shall hear what he saith next When we say that Pleasure is the main End we mean neither the Pleasures of Debauchery nor the other sensual Delights which terminate in the very moment of enjoyment and by which the Senses are only gratified and pleased as some ignorant Persons and who are not of our Opinion or who being enviously bent against us do thus Interpret But we only understand this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To feel no pain in the Body and to have no trouble in the Soul for 't is not the Pleasure of continual Eating and Drinking nor the Pleasure of Love nor that of Rare Dainties and delicious Bits of large and well-furnish'd Tables that make a Pleasant Life but a sound Judgment assisted by Sobriety and consequently by a serenity and tranquility of Mind which throughly enquires into the Causes why we ought to embrace or avoid any thing and that drives away all mistaken Opinions or false Notions of things which might raise much perplexity in the Soul I might add another Passage which I shall only mention Venereorum usus nunquam prodest praeclareque agitur nisi etiam noceat That the Delights of Venus are not only unprofitable but it is very rare if they be not mischievous But this ingenuous and plain Declaration of his meaning is sufficient to justifie him from the slanderous Accusations of his Enemies Let us nevertheless take notice of the difference and contrariety that Laertius puts between Epicurus and Aristippus for this difference or antithesis shews clearly that Epicurus believed no other Pleasure to be the End but that which consists in a constant Repose namely a freedom from pain of Body and trouble of Mind But Aristippus would have it consist in that Pleasure of the Body which is chiefly Communicated to us by action or by which our Senses are actually pleased and gratified This contrariety I say discovers Epicurus's Opinion to have been misrepresented and taken in a wrong sense such as Aristippus's deserved So that all the Reproaches that were due to Aristippus have been cast by this mistake upon Epicurus and the other hath escap'd unblemish'd The Famous Dispute of Torquatus in Cicero plainly discovers this Truth Hear his words I will explain saith Torquatus what that Pleasure is that I may prevent all cause of mistake in them who understand not the matter and that I may make them apprehend that this Doctrin which they fancy to be loose and debauch'd is Grave Chast and Regular We do not pursue that Pleasure which gratifies Nature with a little seeming sweetness and that is relish'd by the Senses with a haut-gust But we esteem that to be the chief Pleasure that is taken without any sense of Pain for as Thirst and Hunger are allayed by Eating and Drinking this deliverance freedom or privation from that which is troublesom and uneasie causeth Pleasure so in all other things a deliverance from Pain begets Pleasure Epicurus therefore admits of no Medium between Pain and Pleasure for he maintained that what appear'd to some to be a Medium namely the privation from all Pain was not only a Pleasure but the chief Pleasure In truth he that rightly understands himself and knows what ails him or what Condition he is in he must needs be either in Pleasure or in Pain Now Epicurus was of Opinion that the chief Pleasure consisted in a privation from all Pain and by Consequence that Pleasure may be diversified and distinguished but not augmented and encreas'd We might here produce some Witnesses of this matter Certainly Seneca may be heard and credited before all others as being without doubt a Person of great worth unspotted Reputation of an Exemplary Life and Manners and addicted to a Sect which had chiefly drawn upon Epicurus all the shame and disgrace that is commonly cast upon him instead of Aristippus being thereunto encouraged by the evil sense and meaning that they have given to his words According to Epicurus saith Seneca there are two Advantages required to the compleating the Sovereign Good or Chief Happiness of Man The First is That the Body may be without Pain The Second That the Mind may be calm and sedate These advantages don't increase if they be compleat for how can that which is full increase When the Body is free from Pain what can be added to that Freedom when the Mind enjoys it self and is quiet what may be added to this Tranquility Like as the Serenity of the Heavens is perfect and can't admit of any other new degrees of Light when it is absolutely clear and without the least shadow or mist Thus the Condition of Man is perfect when he hath taken care of his Body and Soul making his chief Happiness to consist in the advantages of both together in a Freedom from all trouble of Mind and from all pain of Body for we may then say that such a Man is arrived to the full accomplishment of all his Desires And if beside all this there happens to him an additional Repose it don't increase his chief Good but it only seasons it for this compleat Happiness the perfection of the Human Nature is comprehended in the quiet of the Body and the Mind In which words we may take notice that Seneca expresseth clearly and plainly Epicurus's Opinion as it is related by Laertius Moreover because that Epicurus gave the Name of Chief Good or Compleat Happiness to a freedom from Bodily Pain and a perfect Tranquility of Mind the loose and Debauched Persons of his time took incouragement from thence mistaking the word Pleasure and boasting that they had a Philosopher to countenance their Debaucheries For this Reason Seneca argues with them in this manner in his Book of a Happy-Life 'T is not Epicurus that forces or perswades them to Luxury and Debauchery but being accustomed to these Vices they endeavour to conceal their Vices under the Covert of Philosophy and they flock together when they hear Pleasure mentioned with Praise Non ab Epicuro impulsi luxuriantur sed vitiis dediti luxuriam suam in Philosophiae sinu abscondunt eo concurrunt ubi audiunt laudari Voluptatem Without doubt it is not the Pleasure of Epicurus which is esteem'd and sought after I know how sober and innocent that Pleasure is But they skip at the Name of Pleasure seeking some protection and veil from their Lasciviousness and filthy Delights Nec aestimatur Voluptas illa Epicuri ita enim me Hercules sentio quam sobria ac sicca sit sed ad nomen ipsum advolant quaerentes libidinibus suis patrocinium aliquod ac velamentum My Opinion saith he again is for I will speak it in despight of the Vulgar The things that Epicurus teacheth are fair and just and have something of solid and serious if we consider them exactly for his Pleasure is reduc'd to very few things He prescribes to it the very same Rules that we do to Vertue and appoints it to be Obedient to Nature
is Profitable and that which is Good to be but one and the same thing and therefore to the making up of what is Just and Right two things are prerequisite The First That it be Useful or that it hath Usefulness on its side The Second That it be prescribed and ordained by the common Consent of the Society for there is nothing perfectly Just but what the Society by common Agreement or Approbation hath thought fit to be observed 'T is true some are of Opinion That what things are Just are of their own Nature and unchangably so and that the Laws do not make 'em Just but that they only declare 'em and ordain 'em to be according to what they were naturally before Nevertheless 't is not so but herein 't is as in other things which are useful such as are those that concern our Health and a great many more such like wich are useful to some and hurtful to others and consequently vary from the End both in general and particular And truly as every thing ought always every where and to every one appear such as 't is by Nature because Nature never changes and is unalterable in all Occurrences pray tell me if the things that some name Just be every where at all times and in respect of all Persons really Just Are we not to consider that what is ordained and established by Laws and what is consequently Lawful and Just is not ordained nor admitted among all Nations but that some look upon 'em as indifferent and others reject 'em as prejudicial and unjust Are there not some who hold generally for useful that which nevertheless is not so and thus receive things which are not generally convenient only because that they seem so to them or to their Society and appear to have some general Utility or Advantage belonging to ' em We may then say for the most part that that is universally Just or agreeable with the Nature of Just which is useful or conformable to the Notion of Just that we have now given For to speak more particularly as Utility is otherwise and differing among the several Nations so likewise what is Just differs in the same manner so that what we fancy to be Just others look upon it as Unjust This being so when we enquire whether Just and Right is the same among all Nations I answer that universally 't is so that is something that is useful in the mutual Society but if we look to Particulars and consider the several sorts of People and the diversity of Circumstances we shall find that 't is not the same every where In a word a thing is and ought to be reputed Just or to have the Qualities of Just in a Society if its Usefulness respects all the Individuals associated but if it be not so 't is not properly to be called Just nor deserves to be so esteemed So that if a Thing or an Action having been useful in a Society if by any Accident or by any Alteration this Usefulness begins to cease that thing will also cease from being Just it being no longer so than only while it continues useful and profitable to Society And thus I suppose every one will judge who suffers not himself to be misled and blinded by vain and frivolous Discourses but has a general Respect to all things Of the Origin of Right and of Justice BUt to begin the Matter a little higher and trace it from its first Source Right Equity or Justice seem to be as ancient among Men even as mutual Societies are For in the beginning when Men were Vagabonds wandering up and down like Brutes and suffered many Inconveniences from those salvage