giuing vp of a mans Soule and the rauishing of his will as hath beene shewed before To be briefe the visage is the throne of beautie and loue the seat of laughter and kissing two things very proper and agreeable vnto man the true and most significant symboles of amitie and good discretion Finally it is apt for all alterations to declare the inward motions and passions of the soule as Ioy Heauinesse Loue Hatred Enuie Malice Shame choler Iealousie so forth It is as the hand of a diall which noteth the houres and moments of time the wheeles and motions themselues being hid within And as the aire which receiueth all the colours changes of the time sheweth what the weather is so saith one the aire of a mans countenance Corpus animum tegit detegit in facie legitur homo The beauty of the face consisteth in a large square well 6 A description of the beautie of the face extended and cleere front eye-browes well ranged thin and subtile the eye well diuided cheerefull sparkling as for the colour I leaue it doubtfull the nose leane the mouth little the lips coraline the chinne short and dimpled the cheekes somewhat rising and in the middle the pleasant gelasin the eares round and well compact the whole countenance with a liuely tincture white and vermilion Neuerthelesse this description of Beauty is not generally receiued the opinions of Beauty are different according to the diuersity of nations With the Indians the greatest Beautie consisteth in that which we account the greatest deformitie that is in a tawny colour thicke and swollen lips a flat and large nose teeth spotted with blacke or red great eares and hanging a little low forehead dugs great and pendant to the end they may giue their little ones sucke ouer their shoulders and to attaine to this forme of beautie they vse all maner of arte But not to wander so farre in Spaine the chiefest beautie is leane and neatly compt in Italie fat corpulent and solid the soft and delicate and flattering please the one the strong vigorous fierce and commanding the other The Beauty of the body especially the visage should in 7 The beautie of the soule and body all reason demonstrate and witnesse the beauty of the soule which is a qualitie and rule of opinions and iudgements with a certaine stedfastnesse and constancie for there is nothing that hath a truer resemblance than the conformity and relation of the body to the spirit and when this is not wee must needs thinke that there is some accident that hath interrupted the ordinary course as it comes to passe and wee often times see it for the milke of the Nurse the first institution conuersation bring great alterations to the originall nature of the soule whether in good or euill Socrates confessed that the deformitie of his bodie did iustly accuse the naturall deformitie of his soule but that by industrie and institution he had corrected that of the soule This outward countenance is a weake and dangerous suretie but they that belie their owne physiognomie are rather to be punished than others because they falsifie and betray that good promise that Nature hath planted in their front and deceiue the world CHAP. VI. Of the vestments of the Bodie THere is great likelihood that the custome or fashion of Nakednesse is naturall going naked as yet continued in a great part of the world was the first and originall amongst men and that of couering and adorning the bodie with garments was artificiall and inuented to helpe and inlarge nature as they which by artificiall light goe about to increase the light of the day for Nature hauing sufficiently prouided for all other creatures a couering it is not to be beleeued that she hath handled man worse than the rest and left him only indigent and in such a state that he could not helpe himselfe without forren succours and therefore those reproches that are made against Nature as a stepmother are vniust If men from the beginning had beene clothed it is not likely that they would euer haue disrobed themselues and gone naked both in regard of their health which could not but be much offended with that change and shame it selfe and neuerthelesse it is done and obserued amongst many nations Neither can it be alledged that we clothe our selues either to couer our nakednesse or priuy parts or to defend vs against colde for these are the two reasons pretended for against heat there is no appearance of reason because Nature hath not taught vs that there is any thing in our nakednesse that we should be ashamed of it is we that by our owne fault and fale haue tolde it our selues Quis indicauit tibi quod nudus esses nisi quod ex ligno quod praeceperam tibi ne comederes comedisti and Nature hath already sufficiently hid them put them farre from our eies and couered them And therefore it is lesse needfull to couer those parts only as some doe in those countreys where they goe all naked and ordinarily are not couered for why should he that is the lord of all other creatures not daring to shew himselfe naked vnto the world hide himselfe vnder the spoiles of another nay adorne himselfe As for colde and other particular and locall necessities wee know that vnder the selfe same aire the selfe same heauen one goes naked another apparelled and we haue all the most delicate part vncouered and therefore a wandring person being asked How he could go so naked in Winter answered That our faces are alwayes naked and he was all face Yea many great personages haue euer gone with their heads vncouered Massinissa Caesar Hanibal Seuerus and many nations there are which go to the warres and fight all naked and the counsell that Plato giueth for the continuance of health is neuer to couer either head or feet And Varro sayth That when it was first ordained that men should vncouer their heads in the presence of the gods and of the magistrate that it was rather for healths sake and to harden themselues against the iniuries of the times than for reuerence Lastly the inuention of couers and houses against the iniuries of heauen and men is more ancient more naturall more vniuersall than of garments and common with many creatures but an industrious search for victuall more naturall than either Of the vse of garmens and aliment heereafter Lib. 3. c. 43. CHAP. VII Of the Soule in generall BEholde here a matter of all others most difficult handled The Preface and discoursed by the wisest of all Nations especially Egyptians Greeks Arabians and Latines by our latter Writers more shallowly as all other Philosophy but with great diuersitie of opinions according to the diuersitie of Nations Religions Professions without any certaine accord or resolution The generall knowledge and discourse thereof may be referred to these ten points The Definition Essence or Nature Faculties and Actions Vnitie or Pluralitie
Source Entrance into the bodie Residence therein Seat Sufficiencie to exercise her functions the End and Separation from the bodie It is first very hard to define or truly to say what the soule 1 The Definition verie difficult is as generally all other formes because they are things relatiue which subsist not of themselues but are parts of a whole and this is the reason why there is such and so great diuersity of definitions of them whereof there is not any receiued without contradiction Aristotle hath confuted twelue that were before him and could hardly make good his owne It is easie to say what it is not That it is not Fire Aire 2 Easie to say what it is not Water Nor the temperature of the foure Elements or qualities or humors which is alwaies changeable without which a creature is and liues and besides that this is an accident the Soule a substance Againe Mettals and things inanimate haue likewise a temperature of the foure Elements and first qualities Neither is it blood for there are many things animate and liuing without blood and many creatures die without the shedding of a drop of blood Nor the beginning and cause of motion for diuers things inanimate mooue as the adamant moues the iron amber or iet straw medicins and roots of trees being cut and dried draw and moue Neither is it the act or life or Enargie or perfection for that word Entelechia is diuersly taken and interpreted of a liuing body for all this is but the effect or action of the Soule and not the Soule it selfe as to liue to see to vnderstand is the action of the Soule And it would likewise follow that the Soule should be an accident not a substance and could not subsist without that bodie whereof it is the act and perfection no more than the couer of an house may be without the house and a relatiue without his correlatiue To be briefe it is to say what the soule doth and is to another not what it is in it selfe But to say what the Soule is is very difficult A man may 3 Hard to say what it is simply say that it is an essentiall quickning forme which giueth to the plant the vegetatiue or growing life to a beast a sensible life which comprehendeth the vegetatiue to a man an intellectuall life which comprehendeth the other two as in numbers the greater conteines the lesse and in figures the Pentagone conteines the Tetragone this the Trigone I call it the intellectiue soule rather than the reasonable which is comprehended in the intellectiue as the lesse in the great for the reasonable in some sense and measure according to the opinion of the greatest Philosophers and experience it selfe is likewise in beasts but not the intellectiue as being more high Sicut equus mulus in quibus non est intellectus The Soule then is not the beginning or source that word doth properly belong to the soueraigne first author but an inward cause of life motion sense vnderstanding It moueth the body it selfe is not moued as contrarily the body is moued and moueth not at al it moueth I say the body not it selfe for nothing but God moueth it selfe and whatsoeuer moueth it selfe is eternall and Lord of it selfe and in that it mooueth the bodie it hath it not of it selfe but from an higher cause Concerning the nature and essence of the Soule I meane a humane Soule for the Soule of a beast is without all doubt 4 The nature and essence of the soule corporall materiall bred and borne with the matter and with it corruptible there is a question of greater importance than it seemeth for some affirme it to be corporall some incorporall and this is very agreeable to reason if a man be not opinatiue That it is corporall see what the grounds are Spirits and Diuels good and ill which are wholly separated from all matter are corporall according to the opinion of all Philosophers and our greatest Diuines Tertulltan Origen S. In homil l. de spir l 3. de lib. arb Hom. de Epith. Basil Gregorie Augustine Damascene how much more the Soule of man which hath societie and is vnited to a matter Their resolution is that whatsoeuer is created being compared vnto God is grosse corporall materiall and only God is incorporall that euery spirit is a bodie and hath a bodily nature Next vnto authoritie almost vniuersall the reason is irrefragable Whatsoeuer is included in this finite world is finite limited both in vertue and substance bounded with a superficies inclosed and circumscribed in a place which are the true and naturall conditions of a bodie for there is nothing but a bodie which hath a superficiall part and is barred and fastened in a place God only is wholly infinite incorporall the ordinarie distinctions circumscriptiuè definitiuè effectiuè are but verball and in nothing either helpe or hurt the cause for it alwayes stands good that spirits are in such sort in a place that at the selfe same time that they are in a place they can not be elswhere and they are not in a place either infinite or very great or very little but equall to their limited and finited substance and superficies And if it were not so spirits could not change their place nor ascend or descend as the Scripture affirmeth that they doe and so they should be immooueable indiuisible indifferently in all Now if it appeare that they change their place the change conuicteth that they are mooueable diuisible subiect vnto time and to the succession thereof required in the motion and passage from one place to another which are all the qualities of a bodie But because many simple men vnder this word corporall do imagine visible palpable and thinke not that the pure aire or fire without the flame or coale are bodies haue therefore likewise affirmed That spirits both separated and humane are not corporall as in trueth they are not in that sense for they are of an inuisible substance whether airie as the greatest part of Philosophers and Diuines affirm or celestiall as some Hebrewes and Arabiques teach calling by the selfe same name both the heauen and the spirit an essence proper to immortalitie or whether if they will haue it so of a substance more subtile and delicate yet they are alwayes corporall since limited by place mooueable subiect to motion and to times Finally if they were not corporall they should not be passible and capable of suffering as they are the humane receiueth from his bodie pleasure and displeasure sorrow and delight in his turne as the bodie from the spirit and his passions many good qualities many bad vertues vices affections which are all accidents and all as well the spirits separated and Diuels as humane are subiect to punishment and torments They are therefore corporall for there is nothing passible that is not corporall and it is only proper vnto bodies to be subiect
prepared to it forme to receiue the soule which faileth not to insinuate and inuest it selfe into the bodie towards the seuen and thirtieth or fortieth day after the fiue weeks ended Doubling this terme that is to say at the third moneth this infant indowed with a soule hath motion and sense the haire Indowed with soule motion Brought forth and nailes begin to come Tripling this terme which is at the ninth moneth he commeth foorth and is brought into the light These termes or times are not so iustly prefixed but that they may either be hastened or prolonged according to the force or feeblenesse of the heat both of the seed and of the matrix for being strong it hasteneth being weake it sloweth whereby that seed that hath lesse heat and more moisture where of women for the most part are conceiued requireth longer time and is not endowed with a soule vntill the fortieth day or after and mooueth not till the fourth moneth which is neere by a quarter more late than that of the male children CHAP. II. The first and generall distinction of man MAn as a prodigious creature is made of parts quite contrarie 1 The diuision of man in two parts and enemies to themselues The soule is a little god the bodie as a beast as a dunghill Neuerthelesse these two parts are in such sort coupled together haue such need the one of the other to performe their functions Alterius sic altera poscit opem res coniurat amicè and do so with all their complaints embrace ech other that they neither can continue together without warres nor separate themselues without griefe and torment and as holding the Woolfe by the eares ech may say to other I can neither liue with thee nor without thee Nec tecum nec sine te But againe forasmuch as there are in this soule two parts very different the high pure intellectuall and diuine wherein the beast hath no part and the base sensitiue and brutish which hath bodie and matter and is as an indifferent meane betwixt the intellectuall part and bodie a man may by a distinction more morall and politike note three parts and degrees Into three parts in man The Spirit the Soule the Flesh where the Spirit and Flesh holde the place of the two extreames as heauen and earth the Soule the middle region where are ingendred the Metheors tumults and tempests The Spirit the highest and most heroicall part a diminutiue a sparke an image and deaw of the Diuinitie is in man as a King in his Common-weale it breatheth nothing but good and heauen to which it tendeth the Flesh contrariwise as the dregs of a people besotted and common sinke of man tendeth alwaies to the matter and to the earth the Soule in the middle as the principall of the people betwixt the best and the worst good and euill is continually sollicited by the spirit and the flesh and according vnto that part towards which it applieth it selfe it is either spirituall and good or carnall and euill Heere are lodged all those naturall affections which are neither vertuous nor vicious as the loue of our parents and friends feare of shame compassion towards the afflicted desire of good reputation This distinction will helpe much to the knowledge of 3 The vtilitie thereof man and to discerne his actions that he mistake not himselfe as it is the maner to doe iudging by the barke and outward appearance thinking that to be of the Spirit which is of the Soule nay of the flesh attributing vnto vertue that which is due vnto nature nay vnto vice How many good and excellent actions haue beene produced by passion or at least by a naturall inclination Vt seruiant genio suo indulgeant animo CHAP. III. Of the bodie and first of all the parts thereof and their places THe body of man consisteth of a number of parts inward 1 The diuision of the body and outward which are all for the most part round and orbicular or comming neere vnto that figure The inward are of two sorts the one in number and quantitie 2 Inward and many spread thorow the whole body as the bones which are as the bases and vpholding pillars of the whole building and within them for their nourishment the marow the muscles for motion and strength the veines issuing from the liuer as chanels of the first and naturall blood the arteries comming from the heart as conduits of the second blood more subtile and vitall These two mounting higher than the liuer and the heart their originall sources are more strait than those that go downwards to the end they should helpe to mount the bloud for that narrownesse more straitned serues to raise the humours the sinewes proceeding by couples as instruments of sense motion and strength of body and conduits of the animall spirits whereof some are soft of which there are seuen paires which serue the senses of the head Sight Hearing Taste Speech the other are hard whereof there are thirtie couples proceeding from the reines of the backe to the muscles The Tendrels Ligaments Gristels The foure Humours Blood Choler which worketh prouoketh penetrateth hindreth obstructions casteth forth the excrements bringeth cheerefulnesse Melancholy which prouoketh an appetite to euery thing moderateth sudden motions Fleame which sweetneth the force of the two Cholers and all other heats The Spirits which are as it were the fumigations that arise from the naturall heat and radicall humor and they are in three degrees of excellencie the Naturall Vitall Animall The Fat which is the thickest and grossest part of blood The other are singular saue the kidneys and stones which are double and assigned to a certaine place Now there are 3 Singular Foure regions of the bodie foure places or regions as degrees of the bodie shops of nature where she exerciseth her faculties and powers The first and lowest is for generation in which are the priuy parts seruing thereunto The second neere vnto that in which are the intralles viscera that is to say the stomacke yeelding more to the left side round straiter in the bottome than at top hauing two orifices or mouthes the one aboue to receiue the other beneath which answereth the bowels to cast forth and discharge it selfe It receiueth gathereth together mingleth concocteth the victuals and turnes them into Chyle that is to say a kinde of white Suc fit for the nourishment of the bodie which is likewise wrought within the Meseraique veines by which it passeth vnto the Liuer The Liuer hot and moist inclining towards the right side the store-house of blood the chiefe or rather fountaine of the veines the seat of the naturall nourishing faculty or vegetatiue soule made and ingendred of the blood of that Chyle which it draweth from the Meseraique veines and receiueth into it lap by the vena porta which entreth into the concauities thereof and afterwards is sent and distributed thorow the whole body by the
to accidents Now the Soule hath a great number of vertues and faculties as many almost as the body hath members There are 3 The faculties and actions of the Soule some in plants more in beasts most in man to know to liue to feele to mooue to desire to allure to assemble to retaine to concoct to digest to nourish to grow to reiect to see to heare to taste to smell to speake to breath to ingender to thinke to reason to contemplate to consent dissent to remember iudge all which are no parts of the Soule for so it should be diuisible and should consist vpon accidents but they are her naturall qualities The actions come after and follow the faculties and so there are three degrees according to the doctrine of great S. Denys followed of all that is we must consider in spirituall creatures three things Essence Facultie Operation By the latter which is the action we know the facultie and by it the essence The actions may be hindred and wholly cease without any preiudice at all vnto the soule and her faculties as the Science and facultie of Painting remaineth entire in the Painter although his hands be bound and so be made vnable to paint But if the faculties themselues perish the Soule must needs be gone no otherwise then Fire is no longer fire hauing lost the facultie of warming The essence and nature of the Soule being after a sort explicated The vnitie of the soule one of the busiest questions that belongeth vnto the Soule offereth it selfe to our consideration that is whether there be in a creature especially in man one soule or manie Touching which point there are diuers opinions but may be reduced into three Some of the Greekes and almost all the Arabiques imitating them haue thought not onely in euery particular man but generally in all men that there was but one immortall Soule The Egyptians for the most part held an opinion quite contrarie that there was a pluralitie of soules in euery creature all diuers and distinct two in euerie beast and three in man two mortal the vegetatiue sensible and the third intellectiue immortall The third opinion as the meane betwixt the two former and most followed being held by many of all nations is that there is but one Soule in euery creature not more In euery of these opinions there is some difficultie I leaue the first as being already sufficiently confuted and reiected The pluralitie of soules in euerie creature and man on the one side seemeth verie strange and absurd in Philosophie for that were to giue many formes to one and the same thing and to say that there are many substances and subiects in one two beasts in one three men in one on the other side it giueth credit and helpeth much our beleefe touching the immortalitie of the intellectuall Soule for there being three soules there can follow no inconuenience that two of them should die and the third continue immortall The vnitie of the Soule seemeth to resist the immortalitie thereof for how can one and the same indiuisible be in a mortall part and an immortall as neuerthelesse Aristotle would haue it Doubtlesse it seemeth that of necessitie the Soule must be either altogether mortall or altogether immortall which are two very foule absurdities The first abolisheth all religion and sound Philosophy the second maketh beasts likewise immortall Neuerthelesse it seemes to be more true that there is but one Soule in euery creature for the pluralitie and diuersitie of faculties instruments actions neither derogateth any thing at all nor multiplieth in any thing this vnitie no more than the diuersitie of riuers the vnitie of one spring or fountaine nor the diuersitie of effects in the Sunne to heat to enlighten to melt to drie to whiten to make blacke do dissipate the vnitie and simplicitie of the Sunne for should they there would be a great number of soules in one man and Sunnes in one world Neither doth this essentiall vnitie of the Soule any thing hinder the immortalitie of the humane Soule in her essence notwithstanding the vegetatiue and sensitiue faculties which are but accidents die that is to say cannot be exercised without the body the Soule not hauing a subiect or instrument whereby to doe it but the third intellectuall Soule is alwaies well because for it there is no need of the bodie though whilest it is within it it make vse thereof to exercise it selfe insomuch that if it did returne vnto the bodie it were onely againe to exercise hir vegetatiue and sensitiue faculties as we see in those that are raised vnto life to liue heere below not in those that are raised to liue elsewhere for such bodies need not to liue by the exercise of such faculties Euen as there is no want or decay in the Sunne but it continueth in it selfe wholly the same though during a whole ecclips it neither shine nor warme nor performe his other effects in those places that are subiect vnto it Hauing shewed the vnitie of the soule in euery subiect let The source of the soule vs see from whence it commeth and how it entreth into the body The originall beginning of soules is not held to be the same of all I meane of humane soules for the vegetatiue and sensitiue of Plants and Beasts is by the opinion of all altogether materiall and in the seed for which cause it is likewise mortall But concerning the Soule of man there are foure celebrated opinions According to the first which is of the Stoicks held by Philo Iudeus and afterward by the Maniches Priscilianists and others it is transferred and brought foorth as a part or parcell of the substance of God who inspireth it into the bodie alleaging to their best aduantage the words of Moyses Inspirauit in faciem eius spiraculum vitae The second opinion held by Tertullian Apollinaris the Luciferians and other Christians affirmeth that the Soule proceedeth and is deriued from the soules of our parents with the seed as the Soule of a beast The third opinion which is that of the Pythagorians and Platonists held by many Rabins and Doctors of the Iewes and afterwards by Origen and other Doctors teacheth that the soules of men haue beene from the beginning all created of God made of nothing and reserued in heauen afterwards to be sent into the lower parts as need should require and that the bodies of men are formed and disposed to receiue them and from hence did spring the opinion of those that thought that the soules of men heere below were either well or ill handled and lodged in bodies either sound or sicke according to that life which they had led aboue in heauen before they were incorporate And truely the master of Wisdome himselfe sheweth that the Soule of the two was the elder and before the bodie Eram puer bonam indolem sortitus imo bonus cum essem corpus incontaminatum reperi The fourth opinion receiued and
held through all Christendome is that they are all created of God and infused into bodies prepared in such maner that the creation and infusion is done at one and the same instant These foure opinions are all affirmatiue but there is a fift much reteined which determineth nothing and is content to say that it is a secret vnknowen vnto men of which opinion was S. Austin Greg. and others who neuerthelesse De orig Epl. 28. 157. thought the two latter affirmatiue opinions more like to be true than the former Let vs now see when and how the Soule entreth into the 6 The entrāce of the soule into the bodie bodie whether altogether at one instant or successiuely I meane the humane Soule for of that of a beast there is no doubt since it is naturall in the seed according to Aristotle whom most do follow that is by succession of times and by degrees as an artificiall forme which a man maketh by pieces the one after the other the head afterwards the throat the bellie the legs insomuch that the vegetatiue and sensitiue Soule altogether materiall and corporall is in the seed and with the descent of the parents which fashioneth the bodie in the matrix and that done the reasonable Soule arriueth from without And therefore there are neither two nor three soules neither together nor successiuely neither is the vegetatiue corrupted by the arriuall of the sensitiue nor the sensitiue by the arriuall of the intellectuall but it is but one Soule which is made finished and perfected in that time which nature hath prescribed Others are of opinion that the soule entreth with all her faculties at one instant that is to say then when all the bodie is furnished with organs formed and wholly finished and that vntill then there was no Soule but only a naturall vertue and Enargie an essentiall forme of the seed which working by the spirits which are in the sayd seed with the heat of the matrix and materiall blood as with instruments do forme and build vp the body prepare all the members nourish mooue and increase them which being done this Enargie and seminall forme vanisheth and is quite lost so that the seed ceaseth to be seed losing it forme by the arriuall of another more noble which is the humane Soule which causeth that which was seed or an Embryon that is a substance without shape to be no longer seed but a man The Soule being entred into the bodie we are likewise to 7 The residence of the Soule in the Bodie know what kinde of existence therein it hath and how it is there resident Some Philosophers not knowing what to say or how to ioyne and vnite the Soule with the bodie make it to abide and reside therein as a Master in his house a Pilot in his ship a Coach-man in his coach but this were to destroy all for so the Soule should not be the forme nor inward and essentiall part of a creature or of a man it should haue no need of the members of the bodie to abide there nor any feeling at all of the contagion of the bodie but it should be a substance wholly distinct from the bodie of it selfe subsisting which at it pleasure might come and goe and separate it selfe from the body without the distinction and diminution of all the functions thereof which are all absurdities The Soule is in the bodie as the forme in the matter extended and spred thorowout the body giuing life motion sense to all the parts thereof and both of them together make but one Hypostasis one intire subiect which is the creature and there is no mean or middle that doth vnite and knit them together for betwixt the matter and the forme there is no middle according to all Philosophie The Soule then is all in all the bodie I adde not though it be commonly sayd and all in euery part of the bodie for that implieth a contradiction and diuideth the Soule Now notwithstanding the Soule as it is sayd be diffused 8 The seat instruments of the soule and spred thorow the whole bodie yet neuerthelesse to excite and exercise it faculties it is more specially and expresly in some parts of the bodie than in others in which it is sayd to haue place yet not to be wholly there lest the rest should be without Soule without forme And as it hath foure principall and chiefe faculties so men giue it foure seats that is those foure regions which we haue noted before in the composition of the body the foure first principall instruments of the soule the rest referre themselues vnto them as also all the faculties to these that is to say the engendring faculty to the ingendring parts the naturall to the liuer the vitall to the heart the animall and intellectuall to the braine We are now come to speake in generall of the exercise of 9 The sufficiency of the Soule for the exercise of hir faculties the faculties of the Soule whereunto the soule of it selfe is wise and sufficient insomuch that it faileth not to produce that which it knoweth to exercise it functions as it ought if it be not hindered and that the instruments thereof be well disposed And therefore it was well and truly said of the wise that Nature is wise discreet industrious a sufficient mistrisse which maketh a man apt to all things Insita sunt nobis omnium artium ac virtutum semina magisterque ex occulto Deus producit ingenium which is easily shewed by induction The vegetatiue soule without instruction formeth the body in the matrix with excellent arte afterwards it nourisheth it and makes it grow drawing the victuall vnto it retaining and concocting it afterwards casting out the excrements it ingendreth and reformeth the parts that faile these are things that are seene in plants beasts and men The sensitiue Soule of it selfe without instruction maketh both beasts and men to moue their feet their hands and other members to stretch to rub to shake to moue the lips to presse the dug to crie to laugh The reasonable of it selfe not according to the opinion of Plato by the remembrance of that which it knew before it entred into the body nor according to Aristotle by reception and acquisition comming from without by the senses being of it selfe as a white paper void of impression although that serue to good purpose but of it selfe without instruction imagineth vnderstandeth retaineth reasoneth discourseth But because this of the reasonable Soule seemeth to be more difficult than the other and woundeth in some sort Aristotle himselfe it shall be handled again in his place in the discourse of the intellectuall Soule It remaineth that wee speake of the last point that is of 10 The separation of the body twofold the separation of the Soule from the body which is after a diuers sort and maner the one and the ordinarie is naturall by death and this not the same in
