receiuers and puruoyers who by their rigorous courses expose the prince to the hatred of the people and dishonour him a people subtile cruell with six hands and three heads as one saith A prince therefore must prouide that they be honest men and if they faile in their duties to correct them seuerely with rough chastisement and great amends to the the end they may restore and disgorge like spunges that which they haue sucked and drawne vniustly from the people Let vs come to the other worse enemie contempt which 13 Contempt is a sinister base and abiect opinion of the prince and the state This is the death of a state as authoritie is the soule and life thereof What doth maintaine one only man yea an old and worne man ouer so many thousands of men if not authoritie and the great esteeme of his person which if it be once
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
such is the course of the world so it changeth and so it is accommodated Vir sapiens nihil indignetur sibi accidere sciat que illa ipsa quibus laedi videtur ad conseruationem vniuersi pertinere ex his esse quae cursum mundi officiumque consummant 2 Particular effects diuers The particular effects are diuers according to the diuers spirits states of those that receiue them For they exercise the good relieue and amend the fallen punish the wicked Of euery one a word for heereof wee haue spoken elsewhere 1. Lib. of the three verities cap 11. These outward euils are in those that are good a very profitable exercise and an excellent schoole wherein as Wrestlers and Fencers Mariners in a tempest Souldiers in dangers Philosophers in their Academies and all other sorts of people in the serious exercise of their profession they are instructed made and formed vnto vertue constancie valour the victorie of the world and of fortune They learne to knowe themselues to make triall of themselues and they see the measure of their valour the vttermost of their strength how farre they may promise or hope of themselues and then they encourage and strengthen themselues to what is best accustome and harden themselues to all become resolute and inuincible whereas contrarily the long calme of prosperitie mollifieth them and maketh them wanton and effeminate And therefore Demetrius was wont to say That there were no people more miserable than they that had neuer felt any crosses or afflictions that had neuer beene miserable calling their life a dead sea These outward euils to such as are offenders are a bridle to stay them that they stumble not or a gentle correction 3 Medicine and chastisment and fatherly rod after the fall to put them in remembrance of themselues to the end they make not a second reuolt They are a kinde of letting bloud and medicine or preseruatiue to diuert faults and offences or a purgation to voide and purifie them To the wicked and forlorne they are a punishment a sickle 4 Punishment to cut them off and to take them away or to afflict them with a long and miserable languishment And these are their wholsome and necessarie effects for which these outward euils are not onely to be esteemed of and quietly taken with patience and in good part as the exploits of diuine iustice but are to be embraced as tokens and instruments of the care of the loue and prouidence of God and men are to make a profitable vse of them following the purpose and intention of him who sendeth and disposeth them as pleaseth him Of outward euils in themselues and particularly AN ADVERTISEMENT ALl these euils which are many and diuers are priuations of their contrarie good as likewise the name and nature of euill doth signifie And therefore as many heads as there are of good so many are there of euils which may all be reduced and comprehended in the number of seauen sicknesse griefe I include these two in one captiuitie banishment want infamie losse of friends death which are the priuations of health libertie home-dwelling meanes or maintenance honors friends life whereof hath beene spoken before In the first booke at large We will heere inquire into the proper and particular remedies and medicines against these seuen heads of euils and that briefly without discourse CHAP. XXII Of Sickenesse and griefe WE haue said before that griefe is the greatest and to say the truth the onely essentiall euill which is most felt and hath least remedies Neuerthelesse behold some few that regard the reason iustice vtilitie imitation and resemblance with the greatest and most excellent It is a common necessitie to indure there is no reason that for our sakes a miracle should be wrought or that a man should be offended if that happen vnto him that may happen vnto euery man It is also a naturall thing we are borne thereunto and to desire to be exempted from it is iniustice we must quietly endure the lawes of our owne condition We are made to be old to be weake to grieue to be sicke and therefore we must learne to suffer that which we cannot auoid If it be long it is light and moderate and therefore a shame to complaine of it if it be violent it is short and speedily ends either it selfe or the patient which comes all to one end Confide summus non habet tempus dolor Si grauis breuis Si longus leuis And againe it is the body that