hot from colde or white colours from blacke For the apprehensions and conceits of these qualities are from without forth brought in by the senses naturall but the other are within vs taking their originall from those good things that we have within us Now these men entring into the question and common place of sovereigne felicity with their Logicke subtilties as if they were to handle the lying sophisme called Pseudomenos or that masterfull maner of reasoning named Kyritton have not solved one of the doubts and questions which there were but mooved and raised an infinite number of others that were not there before Moreover there is no man who knoweth not that there being two sorts of good things the one which is the very utmost end and the other the meanes to attaine thereto the one is more excellent and perfect of the twaine And Chrysippus himselfe knoweth well enough this difference as it may appeare by that which he hath written in his third booke of Good things for he disagreeth with those who are of opinion that the end of sovereigne good is science and putteth this downe in his treatise of Justice If there be any who supposeth that pleasure is the end of good things hee thinketh not that justice can be safe if not the finall end but simply good and no more he is of another minde I do not thinke that you would heare me at this present to rehearse his owne words for his third booke as touching Justice is extant and to be had every where When as they say therefore my friend elsewere that no good thing is greater or lesse than another but that the finall end is equall with that which is not the end and no better than it it is evident that they be contrary and repugnant not onely to the common notions but also to their owne very words And againe if of two evils the one maketh us woorse than we were when it came unto us and the other hurteth us indeed but maketh vs not woorse that evill in mine opinion is the greater which maketh us worse neither doth that more hurt which causeth us not to be the woorse And Chrysippus verily confesseth that there be certeine feares sorrowes and deceitfull illusions which well may hurt and offend us but not make us woorse But reade over and peruse the first of those books which are written against Plato as concerning Justice for in respect of other causes it were very well done and worth your labour to note the frivolous babling in that place of this man where he makes no spare to deliver all matters and doctrines whatsoever indifferently even those aswell of his owne sect as of other strangers slat opposit to common sense as for example That it is lawfull to propose two ends and two scopes of our life and not to referre all that ever we do unto one end And yet more than that is this also a common notion That the end verily is one but every thing that is done ought to have a relation to another and yet of necessitie they must abide the one or the other For if the first things according to nature be not expetible for themselves and the last end but rather the reasonable election and choise of them and if every man doth what lies in him to have and obteine those things which are first according to nature and all actions and operations have their reference thither namely to acquire and enjoy the principall things according to nature if I say they thinke so it must needs be that without aspiring and aiming for to get and atteine those things they have another end to which they must referre the election and choise of the said things and not the things themselves for thus will be the end even to know how to chuse them well and to take them wisely but the things themselves and the enjoying of them will be of small moment being as a matter and subject which hath the dignity and estimation for thus I suppose they use and put downe in writing this very word to shew the difference LAMPRIAS Certes you have passing well and woorthily reported unto us both what they say and how they deliver it DIADUMENUS But marke I beseech you how they fare like unto those who will needs streine themselves to leape over and beyond their owne shadow for they leave not behinde but carie evermore with them some absurdity in their speech and the same farre remote alwaies from common sense for as if one should say That an archer doeth all that lieth in him not to hit the marke but to doe all that ever he can he might be justly taken for a man who spake aenigmatically by darke riddles and uttered strange and prodigious words even so doe these old doting fooles who with all their power endevour to maintaine that to obteine the things according to nature is not the end of aiming and aspiring to things according to nature but forsooth to take and chuse them and that the desire of health and seeking after it in any man endeth not in health of ech one but contrariwise that health is referred to the appetite and seeking after it saying moreover that to walke to read or speake aloud to endure sections or incisions yea and to take purging medicines so all be done by reason are the ends of health and not it the end of those meanes Certes these men dote rave speake idly as well as they who should say let me goe to supper that we may sacrifice bath or sweat in the stouph Nay that which more is that which these men say perverteth order and custome and conteineth a confusion shufling turning upside downe of al our affaires whatsoever We study not say they to walke in due time for to concoct digest our meats well but we concoct and digest our meat because we might walke in due season Why Hath nature given us health for Ellebore or rather brought foorth Ellebor for health sake For what could be uttered more strange and absurd than such propositions as these and what difference is there betweene him who saith that health was made for medicinable drogues and not drogues medicinable for health and another who holdeth that the gathering the choise the composition and use of such medicines is to be preferred before health it selfe or rather he thinks that health is not in any respect expetible but hee setteth downe the very end in the penning and handling of those medicines affirming forsooth that appetite is the end of fruition and not fruition of appetite And why not quoth he all while there be added thereto these termes considerately and with reason True will we say againe if a man have regard unto the obteining and enjoying of the thing which he pursueth for otherwise that considerate reason is to no purpose in case all be done for to obteine that the fruition whereof is neither honorable nor happy LAMPRIAS And since
appertaine unto us to be most accordant unto humane life and the common prenotions inbred anticipations of knowledge abovesaid But to the end that no man might denie that he is repugnant and contrary to himselfe loe what he saith in his third booke of justice This is it quoth he that by reason of the surpassing grandure beawty of our sentences those matters which we deliver seeme feined tales and devised fables exceeding mans power and farre beyond humane nature How can it be that any man should more plainly confesse that he is at war with himselfe than he doth who saith that his propositions and opinions are so extravagant and transcendent that they resemble counterfeit tales and for their exelency surmount the condition and nature of man and yet forsooth for all this that they accord and agree passing well with humane life yea and come neerest unto the said inbred prenotions and anticipations that are in us Hee affirmeth that the very essence and substance of infelicitie is vice writing and firmly mainteining in all his books of morall and naturall philosophy that to live in vice is as much as to live in misery and wretchednesse but in the third booke of Nature having said before that it were better and more expedient to live a senselesse foole yea though there were no hope that ever he should become wise than not to live at all he addeth afterwards thus much For there be such good things in men that in some sort the very evill things goe before and are better than the indifferent in the middes betweene As for this how he hath written elswhere that there is nothing expedient and profitable in fooles and yet in this place setteth downe in plaine termes that it is expedient to live foolish and senselesse I am content to overpasse but seeing hee saith now that evill things goe before and one better than the indifferent or meane which with them of his sect are neither good nor ill surely it is as much as if hee affirmed that evill things are better than things not evill and all are as to say that to be wretched is more expedient than not to be wretched and so by that meanes he is of opinion that not to be miserable is more unprofitable than to be miserable and if it be more unprofitable than also it must be more hurtfull and dammageable But being desirous in some sort to mollifie this absurditie and to salve this sore he subnexeth as touching evill things these words My meaning is not quoth he that they should go before and be preferred but reason is the thing wherewith it is better to live although a man should ever be a foole than not to live at all First and formost then hee calleth vice an evill thing as also whatsoever doth participate of vice and nothing els now is vice reasonable or rather to speake more properly reason delinquent so that to live with reason if we be fooles and void of wisdome what is it els but to live with vice now to live as 〈◊〉 is all one as to live wretched Wherein is it then and how commeth it about that this should go before meane and indifferent things for it was not admitted that happie life should go before miserie neither was it ever any part say they of Chrysippus his meaning to range and count among good things To remaine alive no more than among bad To depart this life but he thought that these things were of themselves indifferent and of a middle nature in which regard otherwhiles it is meet for happy men to leave this life and for wretches to continue alive And what greater contrariety can there be as touching things eligible or refusable than to say that for them who are happy in the highest degree it is sit and beseeming to forgoe and for sake the good things that be present for want of some one thing that is indifferent And yet Chrysippus is of this minde that no indifferent thing is of the owne nature to be desired or rejected but that we ought to chuse that onely which is good and to shun that alone which is bad so as according to their opinion it comes to passe that they never divert their dessignments or actions to the pursute after things desirable nor the avoidance of things refusable but another marke it is that they shoot aime at namely at those things which they neither eschue nor chuse according thereto they live die Chrysippus avoweth confesseth that there is as great a difference betweene good things bad as possibly may be as needs there must in case it be true that as the one sort of them cause those in whom they are to be exceeding happy so the other extreme wretched miserable Now in the first booke of the end of good things he saith that aswell good things as bad be sensible for these be his very words That good and evill things be perceptible by sense we must of necessity acknowledge upon these arguments for not onely the very passions indeed of the minde together with their parts and severall kinds to wit sadnesse feare and such like be sensible but also a man may have a sense of theft adultery and semblable sinnes yea and of follie of cowardise and in one word of all other vices which are in number not a few and not onely joy beneficence and other dependances of vertuous offices but also prudence valour and the rest of the vertues are object to the sense But to let passe all other absurdities conteined in these words who will not confesse but that there is a meere contradiction in that which they delivered as touching one that becomes a wise man and knowes not thereof for considering that the present good is sensible and much different from that which is evill that one possibly should of a wicked person proove to be vertuous and not know thereof not have sense of vertue being present but to thinke that vice is still within him how can this otherwise be but most absurd for either no man can be ignorant and out of doubt whether he hath all vertues together or els he must confesse that there is small difference and the same hard to be discerned betweene vice and vertue felicity and infelicity a right honest life and a most dishonest in case a man should passe from the one to the other and possesse one for the other without ever knowing it One worke he wrote entituled Of lives and the same divided into foure books in the fourth whereof he saith That a wise man medleth not with great affaires but is occupied in his owne businesse onely without being curious to looke into other mens occasions his very words to this purpose be these For mine owne part of this opinion I am that a prudent man gladly avoideth a stirring life intermedleth little and in his owne matters onely for to deale simply in a mans owne affaires and to
upon him with this contradiction and say that he may aswel hold that whatsoever is beneath the Primum mobile or starrie firmament ought to be called Below In summe how is the earth called The middle and whereof is it the middle for the universall frame of the world called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is infinit and this infinit which hath neither head nor foot how can it in reason have a navill for even that which we call the mids of any thing is a kinde of limitation whereas infinitie is a meere privation of all limits and bounds As for him who saith it is not in the mids of that universalitie but of the world he is a pleasant man if he thinke not withall that the world it selfe is subject to the same doubts and difficulties for the said universall frame leaveth not unto the very world a middle but is without a certeine seat without assured footing mooving in a voidnesse infinite not into some one place proper unto it and if haply it should meet with some any other cause of stay and so abide stil the same is not according to the nature of the place And as much may we conjecture of the Moone that by the meanes of some other soule or nature or rather of some difference the earth 〈◊〉 firme beneeath and the Moone mooveth Furthermore you see how they are not ignorant of a great errour and inconvenience for if it be true that whatsoever is without the centre of the earth it skils not how is to be counted Above and Aloft then is there no part of the world to be reckoned Below or Beneath but aswell the earth it selfe as al that is upon it shal be above aloft and to be short every bodie neere or about the centre must go among those things that are aloft neither must we reckon any thing to be under or beneath but one pricke or point which hath no bodie and the same forsooth must make head and stand in opposition necessarily against all the whole nature besides of the world in case according to the course of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say above and beneath be opposite And not onely this absurdity will follow but also all heavie and ponderous bodies must needs lose the cause for which they bend and incline hither for bodie there will be none toward which it should move and as for this pricke or centre that hath no bodie there is no likelihood neither would they themselves have it so that it should be so puissant and forcible as to draw to it and reteine about it all things And if it be found unreasonable and repugnant to the course of nature that the world should be all above and nothing beneath but a terme or limit and the same without body without space and distance then this that we say is yet more reasonable namely that the region beneath and that above being parted distinctly one from another have neverthelesse ech of them a large and spacious roume to round themselves in But suppose if it please you it were against nature that terrestriall bodies should have any motion in heaven let us consider gently and in good termes not after a tragicall maner but mildly This prooveth not by-and-by that the Moone is not earth but rather that earth is in some place where naturally it should not be for the fire of the mountaine Aetna is verily under the ground against the nature of it howbeit the same ceaseth not therefore to be fire The winde conteined within leather bottles is of the owne nature light and given to mount upward but by force it commeth to be there where naturally it ought not to be Our very soule it selfe I beseech you in the name of Jupiter is it not against nature deteined within the body being light in that which is heavie being of a firie substance in that which is colde as yee your 〈◊〉 and being invisible in that which is grosse and palpable do we therefore denie that the soule is within the bodie that it is a divine substance under a grosse and heavie masse that in a moment it passeth thorowout heaven earth and sea that it pierceth and entreth within flesh nerves and marrow and finally is the cause together with the humors of infinit passions And even this Jupiter of yours such as you imagine and depaint him to be is he not of his owne nature a mighty and perpetuall fire howbeit now he submitteth himselfe and is pliable subject he is to all formes and apt to admit divers mutations Take heed therefore and be well advised good sir lest that in transferring and reducing every thing to their naturall place you doe not so philosophize as that you will bring in a dissolution of all the world and set on foot againe that olde quarrell and contention among all things which Empedocles writeth of or to speake more to the purpose beware you raise not those ancient Titans and Giants to put on armes against nature and so consequently endevour to receive and see againe that fabulous disorder and confusion whereby all that is weightie goeth one way and whatsoever is light another way apart Where neither light some countenance of Sunne nor earth all greene With herbs and plants admired is nor surging sea is seene according as Empedocles hath written wherein the earth feeleth no heat nor the water any winde wherein there is no ponderosity above nor lightnesse beneath but the principles and elements of all things be by themselves solitary without any mutuall love or dilection betweene them not admitting any society or mixture together but avoiding and turning away one from the other mooving apart by particular motions as being disdainfull proud and carying themselves in such sort as all things do where no god is as Plato saith that is as those bodies are affected wherein there is no understanding nor soule untill such time as by some divine providence there come into nature a desire and so amity Venus and Love be there engendred according to the sayings of Empedocles Parmenides and Hesiodus to the end that changing their naturall places and communicating reciprocally their gifts and faculties some driven by necessity to moove other bound to rest they be all forced to a better state remitting somewhat of their 〈◊〉 and yeelding one to another they grew at length unto accord harmony and societie For if there had not beene any other part of the world against nature but that ech one had bene both in place and for quality as it ought naturally to be without any need of change or transposition so that there had beene nothing at the first wanting I greatly doubt what and wherein was the worke of divine providence or whereupon it is that Jupiter was the father creator and maker For in a campe or field there would be no need of a man who is expert and skilfull in ranging and ordering of battell
that is to say the notable sayings and answers of Lacedaemonian Dames 479 34 The vertuous deeds of Women 482 35 A Consolatorie oration sent nnto APOLLONIUS upon the death of his sonne 509 36 A Consolatorie letter or discourse sent unto his owne Wife as touching the death of her and his daughter 533 37 How it commeth that the divine Justice differreth otherwhiles the punishment of wicked persons 538 38 That Brute beasts have discourse of reason in maner of a Dialogue named Gryllus 561 39 Whether it be lawfull to eate flesh or no the former oration or treatise 571 Of eating flesh the second Declamation 576 40 That a man cannot live pleasantly according to the doctrine of EPICURUS 580 41 Whether this common Mot be well said LIVE HIDDEN or So LIVE as no man may know thou livest 605 42 Rules and precepts of health in maner of a Dialogue 609 43 Of the Romans fortune 627 44 The Symposiacks or table Questions The first booke 641 Of Symposiacks the second booke 661 Of Symposiacks the third booke 680 Of Symposiacks the fourth booke 698 Of Symposiacks the fift booke 713 Of Symposiacks the sixt booke 729 Of Symposiacks the seventh booke 742 Of Symposiacks the eight booke 764 Of Symposiacks the ninth booke 785 45 The opinions of Philosophers 802 Of Philosophers opinions the first booke 804 Of Philosophers opinions the second booke 817 Of Philosophers opinions the third booke 826 Of Philosophers opinions the fourth booke 833 Of Philosophers opinions the fift booke 841 46 Romane Questions 850 47 Demaunds or questions as touching Greeke affaires 888 48 The Parallels or a briefe Collation of Romane narrations with the semblable reported of the Greeks 906 49 The Lives of the ten Oratours 918 50 Narrations of Love 944 51 Whether creatures be more wise they of the land or those of the water 949 52 Whether the Athenians were more renowmed for Martiall Armes or good Letters 981 53 Whether of the twaine is more profitable Fire or Water 989 54 Of the Primitive or first Cold. 992 55 Naturall Questions 1002 56 Platonique Questions 1016 57 A commentary of the Creation of the soule which PLATO desoribeth in his booke Timaeus 1030 58 Of fatall Necessitie 1048 59 A Compendious Review or Discourse That the Stoicks deliver more strange opinions than doe the Poëts 1055 60 The Contradictions of Stoicke Philosophers 1057 61 Of Common Conceptions against the Stoicks 1081 62 Against COLOTES the Epicurean 1109 63 Of Love 1130 64 Of the Face appearing within the Roundle of the Moone 1159 65 Why the prophetesse PYTHIA giveth no answer now from the Oracle in verse or Meeter 1185 66 Of the Daemon or familiar spirit of SOCRATES 1202 67 Of the Malice of HERODOTUS 1227 68 Of Musicke 1248 69 Of the Fortune or vertue of king ALEXANDER the first Oration 1263 Of the Fortune or vertue of K. ALEXANDER the second Oration 1272 70 Of Is is and OSIRIS 1286 71 Of the Oracles that have Ceased to give answere 1320 72 What signifieth this word EI engraven over the Dore of APOLLOES Temple in the City of DELPHI 1351 OF THE NOVRITVRE AND EDVCATION OF CHILDREN The Summarie THe very title of this Treatise discovereth sufficiently the intention of the authour and whosoever he was that reduced these Morals and mixt works of his into one entire volume was well advised and had great reason to range this present Discourse in the first and formost place For unlesse our minds be framed unto vertue from our infancie impossible it is that we should performe any woorthy act so long as we live Now albeit Plutarch as a meere Pagane hath both in this booke and also in others ensuing where he treateth of vertues and vices left out the chiefe and principall thing to wit The Law of God and his Trueth wherein he was altogether ignorant yet neverthelesse these excellent precepts by him deliuered like raies which proceed from the light of nature remaining still in the spirit and soule of man aswell to leaue sinners inexcusable as to shew how happie they be who are guided by the heauenly light of holy Scripture are able to commence action against those who make profession in word how they embrace the true and souereigne Good but in deed and effect do annihilate as much as lieth in them the power and efficacie thereof Moreover in this Treatise he proveth first of all That the generation of infants ought in no wise to be defamed with the blot either of adulterie or drunkennesse Then he entreth into a discourse of their education and after he hath shewed that Nature Reason Vsage ought to concurre in their instruction he teacheth how by whom they should be nurtured brought up and taught where he reproveth sharply the slouth ignorance and avarice of some fathers And the better to declare the extelleneie of these benefits namely goodinstruction knowledge and vertue which the studie of philosophie doth promise and teach he compareth the same with all the greatest goods of the world and so consequently setteth downe what vices especially they are to shun and avoid who would be capable of sincere and true literature But before he proceedeth further he describeth and limiteth how farforth children well borne and of good parentage should be urged and forced by compulsion disciphering briefly the praises of morall philosophie and concluding withall That the man is blessed who is both helpfull to his neighbour as it becommeth and also good unto himselfe All these points aboverehearsed when he hath enriched and embelished with similitudes examples apophihegmes and such like ornaments he propoundeth diuers rules pertinent to the Institution of yoong children which done he passeth from tender child-hood to youthfull age shewing what gouernment there ought to be of yoong men farre from whom he banisheth and chaseth flatterers especially and for a finall conclusion discourseth of the kinde behauior of fathers and the good example that they are to giue unto their children THE EDVCATION OF CHILDREN FOrasmuch as we are to consider what may be sayd as touching the education of children free borne and descended from gentle blood how and by what discipline they may become honest and vertuous we shall perhaps treat hereof the better if we begin at their very generation and nativitie First and formost therefore I would advise those who desire to be the fathers of such children as may live another day in honour and reputation among men not to match themselves and meddle with light women common courtisans I meane or private concubines For a reproch this is that followeth a man all the dayes of his life and a shamefull staine which by no meanes can be fetched out if haply he be not come of a good father or good mother neither is there any one thing that presenteth it selfe more readily unto his adversaries and sooner is in their mouth when they are disposed to checke taunt and revile than to twit him with such parentage In which