beasts and men for by the death of beasts the Soule dieth and is annihilated áccording vnto that rule by the corruption of the subiect the forme perisheth 1. Naturall and ordinary the matter remaineth by the death of man the Soule is separated from the body but is not lost but remaineth inasmuch as it is immortall The immortalitie of the Soule is a thing vniuersally religiously 2. The immortalitie of the Soule for it is the principall foundation of all religion and peaceably receiued and concluded vpon throughout the world I meane by an outward and publique profession seriously and inwardly not so witnesse so many Epicures Libertines and mockers in the world yea the Saduces the greatest Lordes of the Iewes did not sticke with open mouth to denie it though a thing profitable to be beleeued and in some sort proued by many naturall and humane reasons but properly and better established by the authority of religion than any other way It seemeth that there is in a man a kinde of inclination and disposition of nature to beleeue it for man desireth naturally to continue and perpetuate his being from whence likewise proceedeth that great yea furious care and loue of our posterity and succession Againe two things there are that giue strength thereunto and make it more plausible the one is the hope of glory and reputation and the desire of the immortalitie of our name which how vaine soeuer it be carrieth a great credit in the world the other is an impression that vice which robbeth a man of the view and knowledge of humane iustice remaining alwaies opposite to the diuine iustice must thereby be chastised yea after death so that besides that a man is altogether carried and disposed by nature to desire it and consequently to beleeue it the Iustice of God doth conclude it From hence we are to learne that there are three differences 3 The proofe and degrees of Soules an order required euen to the perfection of the vniuerse Two extreames the one is that which being altogether materiall is plunged and ouerwhelmed in the matter and inseparable from it and therewithall corruptible which is the Soule of a beast the other quite contrary is that which hath not any commerce or societie with the matter or body as the soule of immortall Angels or Diuels In the middle as the meane betwixt these two is the humane soule which is neither wholly tied to the matter nor altogether without it but is ioyned with it and may likewise subsist and liue without it This order and distinction is an excellent argument of immortalitie for it were a vacuum a defect a deformitie too absurd in nature dishonourable to the authour and a kinde of ruine to the world that betwixt two extreames the corruptible and incorruptible there should be no middle that is partly the one and partly the other there must needs be one that ties and ioynes the two ends or extreames together and that can be none but man Below the lowest and wholly materiall is that which hath no Soule at all as stones aboue the highest and immortall is the eternall only God The other separation not naturall nor ordinary and which 4 2. Not naturall is done by strange impulsions and at times is very difficult to vnderstand and perplex It is that which is done by extasies and rauishments which is diuers and done by different meanes for there is a separation that is diuine such as the Scripture reporteth vnto vs of Daniel Zachary Esdras Ezechiel S. Paul There is another that is demoniacall procured by diuels and good spirits and bad as we reade of many as of Iohn D'vns called Lescot who being in his extasie a long time held for dead was carried into the aire and cast downe vpon the earth but so soone as he felt the blow that he receiued by the fall he came to himselfe but by reason of the great store of blood which he lost his head being broken he died outright Cardan telleth it of himselfe and of his father and it continueth autentiquely verified in many and diuers parts of the world of many and those for the most part of the vulgar sort weake and women possessed whose bodies remaine not only without motion and the beating of the heart and arteries but also without any sense or feeling of the greatest blowes either with iron or fire that could be giuen them and afterwards their soules being returned they haue felt great paine in their limmes and recounted that which they haue seene and done in places far distant Thirdly there is a humane separation which proceedeth either from that maladie which Hipocrates calleth Sacer commonly called The falling sicknes Morbus comitialis the signe whereof is a foming at the mouth which is not in those that are possessed but in stead thereof they haue a stinking sauor or it is occasioned by stiptickes stupifying and benumming medicines or ariseth from the force of imagination which enforcing and bending it selfe with too deepe an attention about a thing carrieth away the whole strength and power of the Soule Now in these three kindes of extasies or rauishments Diuine Diabolicall Humane the question is Whether the Soule be truely and really separated from the body or if remaining in it it be in such sort employed and busied about some outward thing which is foorth of the bodie that it forgetteth it owne bodie whereby followeth a kinde of intermission and vacation of the actions and exercise of the functions thereof Touching the diuine extasie the Apostle speaking of himselfe and his owne act dares not define any thing Si in corpore vel extra corpus nescio Deusscit An instruction that may serue for all others and for other separations of lesse qualitie Touching the Demoniacall extasie as not to feele a blow be it neuer so great to report what hath been done two or three hundred leagues off are two great and violent coniectures of a true separation from the bodie but not altogether necessarie for the diuell can so alienate and occupie the soule within the body that it shall not seeme to haue any action or commerce with the bodie for some certaine time and in that time so beforteth the soule by presenting things vnto the imagination that haue beene done afarre off that a man may speake and discourse thereof for to affirme that certainly the Soule doth wholly depart and abandon the bodie Nature is too bolde and foole-hardie to say that it doth not wholly depart but that the imaginatiue or intellectuall is caried out and that the vegetatiue soule remaineth were more to intangle our selues for so the Soule in it essence should be diuided or the accident only should be carried out and not the substance Touching the humane extasie doubtlesse there is no separation of the Soule but only a suspension of the patent and outward actions thereof What becomes of the Soule and what the state thereof is 11 The estate
hereafter Now besides these fiue particular senses which are without there is within the common sense where all the diuers obiects apprehended by it are assembled and gathered together to the end they may afterward be compared distinguished and discerned the one from the other which the particular senses could not doe being euery one attentiue to his proper obiect and not able to take knowledge thereof of his companion CHAP. X. Of the senses of Nature ALl knowledge is begun in vs by the senses so say our 1 The importance of the naturall senses Schoole-men but it is not altogether true as we shall see heereafter They are our first masters it beginneth by them and endeth with them they are the beginning and end of all It is not possible to recoile farther backe euery one of them is a captaine and soueraigne lord in his order and hath a great command carrying with it infinite knowledges The one dependeth not or hath need of the other so are they equally great although the one haue a farre greater extent and traine and affaires than the other as a little king is as well a soueraigne in his little narrow command as a great in his great estate It is an opinion amongst vs that there are but fiue senses of Nature because wee marke but fiue in vs but yet there 2 The number may very well be more and it is greatly to be doubted that there are but it is impossible for vs to know them to affirme them or to denie them because a man shall neuer know the want of that sense which he hath neuer had There are many beasts which liue a full and perfect life which want some one of our fiue senses and a creature may liue without the fiue senses saue the sense of Feeling which is only necessary vnto life We liue very commodiously with fiue and yet perhaps we do want one or two or three and yet it can not be knowen One sense can not discouer another and if a man want one by nature yet he knowes not which way to affirme it A man borne blinde can neuer conceiue that he seeth not nor desire to see nor delight in his sight it may be he will say that he would see but that is because he hath heard say and learned of others that it is to be desired the reason is because the senses are the first gates and entrances to knowledge So man not being able to imagine more than the fiue that he hath he can not know how to iudge whether there be more in Nature yet he may haue more Who knoweth whether the difficulties that we finde in many of the works of Nature and the effects of creatures which we can not vnderstand doe proceed from the want of some sense that wee haue not Of the hidden properties which we see in many things a man may say that there are sensible faculties in Nature proper to iudge and apprehend them but yet he must confesse that we haue them not and that the ignorance of such things proceedeth from our owne default Who knoweth whether it be some particular sense that discouereth in the Cocke the houre of mid-night and morning and that moues him to crow Who taught some beasts to chuse certaine herbes for their cure and many such like woonders as these are No man can affirme or denie say this it is or that it is Some haue assayed to giue a reason of this number of the fiue senses and to prooue the sufficiencie of them by distinguishing 3 Their sufficiencie and diuersly comparing their outward obiects which are either all neere the bodie or distant from it if neere but yet remaining without it is the sense of Touching if they enter it is Taste if they be more distant and present by a right line it is the Sight if oblique and by reflexion it is the Hearing A man might better haue sayd thus That these fiue senses being appointed for the seruice of an entire man some are entirely for the bodie that is to say Taste and Touching that in that it entreth this in that it remaines without Others first and principally for the soule as sight and hearing the Sight for inuention the Hearing for acquisition and communication and one in the middle for the middle spirits and ties of the soule and body which is the Smell Againe they answer to the foure Elements and their qualities The sense of Feeling to the earth of Hearing to the aire of Taste to the water and moisture the Smell to the fire The Sight is a compound and partakes both of water and fire by reason of the bright splendor of the eie Againe they say that there are so many senses as there are kinds of sensible things which are colour sound odour taste or sauour and the fift which hath no proper name the obiect of Feeling which is heat cold rough plaine and so foorth But men deceiue themselues for the number of the senses is not to be iudged by the number of sensible things which are no cause that there are so many By this reason there should bee many more and one and the same sense should receiue many diuers heads of obiects and one and the same obiect be apprehended by diuers senses so that the tickling of a feather and the pleasures of Venus are distinguished from the fiue Senses and by some comprehended in the sense of Feeling But the cause is rather for that the spirit hath no power to attaine to the knowledge of things but by the fiue Sences and that Nature hath giuen it so many because it was necessary for it end and benefit Their comparisons are diuers in dignity and nobility The 4 Comparison Sense of Seeing excelleth all the rest in fiue things It apprehendeth farther off and extendeth it selfe euen to the fixed starres It hath more variety of obiects for to all things generally in all there is light and colour the obiects of the eie It is more exquisit exact and particular euen in the least and finest things that are It is more prompt and sudden apprehending euen in a moment and without motion euen the heauens themselues in the other senses there is a motion that requireth time It is more diuine and the markes of Diuinity are many Liberty incomparable aboue others whereby the eie seeth or seeth not and therefore it hath lids ready to open and to shut power not to turmoile it selfe and not to suffer it selfe to bee seene Actiuitie and abilitie to please or displease to signifie and insinuate our thoughts willes and affections for the eye speaketh and striketh it serueth for a tongue and a hand the other Senses are purely passiue But that which is most noble in this Sense is that the priuation of the obiect thereof which is darknesse brings feare and that naturally and the reason is because a man findeth himselfe robbed of so excellent a guide and therefore whereas a man desireth
fortresse and makes himselfe master of the place and imploieth his spirit in good or ill witnesse the wife of King Agamemnon who was conteined in her dutie of chastitie by the sound of a Harpe and Dauid by the selfe same meane chased away the euill spirit from Saul and restored him to health and that skilfull player on the Flute that sweetned the voice of that great Oratour Gracchus To be briefe Science Trueth and Vertue haue no other entrance into the Soule but by the Eare Christianitie it selfe teacheth that faith and saluation commeth by Hearing and that the Sight doth rather hurt than helpe thereunto that faith is the beliefe of those things that are not seene which beliefe is acquired by hearing and it calleth such as are apprentices or nouices therein Auditors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catechised Let me adde this one word that the Hearing giueth succour and comfort in darknesse and to such as are asleepe that by the sound they may be awaked and so prouide for their preseruation For all these reasons haue the wisest so much commended Hearing the pure and virgin gardian from all corruption for the health of the inward man as for the safetie of a Citie the gates and walles are garded that the enemie enter not Speech is peculiarly giuen vnto man an excellent present and very necessary in regard of him from whom it proceedeth 3 The force authoritie of Speech it is the interpreter and image of the soule animi index speculum the messenger of the heart the gate by which all that is within issueth foorth and committeth itselfe to the view all things come foorth of darknesse and secret corners into the light and the spirit itselfe makes it selfe visible and therefore an ancient Philosopher said once to a child Speake that I may see thee that is to say the inside of thee As vessels are knowen whether they be broken or whole full or emptie by the sound and mettals by the touch so man by his speech Of all the visible parts of the body which shew themselues outward that which is neerest the heart is the tongue by the root thereof so that which comes neerest vnto our thought is our speech for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh In regard of him which receiueth it it is a powerfull master an imperious commander which entreth the fortresse possesseth it selfe of the possessor stirreth him vp animateth exasperateth appeaseth him maketh him sad merrie imprinteth in him whatsoeuer passion it handleth and feedeth the Soule of the hearer and makes it pliable to euery sense it makes him blush waxpale laugh crie tremble for feare mad with choler to leape for ioy and pierceth him thorow with passion In regard of all Speech is the hand of the spirit wherewith as the bodie by his it taketh and giueth it asketh counsell and succour and giueth it It is the great Intermedler and Huckster by it we trafficke Merx a Mercurio peace is handled affaires are managed Sciences and the goods of the spirit are distributed it is the band and cement of humane society so that it be vnderstood For saith one a man were better to be in the companie of a dog that he knoweth than in the companie of a man whose language he knoweth not vt externus alieno non sit hominis vice To be briefe it is the instrument of whatsoeuer is good or ill vita mors in manibus linguae there is nothing better Of a good euill tongue nothing worse than the tongue The tongue of a wise man is the doore of a royall Cabinet which is no sooner opened but incontinently a thousand diuersities present themselues to the eie euery one more beautifull than other come from the Indies Peru Arabia So a wise man produceth and rangeth them in good order sentences and Aphorismes of Philosophie similitudes examples histories wise sayings drawen from all the mines and treasuries olde and new qui profert de thesauro suo noua vetera which serue for a rule of good maners of policie and all the parts both of life and of death which being applied in their times and to good purpose bring with it great delight great beautie and vtilitie mala aurea in lectis argenteis verba in tempore suo The mouth of a wicked man is a stincking and contagious pit a slanderous Prouerb tongue murdereth the honour of another it is a sea and Vniuersitie of euils woorse than fetters fire poison death hell Vniuersitas iniquitatis malum inquietum venenum mortiferum ignis incendens omnia mors illius nequissima vtilis potius infernus quà m illa Now these two Hearing and Speach answer and are accommodated the one to the other there is a great alliance betwixt 4 The correspondency of Hearing and Speach them the one is nothing without the other as also by nature in one and the same subiect the one is not without the other They are the two great gates by which the soule doth trafficke and hath her intelligence By these two the soules are powred the one into the other as vessels when the mouth of the one is applied to the enterie of the other So that if these two gates be shut as in those that are deafe and dumbe the spirit remaineth solitary and miserable Hearing is the gate to enter by it the spirit receiueth all things from without and conceiueth as the female Speech is the gate to goe foorth by it the spirit acteth and bringeth foorth as the male From the communication of these two as from the stroke of two flints or irons together there comes foorth the sacred fire of truth for they rubbing and polishing the one the other they shake off their rust and purifie and cleanse themselues and all maner of knowledge comes to perfection But Hearing is the first for there can nothing come foorth of the soule but that which first entered and therefore he that by nature is altogether deafe is likewise dumbe It is necessary that first the spirit be furnished with moueables and vtinseles by the sense of Hearing to the end it may by speach distribute them so that the good and ill of the tongue and almost of the whole man dependeth vpon the eare He that heares well speakes well and he that heares ill speakes ill Of the vse and gouernment of the tongue heereafter Lib. 3. Chap. 43. CHAP. XII Of the other faculties Imaginatiue Memoratiue Appetitiue THE fantasticke or imaginatiue facultie hauing recollected and withdrawne the kindes and images apprehended by the senses retaineth and reserueth them in such sort that the obiects being absent and far distant yea a man sleeping and his senses being bound and shut vp it presenteth them to the spirit and thought Phantasmata idola seu imagines dicuntur and doth almost worke that within in the vnderstanding which the obiect doth without in the sense The memoratiue faculty is the Gardian and Register of
all the species or kindes and images apprehended by the sense retired and sealed vp by the imagination The Appetitiue faculty seeketh and pursueth those things which seeme good and conuenient CHAP. XIII Of the Intellectiue faculty and truly humaine TWO things are to be knowen before we enter into this discourse the seat or instrument of this intellectiue faculty and the Action The seate of the reasonable soule vbi sedet pro tribunali is the braine and not the heart as before Plato and Hippocrates it was commonly thought for the heart The seate and instrument of the reasonable Soule hauing feeling and motion is not capable of wisdome Now the braine which is farre greater in man then in all other creatures if it be well and in such maner made and disposed that the reasonable soule may worke and exercise it powers it must come neere vnto the forme of a ship and must not be round nor too great nor too little although the greater be lesse vitious It must be composed of a substance and parts subtile delicate and delicious well ioyned and vnited without separation hauing foure little chambers or ventricles whereof three are in the middle ranged in front and collaterals betweene and behinde them drawing towards the hinder part of the head the fourth is alone wherein is framed the preparation and coniunction of the vitall spirits afterwards to be made animall and caried to the three ventricles before wherein the reasonable soule doth exercise it faculties which are three Vnderstanding Memory Imagination which doe not exercise their powers apart and distinctly each one in each ventricle as some haue commonly thought but in common all three together in all three and in euery of them according to the maner of the outward senses which are double and haue two ventricles in each of which the senses do wholly worke whereby it comes to passe that hee that is wounded in one or two of these ventricles as he that hath the palsie ceaseth not neuerthelesse to exercise all the three though more weakly which he could not doe if euery facultie had his chamber or ventricle apart Some haue thought that the reasonable Soule was not organicall 2 The reasonable Soule is organicall that is had no need of any corporall instrument to exercise it functions thinking thereby the better to proue the immortality of the Soule But not to enter into a labyrinth of discourse ocular and ordinarie experience disproueth this opinion and conuinceth the contrary For it is well knowen that all men vnderstand not nor reason not alike and after one maner but with great diuersitie yea one and the same man may bee so changed that at one time hee may reason better than at another in one age one estate and disposition better than in another such a one better in health than in sicknesse and another better in sickenesse than in health one and the same man at one and the same time may bee strong in iudgement and weake in imagination From whence can these diuersities and alterations proceed but from the change and alteration of the state of the organ or instrument From whence commeth it that drunkennes the bite of a mad dog a burning feuer a blow on the head a fume rising from the stomacke and other accidents peruert and turne topsie turuy the iudgement intellectuall spirit and all the wisedome of Greece yea constraine the Soule to dislodge from the body These accidents being purely corporall cannot touch nor ariue to this high spirituall facultie of the reasonable soule but only to the organs or instruments which being corrupted the Soule cannot well and regularly act exercise it functions being violently inforced is constraind either to absent it selfe or depart from the body Againe that the reasonable soule should haue need of the seruice of the instruments doth no way preiudice the immortality thereof for God maketh vse therof accommodates his actions as according to the diuersitie of the aire region and climate God brings foorth men very diuers in spirit and naturall sufficiency as in Greece and Italy men more ingenious than in Muscouy and Tartarie So the spirit according to the diuersitie of the organicall dispositions and corporall instruments discourseth better or worse Now the instrument of the reasonable Soule is the braine and the temperature thereof whereof wee are to speake Temperature is the mixture and proportion of the foure first qualities Hot Cold Dry Moist and it may be a fift besides 3 Of the Temperature of the braine and the faculties thereof which is the Harmonie of these foure Now from the Temperature of the braine proceedeth all the state and action of the reasonable Soule but that which is the cause of great misery vnto man is that the three faculties of the reasonable Soule Vnderstanding Memorie Imagination do require and exercise themselues by contrarie temperatures The temperature which serueth and is proper to the vnderstanding is drie whereby it comes to passe that they that The vnderstanding dry Old age are striken in yeeres doe excell those in their vnderstanding that are yoong because in the braine as yeeres increase so moisture decreaseth So likewise melancholicke men such as are afflicted with want and fast much for heauinesse and fasting are driers are wise and ingenious Splendor ficcus animus saptentissimus vexatio dat intellectum And beasts that are of a drie temperature as Ants Bees Elephants are wise and ingenious as they that are of a moist temperature are stupid and without spirit as Swine And the Southerne people Southernes of the world are drie and moderate in the inward heat of the braine by reason of their violent outward heat The temperature of the memorie is moist whereof it is 2 The Memorie moist Infancie Septentrionals that infants haue better memorie than old men and the morning after that humidity that is gotten by sleepe in the night is more apt for memorie which is likewise more vigorous in Northerne people I heere vnderstand a moisture that is not waterish or distilling wherein no impression may bee made but airie viscous fat and oilly which easily receiueth and strongly retaineth as it is seene in pictures wrought in oile The temperature of the imagination is hot from whence it commeth that franticke men and such as are sicke of burning 3 The imagination hot Youth maladies are excellent in that that belongs to imagination as Poetry Diuination and that it hath greatest force in yoong men and of middle yeeres Poets and Prophets haue flourished in this age and in the middle parts betwixt North The middle region and South By this diuersitie of temperatures it commeth to passe 4 A comparison of the temperatures that a man may be indifferent in all the three faculties but not excellent and that he that is excellent in any one of the three is but weake in the rest that the temperatures of the memorie and vnderstanding
are very different and contrary it is cleere as drie and moist as for the imagination it seemth not to be so contrary from the others because heat is not incompatible with drouth and moisture and yet notwithstanding experience sheweth that they that excell in imagination are sicke in vnderstanding and memorie and held for fooles and madde men but the reason thereof is because the great heat that serueth the imagination consumeth both the moisture which serueth the memorie and the subtilitie of the spirits and figures which should be in that drinesse which serueth the vnderstanding and so it is contrary and destroyeth the other two By that which hath beene spoken it appeareth that there 5 Three only temperatures are but three principall temperatures which serue and cause the reasonable Soule to worke and distinguish the spirits that is to say Heat Drinesse Moisture Colde is not actiue nor serueth to any purpose but to hinder all the motions and functions of the Soule and when we finde in some authors that Colde serueth the vnderstanding and that they that haue colde braines as Melancholike men and the Southerne are wise and ingenious there Colde is taken not simply but for a great moderation of heat for there is nothing more contrary to the vnderstanding and to wisdome than great heat which contrariwise serueth the imagination According to the three temperatures there are three faculties of the reasonable Soule but as the temperatures so the faculties receiue diuers degrees subdiuisions and distinctions There are three principall offices and differences of vnderstanding 6 Subdiuision of the faculties to Infer to Distinguish to Chase these Sciences which appertaine to the vnderstanding are Schoole-Diuinitie the Theorike of Physicke Logicke Philosophie naturall and morall There are three kindes of differences of memorie easily to receiue and lose the figures easily to receiue and hardly to lose hardly to receiue and easily to lose The Sciences of the memory are Grammar the Theorike of the Law Positiue Diuinitie Cosmographie Arithmeticke Of the imagination there are many differences and a farre greater number than either of the memorie or vnderstanding to it doe properly appertaine Inuentions Merry-conceits and Iests Tricks of subtilty Fictions and Lies Figures and comparisons Neatnesse Elegancie Gentilitie because to it appertaine Poetrie Eloquence Musicke and generally whatsoeuer consisteth in Figure Correspondencie Harmonie and Proportion Hereby it appeareth that the viuacitie subtiltie promptitude and that which the common sort call wit belongs to a 7 The proprietie of the faculties and their order hot imagination soliditie maturitie veritie to a drie vnderstanding The imagination is actiue and stirring it is it that vndertaketh all and sets all the rest a worke the vnderstanding is dull and cloudie the memorie is purely passiue and see how The imagination first gathereth the kinds and figures of things both present by the seruice of the fiue senses and absent by the benefit of the common sense afterwards it presenteth them if it will to the vnderstanding which considereth of them examineth ruminateth and iudgeth afterwards it puts them to the safe custodie of the memorie as a Scriuener to his booke to the end he may againe if need shall require draw them forth which men commonly call Reminiscentia Remembrance or els if it will it commits them to the memorie before it presents them to the vnderstanding for to recollect represent to the vnderstanding commit vnto memorie and to draw them foorth againe are all works of the imagination so that to it are referred the common Sense the Fantasie the Remembrance and they are not powers separated from it as some would haue it to the end they may make more than three faculties of the reasonable Soule The common sort of people who neuer iudge aright doe 8 Their comparison in dignitie more esteeme of memorie and delight more in it than in the other two because they haue much vse of counting and it makes greater shew and stirre in the world and they thinke that to haue a good memorie is to be wise esteeming more of Science than of Wisdome but yet of the three it is the least being such as may be euen in fooles themselues for very seldome is an excellent memorie ioyned with vnderstanding and wisdome because their temperatures are contrary From this error of the common people comes that ill course which euery where we see in the instruction of our youth who are alwayes taught to learne by heart so they terme it that which they reade in their books to the end they may afterwards See of this lib. 3. c. 14. be able to repeat it and so they fill and charge the memorie with the good of another and take no care to awaken and direct the vnderstanding and to forme the iudgement whereby he may be made able to make vse of his owne proper good and his naturall faculties which may make him wise and apt to all things so that wee see that the greatest scholars that haue all Aristotle and Cicero in their heads are the veriest sots and most vnskilfull in publike affaires and the world is gouerned by those that know nothing It is the opinion of all the wisest that the vnderstanding is the first the most excellent and principall piece of harnesse if that speed well all goes well and a man is wise and contrariwise if that miscarrie all goes acrosse In the second place is the imagination the memorie is the last All these differences it may be will be better vnderstood 9 An image of the three faculties of the Soule by this similitude which is a picture or imitation of the reasonable Soule In euery Court of iustice there are three orders or degrees the highest are the Iudges with whom there is little stirre but great action for without the mouing or stirring of themselues they iudge decide order determine of all things this is the image of iudgement the highest part of the Soule The second are the Aduocates and Procters in whom there is great stirre and much adoe without action for it lies not in their power to dispatch or order any thing only they hatch and prepare the businesse this is the picture of the imagination an vndertaking vnquiet facultie which neuer resteth no not in the profoundest sleepe and it makes a noise in the braine like a pot that seetheth but neuer setleth The third and last degree is the Scribe or Register of the Court with whom there is no stirre nor action but pure passion as the Gardian or Custos of all things and this representeth the memorie The action of the reasonable Soule is the knowledge and 10 The action of the reasonable Soule vnderstanding of all things The Spirit of man is capable of vnderstanding all things visible muisible vniuersall particular sensible insensible intellectus est omnia but it selfe either it vnderstands not at all as some are of opinion witnesse so great and almost infinite