Creatures and the Rigour of the Seasons some natural Inclination which they had for one another by reason of the similitude and mutual Resemblance of Bodies as well as Souls or Manners inclined 'em to unite together in small Societies the better to prevent in some measure such like Inconveniences by Building Cottages and so thereby strengthning themselves against the Cruelty of wild Beasts and the Severity of the Weather But because every one more regarded his own private Benefit than that of another this begot many Quarrels in reference to Eating and Drinking and upon the account of Women and other Conveniences of Life which they daily robb'd and forcibly depriv'd one another of until such time as they began to consider that they could not subsist quietly or live securely and conveniently unless they made some Contracts and agreed among themselves to do no Injury one to another so that if any wrong'd his Neighbours the rest were to punish him for it This then was the first Knot or Tie of Societies which as it supposed that every Person might have something belonging to him or what he might call his own either because he was the first possessor of it or because it was given him or because he had it by way of exchange or because he acquir'd it by his Industry I say this was the first Knot which confirmed to every private Person the possession of that which he thus challeng'd as his own Now this Knot or Agreement was nothing else but a common Law which all were bound to observe and which was to secure to every one his Right or Power to make use of that which thus appertained to him And thus upon this account the Law became the common Right of Societies I shall not here mention how a whole Society at length transfer'd their power of punishing to a certain select number of the wisest and honestest Men or it may be to one Person who was look'd upon as the wisest of all the rest I shall observe only two or three Things First That such in the Society were esteemed Just or observers of Justice who contenting themselves with their own Rights never invaded the Goods of others and by this means wronged no Body And such were deemed Unjust or doers of Wrong who being not satisfied with what was their own usurp'd the Rights of others and thus wronged 'em either by Robbing of 'em Beating or by Killing 'em or the like The Second relates to the preservation of Life as the thing that was the dearest to 'em of all and the strong confirmation of their Agreements or of their common Laws for the wise Legislators taking a particular Care of what best secur'd their Lives and minding also what usually happen'd among Societies declared That it was an horrible and abominable Crime to kill a Man and that a Murderer should be look'd upon as a most infamous Person and be shamefully put to Death for there was nothing more unreasonable than to kill his Fellow Creature for which Act we ought to have the greatest aversion and the rather because thereby accrued no advantage to Life and that this Deed could not proceed but from a Wickedness in Nature Thirdly That those who at first took care to promote the Utility of the Laws had truly no
which is easily contented Mea quidem sententia invitis hoc nostris popularibus dicam Sancta Epicurum recta praecipere si propius accesseris tristia Voluptatibus enim illa ad parvum exile revocatur quam nos Virtuti Legem dicimus eam ille dicit Voluptati Jubet illam parere Naturae Parum autem est Luxuriae quod Naturae satis est Will you then understand what it is He that saith that the Happiness of Life consists in Idleness in Good Cheer in Ease and Wanton Pleasures and calls that Happiness seeks a good Excuse to an evil Cause and when he comes flattering himself with the softness of the Name he follows not that Pleasure which he hears Praised but that which he brings with him and when once he begins to believe his Vices to be consistent with the Doctrines professed he freely adheres to them no longer disguising and acting them in secret but boldly and openly proclaiming them to the World Thus he concludes I don't say what many don't scruple to affirm That the Sect of Epicurus is the encourager of infamous Crimes and lewd Debaucheries But this is what I say it is ill spoken of I confess but without Cause and this cannot easily be discovered but by more narrowly prying into the very first grounds of their Opinions The meer name of Pleasure occasions the mistake and casts an odium upon it Itaque non dico quod plerique nostrum Sectam Epicuri flagitiorum Magistram esse sed illud dico male audit infamis est immerito neque hoc scire quisquam potest nisi interius fuerit admissus Frons ipsa dat locum Fabulae ad malam spem invitat We may after the Testimony of Seneca bring that of Plutarch who tho' he was an Enemy of Epicurus yet he hath done him so much right as to say That the things that were objected against him rather proceeded from vulgar Mistakes than from the Truth of the matter Besides in another place he merrily cries out upon the Pleasure of Epicurus and his Disciples O the vast Pleasure and Felicity that there is in being insensible either of Sorrow or Pain Elsewhere he saith Tho' Epicurus placeth the Sovereign Happiness in a perfect Rest and as it were in a Center of Quiet c. And in another place That young Persons will learn from Epicurus that Death doth not so much affect us that the Riches of Nature are limited that Felicity and a Happy-Life don't consist in abundance of Silver or in Large Possessions in Dominion or in Power but in a freedom from Pain in the Government of our Passions and in that Disposition of the Mind which confines all things within the limits of Nature From hence it is evident that the chief Happiness of Epicurus is not that Pleasure which is in Motion or in the pleasing of our Senses but rather that which is and appears in Rest in a freedom from trouble We might here farther add the Testimonies of Tertullian of St. Gregory Nazianzen of Ammonius of Stobeus of Suidas of Lactantius and of many others amongst the Ancients who tho' being no entire Friends of Epicurus yet some of them have declared that the Pleasure that Epicurus recommends was nothing else but a peaceable State agreeing with Nature and not a mean and sordid Pleasure Others have said That between Epicurus and Aristippus there was this difference that Aristippus placed the chief Happiness in the Pleasure of the Body but Epicurus in that of the Mind Others That the Pleasure which the Disciples of Epicurus propose to themselves for their End certainly is not a sensual and a Bodily Pleasure but a quiet Temper of the Soul which is inseparable from a Vertuous and an Honest Life Others as Lactantius after he had abated of the warmth of his Stile he saith That Epicurus maintains the chief Happiness to be in the Pleasures of the Mind and Aristippus in that of the Body I speak of the Ancients within these two hundred years that is to say towards the end of the ignorant Ages we have amongst others John Gerson and Gemistus Pletho that speak and verifie the same The first having mentioned divers Opinions concerning Happiness declares that some are of Opinion that Man's Happiness consists in the Pleasures of the Mind or in a peaceable Tranquility of Spirit such as was that of Epicurus mentioned often by Seneca in his Epistles with very much respect But as to the other Epicurus quoth he Aristippus Sardanapalus and Mahomet who placed it in the Pleasures of the Body they were no Philosophers Here we must pardon the ignorance of that Age and the common vogue if he hath imagined that there have been two of that Name The second Named Gemistus Pletho Treating of the Delight of Contemplation shews That Aristotle never taught any other Doctrin than that of Epicurus who placed the Chief Happiness in the Pleasures of the Mind Now it is not without Reason that I have insinuated that since these Men there hath sprung up an Happier and a more Learned Age that have revived Learning that lay almost Languishing for since that time an infinite number of knowing Men are risen up who have entertained better thoughts of that Philosopher as Philelphus Alexander ab Alexandro Volateranus Johannes Franciscus Picus and many more What shall we say then to those who Charge him with a contrary Opinion Nothing else but what hath been spoken in the Apology of his Life namely that the Stoicks who very much hated him for Reasons there expressed at large have not only misunderstood his Opinion but they have also forged and publish'd in his Name scandalous Books whereof they themselves were the Authors that they might the more easily gain credit to their Malicious Insinuations and fasten upon him their Calumnies without suspicion Now one of the Causes of their hatred against him was that Zenon their Principal Leader was naturally melancholy austere rude and severe and his Disciples following their Guide affected the same Air and a severe Meen This hath caused the Vertue of the Stoicks or their Wisdom to be represented as some very austere and reserved thing and in regard that caused them to be admired and respected by the Common-People and that we suffer our selves willingly to be carried away to vain-glory and to be puft up with Pride if we don't take great heed to prevent it they fancied themselves to be the only possessors of Wisdom and therefore they boasted that he alone was the Wiseman whose Soul was strengthned and fortified with the Vertue of the Stoicks that he alone was fit to be a King a Captain a Magistrate a Citizen for such were their Expressions an Orator a Friend Beautiful Noble and Rich. And that such a one never repents is not touch'd with Remorse cannot receive Affronts is ignorant of nothing never doubts of any thing is free from Passion is always at Liberty full of Joy and Content