and likewise when they read in Homer how Achilles encouraged to battell both horse and man they doe marvell still and make doubt whether that part and facultie in us whereby we are angrie do lust joy or grieve be of that nature that it can well obey reason and be so affected and disposed thereby that it may give assent thereto considering especially that it is not seated or lodged without nor separated from us ne yet framed by any thing which is not in us no nor shapen by forcible meanes and constraint to wit by mold stroke of hammer or any such thing but as it is fitted and forged by nature so it keepeth to her is conversant with her and finally perfited and accomplished by custome and continuance Which is the reason that verie properly Manners be called in Greeke by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give us to understand that they are nothing else to speake plainely and after a grosse manner but a certaine qualitie imprinted by long continuance of time in that part of the soule which of it selfe is unreasonable and is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that the said reasonlesse part framed by reason taketh this qualitie or difference call it whether you will by the meanes of long time and custom which they terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For reason is not willing to roote out quite all passions which were neither possible nor expedient but onely it doth limit them within certaine bounds and setteth downe a kinde of order and thus aftera sort causeth Morall vertues not to be impassibilities but rather mediocrities and regularities or moderations of our affections and this it doth by the meanes of prudence and wisedome which reduceth the power of this sensuall and patheticall part unto a civill and honest habitude For these three things they say are in the soule of man to wit a naturall puissance or facultie a passion or motion and also an habitude Now the said facultie or power is the verie beginning and as a man would say the matter of passions to wit the power or aptnesse to be angrie to be ashamed or to be confident and bold The passion is the actuall mooving of the said power namely anger it selfe shame confidence or boldnes The habitude is a settled and confirmed strength established in the sensuall or unreasonable part by continuall use and custome which if the passions be ill governed by reason becommeth to be a vice and contrariwise a vertue in case the same be well ordered and directed thereby Moreover forasmuch as Philosophers do not hold and affirme that everie vertue is a mediocritie nor call it Morall to the end therefore that we may the better declare and shew the difference we had need to fetch the beginning of this discourse farther off Of all things then that be in the world some have their essence and being of themselves absolutely and simply others respectively and in relation to us Absolutely have their being the earth the heaven the stars and the sea Respectively and in regard of us Good evill profitable hurtfull pleasant and displeasant Now it being so that reason doth contemplate and behold the one sort aswell as the other the former ranke of those things which are sunply and absolutely so pertaine unto science and speculation as their proper objects the second kinde of those things which are understood by reference and regard unto us pertaine properly unto consultation and action And as the vertue of the former sort is called Sapience so the vertue of the other is named Prudence For a difference there is betweene Prudence and Sapience in this that Prudence consisteth in a certaine relation application of the contemplative facultie of the soule unto Action and unto the regiment of the sensuall part according to reason by which occasion Prudence had need of the assistance of Fortune whereas Sapience hath nothing to do with it no more than it hath need of consultation for to attaine and reach unto the ende it aymeth at For that indeed it concerneth such things as be ever one and alwaies of the same sort And like as the Geometrician never consulteth as touching a triangle to wit whether it hath three angles equall to twaine that be right or no Because he knoweth assuredly that it hath for all consultations are concerning things that varie and alter sometime after one sort and otherwhiles after another and never medleth with those that be firme stable and immutable even so the understanding and contemplative facultie of the minde exercising her functions in those first and principall things which be permanent and have evermore the same nature not capable of chaunge and mutation is sequestred and exempt altogether from consultation But Prudence which descendeth to things full of varietie error trouble and confusion must of necessitie eftsoones intermedle with casualties and use deliberation in things more doubtfull and uncertaine yea and after it hath consulted to proceed unto action calling and drawing unto it the reasonlesse part also to be assistant and present as drawen into the judgement of things to be executed For need those actions have of a certaine instinct and motion to set them forward which this Morall habitude doth make in each passion and the same instinct requireth likewise the assistance of reason to limit it that it may be moderate to the ende that it neither exceed the meane nor come short and be defective for that it cannot be chosen but this brutish and passible part hath motions in it some overvehement quicke and sudden others as slow againe and more slacke than is meet Which is the reason that our actions cannot be good but after one manner whereas they may be evill after divers sorts like as a man cannot hit the marke but one way marie he may misse sundrie waies either by overshooting or comming short The part and dutie then of that active facultie of reason according to nature is to cut off and take away all those excessive or defective passions and to reduce them unto a mediocritie For whereas the said instinct or motion either by infirmitie effeminate delicacie feare or slothfulnesse doth faile and come short of dutie and the end required there active reason is present ready to rouse excite and stirre up the same Againe on the other side when it runneth on end beyond all measure after a dissolute and disorderly manner there reason is prest to abridge that which is too much and to represse and stay the same thus ruling and restraining these patheticall motions it breedeth in man these Morall vertues whereof we speake imprinting them in that reasonlesse part of the mind and no other they are than a meane betweene excesse and defect Neither must we thinke That all vertues do consist in a mediocritie for Sapience or Wisedome which stand in no need at all of the brutish and unreasonable part and consist onely in the pure and sincere intelligence and discourse of understanding
sheweth that the apprentissage of that which is of small consequence in this world witnesseth enough that a man ought to be trained from day to day to the knowledge of things that are beseeming and worthy his person Afterwards he declareth that as much travel should be emploied to make him comprehend such things as be far distant from the capacity and excellencie of his spirit In which discourse he taxeth covertly those vaine and giddy heads who as they say runne after their owne shadow whereas they should stay and rest upon that which is firme and permanent THAT VERTUE MAY BE taught and learned WE dispute of vertue and put in question whether Prudence Iustice Loialtie and Honestie may be taught or no And do we admire then the works of Oratours Sailers and Shipmasters Architects Husbandmen and an infinite number of other such which be extant Whereas of good men we have nothing but their bare and simple names as if they were Hippo-Centaures Gyants or Cyclopes and mervaile we that of vertuous actions which be entier perfect and unblameable none can be found ne yet any maners so composed according to dutie but that they be tainted with some passions and vicious perturbations yea and if it happen that nature of her selfe bring foorth some good and honest actions the same straightwaies are darkened corrupted and in a maner marred by certeine strange mixtures of contrarie matters that creepe into them like as when among good corne there grow up weeds and wilde bushes that choke the same or when some kinde and gentle fruit is cleane altered by savage nourishment Men learne to sing to daunce to read and write to till the ground and to ride horses they learne likewise to shew themselves to do on their apparell decently they are taught to wait at cup and trencher to give drinke at the table to season and dresse meate and none of all this can they skill to performe and do handsomely if they be not trained thereto and yet shall that for which these and such like qualities they learne to wit good life and honest conversation be reckoned a meere casuall thing comming by chance and fortune and which can neither be taught nor learned Oh good sirs what a thing is this In saying That vertue cannot be taught we denie withall that it is or hath any being For if it be true that the learning of it is the generation and breeding thereof certes he that hindereth the one disanulleth the other and in denying that it may be taught we graunt that no such thing there is at all And yet as Plato saith for the necke of a Lute not made in proportion to the rest of the bodie there was never knowen one brother go to warre with another nor a friend to quarrell with his friend ne yet two neighbour cities to fall out and mainteine deadly feud to the interchangeable working and suffring of those miseries and calamities which follow open warre Neither can any man come forth and say that by occasion of an accent as for example whether the word Telchines should be pronounced with the accent over the second syllable of no there arose sedition and dissention in any city or debate in a house betweene man and wife about the warpe and woufe of any webbe Howbeit never man yet would take in hand to weare a peece of cloth nor handle a booke nor play upon the lute or harpe unlesse he had learned before for albeit he were not like to susteine any great losse and notall dammage thereby yet he would feare to be mocked and laughed to scorne for his labor in which case as Heraclitus saith it were better for a man to conceale his owne ignorance and may such an one thinke then that he could order a house well rule a wife and behave himselfe as it becommeth in mariage beare migistracie or governe a common weale as he ought being never bound and brought up to it Diogenes espying upon a time a boy eating greedily and unmanerly gave his master or Tutour a good cuffe on the eare and good reason he had so to do as imputing the fault rather to him who had not taught than to the boy who had not learned better manners And is it so indeed ought they of necessitie who would be manerly at the table both in putting hand to a dish of meat and taking the cup with a good grace or as Aristophanes saith At board not feeding greedily Nor laughing much undecently Nor crossing feet full wantonly to be taught even from their infancie And is it possible that the same should know to behave themselves in wedlocke how to manage the affaires of State how to converse among men how to beare office without touch and blame unlesse they have learned first how to cary themselves one toward another Aristippus answered upon a time when one said unto him And are you sit every where I should quoth he laughing merily cast away the fare for feriage which I pay unto the mariner if I were every where And why might not a man say likewise If children be not the better for their teaching the salarie is lost which men bestow upon their Masters and Teachers But wee see that they taking them into their governance presently from their nources like as they did forme their limmes and joints featly with their hands do prepare and frame their maners accordingly set them in the right way to vertue And to this purpose answered very wisely a Laconian Schoole-master to one who demanded of him what good he did to the childe of whom he had the charge Mary quoth he I make him to take joy and pleasure in those things that be honest And to say a trueth these teachers and governours instruct children to holde up their heads straight as they go in the street and not to beare it forward also not to dip into sauce but with one finger not to take bread or fish but with twaine to rubbe or scratch after this or that maner and thus and thus to trusse and holde up their clothes What shall we say then to him who would make us beleeve that the Art of Physicke professeth to scoure the morphew or heale a whit-flaw but not to cure a pleurisie fever or the phrensie And what differeth he from them who holde that there be schooles and rules to teach petties and little children how to be manerly and demeane themselves in small matters but as for great important and absolute things it must be nothing els but use and custome or els meere chance and fortune that doth effect them For like as he were ridiculous and worthy to be laughed at who should say that no man ought to lay hand upon the oare for to row but he that hath beene prentise to it but sit at the sterne and guide the helme he may who was never taught it euen so he who mainteineth that in some inferiour arts there is required apprentisage but for the
from us the good with the bad or least in pardoning and accepting that which is agreeable and familiar unto us we fall upon that which is hurtfull and dangerous For like as among wilde seeds of another kind those that being of the same forme fashion and bignes with the graines of wheat are intermingled therewith a man shall hardly trie out from the rest for that they will not passe thorough the holes of the sieve ruddle or trie if they be narrow and in case they be large and wide out goeth the good corne to gether with them even so it is passing hard to separate flatterie from friendship being so intermedled therewith in all accidents motions affaires dealings employment and conversation as it is For considering that a flatterer seeth well ynough that there is nothing in the world so pleasurable as friendship nor yeeldeth more contentment unto man than it doth He windeth himselfe into favour by meanes of pleasure and wholy is imploied to procure mirth and delight Also for that both grace and commoditie doth alwaies accompany amitie in which regard the common Proverbe saith that a friend is more necessarie than either fire or water Therefore a flatterer is readie to put himselfe forward and offereth his service with all double diligence striving in all occasions and businesses to be ever prompt and officious And because the principall thing that linketh and bindeth friendship sure at the beginning is the conformitie and likenes of manners studies endevours and inclinations and in one word seeing that to be like affected and to shew pleasure or displeasure in the same things is the chiefe matter that knitteth amitie and both combineth and also keepeth men together by a certaine mutuall correspondencie in naturall affections the flatterer knowing so much composeth his nature as it were some unformed matter ready to receive all sorts of impressions studying to frame and accommodate himselfe wholy to all those things that he taketh in hand yea and to resemble those persons just by way of imitation whom he meaneth to set upon and deceive as being souple soft and pliable to represent them lively in everie point so as a man may say of him after this manner Achilles sonne thinke you he is Nay even Achilles himselfe iwis But the craftiest cast of all other that he hath is this That seeing as he doth libertie of speech both in trueth and also according to the opinion and speech of the whole world to be the proper voice of friendship as a man would say of some living creature insomuch as where there is not this freedome of speaking frankely there is no true friendship nor generositie in deed In this point also he will not seeme to come short nor leave it behinde for want of imitation but after the fashion of fine and excellent cookes who use to serve up tart bitter and sharpe sauces together with sweet pleasant meats for to divert take away the satietie and fulnesse which soone followeth them These flatterers also use a certaine kind of plaine and free speech howbeit neither syncere and naturall is it nor profitable but as we commonly say from teeth outward or as it were beckening and wincking slightly with the eie under the browes nottouching the quicke but tickling aloft onely to no purpose Well in these respects above specified hardly and with much adoe is a flatterer discovered and taken in the maner much like unto those beasts who by nature have this propertie To change their colour and in hue to resemble that bodily matter or place whereon they settle and which they touch Seeing then it is so that he is so apt to deceive folke and lieth hidden under the likenesse of a friend our part it is by unfolding the differences that are so hidden to turne him out of his masking habit and being despoiled of those colours and habilements that he borroweth of others for want of his owne as Plato saith to lay him naked and open to the eie let us therefore enter into this discourse and setch it from the very first beginning We have already said that the originall of friendship among men for the most part is our conformitie of nature and inclination embracing the same customes and maners loving the same exercises affecting the same studies and delighting in the same actions and imploiments concerning which these verses well and fitly runne Olde solke love best with aged folke to talke And with their feeres yoong children to disport Women once met do let their tongues to walke With such likewise such persons best do sport The wretched man his miseries doth lament With those whose state like fortunes do torment The flatterer then being well aware that it is a thing naturally inbred in us to delight in those that are like our selves to converse with them and to use and love them above all others endevoureth first to and formost to draw and approch yea and to lodge neere unto him whom he meaneth to enveagle and compasse even as if he went about in some great pasture to make toward one beast whom he purposeth to tame and bring to hand by little and little joining close unto him as it were to be concorporated in the same studies and exercises in the same affections emploiments and course of life and this he doth so long untill the party whom he laieth for have given him some advantage to take holde by as suffering himselfe gently to be touched clawed handled and stroked during which time he lettethslip no opportunitie to blame those persons to reproove those things and courses of life which he perceiveth the other to hate contrariwise to praise and approove all that which he knoweth him to take delight in and this he doeth not after an ordinary maner and in a meane but excessively and beyond all measure with a kinde of admiration and woonder confirming this love or hatred of his to a thing not as if he had received these impressions from some sudden passion but upon a staied and setled judgement Which being so how and by what different marks shall he be knowen and convinced that he is not the like or the same in deed but onely a counterfeit of the like and of the same First a man must consider well whether there be an uniforme equalitie in all his intentions and actions or no whether he continue and persist still taking pleasure in the same things and praising the same at all times whether he compose and direct his life according to one and the same molde and paterne like as it becommeth a man who is an ingenuous lover of that friendship and conversation which is ever after one maner and alwaies like it selfe for such a one in deed is a true friend But a flatterer contrariwise is one who hath no one permanent seat in his maners and be haviour nor hath made choise of any life for his owne content but onely to please another as framing and applying