endureth it is not our selues that are offended for the offence diminisheth the excellencie and perfection of the thing and sicknesse or griefe is so far from diminishing that contrarily it serueth for a subiect and an occasion of a commendable patience much more than health doth And where there is more occasion of commendation there is not lesse occasion of good If the body be the instrument of the spirit who will complaine when the instrument is imploied in the seruice of that whereunto it is destinated The body is made to serue the soule if the soule should afflict it selfe for any thing that hapneth to the bodie the soule should serue the body Were not that man ouer delicate curious that would cry out and afflict himself because some one or other had spoiled his apparell some thorne had taken hold of it or some man passing by had torne it Some base broker perhaps would be aggrieued therewith that would willingly make a commoditie thereof But a man of abilitie and reputation would rather laugh at it and account it as nothing in respect of that state and abundance that God hath bestowed on him Now this body is but a borrowed garment to make our spirits for a time to appeare vpon this lowe and troublesome stage of which onely we should make account and procure the honour and peace thereof For from whence commeth it that a man suffereth griefe with such impatiencie It is because he accustometh not himselfe to seeke his content in his soule non assuerunt animo esse contenti nimium illis cum corpore fuit Men haue too great a commerce with their bodies And it seemeth that griefe groweth proud seeing vs to tremble vnder the power thereof It teacheth vs to distaste that which we must needs leaue and to vnwinde our selues from the vanity and deceit of this world an excellent peece of seruice The ioy and pleasure we receiue by the recouerie of our health after that our griefe or sicknesse hath taken his course is a strange enlightning vnto vs in such sort that it should seeme that nature hath giuen sicknesse for the greater honor and seruice of our pleasure and delight Now then if the griefe be indifferent the patience shall be easie if it be great the glory shall be as great if it seeme ouer-hard let vs accuse our delicacie and nicenesse and if there be but few that can indure it let vs
gaine than a losse Dignities are but honorable seruitudes whereby a man by giuing himselfe to the weale-publike is depriued of himselfe Honors are but the torches of enuie iealousie and in the end exile pouertie If a man shall call to minde the historie of all antiquitie he shall finde that all they that haue liued and haue caried themselues woorthily and vertuously haue ended their course either by exile or poison or some other violent death witnesse among the Greekes Aristides Themistocles Phocion Socrates amongst the Romans Camillus Scipio Cicero Papinian among the Hebrues the Prophets In such sort that it should seeme to be the liuerie of the more honest men for it is the ordinarie recompence of a publike state to such kinde of people And therefore a man of a gallant and generous spirit should contemne it and make small account thereof for he dishonoureth himselfe and shewes how little he hath profited in the studie of wisdome that regardeth in any respect the censures reports and speeches of the people be they good or euill CHAP. XXVII Of the losse of Friends I Heere comprehend parents children and whatsoeuer is neere and deere vnto a man First wee must know vpon what this pretended complaint or affliction is grounded whether vpon the interest or good of our friends or our owne Vpon that of our friends I doubt we shall say yea to that but yet we must not be too credulous to beleeue it It is an ambitious faining of pietie whereby we make a shew of sorrow and griefe for the hurt of another or the hindrance of the weale-publike but if wee shall withdraw the vaile of dissimulation and sound it to the quicke we shall finde that it is our owne particular good that is hid therein that toucheth vs neerest Wee complaine that our owne candle burneth and is consumed or at least is in some danger This is rather a kinde of enuie than true pietie for that which we so much complaine of touching the losse of our friends their absence their distance from vs is their true and great good moerere hoc euentum inuidi magis quà m amici est The true vse of death is to make an end of our miseries If God had made our life more miserable he had made it longer And therefore to say the truth it is vpon our owne good that this complaint and affliction is grounded now that becommeth vs not it is a kind of iniurie to be grieued with the rest and quiet of those that loue vs because we our selues are hurt thereby Suis incommodis angi non amicum sed seipsum amantis est Againe there is a good remedie for this which fortune can not take from vs and that is that suruiuing our friends we haue meanes to make new friends Friendship as it is one of the greatest blessings of our life so it is most easily gotten God makes men and men make friends Hee that wanteth not vertue shall neuer want friends It is the instrument wherewith they are made and wherewith when he hath lost his old he makes new If