diuersitie of opinions thereof as wee haue seene before by those doubts and obiections that haue alwayes crossed it or very darkly imperfectly and indirectly by reflexion of the knowledge of things vpon themselues by which it perceiueth and knoweth that it vnderstandeth and hath power and facultie to vnderstand this is the maner whereby the spirit knowes it selfe The first soueraigne Spirit GOD doth first know himselfe and afterwards in himselfe all things the latter Spirit Man quite contrarie all other things rather than himselfe and is in them as the eye in a glasse how then should it act or worke in it selfe without meane and by a strait line But the question is concerning the meane whereby it 11 The meane whereby it worketh knoweth and vnderstandeth things The common receiued opinion that came from Aristotle himselfe is that the Spirit knoweth and vnderstandeth by the helpe and seruice of the Senses that it is of it selfe as a white emptie paper that nothing commeth to the vnderstanding which doth not first passe the Senses Nil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu But this opinion is false first because as all the wisest haue affirmed and hath beene before touched the seeds of all sciences and vertues are naturally dispersed and insinuated into our spirits so that they may be rich and merry with their owne and though they want that tillage that is fit yet then they sufficiently abound Besides it is iniurious both to God and Nature for this were to make the state of the reasonable Soule worse than that of other things than that of the vegetatiue and sensitiue which of themselues are wise enough to exercise their functions as hath beene sayd for beasts without the discipline of the senses know many things the vniuersals by the particulars by the fight of one man they know all men and are taught to auoid the danger of things hurtfull and to seeke and to follow after that which is fit for them and their little ones And it were a thing shamefull and absurd that this so high and so diuine a facultie should begge it good of things so vile and corruptible as the senses which do apprehend only the simple accidents and not the formes natures essence of things much lesse things vniuersall the secrets of Nature and all things insensible Againe if the Soule were made wise by the aide of the senses it would follow that they that haue their senses most perfect and quicke should be most wittie most wise whereas many times we see the cleane contrary that their spirits are more dull and more vnapt and that many haue of purpose depriued themselues of the vse of some of them to the end the soule might better and more freely execute it owne affaires And if any man shall obiect that the soule being wise by nature and without the helpe of the senses all men must necessarilie be wise and alwayes vnderstand and reason alike which being so how commeth it about that there are so many dull pates in the world and that they that vnderstand exercise their functions more weakly at one time than at another the vegetatiue soule farre more strongly in youth the reasonable soule more weakly than in olde age and in a certaine state of health or sicknesse than at another time I may answer that the argument is not good for as touching the first that is That all men must be wise I say that the facultie and vertue of vnderstanding is not giuen alike vnto all but with great inequalitie and therefore it is a saying as ancient as honorable euen of the wisest that the acting vnderstanding was giuen but to few and this inequalitie proueth that Science comes not of sense for as it hath been sayd they that excell others in their senses come short of others in their vnderstanding and Science Touching the second The reason why a man doth not exercise his functions alwayes after one maner is because the instruments whereby the Soule must necessarily worke can not alwayes be disposed as they should and if they be for some speciall kinde of faculties or functions yet not for others The temperature of the braine by which the Soule worketh is diuers and changeable being hot and moist in youth it is good for the vegetatiue naught for the reasonable and contrarily being colde and drie in olde age it is good for the reasonable ill for the vegetatiue The braine by a hot and burning maladie being heated and purified is more fit for inuention and diuination vnfit for maturitie and soundnesse of iudgement and wisdome By that which hath beene spoken let no man thinke that I affirme that the spirit hath no seruice from the senses which I confesse to be great especially in the beginning in the discouerie and inuention of things but I say in the defence of the honor of the spirit that it is false that it dependeth vpon the senses and that we can not know any thing vnderstand reason discourse without the sense for contrariwise all knowledge comes from it and the senses can do nothing without it The Spirit in this vnderstanding facultie proceedeth diuersly and by order It vnderstandeth at the first instant simply and directly a Lion to be a Lion afterwards by consequents that hee is strong for seeing the effects of his strength it concludeth that he is strong By diuision or negatiue it vnderstandeth a Hare to be fearefull for seeing it flie and hide it selfe it concludeth that a Hare is not strong because fearefull It knoweth some by similitude others by a collection of many things together CHAP. XIIII Of the humane Spirit the parts functions qualities reason inuention veritie thereof THis humane Spirit and Oeconomie of this great and high intellectuall part of the soule is a depth of obscuritie full of creeks and hidden corners a confused and inuolued labyrinth and bottomlesse pit consisting of many parts faculties actions diuers motions hauing many names doubts and difficulties The first office thereof is simply to receiue and apprehend the images and kindes of things which is a kinde of passion and impression of the Soule occasioned by the obiects and the presence of them this is imagination and apprehension The force and power thereof to feed to handle to stirre to concoct to digest the things receiued by the imagination this is reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The action and office or exercise of this force and power which is to assemble conioyne separate diuide the things receiued and to adde likewise others this is discourse reasoning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The subtile facilitie and cheerefull readinesse to doe all these things and to penetrate into them is called Spirit Ingenium and therefore to be ingenious sharpe subtile piercing is all one The repetition and action of ruminating reconcocting trying by the whetstone of reason and reworking of it to frame a resolution more solide this is iudgement The effect in
force and strength to defend themselues The third much more neere is the maladie and corruption 3. The passions of the will and the force of the passions this is a world turned topsie turuy the wil is made to follow the vnderstanding as a guide and lampe vnto it but being corrupted and seased on by the force of the passions or rather by the fall of our first father Adam doth likewise perhaps corrupt the vnderstanding and so from hence come the greatest part of our erroneous iudgements Enuie Malice Hatred Loue Feare make vs to respect to iudge to take things others than they are quite otherwise than we ought from whence commeth that common crie Iudge without passion From hence it is that the beautifull and generous actions of another man are obscured by vile and base misconstructions that vaine and wicked causes occasions are feined This is a great vice and a proofe of a malignant nature and sicke iudgement in which there is neither great subtiltie nor sufficiencie but malice enough This proceedeth either from the enuy they beare to the glorie of another man or because they iudge of others according to themselues or because they haue their taste altered and their sight so troubled that they cannot discerne the cleere splendour of vertue in it natiue purity From this selfe same cause and source it commeth that we make the vertues and vices of another man to preuaile so much and extend them farther than we ought that from particularities wee draw consequents and generall conclusions if he be a friend all sits well about him his vices shall be vertues if he be an enemie or of a contrary faction there is nothing good in him insomuch that we shame our owne iudgement to smooth vp our owne passions But this rests not heere but goeth yet farther for the greatest part of those impieties heresies errours in our faith and religion if we looke well into it is sprung from our wicked and corrupt willes from a violent and voluptuous Exod. 31. 2. Paral. 15. 3. Reg. 15. August lib. 2. De ciuitate Dei passion which afterwards draweth vnto it the vnderstanding it selfe Sedit populus manducare bibere c. quod vult non quod est credit qui cupit errare in such sort that what was done in the beginning with some scruple and doubt hath beene afterwards held and maintained for a veritie and reuelation from heauen that which was onely in the sensualitie hath taken place in the highest part of the vnderstanding that which was nothing els but a passion and a pleasure hath beene made a religious matter and an article of faith so strong and dangerous is the contagion of the faculties of the Soule amongst themselues These are the three outward causes of the faults and miscariages of the Spirit iudgement and vnderstanding of man The body especially the head sicke or wounded or ill fashioned The world with the anticipated opinions and suppositions thereof The ill estate of the other faculties of the reasonable Soule which are all inferiour vnto it The first are pitifull and some of them to be cured some not the second are excusable and pardonable the third are accusable and punishable for suffring such a disorder so neere them as this is those that should obey the law to take vpon them to giue the law There are other defects of the Spirit which are more naturall vnto it and in it The greatest and the root of all the rest 18 Naturall is pride and presumption the first and originall fault of all the world the plague of all spirits and the cause of all euils by which a man is only content with himselfe will not giue place to another disdaineth his counsels reposeth himselfe in his owne opinions takes vpon him to iudge and condemne others yea euen that which he vnderstands not It is truly said that the best and happiest distribution that God euer made is of iudgement because euery man is content with his owne and thinkes he hath inough Now this malady proceedeth from the ignorance of our selues We neuer vnderstand sufficiently and truly the weaknesse of our spirit but the greatest disease of the spirit is ignorance not of Arts and Sciences and what is included in the writings of others but of it selfe for which cause this first booke hath beene written CHAP. XV. Of Memory MEmory is many times taken by the vulgar sort for the sense and vnderstanding but not so truly and properly for both by reason as hath beene said and by experience the excellency of the one is ordinarily accompanied with the weaknesse of the other and to say the truth it is a faculty very profitable for the world but yet comes far short of the vnderstanding and of all the parts of the Soule is the more delicate and most fraile The excellency thereof is not very requisite but to three sorts of people Merchants or men of Trade great talkers for the storehouse of the memory is more full and furnished than that of inuention for hee that wants it comes short and must be faine to frame his speech out of the forge of his owne inuention and liars mendacem oportet esse memorem From the want of memory proceed these commodities to lie seldome to talke little to forget offences An indifferent memory sufficeth for all CHAP. XVI Of the imagination and opinion THe imagination is a thing very strong and powerfull it is it that makes all the stirre all the clarter yea the perturbation of the world proceeds from it as we haue sayd before it is either the onely or at least the most actiue and stirring The effects of the imagination maruellous facultie of the Soule The effects thereof are maruellous and strange it worketh not only in it owne proper bodie and Soule but in that of another man yea it produceth contrary effects it makes a man blush wax pale tremble dote to wauer these are the least and the best it takes away the power and vse of the ingendring parts yea when there is most need of them and is the cause why men are more sharpe and austere not only towards themselues but others witnesse those ties and bands whereof the world is full which are for the most part impressions of the apprehension and of feare And contrariwise without endeuor without obiect euen in sleepe it satisfieth the amorous desires yea changeth the sex witnesse Lucius Cossitius whom Pliny affirmeth to haue seene to be changed from a woman to a man the day of his mariag and diuers the like it marketh sometimes ignominiously yea it killeth and makes abortiue the fruit within the wombe it takes away a mans speech and giues it to him that neuer had it as to the sonne of Croesus it taketh away motion sense respiration Thus we see how it worketh in the bodie Touching the Soule it makes a man to lose his vnderstanding his knowledge iudgement it turnes him
and by another voice he knoweth he is not Againe they haue their intelligence with vs. In the warres 7. Mutuall intelligence in the middest of the fight Elephants Dogs Horses vnderstand with vs they frame their motions according to the occasion they pursue they make their stand they retire nay they haue their pay and diuide the booty with vs as it hath been practised in the new conquests of the Indies And these are those things that are common to all and alike Let vs now come to those differences and aduantages that 4 Differences and aduantages the one hath ouer the other Man is singular and excellent in some things aboue other creatures and in others beasts haue the superiority to the end that all things might thereby bee knit and enchained together in this generall policy of the world and of nature The certaine aduantages or excellencies of man are those great faculties of the soule the subtilitie viuacitie Of man sufficiency of the spirit to inuent to iudge to chuse speech to demand and to offer aid and succour the hand to execute that the spirit hath inuented either of it selfe or learned from another The forme also of the body the great diuersity of the motions of the members whereby his body doth him better seruice The certaine aduantages that beasts haue ouer men and 5 Of Beasts generall such as are past all doubt are either general or particular The generall are health and strength of body farre more perfect constant strong in them among whom there are no blind deafe lame mute diseased defectiue and ill born as amongst men The Sereno hurts them nor they are not subiect to rheumes frō whence proceed almost all other diseases from which man though he couer his head with a hat and a house too can hardly defend himselfe Moderation in diet and other actions innocency safety peace and tranquillity of life a plaine and entire liberty without shame feare or ceremony in things naturall and lawfull for it is onely man that hath cause to hide himselfe in his actions and whose faults and imperfections offend others Exemption from so many vices and disorders superstition ambition auarice enuie yea mightie dreames trouble not them as they doe men nor so many thoughts and fantasies The particular aduantages are the pure high healthfull pleasant habitation and abode of Particular birds in the aire Their sufficiencie in some arts as the swallow and other birds in building the Spider in spinning and weauing diuers beasts in Physicke and the Nightingale in Musicke Maruellous effects and properties not to be imitated no not imagined as the propertie of the fish Remora to stay the greatest vessels of the sea as we reade of the chiefe galley of Marcus Antonius and the selfe same of Caligula of the Torpedo or Crampe-fish to benum and dead the members of another though farre distant and not touching him of the Hedgehog to foresee the windes of the Chameleon to change his colours Prognostications as of birds in their passages from countrey to countrey according to the diuersitie of the seasons of all beasts that are dammes in knowing which of their yoong is the best for some happe falling out of defending them from danger or conueying them to their nests they alwayes begin with that they know and foresee to be the best In all these things man is farre their inferior and in some of them he hath no skill at all A man may adde vnto this if hee will the length of their liues which in some beasts doth seuen or eight times exceed the longest terme of the life of man Those aduantages that man pretendeth to haue aboue beasts but are yet disputable and perhaps as well in beasts 6 Disputable aduantages as men are many First the reasonable faculties discourse reasoning discipline iudgement prudence There are heere 1 Reason two things to be spoken the one of the veritie of the thing it selfe It is a great question whether beasts be depriued of all these spiritual faculties The opinion that they are not depriued but haue them is the more true and the more authentike It is defended by many great Philosophers especially by Democritus Anaxagoras the Stoicks Galen Porphyry Plutarch and mainteined by this reason The composition of the braine which is that part which the soule makes vse of and whereby it reasoneth is all alike as the same in beasts and men confirmed by experience Beasts from particulars conclude generals by the sight of one only man they know all men they know how to ioyne and diuide and distinguish the good from the ill for the safegard of their liues libertie and little ones Yea we reade and see if we would but marke and consider it many things done by beasts that doe farre excell the sufficiencie subtiltie and all the wit and cunning of the common sort of men some of those that are best woorth the noting I will note vnto you The Fox being to passe ouer a riuer that is frozen with ice applieth his eare vnto the ice to finde whether he can heare any noise and that the water doe runne vnder it that thereby he may resolue either to go forward or to retire backe of whom the Thrasians haue learned the same cunning being to passe their frozen riuers A Dogge to the end hee may know which way of three either his master or that beast he hunteth is gone hauing assured himselfe by senting them that he hath not passed by two of them because he findes not the trace without the setting of his nose to the ground or farther trauersing he runneth mainly into the third The Mule of the Philosopher Thales crossing a riuer with a sacke of salt on his backe and being plunged into the deepe with his burthen his salt dissolued in the water and made his burthen the lighter which the Mule falling into the deepe by chance hauing found being afterwards loaden with wooll vsed the same remedie and sunke the more Plutarch reporteth that he saw a Dog in a ship casting stones into a pipe of oile to make the oile to mount that hee might the better come at it As much is reported of the Crowes of Barbarie who by that meanes raise the water when it is too low that they may drinke So likewise Elephants gather stones and sticks and cast them into that ditch whereinto their companion is fallen to helpe him to get out The Oxen of the Kings gardens of Suze being taught to go in a wheele a iust hundred turnes to draw water to water the gardens they would neuer exceed that iust number and were neuer deceiued in their account All these thnigs how can they be done without discourse and reason addition and diuision To say they know not this were to denie that we see they doe What should we thinke of that dexteritie that is in the Elephant in plucking those darts and iauelins foorth of his bodie with little or
concupiscitis And to say the trueth what need hath Nature of all these great and godly enterprises and imploiments whereby man challengeth a longer life than other creatures Man therefore hath no subiect whereof to complaine but to be angrie with himselfe We haue life enough but we are not good husbands we manage it not well life is not short but we make it so we are not in want but prodigall non inopes vitae sed prodigi we lose it we dissipate it we vilifie it as if it were nought worth as if we had more than enough we all fall into one of these three faults either we employ it ill or about nothing or in vaine Magna vitae pars elabitur male Seneca Looke lib. 3. cap. 6. agentibus maxima nihil agentibus tota aliud agentibus One man studieth not to liue but rather busieth himselfe in any other thing he shall neuer know how to do a thing well by acquitting himselfe of labour but by care and attention Others reserue their liues vntill they can liue no longer then take comfort in life when there is nothing left but the lees and dregs thereof Oh what follie what miserie is this Yea there are some that haue sooner ended than begunne to liue and life is past before they thought of it Quidam viuere incipiunt cùm desinendum quidam antè desierunt quà m inciperent Inter caetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia semper incipit viuere Our present life is but the entrance and end of a Tragedie 3 A description of the life of man a perpetuall issue of errours a web of vnhappie aduentures a pursuit of diuers miseries inchained together on all sides there is nothing but euill that it distilleth that it prepareth one euill driues forward another euill as one waue another torment is euer present and the shadow of what is good deceiueth vs blindnesse and want of sense possesseth the beginning of our life the middle is euer in paine and trauell the end in sorrow and beginning middle and end in errour The life of man hath many discommodities and miseries common ordinarie and perpetuall it hath likewise some particular and distinct according to the diuersitie of the parts ages and seasons infancie youth virilitie olde age euery one haue their proper and particular discommodities The greatest part of the world speake more honorablie 5 A comparison betwixt youth and olde age fauorably of old age as the more wise ripe moderat accusing and shaming youth as vitious foolish licentious but very vniustly for in trueth the infirmities and vices of old age are more in number more great and troublesome than those of youth it filles the minde more with wrinckles then the visage and there is not a soule growing olde growes not sower and rotten With the body the spirit is vsed and the worse for the vse and at the last returns to infancy againe bis pueri senes Old age is a necessary and puissant malady which loadeth vs insensibly with many imperfections It were absurd to tearme wisdome a difficultie of humours an anxietie and distaste of things present an impotencie to doe as in former times wisdome is too noble to be serued with such officers To wax olde is not to wax wise nor to take away vices but to change them into worse Olde age condemneth pleasure but it is because it can not taste or relish it aright like Esops dogge it saith it will none of it but it is because it can not ioy in it for olde age leaueth not pleasure properly but pleasure disdaines olde age for it is alwayes wanton and sporting and it is no reason that impotencie should corrupt iudgement which should in youth know vice in pleasure and in olde age pleasure in vice The vices of youth are temeritie indiscreet forwardnesse and vnbridled libertie and ouergreedie desire of pleasure which are naturall things proceeding from the heat of the blood and naturall vigour and therefore the more excusable but the vices of olde age are farre otherwise The lighter are a vaine and fraile proteruitie an enurous pratling insociable humours superstition care to get riches euen then when the vse of them is lost a sottish auarice and feare of death which proceedeth properly not from the want of spirit and courage as they say but because olde men are long acquainted and as it were cockered in this world whereby their affections are knit vnto it which is not in yoong men but besides these they are enuious froward vniust but that which is most sottish and ridiculous in them is that they would not only be reuerenced but feared and therefore they put vpon them an austere looke and disdainfull thinking thereby to extort feare and obedience but they are therein much deceiued for this stately and furious gesture is receiued of youth with mockerie and laughter being practised only to blinde their eyes and of purpose to hide and disguise the truth of things There are in old age so many faults on the one side and so many impotencies on the other and therefore so fit for contempt that the best way to compasse their desires is loue and affection for command and feare are no longer fit armes for them It ill befits them to make themselues to be feared and though they could doe it yet loue and honour is a fairer purchase The fourth Consideration of Man morall by his maners humours conditions very liuely and notable THE PREFACE ALl the descriptions the wise and such as haue taken greatest paines in the studie of humane knowledge haue giuen vnto man seeme all to note in man foure things Vanitie Weaknesse Inconstancie Miserie calling him the spoile of times the play-game of Fortune the image of inconstancie the example and spectacle of infirmitie the ballance of enuie and miserie a dreame a fantasie ashes a vapour a morning deaw a flower that presently fadeth and withereth a winde grasse a bladder or bubble a shadow leaues of trees caried with the winde vncleane seed in his beginning a sponge of ordures a sacke of miseries in his middle age a stench and meat for wormes in his end and to conclude the most miserable and wretched thing in the world Iob one of the most sufficient in this matter as well in the practise as contemplation thereof hath well and at large described him and after him Salomon in their Books To be short Plinie seemeth very properly to haue desciphered him in calling him the most miserable and yet the most arrogant creature of the world Solum vt certum sit nihil esse certi nec miserius quicquam homine aut superbius By the first word miserable he comprehendeth all those former descriptions and as much as all the rest haue sayd but by the other the most proud hee toucheth another chiefe point very important and hee seemeth in these two words to haue vttered whatsoeuer can be sayd These are those two things that seeme to hurt
and hinder one the other Miserie and Pride Vanitie and Presumption See then how strange and monstrous a patch-coat man is Forasmuch as man is composed of two diuers parts the soule and the body it is a matter of difficulty well to describe him entire in his perfection and declining state Some refer vnto the body whatsoeuer ill can be spoken of man they make him an excellent creature and in regard of his spirit extoll him aboue all other creatures but on the other side whatsoeuer is ill either in man or in the whole world is forged and proceedeth from this spirit of man and in it there is farre more vanity inconstancy misery presumption than in the body wherein there is little matter of reproch in respect of the spirit and therefore Democritus calleth it a world of hidden miseries and Plutarch prooueth it in a booke written of that subiect Now let vs consider man more according to the life than heeretofore we haue done and pinch him where it itcheth not referring all to these fiue points vanity weaknesse inconstancy misery and presumption which are his more naturall and vniuersall qualities but the two latter touch him more neerely Againe there are some things common to many of these fiue which a man knowes not to which to attribute it and especially imbecillity and misery CHAP. XXXVI 1. Vanity VAnity is the most essentiall and proper quality of humane nature There is nothing so much in man bee it malice infelicity inconstancy irresolution and of all these there is alwaies abundance as base feeblenesse sottishnesse and ridiculous vanity And therefore Democritus met better with it with a kind of disdaine of humane condition mocking and laughing at it than Heraclitus that wept and tormented himselfe whereby he gaue some testimony that he made some account thereof and Diogenes who scorned it than Timon that hater and flier of the company of men Pindarus hath expressed it more to the life than any other by the two vainest things in the world calling it the dreame of ashadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is that that hath wrought in the wisest so great a contempt of man that hearing of some great designment and honourable enterprise and iudging it such were wont neuerthelesse to say that the world was not worthy a mans labour and paines so answered Statilius to Brutus talking with him about the conspiracie against Caesar and that a wise man should doe nothing but for himselfe for it is not reason that wise men and wisedome should put themselues in danger for fooles This vanitie is shewed and expressed many waies and after 2 Thoughts a diuers maner first in our thoughts and priuate imaginations which are many times more than vaine friuolous and ridiculous wherein neuerthelesse we spend much time and yet perceiue it not Wee enter into them we dwell in them and we come foorth againe insensibly which is a double vanitie and a great forgetfulnesse of our selues One walking in a hall considereth how he may frame his paces after a certaine fashion vpon the boords of the floure another discourseth in his minde with much time and great attention how he should carry himselfe if he were a king a Pope or some other thing that he is assured can neuer come to passe and so hee feedeth himselfe with winde yea lesse than winde that that neither is nor euer shall be Another dreameth how he shall compose his body his countenances his gestures his speech after an affected fashion and pleaseth himselfe therein as with a thing that wonderfully becomes him and that euery man should take delight in But what a vanitie and sottish weakenesse in our desires is this that brings forth beliefs and hopes farre more vaine And all this falleth out not only when we haue nothing to doe when we are swallowed vp with idlenesse but many times in the midst of our most necessarie affaires so naturall and powerfull is vanitie that it robbeth and plucketh out of our hands the truth soliditie and substance of things and fills vs with winde yea with nothing Another more sottish vanitie is a troublesome care of what shall heere fall out when we are dead We extend our desires 3 Care for times to come and affections beyond our selues and our being wee would prouide that some thing should bee done vnto vs when wee know not what is done vnto vs owe desire to be praised after our death what greater vanitie It is not ambition as it seemeth a man may thinke it for that is the desire of a sensible and perceptible honor if this praise of our selues when we are gone might any way profit either our children our parents or our friends that suruiue vs it were well there were some benefit though not to our selues but to desire that as a good which shall no way touch vs nor benefit others is a meere vanitie like that of those who feare their wiues will marrie after their departure and therefore they desire them with great passion to continue vnmarried and binde them by their willes so to do leauing vnto them a great part of their goods vpon that condition This is vanitie and many times iniustice It was contrariwise a commendable thing in those great men in times past which dying exhorted their wiues to marry speedily for the better increase of the Commonwealth Others ordeine that for the loue of them and for their sakes a friend keepe such and such a thing or that he do this or that vnto their dead bodies which rather sheweth their vanitie than doth any good to soule or bodie See heere another vanitie we liue not but by relation vnto another we take not so much care what we are in our selues in effect and truth as what we are in the publike knowledge of men in such sort that we do many times deceiue and depriue our selues of our owne goods and commodities and torment our selues to frame our outward appearances to the common opinion This is true not onely in outward things and such as belong to the bodie and the expense and charge of our meanes but also in the goods of the spirit which seeme vnto vs to be without fruit if others enioy them not and they be not produced to the view and approbation of strangers Our vanity is not only in our simple thoughts desires and discourses but it likewise troubleth shaketh and tormenteth 5 Agitations of the spirit both soule and bodie Many times men trouble and torment themselues more for light occasions and matters of no moment than for the greatest and most important affaires that are Our soule is many times troubled with small fantasies dreames shadowes fooleries without bodie without subiect it is intangled and molested with choler hatred sorow ioy building castles in Spaine The remembrance of a farewell of some particular grace or action afflicteth vs more than a whole discourse of a matter of greater importance The sound of names and certaine words