Person of great Eminency who was severely tormented with the Gout but by my Advice yielding to live one Year very abstemiously and scarce to Eat any Flesh according to the Custom of the Indians who nevertheless are very healthy and strong and are rarely troubled with such Distempers was perfectly cured Thus it happened heretofore to the Senator Rogatianus mentioned by Porphyry in the Life of Plotinus So real a truth it is that Sobriety is an excellent Remedy to avoid and free us from Diseases Sixthly That for one Person who is sick by Fasting there are twenty Distempers occasion'd by too much Eating So that Theognides had Reason to say That Gluttony destroys many more than Hunger Perplures quam dira fames satias male perdit Qui justo cupiunt amplius esse sibi And Horace according to Epicurus tells us That a sober Man who Eats and Drinks but little is always strong and ready to perform the Duties of his Function whereas Wine makes the Body heavy and clouds the Vnderstanding and sinks down the Soul that part of the Divine Being to the very Earth quin corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque praegravat una Atque affigit humo divinae particulam aura Alter ubi dicto citius curata sopori Membra dedit vegetus praescripta ad munera surgit Besides we might add this Consideration That he who endeavours to indulge his Palate in the midst of good Cheer loses that very Pleasure he would promote which is easilier obtain'd by a plain and sober Diet for a constancy sometimes tho' rarely admitting of a more plentiful Repast which at particular times may be allowed by the best of Men when as the Poet saith a solemn Festival invites us to chear our Spirits and repair weak Nature decay'd too much by Abstinence or Old Age. Sive diem festum rediens advexerit annus Sive recreare volet tenuatum Corpus ubique Accedent anni tractari mollius aetas Imbecilla volet In such Cases we are not to make the pleasing of our Palates our main Business but only by the By for we shall find that a sober and frugal Life is better to most Purposes Besides it is most certain that a wise Man ought rather as much as his State and Condition of life may permit him always to observe the same Manner Rule and Course of Living I say as much as the State and Condition of his Life will allow him For tho' the manner of Living in which we are ingaged may sometimes so intangle us as that it is no easie Task to keep exactly to the Rule and Manner of Living that we have prescribed yet there is no difficulty to keep pretty near to this Rule if a Man hath so much Constancy and Resolution of Mind as a truly wise and vertuous Man ought to have But if he be so weak and fickle as at the first Temptation to suffer himself to be overcome by his irregular Appetite it is apparent that Wisdom and Vertue have not taken Root deep enough in his Soul If we are perhaps sometimes obliged to be at well spread Tables where we may seem to be some-what uncivil in not complying with the earnest Intreaties and Sollicitations that we meet with 't is at this time chiefly that we must shew our Resolution and Constancy and if a Civil and Modest Excuse will not suffice we must free our selves from that Dusopia or childish Bashfulness so much condemned among the Greeks and according to Plutarch's Advice speak plainly and boldly to any Friend what Creon saith in one of his Tragedies It is better that you should be now angry with me than that I should be to morrow distemper'd for having complied with you Te praestat infesum Hospes esse nunc mihi Quam si obsequutus deinde graviter ingemam For to cast our selves saith he into a Fit of the Colick or into some extream Agony meerly to avoid being look'd upon as a Clown or Vncivil is to become both a Clown and a mad Man and not to understand how we are to behave our selves with Men in relation to Eating and Drinking We must not here forget that excellent Expression of Epicurus That a sober and frugal Life unto which we have by long use habituated our selves makes us undaunted against the Assaults of Fortune For as Horace elsewhere says Which of the two may better trust to himself and to his own strength in relation to the Casualties and Mischances that may happen He who hath indulg'd his Mind with vast Desires and us'd his Body to a soft and rich Attire Or he who being content with a little and fore-seeing the time to come shall in a time of Peace as a wise Man ought make Provision of such things as are needful for War Let Fortune vex such a one and take from him all that she can how much can she diminish of that which is necessary Vter-ne Ad casus dubios fidet sibi certius hic qui Pluribus assuerit mentem corpusque superbum An qui contentus parvo metuensque futuri In pace ut Sapiens aptarit idonea bello Soeviat atque novos moveat fortunna tumultus Quantum heinc imminuet c. Nor are we to forget what Epicurus boasts of That his daily Food did not quite amount to one pound and that of Metrodorus weighed but just a pound Nor must we omit that excellent Advice which Seneca hath so well deliver'd Thou dost not perhaps believe saith he that in a spare quantity of Food there is sufficient to satisfy Nature There is and to spare for there is Pleasure not a light and transitory Pleasure which we must recruit every Moment but a more fixt and lasting Pleasure without Interruption For a Draught of Water and a Piece of Barley Bread are things not very pleasant to the Gust but then it is a great Pleasure that we can confine our selves to that which an adverse Fortune cannot deprive us of The Allowance of a Prison is more Sumptuous and Plentiful and a Malefactor who is kept in Chains condemned to Death subsists with a small Pittance What an honour is it to condescend of our own accord to that which is not to be feared by them who are reduc'd to the lowest State By this means we shall prevent the Treachery of Fortune and stop all her Avenues For what Power can Fortune have over him who reckons not as his own that which she glories in giving and taking away and is satisfied with that which depends not upon her thinking it too mean to stoop to her proud Empire I 'le here cite what Xenophon tells us of Socrates That he lived upon so small a Pittance that there was no Handicraftsman if he took never so little Pains but might get more than was needful to nourish him That which hath been already said of Anacharsis That he sent back the Mony offer'd him because he needed it not to supply his slender Expences And
to the study thereof it hath given us Opportunity of great Improvement by reducing it to a more distinct and easy method than formerly and we find that the Disciples of the great Plato and of Xenophon also have left behind them curious and excellent Monuments nor have those who succeeded them as Aristotle and the Stoicks come short of handling it more methodically and at large THE First BOOK CONCERNING HAPPINESS CHAP. I. What Happiness is THo' Felicity or Happiness be properly the enjoyment of the Sovereign or Chief Good and therefore the most blessed Estate that can be desired yet because this Estate of Enjoyment comprehends this Sovereign Good it is for that Reason called by this Name It is also termed the Chief or the Ultimate Happiness the End of all Ends or The End for its Excellency because all other things are desired and sought after for it's sake And lastly that it is desired alone for it's own sake To this purpose Aristotle tells us That amongst the things that are desirable there must be something at last which is most desirable that so we might avoid an Infinity But here we may make two considerable Remarks The First is That we don't concern our selves here with that Happiness mentioned by the Sacred Pen-Men when they tell us how happy that Man is who being assisted with the Divine Influences betakes himself entirely to the Service of God and being filled with Faith and Hope and inflamed with Charity spends his Life in Peace and Tranquility Nor shall we Treat of that which may be called Natural Happiness because it may be obtained by the strength of Nature being such as the ancient Philosophers did not doubt but to enjoy here on Earth The Second is That by this Natural Felicity that we here Treat of is not to be understood such a state of Life as we can't imagin a better a more pleasant and more desirable in the which we cannot apprehend any evil nor think of any good thing which we shall not possess nor of any thing that we have a desire to do but we shall be able to accomplish it and that it shall remain fix'd and unchangeable But we understand such a certain state of Life in which we may be as happy as is possible in which there are abundance of good things and very few of any sort of evil and in which consequently we may lead as easie quiet and undisturbed a Life as the Condition of the Country the Society we Converse with the Constitution of our Bodies the manner of our Life our Age and other Circumstances will permit For to propose to our selves more than this or to affect during the Course of our Natural Life the highest Felicity is not to acknowledge but rather forget our selves to be Men that is to say weak and feeble Animals who by the Laws of Nature are subject to an infinite number of Mischiefs and Evils And in this sense it is that we usually say a Wise Man tho' tormented with exquisite Pains may nevertheless be happy not in a perfect and compleat sense but he may attain to that degree that we call Human Happiness which the Wise Man always enjoys in that measure that the Circumstances will permit because he don't increase his Misery either by Impatience or Despair but rather abates it by his Constancy And by this means he is happier or to speak more properly he is less miserable than if he suffered himself to be dejected as others in like Cases who bear not their Misfortunes with the same patience and constancy of Mind and who besides are not supplied with the same Encouragements from Wisdom as he hath such I mean as an innocent Life and a good Conscience void of offence which always afford great quiet and satisfaction to the Mind Wherefore 't is improper to use this kind of Expression That it is the same thing for a Wise Man to be burning in Phalaris 's Bull as to be solacing himself upon a Bed of Roses for it is of such things as Fire and Torments that he desires to be exempt and wishes much rather that they were not or that he might not suffer by them but when they come upon him he considers them as unavoidable Evils and suffers them with Courage so that he may say Vror sed invictus I