disperst and spred in brest To keepe the tongue then apt to barke and let it lie at rest The consideration of these things collected thus together serveth not onely to take heede alwaies unto them that are subject to yre and therewith possessed but also besides to know throughly the nature of anger how it is neither generous or manfull nor yet hath anie thing in it that savoreth of wisedome and magnanimitie Howbeit the common people interpret the turbulent nature thereof to be active and meet for action the threats and menaces thereof hardinesse and confidence the peevish and froward unrulinesse to be fortitude and strength Nay some there be who would have the crueltie in it to be a disposition and dexteritie to atchieve great matters the implacable malice thereof to be constancie and firme resolution the morositie and difficultie to be pleased to be the hatred of sinne and vice howbeit herein they do not well but are much deceived for surely the very actions motions gestures and countenance of cholerike persons do argue and bewray much basenesse and imbecilitie which we may perceive not onely in these brain-sicke fits that they fall upon little children and them pluck twitch and misuse flie upon poore seely women and thinke that they ought to punish and beat their horses hounds and mules like unto Ctesiphon that famous wrestler and professed champion who stucke not to spurne and kicke his mule but also in their tyrannicall and bloudly murders wherein their crueltie and bitternesse which declareth their pusillanimity base mind their actions which shew their passions their doing to others bewraying a suffering in themselves may be compared to the stings and bitings of those venemous serpents which be very angric exceeding dolorous and burne most themselves when they do inflict the greatest inflamation upon the patients and put them to most paine For like as swelling is a symptome or accident following upon a great wound or hurt in the flesh even so it is in the tenderest and softest minds the more they give place and yeeld unto dolor and passion the more plentie of choler and anger they utter foorth as proceeding from the greater weaknes By this you may see the reason why women ordinarily be more waspish curst and shrewd than men sicke folke more testie than those that are in health old people more waiward and froward than those that be in the floure and vigor of their yeeres and finally such as be in adversitie and upon whom fortune frowneth more prone to anger than those who prosper and have the world smiling upon them The covetous mizer and pinching peni-father is alwaies most angrie with his steward that laieth foorth his monie the glutton is ever more displeased with his cooke and cater the jealous husband quickly falleth out and brawleth with his wife the vaine-glorious foole is soonest offended with them that speake any thing amisse of him but the most bitter and intollerable of all others are ambitious persons in a citie who lay for high places and dignities such also as are the heads of a faction in a sedition which is a trouble and mischiefe as Pindarus saith conspicuous and honorable Loe how from that part of the mind which is wounded greeved suffreth most and especially upon infirmitie and weakenesse ariseth anger which passion resembleth not as one would have it the sinewes of the soule but is like rather to their stretching spreines and spasmatick convulsions when it streineth and striveth overmuch in following revenge Well the examples of evill things yeeld no pleasant sight at all onely they be necessary and profitable and for mine owne part supposing the precedents given by those who have caried themselves gently and mildly in their occasions of anger are most delectable not onely to behold but also heare I begin to contemne and despise those that say thus To man thou hast done wrong be sure At mans hand wrong for to endure Likewise Downe to the ground with him spare not his coate Spurne him and set thy foote upon his throate and other such words which serve to provoke wrath and whet choler by which some go about to remoove anger out of the nurcery and womens chamber into the hall where men do sit and keepe but heerein they do not well For prowesse and fortitude according in all other things with justice and going fellow-like with her me thinkes is at strife and debate with her about meekenesse and mildnesse onely as if she rather became her and by right apperteined unto her For otherwhiles it hath beene knowne that the woorst men have gone beyond and surmounted the better But for a man to erect a Trophee and set up a triumphall monument in his owne soule against ire with which as Heraclnus saith the conflict is hard and dangerous for what a man would have he buieth with his life it is an act of rare valour and victorious puissance as having in trueth the judgement of reason for sinewes tendons and muskles to encounter and resist passions Which is the cause that I studie and am desirous alwaies to reade and gather the sayings and doings not onely of learned clearks and Philosophers who as our Sages and wise men say have no gall in them but also and much rather of Kings Princes Tyrants and Potentates As for example such as that was of Antigonus who hearing his souldiors upon a time revile him behinde his pavilion thinking that he heard them not put forth his staffe from under the cloth unto them and said A whorson knaves could you not go a little farther off when you meant thus to raile upon us Likewise when one Arcadian an Argive or Achaean never gave over reviling of King Philip and abusing him in most reprochfull tearmes yea and to give him warning So far to flie untill he thither came Where no man knew nor heard of Philips name And afterwards the man was seene I know not how in Macedonia the friends and courtiers of king Philip were in hand with him to have him punished and that in any wise he should not let him go and escape Philip contrariwise having him once in his hands spake gently unto him used him courteously sending unto him in his lodging gifts and presents and so sent him away And after a certeine time he commanded those courtiours of purpose to enquire what words he gave out of him unto the Greekes but when everie one made report againe and testified that he was become another man and ceased not to speake woonderfull things in the praise of him Lo quoth Philip then unto them Am not I a better Physician than all you and can I not skill how to cure a foule tongued fellow Another time at the great solemnitie of the Olympian games when the Greekes abused him with verie bad language his familiar friends about him said they deserved to be sharply chastised and punished for so miscalling and reviling him who had beene so good a benefactor of
in the meane while they perceive not how they receive into the mids of them and suffer to traverse and crosse them men of a currish and dogged nature who can do nothing els but barke betweene and sowe false rumours and calumniations betweene one and another for to provoke them to jarre and fall together by the eares and therefore to great reason and very well to this purpose said Theophrastus That if al things according to the old proverbe should be common among friends then most of all they ought to enterteine friends in common for private familiarities and acquaintances apart one from another are great meanes to disjoine and turne away their hearts for if they fall to love others and make choise of other familiar friends it must needs follow by consequence to take pleasure and delight in other companies to esteeme and affect others yea and to suffer themselves to be ruled and led by others For friendships and amities frame the natures and dispositions of men neither is there a more certeine and assured signe of different humors and divers natures than the choise election of different friends in such sort as neither to eate and drinke not to play not to passe and spend whole daies together in good fellowship and companie is so effectuall to hold and maintaine the concord and good will of brethren as to hate and love the same persons to joy in the same acquaintance and contrariwise to abhor and shun the same companie for when brethren have friends common betweene them the said friends will never suffer any surmises calumniations quarrels to grow betweene and say that peradventure there do arise some sudden heat of choler or grudging fit of complaint presently it is cooled quenched and suppressed by the mediation of common friends for readie they will be to take up the quarrell and scatter it so as it shall vanish away to nothing if they be indifferently affectionate to them both and that their love incline no more to the one side than to the other for like as tin-soder doth knit and rejoyne a crackt peece of brasse in touching and taking hold of both sides and edges of the broken peeces for that it agreeth and forteth as well to the one as to the other and suffreth from them both alike even so ought a friend to be fitted and sutable indifferently unto both brethren if he would knit surely and confirme strongly their mutuall benevolence and good will But such as are unequall and cannot intermeddle and go betweene the one as well as the other make a separation and disjunction and not a sound joint like as certeine notes or discords in musicke And therefore it may well bee doubted and question made whether Hesiodus did well or no when he said Make not a feere I thee advise Thy brothers peere in any wise For a discreet and sober companion common to both as I said before or rather incorporat as it were into them shall ever be a sure knot to fasten brotherly love But Hesiodus as it should seeme meant and feared this in the ordinary and vulgar sort of men who are many of them naught by reason that so customably they be given to jealousie and suspition yea and to selfe-love which if we consider and observe it is well but with this regard alwaies that although a man yeeld equall good will unto a friend as unto a brother yet neverthelesse in case of concurrence he ought to reserve ever the preeminence and first place for his brother whether it be in preferring him in any election of Magistrates or to the mannaging of State affaires or in bidding and inviting him to a solemne feast or publike assembly to consult and debate of weightie causes or in recommending him to princes great lords For in such cases which in the common opinion of the world are reputed matters of honor and credit a man ought to render the dignitie honor and reward which is beseeming and due to blood by the course of nature For in these things the advantage and prerogative will not purchase so much glorie and reputation to a friend as the repulse and putting-by bring disgrace discredit and dishonor unto a brother Well as touching this old said saw and sentence of Hestodus I have treated more at large elsewhere but the sententious saying of Menander full wisely set downe in these words No man who lov's another shall you see Well pleas'd himselfe neglected for to bee putteth us in minde and teacheth us to have good regard and care of our brethren and not to presume so much upon the obligation of nature as to despise them For the horse is a beast by nature loving to a man and the dog loves his master but in case you never thinke upon them nor see unto them as you ought they wil forgoe that kind affectiō estrange themselves take no knowledge of you The bodie also is most necrely knit and united to the soule by the greatest bond of nature that can be but in case it be neglected and contemned by her or not cherrished so tenderly as it looketh to be unwilling shall you see it to helpe and assist her nay full untowardly will it execute or rather give over it will altogether everie action Now to come more neere and to particularise upon this point honest and good is that care and diligence which is emploied and shewed to thy brethren themselves alone but better it would be farre if thy love and kind affections be extended as far as to their wives fathers and daughters husbands by carrying a friendly minde and readie will to pleasure them likewise and to do for them in all their occasions if they be courteous and affable in saluting their servants such especially as they love and favour thankfull and beholding to their Physicians who had them in cure during sicknesse and were diligent about them acknowledging themselves bound unto their faithfull and trustie friends or to such as were willing and forward to take such part as they did in any long voyage and expedition or to beare them company in warfare And as for the wedded wife of a brother whom he is to reverence repute and honor no lesse than a most sacred and holy relique or monument if at any time he happen to see her it will be come him to speake all honour and good of her husband before her or to be offended and complaine as well as she of her husband if he set not that store by her as he ought and when she is angred to appease and still her Say also that she have done some light fault and offended her husband to reconcile him againe unto her and entreat him to be content and to pardon her and likewise if there be some particular and private cause of difference betweene him and his brother to acquaint the wife therewith and by her meanes to complaine thereof that she may take up the matter by composition
and discommodities of our life And Plutarch entring into this matter sheweth first in generallity That men learne as it were in the schoole of brute beasts with what affection they should beget nourish and bring up their children afterward he doth particularise thereof and enrich the same argument by divers examples But for that he would not have us thinke that he extolled dumbe beasts above man and woman he observeth and setteth downe verie well the difference that is of amities discoursing in good and modest tearmes as touching the generation and nouriture of children and briefly by the way representeth unto us the miserable entrance of man into this race upon earth where he is to runne his course Which done he proveth that the nourishing of infants hath no other cause and reason but the love of fathers and mothers he discovereth the source of this affection and for a conclusion sheweth that what defect and fault soever may come betweene and be medled among yet it can not altogether abolish the same OF THE NATURALL LOVE OR KINDNES OF PARENTS to their children THat which mooved the Greeks at first to put over the decision of their controversies to forraine judges and to bring into their countrey strangers to be their Umpires was the distrust and diffidence that they had one in another as if they confessed thereby that justice was indeed a thing necessarie for mans lite but it grew not among them And is not the case even so as touching certaine questions disputable in Philosophie for the determining whereof Philosophers by reason of the sundry and divers opinions which are among them have appealed to the nature of brute beasts as it were into a strange city and remitted the deciding thereof to their properties and affections according to kinde as being neither subject to partiall favour nor yet corrupt depraved and polluted Now surely a common reproch this must needs be to mans naughtie nature and leawd behaviour That when we are in doubtfull question concerning the greatest and most necessary points perteining to this present life of ours we should goe and search into the nature of horses dogs and birds for resolution namely how we ought to make our marriages how to get children and how to reare and nourish them after they be borne and as if there were no signe in maner or token of nature imprinted in our selves we must be faine to alledge the passions properties and affections of brute beasts and to produce them for witnesses to argue and prove how much in our life we transgresse and go aside from the rule of nature when at our first beginning and entrance into this world we finde such trouble disorder and confusion for in those dumbe beasts beforesaid nature doth retaine and keepe that which is her owne and proper simple entire without corruption or alteration by any strange mixture wheras contrariwise it seemeth that the nature of man by discourse of their reason and custome together is mingled and confused with so many extravagant opinions and judgements fet from all parts abroad much like unto oile that commeth into perfumers hands that thereby it is become manifolde variable and in every one severall and particular and doeth not retaine that which the owne indeed proper and peculiar to it selfe neither ought we to thinke it a strange matter and a woonderfull that brute beasts void of reason should come neerer unto nature and follow her steps better than men endued with the gift of reason for surely the verie senselesse plants heerein surpasse those beasts beforesaid and observe better the instinct of nature for considering that they neither conceive any thing by imagination nor have any motion affection or inclination at all so verily their appetite such as it is varieth not nor stirreth to and fro out of the compasse of nature by meanes whereof they continue and abide as if they were kept in and bound within close-prison holding on still in one and the same course and not stepping once out of that way wherein nature doth leade and conduct them as for beasts they have not any such great portion of reason to temper and mollifie their naturall properties neither any great subtiltie of sense and conceit nor much desire of libertie but having many instincts inclinations and appetites not ruled by reason they breake out by the meanes thereof other-whiles wandering astray and running up and downe to and fro howbeit for the most part not very farre out of order but they take sure holde of nature much like a ship which lieth in the rode at anchor well may she daunce and be rocked up and downe but she is not caried away into the deepe at the pleasure of windes and waves or much after the maner of an asse or hackney travelling with bit and bridle which go not out of the right streight way wherein the master or rider guideth them whereas in man even reason herselfe the mistresse that ruleth and commandeth all findeth out new cuts as it were and by-waies making many starts and excursions at her pleasure to and fro now heere now there whereupon it is that she leaveth no plaine and apparant print of natures tracts and footing Consider I pray you in the first place the mariages if I may so terme them of dumbe beasts and reasonlesse creatures and namely how therein they folow precisely the rule and direction of nature To begin withall they stand not upon those lawes that provide against such as marrie not but lead a single life neither make they reckoning of the acts which lay a penaltie upon those that be late ere they enter into wedlocke like as the citizens under Lycurgus and Solon who stood in awe of the said statutes they feare not to incurre the infamie which followed those persons that were barren and never had children neither doe they regard and seeke after the honours and prerogatives which they atteined who were fathers of three children like as many of the Romains do at this day who enter into the state of matrimonie wedde wives 〈◊〉 beget children not to the end that they might have heires to inherit their lands and goods 〈◊〉 that they might themselves be inheritors capable of dignities immunities But to proceed unto more particulars the male afterwards doth deale with the female in the act of generation not at all times for that the end of their conjunction and going together is not grosse pleasure so much as the engendring of young and the propagation of their kinde and therefore at a certeine season of the yeare to wit the very prime of the spring when as the pleasant winds so apt for generation do gently blow and the temperature of the aire is friendly unto breeders commeth the female full lovingly and kindly toward her fellow the male even of her owne accord and motion as it were trained by the hand of that secret instinct and desire in nature and for her owne part she doth what
and diverteth us calling and transporting us sundry waies not permitting the commixture and sodering as it were of good will and kinde affection to grow into one and make a perfect joint by familiar conversation enclosing fastning every part together But the same anon bringeth withall a great inequalitie in offices and reciprocall services meet for friends and breedeth a certeine foolish bashfulnesse and streining of courtesie in the performance thereof for by occasion of many friends those parts in amitie which otherwise are casie and commodious become difficult and incommodious And why All men do not agree in humor one Their thoughts their cares bend diversly ech one and no 〈◊〉 for our verie natures do not all incline in affection the same way neither are we at all times conversant and acquainted with the like fortunes and adventures To say nothing of their sundrie occasions and occurrences which serve not indifferently for all our actions but like as the windes unto sailers they are with some and against others sometimes on our backes and other whiles full in our face And say that it may fall out so that all our friends at once do stand in need and be desirous of one and the same helpe and ministerie at our hands it were verie hard to fit all their turnes and satisfie them to their content whether it be in taking our advice and counsell in any negotiations or in treating about State matters or in suite after dignities places of government or in fearsting and entertaining strangers in their houses But suppose that at one the same instant our friends being diversly affected troubled with sundrie affaires request all of them together our helping hand as for example one that is going to sea for to have our companie in that voiage another who being defendant to answere for himselfe in the law to assist him in the court and a third that is a plaintife to second him in his plea a fourth who either is to buy or sell for to helpe him to make his markets a fift who is to marrie for to sacrifice with him and be at his wedding dinner and a sixt who is to inter a dead corps for to mourne solemnize the funerals with him in such a medley and confusion as this as if according to Sophocles A citie smoakt withinsence sweet And ring with songs for murth so meet With plaints also and groanes resound And all in one and selfe same stound Certes having so many friends to assist and gratifie them all were impossible to pleasure more were absurd and in serving ones turne to reject many others were offensive and hurtful for this is a rule Who to his friend is well affected Loves not himselfe to be neglected and yet commonly such negligences and foregetfull defaults of friends we take with more patience and put up with lesse anger and displeasure when they shall come to excuse themselves by oblivion making these and such like answeres Surely you were but forgotten it was out of my head and I never thought of it but he that shall alledge thus and say I was not your assistant in the court nor stood to you in your cause by reason that I attended another friend of mine in a triall of his or I came not to visite you whiles you had an ague for that I was busilie employed at a feast that such a one made to one of his friends excusing his negligence to one friend by his diligance to others surely he maketh no satisfaction for the offence already taken but increaseth the same and maketh it woorse than before by reason of jealousie added thereto howbeit most men as it should seeme aime at nothing else but at the profit and commoditie which friendship bringeth and yeeldeth from without never regard what care it doth imprint and worke within neither remember they that he whose turne hath beene served by many friends must likewise reciprocally be ready to helpe them as their need requireth Like as therefore the giant Briareus with his 100 hands feeding 50 bellies had no more sustenance for his whole bodie than we who with two hands furnish and fill one belly even so the commoditie that wee have by many friends bringeth this discommoditie withall that we are to be emploied also to many in taking part with them of their griefs and passion in travailing and in being troubled together with them in all their negotiations and affaires for we are not to give care unto Euripides the poet when he saith thus In mutuall love men ought a meane to keepe That it touch not heart roote nor marrow deepe Affections for to change it well befits To rise and fall now hot now coole by fits giving us to understand that friendship is to be used according as need requireth more or lesse like to the helme of a ship which both holdeth it hard and also giveth head or the tackling which spread and draw hoise and strike saile as occasion serveth But contrariwise rather good Euripides we may turne this speech of yours to enmitie admonish men that their quarrels contentions be moderate and enter not to the heart and inward marrow as it were of the soule that hatted I say and malice that anger offences defiances and suspitions be so intertained as that they may be soone appeased laid downe forgotten A better precept is that yet of Pythagoras when he teacheth us not to give our right hand to many that is to say not to make many men our friends nor to affect that popular amitie common to all and exposed or offred to every one that commeth which no doubt cannot chuse but bring many passions with it into the heart among which to be disquieted for a friend to condole or grieve with him to enter into troubles and to plunge ones felfe into perils for his sake are not very easie matters to be borne by those that cariean an ingenuous minde with them and be kind hearted but the saying of wise Chilon a prosessour of philofophie is most true who answering unto a man that vaunted how he had not an enimie It should seeme then quoth he that thou hast never a friend for certeinly enmities ensue presently upon amities nay they are both interlaced together neither is it the part of a friend not to feele the injuries done unto a friend not to participate with him in all ignomines hatred and quarrels that he incurreth and one enimie evermore will be sure to suspect the friend of another yea and be ready to malice him as for friends oftentimes they envie their owne friends they have them in jealousie and traduce them every way The oracle answered unto Timesias when he consulted about the planting and peopling of a new colonie in this wife Thou think'st to lead a swarmc of bees full kind But angrie waspes thou sbalt them shortly find Semblablie they that seeke after a bee-hive as it were of friends light ere they be aware