he may shew himselfe to be industrious a man of employment and vnderstanding that is a foole and miserable too he enterpriseth mooueth and remooueth new businesse or els he putteth himselfe into that of other mens To be short he is so strongly and incessantly molested with care and thoughts not only vnprofitable and superfluous but painfull and hurtfull tormented with what is present annoied with what is past vexed with that which is to come that hee seemeth to feare nothing more than that he shall not be sufficiently miserable So that a man may iustly crie out O poore and wretched creatures that you are how many euils doe you willingly endure besides those necessarie euils that nature hath bestowed vpon you But what Man contenteth himselfe in miserie he is obstinate to ruminate continually to recall to minde his passed euils Complaints are common with him and his owne euils and sorrowes seeme many times deare vnto him yea it is a happie thing for small and light occasions to be termed the most miserable of all others est quaedam dolendi voluptas Now this is a farre greater miserie to be ambitiously miserable than not to know it not to feele it at all Homo animal querulum cupidè suis incumbens miserijs We will not account it a humane miserie since it is an euill 8 By incompatibilitie common to all men and not to beasts that men can not accommodate themselues and make profit of one another without the losse and hurt the sicknesse folly sinne death of one another We hinder wound oppresse one the other in such maner that the better sort euen without thought or will thereunto out of an insensible desire and innocentlie thirst after the death the euill the paine and punishment of another So that we see man miserable both naturally and voluntarily 9 In the remedies of miserie in truth and by imagination by obligation and willingnesse of heart He is too miserable and yet he feares he is not miserable enough and laboureth to make himselfe more miserable Let vs now see how When he feeles any euill and is annoyed with some certaine miserie for hee is neuer without many miseries that he feeles not he endeuoureth to quit himselfe thereof but what are his remedies Truly such as importune him more than the euill it selfe which hee would cure in such sort that being willing to get forth of one miserie he doth but change it into another and perhaps into a worse But what of that the change it selfe perhaps delighteth him or at least yeelds him some solace he thinketh to heale one euill with another euill which proceedeth from an opinion which the bewitched and miserable world holdeth that is That there is nothing profitable if it be not painfull That is woorth nought that costs nothing yea ease it selfe is much suspected This doth likewise proceed from an higher cause It is a strange thing but true and which conuicteth man to be miserable That no euill can be taken away but by another euill whether it be in bodie or in soule Spirituall maladies and corporall are not cured and chased away but by torment sorrow paine The spirituall by repentance It was erroneous but corrected watchings fastings imprisonments which are truly afflictions and such as gaule vs too notwithstanding the resolution and deuotion willingly to endure them for if we vse them either for pleasure or profit they can worke no effect but are rather exercises of pleasure of couetousnesse of houshold gouernment than of repentance and contrition of heart The corporall in like sort be medicines incisions cauteries diets as they well feele that are bound to medicinall rules who are troubled on the one side with the disease that afflicts them on the other with that rule the thought whereof continually annoyes them So likewise other euils as ignorance is cured by great long and painfull studie Qui addit scientiam addit laborem want and pouertie by great care watchings trauell sweatings In sudore vultus tui So that both for the soule and for the bodie labour and trauell is as proper vnto man as it is for a bird to flie All these miseries aboue mentioned are corporall or common 10 Spirituall miseries both to the spirit and to the body and mount little higher than the imagination and fantasie Let vs consider of the more subtile and spirituall which are rather to be called miseries as being erroneous and malignant more actiue and more our owne but lesse felt and confessed which makes a man more yea doubly miserable because hee onely feeleth those euils that are indifferent and not the greater yea a man dares not touch them or speake of them so much is he confirmed and so desperate in his miseries We must therefore by the way as it were and gently say something at least with the finger point afarre off to giue him occasion to consider and thinke thereof since of himselfe he hides it not First in regard of the vnderstanding is it not a strange and a lamentable miserie of humane nature that it should wholly be composed of error and blindnesse The greater part of common and vulgar opinions yea the more plausible and such as are receiued with reuerence are false and erroneous and which is woorse the greater part vnprofitable for humane societie And although some of the wisest which are but few in number vnderstand better than the common sort and iudge of these opinions as they should neuerthelesse sometimes they suffer themselues to be caried if not in all and alwayes yet in some and sometimes A man had need be firme and constant that he suffer not himselfe to be carried with the streame yea sound and prepared to keepe himselfe cleere from so vniuersall a contagion The generall opinions receiued with the applause of all and without contradiction are as a swift riuer which carrieth all with it Proh superi quantum mortalia pectora caecae noctis habent O miseras hominum mentes pectora caeca qualibus in tenebris vita quantisque periclis degitur hoc aeui quodcunque est Now it were too long and too tedious a thing to runne ouer all those foolish opinions by name wherewith the whole world is made drunken yet let vs take a view of some few of them which in their due place shall be handled more at large 1 To iudge of aduice and counsell by the euents which See lib. 3. cap. 1. are no way in our owne hands and which depend vpon the heauens 2 To condemne and reiect all things maners opinions Lib. 2. ca. 8. lawes customes obseruations as barbarous and euill not knowing what they are or seeing any inconuenience in them but onely because they are vnusuall and different from such as are ordinarie and common 3 To esteeme and commend things because of their noueltie Lib. 2. ca. 3. or raritie or strangenesse or difficultie foure messengers which haue great credit in vulgar
trueth is multitude of yeeres and beleeuers now fooles do win the game sanitatis patrocinium est insanientium turba It is a very difficult thing for a man to resolue and settle his iudgement against the common opinion All this may easily appeare by those many impostures and fooleries which we haue seene to go for miracles and rauish the whole world with admiration but instantly extinguished by some accident or by the exact inquirie of such as are quicke sighted who haue cleered and discouered the cousenage which if they had had but time to ripen and to haue fortified in nature they had continued for euer beene generally receiued and adored And euen such are diuers others which by the fauour of Fortune haue passed for currant and gained publike beliefe whereunto men afterwards accommodate themselues without any farther desire to know the thing in it first forme and originall nusquam ad liquidum fama perducitur And this is the reason why there are so many kinds of religions in the world so many superstitious customes of the Pagans which are yet remaining euen in Christendome and concerning which we can not wholly assure the people By this whole discourse we see what we are and to what we tend since we are lead by such guides The fift and last Consideration of Man by those varieties and great differences that are in him and their comparisons CHAP. XLI Of the difference and inequalitie of men in generall THere is nothing in this lower world wherein there is found so great difference as amongst men and where the differences are so distant and diuers in one and the same subiect and kinde If a man should beleeue Plinie Herodotus Plutarch there are shapes of men in some countreys that haue very little resemblance with ours and some that are of a mixt and doubtfull kind betwixt men and beasts There are some countreys where men are without heads carrying their eyes and mouthes in their brests where they are Hermaphrodites where they go with foure feet where they haue one eye in the forehead and a head liker to a dogs head than a mans where they are fish from the nauell downwards and liue in the water where their women beare children at fiue yeeres of age and liue but eight where they haue their head and forhead so hard that iron can not pierce them where they doe naturally change into wolues and other beasts and afterwards into men again where they are without a mouth nourishing themselues with the smell of certaine odours where they yeeld a seed that is blacke where they are verie little and dwarfs where they are very great and giants where they goe alwayes naked where they are all hairie where they speake not but liue in woods like beasts hidden in caues and hollow trees And in our times we haue discouered seene with the eye and touched with our fingers where the men are without beards without vse of fire corne wine where that is held to be the greatest beautie which we account the greatest deformitie as hath beene sayd before Touching the diuersitie of maners we shall speake elswhere And to omit many of these strange wonderments we know that as touching the visage it is impossible to find two in all things alike it may fall out that we may mistake and take the one for the other because of the great resemblance that may be betweene two but this must be in the absence of the one for in the presence of them both it is easie to note a difference though a man know not how to expresse it In the soules of men there is a farre greater difference for it is not only greater without comparison betwixt a man and a man than betwixt a beast and a beast but there is greater difference betwixt a man and a man than a man and a beast for an excellent beast comes neerer to a man of the basest sort and degree than that man to another great and excellent personage This great difference of men proceedeth from the inward qualities and from the spirit where there are so many parts so many iurisdictions so many degrees beyond number that it is an infinit thing to consider We must now at the last learne to know man by those distinctions and differences that are in him which are diuers according to the many parts in man many reasons and meanes to compare and consider of him We will heere set downe fiue principall vnto which all the rest may be referred and generally all that is in man Spirit bodie naturall acquired publike priuate apparent secret and so this fift and last consideration of man shall haue fiue parts which are fiue great and capitall distinctions of men that is to say The first naturall essentiall and vniuersall of all men soule and bodie The second naturall and essentiall principally and in some sort acquired of the force and sufficiencie of the spirit The third accidentall of the estate condition and dutie of man drawen from superioritie and inferioritie The fourth accidentall of the condition and profession of life The fift and last of the fauours and disfauours of Nature and of Fortune CHAP. XLII The first distinction and difference of men naturall and essentiall drawen from the diuers situation of the world THe first most notable and vniuersall distinction of men 1 The diuersitie of men proceedeth from the diuers situatiō of the world which concerneth the soule and body and whole essence of man is taken and drawne from the diuers site of the world according to which the aspect and influence of heauen and the sunne the aire the climate the countrie are diuers So likewise not only the colour the feature the complexion the countenance the manners are diuers but also the faculties of the soule plaga coeli non solùm ad robur corporum sed animorum facit Athenis tenue caelum ex quo etiam acutiores Attici crassum Thebis ideo pingues Thebani valentes And therefore Plato thāked God that he was an Athenian and not a Theban As fruites and beasts are diuers according to the diuers countries wherein they are so men are borne more and lesse warlike iust temperate docible religious chaste ingenious good obedient beautifull sound strong And this is the reason why Cyrus would not agree to the Persians to abandon their sharp and hillie countrie to goe to another more plaine and pleasant saying that fat countries and delicate made men soft and effeminate and fertile grounds barren and infertile spirits Following this foundation we may in grosse diuide the world into three parts and all men into three kinds of nature 2 The diuision of the world into three parts we will make three generall situations of the world which are the two extremities South and North and the middle betwixt them both euery part and situation shall haue sixtie degrees The Southerne part which is vnder the Aequator hath thirtie degrees on this side
that haue done the same There are some that separate these two and thinke that one of them sufficeth to true nobilitie that is either only vertue 3 the distinction and qualitie without any consideration of race or ancestors This is a personall and acquired nobilitie considered with rigour it is rude that one come from the house of a Butcher or Vintner should be held for noble whatsoeuer seruice he hath done for the Common-weale Neuerthelesse this opinion hath place in many nations namely with the Turks contemners of ancient nobilitie and esteeming of no other but personall and actuall militarie valour or only antiquitie of race without profession of the qualitie this is in the bloud and purely naturall If a man should compare these two simple and imperfect nobilities together that which is purely naturall to iudge aright 4 Naturall nobilitie it is the lesse though many out of their vanitie haue thought otherwise The naturall is another mans qualitie and not his owne genus proauos quae non fecimus ipsi vix ea nostra puto nemo vixit in gloriam nostram nec quod ante nos fuit nostrum est And what greater follie can there be than to glorie in that which is not his owne This honor may light vpon a vitious man a knaue and one in himself a true villaine It is also vnprofitable to another for it communicateth not with any man neither is any man bettered by it as science iustice goodnes beautie riches do They that haue nothing else commendable in them but this nobilitie of flesh and bloud make much of it they haue it alwaies in their mouthes it makes their cheekes swell and their hearts too they will be sure to manage that little good that they haue it is the marke by which they are knowne and a token that they haue nothing else in them because they rest themselues whollie vpon that But this is vanitie for all their glorie springeth from fraile instruments ab vtero conceptu partu and is buried vnder the toombe of their ancestors As offenders being pursued haue recourse to altars and the sepulchers of the dead and in former times to the statues of Emperours so these men being destitute of all merit and subiect of true honor haue recourse to the memorie and armories of their ancestors What good is it to a blind man that his parents haue beene well sighted or to him that stammereth that his Grandfather was eloquent and yet these kind of people are commonly glorious high minded contemners of others Contemptor animus superbia commune nobilitatis malum Salust The personall and acquired honor hath conditions altogether contrarie and very good It is proper to the possessor 5 Acquired and personall honor thereof it is alwaies a worthie subiect and profitable to others Againe a man may say that it is more ancient and more rare than the naturall for by it the naturall began and in a word that is true honor which consisteth in good and profitable effects not in dreames and imagination vaine and vnprofitable and proceedeth from the spirit not the bloud which is the same in noble men that is in others Quis generosus ad virtutem à natura bene compositus animus facit nobilem cui ex quacunque conditione supra fortunam licet surgere Senec. But they are both oftentimes and verie willinglie together and so they make a perfect honor The naturall is a way 6 Naturall and acquired and occasion to the personall for things do easily returne to their first nature and beginning As the naturall hath taken his beginning and essence from the personall so it leadeth and conducteth his to it fortes creantur fortibus hoc vnum in nobilitate bonum vt nobilibus imposita necessitudo videatur ne à maiorum virtute degenerent To know that a man is sprung from honorable ancestors and such as haue deserued well of the Common-weale is a strong obligation and spurre to the honorable exploits of vertue It is a foule thing to degenerate and to belie a mans owne race The nobilitie that is giuen by the bountie and letters patent of the Prince if it haue no other reason it is shamefull and rather dishonorable than honorable It is an nobilitie in parchment bought with siluer or fauor and not by bloud as it ought If it be giuen for merit and notable seruices it is personall and acquired as hath beene said CHAP. LX. Of Honor. SOme say but not so well that honor is the prise and recompence of vertue or not so ill an acknowledgement of 1 The description of honor vertue or a prerogatiue of a good opinion and afterwards of an outward dutie towards vertue It is a priuiledge that draweth his principall essence from vertue Others haue called it the shadow of vertue which sometimes followeth sometimes goeth before it as the shadow the bodie But to speake truly it is the rumor of a beautifull and vertuous action which reboundeth from our soules to the view of the world and by reflexion into our selues bringeth vnto vs a testimonie of that which others beleeue of vs which turneth to a great contentment of mind Honor is so much esteemed and sought for by all that to attaine thereunto a man enterpriseth endureth contemneth whatsoeuer besides yea life it selfe neuerthelesse it is a matter of small and slender moment vncertaine a stranger and as it were separated in the aire from him that is honored for it doth not only not enter into him nor is inward and essentiall vnto him but it doth not so much as touch him being for the most part either dead or absent and who feeleth nothing but setleth it selfe and stayeth without at the gate sticks in the name which receiueth and carieth all the honors and dishonours praises and dispraises whereby a man is said to haue either a good name or a bad All the good or euill that a man can say of Caesar is caried by his name Now the name is nothing of the nature and substance of the thing it is only the image which presenteth it the marke which distinguisheth it from others a summarie which conteineth it in a small volume mounteth it and carieth it whole and entire the meane to enioy it and to vse it for without the names there would be nothing but confusion the vse of things would be lost the world would decay as the historie of the tower of Babell doth richly teach vs to be breefe the stickler and middle of the essence of the thing and the honor or dishonor thereof for it is that that toucheth the thing it selfe and receiueth all the good or ill that is spoken Now honor before it ariue to the name of the thing it goes a course almost circular like the Sunne performed and perfected in three principall sites or places the action or worke the heart the tongue for it begins and is conceiued as in the
acquired and gotten by an outward cause ex auditu Quomodo credent sine praedicante engendreth honestie which we haue shewed should proceed from nature from that law and light which God hath put into vs from our first beginning This is an inuerted order These men will that a man be an honest man because there is a Paradise and a hell so that if they did not feare God or feare to be damned for that is often their language they would make a goodly peece of worke O miserable honestie What thankes deseruest thou for that thou doest ô cowardly and idle innocencie quae nisi metu non placet Thou keepest thy selfe from wickednesse because thou darest not be wicked and thou fearest to be beaten and euen therein art thou wicked Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Now I will that thou dare but yet that thou wilt not though thou be neuer chidden I will that thou be an honest man not because thou wouldest goe to paradise but because nature reason God willeth it because the law and the generall policy of the world whereof thou art a part requireth it so as that thou canst not consent to be any other except thou goe against thy selfe thy essence thy end Doubtlesse such honestie occasioned by the spirit of religion besides that it is not true and essentiall but accidentall it is likewise very dangerous producing many times very base and scandalous effects as experience in all times hath taught vs vnder the faire and glorious pretext of piety What execrable wickednesses hath the zeale of religion brought foorth Is there any other subiect or occasion that hath yeelded the like It belongeth to so great and noble a subiect to worke great and wonderfull effects Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Quae peperit saepe scelerosa atque impia facta Not to loue him yea to look vpon him with a wicked eie as a man should looke vpon a monster that beleeueth not as he beleeueth To think to be polluted by speaking or conuersing with him is one of the sweetest and most pleasing actions of these kind of people Hee that is an honest man by scruple and a religious bridle take heed of him and account of him as he is And he that hath religion without honestie I will not say he is more wicked but farre more dangerous than he that hath neither the one nor the other Omnis qui interficiet vos putabit se obsequium praestare Deo not because religion teacheth or any way fauoureth wickednesse as some very foolishly and malitiouslie from this place do obiect for the most absurd and falsest religion that is doth it not but the reason is that hauing no taste nor image nor conceit of honestie but by imitation and for the seruice of religion and thinking that to be an honest man is no other thing than to be carefull to aduance religion they beleeue all things whatsoeuer be it treason treacherie sedition rebellion or any other offence to be not onlie lawfull and sufferable being coloured with zeale and the care of religion but also commendable meritorious yea worthy canonization if it serue for the progresse and aduancement of religion and the ouerthrow of their aduersaries The Iewes were wicked and cruell to their parents vniust towards their neighbors neither lending nor paying their debts and all because they gaue vnto the temple thinking to be quit of all duties and reiecting the whole world by saying Corban Math. 15. 5. Marc. 7. 11. 6. Hierom. I will then to conclude this discourse that there be in this my wise man a true honestie and a true pietie ioyned and maried together and both of them compleat and crowned with the grace of God which he denieth none that shall aske it of him Deus dat spiritum bonum omnibus potentibus eum as hath been said in the preface article the 14. CHAP. VI. To gouerne his desires and pleasures IT is a principall dutie of a wise man to know well how to moderate and rule his desires and pleasures for wholly to renounce them I am so farre from requiring it in this my wise man that I hold this opinion to be not only fantasticall but vitious and vnnaturall First then we must confute this opinion which banisheth and whollie condemneth all pleasures and afterwards learne how to gouerne them It is a plausible opinion and studied by those that would seeme to be men of vnderstanding and professors of singular 1 The first part sanctitie generally to contemne and tread vnder-foote all sorts of pleasures and all care of the bodie retiring the spirit vnto it selfe not hauing any commerce with the bodie but eleuating An opinion of the contempt of the world it selfe to high things and so to passe this life as it were insensiblie neither tasting it nor attending it With these kind of people that ordinarie phrase of passing the time doth very well agree for it seemeth to them that well to vse and employ this life is silently to passe it ouer and as it were to escape it and rob themselues of it as if it were a miserable burthensome and tedious thing being desirous so to slide through the world as that not only recreations and pastimes are suspected yea odious vnto them but also naturall necessities which God hath seasoned with some pleasure They come not where any delight is but vnwillinglie and being where it is they hold their breath till they be gone as if they were in a place of infection and to be briefe their life is offensiue vnto them and death a solace pleasing themselues with that saying which may be as well ill taken and vnderstood as well vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio But the iniquitie of this opinion may many wayes be shewed First there is nothing so faire and lawfull as well and 2 Reiected duly to play the man well to know how to leade this life It is a diuine knowledge very difficult for a man to know how he should lawfully enioy his owne essence leade his life according to the common and naturall modell to his proper conditions not seeking those that are strange for all those extrauagancies all those artificiall and studied endeuors those wandring wayes from the naturall and common proceede from follie and passion these are maladies without which whilest these men would liue not by playing the men but the diuines they play the fooles they would transforme themselues into angels and they turne themselues into beasts aut deus aut bestia homo sum humani à me nihil alienum puto Man is a bodie and a soule and it is not well done to dismember this building to diuide and separate this brotherlie and naturall coniunction but contrariwise we should renue it by mutuall offices the spirit must awaken and reuiue the heauie bodie the bodie must stay the lightnes of the spirit which many times prooues but a trouble-feast the spirit must
For he that in all things shall direct and carrie himselfe after one and the same fashion would quickly marre all play the foole and make himselfe ridiculous Now this twofold knowledge of the persons and affaires is no easie matter so much is man disguised and counterfeited but the way to attaine thereunto is to consider them attentiuely and aduisedly reuoluing them many times in our mindes and that without passion Wee must likewise learne to esteeme of things according to their true worth giuing vnto them that price and place 2 Estimation of things which appertaineth vnto them which is the true office of wisedome and sufficiencie This is a high point of philosophie but the better to attaine thereunto we must take heede of passion and the iudgement of the vulgar sort There are Not according to the vulgar iudgement six or seuen things which mooue and leade vulgar spirits and make them to esteeme of things by false ensignes whereof wise men will take heed which are noueltie raritie strangenesse difficultie Art inuention absence and priuation or deniall and aboue all report shew and prouision They esteeme not of things if they be not polished by Art and science if they be not pointed and paâ—nted out The simple and naturall of what value soeuer they be they attend not they escape and droppe away insensibly or at least are accounted plaine base and foolish a great testimonie of humane vanitie and imbecillitie which is paied with winde with false and counterfeit mony in steede of currant from whence it is that a man preferreth Art before nature that which is studied and difficult before that which is easie vehement motions and impulsions before complexion constitution habit the extraordinary before the ordinary ostentation pompe before true and secret veritie another mans and that which is strange which is borrowed before that which is proper and naturall And what greater follie can there bee than all this Now the rule of the wise is not to suffer themselues by all this to be caught and carried but to measure and iudge But according to the wise and esteeme of things first by their true naturall and essentiall value which is many times inward and secret and then by their profit and commoditie the rest is but deceit or mockerie This is a matter of difficultie all things being so disguised and sophisticated many times the false and wicked being more plausible than the true and good And Aristotle saith that there are many falshoods which are more probable and haue a better outward appearance than verities But as it is difficult so is it excellent and diuine Si separaueris pretiosum Difficult Excellent Nâ—cessary â—eneca a vili quasi os meum eris And necessarie before all workes quà m necessarium pretiarebus imponere for to small purpose doth a man endeuour to know the precepts of a good life if first he know not in what ranke to place things riches health beauty nobility science and so foorth with 〈…〉 their contraries This precedency preheminence of things is a high and excellent knowledge and yet difficult especially when many present themselues for plurality hindreth and heerein men are neuer of one accord The particular tastes and iudgements of men are diuers and it is fit and commodious it should be so to the end that all runne not together after one and the same thing and so bee a let or hindrance to another For example let vs take the eight principall heads of Eight principall heads of goods spirituall and corporall all goods spirituall and corporall foure of each kind that is to say Honesty Health Wisedome Beauty Ability or Aptnesse Nobility Science Riches We do heere take the words according to the common sense and vse wisdome for a prudent and discreet maner of life and carriage with and towards all Abilitie for sufficiency in affaires Science for the knowledge of things acquired out of bookes the other are cleare enough Now touching the ranging of these eight how many diuers opinions are there I haue told my owne and I haue mingled and in such sort enterlaced them together that after and next vnto a spirituall there is a corporall corrospondent therunto to the end we may couple the soule and the body together Health is in the body that which honestie is in the soule the health of the soule is the honestie of the body mens sana in corpore sano Beauty is as wisedome the measure proportion and comelinesse of the body and wisedome a spirituall beauty Nobility is a great aptnesse and disposition to vertue Sciences are the riches of the spirit Others do range these parts otherwise some place all the spirituall first before they come to the first corporall and the least of the spirit aboue the greatest of the bodie some place them apart and all diuersly euery one aboundeth in his owne sense After and from this sufficiencie and part of prudence to know well how to esteeme of things doth spring and arise 3 Choice and election of things another that is to know well how to choose where not only the conscience but also the sufficiencie and prudence is likewise many times shewed There are choices very easie as of a difficultie of a vice of that which is honest and that which is commodious of dutie and of profit for the preheminence of the one is so great aboue the other that when they come to encounter honestie alwaies winneth the field except it may be some exception very rare and with great circumstance and in publike affaires only as shall be said heereafter in the vertue of Prudence but there are other choices farre more hard and troublesome as when a man is caught or driuen into a narrow streit betweene two vices as was that Doctor Origen either to become an Idolater or to prostitute hunselfe to the carnall pleasure of a base impure Aethiopian The rule is that when a man findeth himselfe in any doubt or perplexitie touching the choice of those things that are not euill he must choose that part that hath most honestie and iustice in it for though it fall out otherwise than well yet it shall be alwaies some comfort and glorie to a man to haue chosen the better and besides a man knoweth not if he had chosen the contrarie part what would haue hapned or whether he had escaped his destinie when a man doubteth which is the better and shortest way hee must take the streitest And in those things that are euill whereof there is neuer any choice a man must auoid the more base and vniust this is a rule of conscience and belongeth to honestie But to know which is the more honest iust and profitable which the more dishonest vniust and vnprofitable it is many times very difficult and belongeth to prudence and sufficiencie It seemeth that in such like streits and extremities the surer and better way is to follow nature and to iudge
