Industries to prevent its growth for if she suffer Choler once to get a head she evidently endangers her seit to be at the mercy of that powerful and imperious Passion It is also certain that Reason knows how to make a good use of Choler in regard it is the Natural Property of Choler to deprive Man of the use of Reason And for that this Passion is too blind and too violent to be under Conduct besides that the desire of Mischief and Revenge is inseparable from its Nature But it is not so with Zeal which animates all true Christians to which the Holy Fathers have sometime given the Name of Anger tho it arise from the Sensitive Appetite as it is there produc'd by the Love of God in whose Service it is but just that all the Powers of the Soul should be employ'd and let it be never so forcible or vehement its strength and vehemence are still obedient to the Dictates of Reason A zealous Preacher cries out vehemently against Sinners but he is no way exasperated against 'em nor doth he carry any Animosities in his Heart while he reproves and reproaches them in his Words On the other side when Men are in Anger they chide and punish with Animosity and at the same time that they discharge themselves from these obligations of Charity they wrong tender Vertue every hour Therefore saith St. Augustin The most quick-sighted Philosophers and whose Opinions approach nearest to Truth believe that Choler is absolutely evil because say they the slightest Emotions of it are malicious and irregular and that forces us to sin against Reason at the very time when we do that which Reason commands us We ought to have the same opinion of all the Humane Passions adds the Holy Doctor They resemble that Selve-Love that gives 'em Birth they are vehement disorderly and vicious like that whereas the Fears and Joys the Sorrows and other Passions of Christians that derive themselves from Charity are Peaceable Mild Prudent and Moderate If Human Passions then be so contrary to Reason that it is impossible that Reason should be serviceable to 'em we may easily conclude That it is not the office of Mildness to reduce Choler to that point of Moderation set down by Aristotle to which so soon as it is reduced becomes virtuous but to withstand all its Emotions and so to extinguish 'em that nothing may be able to re-kindle ' em Therefore Mildness can never be sufficiently extoll'd if the same Mildness of which some Persons make a shew in their proceedings were a real Vertue and if it effectually carried off the tartness and bittetness of Choler whereas it only seemingly removes it as I am going to make out If we had a true Idea of the Condition of Man or if we knew that he is possessed with a Self-Love altogether violent and erroneous and that this Self-Love renders him impetuous wild and inhuman the knowledge of this would spare us the trouble of shewing that Mildness is no real Vertue since no body being deceiv'd by the seeming Mildness of a Person that never was transported with Passion in his Life all Men would judge of him as of a Lyon which we still believe to be fierce and cruel tho we see him to be gentle and obedient to his Governor and would be so far from pronouncing such a person Mild and Peaceable that they would think it sufficient to say he was Tam'd But what is it that has the Power to tame a Man Either the Kindness that is done him or the Benefit which he hopes to receive which is apparent from hence that the Favourites of Kings and Princes and all Servants that are particularly beloved by their Masters suffer their cross Humors and sometimes their Rebukes and Repulses with an extraordinary Mildness so that that which makes it appear that thâ—s Mildness is only a Violence put upon their natural Inclinations is this That at the same time that they shew themselves so Mild to those upon whom their whole Fortune depends they unchain themselves against all others like tamed Lyons that only quit their wildness in the presence of their Governors that feed ' em This same Mildness proceeds also very frequently from the fear of being put to shame For Pride which inflames Man with a continual desire to make himself the Master of others causes him to be asham'd every time that he finds himself transported with Choler and that it appears he is not Master of himself Sometimes Mildness is only a vain and ambitious desire to triumph over a violent Passion that triumphs over the most part of Man which sort of Vanity is to be met with in Magistrates in Philosophers and all those that labour for Moderation and would be thought prudent Persons In other Persons Mildness is a desire to gain to themselves the Love of all Men particularly of those with whom they associate For there are some Vertues as Valour Generosity and Magnanimity which give us admission into the Breasts of Men and fix us in their Esteem others as Mildness and Goodness which open their Hearts and attract their Friendship Love of Peace and Repose obliges many People engaged in Marriage to restrain their natural Ardor