miserie WHAT PASSIONS AND MALAdies be worse those of the soule or those of the bodie HOmer having viewed and considered very well the sundry sorts of living creatures mortall compared also one kind with another as well in the continuance as the conversation and maner of their life concluded in the end with this exclamation Lo how of creatures all on earth which walke and draw their wind More miserable none there are nor wretched than mankind attributing unto man this unhappie soveraigntie that he hath the superioritie in all miseries whatsoever but we setting this downe for a supposition granted already that man carieth the victorie and surpasseth all others for his infortunitie and is already declared and pronounced the most unhappie wretch of all living creatures will set in hand to compare him with his owne selfe in a certeine conference of his proper calamities that follow him and that by dividing him not in vaine and unfruitfully but very pertinently and to good purpose into the soule and the bodie to the end that wee may learne and know thereby whether we live more miserablie in regard of our soules or our selves that is to say our bodies for a disease in our bodie is engendred by nature but vice and sinne in the soule is first an action but afterwards becommeth a passion thereof so that it is no small consolation but maketh much for the contentment of our minde to know that the worse is curable and the lighter is that which can not be avoided The fox in Aesope pleading upon a time against the leopard as touching the varietie of colours in their skins after that the leopard had shewed her bodie which to the eie and in outward apparence was well marked beset with faire spots whereas the foxes skin was tawny foule and ill-favoured to see to But you quoth he sir Judge if you looke within shall finde me more spotted and divers coloured than that leopard there meaning the craft and subtiltie which he had to turne and change himselfe in divers sorts as need required after the same maner let us say within our selves O man thy body breedeth and bringeth foorth many maladies and passions naturally of it selfe many also it receiveth and enterteineth comming from without but if thou wilt anatomize and open thy selfe thou shalt finde within a save an ambrie nay a store-house and treasurie as Democritus saith of many evils and maladies and those of divers and sundry sorts not entring and running in from abroad but having their originall sources springing out of the ground and home-bred the which vice abundant rich and plenteous in passions putteth forth Now whereas the diseases that possesse the body and the flesh are discovered and knowen by their inflamations and red colour by pulses also or beating of the arteries and namely when the visage is more red or pale than customably it is or when some extraordinarie heat or lassitude without apparent cause bewraieth them contrariwise the infirmities and maladies of the soule are hidden many times unto those that have them who never thinke that they be sicke and ill at ease and in this regard worse they be for that they deprive the patients of the sense and feeling of their sicknesse for the discourse of reason whiles it is sound and hole feeleth the maladies of the bodie but as for the diseases of the soule whiles reason herselfe is sicke she hath no judgement at all of that which she suffereth for the selfe same that should judge is diseased and we are to deeme and esteeme that the principall and greatest maladie of the soule is follie by reason whereof vice being remedilesse and incurable in many is cohabitant in them liveth and dieth with them for the first degree and very beginning of a cure is the knowledge of a disease which leadeth and directeth the patient to seeke for helpe but he who will not beleeve that he is amisse or sicke not knowing what he hath need of although a present remedie were offered unto him will refuse and reject the same And verily among those diseases which afflict the bodie those are counted worst which take a man with a privation of sense as lethargies intolerable head-ach or phrensies epilepsies or falling-evils apoplexies and feavers-ardent for these burning agues many times augment their heat so much that they bring a man to the losse of his right wits and so trouble the senses as it were in a musicall instrument that They stirre the strings at secret root of hart Which touched should not be but lie apart which is the reason that practitioners in physicke desire and wish in the first place that a man were not sicke at all but if hee be sicke that hee be not ignorant and senselesse altogether of his disease a thing that ordinarily befalleth to all those who be sicke in minde for neither witlesse fooles nor dissolute and loose persons ne yet those who be unjust and deale wrongfully thinke that they do amisse and sinne nay some of them are perswaded that they do right well Never was there man yet who esteemed an ague to be health nor the phthisicke or consumption to be a good plight and habit of the bodie nor that the gout in the feet was good footmanship ne yet that to be ruddy and pale or yellow was all one yet you shall have many who are diseased in minde to call hastines and choler valiance wanton love amitie envie emulation and cowardise warie prudence Moreover they that be bodily sicke send for the physicians because they know whereof they stand in need for to heale their diseases whereas the other avoid and shun the sage philosophers for they thinke verily that they do well when they fault most Upon this reason we holde that the ophthalmie that is to say the inflamation of bloud-shotten eies is a lesse maladie than Mania that is to say rage and furious madnesse and that the gout in the feet is nothing so bad as the phrensie which is an inflamation or impostume bred in the braine for the one of these patients finding himselfe diseased crieth out for paine calleth for the physician and no sooner is he come but he sheweth him his diseased eie for to dresse and anoint he holdeth forth his veine for to be opened yeeldeth unto him his head for to be cured whereas you shall heare ladie Agave in the Tragaedios so farre transported out of all sense and understanding by reason of her raging fit that shee knew not those persons which were most deare and entire unto her for thus she saith This little one here newly kild And cut in pieces in the field From hilles we bring to dwelling place How happy ô hath beene our chace As for him who is sicke in bodie presently he yeeldeth thereto he laies him downe upon his pallet or taketh his naked bed he easeth himselfe all that he can and is content and quiet all the while that the physician hath
commendation He is not woorthy of sorrow and lamentation but of an honorable and glorious remembrance he requireth not teares as testimonials of griefe and dolour but honest offrings and civill oblations if it be true that he who is gone out of this world doth pertake a more divine and heavenly condition of life as being delivered from the servitude of this bodie and the infinit cares perplexities and calamities which they must needs endure who abide in this mortall life untill such time as they have runne their race and performed the prefixed course of this life which nature hath not granted unto us for to be perpetuall but according to the lawes of fatall destiny hath given to every one in severall proportion Such therefore as be wise and well minded ought not in sorow and griefe for their friends departed to passe beyond the bounds and limits of nature and in vaine plaints and barbarous lamentations forget a meane and never know to make an end expecting that which hath befallen to many before them who have bene so far gone in heavinesse and melancholie that before they had done lamenting they have finished their daies and ere they could lay off the mourning habit for the funerals of others they have bene ready themselves to be caried forth to their unhappie sepulture insomuch as the sorowes which they enterteined for the death of another and the calamities proceeding from their owne folly have bene buried together with them so as a man might very well and truely say of them as Homer did Whiles they their plaints and sorowes made Darke-night over-spread them with her shade And therefore in such case we are eftsoones thus to speake unto our selves and reason in this maner What shall we make an end once or rather never cease so long as we live but still keepe a weeping and wailing as we do for I assure you to thinke that sorrow should never end were a point of extreame folly considering that often times we see even those who of all others take on and fare most impatiently in their fits of griefe and heavinesse become in processe of time so well appeased that even at those tombs and monuments where they piteously cried out and knocke their brests they met afterwards solemnly to make magnificent feasts with musicke minstrelsie and all the meanes of mirth that might be devised It is the propertie therefore of a mad man and one bereft of his wits to resolve and set downe with himselfe to dwell evermore in sorow and not to give it over but if men thinke and reckon that it will cease at length and passe away by occasion of some thing that may occurre let them cast this withall that space of time will after a sort doe it for that which once is done can not by God himselfe be undone and therefore that which now is hapned contrary to our hope and expectation is a sufficient proofe demonstration of that which is wont to befall unto many others by the same meanes How then is not this a thing that we are able to comprehend by learning and discourse of reason in nature to wit The earth is full and sea likewise Of sundrie evils and miseries As also Such mischiefs ay and strange calamities Are daily one after another sent To mortall men by fatall destinies The skie it selfe is not thereof exempt For not onely in these daies but time out of minde many men and those of the wiser sort have deplored the miseries of mankinde reputing life it selfe to be nothing els but punishment and the verie beginning of mans birth and nativitie to be no better than woe and miserie And Aristotle saith That even Silenus when he was caught and taken captive pronounced as much unto king Midas But forasmuch as this matter maketh so well to our purpose it were best to set downe the very words of the said Philosopher for in his booke entituled Eudemus or Of the soule thus he saith Therefore quoth he ô right excellent and of all men most fortunate as we esteeme the dead to be blessed and happy so we thinke that to make a lie or speake evil of them is meere impietie and an intolerable abuse offered unto them as being now translated into a far better and more excellent condition than before which opinion and custome in our countrey is so ancient and of such antiquitie that no man living knoweth either the time when it first began or the first authour thereof who brought it in but from all eternitie this custome hath bene among us observed for a law Moreover you know full wel the old said saw that from time to time hath run currant in every mans mouth And what is that quoth he then the other presently inferred this answere and said That simplie it was best not to be borne at all and to die better than to live and hereto have accorded and given testimonie the very gods themselves and namely unto king Midas who having in chase and hunting upon a time taken Silenus demanded of him what was best for man and what it was that a man should wish for and chuse above all things in the world at the first he would make no answere but kept silence and gave not so much as a word until such time as Midas importuned and urged him by all means so as at length seeing himselfe compelled even against his will he brake out into this speech and said unto him O generation of small continuance ô seed of laborious and painfull destinie ô issue of fortune wretched and miserable why force you me to say that unto you which it were better for you to be ignorant of for that your life is lesse dolorous and irkesome when it hath no knowledge at all of her owne calamities but so it is that men by no meanes can have that which simply is best nor be partakers of that which is most excellent for best it had beene for all men and women both never to have bene borne at all the next to it and indeed the principall and chiefe of all those things that may be effected how ever in order it falleth out to be second as to die immediatly after one is borne So that it appeareth plainly that Silenus judged and pronounced the condition of the dead to be better than of the living For the proofe of which conclusion ten thousand sentences and examples there be and ten thousand more upon the head of them which may be alledged but needlesse it were to discourse father of this point and make more words thereof Well then we ought not to lament the death of yong folke in this regard that they be deprived of those blessings and benefits which men doe enjoy by long life for uncerteine it is as we have shewed often times before whether they be deprived of good things or delivered from bad considering that in mans life there be farre more sorowes than joies and those as few as they
to begin againe to learne True it is that long since I was discontented in my heart to heare Euripides speake in this wise He putteth off from day to day Gods nature is thus to delay For it were not meet and decent that God should be slow in any action whatsoever and least of all in punishing sinners who are themselves nothing slothfull nor make delaie in perpetrating wicked deeds but are caried most speedily and with exceeding violence of their passions pricked forward to do wrong and mischiefe And verily when punishment ensueth hard after injury and violence committed there is nothing as Thucydides saith that so soone stoppeth up the passage against those who are most prone and ready to runne into all kinde of wickednesse for there is no delay of paiment that so much enfeebleth the hope and breaketh the heart of a man wronged and offended nor causeth him to be so insolent and audacious who is disposed to mischiefe as the deferring of justice and punishment whereas contrariwise the corrections chastisements that follow immediately upon leud acts and meet with the malefactours betimes are a meanes both to represse all future outrage in offenders and also to comfort and pacifie the heart of those who are wronged For mine owne part the saying of Bias troubleth me many times as often as I thinke upon it for thus he spake unto a notorious wicked man I doubt not but thou shalt one day smart for this geere and pay for thy leudnesse but I feare I shall never live to see it For what good unto the Messenians being slaine before did the punishment of Aristocrates who having betraied them in the battell of Cypres was not detected and discovered for his treason in twentie yeeres after during which time he was alwaies king of Arcadia and being at the last convicted for the said treacherie suffred punishment for his deserts meane while those whom he had caused to be massacred were not in the world to see it Or what comfort and consolation received the Orchomenians who lost their children kinsfolke and friends through the treason of Lyciscus by the maladie which long after seized upon him eating consuming al his bodie who ever as he dipped and bathed his feet in the river water kept a swearing and cursing that he thus rotted and was eaten away for the treachery which most wickedly he had committed And at Athens the childrens children of those poore wretches who were killed within the privileged place of sanctuarie could never see the vengeance of the gods which afterwards fell upon those bloudie and sacrilegious caitifes whose dead bodies and bones being excommunicate were banished and cast out beyond the confines of their native countrey And therefore me thinkes Euripides is very absurd when to divert men from wickednesse he useth such words as these Justice feare not will not thee overtake To pierce thy heart or deepe wound ever make In liver thine nor any mortall wight Besides though leud he be and doe no right But slow she goes and silent to impeach And chastise such if ever them she reach For I assure you it is not like that wicked ungracious persons use any other perswasions but even the very same to incite move and encourage themselves to enterprise any leud and wicked acts as making this account and reckoning that injustice will quickly yeeld her frute ripe in due time and the same evermore certaine whereas punishment commeth late and long after the pleasure and fruition of the said wickednesse When Patrocleas had discoursed in this wise Olympiacus tooke the matter in hand and said unto him Marke moreover ô Patrocleas what inconvenience and absurditie followeth upon this slownesse of divine justice and prolonging the punishment of malefactors for it causeth unbeliefe in men and namely that they are not perswaded that it is by the providence of God that such be punished the calamitie that cōmeth upon wicked ones not presently upon every sinful act that they have committed but long time after is reputed by them infelicitie and they call it their fortune and not their punishment whereupon it commeth to passe that they have no benefit thereby nor be any whit better for howsoever they grieve and be discontented at the accidents which befall unto them yet they never repent for the leud acts they have before commitred And like as in punishment among us a little pinch stripe or lash given unto one for a fault or error presently upon the dooing thereof doth correct the partie and reduce him to his dutie whereas the wrings scourgings knocks and sounding thumps which come a good while after seeme to be given upon some occasion beside and for another cause rather than to teach and therefore well may they put him to paine and griefe but instruction they yeeld none even so naughtinesse rebuked and repressed by some present chastisement every time that it trespasseth and transgresseth howsoever it be painfull at first yet in the end it bethinketh it selfe learneth to be humbled and to feare God as a severe justicier who hath an eie upon the deeds and passions of men for to punish them incontinently and without delay whereas this justice and revenge which commeth so slowly and with a soft pace as Euripides saith upon the wicked and ungodly persons by reason of the long intermission the inconstant and wandring incertitude and the confused disorder resembleth chance and adventure more than the desseigne of any providence insomuch as I cannot conceive or see what profit can be in these grindstones as they call them of the gods which are so long a grinding especially seeing that the judgement and punishment of sinners is thereby obscured and the feare of sinne made slight and of no reckoning upon the deliverie of these words I began to studie and muse with my selfe then Timon Would you quoth he that I should cleere this doubt once for all and so make an end of this disputation or permit him first to dispute and reason against these oppositions And what need is there answered I to come in with a third wave for to overflow and drowne at once our speech and discourse if he be not able to refute the former objections nor to escape and avoid the chalenges alreadie made First and formost therefore to begin at the head and as the manner is to say at the goddesse Vesta for the reverent regard and religious feare that the Academick philosophers professe to have unto God as an heavenly father we utterly disclaime and refuse to speake of the Deitie as if we knew for certaintie what it is for it were a greater presumption in us who are but mortall men to enterprise any set speech or discourse as touching gods or demi-gods than for one who is altogether ignorant in song to dispute of musick or for them who never were in campe nor saw so much as a battell fought to put themselves forward to discourse of armes and warfare taking upon
to use them forcing the bodie which otherwise would not seeke after them to participate thereof onely because they be much spoken of and hard to come by to the end that we make our report and recount unto others what wee have done and be reputed by them right happie and fortunate for that wee have enjoied things so deere so singular and so geason The like affection they cary to women also of great name and reputation for it falleth out that having their owne wives in bedde with them and those faire and beautifull dames such also as love them deerely they lie still and stirre not but if they meet with any courtisan such as Phryne or Lais was unto whom they have paied good silver out of their purse though otherwise their bodies be unable dull and heavie in performing the worke of Venus yet doing they will be what they can and straine themselves upon a vaine-glorious ambition to provoke and stirre up their lascivious lust unto fleshly pleasure whereupon Phryne herselfe being now old and decaied was woont to say That she sold her lees and dregs the deerer by reason of her reputation A great thing it is and wonderfull that if we receive into our bodies as many pleasures as nature doth require or can well beare or rather if upon divers occasions and businesses we resist her appetites and put her off unto another time and that we be loth and hardly brought to yeeld unto her necessities or according as Plato saith give place after that she hath by sine force pricked and urged us thereto we should not suffer for all that any harme thereby but goe away freely without any losse or detriment but on the other side if we abandon our selves to the desires that descend from the soule to the bodie so farre foorth as they force us to minister unto the passions thereof and rise up together with them impossible it is but that they should leave behinde them exceeding great losses and damages in stead of a few pleasures and those feeble and small in appearance which they have given unto us and this above all things would be considered that we take heed how we provoke the body to pleasures by the lusts of the minde for the beginning thereof is against nature For like as the tickling under the arme-holes procureth unto the soule a laughter which is not proper milde and gentle but rather troublesome and resembling some spasme or convulsion even so all the pleasures which the bodie receiveth when it is pricked and provoked by the soule be violent forced turbulent furious and unnaturall Whensoever therefore any occasion shall present it selfe to enjoy such rare and notable delights it were better for us to take a glorie in the abstinence rather than in the fruition thereof calling to minde that which Simonides was woont to say That he never repented any silence of his but often times he beshrewed himselfe for his speech and even so we never repent that we have refused any viands or drunke water in slead of good Falerne wine And therefore we ought not onely not to force nature but if other-whiles we be served with such cates and meats as she craveth we are to divert our appetite from the same and to reduce it to the use of simple and ordinary things many times even for custome and exercise If right and law may broken be for any earthly thing The best pretense is for to win a crowne and be a king So said Eteocles the Thebane though untruely but we may better say If we must be ambitious and desirous of glorie in such things as these it were most honest and commendable to use continence and temperance for the preservation of health Howbeit some there be who upon an illiberall pinching and mechanicall sparing can restraine and keepe downe their appetites when they be at home in their owne houses but if it chance they be bidden foorth to others they gorge and fill their bellies with these exquisit and costly viands much like to those who in time of warre and hostilitie raise booties and prey upon the lands of their enemies what they can and when they have so done they goe from thence ill at ease carrying away with them for the morrow upon this their fulnesse and unsatiable repletion crudity of stomacke and indigestion Crates therefore the philosopher thinking that civill warres and tyrannies arise and grow up in cities aswell by reason of superfluity and excesse in dainty fare as upon any other cause whatsoever was woont by way or mirth to give admonition in these tearmes Take heed you bring us not into a civill sedition by augmenting the platter alwaies before the Lentil that is to say by dispending more than your revenues will beare But in deed every man ought to have this command and rule of himselfe as to say Augment not evermore the platter before the Lentil nor at any time passe beyond the Cresses and the Olive even to fine tarts and delicate fishes lest you bring your bodie into a domesticall dissention afterwards with it selfe namely to painfull colickes lasks and fluxes of the bellie by over-much fulnesse and excesse of feeding for simple viands and ordinarie conteine the appetite within the bounds and compasse of nature but the artificiall devices of cooks and cunning fellowes in pastry with their curious cates of all sorts with their exquisit sauces and pickles as the comicall Poet saith set out and extend alwaies the limits of pleasure encroching still beyond the bounds of utilitie and profit And I wot not verily how it comes about that considering we so much detest and abhorre those women who give love-drinks and can skill of charmes and forceries to bewitch and enchant men with we betake thus as we do unto mercenarie hirelings or slaves our meats and viands to be medicined as it were and no better than poisoned for to enchant and bewitch us And admit that the saying of Arcesilaus the Philosopher against adulterers and other lascivious persons may seeme somewhat with the bitterest namely that it made no great matter which way one went about that beastly worke whether before or behinde for that the one was as bad as the other yet impertinent it is not nor beside the subject matter which we have in hand For to say a trueth what difference is there betweene eating of Ragwort Rogket and such hot herbs for to stirre up the lust of the flesh and to provoke the taste and appetite to meat by smelles and sauces like as mangie and itching places have alwaies need of rubbing and scratching But peradventure it would be better to reserve unto another place our discourse against dishonest fleshly pleasures and to shew how honest and venerable a thing in it selfe is continence for our purpose at this present is to debarre many great pleasures otherwise in their owne nature honest for I assure you our diseases doe not put us by so many actions so many hopes