helpe of the great vena caua which ariseth from the bunch and branches thereof which are in great number as the riuers of a fountaine The Spleene towards the left side which receiueth the discharge and excrements of the Liuer The Reines the Entralles which though they are all in one yet are distinguished by six differences and names equalling seuen times the length of a man as the length of a man is equalled by seuen foot In these two first parts or degrees which some take to be but one although there are two faculties very different the one generatiue for the continuance of the kinde the other nutritiue for euery particular person and they make it to answer to the lowest and elementary part of the world the place of generation and corruption is the concupiscible soule The third degree compared to the Aetherian region separated from the former by the Diaphragma or Midrife and from that aboue by the narrownesse of the throat in which is the irascible soule and the pectorall parts Praecordia that is to say the Heart very hot placed about the fift rib hauing his point vnder the left pap or dug the originall fountaine of the Arteries which are alwayes mooued and cause the Pulse to beat by which as by channels it sendeth and distributeth thorow the whole bodie the vitall blood which it hath concocted and by it the spirit and vertue vitall The Lungs of substance very soft and spongeous supple to draw to and inforce forth like a paire of bellowes instruments both of respiration whereby the heart is refreshed drawing vnto it the blood the spirits the aire and disburthening it selfe of those fumes and excrements which oppresse it and of the voice by meane of the rough Arterie The fourth and highest which answereth to the celestiall region is the head which conteineth the Braine colde and spongeous wrapped within two skinnes the one more hard and thicke which toucheth the brainpan Dura mater the other more easie and thin which includeth the Braine Pia mater from it do issue are deriued the Smowes and marow that descendeth and falleth downe into the reines of the backe This Braine is the seat of the reasonable soule the source of sense and motion and of the most noble animall spirits composed of the vitall which being raised from the heart by the Arteries vnto the braine are concocted and reconcocted elaborated and made subtile by the helpe of the multiplicitie of small Arteries as fillets diuersly wouen and interlaced by many turnings and windings like a labyrinth or double net Rete mirabile within which this vitall spirit being retained and soiourning often times passing and repassing is refined and perfected and becomes a creature spirituall in an excellent degree The outward and visible parts if they be single are in the middle as the Nose which serueth for respiration smell 3 Outward parts singular and the comfort of the braine and the disburthening thereof in such sort that by it the aire entereth and issueth both downe into the lungs and vp into the braines The Mouth which serueth to eat and to speake and therefore hath many parts seruice-able thereunto without the lips within the tongue soft and very subtile which iudgeth of sauors the Teeth which bruise and grinde the victuals the Nauell the two sinks or wayes to ease and disburden the bodie If they be double and alike they are collaterals and equall as the two eyes planted in the highest stage as centinels composed 4 Double and equall of many and diuers parts three humors seuen tunicles seuen muscles diuers colours of many fashions and much art These are the first and most noble outward parts of the bodie in beautie vtilitie mobilitie actiuitie yea in the action of loue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are to the visage that which the visage is to the bodie they are the face of the face and because they are tender delicate and precious they are fenced and rampaired on all parts with skinnes lids browes haire The eares in the selfe same height that the eyes are as the scouts of the body Porters of the spirit the Receiuers and Iudgers of sounds which alwayes ascend they haue their entrance oblique and crooked to the end the aire and the sound should not enter at once whereby the sense of hearing might be hindered and iudge the woorse The armes and hands the worke-masters of all things and vniuersall instruments The legs and feet the props and pillars of the whole building CHAP. IIII. Of the singular properties of the body of man THe body of man hath many singularities and some peculiar 1 Peculiar properties in the body of man and proper vnto themselues not common with other creatures The first and principall are speech vpright stature the forme or feature the port or cariage whereof the wise yea the Stoicks themselues made such account that they were wont to say That it was better to be a foole in a humane shape than wise in the forme of a beast The hand is a miracle that of the Ape is not to be termed a hand His naturall nakednesse laughter crying The Sense of tickling haire on the lower lid of the eye a visible nauell the point of the heart on the left side The toes of the feet not so long as the fingers of the hand Bleeding at nose a strange thing considering that he carieth his head vpright and a beast downwards To blush for shame wax pale for feare To be an ambidexter disposed at all times to the sports of Venus Not to moue the eares which bewrayeth in beasts the inward affections but man doth sufficiently make them knowen by his blushing palenesse motion of the eyes and nose The other properties are likewise peculiar vnto man but 2 Peculiar properties by way of excellency not wholly but by way of excellencie for they are also in beasts but in a lesse degree that is to say multitude of muscles and haire in the head The pliant facility of the body and the parts thereof to all motion and euery sense The eleuation of the breasts The great abundance of the braine The greatnesse of the bladder The forme of the foot long forward short backward The quantity and pure subtility of the blood The mobility and agility of the tongue The multitude and variety of dreames insomuch that he seemeth the only dreamer Sneesing And to be short the many motions of the eyes the nose the lips There are also habits proper and peculiar but different some are gestures motions and artificiall and affected countenances 3 Diuers habits others are so proper and naturall that they that haue them neither feele them nor know them in themselues as to go stooping but all haue that which proceedeth not so much from reason as a pure naturall and ready impulsion that is to put forth a mans hands before him when he falleth CHAP. V. Of the goods of the bodie Health Beautie c
of the Soule after death after the naturall separation by death diuers men thinke diuersly and this point belongeth not to the subiect of this booke The Metempsychose and transanimation of Pythagoras hath in some sort been embraced by the Academicks Stoicks Aegyptians and others but yet not of all in the same sense for some doe admit it only for the punishment of the wicked as we reade of Nebuchadnezar who was changed into a beast by the iudgement of God Others and some great haue thought that good soules being separated become Angels the wicked Diuels It had beene more pleasing to haue sayd Like vnto them Non nubent sed erunt sicut Angeli Some haue affirmed that the soules of the wicked at the end of a certaine time were reduced to nothing But the trueth of all this we must learne from Religion and Diuines who speake heereof more cleerely CHAP. VIII Of the Soule in particular and first of the vegetatiue facultie AFter this generall description of the Soule in these ten points we must speake thereof more particularly according 1 The faculties of the Soule to the order of the faculties thereof beginning at the basest that is the Vegetatiue Sensitiue Apprehensible or Imaginatiue Appetible Intellectiue which is the soueraign Soule and truly humane Vnder euery one of these there are diuers others which are subiect vnto them and as parts of them as we shall see handling them in their ranke Of the vegetable and basest Soule which is euen in plants I will not speake much it is the proper subiect of Physitians 2 Of the vegetable her subalternals of health and sicknesse Let me only say that vnder this there are conteined other three great faculties which follow one the other for the first serueth the second and the second the third but the third neither of the former The first then is the nourishing facultie for the conseruation of the Indiuiduum or particular person which diuers others doe serue as the Attractiue of the victuall the Concoctiue the Digestiue separating the good proper from the naught and hurtfull the Retentiue and the Expulsiue of superfluities The second the increasing or growing facultie for the perfection and due quantitie of the Indiuiduum The third is the Generatiue for the conseruation of the kinde Whereby we see that the two first are for the Indiuiduum and worke within in the bodie the third is for the kinde and hath it effect and operation without in another bodie and therefore is more worthy than the other and commeth neerer to a faculty more high which is the Sensitiue This is a great height of perfection to make another thing like it selfe CHAP. IX Of the Sensitiue facultie IN the exercise of this facultie and function of the Senses Six things required to the exercise of this facultie these six things do concurre whereof foure are within and two without That is to say the Soule as the first efficient cause The facultie of Sense which is a qualitie of the Soule and not the Soule it selfe that is of perceiuing and apprehending outward things which is done after a fiue-folde maner which we call The fiue Senses of this number we shall speake hereafter that is to say Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting Touching The corporall instrument of the Sense whereof there are fiue according to the number of the Senses the Eye the Eare the high concauitie of the Nose which is the entrance to the first ventricles of the braine the Tongue the whole Skin of the bodie The Spirit which ariseth from the braine the fountaine of the sensitiue Soule by certaine sinewes in the sayd instruments by which spirit and instrument the soule exerciseth her facultie The sensible Species or obiect offered vnto the instruments which is different according to the diuersitie of the sense The obiect of the eye or sight according to the common opinion is colour which is an adherent quality in bodies whereof there are six simple as White Yellow Red Purple Greene and Blew some adde a seuenth which is blacke but to say the trueth that is no colour but a priuation being like vnto darkenesse as the other colours more or lesse vnto the light Of compound colours the number is infinite but to speake more truely the true obiect is light which is neuer without colour and without which the colours are inuisible Now the light is a qualitie which commeth forth of a luminous body which makes both it selfe visible and all things els and if it be terminated and limited by some solide bodie it reboundeth and redoubleth it beames otherwise if it passe without any stop or termination it can not be seene except it be in the root of that light or luminous bodie from whence it came nor make any thing els to be seene Of the Eare or Hearing the obiect is a sound which is a noise proceeding from the encounter of two bodies and it is diuers the pleasant and melodious sweeteneth and appeaseth the spirit and for it sake the bodie too and driues away maladies from them both the sharpe and penetrant doth contrariwise trouble and wound the spirit Of Tasting the obiect is a fauour or smacke whereof there are six diuers simple kindes Sweet Sowre Sharpe Tart Salt Bitter but there are many compounds Of Smell the obiect is an odour or sent which is a fume rising from an odoriferous obiect ascending by the nose to the first ventricles of the braine the strong and violent hurteth the braine as an ill sound the eare the temperate and good doth contrariwise reioyce delight and comfort Of the sense of Touching the obiect is heat colde drouth moisture either pleasant and polite or sharpe and smarting motion rest tickling The middle or space betwixt the obiect and the instrument which is the Aire neither altered nor corrupted but such as it ought to be So that sense is made when the sensible species presenteth it selfe by the middle to an instrument sound and well disposed and that therein the spirit assisting receiueth it and apprehendeth it in such sort that there is there both action and passion and the senses are not purely passiue for notwithstanding they receiue and are stricken by the obiect yet neuerthelesse in some sense and measure they doe worke or react in apprehending the species and image of the obiect proposed In former times and before Aristotle they did make a difference betwixt the sense of Seeing and the rest of the senses and they all held that the sight was actiue and was made by emitting or sending forth of the eye the beames thereof vnto the outward obiects and that the other senses were passiue receiuing the sensible obiect but after Aristotle they are made all alike and all passiue receiuing in the organ or instrument the kindes and images of things and the reasons of the Ancients to the contrary are easily answered There is more and more excellent matter to be deliuered of the senses
company for his solace the Sight in the light is in place of companie The sense of Hearing hath many excellent singularities it is more spirituall and the seruice thereof more inward But the particular comparison of these two which are of the rest the more noble and of speech shall be spoken in the Chapter following As for pleasure or displeasure though all the Senses are capable thereof yet the Sense of Feeling receiueth greatest griefe and almost no pleasure and contrarily the Taste great delight and almost no griefe In the organ and instrument the Touch is vniuersall spred thorow the whole bodie to the end the bodie should feele heat and colde the organs of the rest are assigned to a certaine place member From the weaknesse and incertitude of our senses comes ignorance errour and mistakings for sithens that by their 5 The weakenesse and vncertainnesse of the Senses meanes and mixture we attaine to all knowledge if they deceiue vs in their report we haue no other helpe to sticke vnto But who can say or accuse them that they do deceiue vs considering that by them we begin to learne and to know Some haue assirmed that they do neuer deceiue vs and when they seeme to doe it the fault proceedeth from some thing els and that wee must rather attribute it to any other thing than to the senses Others haue sayd cleane contrarie that they are all false and can teach vs nothing that is certaine But the middle opinion is the more true Now whether the Senses be false or not at the least it is 6 The mutuall deceit of the spirit and senses certaine that they deceiue yea ordinarily enforce the discourse the reason and in exchange are againe mocked by it Do then but consider what kinde of knowledge and certaintie a man may haue when that within and that without is full of deceit and weakenesse and that the principall parts thereof the essentiall instruments of science do deceiue one another That the senses doe deceiue and enforce the vnderstanding it is plaine in those senses whereof some do kindle with furie others delight sweeten others tickle the Soule And why doe they that cause themselues to be let blood lanced cauterised and burnt turne away their eies but that they do well know that great authoritie that the Senses haue ouer their reason The sight of some bottomlesse depth or precipitate downfall astonisheth euen him that is setled in a firme and sure place and to conclude doth not the Sense vanquish and quite ouercome all the beautifull resolutions of vertue and patience So on the other side the senses are likewise deceiued by the vnderstanding which appeareth by this that the Soule being stirred with Choler Loue Hatred or any other passion our senses doe see and heare euery thing others then they are yea sometimes our senses are altogether dulled by the passions of the Soule and it seemeth that the Soule retireth and shutteth vp the operation of the Senses and that the spirit being otherwise employed the eie discerneth not that which is before it and which it seeth yea the sight and the reason iudge diuersly of the greatnesse of the Sunne the starres nay of the figure of a staffe any thing distant In the Senses of Nature the beasts haue as well part as we 7 The senses common to man and beast but diuersly and sometimes excell vs for some haue their hearing more quicke than man some their sight others their smell others their taste and it is held that in the sense of Hearing the Hart excelleth all others of Sight the Eagle of Smell the Dogge of Taste the Ape of Feeling the Tortuis neuerthelesse the preheminence of that sense of Touch is giuen vnto man which of all the rest is the most brutish Now if the Senses are the meanes to attaine vnto knowledge and that beasts haue a part therein yea somtimes the better part why should not they haue knowledge But the Senses are not the only instruments of knowledge 8 The iudgement of the Senses hard and dangerous neither are our Senses alone to be consulted or beleeued for if beasts by their Senses iudge otherwise of things than we by ours as doubtlesse they do who must be beleeued Our spettle cleanseth and drieth our wounds it killeth the Serpent What then is the true qualitie of our spettle To dire and to cleanse or to kill To iudge well of the operation of the senses we must be at some agreement with the beasts nay with our selues for the eie pressed downe and shut seeth otherwise than in it ordinary state the eare stopt receiueth the obiects otherwise than when it is open an infant seeth heareth tasteth otherwise than a man a man than an olde man a sound than a sicke a wise than a foole In this great diuersitie and contrarietie what shall we holde for certaine Seeing that one sense belieth another a picture seemeth to be held vp to the view and the hands are folded together CHAP. XI Of Sight Hearing and Speech THese are the three most rich and excellent iewels of all those that are in this muster and of whose preheminencie 1 A comparison of the three it is disputed Touching their Organes that of the Sight in it composition and forme is admirable and of a liuely and shining beautie by reason of the great varietie and subtiltie of so many small parts or pieces and therefore it is sayd that the eye is one of those parts of the bodie which doe first begin to be formed and the last that is finished and for this verie cause it is so delicate and said to be subiect to six score maladies Afterwards comes that of Speech which helpeth the sense of Hearing to many great aduantages For the seruice of the bodie the Sight is most necessarie and therefore doth more import a beast than Hearing But for the spirit the Hearing challengeth the vpper place The Sight serueth well for the inuention of things which by it haue almost all beene discouered but it bringeth nothing to perfection Againe the Sight is not capable but of corporall things and particular and that only of their crust or superficiall part it is the instrument of ignorant men and vnlearned qui mouentur ad id quod adest quodque praesens est The Eare is a spirituall Sense it is the Intermedler and Agent 2 The preheminencie of hearing of the vnderstanding the instrument of wise and spirituall men capable not only of the secrets and inward parts of particular bodies whereunto the Sight arriueth not but also of the generall kindes and of all spirituall things and diuine in which the Sight serueth rather to disturbe than to helpe and therefore we see not only many blinde great and wise but some also that are depriued of their sight to become great Philosophers but of such as are deafe we neuer heard of any This is the way by which a man entreth the
forme the food thereof is double ambiguitie it is a perpetuall motion without rest without bound The world is a schoole of inquisition agitation and hunting is it proper dish to take or to faile of the pray is another thing But it worketh and pursueth it enterprices rashly and irregularly without order and without measure it is a wandring 9 It worketh rashly instrument mooueable diuersly turning it is an instrument of leade and of wax it boweth and straitneth applieth it selfe to all more supple and facill than the water the aire flexibilis omni humore obsequentior vt spiritus qui omni materia facilior vt tenuior it is the shoo of Theramenes fit for all The cunning is to finde where it is for it goes alwayes athwart and crosse as wel with a lie as with a truth it sporteth it selfe and findeth a seeming reason for euery thing for it maketh that 10 Reason hath diuers faces which is impious vniust abominable in one place pietie iustice and honour in another neither can we name any law or custome or condition that is either generally receiued of all or reiected the marriage of those that are neere of blood the murther of infants parents is condemned in one place lawfull in another Plato refused an embrodered and perfumed robe offered him by Dionysius saying that he was a man and therefore would not adorne himselfe like a woman Aristippus accepted of that robe saying the outward acoutrement can not corrupt a chaste minde Diogenes washing his colewarts and seeing Aristippus passe by sayd vnto him If thou knewest how to liue with colewarts thou wouldest neuer follow the Court of a Tyrant Aristippus answered him If thou knewest how to liue with Kings thou wouldest neuer wash colewarts One perswaded Solon to cease from the bewailing the death of his sonnes because his teares did neither profit nor helpe him Yea therefore sayth he are my teares iust and I haue reason to weepe The wife of Socrates redoubled her griefe because the Iudges put her husband to death vniustly What saith he wouldest thou rather I were iustly condemned There is no good sayth a wise man but that to the losse whereof a man is alwayes prepared In aequo enim est dolor amissae rei timor amittendae Quite contrary faith another we embrace and locke vp that good a great deale the more carefully which we see lesse sure and alwaies feare will be taken from vs. A Cynique Philosopher demanded of Antigonus the King a dram of siluer That sayth he is no gift fit for a King Why then giue me a talent sayth the Philosopher And that saith the King is no gift fit for a Cynique One sayd of a King of Sparta that was gentle and debonaire Hee is a good man euen to the wicked How should hee be good vnto the wicked saith another if he be not wicked with the wicked So that we see that the reason of man hath many visages it is a two-edged sword a staffe with two pikes Ogni medaglia ha il suo riuerso There is no reason but hath a contrary reason sayth the soundest and surest Philosopher Now this volubilitie and flexibilitie proceedeth from many causes from the perpetuall alteration and motion of the bodie which is neuer twice in a mans life in one and the same estate from the obiects which are infinite the aire it selfe and the serenitie of the heauen Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Iuppiter auctiferas lustrauit lampide terras and all outward things inwardly from those shakings and tremblings which the Soule giues vnto it selfe by the agitation and stirreth vp by the passions thereof insomuch that it beholdeth things with diuers countenances for whatsoeuer is in the world hath diuers lustures diuers considerations Epictetus sayd it was a pot with two hands He might better haue sayd with many The reason heereof is because it entangleth it selfe in it 12 The reason of this intanglement owne worke like the Silke-worme for as it thinketh to note from farre I know not what appearance of light and imaginarie truth and flies vnto it there are many difficulties that crosse the way new sents that inebriate and bring it forth of the way The end at which it aimeth is twofold the one more common and naturall which is Trueth which it searcheth and 13 The end is verity which it can neither attaine nor finde pursueth for there is no desire more naturall than to know the trueth we assay all the meanes we can to attaine vnto it but in the end all our endeuours come short for Truth is not an ordinarie bootie or thing that will suffer it selfe to be gotten and handled much lesse to be possessed by any humane Spirit It lodgeth within the bosom of God that is her chamber Reade before Chap. 9. her retiring place Man knoweth not vnderstandeth not any thing aright in puritie and in trueth as he ought appearances doe alwayes compasse him on euery side which are as well in those things that are false as true We are borne to search the truth but to possesse it belongeth to a higher and greater power Truth is not his that thrusts himselfe into it but his that runnes the fairest course towards the marke When it falles out that he hits vpon a trueth it is by chance and hazzard he knowes not how to holde it to possesse it to distinguish it from a lie Errours are receiued into our soule by the selfe same way and conduit that the truth is the spirit hath no meanes either to distinguish or to chuse and as well may he play the sot that telles a trueth as a lie The meanes that it vseth for the discouerie of the truth are reason and experience both of them very weake vncertaine diuers wauering The greatest argument of truth is the generall consent of the world now the number of fooles doth farre exceed the number of the wise and therefore how should that generall consent be agreed vpon but by corruption and an applause giuen without iudgement and knowledge of the cause and by the imitation of some one that first began the dance The other end lesse naturall but more ambitious is Inuention 14 The second end Inuention vnto which it tendeth as to the highest point of honor to the end it may raise it selfe and preuaile the more this is that which is in so high account that it seemeth to be an image of the Diuinitie From the sufficiencie of this inuention haue proceeded all those works which haue rauished the whole world with admiration which if they be such as are for the publike benefit they haue deified their Authours Those works that shew rather finenesse of wit than bring profit with them are painting caruing Architecture the art Perspectiue as the vine of Zeuxis the Venus of Apelles the image of Memnon the horse of Aâ—â—ain the woodden pigeon of Architas the cow of Myron the flie and
vnwoorthy as a wife honoureth or dishonoureth her selfe by that husband that she hath taken Experience teacheth vs that three things do sharpen our will Difficultie Raritie and Absence or feare to lose the thing as the three contrary dull it Facilitie Abundance or Satietie and dayly presence or assured fruition The three former giue price and credit to things the three latter ingender contempt Our will is sharpened by opposition it opposeth it selfe against deniall On the other side our appetite contemneth and letteth passe that which it hath in possession and runnes after that which it hath not permissum fit vile nefas quod licet ingratum est quod non licet acrius vrit yea it is seene in all sorts of pleasures omnium rerum voluptas ipso quo debet fugare periculo cresit insomuch that the two extreames the defect and the abundance the desire and the fruition do put vs to like paine And this is the cause why things are not truely esteemed as they ought and that there is no Prophet in his owne countrey How we are to direct and rule our willes shall be sayd heereafter PASSIONS and AFFECTIONS An aduertisement THe matter of the passions of the minde is very great and Lib. 2. cap. 6. 7. lib. 3. in the vertues of fortitude and temperance plentifull and takes vp a great roome in this doctrine of Wisdome To learne how to know them and to distinguish them is the subiect of this booke The generall remedies to bridle rule and gouerne them the subiect of the second booke The particular remedies of euery one of them of the third booke following that method of this booke set downe in the Preface Now that in this first booke we may attaine the knowledge of them we will first speake of them in generall in this first Chapter afterward in the Chapters following particularly of euery one of them I haue not seene any that painteth them out more richly and to the life than Le Sieur du Vair in his little morall books whereof I haue made good vse in this passionate subiect CHAP. XVIII Of the passions in generall PAssion is a violent motion of the Soule in the sensitiue 1 The description of passions part thereof which is made either to follow that which the Soule thinketh to be good for it or to flie that which it takes to be euill But it is necessarie that we know how these motions are made how they arise and kindle themselues in vs which a man may represent by diuers meanes and comparisons first in regard of their agitation and violence The Soule which 1. Their agitation is but one in the bodie hath many and diuers powers according to the diuers vessels wherein it is retained the instruments whereof it maketh vse and the obiects which are presented vnto it Now when the parts wherein it is inclosed doe not retaine and occupie it but according to the proportion of their capacitie and as farre forth as it is necessarie for their true vse the effects thereof are sweet benigne and well gouerned but when contrariwise the parts thereof haue more motion and heat than is needfull for them they change and become hurtfull no otherwise than the beames of the Sunne which wandering according to their naturall libertie do sweetly and pleasingly warme if they be recollected and gathered into the concauities of a burning glasse they burne and consume that they were woont to nourish and quicken Againe they haue diuers degrees in their force of agitation and as they haue more or lesse so they are distinguished the indifferent suffer themselues to be tasted and digested expressing themselues by words and teares the greater and more violent astonish the soule oppresse it and hinder the libertie of it actions Curae leues loquuntur ingentes stupent Secondly in regard of the vice disorder and iniustice that is in these passions we may compare man to a Common-weale 3 2. Of their vice and irregularitie and the state of the soule to a state royall wherein the Soueraigne for the gouernment of so many people hath vnder-magistrates vnto whom for the exercise of their charges he giueth lawes and ordinances reseruing vnto himselfe the censuring of the greatest and most important occurrents Vpon this order dependeth the peace and prosperitie of the state and contrariwise if the magistrates which are as the middle sort betwixt the Prince and the people shall suffer themselues either to be deceiued by facilitie or corrupted by fauour and without respect either of their Soueraigne or the lawes by him established shall vse their owne authoritie in the execution of their affaires they fill all with disorder and confusion Euen so in man the vnderstanding is the Soueraigne which hath vnder it a power estimatiue and imaginatiue as a magistrate both to take knowledge and to iudge by the report of the senses of all things that shal be presented and to moue our affections for the better execution of the iudgements thereof for the conduct and direction whereof in the exercise of it charge the law and light of Nature was giuen vnto it and moreouer as a helpe in all doubts it may haue recourse vnto the counsell of the superiour and soueraigne the vnderstanding And thus you see the order of the happie state heereof but the vnhappie is when this power which is vnder the vnderstanding and aboue the senses whereunto the first iudgement of things appertaineth suffereth it selfe for the most part to be corrupted and deceiued whereby it iudgeth wrongfully and rashly and afterwards manageth and mooueth our affections to ill purpose and filleth vs with much trouble and vnquietnesse That which molesteth and corrupteth this power are first the senses which comprehend not the true and inward nature of things but only the face and outward forme carrying vnto the soule the image of things with some fauourable commendation and as it were a fore-iudgement and preiudicate opinion of their qualities according as they finde them pleasing and agreeable to their particular and not profitable and necessarie for the vniuersall good of man and secondly the mixture of the false and indifferent iudgement of the vulgar sort From these two false aduisements and reports of the Opinion Senses and vulgar sort is formed in the soule an inconsiderate opinion which we conceiue of things whether good or ill profitable or hurtfull to be followed or eschewed which doubtlesse is a very dangerous guide and rash mistresse for it is no sooner conceiued but presently without the committing of any thing to discourse and vnderstanding it possesseth it selfe of our imagination and as within a Citidell holdeth the fort against right and reason afterwards it descendeth into our hearts and remooueth our affections with violent motiues of hope feare heauinesse pleasure To be briefe it makes all the fooles and the seditions of the soule which are the passions to arise I will likewise declare the same thing by another
the root of all euill And truly he that shall see the Catalogue of those enuies and molestations which riches ingender within the heart of man as their proper thunder-bolt and lightning they would be more hated than they are now loued Desunt inopiae multa auaritiae omnia in nullum auarus bonus est in se pessimus There is another contrary passion to this and vicious to hate riches and to spend them prodigally this is to refuse 4 The counterpassion to couetousnesse the meanes to doe well to put in practise many vertues and to flie that labour which is farre greater in the true command and vse of riches than in not hauing them at all to gouerne himselfe better in abundance than in pouertie In this there is but one kinde of vertue which is not to faint in courage but to continue firme and constant In abundance there are many Temperance Moderation Liberalitie Diligence Prudence and so forth There more is not expressed but that he looke to himselfe heere that he attend first himselfe and then the good of others He that is spoiled of his goods hath the more libertie to attend the more weightie affaires of the spirit and for this cause many both Philosophers and Christians out of the greatnesse of their courage haue put it in practise He doth likewise discharge himselfe of many duties and difficulties that are required in the good and honest gouernment of our riches in their acquisition conseruation distribution vse and emploiment but he that quitteth himselfe of his riches for this reason slieth the labour and businesse that belongs vnto them and quite contrary doth it not out of courage but cowardize and a man may tell him that he shakes off his riches not because they are not profitable but because he knoweth not how to make vse of them how to vse them And not to be able to endure riches is rather weaknesse ofminde than wisdome sayth Seneca CHAP. XXII Of carnall Loue. CArnall Loue is a feuer and furious passion and very dangerous 1 It is strong naturall and common vnto him that suffereth himselfe to be carried by it For what becomes of him He is no more himselfe his bodie endureth a thousand labours in the search of his pleasure his minde a thousand helles to satisfie his desires and desire it selfe increasing growes into furie As it is naturall so is it violent and common to all and therefore in the action thereof it equalleth and coupleth fooles and wise men men and beasts together It maketh all the wisdome resolution contemplation operation of the soule beastly and brutish Hereby as likewise by sleepe Alexander knew himselfe to be a mortall man because both these suppresse the faculties of the soule Philosophie speaketh freely of all things that it may the better finde out their causes gouerne and iudge of them so 2 Why ignominious doth Diuinitie which is yet more chaste and more strait And why not since that all things belong vnto the iurisdiction and knowledge thereof The Sunne shines on the dunghill and is neither infected nor annoyed therewith To be offended with words is a token either of great weaknesse or some touch or guilt of the same maladie Thus much be spoken for that which followeth or the like if it shall happen Nature on the one side with violence thrusteth vs forward vnto this action all the motion of the world resolueth and yeeldeth to this copulation of the male and female on the other side it causeth vs to accuse to hide our selues to blush for shame as if it were a thing ignominious and dishonest We call it a shamefull act and the parts that serue thereunto our shamefull parts But why shamefull since naturall and keeping it selfe within it owne bounds iust lawfull and necessarie Yea why are beasts exempted from this shame Is it because the countenance seemes foule and deformed Why foule since naturall In crying laughing champing gaping the visage is more distorted Is it to the end it may serue as a bridle and a stay to such a kinde of violence Why then doth Nature cause such a violence Or contrariwise Is it because shame serueth as a spurre and as sulfure or that the instruments thereof mooue without our consent yea against our willes By this reason beasts likewise should be bashfull and many other things moue of themselues in vs without our consent which are neither vicious nor shamefull not only inward and hidden as the pulse motion of the heart arteries lungs the instruments and parts that serue the appetite of eating drinking discharging the braine the bellie and their shuttings and openings are besides nay many times against our willes witnesse those sneesings yawnings teares hoquets and fluxions that are not in our owne power and this of the bodie the spirit forgetteth remembreth beleeueth misbeleeueth and the will it selfe which many times willeth that which we would it willed not but outward and apparant the visage blusheth waxeth pale wanne the bodie groweth fat leane the haire turneth gray blacke white growes stands on end without and against our consent Is it that hereby the pouertie and weaknesse of man may be the more truely shewed That is as well seene in our eating and drinking our griefs wearinesse the disburdening of our bodies death whereof a man is not ashamed Whatsoeuer the reason be the action in it selfe and by nature is no way shamefull it is truely naturall so is not shame witnesse the beasts Why say I beasts The nature of man sayth Diuinitie mainteining it selfe in it first originall state had neuer knowen what shame was as now it doth for from whence commeth shame but from weaknesse and weaknesse but from sinne there being nothing in nature of it selfe shamefull The cause then of this shame not being in nature we must seeke it elswhere It is therefore artificiall It is an inuention forged in the closet of Venus to giue the greater prise to the businesse and to inkindle the desire thereof the more This is with a little water to make the fire burne the cleerer as Smithes vse to doe to inflame the desire to see what it is that is hidden to heare and know what it is that is muttered and whispered For to handle things darkly as if they were mysteries and with respect and shame giueth taste and estimation vnto them Contrariwise a loose free and open permission and commoditie derogateth from the worth and taketh away the true relish and delight thereof This action then in it selfe and simply taken is neither 3 In what sense vitious shamefull nor vitious since it is naturall and corporall no more than other the like actions are yea if it be well ordered it is iust profitable necessarie at the least as it is to eat and drinke But that which doth so much discredit it is that moderation is seldome kept therein and that to attaine thereunto we make great stirres and many times vse bad meanes