burn it is true and suffer and sometimes I sigh and weep but for all this I am not vanquish'd nor overcome nor do I suffer my self to be transported with Despair which would render my Condition much more miserable Several Opinions concerning the efficient Cause of Happiness AT our first entring upon this Discourse we may observe that the efficient Causes of Happiness being nothing else but the Goods of the Soul of the Body or of Fortune some of the Philosophers have highly extolled the first some the second and others have included them all Those who chiefly recommend the Riches of the Mind as Anaxagoras propose for the obtaining of Happiness A Contemplative Life together with such a kind of Freedom which proceeds from profound Knowledge Possidonius requires Contemplation with a Dominion over the irrational part of Man Herillus generally and simply Learning or Knowledge Apollodorus and Lycus generally the Pleasures of the Mind Leucinus the Pleasures that proceed from honest things The Stoicks Zenon Cleanthes Aristus and the rest require Vertue Therefore these last proceeded so far as to say That if a Man possess'd Vertue it matter'd not whether he were sick or well All the rest by common Consent maintain'd that to live happily was nothing else but to live a Vertuous Life or as they express it according to Nature As for those who prefer the Riches and advantages of the Body and who chiefly aim at sensual Pleasures they were for that Reason Named the Voluptuous Voluptuarii Philosophi of whom we shall have occasion to discourse hereafter when we shall compare them with Epicurus At present we shall only take notice that they have had Aristippus for their Leader and with him the Cyrenaicks of whom we shall make mention afterwards and that the Annicerians who proceed from the Cyrenaicks aimed at no certain end of Life but at the Pleasure of every particular Action of what kind or Nature soever Lastly amongst such as prefer the Goods of Fortune they are generally the vulgar sort of People who look with a greedy desire some upon Riches some upon Honours some upon other things But amongst the Philosophers none are mention'd but such as joyn to these outward Advantages the perfections also both of the Mind and Body for this hath given occasion to the Poets to make these excellent representations of Happiness which they have borrowed from several Opinions of the Philosophers such as this which requires that good Fortune might accompany Vertue Virtus colenda Sors petenda a Diis bona Haec quippe duo cui suppetunt is vivere Et vir beatus bonus simul potest Another desires
well examin'd will settle the Mind and procure to it a real and solid Happiness Some Particulars needful to be examin'd and consider'd which will contribute very much to the Repose and Happiness of the Mind THE First Particular is the Knowledge and Fear of God And certainly this Philosopher had good Reason to recommend to us in the first place the right Ideas that we are to entertain of this Sovereign Being because he that hath a right Notion of him is so much inflamed with Love and Affection for God that he constantly endeavours to please him by an honest and a vertuous Life always trusting in his infinite Goodness and expecting all things from him who is the Fountain of all good By this means he spends his Life sweetly peaceably and pleasantly We shall not concern our selves here to shew the Existence of this Being seeing we have already done it elsewhere But shall only take notice that tho' Epicurus delivers some Notions that are very just and reasonable yet he hath others that are not to be entertained by pious Men tho' he interprets 'em after his own Fashion such are to be look'd upon as impious for he believes That God hath a Being as Lucretius makes him acknowledge in his first Book For whatsoe'er's Divine must live in Peace In undisturb'd and everlasting Ease Not care for us from Fears and Dangers free Sufficient to it 's own Felicity Nought here below nought in our Power it needs Ne'er smiles at good ne'er frowns at wicked deeds Now I say to believe such a supreme Being that exists to all Eternity is immortal and infinitely happy in it's own Nature enjoying all things within it self and stands in no need of us nor hath any Cause to fear that is not subject to Pain Anger nor other Passions are undeniable Truths and an Opinion that is Praise-worthy especially in a Heathen Philosopher but when he denies Providence as these Verses do intimate and when he thinks that it is not consisting with the highest Felicity as if God had no particular Care of Men That the Just are to expect nothing from his Goodness nor the Wicked are not to dread his Justice are such Opinions that our Reason and Religion will not permit us to entertain The second Particular relates to Death For as Aristotle observes Death is look'd upon as the most dreadful Evil because none is exempted being unavoidable Therefore Epicurus judges That we ought to accustom our selves to think upon it that we might learn by that means as much as is possible to free our selves from such Fears of Death as might disturb our Tranquility and consequently the Happiness of our Life and for that Reason he endeavours to perswade us that it is so far from being the most dreadful of all Evils that in it self it is no Evil at all And thus he argues Death saith he don't affect us and by consequence in respect of us is not to be judged an Evil for what affects us is attended by some but now Death is the privation of Sense He tells us also with Anaxagoras That as before we were capable of Sense it was not grievous to us to have no Sense so likewise when we shall have lost it we shall not be troubled at the want of it As when we are asleep we are not concerned because we are not awake So when we shall be dead it will not trouble us that we are not living He concludes with Archesilas That Death which is said to be an Evil hath this belonging to it that when it hath been present it hath never troubled any body And that it is through the Weakness of the Mind and the dismal Apprehensions that we have of Death that makes it seem so terrible to us when absent insomuch that some are struck dead with the very Fear of dying We may very well acknowledge That Death is the Privation of our External Sense or of Sense properly so called And Epicurus hath very good Reason to say That in Death there is nothing to be feared that may injure the Sight the Hearing the Smell the Tast or the Sense of Feeling for all these Senses cannot be without the Body and then the Body ceases to be or is dissolved But that which we are not to allow is what he affirms elsewhere That Death is also the Privation or Extinction of the Spirit or Understanding which is an internal Sense a Sense according to his Notion Therefore that we may not be hindred by this Impiety which has been sufficiently refuted in treating of the Immortality of the Soul let us proceed to give a Check to the extraordinary Apprehensions of Death and to those Fears that frequently disturb all the Peace and Quiet of our Life and with a sullen Blackness infect and poison all our most innocent Pleasures as Lucretius saith Those idle Fears That spoil our Lives with Jealousies and Cares Disturb our Joys with dread of Pains beneath And sully them with the black Fears of Death Let us therefore in the first place remember to give a Check to that fond Desire of prolonging our days without bounds Let us I say so remember this frail and infirm Condition of our Nature as not to desire any thing above it's Reach and Capacity Let us calmly and quietly without repining enjoy this Gift of Life whether it be bestowed upon us for a longer or a shorter time It is certain that our Maker may deprive us of it without doing us any wrong Let us thankfully acknowledge his Liberality from whom we have received it and add this to the number of those Benefits which we daily draw from his Bounty Nature favours us for a while with the use of the Prospect of those Enjoyments Be not angry that we must withdraw when the time is expired for we were admitted upon no other Terms but to yield our places to others as our Ancestors have done to us Our Bodies are naturally inclinable to Corruption and the manner of our Nativity renders our Death unavoidable If to be Born is pleasant let not our Dissolution be grievous to us to make use of Seneca's Words If the striving against this Fatality could any ways advantage us we should then perhaps approve of the Endeavours that are made but all our Strugglings are to no purpose we do but add to our pain The number of our Days is so appointed that the time of our Life slides away and is not to be recovered and we run our Race in such a manner that whether we will or not we are brought at last to the end As many Days as we pass over so many are cut off from that Life that Nature hath alotted to us So that Death being the Privation of Life we are dying continually as long as we live and that by a Death that carries not all at once but by degrees one step after another tho' the last is that unto which the Name of Death is assigned So true