and Impatiency and to imitate the Manners and Customs of Mild and Moderate Persons because they find no better way to keep Peace at home than to give their Wives their Children and their Servants a good example Mildness in Dispute is a secret desire we have to vanquish our Opponents which is an effect of our experience that Heat in Disputes troubles and confounds the Judgment which is the reason we forbear to chase our selves to the end that being in perfect possession of our selves we may be able to explain our selves with clearness and force which is the most probable way to prevail The same is to be said of Mildness in Negotiations For it is a Moderation which we never regard but only to get an advantage over those with whom we nâ—gotiâ—te which is a cunning kind of coolness which certain stout Men observe in Duels by which they take time and leisure and watch their opportunity to thrust home Signeur Contarini Ambassador in France to this Coldness added an apparent Indifferency insomuch that sometimes he would sit all the whole time of the Conference without speaking a word to the business he came about When they waited on him to his Coach he spoke of it as of a thing which he had forgotten and treated as he went down Stairs But the Duke d'Olivares made use of a stratagem quite contrary to studied Mildness for he endeavour'd by counterfeit and meditated heats to put the Persons in disorder with whom he negotiated The Mildness of Princes who when they have it in their power to punish with exile or imprisonment such as go beyond the bounds of Respect and Duty pass by their indiscretion and insolence without any notice or expression of their displeasure in such as
that when our Societies were first establish'd and that they set up their first Common-weal Justice descended from Heaven to prevent it from becoming suddainly a dreadful Theater of Murthers Assassinations and Robberies for which reason they represent her with a Sword in her Hand wherewith she menaces the Wicked and punishes bad Offenders and Persons daringly unjust This is as much as to say that Justice is a Heavenly Vertue whether we consider it in the Persons of Princes and Judges that dispence it or in the rest of Men who make it the Rule of their Actions or whether we consider it in the Person of Good Men who love and willingly obey it or in the Persons of the Wicked who observe her Laws through constraint and fear of Punishment For the Fear of Punishment is the Wisdom of the wicked and the Vertue of those that have none This is the Opinion which all Men have conceiv'd of Justice They believe that she drew her Original from Heaven and the Wisest and most Understanding Persons have given her high Encomiums Vertue said a Pythagorean is a Divine Vertue that under several Names Governs the World and all the parts that compose it For so long as she maintains the World in order we give her the Name of Providence The Name of Love when she Rules advisedly Cities Common-wealths and Kingdoms And Vertue when she disciplines Men into Order and Civil Conversation Lastly it is Vertue says St. Austin which has the priviledge to keep Men in subjection to God and to prevent his Wrath from withdrawing us from under her Dominion We must confess that these Encomiums give us a fair Idea of this Vertue and indeed we cannot imagine a more delightful Spectacle than to see Men equally zealous the one to press us to observe the other eager to follow the Laws and Commands of Justice out of a sincere Love which they have for her But where shall we find thi◠sincere Love of Justice Shall we find it in Soveraign Princes the most careful to uphold Justice within their Realms What was that care of the Pagan Emperors and what was afterwards the same Care of the Christian Princes who only Govern'd themselves by the Maxims and Spirit of Christianity but an ardent desire of Raigning and a piece of Policy purely Human What was it in several Others but their Natural haughtiness which not enduring those that adventur'd to raise Rebellions and to Declare War against 'em punish'd those bold Attempters with utmost severity Is it not in others a love of their Repose which makes 'em so diligent to stifle seditious Enterprizes and so exact to execute the Rigor of the Laws upon the Heads of Sedition Nor is it impossible but that in some it may be an eager Desire to obtain the Sirname of Just For thô the Love of Titles be an Ambition very frivilous yet is it to be reck on'd among Human Passions in regard that Man is vain and frivilous to that Degree which is not to be imagined Of which Augustus was an evident Proof who wept for joy when the Senate gave him the Title of Father of his Countrey The Integrity of Magistrates is a singular Affectation of Reputation or a desire to prefer themselves to higher Employments For as Self Love engages Men to make their Vices and their Vertues serviceable to their Interest Hence it comes to pass that corrupt Judges do justice to enrich themselves others to gain the esteem of the