fortune haue taken away our friends let vs endeuour to make newe by this meanes wee shall not lose them but multiply them Of death VVE haue spoken heereof so much at large and in all respects in the eleuenth and last chapter of the second booke that there remaineth not any thing else to be spoken and therefore to that place I referre the Reader The second part of inward euils tedious and troublesome passions THE PREFACE FRom all these aboue named euils there spring and arise in vs diuers passions and cruell affections for these being taken and considered simply as they are they breed feare which apprehendeth euils as yet to come sorrow for present euils and if they be in another pitie and compassion Being considered as comming and procured by the act of another they stirre vp in vs the passions of choler hatred enuie iealousie despite reuenge and all those that procure displeasure or make vs to looke vpon another with an enuious eie Now this vertue of fortitude and valour consisteth in the gouernment and receit of these euils according to reason in the resolute and couragious cariage of a man and the keeping of himselfe free and cleere from all passions that spring thereof But because they subsist not but by these euils if by the meanes and help of so many aduisements and remedies before deliuered a man can vanquish and contemne them all there can be no more place left vnto these passions And this is the true meane to free himselfe and to come to the end as the best way to put out a fire is to withdraw the fuell that giues it nourishment Neuerthelesse wee will yet adde some particular counsels against these passions though they haue bin in such sort before deciphered that it is a matter of no difficultie to bring them into hatred and detestation CHAP. XXVIII Against Feare LEt no man attend euils before they come because it may be they will neuer come our feares are as likely to deceiue vs as our hopes and it may be that those times that we thinke will bring most affliction with them may bring greatest comfort How many vnexpected aduentures may happen that may defend a man from that blow we feare Lightning is put by with the winde of a mans hatte and the fortunes of the greatest states with accidents of small moment The turne of a wheele mounteth him that was of lowest degree to the highest step of honour and many times it falleth out that wee are preserued by that which we thought would haue beene our ouerthrow There is nothing so easily deceiued as humane foresight That which it hopeth it wanteth that which it feareth vanisheth that which it expecteth hapneth not God hath his counsell by himselfe That which man determineth after one maner he resolueth after another Let vs not therefore make our selues vnfortunate before our time nay when perhaps we are neuer likely to be so Time to come which deceiueth so many will likewise deceiue vs as soone in our feares as in our hopes It is a maxime commonly receiued in Physicke that in sharp maladies the predictions are neuer certaine and euen so is it in the most furious threatnings of fortune so long as there is life there is hope for hope continues as long in the body as the soule quamdiu spiro spero But forasmuch as this feare proceedeth not alwaies from the disposition of nature but many times from an ouer delicate education for by the want of exercise and continuall trauell and labour euen from our youth we many times apprehend things without reason we must by a long practise accustome our selues vnto that which may most terrifie vs present vnto our selues the most fearefull dangers that may light vpon vs and with cheerefulnesse of heart attempt sometimes casuall aduentures the better to trie our courage to preuent euill occurrents and to sease vpon
the armes of fortune It is a matter of lesse difficultie to resist fortune by assailing it than by defending our selues against it For then we haue leasure to arme our selues we take our aduantages we prouide for a retrait whereas when it assaulteth vs it surpriseth vs vnawares and handleth vs at her owne pleasure We must then whilest we assaile fortune learne to defend our selues giue vnto our selues false alarums by proposing vnto vs the dangers that other great personages haue past call to mind that some haue auoided the greatest because they were not astonished at them others haue beene ouerthrowne by the least for want of resolution CHAP. XXIX Against Sorrow THe remedies against sorrow set downe before as the most tedious hurtfull and vniust passion are twofold some are direct or streight others oblique I call those direct which Philosophie teacheth which concerne the confronting and disdaining of euils accounting them not euils or at least wise very small and light though they be great and grieuous and that they are not woorthie the least motion or alteration of our mindes and that to be sorrie for them or to complaine of them is a thing very vniust and ill befitting a man so teach the Stoicks Peripateticks and Plantonists This maner of preseruing a man from sorrow and melancholike passion is as rare as it is excellent and belongs to spirits of the first ranke There is likewise another kinde of Philosophicall remedy although it be not of so