it is that the end of our Life depends upon the first Moment Let us therefore moderate our Desires according to the Rule that Nature hath prescribed and if the Destinies to speak according to the ancient Poets cannot be prevail'd upon so that against our Wills we are hurried away let us at least alleviate our Trouble by suffering our selves to be carried off willingly The best and only Remedy to pass our Life free and void of Trouble is to suit our selves to our Nature to desire nothing but what it requires and to esteem the last Moment of our Life as a free Gift of Providence and to dispose and prepare our selves in such a manner that when Death approaches we may say I have lived and I have finished the Race that Nature hath appointed me Vixi quem dederas cursum Natura peregi She calls away but I come of mine own accord Nature requires of me what I am intrusted with I yield it willingly I am commanded to die I expire without Regret We might also very well make use of the Advice of Lucretius and speak thus to our selves The greatest and most mighty Monarchs of the World are dead and Scipio that Thunderbolt of War and Terror of Carthage hath left his Bones in the Earth like as the vilest Slave Anchises the most Religious of all men and Homer the Prince of the Poets are dead and shall we murmur to die But more to comfort thee Consider Ancus perish'd long ago Ancus a better Man by much than thou Consider mighty Kings in pamper'd State Fall and ingloriously submit to Fate Scipio that Scourge of Carthage now the Grave Keeps Prisoner like the meanest common Slave Nay the great Wits and Poets too that give Eternity to others cease to live Homer their Prince the Darling of the Nine What Troy would at a second fall repine To be thus sung is nothing now but Fame A lasting far diffus'd but empty Name Let us say moreover Gassendus himself is dead and that great Man hath finished his Course like other Mortals he who in profound Learning and Wisdom excell'd the rest of Mankind and who rising like a Sun darkned the Light of all the Stars Nay Great Gassendi's Race of Life is run That Man of Wit who other Men out-shone As far as meaner Stars the mid-day Sun And can'st not thou O Wretch resolve to die Then how dar'st thou repine to die and grieve Thou meaner Soul thou dead ev'n whilst alive That sleep'st and dream'st the most of Life away Thy Night is full as rational as thy Day Still vext with Cares who never understood The Principles of ill nor use of good Nor whence thy Cares proceed but reel'st about In vain unsettled Thoughts condemn'd to doubt Thou whose Life is as half dead thou who spendest above half thy time in Sleep who snorest as I may say waking and feedest upon Fancies and who livest in the midst of Fears and continual Troubles It is what our famous Malherbe had in his Thoughts when he bewails the unhappy Fate of great Men who are subject to the same Laws of Death as the meanest Beggars Yet these are turn'd to Dust and Fate Rules with such Arbitrary Sway So binds its Laws on every State That all their Equal's Doom Obey With none e'er yet Impartial Destiny Of all it's num'rous Subjects wou'd dispense Hear this ye Vulgar Souls and hence Vnrepining Learn to Die But here some will object we shall be depriv'd of all the Blessings of Life as Lucretius Elegantly Expresses it Lib. 3. Ay but he now is snatcht from all his Joys No more shall his Chast Wife and Pratling Boys Run to their Dad with eager hast and strive Which shall have the first Kiss as when alive Ay but he now no more from Wars shall come Bring Peace and Safety to his Friends at home Wretched O Wretched Man one Fatal Day Has snatch'd the vast Delights of Life away It is true that this is commonly objected but they seldom Consider that this supposed Unhappy Man shall then have no desire at all for such things and that when he shall be really Dead he shall not see any like himself standing near his Tomb beating the Breast and languishing with Grief as the same Author Describes Thus they bewail but go no further on And add that his Desires and Wants are gone But the fond Fool n'er thinks that when kind Death Shall close his Eyes in Night and stop his Breath Then nothing of this thinking thing remains To mourn his Fate and feel sharp Grief and Pains May not we likewise thus Argue as Plutarch Observes and which often occurs in our Thoughts If our Life which we esteem very long when it extends to an Hundred Years were naturally but of one Days continuance as some Animals mention'd by Aristotle in the Kingdom of Pontus are And if like them in the Morning we were in our Youth at Noon in our Strength and full Growth and at Night in our Old Age It is certain in this Case we should be as well pleas'd to live one Day till Night as we are now to live an hundred years And on the contrary if our Life did now extend to a thousand years as did that of our first Fathers in that Case it would grieve us as much to Die at the end of six hundred years as to depart now at the expiration of threescore It is the same in respect of those who first came into the World if they had continued till this present time it would trouble them as much to Die now as it does us These Considerations therefore ought to teach us that our Life of what sort soever is to be computed not by its length but by the good Qualifications and Pleasures that attend it In the same manner saith Seneca As the Perfection of a Circle ought to be computed not by the Greatness but by the exact Roundness of the Figure O Vain and Indiscreet Diligence saith Pliny Men compute the number of their Days where they should only seek their true Worth Heu vana imprudens diligentia numerus dierum Computatur ubi quaeritur pondus We don't Consider that as the Mass of this Earth and all the World beside and a thousand other such Worlds if you please are but as a Point if compared with the vast extended space of the Heavens Thus the longest Life of Man were it as long as that of the Hamadryades or a thousand thousand times more is but a Moment if compared with Eternity This Life saith Seneca is but a Point How can we extend this Point In hoc punctum conjectus es Quod ut extendas quousque extendes Know saith Lucretius That by the prolonging of our Days we diminish nothing from the time and long continuance of Death and that he who dies to day shall not be dead a less time than he who died a thousand years ago What tho' a thousand years prolong thy breath How
affliction to live in want but there is nothing that obliges us absolutely to continue in it for which way soever we glance our eyes we may see the end of our Sufferings and our Deliverance either in a Precipice in a River by a Dagger by a Tree by opening a Vein or by Abstinence We ought to give God thanks that none of us is detained against his Will in this present Life The Eternal Decree hath admirably well appointed that there should be but one kind of entrance into the World but many out of it Death say they is to be met with in every place God hath very wisely contrived that there is none but may take away our Life but no Man can take away our Death tho' it hath a thousand Passages open to it Ubique Mors est optime hoc cavit Deus Eripere vitam nemo non homini potest At nemo mortem mille ad hanc exitus patent He that knows how to die can free himself and he hath always the Door of his Prison open True it is there is a Chain that holds us fast namely the Love of Life and this Love though we ought not absolutely to reject it yet we should at least mitigate it that if sometimes Accidents require it may not keep us back nor hinder us from being ready to perform at present that which we must one day do or suffer These following Tenets proceed from the same School The Wise Man lives as long as he ought tho' not so long as he may He knows where he ought to live with whom and how and what he ought to do He considers the manner of his Life and not the length If he meets with Crosses and Misfortunes he frees himself and don 't stay for the last necessity to set him at liberty but as soon as Fortune begins to frown upon him he seriously considers if he ought not at that time to end his days He believes that if he himself hastens his end or expects it from another hand it is the same thing or whether it be brought to pass sooner or later it grieves him not Nevertheless sometimes though his Death is certain and appointed and that he knows himself set apart for Execution yet he won't lend his helping hand nor will he be overwhelm'd with Sorrow It is a folly to die for fear of Death If he that is to kill thee is coming wait for him Why wilt thou prevent him and why wilt thou undertake to execute upon thy self another's Cruelty Dost thou covet the Office of an Executioner or wilt thou save him the labour Socrates ought to have ended his Days by Abstinence and die by Hunger rather than by Poison yet he continued thirty days in Prison in expectation of Death not because during this time he had hopes of a Reprieve but to shew himself Obedient to the Laws and to give his Friends the Pleasure of enjoying the Conversation of Socrates when he was ready to Die When therefore an outward Violence threatens us with Death we can't give any general or absolute Directions whether we are to prevent it or to expect it with Patience for there are many Circumstances to be considered But if there be two kinds of Death the one full of grievous Torments the other sudden and easie why may not we chuse the latter This was the Opinion of Hyeronimus of all the Stoicks and namely of Pliny who stiles the Earth a good Mother because it hath compassion of us and hath appointed the Poisons for our use It seems to be likewise the Opinion of Plato for tho' Cicero makes him say That we ought to preserve the Soul inclosed in the Body and without the command of him who gave it we must not depart out of this Life that we might not thereby seem to despise this gift that God hath bestowed upon Man Yet in his Book of Laws he declares That he who kills himself is not to be blamed but when he doth the act without being thereunto forced by the Sentence of the Judge or by some unsufferable and unavoidable accident of Fortune or by Misery and Publick shame Not to mention Cicero who in a certain place commends the Opinion of Pythagoras because he forbids to depart out of our Fortress or to quit our Station of Life without the appointment of the General that is to say of God Yet elsewhere he teaches That in our Life we ought to observe the same Rule that is in the Banquetings of the Greeks that is to say either to Drink or to Depart so that if we can't bear the injuries and affronts of Fortune we must undergo them by flying from them To speak nothing of Cato who seems not to have sought Death so much to avoid the sight of Caesar as to obey the Decrees and follow the Dictates of the Stoicks esteeming it his Glory to observe them and to leave his Name Famous to Posterity by some Great and Notable Action for Lactantius saith Cato was during his Life a Follower of the Vanity of the Stoicks What relates to Democritus Truly his Opinion as the same Lactantius informs us was different from that of the Stoicks yet he suffered himself to die by abstinence when he found in his very great