assaults and impressions of drunkennesse For these flowers if they be hot gently unstop and open the pores and in so doing make way and give vent for the heady wine to evaporate and breathe out all fumosities and contrariwise if they be temperatly colde by closing gently the said pores keepe downe and drive backe the vapours steaming up into the braine And of this vertue are the garlands of violets and roses which by their smell and comfortable sent represse and stay both ache and heavinesse of head As for the flower of Privet Saffron and Baccaris that is to say Our Ladies gloves or Nard Rusticke bring them sweetly to sleepe who have drunke freely for these send from them a milde aire breathing after a smooth and uniforme manner the which doth softly comprise and lay even the unequall distemperatures the troublesome acrimonies and disorderly asperities arising in the bodies of those who have overdrunk themselves whereupon there ensueth a calme and thereby the strength of the headie wine is either dulled or else rebated Other sorts of flowers there be the odours whereof being spred and dispersed about the braine purge mildly the pores and passages of the senses and their organes subtiliat and discusse gently withour trouble and offence with their moderate heat the humors and all moist vapours by way of rarefaction and warme the braine comfortably which by nature is of a cold temperature and for this cause especially those pettie garlands or poesies of flowers which they hung in old time about their necks they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one would saie suffumigations and they annointed all their brest-parts with the oiles that were expelled or extracted from them Alcyus also testifieth as much where hee willeth to powre sweet oile upon his head that had suffered much paine and upon his brest all grey for even so such odors are directed up as farre as to the braine being drawen by the sense of smelling So it was not because they thought that the soule which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was seated and kept residence within the heart that they called these wreathes and garlands about their necks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some would have it for then more reason it had beene to have tearmed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it was as I said before of the exhalation or evaporation upward from the region of the breast against which they were worne pendant neither are wee to woonder that the exhalations of flowers should have so great force for we finde it written in records that the shadow of Smilax especially when it is in the flower killeth them that lie a sleepe under it also from the Poppie there ariseth a certeine spirit when the juice is drawen out of it which they call Opium and if they take no better heed who draw the same it causeth them to swoone and fall to the ground there is an herbe called Alysson which whosever hold in their hands or doe but looke upon it shall presently be ridde of the yexe or painfull hickot and they say it is very good also for sheepe and goates to keepe them from all diseases if the same be planted along their cotes and folds the Rose also named in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was so called for that it casteth from it an odoriferous smell which is the reason that it quickly fadeth and the beautie passeth soone away cold it is in operation although it carie the colour of fire and not without good cause for that the little heat that it hath flieth up to the superficies of it as being driven outwardly from within by the native coldnesse that it hath THE SECOND QUESTION Whether Ivie of the owne nature be cold or hot THis speech of Tryphon we greatly praised but Amonius smiling It were not meet quoth he to kicke and spurne againe nor to overthrow so beautifull and gay a discourse as this was embelished and adorned with as great varietie as the garlands whereof it treated and which he undertooke to defend and mainteine but that I cannot tell how it is come to passe that the Ivie is enterlaced in the chaplet of flowers and said by the naturall coldnesse that it is to have a vertue and propertie to extinguish and quench the forcible heat of new wine for contrariwise it seemeth to be hot and ardent and the frute which it beareth being put into wine and infused therein giveth it power to inebriat and make drunke yea and to trouble and disquiet the bodie by the inflammation that it causeth by reason of which excessive heat the very body thereof groweth naturall crooked after the manner of wood that curbeth and warpeth with the fire also the snow which oftentimes cōtinueth and lieth many daies upon other trees flieth in great haste from the Ivie tree or to speake more properly is presently gone thawed and melted if it chance to settle upon it that by reason of the heat and that which more is as Theophrastus hath left in writing Harpalus the lieutenant generall under Alexander the Great in the province of Babylon by expresse order and direction from the king his master endevoured and did what he might to set in the kings orchard there certaine trees and plants which came out of Greece and such especially as yeelded a goodly shade caried large leaves and were by nature cold for that the countrey about Babylon is exceeding hot and scorched with the burning heat of the sunne but the ground would never enterteine nor abide the Ivie onely notwithstanding that Harpalus tooke great paines and emploied most carefull diligence about it for plant it as often as he would it dried and died immediatly and why hotte it is of the owne nature and was planted in a mould farre hotter than it selfe which hindered it for taking root for this is a generall and perpetuall rule that all excessive enormities of any object destroy the force and powers of the subject in which regard they desire rather their contraries in such sort as that a plant of cold temperature requireth an hot place to grow in and that which is hot demaundeth likewise a cold ground and this is the reason that high mountaine countries windie and covered with snow beare ordinarily trees that yeeld torch-wood and pitch as pines cone trees and such like And were it not so my good friend Tryphon yet this is certeine that trees which by nature are chill and cold shedde their leaves every yeere for that the small heat which they have for very penurie retireth inwardly and leaveth the outward parts naked and destitute whereas contrariwise heat and uncteous fattinesse which appeereth in the olive laurell and cypresse trees keepe themselves alwaies greene and hold their leaves like as the Ivie also doth for her part And therefore good father Bacchus hath not brought into use and request the Ivie as a preservative and present helpe against the encounter of
men for that they fell not upon triviall and common reason but had devised new for these be they that are alledged by every man and ready at hand to wit the heavinesse of Must or new wine as Aristotle saith which maketh the belly soluble and so it breaketh thorow the quantitie of flatilent and muddy spirits that abide therein together with the waterie substance of which the ventosities directly get foorth as expelled by force but the aquositie by the owne nature enfeebleth the strength of the wine like as contrariwise age augmenteth the power thereof for that the watrie substance is now gone by reason whereof as the quantitie of the wine is diminished so the qualitie and vertue is encreased THE EIGHT QUESTION What the reason is that they who be throughly drunke are lesse braine-sicke than those who are but in the way of drunkennesse SEeing then quoth my father that we have begun already to disquiet the ghost of Aristotle it shall not be amisse to trie what we can say of our selves as touching those whom wee call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say who are wel heat with wine but not yet starke drunk for howsoever Aristotle was ordinarily very quicke and subtile in resolving such questions yet in mine opinion he hath not sufficiently and exactly delivered the reason thereof for as farre as I can gather out of his words he saith That the discourse of reason in a man who is sober judgeth aright and according to the truth of things as they be contrariwise his sense and understanding who is cleane gone as they say dead drunke is done and oppressed altogether as for the apprehension and imagination of him who hath taken his wine well and is but halfe drunke is yet sound mary his reason and judgement is troubled already and crackt and therefore such judge indeed but they judge amisse for that they follow their phantasies onely but what thinke you of this For mine owne part quoth I when I consider with my selfe his reason it seemeth sufficiently to have rendred a cause of this effect but if you would have us to search farther into the thing and devise some speciall new matter marke first whether this difference which hee maketh betweene them ought not to be referred to the bodie for in these that have well drunke there is nothing but the discourse of reason onely troubled because the bodie being not yet thorowly drenched and drowned in wine is able to doe service unto the will and appetite but if it be once off the hookes as they say or utterly oppressed it forsaketh and betraieth the appetites and breaketh day with the affections being so farre shaken and out of joint that it can serve no more nor execute the will whereas the other having the bodie still at commaund and ready to exorbitate together with the will and to sinne with it for companie are more seene and discovered not for that they be more foolish and have lesse use of reason but because they have greater meanes to shew their follie But if we should reason from another principle and go another way to worke quoth I he that will consider well the force of wine shall finde no let but that in regard of the quantitie it altereth and becommeth divers much like unto the fire which if it be moderate hardeneth and baketh the tile or pot of claie but in case it bee very strong the heat excessive it meltethe dissolveth the same and on the otherside the spring or summer season at the beginning breedeth fevers and setteth them on fire which in the progresse and middes thereof being growen to their heights decline and cease altogether What should hinder then but the minde and understanding which naturally is disquieted and troubled with wine after it is once off the wheeles and cleane overturned by the excessive quantitie thereof should come into order againe and be setlet as it was before Much like therefore as Ellebore beginneth his operation to purge by overturning the stomacke and disquieting the whole masse of the body and if it be given in a lesse dose or quantitie than it should be well it may trouble but purge it will not also as wee see some who take medicines for to provoke sleepe under the just and full quantitie which is prescribed in stead of sleepe and repose finde themselves more vexed and tormented than before and others againe if they take more sleepe soundly even so it standeth to good reason that the brain-sicknesse of him who is halfe drunk after it is growen once to the highest strength and vigour doth diminish and decay to which purpose now wine serveth very well and helpeth much for being powred into the body with great abundance it burneth and consumeth that spice of madnesse which troubleth the minde and use of reason much after the maner of that dolefull song together with the heavy sound of hautboies in the funerals of dead folke at the first mooveth compassion and setteth the eies a weeping but after it hath drawen the soule so to pittie and compassion it proceedeth farther and by little and little it spendeth and riddeth away all sense of dolour and sorrow semblably a man shal observe that after the wine hath mightily troubled disquieted the vigorous couragious part of the soule men quickly come to themselves their minds be setled in such sort as they become quiet and take their repose when wine and drunkennesse hath passed as farre as it can THE NINTH QUESTION What is the meaning of the common proverbe Drinke either five or three but not fower WHen I had thus said Ariston crying out aloud as his maner was I see well now quoth he that there is opened a reentrance and returne againe of measures into feasts and banquets by vertue of a most just and popular decree which measures by meanes of I wot not what sober season as by a tyrant have beene this long time banished from thence for like as they who professe a canonicall harmonie in sounding of the harpe doe holde and say That the proportion Hemiolios or Sesquialterall produceth the symphonie or musicall accord Diapenta of the duple proportion ariseth that Dia pason but as for the muchlike or accord called Diatessaron which of all others is most obscure and dull it consisteth in the proportion Epitritos even so they that make profession of skill in the harmonies of Bacchus have observed that three symphonies or accords there are betweene wine water namely Diapenta Diatrion Diatessaron singing and saying after this manner Drinke five or three and not fower for the fift standeth upon the proportion Hemiolios or Sesquialterall to wit when three parts or measures of water be mingled with two of wine and the third conteine the duple proportion namely when two parts of water be put to one of wine but the fowrth answereth to the proportion of three parts of water powred into one of wine and verily
where shee may finde any matter that will affoord substance for hony even so a man by nature ingenious stitdious also of arts and elegancie is woont to cherish love and embrace every action and worke where he knoweth there was wit and understanding emploied in the finishing of it if then one come and present unto a yoong childe a little loafe of bread indeed and withall tender unto him a prety puppie or bulkin or heighfer made of paste or dough you shall see that he will run rather to these counterfet devices than to the other and even so it is also in other things for if one offer him a piece of silver in the masse unwrought and another tender unto him a little beast or a cup made of silver he will much sooner make choise of that which he seeth to have some artificiall workmanship joined with it and to savour of wit and cunning and therefore it is that children at this age take more delight both to heare such covert speeches as shew one thing and meane another as also those plaies and pastimes which have some wittie matters contrived or ambiguous difficulties interlaced therein for that which is smoothly polished and curiously wrought draweth and allureth unto it mans nature of the owne accord as being proper unto it and familiar although it be not taught to imbrace it Forasmuch as therefore hee who is angry or grieved in good earnest sheweth nothing else but common and ordinary passions but in representing and counterfeiting of the same there is a certeine dexteritie and subtiltie of wit to be seene especially if it speed well and take effect therefore we delight to behold the one and are displeased to see the other For the proofe heerof marke how we are affected semblaby in other objects shewes and sights presented unto us for with griefe and sorrow of heart we looke upon those who are either dying or lie grievously sick contrariwise with joy we behold yea and admire either Philoctetes painted in a table or queene Jocasta portraied in brasse upon whose visage it is said that the workman tempered a little silver with the brasse to the end that this mixture of mettals together might represent naturally and to the life indeed the face and colour of one ready to faint and yeeld up the ghost And this quoth I my masters to you I speake who are Epicureans is an evident argument on the Cyrenaiques side against you to proove that in pastimes and sports presented to the eie and the eare the pleasure consisteth not in seeing or hearing but in the understanding for an odious and unpleasant thing it is to heare a henne keepe a creaking or cackling and a crow untowardly and untunably crying and yet hee that can well and naturally counterfet either the cackling of an henne or the crying of the crow pleaseth and contenteth us woonderfull well semblably to looke upon those who are in ptisicke or consumption is but a lovelesse sight and yet we joy and take delight to see the pictures or images of such persons for that our understanding is pleased and contented with the imitation resemblance of them as a thing proper and peculiar unto it for otherwise what joy and contentment have men or what outward occasion have they so much to admire and woonder at Parmenons sow insomuch as it is growen to be a common by-word This Parmenon was by report one that counterfeited passing well the grunting of an hogge for which his singular grace and gift therein his concurrents upon an envious humour would needs assay to doe as much in despight of him but men being already forestalled with a prejudicate opinion of him would say thus Well done but nothing to Parmenons hogge and therefore one of them having gotten a little porket indeed under his arme made it for to squeake and crie but the people hearing the noise of a swine indeed All this say they is nothing to Parmenons hog whereupon the partie let the said live hog run among them all for to convince them of their corrupt judgement caried away with an opinion and not grounded upon trueth and reason Whereby it appeareth evidently that one and the same motion of the sense doth not affect the minde alike when there is not an opinion that the action was performed wittily and with artificiall dexterity THE SECOND QUESTION That there was in old time a game of prize for poets AT the solemnitie of the Pythicke games there was some question and talke upon a time about the cutting off and putting downe of certeine plaies and pastimes foisted in to the others that were ancient and of the first institution for whereas at the first there were but three onely that plaied their prizes to wit the Pythian plaier of flute or pipe the harper and the singer to the harpe after they had once admitted the actour of tragedies no sooner was this gate as one would say set open but they were not able to resist and keepe out an infinit number of other plaies and sports that rushed and thrust themselves in after him by occasion whereof there was much varietie and a frequent concourse at this solemnitie which I must needs say was no unpleasant sight to beholde but surely it reteined not the ancient gravity and dignitie beseeming the Muses indeed for by this meanes the judges and umpires were much troubled besides there grew many quarrels and enmities which could not otherwise be for where there are so many contending for the prize there can not chuse but be a number of mal-contents that missed the garland But among all others it was thought good by the judges to remoove and banish from the solemnitie a number of those who penned orations and all the sort of poets that came thither to versifie for the best game which they did not I assure you for any hatred unto learning and good letters but for that they who present themselves to these learned combats be ordinarily the most notable persons of all others the judges before-said reverenced them and in some sort pitied their case esteeming them all worthy men and well deserving of good letters howbeit not able all to gaine the victory We therefore being at this councell labored to dehort those who went about to change and alter setled customes and who blamed in any of these sacred games multiplicity and variety as if they found fault with many strings in an instrument or a consort of voices in vocall musicke Now in supper time when we were in Petraeus his house who was the president and governour of the said solemnitie and courteously had invited us the question was revived and set on foot a fresh and we tooke upon us to defend the cause of the Muses shewing that poetrie was no moderne profession nor entred but lately among the combats of sacred games but that of ancient time it had won the victorie and gained the crowne There were in the company some who thought by these