World and that their Soveraigns may deem 'em worthy of higher Employments The Justice of private Persons most exact and careful of doing wrong or injury to their Neighbours is a fear of being retaliated with the fame injuries that they do to others For Man that sees himself engag'd in Society among Men lives therein with more Caution and Fear than if he were in the midst of a Forrest full of Wild Beasts for he is not only afraid of his Life but of his Quiet and his Repntation Besides that the Oppressions Violences and Murders which he sees committed every day redouble his Terrors so that while he continually meditates how to secure himself from the accidents that threaten him he finds no better means than to observe the Laws of others in respect of others and that upon good grounds For he that behaves himself towards others with so much circumspection that he never prejudices any of their Interests or Concerns obliges them for their own Reputation to let him live without disturbance in peace and quiet And besides Men have not the heart to harm or injure a Person that behaves himself peaceably and justly toward all the World Men of Justice make deep impressions of Reverence in others that we dare no more presume to touch their Honour than the Consecrated Vessels of a Temple Thus the Justice of Private Men is no more than a kind of Politick reserv'dness to secure their Lives their Estates and their Honors from injury and violence Wherefore says Aristotle We must not be precipitate in our Judgments in pronouncing slightly as we do that he who performs Acts of Justice is always a Just Man Just and equitable Actions deceive us says Plato because we derive this consequence from thence That they who are upright are lovers of Justice and are endued with better Inclinations than other Men For they are no less covetous and violent than others only they put a force upon themselves and do no injury to any one lest any person should do injury to them The Justice of the Philosophers was only a desire to distinguish themselves from all other Men by the uprightness of their Dealings and to shew that only they liv'd according to the Rules of Right Reason The Justice of the Jews who only acted by the Spirit of the Law was only a Fear lest God should withdraw his Protection from 'em deliver 'em into the hands of their Enemies and blast their Corn-Fields and their Vineyards There is not therefore any Justice among Men since there is not any one that observes her for the Love of her self but in Soveraign Princes that defend and protect it in Judges that administer it in private People that exercise it it has no other foundation than that of Interest and Ambition since it was no more than Vanity among the Philosophers and in her most zealous Admirers among the Jews a servile and interested Fear It was not therefore without reason that the Ancient Poets whom Lactantius calls the First Sages of the World complain'd that Justice was return'd to Heaven and frequently wont to cry out Deseruit properè terras sanctissima Virgo For they made not their Complaints and Exclamations to any other end but this Divine Vertue is no longer now remaining among Men. The Fables also inform us the Truth of this and the short continuance of the Age of Gold and Saturns Raign with which ended the Raign of Fidelity and Justice clearly demonstrate that Justice did not long
Vertues a Quality which comprehends and includes them all in one Nor must we forget that it was she who wrought those Miracles which Antiquity has consecrated to her Memory that has fam'd Greece for persons obstinately resolv'd to dye one for another and celebrated Rome for Women abandoning their Lives that they might be inseparably united to their Husbands We must acknowledge in good earnest that there can nothing be more noble then what men say and what they think concerning Friendship only we could wish that it were real But what is too true on the other side is this that all the motions of Nature are Circular they who have narrowly observ'd the Actions of men assure us that the momotions of his Will are the same and that he is so fix'd and devoted to himself that every time he goes beyond himself to assist his Friends in their most pressing necessities he returns to himself by some private way And therefore whatever men believe or imagin that he serves another to be serv'd himself that he procures the settlement of others to secure his own or at least to reap the honour of his several Kindnesses All sorts of Friendship says Aristotle are like so many Rivulets that take their rise from the Spring of Self-love So that that same Friendship which seems to us most pure is but the seeking of some advantages which we hope to obtain by that kindness which we do to others True it is that it is a neat and dextrous way of seeking and that of all the pretences of self-Self-love that of Friendship is the most honest and that which most genteelly covers its farther intentions For among all the various Disguises that man