Age that the strength of his Body and the abilities of his Mind began to fail Sponte sua letho Caput obvius obtulit ipse Which we may say is altogether Criminal for if a Murderer is an Offender because he kills a Man he that murders himself is guilty of the same Crime because he also kills a Man It is very probable that this is the greatest Crime whereof the Vengeance is reserved to God alone for as we do not enter upon Life of our own accord so neither are we to depart out of it of our own heads but by his Order who hath placed us in the Body to inhabit there And if any violence or injury be done us we must bear it patiently because the Life of a guitless Person that is destroyed cannot be unrevenged for we have a Powerful God unto whom Vengeance always belongs Finally As for Epicurus it is thought that he was not of the same Judgment with the Stoicks not only because he saith That the Wise Man is easie under his Torments but also because that he himself being grievously tormented with the Stone and Gravel he never hasten'd his Death but waited for it patiently Besides Seneca assures us that Epicurus does as much blame those that desire Death as those that fear it and that there is a great indiscretion nay folly in advancing our Death for fear of Death Yet this happens very often as Lucretius tells us not only because that the extraordinary fear that Death begets in us casts us sometimes into a dismal Melancholy which renders all things uneasie to us and proceeds so far as to make Life it self to become a troublesome incommodious and an intolerable thing and at last to seek
out the strangest means to deliver our selves from it and to procure our Death Et saepe usque adeo mortis formidine vitae Percipit ingratos odium lucisque videnda Vt sibi conciscant moerenti pectore lethum But this extraordinary Fear causeth by degrees a certain kind of Melancholy which depresseth the Heart enfeebles the Spirits and obstructs all the operations of Life It stops Digestion and draws upon us many Diseases that are the immediate Causes of Death However the Opinion of the Stoicks is not only contrary to the Sacred Precepts of our Religion but is also contrary to Nature and right Reason We must except some certain Persons who being directed by a Particular and Divine Instinct have been instrumental in procuring their own Deaths as Samson and others in the Old-Testament and Sophronia and Pelagia since the New for Nature furnishes all sorts of Animals with a Natural love of Life and there is none besides Man let them be tormented with never so grievous pain but labours to preserve Life as much as they can and to avoid Death This is a sign that none but Man doth by his mistaken Opinions corrupt the Institution of Nature when he refuseth the benefit of Life and advanceth his Death he acts then by a wickedness peculiar to himself for the true state of Nature is to be consider'd in the general body of the Creatures and not in some few individuals of one single Species that hasten their own destruction and cast away themselves before the time appointed by Nature From hence we may conclude that such are injurious to God and Nature who being design'd and order'd to perform a certain Race stop in the middle of their Course of their own accord and who being appointed to watch forsake and abandon their Post without waiting for Orders from their Superiors Besides Reason forbids us to be Cruel against the Innocent who never did us any harm and by consequence it don't allow that we should act inhumanly upon our selves from whom we never experienced any Hatred but rather too much Love Moreover upon what occasion can our Vertue appear more conspicuous than in suffering Courageously the Evils that our hard Fortune imposes upon us To die saith Aristotle because of our Poverty or for Love or for some other mischievous accident is not the act of a Man of Spirit and Courage but of a mean and timorous Soul for it is the part of a weak Mind to shun and flye from things hard to be endured Stout Men saith Curtius are wont to despise Death rather than to hate Life 'T is the trouble and impatience of Suffering that carries the Cowards to base Actions that makes them despised and scorned Vertue leaves nothing unattempted and Death is the last thing with which we must Encounter but not as timerous lazy and unwilling Souls I shall not here stay to examin the Opinion of those who imagining saith Lactantius that the Souls are Eternal have therefore kill'd themselves as Cleanthes Chrysippus and Zeno expecting to be transported at the same time to Heaven or as Empedocles who cast himself in the Night into the Flames of Mount-Aetna that by disappearing so suddenly the World might think that he was gone to the Gods or as Cato who was during his Life-time a Follower of the vanity of the Stoicks who before he kill'd himself as it is Reported had read Plato 's Book of the Eternity of the Soul or finally as Cleombrotus who after he had read the same Book cast himself down a Precipice This is a Cursed and Abominable Doctrin that drives Men out of their Lives Neither shall I trouble my self with that Cyrenaick of Hegesius who Disputed so Elegantly concerning the Miseries of Life and the Blessed Place of the Souls after Death that King Ptolomy was forced to forbid him to speak in Publick because so many of his Disciples after they had heard him destroyed themselves as Cicero Reports and some others For the Evils that we indure in this Life may happen to be so great and increase in such a manner that when the time of Death is come the loss of Life may not be unpleasant and that in such a Case Death may be esteem'd as the Haven that shelters us from the Miseries and Torments of Life But to aggravate our Afflictions so far as to beget in us a scorn and hatred of Life is to be injurious and unthankful to Nature as if the Gift of Life that hath been bestowed upon us for our use were to be rashly cast away or as if we were not to accept of it any longer nor honestly and quietly to enjoy it as long as is possible 'T is true what Theognis said formerly That it were much better for Men not to be Born or to Die as soon as they are Born is a Celebrated Saying Non nasci res est mortalibus optima longe Nec Solis radiis acre videre Jubar Aut natum Ditis quamprimum lumen adire This is confirmed by the Example of Cleobis of Biton of Agamedes of Pindarus and of some others who having Petitioned the Gods to grant to them the thing which was best and most desirable were admitted to this great favour To die in a short time Answerable to this is the Custom of the Thracians who wept at the Birth of their Children but Congratulated the Happiness of such as Died. Not to mention Menander who wish'd a young Man dead because he was well beloved by the Gods Quem diligunt Dii Juvenis ipse interit Nor to say any thing of that Famous Sentence Vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus That no body would accept of Life willingly if it were given to them that knew what it were But pray who will believe that Theognis and the rest have spoken seriously and without any Restriction I say without any Restriction for if they would have it that it is better for such only who are to be miserable all their Lives that they had not been Born or to have Died at the very moment of their Birth the Saying might be tolerable and allowable but to speak this in relation to all Men is to affront Nature the Mistriss both of our Life and Death that hath ordered and appointed our Birth and our Dissolution as she hath all other things for the preservation of the Universe It were to expose our selves to be contradicted if not by all yet by the most part of Men who are not weary of Life but seek to preserve it as carefully as they can For Life as we have already observed hath something in it very pleasing and lovely therefore he that speaks in this manner shall feel himself bound and held fast and I am apt to believe that he may be like the Old Man in Aesop who sent Death back again tho' he had often called for it before or like another who refused to make use of the Dagger that he had desired to be
or Cure the Body is over so it is as ridiculous to say that the time to play the Philosopher that is to heal the Mind is not yet come or that the time is past to be Happy 'T is strange that we should thus miserably wast and consume our time and should not apply our selves to that which will be as useful to the Rich as to the Poor and which being neglected is as prejudicial to the Young as to the Old 'T is a Reproach that Horace applies to himself Fluunt mihi tarda Ingrataque tempora quae spem Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter id quod Aeque pauperibus prodest locupletibus aeque Aeque neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit Take from hence both Young and Old take from hence with you the Viaticum the Entertainment and the Consolation of poor Old Age. Petite hinc Juvenesque senesque miseris viatica canis For 't is of the Study of Philosophy that the Poet speaks according to Biantes Aristippus Antisthenes Aristotle and other Philosophers stiling it the Viaticum of Old Age. But to mention that chiefly which ought to perswade young Men to Study Philosophy is that there is nothing more Excellent and Commendable than to accustom our selves betimes to good things and to adorn the Beauty of Youth with the sweetness of Wisdom which commonly is the Blessing of a more mature Age. Nor is there any thing more agreeable than to prepare and make our selves fit to meet and receive Old Age which besides it's proper Blessings of Maturity may also shine forth with the lustre of those Vertues which were Splendid and Remarkable in our Youth So that by the frequent remembrance of the Vertuous Actions of our Youth we may in our Elder Years seem to grow young again Moreover Wisdom is not only a proper and true Ornament but a very useful Prop and assistance against the Inconveniencies and Infirmities of Age. 