good a stampe which is easie and much more in vse and it is oblique this is by diuerting a mans minde and thought to things pleasant delightfull or at least indifferent from that that procureth our sorrow which is to deale cunningly to decline and auoid an euill to change the obiect It is a remedie very common and which is vsed almost in all euils if a man marke it as well of the body as of the minde Physitians when they cannot purge a rheume they turne it into some other part lesse dangerous Such as passe by steepe and precipitate deepes and downfals that haue need of launcings searingirons or fire shut their eies and turne their faces another way Valiant men in warre doe neuer taste nor consider of death their mindes being caried away by the desire of victorie In so much that diuers haue suffered death gladly yea haue procured it and beene their owne executioners either for the future glorie of their name as many Greekes and Romans or for the hope of another life as Martyrs the disciples of Hegesias and others after the reading of Plato his booke to Antiochus de morte contemnenda or to auoid the miseries of this life and for other reasons All these are they not diuersions Few there are that consider euils in themselues that relish them as Socrates did his death and Flauius condemned by Nero to die by the hands of Niger And therefore in sinister accidents misaduentures and in all outward euils we must diuert our thoughts and turne them another way The vulgar sort can giue this aduice Thinke not of it Such as haue the charge of those that are any way afflicted should for their comfort furnish affrighted spirits with other obiects Abducendus est animus ad alia studia solicitudines curas negotia loci denique mutatione saepe curandus est CHAP. XXX Against mercy and compassion THere is a two-fold mercie the one good and vertuous which is in God and in his saints which is in will and in effect to succour the afflicted not afflicting themselues or diminishing any thing that concerneth honor or equitie the other is a kind of feminine passionate pitie which proceedeth from too great a tendernesse and weaknesse of the minde whereof hath beene spoken before in the aboue-named passion Againe this wisdome teacheth vs to succour the afflicted but not to yeeld and to suffer with him So is God said to be mercifull as the Physitian to his patient the aduocate to his client affoordeth all diligence and industrie but yet taketh not their euils and affaires to the heart so doth a wise man not entertaining any griefe or darkning his spirit with the smoke thereof God commandeth vs to aid and to haue a care of the poore to defend their cause and in another place he forbids vs to pitie the poore in iudgement CHAP. XXXI Against Choler THe remedies are many and diuers wherewith the minde must before hand be armed and defended like those that feare to be besieged for afterwards it is too late They may be reduced to three heads The first is to cut off the way and to stop all the passages vnto choler It is an easier matter to 1 The first head withstand it and to stay the passage thereof in the beginning than when it hath seased vpon a man to cary himselfe well and orderly He must therfore quit himselfe from all the causes and occasions of choler which heertofore haue been produced in the description thereof that is to say 1. weaknesse and tendernesse 2. maladie of the minde in hardning it selfe against whatsoeuer may happen 3. too great delicatenesse the loue of certaine things do accustome a man to facilitie and simplicitie the mother of peace and quietnes Adomnia compositi simus quae bona paratiora sint nobis meliora grauiora it is the generall doctrine of the wise King Cotys hauing receiued for a present many beautifull and rich vessels yet fraile and easie to be broken brake them all to the end he might not be stirred to choler and furie when they should happen to be broken This was a distrust in himselfe and a base kinde of feare that prouoked him thereunto 4. Curiositie according to the example of Caesar who being a conquerour and hauing recouered the letters writings and memorials of his enemies burnt thē all before he saw them 5. Lightnes of beliefe 6. and aboue all an opinion of being contemned and wronged by another which he must chase from him as vnworthie a man of spirit for though it seeme to be a glorious thing and to proceed from too high an esteeme of himselfe which neuerthelesse is a great vice yet it commeth of basenesse and imbecillitie For he that thinketh himselfe to be contemned by another is in some sense his inferior iudgeth himselfe or feares that in truth he is so or is so reputed and distrusteth himselfe Nemo non eo à quo se contemptum iudicat minor est A man must therefore thinke that it proceedeth rather from any thing than contempt that is sottishnesse indiscretion want of good maners If this supposed contempt proceed from his friends it is too great familiaritie If from his subiects or seruants knowing that their master hath power to chasten them it is not to be belieued that they had any such thought If from base and inferior people our honor or dignitie or indignitie is not in the power of such people indignus Caesaris ira Agathocles