makes use of to succeed in the world there is none so honourable as when he strives and labours to appear a zealous and faithful Friend And therefore we need not wonder if it be chiefly at the Court where affected Friendship exposes it self that there she erects her Theater and puts on all her gawdy Habiliments And lastly that there she acts her Master-pieces and recites her smoothest and most affectionate parts since it is there that they who take that course to attain their ends make the greatest advantages and obtain the highest preferments But if there be no true Friendship wherefore is it that Ministers of State and Favourites of Kings and Princes are so zealous to serve their absent and disgraced Friends This Objection has taken deep root in the Breasts of most Men and it is so much the more necessary to be answer'd because the Reply will discover a kind of Mistery I say then that the good Offices which for the absent and their diligence to make their advantages of favourable Conjunctures are so far from being done out of pure kindness that on the contrary they are the meeâ— effects of Interests A great Minister of State testifies his Zeal for his absent Friend and presses continually that he may be recalled home 1. Because his â—riend having assisted him to obtain the Diâ—nity he enjoys that Minister had lost his Reputation had he not given his Friend that publick mark of his acknowledgment 2. He does it for fear lest the King should have a bad Opinion of him as having frequently thus considered with himself What would the King think of me should I be silent and do nothing for him who haâ— don so much for me 3. He has a design that his Friend should be yet more united to his Interest 4. He is afraid of his Enmity should he return and he not be concerned in procuring it 5. He has this prospect of the future that so long as he had shewn himself cordial to his Friend he should find the like that would bestir themselves in his behalf should it be his turn to fall into disgrace And this is a certain Demonstration of what I assert That a true crafty Courtier is never zealous for his absent Friends but when he believes the King has still some remaining tenderness for 'em but he never troubles himself for those that have utterly and irreparably lost the good Opinion of the Prince and are irrecoverably fall'n into his displeasure With this sort of absent Friends they soon break off all manner of Correspondence and raze 'em from their remembrance as if they never had been in the World more miserable then the dead who leave behind 'em many times those Friends that wish 'em alive again that they might bestow upon 'em Employments and Offices which they have at their disposal Men being generally so courteous so human and generous that they are always ready to bestow their Favours upon those that are not in a condition to accept of their Kindness After all that has been said no Man will think it an irrational Astonishment that so sublime an Intellect as that of Cicero should follow all the Vulgar Opinions concerning this subject of Friendship and that of all the true Arguments that prove there is not any true and unbyass'd Friendship not one should be able to open his Eyes 'T is strange says Cicero That seeing there are so many Millions of Men all strictly bound by the same tye of nature we shall hardly throughout the whole extent of the Earth find two real Friends But this can be no wonder to those who apprehend that Man is a Prisoner to himself and that self-love is a kind of Waiter that attends him every time he stirs abroad and brings him home again For it is apparent that Man being in such a condition is not capable of Friendship seeing that by the means of Friendship he ought to enter into his Friend and remain in the person whom he loves 'T is a shame says Cicero That a Command an Employment Mony or Reputation should have the power to ruin the most friendly contracted Friendships and that two Men so strongly united and rivited together should so easily become Rivals And indeed it is no way proper that a Man who wishes his Friend as well or better then himself should be afflicted at the increase of his Wealth or Honour nevertheless it creates those Jealousies that rend his very Heart and maugre all the violence which he uses to himself they appear in his Countenance And therefore it is false that he wishes his Friend those advantages of Honour and Preferment out of any sentiment of sincerity as a votary for his Welfare And this reason alone should be enough to dissipate that same darkness which blinds the World force it to acknowledge that Man is only amorous of himself I cannot endure says the same Author That Men should make love to grow from Business and Interest and that they ascribe so mean a birth to a quality so exalted for what have I to do with Scipio or wherein can I be serviceable to him I shall answer his Question with another For I would fain know whether there be no more then one thing of which a man stands in need whether