'T is that which animates Old Men with the same Vigour as it doth the young Here we again ought to listen to Seneca who when he was very Old was wont to hear the Lessons of Sextus the Philosopher The same was practis'd in imitation of him by the Emperor Antoninus Behold says he this is the fifth Day that I frequent the Schools and that I listen to a Philosopher who Disputes from Eight a Clock You may perhaps say 't is time indeed to Study in our younger years And why not in this Age Is there any thing more ridiculous than to refuse Learning because we have not Learn'd a long while before Shall I be asham'd to go and meet a Philosopher We ought to Learn while we are Ignorant and according to the Proverb As long as we Live Go Lucillus and make hast for fear that it should happen to you as to me to be oblig'd to Study in your declining years and make what speed you can the rather because you have undertaken that which you will scarce Learn when you come to be Decrepit But what advantage shall I gather may you say As much as you will endeavour for What do you expect No Man becomes Wise by Chance Riches may come to us of themselves Honours may be offered to us and we may be advanc'd to Employments and Dignities but Vertue won't come and seek us we must endeavour to find her for she never bestows her Blessings but upon such as take Labour and Pains These are the Particulars which the Ancient Philosophers and chiefly Epicurus have recommended to our serious Consideration as the best means not only to discover to us the surest way to true Happiness but also to render it easie and pleasant CHAP. II. What sort of Pleasure it is that Epicurus Recommends as the End of a Happy Life T IS strange that the Word Pleasure should have blasted the Reputation of Epicurus or to make use of the Words of Seneca That it hath given occasion for a Fiction for it is certain that this word comprehends the honest Pleasures as well as the loose and debauch'd I say it is certain for Plato Aristotle and all the other Ancient Philosophers as well as their Disciples speak in express words that amongst the Pleasures some are Innocent others Impure some are of the Mind others are of the Body some true others false We Believe saith Aristotle that Pleasure ought to accompany Happiness And as it is confess'd that amongst the operations that are agreeable with Vertue such as proceed from Wisdom are more Pleasant than the rest therefore Wisdom seems to contain Pleasures that are pure admirable and fix'd There is a Delight saith Cicero in seeking after great and hidden things and when there appears something of resemblance the Mind is fill'd with a sweet Pleasure In the Discoveries of Nature there is an unsatiable Pleasure and those who delight in pursuit hereof neither regard oft-times their Health nor their Fortune they suffer all things being Captivated with the love of Knowledge and Understanding and with great labour they pay for the Pleasure they acquire by Learning We read also in the Holy Scriptures that God himself in the beginning Planted a Garden or Paradise of Pleasure that the Blessed shall be filled with the Fatness of his House and drink of the Rivers of his Pleasures I mention this only because some imagin that this word Pleasure cannot nor ought not to be taken but in an ill sense Therefore when Epicurus saith that Pleasure is the chief End they fancy that he cannot and ought not to be understood but of sordid and forbidden Pleasures So that when we say or when they read that there have been some Philosophers who were called Voluptuous they presently take Epicurus for their Chieftain or Leader But let us examine this Business from the bottom and first let us begin with the Accusation which they bring against him And as amongst those who allow other Pleasures than of the Body there are some that will have what he saith to be understood only of Bodily Pleasures let us weigh his own words as they are found in Laertius for there he expresseth his Mind and declares plainly what that Pleasure is which ought to be the End of our Life and the Chief Good The End of an Happy Life saith he is nothing else but the Health of the Body and the Tranquility of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because all our Actions aim and tend to this End that we may be free from Pain and Trouble 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And because this End he stiles by the Name of Pleasure some took occasion from thence to scandalize him saying that hereby he understood the mean and sordid Pleasures of the Body Therefore he makes his own Apology and clears himself from this Calumny by declaring plainly what kind of Pleasure he means and what not for after having made it his main business to recommend a Sober Life which is satisfied with plain Food and easie to be got you
Disquietness of the Mind which proceed from an unconsiderate rashness and oppose all Reason leave no room for an happy Life For how can it possibly be but that he who always stands in fear of Death or Pain the one being often at Hand the other always threatned must needs be miserable Thus in the same manner if he dreads Poverty Shame or Infamy if he apprehends Infirmity or Blindness in a Word if he fears that which may happen not only to every Person in particular but also to the most powerful People I mean Slavery Can such a one be happy who is continually fearing such Things Can he enjoy the least shadow of Happiness In what unhappy condition is that Mind that not only dreads Calamities Banishment the loss of Goods the Death of Children but foreseing and apprehending them as already present Dies overwhelmed with Grief and Sorrow Can we suppose that he who suffers himself to be born down by so many tragical Thoughts and Apprehensions can be any otherwise than unspeakably Miserable Again when you see a Man furiously transported with a violent Passion coveting every thing with a greedy and immoderate Desire and still as he arrives to a higher and fuller degree of enjoyment of Pleasure the more eagerly he hunts after and pursues 'em Have you not great Reason to judg this Man very Miserable What think ye likewise of another who is always fluctuating and suffers himself to be transported by a foolish and immoderate Joy Dont such a one appear to you the more Miserable the more he thinks himself Happy As such therefore are Miserable these are on the contrary Happy who are not frighted with Fears who suffer not themselves to be overcome with Sadness who are not inflamed with Lusts nor moved by immoderate Joys and on whom the powerful Charms and Allurements of these soft and effeminate Pleasures have no powerful Influences Hearken to Torquatus Epicurus whom you say was too much addicted to his Pleasures declares That it is impossible to live Pleasantly if we live not Wisely Honestly and Justly and that we cannot live Wisely Honestly and Justly but we must of necessity live with Delight For as the Inhabitants of a City cannot be easy during a Storm nor a Family when the Masters are at odds much less can a Soul be happy when it agrees not with it self or is hurried about by divers contrary Passions It is not capable of any pure and free Pleasure and sees nothing but in a hurry and in a confusion If the Distempers of the Body interrupt the felicity of Life how much more do the Diseases of the Mind Now the Diseases of the Mind are the vain and immoderate Desires of Riches Glory Dominion and of mean and sordid Pleasures You may add to these Discontent Fretfulness and Frowardness which gall and fret the Minds of Men who will not consider that we should not afflict our selves for that which causeth no present Pain to the Body nor it may be never will You may add Death which threatens us continually and hangs always over our Heads as the Rock did over that of Tantalus You may add Superstition which never suffers the Person to be at quiet who is infected with it Such never think upon the good Things past they enjoy not the present and when they consider that what they are in expectation of is uncertain Grief and Despair afflict them But they are exceedingly tormented when they think that they have begun too late to seek after great Offices Riches and Glory finding themselves deprived of those Pleasures which they had hopes of enjoying and for which they have undergone so much Pain and Trouble Others have mean and low Spirits always in despair of every thing others Dream of nothing but how to do Mischief are Envious Fretful Pensive Slanderers and Angry others are unconstant and changeable in their Love others are Hasty Cowards Impudent Intemperate Wavering never continuing in the same Mind This is the Cause that during their Lives their Passions are in a continual Warfare without Cessation And therefore we cannot but mention the sincere Pleasure and Delight which he must needs enjoy who being freed from these Passions that tormented him understands his own happy State and finds himself as we have said before in Rest in a safe Haven after he has been tost and beaten with the Winds and Waves of the Sea But we shall have another occasion to speak of this particular Pleasure when we shall treat of the Vertues that are fit to calm the Passions and by that means to cause a sedate and peceable Temper of Mind Besides that Sweetness and Pleasure may easily be understood by that esteem which such a one hath who longs for it when he finds himself in Trouble or in actual Disturbance Like as that Person who is in the midst of a Tempest at Sea longs for a Calm and a favourable Gale or as he that is seized with a violent Distemper wishes earnestly for Health for none knows so well how to value these things as he who looks upon them in a contrary State and hath the Impressions still remaining Therefore I shall the rather speak a Word of that which I have already mentioned That we may the better preserve this Tranquility of Mind and by that means live Happily not only when at rest and out of the incumbrance of Business but also in the midst of the greatest and most important Employments Of Life and of Active Felicity AS this supposes that there are two kinds of Life and likewise two kinds of Felicities the one in Contemplation the other in Action wise Men have still preferred a contemplative before an active Life However this does not hinder those whom either their Birth Genius or necessity of Affairs have ingaged in Business from being altogether incapable of enjoying a Tranquility of Mind for whosoever undertakes this goes not Blindfold to Work but after he hath for some time seriously consider'd and taken a due prospect of the state of human Affairs not as from the midst of the Crowd but as from a higher Station and understands that in the active course of Life there may happen many Accidents that all the Wisdom of Man cannot foresee provides if not against each particular yet against the general Difficulties that may occur Such a one is always upon his Guard ready to take Advice upon all suddain Emergencies he knows that he can command what is in himself but cannot govern what depends not upon his free Will he acts according to his Power and does what becomes the Duty of an honest Man and afterwards whatever happens he thinks that he ought to be Content and Satisfied he dont flatter himself with the certainty of a happy success of all his Undertakings but thinks that matters may sometimes happen contrary to his Desires and Endeavours and therefore prepares himself in such a manner that tho he may experience Adversity he may nevertheless bear it