good but in as much as it is in the possession of another man and that we desire it for our selues and Iealousie concerneth our owne proper good whereof wee feare another doth partake Iealousie is a weake maladie of the soule absurd vaine 2 The weaknes thereof terrible and tyrannicall it insinuateth it selfe vnder the title of amitie but after it hath gotten possession vpon the selfe-same foundation of loue and good will it buildeth an euerlasting hate Vertue health merit reputation are the incendiaries of this rage or rather the fewell vnto this furie It is likewise the Gaule that corrupteth all the Hony of 3 The venim thereof our life it is commonly mingled with the sweetest and pleasantst actions which it maketh so sharpe and sower as nothing more it changeth loue into hate respect into disdaine assurance into diffidence it ingendreth a pernitious curiosity and desire in a man to cleere himselfe of that euill which being past remedie by too much stirring stinketh the more For what doth he but publish put out of all doubt bring into the light sound with a trumpet his owne shame and miserie and the dishonour of his owne children Particular considerations and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 35. CHAP. XXIX Reuenge THe desire of Reuenge is first a cowardly and effeminate 1 A cowardly passion passion proceeding from a base weake and abiect mind which experience telleth vs to be true for we commonly see the weakest mindes the most malicious and reuengefull as women and children The valiant and generous mind doth little feele this passion but contemneth and disdaineth it either because the iniurie toucheth him not or because he that offereth the iniurie is not worthy his reuenge as not daining so farre to debase himselfe indignus Caesaris ira The haile thunder and tempests and those fearefull motions that are in the aire doe neither trouble nor touch the superior celestiall bodies but only the weake and inferior and euen so the indiscretions and childish brawles of fooles wound not great and high minds All the great men of the world Alexander Caesar Epaminondas Scipio haue been so farre from reuenge that quite contrarie they haue done good vnto their enemies Secondly it is a boiling and biting passion and like a 2 Biting worme it gnaweth the hearts of those that are infected with it it molesteth them by day and by night keepes them awaked It is likewise full of iniustice for it tormenteth the innocent 3 Vniust and addeth affliction It is to make the party offending to feele that euill and punishment which the desire of reuenge giueth to a mans heart and the partie offended goes to lay on the burthen as if he had not already hurt enough by the iniurie receiued in such sort that many times and ordinarily whilest he tormenteth himselfe to seeke meanes of reuenge he that hath committed the offence laughs and makes himselfe merrie with it But it is also farre more vniust in the meanes of the execution which many times is wrought by treasons and villanous practises Lastly the execution is not only painfull but dangerous 4 Dangerous too for experience telleth vs that he that seeks to be reuenged doth not that which he would and what his blow intendeth but commonly that which he would not comes to passe and thinking to put out the eye of his enemy he putteth out both his owne The feare of iustice tormenteth him and the care to hide him those that loue him Againe to kill and to make an end of his enemy is not reuenge but meere crueltie which proceedeth from cowardlinesse 5 To kill is not to reuenge and feare To be reuenged is to beat his enemie to make him stoope not to kill him for by killing hee feeles not the power of his wrath which is the end of reuenge And this is the reason why a man cares not to be reuenged vpon a dogge or a beast because he can no way taste or conceit his reuenge In true reuenge there must be a kinde of pleasure and delight in the reuenger and he vpon whom he is reuenged must feele the weight of his displeasure suffer paine repent him of the cause which being kild he cannot do yea he is rather freed thereby from all miserie and contrariwise he that is the reuenger endureth many times that torment feare which he wished to his enemie To kill then is a token of cowardlinesse and feare lest his enemie feeling the force of his reuenge should liue to requite him with the like which though it make an end of the quarrell yet it woundeth his reputation it is a tricke of precaution and not of courage and is the way to proceed safely but not honorably Qui occidit longe non vlciscitur nec gloriam assequitur Particular aduisements and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 34. CHAP. XXX Crueltie CRueltie is a villanous and detestable vice and against nature and therefore it is likewise called Inhumanitie It proceedeth from weaknesse omnis ex infirmitate feritas est and it is the daughter of cowardlinesse for a valourous man doth alwayes exercise his strength against a resisting enemie whom he hath no sooner at his mercie but he is satisfied Romana virtus parcere subiectis debellare superbos Forasmuch therefore as cowardly weaknesse can not be of this ranke to the end it may yet get the name of valour it makes blood and massacres the proofe thereof Murders in victories are commonly executed by common people and the officers of the baggage Tyrants are bloody because they feare not knowing how to secure themselues but by rooting out those that may offend them and therefore they exercise their crueltie against all euen women too because they feare all cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet Cowardlie dogges bite and teare with their teeth within the house the skinnes of those wild beasts which in the open field they durst not looke vpon What makes ciuill warres so cruell but that tie wherewith the common people are led and linked who like dogs that are backt by their master backe one another The Emperour Mauritius being tolde that one Phocas a souldier should kill him enquired what he was and of what nature and condition and being tolde by his sonne in law Philip that he was a base cowward Why then saith he no maruell if he be a murderer and cruell It proceedeth likewise from the inward malignitie of the soule which feedeth and delighteth it selfe with the hurt of another Monsters like Caligula CHAP. XXXI Sadnesse or Heauinesse of heart SAdnesse is a languishing feeblenesse of the spirit and a 1 The description kinde of discouragement ingendered by the opinion that we haue of the greatnesse of those euils that afflict vs. It is a dangerous enemie to our rest which presently weakeneth and quelleth our soules if we take not good heede and taketh from vs the vse of reason and discourse and
such as descend from them but also those that are voluntarie who either sell for money their libertie or giue it out of the lightnesse of their hearts or for some commoditie as the ancient fensers solde outright women to their mistresses souldiers to their captaines Now there is none of all this in beasts they neuer serue one another nor yeeld themselues to any seruitude either actiue or passiue either to serue or to be serued and are in euery thing more free than men And as man goeth to the chase taketh killeth eateth the beasts so is he taken killed eaten by them in his turne and more honourably too by maine strength not by wit and art as man doth and not only by them is he killed but by his companion by another man a thing base and dishonorable Beasts assemble not themselues in troops to go to kill to destroy to ransacke to inthrall another troope of their kinde as men do The fourth and greatest aduantage pretended by man is in vertue but of morall it is disputable I meane morall materially 12 4. Vertue by the outward action for formallie the moralitie good or euill vertue and vice can not be in a beast Kinde acknowledgement officious amitie fidelitie magnanimitie and many other vertues which consist in societie and conuersation are more liuely more expresse and constant than can be in the common sort of people Hircanus the dogge of Lysimachus continued vpon the bed of his dead master refusing all kinde of sustenance and afterwards cast himselfe into that fire wherein his master was burnt and there died with him The selfe same did another belonging to one Pyrrhus That dogge of wise Hesiodus discouered the murther of his master Another in like sort in the presence of King Pyrrhus and his whole armie Another which neuer ceased as Plutarch affirmeth going from citie to citie vntill that sacrilegious Robber of the Temple of Athens was apprehended and brought to iudgements That historie is famous of the lion that was host and nurse to Androdus the slaue and his Physitian which would not touch him being cast out vnto him which Appion affirmeth to haue seene at Rome An Elephant hauing in choler killed his gouernour repenting himselfe of it refused any longer to eat drinke or liue Contrariwise there is not a creature in the world more vniust vnthankfull traiterous perfidious lying and deceitfull than man Againe forasmuch as vertue consisteth in the moderation of our appetites and the bridling of our pleasures beasts are much more moderate therein than wee and doe better containe themselues within the limits of nature For they are not only not touched with vnnaturall superfluous and artificiall passions and desires which are all vitious and infinite as men who for the most part are plunged in them but also in the naturall as eating and drinking the acquaintance betwixt the male and the female they are farre more moderate and staied But that we may see which is the more vertuous or vitious a man or a beast and in good earnest to shame a man more than a beast let vs take the vertue most proper and agreeable vnto man that is as the word it selfe importeth humanity as the most strange and contrary vice is cruelty Now heerin beasts Humanity Cruelty haue aduantage enough euen to make men blush for shame They neuer assaile and seldome offend those of their kind maior serpentum ferarumque concordia quà m hominum They neuer fight but for great and iust causes as the defence and preseruation of their liues liberty and their little ones and that they doe with their naturall and open armes by their only force and valour and that one to one as in single combates and not in troupes nor by designements Their combates are short and soone ended vntill one of them be either wounded or yeeldeth and the combate ended the quarrell hatred and choler is likewise at an end But man hath no quarrell but against man for not only light vaine and friuolous causes but many times vniust with artificiall and traiterous armes by deceits and wicked meanes in troupe and assembly gathered by assignement and lastly his wars are long and neuer ended but with death and when he is able no longer to hurt yet the hatred and choler endureth The conclusion of this comparison is that vntruely and 12 The conclusion of this second consideration vainly doth man glorifie himselfe aboue beasts For if man haue in him something more than they as especially the viuacity of the spirit and vnderstanding and those great faculties of the soule so likewise in exchange is hee subiect to a thousand euils from which the beasts are freed inconstancie irresolution superstition a painfull care of things to come ambition auarice enuie curiositie detraction lying and a world of disordered appetites discontentments emulations This spirit wherewith man maketh himselfe so mery brings him a thousand inconueniences and then most when it is most stirred and enforced For it doth not only hurt the body trouble breake and weaken the bodily forces and functions but also it hurts and hindereth it selfe What casteth man into follie and madnesse but the sharpenesse agility and proper force of the spirit The most subtile follies and excellent lunacies proceede from the rarest and quickest agitations of the spirit as from greatest amities spring greatest enmities and from soundest healths mortall maladies Melancholie men saith Plato as they are more capeable of knowledge and wisedome so likewise of folly And hee that well marketh it shall finde that in those eleuations and salies of a free soule there is some mixture of folly for to say the truth these things are neere neighbours Touching a simple life and such as is according to nature beasts do farre exceede men they liue more freely securely 13 An exhortation moderately contentedly And that man is wise that considereth heereof and benefiteth himselfe by making them an instruction vnto himselfe which doing he frameth himselfe to innocencie simplicitie libertie and that naturall sweetnesse which shineth in beasts and is wholly altered and corrupteth in vs by our artificiall inuentions and vnbridled licentiousnesse abusing that wherein we say we excell them which is the spirit and iudgement And therefore God doth many times send vs to schoole to birds beasts themselues to the kite the grashopper the swallow the turtle the ant the ox the asse and diuers others Lastly we must remember that there is a kind of commerce betwixt beasts vs a certain relation mutuall obligation whereof there is no other reason but that they belong to one the same master and are of the same family that we are It is an vnworthy thing to tyrannise ouer them we owe iustice vnto men and pitie and gentlenesse to such other creatures as are capeable thereof The third Consideration of Man which is by his life CHAP. XXXV The estimation breuitie description of the life of man and the parts thereof IT is a
freedome and libertie to all those that were of their religion in such sort that about the twelue hundred yeare there were almost no slaues in the world but where these two religions had no authoritie But as the number of slaues diminished the number of beggers and vagabonds increased for so many slaues being 7 The increase of poore people and vagabonds set at libertie come from the houses and subiection of their Lords not hauing wherewithall to liue and perhaps hauing children too filled the world with poore people This pouertie made them returne to seruitude and to become 8 Returne to seruitude voluntarie slaues paying changing selling their libertie to the end they might haue their maintenance and life assured and be quit of the burthen of their children Besides this cause and this voluntarie seruitude the world is returned to the vse of slaues because the Christians and Turks alwaies mainteining warres one against the other as likewise against the Gentiles both orientall and occidentall although by the example of the Iewes they haue no slaues of their owne nation yet they haue of others whom though they turne to their religion they hold slaues by force The power and authoritie of masters ouer their seruants is not very great nor imperious and in no sort can be preiudiciall to the libertie of seruants only they may chastise and correct them with discretion and moderation This power is much lesse ouer those that are mercenarie ouer whom they haue neither power nor correction The dutie of Masters and Seruants See lib. 3. cap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of the State Soueraigntie Soueraignes HAuing spoken of priuate power we come to the publicke 1 The description and necessitie of the state that of the state The state that is to say Rule dominion or a certaine order in commanding and obeying is the prop the cement and the soule of humane things It is the bond of societie which cannot otherwise subsist It is the vitall spirit whereby so many millions of men doe breath and the whole nature of things Now notwithstanding it be the piller and prop of all yet it is a thing not so sure very difficult subiect to changes arduuin 2 The nature of the state Tacit. subiectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus which declineth and sometimes falleth by hidden and vnknowne causes and that altogether at an instant from the highest step to the lowest and not by degrees as it vseth to be long arising It is likewise exposed to the hatred both of great and small wherby it is gauled subiect to ambushments vnderminings and dangers which hapneth likewise many times by the corrupt and wicked manners of the soueraignes and the nature of the soueraigntie which we are about to describe Soueraigntie is a perpetuall and absolute power without constraint either of time or condition It consisteth in a power 3 The description of soueraigntie to giue lawes to all in generall and to euery one in particular without the consent of any other or the gift of any person And as another saith to derogate from the common law Soueraigntie is so called and absolute because it is not subiect to any humane lawes no not his owne For it is against nature to giue lawes vnto all and to command himselfe in a thing that dependeth vpon his will Nulla obligatio consistere potest quae a voluntate promittent is statum capit nor of another whether liuing or of his predecessors or the countrie Soueraigne power is compared to fire to the sea to a wilde beast it is a hard matter to tame it to handle it it will not be crost nor offended but being is very dangerous potestas res est quae moneri docerique non vult castigationem aegrè ferat The marks and properties thereof are to iudge the last appeales to ordaine lawes in time of peace and warre to create 4 The properties and appoint magistrates and officers to giue graces and dispensations against the law to impose tributes to appoint money to receiue homages ambassages oathes But all this is comprehended vnder the absolute power to giue and make lawes according to their pleasure Other marks there are of lesse weight as the law of the sea and shipwracke confiscation for treason power to change the tongue title of Maiestie Greatnes and Soueraigntie is so much desired of all because all the good that is in it appeareth outwardly and all the ill is altogether inward As also because to commaund others is a thing as beautifull and diuine as great and difficult and for this cause they are esteemed and reuerenced for more than men Which beliefe in the people and credit of theirs is very necessarie and commodious to extort from the people due respect and obedience the nource of peace and quietnes But in the end they prooue to be men cast in the same mould that other men are and many times worse borne and worse qualified in nature than many of the common sort of people It seemeth that their actions because they are weightie and important doe proceed from weightie and important causes but they are nothing and of the same condition that other mens are The same occasion that breeds a brawle betwixt vs and our neighbour is ground enough of a warre betwixt Princes and that offence for which a Lackey deserues a whipping lighting vpon a King is the ruine of a whole prouince They will as lightly as we and we as they but they can do more than we the selfe-same appetites moue a flie and an elephant Finally besides these passions defects and naturall conditions which they haue common with the meanest of those that doe adore them they haue likewise vices and discommodities which their greatnes and soueraigntie beares them out in peculiar vnto themselues The ordinarie maners of great personages are vntamed 6 The maners of Soueraignes pride durus est veri insolens ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor violence too licentious id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid alijs non licet solis licet quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest Their mott that best pleaseth them is Senec. Tacit. quod libet licet suspition icalousie suapte natura potentiae anxij yea euen of their owne infants suspectus semper inuisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo vt displiceant etiam ciuilia filiorum ingenia whereby it falleth out that they are many times in alarum and feare ingenia regum prona ad formidinem The aduantages of Kings and soueraigne Princes aboue 7 The miseries and discommodities their people which seeme so great and glittering are indeed but light and almost imaginarie but they are repayed with great true and solid disaduantages and inconueniences The name and title of a soueraigne the shew and outside is beautifull pleasant and ambitious but the burthen and the inside is hard difficult and yrksome There
which neuer yet could be pleased their mot is Vox populi vox Dei but we may say Vox populi vox stultorum Now the beginning of wisdome is for a man to keepe himselfe cleere and free and not to suffer himselfe to be caried with popular opinions This belongs to the second Lib. 2. ca. 1. booke which is now neere at hand The fourth distinction and difference of men drawen from their diuers professions and conditions of life THE PREFACE BEholde heere another difference of men drawen from the diuersitie of their professions conditions and kindes of life Some follow the ciuill and sociable life others flie it thinking to saue themselues in the solitarie wildernesse some loue armes others hate them some liue in common others in priuate it pleaseth some best to haue charge and to leade a publike life others to hide and keepe themselues priuate some are Courtiers attending wholly vpon others others court none but themselues some delight to liue in the citie others in the fields affecting a countrey life whose choice is the better and which life is to be preferred It is a difficult thing simply to determine and it may be impertinent They haue all their aduantages and disaduantages their good and their ill That which is most to be looked into and considered heerein as shall be said is That euery man know how to chuse that which best befits his owne nature that he might liue the more easily and the more happily But yet a word or two of them all by comparing them together but this shall be after we haue spoken of that life that is common to all which hath three degrees CHAP. LIII The distinction and comparison of the three sorts of degrees of life THere are three sorts of life and as it were three degrees one priuate of euery particular man within himselfe and in the closet of his owne heart where all is hid all is lawfull the second in his house and family in his priuate and ordinarie actions where there is neither studie nor arte and whereof he is not bound to giue any reason the third is publike in the eyes of the world Now to keepe order and rule in this first low and obscure stage it is very difficult and more rare than in the other two and in the second than in the third the reason is because where there is neither Iudge nor Controler nor Regarder and where we haue no imagination either of punishment or recompense we carrie our selues more loosely and carelesly as in priuate liues where conscience and reason only is our guide than in publike where we are still in checke and as a marke to the eyes and iudgement of all where glory feare of reproch base reputation or some other passion doth leade vs for passion commands with greater power than reason whereby we keepe our selues readie standing vpon our guard for which cause it falleth out that many are accounted holy great and admirable in publike who in their owne priuate haue nothing commendable That which is done in publike is but a fable a fiction the truth is secret and in priuat and he that will well iudge of a man must conuerse euery day with him and pry into his ordinarie and naturall cariage the rest is all counterset Vniuersus mundus exercet histrioniam and therefore said a wise man That he is an excellent man who is such within and in himselfe which he is outwardly for feare of the lawes and speech of the world Publick actions thunder in the eares of men to which a man is attentiue when he doth them as exploits in warre sound iudgement in counsell to rule a people to performe an Ambassage Priuate and domesticall actions are quick and sure to chide to laugh to sell to pay to conuerse with his owne a man considers not of them he doth them not thinking of them secret and inward actions much more to loue to hate to desire Againe there is heere another consideration and that is that that is done by the naturall hypocrisie of men which we make most account of and a man is more scrupulous in outward actions that are in shew but yet are free of small importance and almost all in countenances and ceremonies and therefore are of little cost and as little effect than in inward and secret actions that make no shew but are yet requisite and necessarie and therefore they are the more difficult Of those depend the reformation of the soule the moderation of the passions the rule of the life yea by the attainement of these outward a man becomes carelesse of the inward Now of these three liues inward domesticall publicke he that is to leade but one of them as Hermits doth guide and order his life at a better rate than he that hath two and he that hath but two his condition is more easie than he that hath all three CHAP. LIIII A comparison of the eiuill and sociable life with the solitarie THey that esteeme and commend so much the solitarie and retired life as a great stay and sure retraite from the molestations and troubles of the world and a fit meanes to preserue and maintaine themselues pure and free from many vices in as much as the worse part is the greater of a thousand there is not one good the number of fooles is infinite contagion in a prease is dangerous they seeme to haue reason on their side for the companie of the wicked is a dangerous thing and therefore they that aduenture themselues vpon the sea are to take heed that no blasphemer or dissolute and wicked person enter their ship one only Ionas with whom God was angrie had almost lost all Bias to those that were in the ship with him crying out in a great danger for help vnto their gods pleasantlie said Hold you your peace for the gods perceiue not that you are heere with me Albuquerque the Vice-roy of the Indies for Emmanuel king of Portingall in a great danger at sea tooke vpon his shoulders a little child to the end that his innocencie might serue as a suretie to God for his sinnes But to thinke that a solitarie life is better more excellent and perfect more fit for the exercise of vertue more difficult sharp laborious and painfull as some would make vs beleeue they grossely deceiue themselues for contrarily it is a great discharge and ease of life and it is but an indifferent profession yea a simple apprentiship and disposition to vertue This is not to enter into busines troubles and difficulties but it is to flie them and to hide themselues from them to practise the counsell of the Epicures Hide thy selfe it is to runne to death to flie a good life It is out of all doubt that a King a Prelat a Pastor is a farre more noble calling more perfect more difficult than that of a Monke or a Hermit And to say the truth in times past the companies of Monks were but
yong actiue the ordinarie view of so many accidents and spectacles libertie and conuersation without arte a manly fashion of life without ceremonie the varietie of diuers actions a couragious harmonie of warlike musike which entertaines vs and stirres our blood our eares our soule those warlike commotions which rauish vs with their horror and feare that confused tempest of sounds and cries that fearefull ordering of so many thousands of men with so much furie ardour and courage But on the other side a man may say that the arte and experience of vndoing one another of killing ruinating destroying 2 The dispraise our owne proper kinde seemes to be vnnaturall and to proceed from an alienation of our sense and vnderstanding it is a great testimonie of our weaknesse and imperfection and it is not found in beasts themselues in whom the image of nature continueth farre more entire What follie what rage is it to make such commotions to torment so many people to runne thorow so many dangers and hazzards both by sea and land for a thing so vncertaine and doubtfull as the issue of warre to runne with such greedinesse and fiercenesse after death which is easily found euery where and without hope of sepulture to kill those he hates not nor euer saw But whence proceedeth this great furie and ardor for it is not for any offence committed What frensie and madnesse is this for a man to abandon his owne bodie his time his rest his life his libertie and to leaue it to the mercie of another to expose himselfe to the losse of his owne members and to that which is a thousand times worse than death fire and sword to be troden to be pinched with hot iron to be cut to be torne in pieces broken and put to the gallies for euer And all this to serue the passion of another for a cause which a man knowes not to be iust and which is commonly vniust for warres are commonly vniust and for him whom a man knowes not who takes so little care for him that fights for him that he will be content to mount vpon his dead bodie to helpe his owne stature that he may see the farther I speake not heere of the dutie of subiects towards their Prince and countrey but of voluntaries and mercenarie souldiers The fift and last distinction and difference of men drawen from the fauors and disfauors of Nature and Fortune THE PREFACE THis last distinction and difference is apparent enough and sufficiently knowen and hath many members and considerations but may all be reduced to two heads which a man may call with the vulgar sort Felicitie or good fortune and Infelicitie or ill fortune Greatnesse or littlenesse To Felicitie and greatnesse belong health beautie and the other goods of the bodie libertie nobilitie honor dignitie science riches credit friends To Infelicitie or littlenesse belong all the contraries which are priuations of the other good things From these things doth arise a very great difference because a man is happie in one of these or in two or in three and not in the rest and that more or lesse by infinite degrees few or none at all are happie or vnhappie in them all He that hath the greatest part of these goods and especially three Nobilitie Dignitie or Authoritie and riches is accounted great he that hath not any of these three little But many haue but one or two and are accounted midlings betwixt the great and the little We must speake a little of them all Of Health beautie and other naturall goods of the bodie Chap. 11. hath been spoken before as likewise of their contraries Chap. 6. Sicknesse Griefe CHAP. LVIII Of Libertie and Seruitude LIbertie is accounted by some a souereigne good and Seruitude an extreame euill insomuch that many haue chosen rather to die a cruell death than to be made slaues or to see either the publike good or their owne priuate indangered But of this there may be too much and of these too manie as of all other things There is a twofolde libertie the true which is of the minde or spirit and is in the power of euery one and can not be taken away nor indamaged by another nor by Fortune it selfe contrariwise the seruitude of the spirit is the most miserable of all others to serue our owne affections to suffer our selues to be deuoured by our owne passions to be led by opinions ô pitifull captiuitie The corporall libertie is a good greatly to be esteemed but subiect to Fortune and it is neither iust nor reasonable if it be not by reason of some other circumstance that it should be preferred before life it selfe as some of the ancients haue done who haue rather made choice of death than to lose it and it was accounted a great vertue in them so great an euill was seruitude thought to be Seruitus obedientia est fracti animi abiecti arbitrio carentis suo Many great and wise men haue serued Regulus Valerianus Plato Diogenes euen those that were wicked and yet dishonoured not their owne condition but continued in effect and truth more free than their masters CHAP. LIX Nobilitie NObilitie is a qualitie euery where not common but honourable brought in and established with great reason and for publike vtilitie It is diuers diuersly taken and vnderstood and according to diuers nations and iudgements it hath diuers kindes According The description of nobilitie to the generall and common opinion and custome it is a qualitie of a race or stocke Aristotle saith that it is the antiquitie of a race and of riches Plutarch calleth it the vertue of a race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby a certaine habit and qualitie continued in the linage What this qualitie or vertue is all are not wholly of one accord sauing in this that it is profitable to the weale-publike For to some and the greater part this qualitie is militarie to others it is politike literarie of those that are wise palatine of the officers of the Prince But the militarie hath the aduantage aboue the rest for besides the seruice which it yeeldeth to the weale-publike as the rest do it is painfull laborious dangerous whereby it is accounted more worthy and commendable So hath it caried with vs by excellencie the honourable title of Valour There must then according to this opinion be two things in true and perfect nobilitie profession of this vertue and qualitie profitable to the common-weale which is as the forme and the race as the subiect and matter that is to say a long continuance of this qualitie by many degrees and races and time out of mind whereby they are called in our language Gentlemen that is to say of a race house familie carying of long time the same name and the same profession For he is truely and entirely noble who maketh a singular profession of publick vertue seruing his Prince and Countrie and being descended of parents and ancestors