reason to induce us thereunto for men are wont to attribute a kinde of divinty unto things which are passing common and the commoditie whereof reacheth farre as for example to water light the seasons of the yeere as for the earth her above the rest they repute not onely divine but also to be a goddesse there is none of all these things rehearsed that salt giveth place unto one jot in regard of use and profit being as it is a fortification to our meats within the bodie and that which commendeth them unto our appetite but yet consider moreover if this be not a divine propertie that it hath namely to preserve and keepe dead bodies free from putrifaction a long while and by that meanes to resist death in some sort for that it suffereth not a mortall bodie wholly to perish and come to nothing but like as the soule being the most divine part of us is that which mainteineth all the rest alive and suffereth not the masse and substance of the bodie to be dissolved and suffer colliquation even so the nature of salt taking hold of dead bodies and imitating heerein the action of the soule preserveth the same holding and staying them that they runne not headlong to corruption giving unto all the parts an amitie accord agreement one with the other and therefore it was elegantly said by some of the Stoicks That the flesh of an hogge was even from the beginning no better than a dead carion but that life being diffused within it as if salt were strewed throughout kept it sweet and so preserved it for to last long Moreover you see that wee esteeme lightning or the fire that commeth by thunder celestiall and divine for that those bodies which have beene smitten therewith are observed by us to continue a great while unputrified and without corruption What marvell is it then if our auncients have esteemed salt divine having the same vertue and nature that this divine and celestiall fire hath Heere I staied my speech and kept silence With that Philinus followed on and pursued the same argument And what thinke you quoth he is not that to be held divine which is generative and hath power to ingender considering that God is thought to be the originall authour creatour and father of all things I avowed no lesse and said it was so And it is quoth he an opinion generally received that salt availeth not a little in the matter of generation as you your selfe touched ere-while speaking of Aegyptian priests they also who keepe and nourish dogs for the race when they see them dull to performe that act and to doe their kinde do excite and awaken their lust and vertue generative that lieth as it were asleepe by giving them aswell as other hot meats salt flesh and fish both that have lien in bring pickle also those ships vessels at sea which ordinarily are fraight with salt breed commonly an infinit number of mice and rats for that as some hold the females or does of that kinde by licking of salt onely will conceive and be bagged without the company of the males or bucks but more probable it is that saltnesse doth procure a certeine itching in the naturall parts of living creatures and by that means provokeht males females both to couple together and peradventure this may be the reason that the beauty of a woman which is not dull and unlovely but full of favor attractive and able to move concupiscence men use to name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say saltish or well seasoned And I suppose that the poets have fained Venus to have beene engendred of the sea not without some reason and that this tale that she should come of salt was devised for the nonce to signifie and make knowen under those covert tearmes that there is in salt a generative power certes this is an ordinarie and generall thing among those poets to make all the sea-gods fathers of many children and very full of issue To conclude you shall not finde any land creature finde any land-creature or flying fowle for fruitfulnesse comparable to any kinde of fishes bred in the sea which no doubt this verse of Empedocles had respect unto Leading a troupe which senselesse were and rude Even of sea-fish a breeding multitude THE SIXTH BOOKE OF SYMPOSIAQUES OR BANQUET-QUESTIONS The Summarie 1 WHat is the reason that men fasting be more at hirst than hungrie 2 Whether it be want of food that causeth hunger and thirst or the transformation and change of the pores and conduit of the bodie be the cause thereof 3 How commeth it that they who be hungrie if they drinke are eased of their hunger but contrariwise those who are thir stie if they eat be more thirstic 4 What is the reason that pit-water when it is drawen if it be left all night within the same aire of the pit becommeth more cold 5 What is the cause that little stones and plates or pellets of lead if they be cast into water cause it to be the colder 6 Why snowe is preserved by covering it with straw chaffe or garments 7 Whether wine is to run throw a strainer 8 What is the cause of extraordinarie hunger or appetites to meat 9 Why the poet Homer when he spcaketh of other liquors useth proper epithits onely oile he calleth moist 10 What is the cause that the flesh of beasts flaine for sacrifiece if they be hanged upon a fig-tree quickly become tender THE SIXTH BOOKE OF Symposiaques or banquet-questions The Proeme PLato being minded to draw Timotheus the sonne of Canon ô Sossius Senecio from sumptuous feasts and superfluous banquets which great captaines commonly make invited him one day to a supper in the Academie which was philosophicall indeed and frugall where the table was not furnished with those viands which might distemper the bodie with feaverous heats and inflamations as Iōn the poet was wont to say but such a supper I say upon which ordinarily there follow kinde and quiet sleeps such fansies also and imaginations as ingender few dreames and those short and in one word where the sleeps do testifie a great calmnesse and tranquillitie of the bodie The morrow after Timotheus perceiving the difference betweene these suppers and the other said That they who supped with Plato over-night found the pleasure and comfort therof the next day and to say a trueth a great helpe and ready meanes to a pleasant and blessed life is the good temperature of the body not drenched in wine nor loaden with viands but light nimble and ready without any feare or distrust to performe all actions and functions of the day-time But there was another commodity no lesse than this which they had who supped with Plato namely the discussing and handling of good and learned questions which were held at the table in supper time for the remembrance of the pleasures in eating and drinking is illiberall and unbeseeming men of worth
the rigour of cold the Aethiopians weare them not but to save themselves from soultrie heat wee in Greece use them for the one purpose and the other and therefore why should wee count them to be hot because they warme us rather than cold for that they coole us yet of the twaine if wee would be judged by the outward sense wee might repute them rather cold than hot for when we put on our shirts or inner garments first our naked skinne findes them cold and so when we goe into our beds wee feele the sheetes and other clothes of themselves as cold but afterwards they helpe to heat us but how being themselves full of heat which commeth from us they hold in our heat and withall keepe off the cold aire from our bodies Thus you see how they that be sicke of the ague or otherwise burne with heat change continually their linnens and other clothes about them because ever as any fresh thing is laid upon them they feele it cold and take comfort therein no sooner is it cast over them lien a while but it becommeth hot by reason of the ardent heat of their bodies like as therefore a garment being warmed once by us doth warme us againe even so if it be made cold by snow it keepeth it cold reciprocally but made cold it is by snow for that there ariseth from it a subtill spirit or vapour which doth it the same so long as it abideth within holdeth it together concrete and solid in the owne nature contrariwise when it is gone snowe melteth and turneth to water then that white fresh colour vanisheth away which came by the mixture of the said spirit humiditie together causing a kinde of froth when as snowe therefore is lapped within clothes both the cold is held in thereby and the outward aire kept out that it cannot enter in to thaw and melt the substance of the snow thus gathered and congealed together now to this purpose they use such clothes as have not yet come under the fullers hand nor beene dressed burled shorne and pressed and that for the length and drinesse of the shagge haire and flocks which will not suffer the cloth to lie heavie and presse downe the snow and crush it being so spungious and light as it is and even so the straw and chaffe lying lightly upon it and softly touching it breaketh not the congealed substance thereof and otherwise besides the same lieth close and fast together whereby it is a cause that neither the coldnesse of the snow within can breath foorth nor the heat of the aire without enter in To conclude that the excreation and issuing out of that spirit is the thing that causeth the snowe to fore-give to fret and to melt in the end is apparent to our outward senses for that the snow when it thaweth engendreth winde THE SEVENTH QUESTION Whether wine is to runne thorough a streiner before it be drunke NIger one of our citizens left the schooles having conversed but a small while with a most excellent and renowmed philosopher yet so long as in that time he had not learned any good thing at his hands but stollen from him ere he was aware that whereby he was offensive and odious unto others and namely this bad custome he had gotten of his master boldly to reproove and correct in all things those who were in his company when as therefore we were upon a time with Ariston in his house at supper together he found fault generally with all the provision as being too sumptuous curious and superfluous and among other things hee flatly denied That wine ought to passe through a streiner before it be powred foorth and filled to the table but he said It should be drunke as it came out of the tunne as Hesiodus said whiles it hath the strength and naturall force and as nature hath given it unto us for this manner of depuration and clarifying of it by a streiner first doth enervate and cut as it were the sinewes of the vigour and vertue yea and quench the native heat that it hath for it cannot chuse but the same will exhale evaporate and flie away with the spirit and life thereof being so often filled and powered out of one vessell into another Againe quoth he it bewraieth a certeine curiositie delicacie and wastfull wantonnesse thus to consume and spend the good and profitable for that which is pleasant onely and delectable for like as to cut cocks for to make them capons or to geld sowes and make them gualts that their flesh may be tender deintie against the nature of it effeminate was never surely the invention of men sound in judgement and honest behaviour but of wastfull gluttons and such as were given over to belly cheere even so verily they that thus streine wine doe geld it they cut the spurres and pare the nailes thereof if I may be allowed so to speake by way of Metaphor yea and doe effeminate the same whiles they are not able either to beare it by reason of their infirmitie and weakenesse nor drinke it in measure as they should because of their intemperance but surely this is a sophisticall device of theirs and an artificiall tricke to helpe them for to drinke more and excuse them for powring it downe so merrily for by this meanes the force of wine they take away leaving nothing but bare wine much like unto those who give water boiled unto sicke weak folke who cannot endure to drinke it cold yet beyond measure desire it for the very edge of wine they take off looke what strength vertue was in it the same they rid away and expell quite that in so doing they marre it for ever this may bee a sufficient argument that wine thus misused will not last nor continue long in the owne nature but turne quickly to be very dregs it loseth I say the verdure thereof presently as if it were cut by the roote from the owne mother which are the lees thereof Certes in old time they were wont directly to call wine it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie Lees like as we use to tearme a man by a diminutive speech a soule or an head giving unto him the denomination of those principall parts onely and even at this day wee expresse the gathering of the vine fruit by the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also in one place Homer called wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as for wine it selfe it was an ordinary thing with him to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say blackish and redde not pale and wanne by often streining and clensing such as Ariston heere serveth us with heere at Ariston laughing at the matter Not so my good friend quoth he not pale bloudlesse and discoloured but that which at the very first sight sheweth it selfe pleasant milde and lovely where as you would have us to ingurgitate and drench our selves with a wine as blacke
side it lieth lowest of all things in the world and by occasion thereof resteth unmooveable hauing no cause why it should encline more to one part than to another but yet some places of her because of their raritie do jogge and shake EPICURUS keepeth his old tune saying it may well be that the earth being shogged and as it were rocked and beaten by the aire underneath which is grosse and of the nature of water therefore mooveth and quaketh As also it may be quoth he that being holow and full of holes in the parts below it is forced to tremble and shake by the aire that is gotten within the caves and concavities and there enclosed CHAP. XVI Of the Sea how it was made and commeth to be bitter ANAXIMANDER affirmeth that the Sea is a residue remaining of the primitive humidity whereof the Sunne hauing burnt up and consumed a great part the rest behind he altered and turned from the naturall kind by his excessive ardent heat ANAXAGORAS is of opinion that the said first humiditie being diffused and spred abroad in manner of a poole or great meere was burnt by the motion of the sunne about it and when the oileous substance thereof was exhaled and consumed the rest setled below and turned into a brackish and bitter-saltnesse which is the Sea EMPEDOCLES saith that the Sea is the sweat of the earth enchafed by the sunne being bathed and washed all over aloft ANTISTON thinketh it to be the sweat of heat the moisture whereof which was within being by much seething and boiling sent out becommeth salt a thing ordinary in all sweats METRODORUS supposeth the Sea to be that moisture which running thorough the earth reteined some part of the densitie thereof like as that which passeth through ashes The disciples of PLATO imagine that so much of the elementarie water which is congealed of the aire by refrigeration is sweet and fresh but whatsoever did evaporate by burning and inflammation became salt CHAP. XVII Of the Tides to wit the ebbing and flowing of the sea what is the cause thereof ARISTOTLE and HERACLITUS affirme that it is the sunne which doth it as who stirreth raiseth and carieth about with him the most part of the windes which comming to blow upon the Ocean cause the Atlanticke sea to swell and so make the flux or high water but when the same are allaied and cleane downe the sea falleth low and so causeth a reflux and ebbe or low water PYTHEAS of Marseils referreth the cause of Flowing to the full moone and of Ebbing to the moone in the wane PLATO attributeth all to a certeine rising of the waters saying There is such an elevation that through the mouth of a cave carieth the Ebbe and Flow to and fro by the meanes whereof the seas doe rise and flow contrarily TIMAEUS alledgeth the cause hereof to be the rivers which falling from the mountaines in Gaule enter into the Atlantique sea which by their violent corruptions driving before them the water of the sea cause the Flow and by their ceasing and returne backe by times the Ebbe SELEUCUS the Mathematician who affirmed also that the earth mooved saith that the motion thereof is opposit and contrary to that of the moone also that the winde being driven to and fro by these two contrary revolutions bloweth and beateth upon the Atlanticke ocean troubleth the sea also and no marvell according as it is disquieted it selfe CHAP. XVIII Of the round circle called Halo THis Halo is made after this manner betweene the body of the moone or any other starre and our eie-sight there gathereth a grosse and mistie aire by which aire anon our sight commeth to be reflected and diffused and afterwards the same incurreth upon the said starre according to the exterior circumference thereof and thereupon appeereth a circle round about the starre which being there seene is called Halo for that it seemeth that the apparent impression is close unto that upon which our sight so enlarged as is before said doth fall THE FOURTH BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme HAving runne through the generall parts of the world I will now passe unto the particulars CHAP. I. Of the rising and inundation of Nilus THALES thinketh that the anniversarie windes called Etcsiae blowing directly against Aegypt cause the water of Nilus to swell for that the sea being driven by these windes entreth within the mouth of the said river and hindereth it that it cannot discharge it selfe freely into the sea but is repulsed backward EUTHYMENES of Marseils supposeth that this river is filled with the water of the ocean and the great sea lying without the continent which he imagineth to be fresh and sweet ANAXAGORAS saith that this hapneth by the snowe in Aethiopia which melteth in summer and is congealed and frozen in winter DEMOCRITUS is of opinion that it is long of the snowe in the north parts which about the aestival solstice and returne of the sunne being dissolved and dilated breedeth vapors and of them be engendred clouds which being driven by the Etesian windes into Aethiopia and Aegypt toward the south cause great and violent raines wherewith both lakes and the river also Nilus be filled HERODOTUS the Historian writeth that this river hath as much water from his sources and springs in winter as in summer but to us it seemeth lesse in winter because the sunne being then neerer unto Aegypt causeth the said water to evaporate EPHORUS the Historiographer reporteth that all Aegypt doth resolve and runne at it were wholly into swet in summer time whereunto Arabia and Libya doe conferre and contribute also their waters for that the earth there is light and sandy EUDOXUS saith that the priests of Aegypt assigne the cause hereof to the great raines and the Antiperistasis or contrarie occurse of seasons for that when it is Summer with us who inhabit within the Zone toward the Summer Tropicke it is Winter with those who dwell in the opposit Zone under the Winter Tropicke whereupon saith he proceedeth this great inundation of waters breaking downe unto the river Nilus CHAP. II. Of the Soule THALES was the first that defined the Soule to be a nature moving alwaies or having motion of it selfe PYTHAGORAS saith it is a certeine number moving it selfe and this number he taketh for intelligence or understanding PLATO supposeth it to be an intellectuall substance mooving it selfe and that according to harmonicall number ARISTOTLE is of opinion that it is the first Entelechia or primitive act of a naturall and organicall bodie having life potentially DICEARCHUS thinketh it to be the harmonie and concordance of the foure elements ASCLEPIADES the Physician defineth it to be an exercise in common of all the senses together CHAP. III. Whether the Soule be a body and what is the substance of it ALl these Philsosophers before rehearsed suppose that the Soule is incorporall that of the owne nature it mooveth and is a spirituall substance and the action of a
or that particular coast to wit either of Bizantine or of Cyzicum but generally all in what seas soever namely how against a tempest and storme when they see that the sea will bee very much troubled they charge and ballast themselves with little stones for feare of being overturned or driven to and fro for their lightnesse by the billowes and waves of the sea and thus by the meanes of this weight they remaine firme and fast upon the little rocks whereto they are setled As for the cranes who change their maner of flying according to the winde I say this is a skilfull quality not proper and peculiar to one kinde of fishes but common unto them all namely to swimme evermore against the waves the current yea and very warie they be that the winde blow not their tailes and raise their skales and so hurt and offend their bodies laid bare and naked yea and made rugged by that meanes Heereupon they carie their snouts and muzzels alwaies into the winde and so direct their course and thus the sea being cut afront at their head keepeth downe their finnes and gliding smoothly over their body laieth their scales even so as none of them stand staring up This is a thing as I have said cōmon unto al fishes except the Elops whose nature is to swimme downe the winde and the water neither feareth he that the winde will drive up his scales in so swimming because they doe not lie toward his taile but contrary to other fishes to ward his head Moreover the tuny is so skilfull in the solstices and equinoxes that he hath taught men to observe them without need of any astrologicall rules for looke in what place or coast of the sea the winter tropicke or solstice finds him there resteth he and stirreth not untill the equinox in the spring But a woonderfull wisedome quoth he there is in the crane to hold a stone in his foot that by the fall thereof he may quickly awaken How much wiser then my good friend Aristotimus is the dolphin who may not abide to lie still and cease stirring for that by nature he is in continuall motion and endeth his mooving and living together but when he hath need of sleepe he springeth up with his body to the toppe of the water and turneth him upon his backe with the belly upward and so suffreth it partly to flote and hull and in part to be caried through the deepe waving to and fro as it were in a hanging bedde with the agitation of the sea sleeping all the while untill he settle downe to the bottom of the sea and touch the ground then wakeneth he and mounting up with a jerke a second time suffreth himselfe to bee caried untill he be setled downe againe and thus hath he devised to have his repose and rest intermingled with a kinde of motion And it is said that the tunies doe the like and upon the same cause And now forasmuch as we have shewed already the mathematicall and astrologicall foreknowledge that fishes have in the revolution and conversion of the sunne which is confirmed likewise by the testimonie of Aristotle listen what skill they have in arithmeticke but first beleeve me of the perspective science whereof as it should seeme the poet Aeschylus was not ignorant for thus he saith in one place Like tuny fish he seemes to spie He doth so looke with his left eie For tunies in the other eie are thought to have a dimme and feeble sight and therefore when they enter Mer major into the sea of Pontus they coast along the land on the right side but contrariwise when they come foorth wherein they doe very wisely and circumspectly to commit the custody of the body alwaies to the better eie Now for that they have need of arithmeticke by reason of their societie as it may be thought and mutuall love wherein they delight they are come to that height and perfection in this arte that because they take a woondrous pleasure to feed together and to keepe one with another in sculles troupes they alwaies cast their company into a cubicke forme in maner of a battailon solid and square every way close and environed with six equall sides or faces and arranged in this ordinance as it were of a quadrat battell doe they swim as large before as behind of the one side as of the other in such sort as he that lieth in espiall to hunt these tunies if he can but take the just number how many there be of that side or front that appeereth next unto him may presently tell what the number is of the whole troupe being assured that the depth is equall to the bredth and the bredth even with the length The fish called in Greeke Hamiae tooke that name it may be thought for their conversing in companies al together and so I suppose came the Pelamydes by their name As for other fishes that be sociable love to live are seene to converse in great companies together no man is able to nūber thē they be so many Come we rather therfore to some particular societies inseparable fellowships that some have in living together amōg which is that Pinnotheres which cost the philosopher Chrysippus so much inke in his descriptiō for in al his books as wel of morall as naturall philosophie he is ranged formost As for the Spongetheres I suppose he never knew for otherwise he would not have left it out Well this Pinnotheres is a little fish as they say of the crabs kind which goeth commeth evermore with the Nacre a big shel fish keeping still by it and sits as it were a porter at his shell side which he letteth continually to stand wide open untill he spie some small fishes gotten within it such as they are woont to take for their food then doth he enter likewise into the Nacres shell and seemeth to bite the fleshy substance thereof whereupon presently the Nacre shutteth the shell hard and then they two together feed upon the bootie which they have gotten prisoners within this enclosure As touching the spongotheres a little creature it is not like unto the crabbe fish as the other but rather resembling a spider it seemeth to rule and governe the spunge which is altogether without life without bloud and sense but as many other living creatures within the sea cleaveth indeed heard to the rocks and hath a peculiar motion of the owne namely to stretch out and draw in it selfe but for to do this need she hath of the direction and advertisement of another for being of a rare hollow and soft constitution otherwise and full of many concavities void so dull of sense besides idle withal that it perceiveth not when there is any substance of good meat gotten within the said void and emptie holes this little animall at such a time giveth a kind of warning and with it she gathereth in her body