the god of pedanties how often hath he been crost in his opinions not knowing what to resolue in that point of the soule wherein he is almost alwaies vnlike to himselfe and in many other things more base which he knew not how to find or vnderstand ingeniously confessing sometimes the great weakenes of man in finding and knowing the truth They that haue come after of a pedanticall and presumptuous spirit who make Aristotle and others say what they 6 Obiects please and are more obstinate in their opinions than euer they were disauowing those for disciples that faint in their opinions hate arrogantlie condemne this rule of wisdome this modestie and academicall stayednes glorying in their obstinate opinions whether they be right or wrong louing better a headie froward affirmer against their owne opinions and against whom they may exercise their wit and skill than a modest peaceable man who doubteth and maketh stay of his iudgement against whom their wits are dulled that is to say a foole than a wise man like to women who loue better to be contradicted euen with iniurie than that a man either out of the coldnes of his nature or contempt should say nothing to them whereby they imagin they are either scorned or condemned wherein they shew their iniquitie For why should it not be as lawfull to doubt and consider of things as doubtfull not determining of any thing as it is to them to affirme Why should it not be lawfull ingenuously to confesse that which a man knoweth not since in veritie he knoweth it not and to hold in suspence that which he is not assured of and against which there are many reasons and oppositions It is certaine according to the opinion of the wisest that we are ignorant of much more than we know that all our knowledge is the lesser part and almost nothing in regard of that we know not the causes of our ignorances are infinit and both in respect of the things themselues either too farre from vs or too neere too great or too little too durable or not durable enough perpetuallie changing and in respect of our selues and the maner of knowing them which as yet is not sufficientlie learned And that which we thinke we know we know not neither can we hold it well for with violence it is got from vs and if it may not be gotten because our obstinacie in opinion is strong yet we are contended with and much troubled Now how should we be capable to know more or lesse if we grow resolute in our opinions settle and repose our selues in certaine things and in such maner that we seeke no farther nor examine any more that which we thinke to hold They thinke this suspension a shame and a weaknes because they know not what it is and they perceiue not that the greatest men that are haue made profession thereof they blush and haue not the heart freely to say I know not so much are they possessed with the opinion and presumption of science and they know not that there is a kind of ignorance doubt more learned and more certaine more noble and generous than all their science and certaintie This is that that hath made Socrates so renoumed and held for the wisest man It is the science of sciences and the fruit of all our studies It is a modest mild innocent and hartie acknowledgement of the mysticall height of truth and of the pouertie of our humane condition full of darknes weaknes vncertaintie cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae adinuentiones nostrae Deus nouit cogitationes hominum quoniam vanae sunt Heere I would tell you that I caused to be grauen ouer the gate of my little house which I built at Condom in the yeare 1600 this word I know not But they will needs that we submit our selues in all dutie to certaine principles which is an vniust tyrannie I yeeld my consent that a man employ them in all iudgement and make vse of them but yet not so as that a man may not spurne against them for against that opinion I oppose my selfe Who is he in the whole world that hath right to command and giue lawes to the world to subiect the spirits of men and to giue principles which may be no more examined that a man may no more denie or doubt of but God himselfe the soueraigne spirit and true principle of the world who is only to be beleeued because he saith it All other things are subiect to triall and opposition and it is weaknes to subiect our selues vnto it If they will that I submit my selfe to principles I will say to them as the Curat said to his parishoners in a matter of time and as a Prince of ours to the Secretaries of this age in a point of religion Do you first agree to these principles and then I will submit my selfe vnto them Now there is as great doubt and dispute in the principles as in the conclusions in the Theses as in the Hypotheses whereby there are so many sects among them that if I yeeld my selfe to the one I offend all the rest They say likewise that it is a great affliction not to be resolued to remaine alwaies in doubt yea that it is a matter of difficultie for a man to continue long in that state They haue reason to say it for they find it so in themselues being the propertie of fooles and weake minds of presumptuous fooles passionate and obstinate in certaine opinions who condemne all others and although they be ouercome neuer yeeld themselues vexing and putting themselues into choler neuer acknowledging any reason If they be constrained to change their opinions being altered they are as resolute and obstinate in their new as they were before in their first opinion not knowing how to hold any thing without passion and neuer disputing to learne and find the truth but to maintaine that which they haue sworne and bound themselues vnto These kind of people know nothing neither know they what it is to know because they thinke to know and to hold the truth in their sleeue Because thou thinkest thou seest thou seest nothing saith the Doctor of truth to the Ioh. 9. glorious and presumptuous man Si quis existimet se scire aliquid nondum cognouit quemadmodum oporteat cum scire It is fit 2. Cor. 8. that weake men that haue not strength to keepe themselues vpright vpon their feet be kept vp with props they cannot liue but in bonds nor maintaine themselues free a people borne to seruitude they feare Bug-beares or that the Wolfe will eate them if they be alone But in wise modest and stayed men it is quite contrarie the surest stay and most happie estate of the spirit which by this meanes keepeth it selfe firme vpright constant inflexible alwaies free and to it selfe hoc liberiores solutiores sumus quia integra nobis iudicandi potestas manet It is a very sweet peaceable
and pleasant soiorne or delay where a man feareth not to faile or miscount himselfe where a man is in the clame vnder couert and out of danger of participating so many errors produced by the fantasie of man and whereof the world is full of entangling himselfe in complaints diuisions disputes of offending diuers parts of belying and gainsaying his owne beleefe of changing repenting and readuising himselfe For how often hath time made vs see that we haue beene deceiued in our thoughts and hath enforced vs to change our opinions To be breefe it is to keepe the mind in peace and tranquillitie farre from agitations and vices which proceed from that opinion of science which we thinke to haue in things for from thence do spring pride ambition immoderate defires obstinacie in opinion presumption loue of nouelties rebellion disobedience from whence come troubles sects heresies seditions but from men fierce obstinate resolute in opinion not from Academiques neuters modest indifferent staied that is to say wisemen Moreouer let me tell them that it is a thing that doth more seruice to piety religion and diuine operation than any thing whatsoeuer I say seruice as well in the generation and propagation as the conseruation thereof Diuinity yea the mysticall part thereof teacheth vs that well to prepare our soules for God and the receiuing of his holy spirit we must empty cleanse purifie them and leaue them naked of all opinion beleefe affection make them like a white paper dead to it selfe and to the world that God might liue and worke in it driue away the old master to establish the new expurgate vetus fermentum exuite veterem hominem So that it seemeth that to plant and establish Christianity among infidels or mis-beleeuing people as in these daies in China it were a very excellent method to begin with these propositions and perswasions That all the wisedome of the world is but vanity and leasing That the world is wholly composed torne and vilefied with the forged phantasticall opinions of euery priuate mans braine That God hath created man to know the truth but that hee cannot know it of himself nor by any humane meanes And That it is necessary that God himselfe in whose bosome it resideth and who hath wrought a desire thereof in man should reueale it as he doth But That the better to prepare himselfe for this reuelation man must first renounce and chase away all opinions and beleefs wherewith the spirit is already anticipated and besotted and present himselfe white naked and ready to receiue it Hauing well beaten and gained this point and made men as it were Academicks and Pyrrhonians it is necessary that we propose the principles of Christianity as sent from heauen brought by the Embassadour and perfect messenger of the diuinity authorised and confirmed in his time by so many maruellous proofes and authenticall testimonies So that we see that this innocent and modest delay from resolution is a great meanes to true piety not only to receiue it as hath been said but to preserue it for with it there neuer are heresies and selected particular extrauagant opinions An Academicke or Pyrrhonian was neuer hereticke they are things opposite It may be some man will say that he will neuer bee either good Christian or Catholike because he will as well be a neuter and irresolute in the one as the other This is to vnderstand amisse that which hath beene spoken because there is no delay to be made nor place to iudge nor liberty in that which concerneth God but wee must suffer him to put and engraue that which pleaseth him and none other I haue made heere a digression for the honour of this our rule against such as contradict it Let vs now returne to the matter After these two to iudge of all to be slow in determining there commeth in the third place the vniuersality of spirit 7 3. The third part vniuersality of spirit whereby a wise man taketh a view and entreth into consideration of the whole Vniuerse hee is a citizen of the world like Socrates hee containeth in his affection all humanekind hee walketh through all as if they were neere vnto him hee seeth like the sunne with an equall setled and indifferent regard as from a high watch-tower all the changes and interchangeable courses of things not changing himselfe but alwaies continuing one and the same which is a liuery of the diuinitie and a high priuiledge of a wise man who is the image of God vpon earth Magna generosares animus humanus nullos sibi poni nisi communes cum Deo terminos patitur Non idem sapientem qui caeteros terminos includit omnia illi secula vt Deo serviunt Nullum seculum magnis ingenijs clausum nullum non cogitationi peruium tempus Quam naturale in immensum mentem suam extendere in hoc a natura formatus homo vt paria dijs velit ac se in spatium suum extendat The most beautifull and greatest spirits are the more vniuersall as the more base and blunt are the more particular It is a sottish weakenesse to thinke that a man must beleeue doe liue in all respects as at home in his owne village and country or that the accidents that fall out heere concerne and are common with the rest of the world A foole if a man tell him that there are diuers maners customes lawes opinions contrary to those which hee seeth in vse either he will not beleeue them and saith they are fables or hee presently refuseth and condemneth them as barbarous so partiall is hee and so much enthralled with those his municipall maners which hee accounteth the onely true naturall vniuersall Euery man calleth that barbarous that agreeth not with his palat and custome and it seemeth that we haue no other touch of truth and reason than the example and the idea of the opinions and customes of that countrie where we liue These kind of people iudge of nothing neither can they they are flaues to that they hold a strong preuention and anticipation of opinions doth whollie possesse them they are so besorted that they can neither say nor do otherwise Now partialitie is an enemie to libertie and ouerlulleth the mind alreadie tainted and preoccupated with a particular custome that it cannot iudge aright of others an indifferent man iudgeth all things He that is fastned to one place is banished and depriued from all others The paper that is blurred with another colour is no more capable of any other whereas the white is fit to receiue any A iudge that heares a cause with a preiudicate opinion and inclineth to one part more than to another cannot be a iust vpright and true iudge Now a wise man must free himselfe from this brutish blockishnes and present vnto himselfe as in a table this great image of our mother Nature in her entire maiestie marke and consider hir in a Realme an Empire yea in this whole
that wisdome and sottish simplicitie do meete in one and the same point touching the bearing and suffering of humane actions It is then very dangerous to iudge of the probitie or improbitie of a man by his actions we must sound him within from what foundation these motions doe arise wicked men performe many times many good and excellent actions and both good and euill preserue themselues alike from doing euill oderunt peccare boni mali To discouer therefore and to know which is the true Honestie we must not stay in the outward action that is but the signe the simplest token and many times a cloke and maske to couer villanie we must penetrate into the inward part and know the motiue which causeth the strings to play which is the soule and the life that giueth motion to all It is that whereby we must iudge it is that wherein euery man should prouide to be good and entire and that which we seeke That honestie which is commonly accounted true and so much preached and commended of the world whereof they 3 Vulgar honestie and according to the stile of the world make expresse profession who haue the title and publike reputation to be men of honestie and setled constancie is scholasticall and pedanticall seruant to the lawes enforced by hope and feare acquired learned and practised out of a submission too a consideration of the religion lawes customes commaunds of superiors other mens examples subiect to prescript formes effeminate fearefull and troubled with scruples and doubts sunt quibus innocentia nisi metu non placet which is not only in respect of the world diuers and variable according to the diuersitie of religions lawes examples formes for the iurisdictions changing the motions must likewise alter but also in it selfe vnequall wauering deambulatorie according to the accesse recesse and successe of the affaires the occasions which are presented the persons with whom a man hath to do as a ship driuen with the winds and the oares is caried away with an vnequall tottering pase with many blowes blasts and billows To be breefe these are honest men by accident and occasion by outward and strange euents and not in veritie and essence they vnderstand it not and therefore it is easie to discouer them and to conuince them by shaking of a little their bridle and sounding them somewhat nearer but aboue all by that inequalitie and diuersitie which is found in them for in one and the same action they will giue diuers iudgements and cary themselues altogether after a diuers fashion going sometimes a slow pase sometimes running a maine gallop This vnequall diuersitie proceedeth from this that the outward occasions which moue and stirre them do either puffe them vp multiplie and increase them or make them luke-warme and deiect them more or lesse like accidents quae recipiunt magis minus Now that true honestie which I require in him that will be wise is free manly and generous pleasant and cheerefull equall 4 The description of true honestie vniforme and constant which marcheth with a stayed pase stately and hawtie going alwaies his owne way neither looking on this side or behind him without staying or altering his pase or gate for the wind the times the occasions which are changed but that is not I meane in iudgement and will that is in the soule where honestie resideth and hath it seate For outward actions especiallie the publike haue another iurisdiction as shall be said in his place This honestie I will describe in this place giuing you first to vnderstand that following the designment of this booke declared in the Preface I speake of humane honestie and wisdome as it is humane whereby a man is called an honest man and a wise and not of Christian though in the end I may chaunce to speake a word or two thereof The iurisdiction of this honestie is Nature which bindeth 5 Nature enioyneth honestie euery man to be and to make himselfe such as he ought that is to say to conforme and rule himselfe according vnto it Nature is together both a mistris which enioyneth and commaundeth honestie and a law and instruction which teacheth it vnto vs. As touching the first there is a naturall obligation inward and vniuersall in euery man to be honest iust vpright following the intention of his author and maker A man ought not to attend or seeke any other cause obligation instinct or motiue of this honestie and he can neuer know how to haue a more iust and lawfull more powerfull more ancient it is altogether as soone as himselfe borne with himselfe Euery man should be or should desire to be an honest man because he is a man and he that takes no care to be such is a monster renounceth himselfe belieth destroyeth himselfe by right he is no more a man and in effect should desist to be a man It is necessarie that honestie grow in him by himselfe that is to say by that inward instinct which God hath put in him and not from any other outward and strange cause any occasion or induction A man will not out of a iust and regular will any thing that is depraued or corrupt or other than it owne nature requireth it implieth a contradiction to desire or accept a thing and nothing to care whether it be worth the caring for a man would haue all his parts good and sound his bodie his head his eies his iudgement his memorie yea his hose and shooes and why will he not like wise haue his will and his conscience good that is to say be whollie good and sound I will therefore that he be good and haue his will firme and resolued to equity and honesty for the loue of himselfe and because he is a man knowing that he can be no other without the renouncing and destruction of himselfe and so his honesty shall be proper inward essentiall euen as his owne essence is vnto him and he vnto himselfe It must not then be for any outward consideration and proceeding from without whatsoeuer it bee for such a cause being accidentall and outward may happen to faile grow weake and alter and consequently all that honesty that is grounded thereupon must doe the like If he be an honest man for honour or reputation or other recompence being in a solitary place where he hath no hope to be knowen hee either ceaseth to be honest or putteth it in practise very coldly and negligently If for feare of the lawes magistrates punishments if he can deceiue the lawes circumuent the iudges auoid or disprooue the proofes and hide himselfe from the knowledge of another there is an end of his honesty And this honestie is but fraile occasioned accidentall and miserable and yet it is that which is in authoritie and vse no man knowes of any other there is not an honest man but such as is enforced or inuited by some cause or occasion nemo gratis bonus est Now
and pourtraites as lesser lights thereunto But before we enter thereinto let me heere say in generall and by way of preface that of so many diuers religions and maners of seruing God which are or may be in the world they seeme to be the most noble and to haue greatest appearance of truth which without great externall and corporall seruice draw the soule into itselfe and raise it by pure contemplation to admire and adore the greatnesse and infinite maiestie of the first cause of all things and the essence of essences without any great declaration or determination thereof or prescription of his seruice but acknowledging it indefinitly to be goodnes perfection and infinitnes whollie incomprehensible not to be known as the Pythagoreans and most famous Philosophers do teach This is to approch vnto the religion of the angels and to put in practise that word of the sonne of God to adore in spirit and truth for God accounteth such worshippers the best There are others on the other side and in another extremitie who will haue a visible Deitie capable by the senses which base and grosse error hath mocked almost all the world euen Israel in the desert in framing to themselues a molten calfe And of these they that haue chosen the sunne for their god seeme to haue more reason than the rest because of the greatnes beautie and resplendent and vnknowne vertue thereof euen such as enforce the whole world to the admiration and reuerence of itselfe The eye seeth nothing that is like vnto it or that approcheth neere vnto it in the whole vniuerse it is one sunne and without companion Christianitie as in the middle tempereth the sensible and outward with the insensible and inward seruing God with spirit and body and accommodating itselfe to great and little whereby it is better established and more durable But euen in that too as there is a diuersitie and degrees of soules of sufficiencie and capacitie of diuine grace so is there a difference in the maner of seruing of God the more high perfect incline more to the first maner more spirituall and contemplatiue and lesse externall the lesse and imperfect quasi sub paedagogo remaine in the other and do participate of the outward and vulgar deformities Religion consisteth in the knowledge of God and of our selues for it is a relatiue action betweene both the office 15 Diuers descriptions of religion thereof is to extoll God to the vttermost of our power and to beate downe man as low as low may be as if he were vtterly lost and afterwards to furnish himselfe with meanes to rise againe to make him feele his misery his nothing to the end he may put his whole confidence in God alone The office of religion is to ioyne vs to the author and principall cause of all our good to reunite and fasten man to his first cause as to his roote wherein so long as he continueth firme and setled he preserueth himselfe in his owne perfection and contrariwise when he is separated he instantly fainteth and languisheth The end and effect of religion is faithfullie to yeeld all the honor and glorie vnto God and all the benefit vnto man All good things may be reduced to these two The profit which is an amendment and an essentiall and inward good is due vnto poore wretched and in all points miserable man the glory which is an outward ornament is due vnto God alone who is the perfection and fulnes of all good whereunto nothing can be added Gloria in excelsis Deo in terra pax hominibus Thus much being first knowen our instruction to pietie is 18 An instruction to pietie 1. To know God first to learn to know God for from the knowledge of things proceedeth that honor we do vnto them First then we must beleeue that he is that he hath created the world by his power goodnesse wisdome and that by it he gouerneth it that his prouidence watcheth ouer all things yea the least that are that whatsoeuer he sendeth vs is for our good and that whatsoeuer is euill proceedeth from our selues If we account those fortunes euill that he sendeth vs we blaspheme his holy name because naturally we honour those that do vs good and hate those that hurt vs. We must then resolue to obey him and to take all in good part which commeth from his hand to commit and submit our selues vnto him Secondly we must honour him and the most excellent 19 2. To honor him and deuoutest way to doe it is first to mount vp our spirits from all carnall earthly and corruptible imagination and by the chastest highest and holiest conceits exercise our selues in the contemplation of the Diuinitie and after that we haue adorned it with all the most magnificall and excellent names and praises that our spirit can imagine that we acknowledge that we haue presented nothing vnto it woorthy it selfe but that the fault is in our weaknesle and imbecillitie which can conceiue nothing more high God is the last endeuour and highest pitch of our imagination euery man amplifying the Ideaa according to his owne capacitie and to speake better God is infinitly aboue all our last and highest endeuours and imaginations of perfection Againe we must serue him with our heart and spirit it is 20 3. To serue him in spirit the seruice answerable to his nature Deus spiritus est si Deus est animus sit tibi pura mente colendus It is that which he requireth that which pleaseth him Pater tales quaer is adoratores The most acceptable sacrifice vnto his Maiestie is a pure free and humble heart Sacrificium Deo spiritus An innocent soule an innocent life Optimus animus pulcherrimus Seneca Lactan. Merc. Trism Dei cultus religiosissimus cultus imitari vnicus Dei cultus non esse malum A wise man is a true sacrifice of the great God his spirit is his temple his soule is his image his affections are his offerings his greatest and most solemne sacrifice is to imitate him to serue and implore him for it is the part of those that are great to giue of those that are poore to aske Beatius dare quà m accipere Neuerthelesse we are not to contemne and disdaine the 21 4. To serue him with our bodies outward and publike seruice which must be as an assistant to the other by obseruing the ceremonies or chnances and customes with moderation without vanity without ambition or hypocrisie without auarice alwaies with this thought That God wil be serued in spirit and That that which is outwardly done is rather for our selues than for God for humane vnitie and edification than for diuine veritie quae potius ad moremquam ad rempertinent Our vowes and prayers vnto God should be all subiect 22 5. To pray vnto him vnto his will we should neither desire nor aske any thing but as he hath ordeined hauing alwayes for our bridle
That is to say in the fourth place Counsell the great and principall point of this politique doctrine and so important that it is in a maner all in all It is the soule of the state and the spirit that giueth life motion and action to al the other parts and for that cause it is said that the managing of affaires consisteth in prudence Now it were to be wished that a prince had in himselfe counsell and prudence sufficient to gouerne and to prouide for all which is the first and highest degree of wisdome as hath beene said and if so it were the affaires would goe farre better Chap. 1. but this is rather to be wished than hoped for whether it be for want of a good nature or a good institution and it is almost impossible that one only head should be sufficiently furnished for so many matters Nequit princeps sua scientia cuncta complecti nec vnius mens tantae molis est capax A lone Tacit. man seeth and heareth but little Now kings haue neede of many eies and many eares and great burthens and great affaires haue neede of great helpes And therefore it is requisite that he prouide and furnish himselfe with good counsell and such men as know how to giue it for he whosoeuer hee be that will take all vpon himselfe is rather held to bee proud than discreet or wise A Prince then had neede of faithfull friends and seruitours to be his assistants quos assumat in partem curarum These are his true treasures and profitable instruments Tit. Liui. Tacit. of the state In the choice whereof hee should especially labour and imploy his whole iudgement to the end he may haue them good There are two sorts of them Plin. the one aide the prince with their dutie counsell and tongue and are called Counsellers the other serue him with their hands and actions and may be called Officers The first are farre more honourable for the two greatest philosophers say that it is a sacred and diuine thing well to deliberate and to giue good counsell Now Counsellers must be first faithfull that is to say in a word honest men Optimum quemque fidelissimum puto Secondly 17 The condition of good counsellers Fidelitie Plin. Sufficiencie they must be sufficient in this point that is to say skilfull in the state diuersly experimented and tried for difficulties and afflictions are excellent lessons and instructions mihi fortuna multis rebus ereptis vsum dedit bene suadendi And in a word they must be wise and prudent indifferent quicke and not ouer sharpe for such kind of men are too moueable nouandis quà m gerendis rebus aptiora ingenia illa ignea And that Curtius they may be such it is requisite that they bee old and ripe for besides that yong men by reason of the soft and delicate tendernesse of their age are easily deceiued they do as easily beleeue and receiue euery impression It is good that about Princes there be some wise some subtile but much more such as are wise who are required for honour and for all times the subtile only sometimes for necessitie Thirdly it is necessary that in proposing and giuing good and holesome counsell they carrie themselues freely and couragiously without flattery Liberty or ambiguity or disguisement not accommodating their language to the present state of the prince Ne cum fortuna potius principis loquantur quà m cum ipso but without sparing the Tacit. truth speake that which is fit and requisite For although liberty roundnesse of speech and fidelity hurt and offend for the time those against whom it opposeth it selfe yet afterwards it is reuerenced and esteemed In praesentia quibus risistis offendis deinde illis ipsis suspicitur laudaturque And fourthly constantly without yeelding varying and changing at euery meeting to please and follow the humour pleasure and passion of another but without opinatiue obstinacy and a spirit of contradiction which troubleth and hindereth all good deliberation he must sometimes change his opinion which is not inconstancy but prudence For a wise man marcheth not alwaies with one and the same pase although hee follow the same waie he changeth not but accommodateth himselfe Senec. non semper it vno gradu sed vna via non se mutat sed aptat As a good mariner ordereth his sailes according to the times and the winde it is necessary many times to turne and winde and to arriue to that place obliquely by fetching a compasse when he can not doe it directly and by a straight line Again a religious dexteritie to keepe secret the counsels and deliberations Silence of Princes is a thing verie necessarie in the managing of affaires res magnae sustineri nequeunt ab eo cui tacere graue est And it sufficeth not to bee secret but hee must not prie and Curtius search into the secrets of his Prince this is an ill and a dangerous thing exquirere abditos principis sensus illicitum anceps Tacit. yea he must be vnwilling and auoid all meanes to know them And these are the principall good conditions and qualities of a counseller as the euill which they must warily auoid are presumptuous confidence which maketh a man to deliberate and determine ouer boldly and obstinately for a The vices that counsellers must auoid Presumptuous confidence Tit. Liuius wise man in deliberating thinketh and rethinketh redoubting whatsoeuer may happen that he may be the bolder to execute Nam animus vereri qui scit scit tutò aggredi Contrarily the foole is hardie and violent in his deliberations but when he comes to the issue his nose fals a bleeding Consilia calida audacia prima specie laeta sunt tractâtu dura enentu tristia Secondly all passion of choler enuy hatred auarice concupiscence and all priuate and particular affection Passion the deadly poison of iudgement and all good vnderstanding priuatae res semper offecere officientque publicis consilijs pessimum veri affectus iudicij venenum sua cuique vtilitas Lastly precipitation Tacit. Precipitation Sec lib. 2. cap. 10. Tacit. an enemie to all good counsell and only fit to doe mischiefe And thus you see what maner of men good counsellers ought to be Now a prince must make choice of such as are good either by his owne knowledge and iudgement or if hee cannot so 18 The duty of the prince in abusing good counsellers doe by their reputation which doth seldome deceiue whereupon one of them said to his prince Hold vs for such as we are esteemed to be Nam singuli decipere decipipossunt nemo omnes neminem omnes fefellerunt And let him take heede that he chuse not his minions and fauorites courtiers flatterers slaues who shame their masters and betray them There is nothing more dangerous than the counsell of the cabinet And hauing chosen and found them he must wisely
or refusing company but cheerefully to goe on with or without companie as either our owne or anothers need do require but yet not so to shut vp our selues and to settle and establish our pleasure as some that are halfe lost being alone A man must haue within himselfe wherwith to entertaine content himselfe in sinu suo gaudere He that hath woon this point pleaseth himselfe in all places and in all things He must cary a countenance conformable to the company and the affaires that are in hand and present themselues and accommodate himselfe vnto another be sad if need be but inwardly to keep himselfe one and the same this is the meditation and consideration which is the nourishment and life of the spirit cuius viuere est cogitare Now for the benefit of nature there is not any businesse which we do more often continue longer that is more easie more naturall and more our owne than to meditate and to entertaine our thoughts But this meditation is not in all after one maner but very diuers according to the diuersity of spirits In some it is weake in others strong in some it is languishing idlenesse a vacancy and want of other businesse But the greater spirits make it their principall vacation and most serious study whereby they are neuer more busied nor lesse alone as it is said of Scipio than when they are alone and quitting themselues of affaires in imitation of God himselfe who liueth and feedeth himselfe with his eternall thoughts and meditations It is the businesse of the goddes saith Aristotle from whence doth spring both their 3 To know and culture himselfe and our blessednesse Now this solitary imployment and this cheerefull entertainment of a mans selfe must not be in vanity much lesse in any thing that is vitious but in study and profound knowledge and afterwards in the diligent culture of himselfe This is the price agreed the principall first and plainest trauell of euerie man Hee must alwaies watch taste sound himselfe neuer abandon but be alwaies neere and keepe himselfe to himselfe and finding that manie things go not well whether by reason of vice and defect of nature or the contagion of another or other casuall accident that troubleth him hee must quietlie and sweetlie correct them and prouide for them He must reason with himselfe correct and recall himselfe couragiouslie and not suffer himselfe to be caried away either with disdaine or carelesnesse He must likewise in auoiding all idlenesse which doth but 4 To keepe himselfe in exercise rust and marre both the soule and body keepe himselfe alwaies in breath in office and exercise but yet not ouer bent violent and painfull but aboue all honest vertuous and serious And that he may the better do it he must quit himselfe of other businesse and propose vnto himselfe such designments as may delight him conferring with honest men and good bookes dispensing his time well and well ordering his houres and not liue tumultuouslie and by chaunce and hazard Again he must well husband and make profit of all things 5 To make vse of all things that are presented vnto him done said and make them an instruction vnto him applie them vnto himselfe without any shew or semblance thereof And to particularise a little more we know that the duty of man towards himselfe consisteth in three points according 6 To gouerne his spirit that is his iudgement to his three parts to rule and gouerne his spirit his body his goods Touching his spirit the first and principall whereunto especially do belong these generall aduisements which we are to deliuer we know that all the motions thereof are reduced to two to thinke and to desire the vnderstanding and the will whereunto do answer science and vertue the two ornaments of the spirit Touching the former which is the vnderstanding he must preserue it from two things in some sort contrarie and extreame that is sottishnesse and follie that is to say from vanities and childish follies on the one side this is to bastardise and to lose it it was not made to play the nouice or baboun non ad iocum lusum genitus sed ad seueritatem potius and from phantasticall absurd and extrauagant opinions on the other side this is to pollute and debase it It must be fed and entertained with things profitable and serious and furnished and indued with sound sweet and naturall opinions and so much care must not be taken to eleuate and mount it to extend it beyond the reach as to rule and order it For order and continencie is the effect of wisdome and which giueth price to the soule and aboue all to be free from presumption and obstinacie in opinion vices very familiar with those that haue any extraordinarie force and vigor of spirit and rather to continue in doubt and suspence especiallie in things that are doubtfull and capable of oppositions and reasons on both parts not easily digested and determined It is an excellent thing and the securest way well to know how to doubt and to be ignorant and the most noble philosophers haue not beene ashamed to make profession thereof yea it is the principall fruit and effect of science Touching the will it must in all things be gouerned and submit it selfe to the rule of reason which is the office of vertue and not vnto fleeting inconstant opinion which is commonly false and much lesse vnto passion These are the three that moue and gouerne our soules But yet this is the difference that a wise man ruleth and rangeth himselfe according to nature and reason regardeth his duty holdeth for apocryphall and suspects whatsoeuer dependeth vpon opinion or passion and therfore he liueth in peace passeth away his life cheerefully and pleasingly is not subiect to repentance recantations changes because whatsoeuer falleth out he could neither do nor choose better and therfore he is neuer kindled nor stirred for reason is alwaies peaceable The foole that suffereth himselfe to bee led by these two doth nothing but wander and warre with himselfe and neuer resteth He is alwaies readuising changing mending repenting and is neuer contented which to say the truth belongeth to a wise man who hath reason and vertue to make himselfe such a one Nulla placidior quies nisi quam ratio composuit An honest man must gouerne and respect himselfe and feare his reason and his conscience which is his bonus genius his good spirit in such sort that hee cannot without shame stumble in their presence rarum est vt satis se quisque vereatur As touching the bodie we owe thereunto assistance and conduct or direction It is follie to goe about to separate and sunder these two principall parts the one from the other but contrarily it is fit and necessarie they be vnited and ioyned together Nature hath giuen vs a bodie as a necessarie instrument to life and it is fit that the spirit as the principall should
is a collection of all that a man hath seene heard and read in bookes that is to say of the excellent sayings and doings of great personages that haue beene of all nations Now the garner or store-house where this great prouision remaineth and is kept the treasurie of science and all acquired good is the memorie He that hath a good memorie the fault is his owne if he want knowledge because he hath the meane Wisdome is a sweet and regular managing of the soule He is wise that gouerneth himselfe in his desires thoughts opinions speeches actions with measure and proportion To be briefe and in a word wisdome is the rule of the soule and that which manageth this rule is the iudgement which seeth iudgeth esteemeth all things rangeth them as they ought giuing to euery thing that which belongs vnto it Let vs now see their differences and how much wisdome excels the other Science is a small and barraine good in respect of wisdome for it is not only not necessarie for of three parts of the world two and more haue made little vse thereof but it brings with it small profit and serues to little purpose 1. It is no way seruiceable to the life of a man How many people rich and poore great and small liue pleasantlie and happilie that haue neuer heard any speech of science There are many other things more commodious and seruiceable to the life of man and the maintenance of humane societie as honor glorie nobilitie dignitie which neuerthelesse are not necessarie 2. Neither is it seruiceable to things naturall which an ignorant sot may as well performe as he that hath best knowledge Nature is a sufficient mistrisse for that 3. Nor to honestie and to make vs better paucis est opus literis ad bonam mentem nay it rather hindreth it He that will marke it well shall find not only more honest people but also more excellent in all kind of vertue amongst those that know little than those that know most witnesse Rome which was more honest being young and ignorant than when it was old craftie and cunning Simplex illa aperta a virtus in obscuram solertem scientiam versa est Science serueth not for any thing but to inuent crafts subtleties artificiall cunning deuises and whatsoeuer is an enemie to innocencie which willinglie lodgeth with simplicitie and ignorance Atheisme errours sects and all the troubles of the world haue risen from the order of these men of arte knowledge The first temptation of the diuell saith the scripture and the beginning of all euill and the ruine of mankind was the opinion and the desire of knowledge Eritis sicut dij scientes bonum malum The Sirenes to deceiue and intrap Vlysses within their snares offered vnto him the gift of science and S. Paul aduiseth you all to take heed ne quis vos seducat per philosophiam One of the sufficients men of knowledge that euer was spake of Science as of a thing not Salomon in his Ecclesiast only vaine but hurtfull painfull and tedious To be briefe Science may make vs more humane and courteous but not more honest 4. Againe it serueth nothing to the sweetning of our life or the quitting vs of those euils that oppresse vs in the world but contrarily it increaseth and sharpneth them witnesse children and fooles simple and ignorant persons who measuring euery thing by the present taste run thorow them with the lesse griefe beare them with better content than men of greatest learning and knowledge Science anticipateth those euils that come vpon vs in such sort that they are sooner in the soule of man by knowledge than in nature The wiseman said that he that increaseth knowledge increaseth Ecclesiastes 1. 18. sorrow Ignorance is a more fit remedie against all euils iners malorum remedium ignorantia est From whence proceed those counsels of our friends Thinke not of it put it out of your head and memorie Is not this to cast vs into the armes of ignorance as into the best and safest sanctuarie that may be But this is but a mockerie for to remember and to forget is not in our power But they would do as Chirurgions vse to do who not knowing how to heale a wound yet set a good shew vpon it by allaying the paine and bringing it asleepe They that counsell men to kill themselues in their extreame and remedilesse euils do they not send a man to ignorance stupiditie insensibilitie Wisdome is a necessarie good and vniuersallie commodious for all things it gouerneth and ruleth all there is not any thing that can hide or quit it selfe of the iurisdiction or knowledge thereof It beareth sway euery where in peace in warre in publick in priuat It ruleth and moderateth euen the insolent behauiors of men their sports their daunces their banquets and is as a bridle vnto them To conclude there is nothing that ought not to be done discretlie and wisely and contrarily without wisdome all things fall into trouble and confusion Secondly Science is seruile base and mechanicall in respect of wisdome and a thing borowed with paine A learned man is like a crow deckt with the feathers that he hath stollen from other birds He maketh a great shew in the world but at the charge of another and he had need to vaile his bonnet often as a testimonie of that honor he giues to those from whom he hath borowed his arte A wise man is like him that liues vpon his owne reuenewes for wisdome is properly a mans owne it is a naturall good well tilled and laboured Thirdly the conditions are diuers the one more beautifull and more noble than the other Learning or Science is fierce presumptuous arrogant opinatiue indiscreet querulous scientia inflat 2. Science is talkatiue desirous to shew it selfe which neuerthelesse knowes not how to do any thing is not actiue but only fit to speake and to discourse wisdom acteth and gouerneth all Learning then and wisdome are things very different and wisdome of the two the more excellent more to be esteemed than science For it is necessarie profitable to all vniuersall actiue noble honest gracious cheerefull Science is particular vnnecessarie seldome profitable not actiue seruile mechanicall melancholicke opinatiue presumptuous We come now to the other point and that is that they are not alwaies together but contrarily almost alwaies separated 19 Learning and wisdome meete not together The naturall reason as hath been said is that their temperatures are contrarie For that of science and memorie is moist and that of wisdome and iudgement drie This also is signified vnto vs in that which happened to our first parents who as soone as they cast their eies vpon knowledge they presentlie desired it and so were robbed of that wisdome wherewithall they were indued from their beginning whereof we euery day see the like in common experience The most beautifull and florishing states Common-weales Empires ancient
place and to liue in another Our mother might haue lay en in elsewhere and it is a chance that we are borne heere or there Againe all Countries bring foorth and nourish men and furnish them with whatsoeuer is necessarie All countries haue kindred nature hath knit vs all together in bloud and in charitie All haue friends there is no more to to but to make friends and to win them by vertue and wisdome Euery land is a wise mans countrie or rather no land is his particular countrie For it were to wrong himselfe and it were weaknesse and basenesse of heart to thinke to cary himselfe as a stranger in any place He must alwaies vse his owne right and libertie and liue in all places as with himselfe and vpon his owne omnes terras tanquam suas videre suas tanquam omnium Moreouer what change or discommoditie doth the diuersitie of the place bring with it Do we not alwaies cary about 3 Vertue vs one and the same spirit and vertue Who can forbid saith Brutus a banished man to cary with him his vertues The spirit and vertue of a man is not shut vp in any place but it is euery where equallie and indifferentlie An honest man is a citizen of the world free cheerfull and content in all places alwaies within himselfe in his owne quarter and euer one and the same though his case or scabberd be remoued and caried hither and thither animus sacer aternus vbique est dijs cognatus omni mundo auo par A man in euery place is in his own countrie where he is well Now for a man to be well it dependeth not vpon the place but himselfe How many are there that for diuers considerations haue willinglie banished themselues How many others banished 4 Examples by the violence of another being afterwards called home haue refused to returne and haue found their exile not only tollerable but pleasant and delightfull yea neuer thought they liued vntill the time of their banishment as those noble Romans Rutilius Marcellus How many others haue beene led by the hand of good fortune out of their countrie that they may grow great and puissant in a strange land CHAP. XXV Of Pouertie want losse of goods THis complaint is of the vulgar and miserable sottish sort 1 Pouertie two-fold of people who place their soueraigne good in the goods of fortune and thinke that pouertie is a very great euill But to shew what it is you must know that there is a two-fold pouertie the one extreame which is the want of things necessarie 1. Want of things necessarie and requisit vnto nature This doth seldome or neuer happen to any man nature being so iust and hauing formed vs in such a fashion that few things are necessarie and those few are not wanting but are found euery where parabile est quod natura defiderat expositum yea in such a sufficiencie as being moderatly vsed may suffice the condition of euery one Ad manum est quod sat est If we will liue according to nature and reason the desire and rule thereof we shall alwaies find that which is sufficient If we will liue according to opinion whilest we liue we shall neuer find it Si ad naturam viues nunquam eris pauper si ad opinionem nunquam diues exiguum natura desiderat opinio immensum And therefore a man that hath an arte or science to stick vnto yea that hath but his armes at will is it possible he should either feare or complaine of pouertie The other is the want of things that are more than sufficient 2 2. Want of things superfluous required for pomp pleasure and delicacie This is a kind of mediocritie and frugallitie and to say the truth it is that which we feare to lose our riches our moueables not to haue our bed soft enough our diet well drest to be depriued of these commodities and in a word it is delicatenesse that holdeth vs this is our true maladie Now this complaint is vniust for such pouertie is rather to be desired than feared and therefore the wise man asked it of God mendicitatem nec diuitias Prouer. 30. sed necessaria It is farre more iust more rich more peaceable and certaine than abundance which a man so much desireth More iust for man came naked nemo nascitur diues The praise of sufficiencie and he returneth naked out of this world Can a man tearme that truly his that he neither bringeth nor carieth with him The goods of this world they are as the moueables of an Inne We are not to be discontented so long as we are heere that we haue need of them More rich It is a large segnorie a kingdome magnae diuitiae lege naturae composita paupertas magnus 1. Timot. 6. quaestus pietas cum sufficientia More peaceable and assured it feareth nothing and can defend it selfe against the enemies thereof etiam in obsessa via paupertas pax est A small body that may couer and gather it selfe vnder a buckler is in better safetie than a great which lieth open vnto euery blow It is neuer subiect to great losses nor charges of great labour and burthen And therefore they that are in such an estate are alwaies more cheerfull and comfortable for they neither haue so much care nor feare such tempests Such kind of pouertie is free cheerfull assured it maketh vs truly masters of our owne liues whereof the affaires complaints contentions that do necessarilie accompanie riches cary away the better part Alas what goods are those from whence proceed all our euils That are the cause of all those iniuries that we indure that makes vs slaues trouble the quiet of our soules bring with them so many iealousies suspicions feares frights desires He that vexeth himselfe for the losse of these goods is a miserable man for together with his goods he loseth his spirit too The life of poore men is like vnto those that saile neere the shore that of the rich like to those that cast themselues into the maine Ocean These cannot attaine to land though they desire nothing more but they must attend the wind and the tide the other come aboord passe and repasse as often as they will Finally wee must endeuour to imitate those great and generous personages that haue made themselues merrie with such kinde of losses yea haue made aduantage of them and thanked God for them as Zenon after his shipwracke Fabricius Seranus Curius It should seeme that pouertie is some excellent and diuine thing since it agreeth with the gods who are imagined to be naked since the wisest haue embraced it or at least haue endured it with great contentment And to conclude in a word with such as are not ouer passionate it is commendable with others insupportable CHAP. XXVI Of Infamie THis affliction is of diuers kinds If it be losse of honors and dignities it is rather a
This is to aske counsell when it is too late Sera in fundo parsimonia it is to play the good husband when there is nothing left but bare walles to make his market when the faire is ended It is a good thing for a man not to accustome himselfe to a delicate diet lest when he shall happen to be depriued therof his bodie grow out of order and his spirit languish and faint and contrarily to vse himselfe to a grosser kinde of sustenance both because they make a man more strong and healthfull and because they are more easily gotten CHAP. XL. Ofriot and excesse in apparell and ornaments and of frugalitie IT hath beene said before that garments are not naturall nor necessarie to a man but artificiall inuented and vsed onely by him in the world Now inasmuch as they are artificiall for it is the maner of things artificiall to varie and multiplie without end and measure simplicitie being a friend vnto nature they are extended and multiplied into so many inuentions for to what other end are there so many occupations and traffiques in the world but for the couering and decking of our bodies dissolutions and corruptions insomuch that it is no more an excuse and couering of our defects and necessities but a nest of all maner of vices vexillum superbiae nidus luxuriae the subiect of riot and quarrels for from hence did first begin the proprietie of things mine and thine and in the greatest communities or fellowships that are apparell is alwaies proper which is signified by this word disrobe It is a vice very familiar and proper vnto women I meane excesse in apparell a true testimonie of their weaknesse being glad to winne credit and commendations by these small and slender accidents because they know themselues to be too weake and vnable to purchase credit and reputation by better meanes for such as are vertuous care least for such vanities By the lawes of the Lacedemonians it was not permitted to any to weare garments of rich and costly colours but to common women That was their part as vertue and honour belonged vnto others Now the true and lawfull vse of apparrell is to couer our selues against winde and weather and the rigour of the aire and should neuer be vsed to other end and therefore as they should not be excessiue nor sumptuous so should they not be too base and beggerly Nec affectatae sordes nec exquisitae munditiae Caligula was as a laughing stocke to all that beheld him by reason of the dissolute fashion of his apparell Augustus was commended for his modestie CHAP. XLI Carnall pleasure Chastitie Continencie COntinencie is a thing verie difficult and must haue a carefull and a painfull guard It is no easie matter wholly 1 See the chap. 24. to resist nature which in this is most strong and most ardent And this is the greatest commendation that it hath that there is difficultie in it as for the rest it is without action and without fruite it is a priuation a not doing paine without profit and therefore sterilitie is signified by virginitie I speake heere of simple continencie and onely in it selfe which is a thing altogether barren vnprofitable and hardly commendable no more than not to play the glutton not to be drunken and not of Christian continencie which to make it a vertue hath two things in it a deliberate purpose alwaies to keepe it and that it be for Gods cause Non hoc in virginibus August praedicamus quòd sint virgines sed quòd deo dicatae witnesse the Vestalles and the fiue foolish virgins shut out of doores and therefore it is a common errour and a vanitie to call continent women honest women and honorable as if it were a vertue and there were an honor due vnto him that doth no euill doth nothing against his dutie Why should not continent men in like sort haue the title of honestie and honour There is more reason for it because there is more difficultie they are more hot more hardie they haue more occasions better meanes So vnlikely is it that honour should be due vnto him that doth no euill that it is not due vnto him that doth good but onely as hath beene said to him that is profitable to the Lib. 1. ca. 60. weale-publike and where there is labour difficultie danger And how many continent persons are there stuft with other vices or at least that are not touched with vaine-glory and presumption whereby tickling themselues with a good opinion of themselues they are readie to iudge and condemne others And by experience wee see in many women how dearly they sell it vnto their husbands for dislodging the diuell from that place where they rowe and establishing the point of honor as in it proper throne they make it to mount more high and to appeare in the head to make him belieue that it is not any lower elsewhere If neuerthelesse this flattering word honor serue to make them more carefull of their dutie I care not much if I allow of it Vanitie it selfe serues for some vse and simple incontinencie and sole in it selfe is none of the greatest faults no more than others that are purely corporall and which nature committeth in hir actions either by excesse or defect without malice That which discrediteth it and makes it more dangerous is that it is almost neuer alone but is commonlie accompanied and followed with other greater faults infected with the wicked and base circumstances of prohibited persons times places practised by wicked meanes lies impostures subornations treasons besides the losse of time distractions of those functions from whence it proceedeth by great and grieuous scandals And because this is a violent passion and likewise deceitfull 3 An aduisement we must arme our selues against it and be wary in descrying the baits thereof and the more it flattereth vs the more distrust it for it would willinglie embrace vs to strangle vs it pampereth vs with honie to glut vs with gall and therefore let vs consider as much that the beautie of another is a thing that is without vs and that as soone it turneth to our euill as our good that it is but a flower that passeth a small thing and almost nothing but the colour of a body and acknowledging in beautie the delicate hand of nature we must prise it as the sunne and moone for the excellencie that is in it and comming to the fruition thereof by all honest meanes alwaies remember that the immoderate vse of this pleasure consumeth the body effeminateth the soule weakneth the spirit and that many by giuing themselues ouermuch thereunto haue lost some their life some their fortune some their spirit and contrarily that there is greater pleasure and glory in vanquishing pleasure than in possessing it that the continencie of Alexander and of Scipio hath beene more highlie commended than the beautifull countenances of those yong damsels that they tooke captiues There are many
foole and mad-man witnesse Gallus Vibius who hauing ouer-bent his spirits in comprehending the essence and motions offollie so dislodged and disiointed his owne iudgement that he could neuer settle it againe it inspireth a man with the foreknowledge of things secret and to come and causeth those inspirations praedictions and maruellous inuentions yea it rauisheth with extasies it killeth not seemingly but in good earnest witnesse that man whose eyes being couered to receiue his death and vncouered againe to the end he might reade his pardon was found starke dead vpon the scaffold To be briefe from hence spring the greatest part of those things which the common sort of people call miracles visions enchantments It is not alwayes the diuell or a familiar spirit as now adaies the ignorant people thinke when they can not finde the reason of that they see nor alwayes the spirit of God for these supernaturall motions we speake not of heere but for the most part it is the effect of the imagination or long of the agent who sayth doth such things or of the patient and spectator who thinks he seeth that he seeth not It is an excellent thing and necessary in such a case to know wisely how to discerne the reason thereof whether it be naturall or supernaturall false or true Discretio spirituum and not to precipitate our iudgements as the most part of the common people do by the want thereof In this part and facultie of the soule doth opinion lodge which is a vaine light crude and imperfect iudgement of things drawen from the outward senses and common report setling and holding it selfe to be good in the imagination and neuer arriuing to the vnderstanding there to be examined sifted and laboured and to be made reason which is a true perfect and solide iudgement of things and therefore it is vncertaine inconstant fleeting deceitfull a very ill and dangerous guide which makes head against reason whereof it is a shadow and image though vaine and vntrue It is the mother of all mischiefs confusions disorders from it spring all passions all troubles It is the guide of fooles sots the vulgar sort as reason of the wise and dexterious It is not the trueth and nature of things which doth thus 3 The world is lead by opinion stirre and molest our soules it is opinion according to that ancient saying Men are tormented by the opinions that they haue of things not by the things themselues Opinione saepiùs quà m re laboramus plura sunt quae nos tenent quà m quae premunt The veritie and Essence of things entreth not into vs nor lodgeth neere vs of it selfe by it owne proper strength and authoritie for were it so all things should be receiued of all all alike and after the same fashion all should be of like credit and truth it selfe which is neuer but one and vniforme should be embraced thorowout the whole world Now forasmuch as there is so great a varietie yea contrarietie of opinions in the world and there is not any thing concerning which all doe generally accord no not the wisest and best borne and bred it giueth vs to vnderstand that things enter into vs by composition yeelding themselues to our mercie and deuotion and lodging themselues neere vnto vs according to our pleasure and humour and temper of our soules That which I beleeue I can not make my companion beleeue but which is more what I doe firmly beleeue to day I can not assure my selfe that I shall beleeue to morrow yea it is certaine that at another time I shall iudge quite otherwise Doubtlesse euery thing taketh in vs such place such a taste such a colour as wee thinke best to giue vnto it and such as the inward constitution of the soule is omnia munda mundis immunda immundis As our apparell and accoutrements do as well warme vs not by reason of their heat but our owne which they preserue as likewise nourish the coldnesse of the ice and snow we doe first warme them with our heat and they in recompence thereof preserue our heat Almost all the opinions that wee haue wee haue not but from authoritie we beleeue we iudge we worke we liue we die and all vpon credit euen as the publike vse and custome teacheth vs and we doe well therein for we are too weake to iudge and chuse of our selues no the wise do it not Lib. 1. chap. 1. 2. as shall be spoken CHAP. XVII Of the Will THe Will is a great part of the reasonable soule of verie The preheminence and importance of the will great importance and it standeth vs vpon aboue all things to studie how to rule it because vpon it dependeth almost our whole estate and good It only is truly ours and in our power all the rest vnderstanding The comparison thereof with the vnderstanding Doubtfull if not erroneous memorie imagination may be taken from vs altered troubled with a thousand accidents not the will Secondly this is that that keepeth a man intire and importeth him much for he that hath giuen his will is no more his owne man neither hath he any thing of his owne Thirdly this is it whereby we are made and called good or wicked which giueth vs the temper and the tincture As of all the goods that are in man vertue or honestie is the first and principall and which doth farre excell knowledge dexteritie so wee can not but confesse that the will where vertue and goodnesse lodgeth is of all others the most excellent and to say the trueth a man is neither good nor wicked honest nor dishonest because he vnderstandeth and knoweth those things that are good and faire and honest or wicked and dishonest but because he loueth them and hath desire and will towards them The vnderstanding hath other preheminences for it is vnto the will as the husband to the wife the guide and light vnto the traueller but in this it giueth place vnto the will The true difference betwixt these faculties is in that by the vnderstanding things enter into the soule and it receiueth them as those words to apprehend conceiue comprehend the true offices thereof doe import but they enter not entire and such as they are but according to the proportion and capacitie of the vnderstanding whereby the greatest and the highest do recoile and diuide themselues after a sort by this entrance as the Ocean entreth not altogether into the Mediterrane sea but according to the proportion of the mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar By the will on the other side the soule goeth foorth of it selfe and lodgeth and liueth elswhere in the thing beloued into which it transformeth it selfe and therefore beareth the name the title the liuerie being called vertuous vitious spirituall carnall whereby it followeth that the will is enobled by louing those things that are high and woorthy of loue is vilified by giuing it selfe to those things that are base and