a foule person is worthy to be loved because there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hope and expectance that one day he will become faire mary when he hath gotten this beawty once and is withall become good and honest then he is beloved of no man For love say they is a certaine hunting as it were after a yong body as yet rude and unperfect howbeit framed by nature unto vertue LAMPRIAS And what other thing do we now my good friend but refute the errors of their sect who do thus force pervert and destroy all our common conceptions with their actions which be senselesse and their words and termes as unusuall and strange For there was no person to hinder this love of wise men toward yong folke if affection were away although all men and women to both thinke and imagin love to be such a passion as the woers of Penelope in Homer seeme to acknowledge Whose heat of love was such that in their hart They wisht in bed to lie with her apart Like as Jupiter also said to Juno in another place of the said poet Come let us now to bed both goe and there with sweet delight Solace our selves for never earst before remember I That any love to women fatre no nor to Goddesse bright Thus tam'd my hart or prict me so with them to company DIADUMENUS Thus you see how they expell and drive morall philosophy into such matters as these So tntricate and tortuous So winding qutte throughout That nothing sound is therein found But all turnes round about And yet they deprave vilipend disgrace and flout all others as if they were the men alone who restored nature and custome into their integrety as it ought to be instituted their speech accordingly But nature of it selfe doth divert and induce by appetitions pursuits inclinations and impulsions ech thing to that which is proper and fit for it And as for the custome of Logicke being so wrangling and contentious as it is it receiveth no good at all nor profit like as the eare diseased by vaine sounds is filled with thickenesse and hardnesse of hearing Of which if you thinke so good we will begin anew and discourse else were another time but now for this present let us take in hand to run over their naturall philosophy which no lesse troubleth and confoundeth common anticipations and conceptions in the maine principles and most important points than their morall doctrine as touching the ends of all things First and formost this is apparently absurd and against all common sense to say that a thing is yet hath no being nor essence and the things which are not yet have a being which though it be most absurd they affirme even of the universall world for putting downe this supposition that there is round about the said world a certaine infinit voidnesse they affirme that the universall world is neither body nor bodilesse whereupon ensueth that the world is and yet hath no existence For they call bodies onely existent for as much as it is the property of a thing existent to doe and suffer somewhat And seeing this universall nature hath no existence therefore it shall neither doe nor suffer ought neither shall it be in any place for that which occupieth place is a bodie but that universall thing is not a body Moreover that which occupieth one and the same place is said to remaine and rest and therefore the said universall nature doth not remaine for that it occupieth no place and that which more is it mooveth not at all first because that which mooveth ought to be in a place and roome certaine Againe because whatsoever mooveth either mooveth it selfe or else is mooved by another now that which mooveth it selfe hath certeine inclinations either of lightnesse or ponderosity which ponderosity and lightnesse be either certeine habitudes or faculties powers or else differences of ech body but that universality is no body whereupon it must of necessity follow that the same is neither light nor heavy and so by good consequence hath in it no principle or beginning of motion neither shall it be mooved of another for without beyond it there is nothing so that they must be forced to say as they doe indeed that the said universall nature doth neither rest nor moove In sum for that according to their opinion we must not say in any case that it is a body and yet the heaven the earth the living creatures plants men and stones be bodies that which is no body it selfe shall by these reckonings have parts thereof which are bodies and that which is not ponderous shall have parts weightie and that which is not light shall have parts light which is as much against common sense and conceptions as dreames are not more considering that there is nothing so evident and agreeable to common sense than this distinction If any thing be not animate the same is inanimate and againe if a thing be not inanimate the same is animate And yet this manifest evidence they subvert and overthrow affirming thus as they do that this universal frame is neither animate nor inanimate Over and besides no man thinketh or imagineth that the same is unperfect considering that there is no part thereof wanting and yet they holde it to be unperfect For say they that which is perfect is finite and determinate but the whole and universall world for the infinitenesse thereof is indefinite So by their saying some thing there is that is neither perfect not unperfect Moreover neither is the said universall frame a part because there is nothing greater than it nor yet the whole for that which is whole must be affirmed like wise to be digested and in order whereas being as it is infinite it is indeterminate and out of order Furthermore The other is not the cause of the universall world for that there is no other beside it neither is it the cause of The other nor of it selfe for that it is not made to do any thing and we take a cause to be that which worketh an effect Now set case we should demand of all the men in the world what they imagine NOTHING to be and what conceit they have of it would they not say thinke you that it is that which is neither a cause it selfe nor hath any cause of it which is neither a part nor yet the whole neither perfect nor unperfect neither having a soule nor yet without a soule neither moving nor stil quiet nor subsisting and neither body nor without body For what is all this but Nothing yet what all others do affirme and verifie of Nothing the same doe they alone of the universall world so that it seemeth they make All and Nothing both one Thus they must be driven to say that Time is nothing neither Praedicable nor Proposition nor Connexion nor Composition which be termes of Logicke that they use no Philosophers so much and yet they say that they have no existence nor being
fancies and inventions as one sometimes said for their lively and effectuall expression the dreams of persons waking but rather this may be verified of lovers imaginations who devise and talke with their loves absent as if they were present they salute embrace chide and expostulate with them as if they saw them in place for it seemeth that our ordinarie sight doth depaint other imagination with liquid and waterish colours which quickly passe away are gone and departed out of our minds but the fancies and visions of Lovers being imprinted in their cogitations by fire or enambled leave in their memorie lively images surely engraved which move live breath speake remaine and continue euer after like as Cato the Romane said that the soule of the lover lived dwelt in the soule of the loved for that there is setled sure in him the visage countenance manners nature life and actions of the person whom he loveth by which being led and conducted he quickly dispatcheth and cutteth off a long jorney as the Cynicks are wont to say finding a short compendious and directway unto vertue for hee passeth speedily from love to amity and friendship being caried on end by the favour of this God of Love with the instinct of his affection as it were with winde and tide with weather and water together in summe I say that this enthusiasme or ravishment of lovers is not without some divine power and that there is no other god to guide and governe it than he whose feast we solemnize and unto whom we sacrifice this very day howbeit for that we measure the greatnesse of a god by puissance especially profit according as among all humane goods we holde roialty and vertue to be most divine and so to call them It is time now to consider first and formost whether Love be inferior to any other god in power And verily Sophocles saith Venus in power doth much availe To win a prise and to preuaile Great also is the puissance of Mars and verily we see the power of all other gods to be after a sort divided in these matters two waies the one is allective and causeth us to love that which is beautifull and good the other is adversative and maketh us to hate that which is soule and bad which are the first impressions that from the beginning are engraven in our mindes according as Plato in one place speaketh of the Idea Let us now come to the point and consider how the very act alone of Venus may be had for a groat or some such small piece of silver neither was there ever man knowen to endure any great travell or to expose himselfe to any danger for the enjoying of such a fleshly pleasure unlesse he were amorous withall and love sicke And to forbeare heere to name such curtisanes as Phryne and Lais were we shall finde my good friend that Gnathaenium the harlot At lanterne light in euening late Waiting and calling for some mate is many time passed by and neglected but otherwhiles againe If once some sudden spirit moove The raging fit of fervent love it maketh a man to prize and esteeme the foresaid pleasure which erewhile he reckoned nothing woorth comparable in value to all the talents as they say of Tantalus treasure and equall to his great seignorie and dominion so enervate is the delight of Venus and so soone bringeth it lothsome sacietie in case it be not inspired with the power of love which we may see yet more evidently by this one argument namely that therebe many men who will be content to part with others in this kind of venereous pleasure yea and can find in their harts to prostitute unto them not only their mistresses and concubines but also their owne espoused wives as it is reported of that Galba or Cabbas a Romane who if I doe not mistake invited Maecenas upon a time unto his house feasted him where perceiving how from him to his wife there passed some wanton nods and winkings which bewraied that hee had a minde and fancie to her he gently rested his head upon a pillow or cushion making semblance as though he would take a nap and sleepe whiles they dallied together in the meane time when one of the servants which were without spying his time came softly to the table for to steale away some of the wine that stood there avaunt unhappy knave quoth Galba being broad awake and open eied knowest thou not that I sleepe onely for Maecenas sake But peradventure this was not so strange a matter considering that the said Galba was no better than one of the buffons or pleasants that professe to make folke merry and to laugh I will tell you therefore another example At Argos there were two of the principall citizens concurrents and opposite one to the other in the government of the city the one was named Philostratus the other Phaulius now it fortuned upon a time that king Philip came to the towne and commonly thought it was that Phaulius plotted and practised to atteine unto some absolute principallity and sovereignty in the city by the meanes of his wife who was a yoong and beautifull ladie in case he could bring her once to the kings bed and that she might lie with him Nicostratus smelling and perceiving as much walked before Phaulius doore and about his house for the nonce to see what he would do who indeed having shod his wife with a paire of high shooes cast about her a mantle or mandilion and withall set upon her head a chaplet or hat after the Macedonian fashion and dressed her every way like unto one of the kings pages sent her secretly in that habit and attire unto his lodging Now considering there hath beene in times past and is at this present such a number of amourous persons and lovers have you ever read or knowen that any one of them hath beene the bawd to prostitute his owne love though he might thereby have gained sovereigne majesty and obteined the divine honours of Jupiter I verily beleeve no for why there is not a person dare quetch to contradict and oppose himselfe in government of State against the actions of princes and tyrants But on the other side corrivals they have and concurrents many in love such as will not sticke to beard them in the question of faire yong and beautifull persons whom they affect and fancie For it is reported that Aristogiton the Athenian Antileon the Metapontine and Menalippus of Agrigentum never contended nor contested with the tyrants for all they saw them to waste and ruinate the common-weale yea to commit many 〈◊〉 outrages but when they began once to sollicit and tempt their paramors and loves then they rose up as it were in the defence of their sacred temples and sanctuaries then they stood against them even with the hazzard and perill of their lives It is said that king Alexander wrote unto Theodorus the brother of Proteas in this
off unjustly to pay the debt which you have promised us for having ere while by the way and against your will made some little mention of the Aegyptians and of Plato you passed them over then and even so doe you at this present as for that which Plato hath written or rather these Muses heere have by him delivered I know well you will say nothing thereof although we should request and pray you to doe it but for that you have covertly signified thus much that the mythologie or fables of the Aegyptians accord sufficiently with the doctrine of the Platonikes concerning Love it were against all reason that you should refuse to discover reveale and declare it unto us and content will we be in case we may heare but a little of such great and important matters Now when the rest of the companie instantly intreated likewise my father began againe and said That the Aegyptians like as the Greeks acknowledge two kindes of Love the one vulgar the other celestiall they beleeve also that there is a third beside to wit the sunne and Venus above all they have in great admiration as for us we see a great affinity and resemblance betweene Love and the sunne for neither of them both is as some doe imagine a materiall fire but the heat of the one and the other is milde and generative for that which proceedeth from the sunne giveth unto bodies nouriture light and deliverance from cold winter that which commeth from the other worketh the same effects in soules and as the sunne betweene two clouds and after a foggy mist breaketh foorth most ardent even so Love after anger fallings out and fits of jealousie upon attonement and reconciliation made betweene Lovers is more pleasant and fervent and looke what conceit some have of the sunne that it is kindled and quenched alternatiuely namely that every evening it goeth out and every morning is lighted againe the same they have of Love as being mortall corruptible and not permanent in one estate moreover that habite or constitution of the body which is not exercised and inured to endure both cold and heat can not abide the sunne no more can that nature of the soule which is not well nurtured and liberally taught be able to brooke Love without some paine and trouble but both the one and the other is transported out of order yea and indisposed or diseased alike laying the weight upon the force and power of Love and not upon their owne impuissance and weaknesse this onely seemeth to be the difference betweene them that the sunne exhibiteth and sheweth unto those upon the earth who have their eie-sight things beautifull and foule indifferently whereas Love is the light that representeth faire things onely causing lovers to be lookers of such alone and to turne toward them but contrariwise to make none account of all others Furthermore they that attribute the name of Venus to the earth are induced thereto by no similitude nor proportion at all for that Venus is divine and celestiall but the region wherein there is a mixture of mortall with immortall is of it selfe feeble darke and shadie when the sunne shineth not upon it like as Venus when love is not assistant unto it and therefore more credible it is that the moone should resemble Venus and the sunne Love rather than any other god yet are not they therefore all one because the body is not the same that the souleis but divers like as the sunne is sensible visible but Love spirituall and intelligible and if this might seeme a speech somewhat harsh a man might say that the sunne doeth cleane contrary unto Love for that it diverteth our understanding from the speculation of things intelligible unto the beholding of objects sensible in abusing and deceiving it by the pleasure and brightnesse of the sight perswading it to seeke in it and about it as all other things so trueth it selfe and nothing else where being ravished with the Love thereof For that we see it shine so faire Vpon the earth amid the aire according as Euripides saith and that for want of knowledge and experience of another life or rather by reason of forgetfulnesse of those things which Love reduceth into our memorie For like as when we awake in some great and resplendent light all nightly visions and apparitions vanish away and depart which our soule saw during sleepe even so it seemeth that the sunne doeth astonish the remembrance of such things as heere happen and chance in this life yea and to bewitch charme and enchant our understanding by reason of pleasure and admiration so as it forgetteth what it knew in the former life and verily there is the true reall substance of those things but heere apparitions onely by which our soule in sleepe admireth and embraceth that which is most beautifull divine and woonderfull but as the Poet saith About the same are vaine illusions Dreames manifold and foolish visions And so the mind is perswaded that all things heere be goodly and precious unlesse haply by good adventure it meet with some divine honest and chaste Love for to be her Physicion and savior which passing from the other world by things corporall may conduct and bring it to the truth and to the pleasant fields thereof wherein is seated and lodged the perfect pure and naturall beautie not sophisticate with any mixture of that which is counterfet and false where they desire to embrace one another and to commune together as good friends that of long time have had no interview nor entercourse assisted alwaies by Love as by a Sextaine who leadeth by the hand those that are professed in some religion shewing unto them all the holy reliques and sacred ceremonies one after another Now when they be sent hether againe the soule by it selfe can not come neere and approch thereto but by the organe of the body and like as because yoong children of themselves are not able to comprehend intelligible things therefore Geometricians put into their hands visible and palpable formes of a substance incorporall and impassible to wit the representations of sphaeres cubes or square bodies as also those that be dodecaedra that is to say having twelve equall faces even so the celestiall Love doth present and shew unto us faire mirrors to behold therein beautifull things howbeit mortall thereby to admire such as be heavenly and divine sensible objects for to imagine thereby those that be spirituall and intelligible These be the severall favors and beauties faire colours pleasant shapes proportions and features of yoong persons in the floure of their age which shining and glittring as they doe gently excite and stirre up our memorie which by little and little at the first is enflamed thereby whereby it commeth to passe that some through the folly of their friends and kinsfolke endevoring to extinguish this affection and passion of the minde by force and without reason have enjoied no benefit thereof but
hundred and eight yeeres saying that foure and fifty is the just moity or one halfe of a mans life which number is composed of an unitie the two first plaines two squares and two cubiques which numbers Plato also tooke to the procreation of the soule which he describeth But it seemeth verily that Hesiodus by these words covertly did signifie that generall conflagration of the world at what time it is very probable that the Nymphs together with all humors and liquid matters shall perish Those Nymphs I meane which many a tree and plant In forrests faire and goodly groves do hant Or neere to springs and river streames are seene Or keepe about the medowes gay and greene Then Cleombrotus I have heard many quoth he talke hereof and I perceive very well how this conflagration which the Stoicks have devised as it hath crept into the Poems of Heraclitus and Orpheus and so perverted their verses so it hath seized upon and caught hold of Hesiodus and given a perverse interpretation of him aswell as of others But neither can I endure to admit this consummation and end of the world which they talke of nor any such impossible matters and namely those speeches as touching the life of the Crow and the Stag or Hinde which yeeres if they were summed together would grow to an excessive number Moreover a yere conteining in it the beginning and the end of all things which the seasons thereof doe produce and the earth bring forth may in mine opinion not impertinently be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the age of men for even your selves confesse that Hesiodus in one passage called mans life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How say you is it not so Then Demetrius avowed as much This also quoth Cleombrotus is as certeine that both the measure and also the things which be measured are called by one and the same names as it appeareth by Cotyla Chaenix Amphora and Medimnus Like as therefore we name Unitie a number which indeed of all numbers is the least measure and beginning onely of them semblably Hesiodus termed Yeere the age of man for that with it principally we measure his age and so communicate that word with the thing that it measureth as for those numbers which they make there is no singularity at all or matter of importance in them as touching the renowmed numbers indeed But the number of 9720 hath a speciall ground and beginning as being composed of the foure first numbers arising in order from one and the same added together or multiplied by foure every way arise to fortie Now if these be reduced into triangles five times they make the just summe of the number before named But as touching these matters what need I to contend with Demetrius for whether there be meant thereby a longer time or a shorter a certeine or uncerteine wherein Hesiodus would have the soule of a Daemon to change or the life of a Demi god or Heros to end it skilleth not for he prooveth neverthelesse that which he would and that by the evidence of most ancient and wise witnesses that there be certeine natures neuter and meane as it were situate in the confines betweene gods and men and the same subject to mortall passions and apt to receive necessarie changes and mutations which natures according to the traditions examples of our forefathers meet it is that we call Daemons and honour them accordingly And to this purpose Xenocrates one of the familiar friends of Plato was woont to bring in the demonstration and example of triangles which agreed very well to the present matter in hand for that triangle which had three sides and angles equall he compared unto the nature divine and immortall that which had all sides unequall unto the humane and mortall nature and that which had two equall and one unequall unto the nature of the Daemons for the first is every way equall the second on every side unequall and the last in some sort equall and in other unequall like unto the nature of the Daemons having humane passions and affections yet withall the divine power of some god But nature herselfe hath proposed unto us sensible figures and similitudes visible above of gods vetily the Sunne and other starres but of mortall men sudden lights and flashes in the night blazing comets and shooting of starres for unto such Euripides compared them when he said Who was ere while and lately in the floure Of his fresh youth at sudden in an houre Became extinct as starre which seemes to fall From skie and into aire sent breath and all Now for a mixt body representing the nature of Daemons or Angels there is the Moone which they seeing to be so subject to growing and decreasing yea and to perishing altogether and departing out of sight thought to accord very well and to be sortable unto the mutability of the Daemons kinde For which cause some have called her a terrestriall starre others an Olympian or celestiall earth and there be againe who have named her The heritage and possession of Proserpina both heavenly and earthly Like as therefore if one tooke the aire out of the world and remooved it from betweene the Moone and the earth he should dissolve the continuation coherence and composition of the whole universall frame by leaving a voide and emptie place in the middes without any bond to joine and linke the extremes together even so they who admit not the nation and kind of the Daemons abolish all communication convers and conference betweene gods and men considering they take away that nature which serveth as a hanchman interpreter and minister betweene both as Plato said or rather they would drive us to confound and huddle together yea and to jumble all in one if we came to interningle the divine nature and deity among humane passions and actions and so plucke it out of heaven for to make it intermeddle in the negocies and affaires of men like as they faie the wives of Thessalie draw downe the Moone from heaven Which devise fiction hath taken roote and is beleeved among women by reason that Aglaonica the daughter of Agetor by report being a wise dame and well seene in Astrologie made semblance and perswaded the vulgar sort that in every ecclipse of the Moone she used alwaies some charmes and enchantments by vertue whereof she fetched the Moone out of heaven As for us give we no eare and credit unto them who say there be some Oracles and divinations without a deity or that the gods regard not sacrifices divine services and other sacred ceremonies exhibited 〈◊〉 them neither on the other side let us beleeve that God is present to intermeddle or employ himselfe in person but betaking and referring that charge unto the ministers of the gods as it is meet and just like as if they were deputies officers and secretaries let us constantly hold that those be the Daemons which are
her daughters their wofull end 948.40 Democritus studious in searching the causes of things 660. 〈◊〉 Democritus commended 1128.1 his opinion as touching dreames 784.20 his opinion as touching Atomes 807. 40. what he thought of God 812.1 Democritus a brave captaine et sea 1242. 〈◊〉 Demodorus an ancient Musician 1249.40 Demonides his shoes 23.10 Demosthenes the oratour never dranke wine 792.50 he loved not to speak unpremeditate 355 10. his parentage education and life 930.50 he called judicially to account his tutors or Guardian 931.10 he sued Midias in an action of battery 931.20 his painfull studie ib. how he corrected his evill gestures ib. 30. his defects in nature ib. 40. his exercise of declaiming by the seaside ib. he sided against the faction of K. Philip. 931.40 encouraged by Eunomus and Andronicus ib. 50. his speech of Action in eloquence 932.1 flowted by Comicall Poets for his broad othes in pleading 932.1 he mainteineth the pronouncing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the accent over the second syllable 932.10 Demosthenes dashed Lamachus out of countenance 932.20 commended by K. Philip for his eloquence 932.20 his kindnesse unto Aeschines 932.40 disgraced at his first comming to the barre 398.20 accused and quit ib. his timorousnesse ib. 50. his Motor device upon his targuet ib. not blamed in his orations for praising himself 304.50.305.1 his imploiment and good service in the Common weale 933.1 his honours that he obteined ib. 10. noted for bribery and corruption ib. 20. condemned and banished ib. recalled home by a publique decree ib. 30. he flieth and taketh Sanctuary ib. 40. his answer as touching premeditate speech 8.1 his statue with his owne Epigram 934. 10. his death ib. his issue ib. 30. honours done unto him after death ib. 40. he first made an oration with a sword by his side 934.30 his orations ib. 50. surnamed Batalus for his riotous life ib. scoffed at by Diogenes the Cynicke 935.1 his tale of the asse and the shadow 935. 10. his apophthegme to Polus the great actour 935.20 he studied his orations much ib. 30. how he tooke the death of his only daughter 529.40 Denary or Ten the perfection of numbers 806.40 Deniall of unjust and unlawfull requests 170.20 Denys the Tyrant 296.40 Denys of Sicily abused by slatterers 93.40 how he served a minstrell 56.1 Denys the tyrants wife and children cruelly abused by the Italians 377.1 his cruelty to Philoxenus the Poet. 1274.1 Denys the elder could not abide idlenesse 394.30 how he named his three daughters 1278.30 his witty apophthegmes 406.10 the yoonger his apophthegmes 407.20 his apophthegme 1268.50 his base nigardise to an excellent Musician 1273.30 his proud vain-glory 1278.20 Dercillidas his apophthegmes 456.30 Deris what Daemon 157.30 Destinies three 797.40 Destiny or fatall necessitie 816.40 what it is 817.1 substance thereof what it is ib. 50 Deucalion his deluge 961.50 Dexicreon a cousening Mount-banke or Merchant venturer 904.1 Diagoras of Melos 810.40 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 of two sorts 758.40 whether they ought to be rehearsed at supper time 759.50 Dianaes temple at Rome why men do not enter into 851.10 Diana but one 796.20 the same that the Moone 697.20 her attributes given by Timotheus 28.10 her temple within the Aventine hill why beautified with Cowes hornes 851.20 Diana Chalceoecos 455.10 surnamed Dictynna 978.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how defined 953.1 Diapason what symphonie in Musicke 1037.1 Diapente what symphony in Musicke 1037.1 Diapente in tempering wine and water 695.20 Diaphantus his apophthegme 2.30 Diatessaron what symphony in Musicke 1035.50 Diatessaron in tempering wine and water 695.20 Diatonique Musicke 796.40 Diatrion in tempering wine and water 695.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 736.50 〈◊〉 the citie perished 1190.20 Dice 295.20.557.50 Dictamnus the herbe medicinable 968.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 785.20 Diesis 1037.40 Diet exquisit condemned 617.40 620.20 Diet for sicke persons 611.40 Diet for men in health 612.10 Diet physicke taught us by brute beasts 969.10 Differring of punishmēt 540.1.10 Digestion of meats how hindered 701.1.10 Diligence supplieth the defect of nature 3.20 the power thereof ib. 30 Dinaea what Daemon 157.30 Dinarchus the orator his life and acts 937.30 his voluntary extle ib. 50 Dino a great captaine 901.30 Dinomenes what oracle he received as touching his sonnes 1197 20 Diogenes smote the master for the scholars misbehaviour 81.40 his free speech to K. Philip. 111.10 Diogenes the Sinopian a Philosopher abandoned the world 249.20 Diogenes compared himselfe with the great king of Persia. 250.1 Diogenes the Cynicke his apophthegme unto a boy drunken 250 Diogenes his patience 128.20 his speech to a yoonker within a Taverne 254.30 Diogenes the Cynicke his answer as touching his banishment 273 20. he contemned slavery 299.20 Diogenes master to Antisthenes 666.1 Diogenes rebuketh Sophocles about the mysteries of Ceres 28.10 his apophthegme as touching revenge of an enemie 28.1 concerning fleshly pleasure 6.30 his silthy wantonnes 1069.1 his franke speech to K. Philip 279.10 Diognetus sansieth Polycrite 497.1 Dion how he tooke the death of his owne sonne 525.40 through foolish bashfulnesse came to his death 165. 30. his apophthegmes 408.1 Dionysius See Denys Dionysus Eleutherios 885.1 Dioscuri two starres 822.10 Dioxippus rebuked by Diogenes for his wandering and wanton eie 141.20 his opinion as touching the passage of our meats and drinks 745.1 Dis diapason 1037.30 Discontentednesse in Alexander the great 147.40 Discourse of reason what it is 839 40 Diseases of a strange maner 782.40 Diseases of the body which be worst 313.30 Diseases of the soule woorse than those of the body 313.10 Diseases have their avantcurriers or forerunners 616.20 Diseases how they arise 781.10 Diseases new how they come 781.20 Diseases which were first 782.1 a Dish of sowes paps 613.50 Disme or tenth of goods why offered to Hercules 855.50 Disputation what maner of exercise 619.30 Disputation after meales 622.50 Distances betweene sunne moone and the earth 1165.30 Dithyrambs what verses songs 1358.10 they sort well with Bacchus 1358.10 Diversitie 65.40 Divine what things be called 728 20.30 Divine knowledge or doctrine of the gods seven folde 810.10 Divine providence what it is 1052 50 Divine providence denied by the Epicureans 598.1 Divine service most delectable ib. 40 Divine power author of no ill nor subject thereto 600.1 Divination of many kinds 841.10 Divination ascribed to Bacchus 1764.10 Divination by dreames 784.10 Divination dented by the Epicureans 598.1 Docana what images they were 174.1 Doctrine and life ought to go together 1057.40 Dodecaedron 1020.40.819.20 Dogs sacrificed by the Greeks in all expiations 873.1 odious unto Hercules 880.30 not allowed to come into the castle of Athens 886. 50. esteemed no cleane creatures 887.10 sacrificed to infernall gods and to Mars 887.20 Sea Dogs how kind they be to their yoong ones 218.20.976.40 Dog how subtill he is 959.40 Dogs their admirable qualities 962.20 a Dog discovereth the murderer of his master ib. 30 a Dog detecteth the murder of Hesiodus ib. 40 Dogs gentle and couragious withall 964.10
all just and honest actions when it hath chased and removed out of the way ire and wrath and therefore men are mollified appeased and become gentle by examples of men when they heare it reported how Plato when hee lifted up his staffe against his page stood so a good while and forbare to strike which hee did as he said for to represse his choler And Architas when he found some great negligence and disorder at his ferme-house in the countrey in his houshold servants perceiving himselfe moved and disquieted therewith insomuch as he was exceeding angrie and readie to flie upon them proceeded to no act but onely turning away and going from them said thus It is happie for you that I am thus angrie with you If then it be so that such memorable speeches of ancient men and woorthy acts reported by them are effectuall to represse the bitternesse and violence of choler much more probable it is that we seeing how God himselfe although he standeth not in feare of any person nor repenteth of any thing that he doth yet putteth off his chastisements and laieth them up a long time should be more wary and considerate in such things and esteeme that clemencie long sufferance and patience is a divine part of vertue that God doth shew and teach us which by punishment doth chastise and correct a few but by proceeding thereto slowly doth instruct admonish and profit many In the second place let us consider that judiciall and exemplarie processe of justice practised by men intendeth and aimeth onely at a counter change of paine and griefe resting in this point That he who hath done evill might suffer likewise proceeding no farther at all and therefore baying and barking as it were like dogges at mens faults and trespasses they follow upon them and pursue after all action by tract and footing but God as it should seeme by all likelihood when hee setteth in hand in justice to correct a sinfull diseased soule regardeth principally the vicious passions thereof if haply they may be bent wrought so as they will incline turne to repentance in which respect he staieth long before that he inflict any punishment upon delinquents who are not altogether past grace incorrigible for considering withall and knowing as he doth what portion of vertue soules have drawen from him in their creation at what time as they were produced first and came into the world as also how powerfull and forcible is the generositie thereof and nothing weake and feeble in it selfe but that it is cleane contrary to their proper nature to bring forth vices which are engendered either by ill education or els by the contagious haunt of leaud company and how afterward when they be well cured and medicined as it falleth out in some persons they soone returne unto their owne naturall habitude and become good againe by reason heereof God doth not make haste to punish all men alike but looke what he knoweth to be incurable that he quickly riddeth away out of this life and cutteth it off as a very hurtfull member to others but yet most harmefull to it selfe if it should evermore converse with wickednesse but to such persons in whom by all likelihood vice is bred and ingendred rather through ignorance of goodnesse than upon any purpose and will to chuse naughtinesse hee giveth time and respit for to change and amend how beit if they persist still and continue in their leaud waies hee paieth them home likewise in the end and never feareth that they shall escape his hands one time or other but suffer condigne punishment for their deserts That this is true consider what great alterations there happen in the life and behaviour of men and how many have beene reclaimed and turned from their leaudnesse which is the reason that in Greeke our behaviour and conversation is called partly 〈◊〉 that is to say A conversion and in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one because mens maners be subject to change and mutation the other for that they be ingendered by use or custome and the impression thereof being once taken they remaine firme and sure which is the cause also as I suppose that our ancients in olde time attributed unto king Cecrops a double nature and forme calling him Double not for that as some said of a good element and gracious prince he became a rigourous fell and cruell tyrant like a dragon but contrariwise because having bene at the first perverse crooked and terrible he proved afterward a milde and gentle lord and if we make any doubt hereof in him yet we may be sure at leastwise that Gelon and Hiero in Sicilie yea and Pisistratus the sonne of Hipocrates all usurpers who atteined to their tyrannicall dominion by violent and indirect meanes used the same vertuously and howsoever they came unto their sovereigne rule by unlawfull and unjust meanes yet they grew in time to be good governours loving and profitable to the common weale and likewise beloved and deare unto their subjects for some of them having brought in and established most excellent lawes in the countrey and caused their citizens and subjects to be industruous and painfull in tilling the ground made them to be civill sober and discreet whereas before they were given to be ridiculous as noted for their laughter and lavish tongues to be true labourers also and painfull who had bene idle and playfull And as for Gelon after he had most valiantly warred against the Carthaginians and defaited them in a great battell when they craved peace would never grant it unto them unlesse this might be comprised among the articles and capitulations That they should no more sacrifice their children unto Saturne In the citie also of Megalopolis there was a tyrant named Lydiades who in the mids of his usurped dominion repented of his tyrannie and made a conscience thereof detesting that wrongfull oppression wherein he held his subjects in such sort ' as he restored his citizens to their ancient lawes and liberties yea and afterwards died manfully in the field fighting against his enemies in the defence of his countrey Now if any one had killed Miltiades at the first whiles he exercised tyrannie in Chersonesus or if another had called judicially into question Cimon enditing him for keeping his owne sister and so being condemned of incest had caused him to be put to death or disfranchised and banished Themistocles out of the citie for his loose wantonnesse and licentious insolencie shewed publickly in the Common place as Alcibiades afterwards was served and proscribed for the like excesse and riot committed in his youth Where had bene then that famous victorie At chieved on the plaines of Marathon Where had bene that renowmed chivalrie Performed neere the streame Eurymedon Or at the mount faire Artemision Where Athens youth as poet Pindare said Freedome first the glorious ground-worke laid For so it is great natures and high minds can bring foorth no meane matters nor the
vehement force of action which is in them remaine idle so lively and subtile it is but they wave to and fro continually as if they were tossed by tempest and winde upon the sea untill such time as they come to be setled in a constant firme and permanent habitude of maners like as therefore he who is altogether unskilfull of husbandrie and tillage maketh no reckoning at all of a ground which he seeth full of rough bushes and thickets beset with savage trees and overspred with ranke weeds wherein also there be many wilde beasts many rivers and by consequence great store of mudde and mire but contrariwise an expert husband and one who hath good judgement and can discerne the difference of things knoweth these and all such signes to betoken a fertile and plentifull soile even so great wits and hautie spirits doe produce and put foorth at the first many strange absurd and leud pranks which we not able to endure thinke that the roughnesse offensive pricks thereof ought immediately to be cropt off and cut away but he who can judge better considering what proceedeth from thence good and generous attendeth and expecteth with patience the age and season which is cooperative with vertue and reason against which time the strong nature in such is for to bring foorth and yeeld her proper and peculiar frute And thus much may suffice of this matter But to proceed forward Thinke you not that some of the Greeks have done well and wisely to make a transcript of a law in Egypt which commaundeth that in case a woman who is attaint and convicted of a capital crime for which in justice she ought to die be with childe she should be kept in prison untill she were delivered Yes verily they all answered Well then quoth I Set case there be some one who hath no children conceived in his wombe to bring foorth but breedeth some good counsell in his head or conceiveth a great enterprise in his minde which he is to bring to light and effect in time either by discovering an hidden mischiefe or setting abroad an expedient and profitable counsell or inventing some matter of necessarie consequence Thinke you not that he did better who deferred the execution of such an ones punishment stay untill the utilitie that might grow by him were seene than he who inconsiderately in all haste proceedeth to take revenge prevent the opportunitie of such a benefit Certes for mine owne part I am fully of that minde and even we no lesse answered Patrocleas Well then quoth I it must needs be so for marke thus much If Dionysius had beene punished for his usurped rule in the beginning of his tyrannie there should not one Grecian have remained inhabitant in 〈◊〉 for the Carthaiginans would have held the same and driven them al out like as it must needs have befallen to the citie Apollonia to Anactorium and the Chersonese ordemie island Leucadia if 〈◊〉 had suffered punishment at first and not a long time after as he did And I suppose verily that the punishment and revenge of Cassander was put off and prolonged of purpose untill by that meanes the citie of Thebes was fully reedified and peopled againe And many of those mercenary soldiers and strangers who seized and held this temple wherein we are during the time of the sacred warre passed under the conduct of Timoleon into Sicilie who after they had defaited in battell the Carthaginians and withall suppressed abolished sundrie tyrannies they came to a wretched end wicked wretches as they were For God in great wisedome and providence otherwhiles maketh use of some wicked persons as of butchers and common excutioners to torment and punish others as wicked as they or woorse whom afterwards he destroieth and thus in mine opinion he dealeth with most part of tyrants For like as the gall of the wild beast Hyaena and the rendles or rennet of the Sea-calfe as also other parts of venemous beasts and serpents have one medicinable propertie or other good to heale sundry maladies of men even so God seeing some people to have need of bitte and bridle and to be chastised for their enormities sendeth unto them some inhumane tyrant or a rigorous and inexorable lord to whip and scourge them and never giveth over to afflict and vexe them untill he have purged and cleered them of that maladie wherewith they were infected Thus was Phalaris the tyrant a medicine to the Agrigentines thus Marius was sent as a remedie to cure the Romanes as for the Sicyonians even god himselfe Apollo foretold them by oracle That their citie had need of certaine officers to whippe and scourge them at what time as they would perforce take from the Cleoneans a certain yong boy named Teletias who was crowned in the solemnitie of the Pythian games pretending that he was their citizen and borne among them whom they haled and pulled in such sort as they dismembred him But these Sicyonians met afterwards with Orthagoras that tyrannized over them and when he was gone they were plagued also with Myron and Clisthenes and their favorites who held them in so short that they kept them from all outrages and staied their insolent follies whereas the Cleoneans who had not the like purgative medicine to cure them were subverted and through their misdemeanor come to nothing Marke well therefore that which Homer in one place saith His sonne he was and in all kind of valour did surmount His father farre who was to say a truth of base account And yet this sonne of Copreus never performed in all his life any memorable act beseeming a man of woorth and honour whereas the ofspring of Sisyphus the race of Antolycus and the posteritie of Phlegyas flourished in glorie and all maner of vertue among great kings and princes At Athens likewise Pericles descended from an house excommunicate and accursed And so at Rome Pompeius surnamed Magnus that is the Great had for his father one Strabo a man whom the people of Rome so hated that when he was dead they threw his corps out of the biere wherein it was caried foorth to buriall and trampled it under their feet What absurditie then were it if as the husbandman never cutteth up or stocketh the thorne or bush before he hath gathered the render sprouts and buds thereof nor they of Libya burne the boughes of the plant Ledrom untill they have gotten the aromaticall gumme or liquor out of it called Ladanum even so God never plucketh up by the root the race of any noble and roiall familie wicked and wretched though they be before it hath yeelded some good and profitable frute for it had bene farre better and more expedient for the men of Phocis that ten thousand beefs and as many horses of Iphitus had died that the Delphians likewise had lost much more gold and silver by farre than that either Ulysses or Aesculapius should not have bene borne or others in like case whose