the most general and easie Means to procure this freedom from Pain is Temperance and an exquisite Sobriety For by this Means we may if not altogether remove at least very much correct the hereditary Diseases avoid such as we contract by our own Miscarriages and free our selves from such as are already contracted Let us observe only That he who enjoys a freedom from Pain may without any bitterness possess the different kinds of Pleasures as well those of the Body as of the Mind and Health As Plutarch very well compares Health to the Tranquility of the Sea in regard the Sea gives an Opportunity to its Inhabitants to breed and conveniently to bring up their young so Health affords to all Men a Means to perform all the Functions of Life conveniently and without Pain Therefore saith he tho' Prodicus maintains and hath elegantly describ'd That Fire is the greatest Seasoning of our Life Nevertheless some may correct his Fancy and inlarge upon it by saying That Health gives a supernatural Relish seeing that neither boiled nor rost nor any other Meat whatever Haut Goust they have can give any Relish to such as are sick or to such whom some distemper hath put out of order whereas in a healthful Constitution every Morsel is pleasant and grateful to the Appetite Now the same may be said of the Pleasures that relate to the other Senses for to a sick Body the Delights which otherwise are lawful and honest displease the Smelling is not refresh'd with Sweet Odours the Ear cares not for Musick nor does the Sight rejoyce in beautiful Objects Nay our Entertainments Publick Shews our Recreations in Walking Hunting and other such like Divertisements cannot please and are of no service for want of this Seasoning and without which Pleasure it self as we have said is no Pleasure As all this is most certain in regard of these Pleasures of the Body it is doubtless much more in respect of that of the Mind for it is apparent that neither in Sickness or under any grievous Pain no Man can study read or meditate for while the Soul is united to this crasy and mortal Body there is such a Union between these two Parties that the Body cannot suffer but the Soul must feel it and be drawn tho' against its will from its most pleasing Objects for the afflicting Pain employs all the Thoughts and Attention of the Mind Happy therefore are they who by their natural Constitution enjoy a sound Health free from Pain and consequently more capable in taking Pleasure in the study of Wisdom Happy are likewise such who tho they have an infirm Body yet govern it with so much Prudence and correct it with that Temperance that if they dont altogether avoid all Pain yet they make it so light and easy to be born that it proves a small Impediment to the full enjoyment of the Pleasures of the Mind Therefore the First ought to take heed how they disturb or by their Intemperance weaken the sound Constitution of their Bodies and the other ought to amend theirs and to bring it as much as is possible to this State of Indolency And both of 'em should take care of their Bodies if it were only for the sake of the Soul which cannot be well while the Body is sick Here we must truly acknowledg that tho the chief part of Happiness consists in the Tranquility of the Mind yet we must not despise the other part which consists in the freedom from bodily Pain I confess there be some who believe that it is a crime when it concerns the chief good or the business of Man to joyn the advantages of the Body to them of the Mind and consequently believe That it is an unworthy Deed to joyn that freedom from bodily Pain with the Tranquility of the Mind But as these are Stoicks or such as affect to follow them I cannot but mention here what Cicero himself says against them when addressing himself to Cato he begins with this Principle of the Stoicks That we are recommended to our selves and that the first Inclination that Nature hath bestowed on us is Self-preservation that we may preserve our selves such as we ought to be that we are Men made up of Soul and Body and therefore according to our original and natural Inclination we must love these Things and make them the end of that chief Happiness which consists in the acquisition of such Things as are according to Nature Now saith he seeing these are our Opinions and that you assign that to be the End to live according to Nature shew us now how you can maintain That to live honestly is barely and absolutely the chief Good How have you so soon forsaken the Body and all those Things that are according to Nature If we sought for the chief Happiness not of Man but of some other Creature which were all Spirit that End that you speak of would not be the only End of that Spirit for it would desire Health and to be free from Pain it would desire also its own Preservation and whatsoever might tend to it and it would propose to it self to live according to Nature which is as we have said to possess all things agreable with Nature at least in some measure if not in the most considerable part Vertue alone say they is sufficient to render us happy and the Goods of the Body are but as it were small Appendages which are not capable of rendring Life more happy But truly a Man in grievous Pain would be very much obliged to him who would free him from it And if a wise Man were condemned by some Tyrant to encounter with Pain his mortal Foe he would muster up all his rational Faculties to assist and support him in so difficult and dangerous a Combat And then goes on Every Creature of whatsoever Nature loves it self for where is that Creature which forsakes it self or any part of it self or the use of that part or any of the things which are according to Nature and its state and frame Certainly no Person hath forgotten his first Constitution but retains his first Faculty from the beginning to the end How can it therefore be that only Man's Nature should suffer Man to forget his Body and should place his chief Happiness not in the whole but in one part of himself Wisdom hath not begot Man but hath found him begun by Nature If there were nothing to be perfected in Man but some Motions of the Soul that is to say of Reason Wisdom ought to have no other aim but Vertue which is the perfection of Reason So also if there were nothing to be perfected but the Body its chief end would be Health a freedom from Pain Beauty c. But here is a Question concerning the chief good of Man who is composed of Soul and Body Why dont we therefore seek his chief good in relation to his whole Nature They who place it in one or t'other
on a Man of Understanding as Custom hath over a Man of meaner Parts I need not mention here that it is no new or extraordinary thing for good Men to be clapt up in Prison that there are many whose Virtue never appears more glorious than in Fetters and under Confinement and when they are freed they return with so much Splendor and Advantage that their very Confinement seems to be desired Of Slavery THE same may be said of Slavery The Mind of a wise Man is too great to be brought under the Dominion of a Master His Body the meanest part may indeed be enslaved but for his Soul this noble and excellent part 't is too much at liberty and soars so high that it s out of the reach of any Fellow-Creature to catch at to subject it to his Dominion Every one knows how much Courage and Constancy of Mind Epictetus manifested when he was obliged to be a Servant And none can be Ignorant what answer Diogenes gave to those who came to Buy him and asked him what he could do Said That he knew how to command Men And turning himself immediately to the Crier he bid him cry out If any would buy a Master Afterwards when he came to Xeniades who was the Buyer he spoke to him in this manner Take heed what you do for tho I am your Slave you must hereafter obey me as the Patient obeys the Physician the Child its Governor tho the Physician be Slave to the Patient and the Governor to the Child Moreover whereas the wise Man having long since considered and meditated upon the state of Human Affairs finds that he has not the Command of Fortune but as Unhappiness befals others it may also light upon him He understands likewise that being Born a Man he is subject to â—ll Human Casualties and therefore stands always ready and prepared to receive all the Shocks of Fortune so that there is none but he can with Patience submit to and thereby render it not only tolerable but in some measure Easy and Pleasant If the Master commands he obeys willingly and as if he had undertaken the Task of his own accord it is much at one to him if he does it by another's Command or out of his own Choice He is glad he has Strength sufficient to undergo what is commanded him and an Opportunity offered of exercising a Faculty which otherwise might become benumm'd and useless He thinks himself happier than his Master being only in subjection to his Will and having nothing else to do but obey his Commands whereas his Master remains under the Tyranny of many Masters more Cruel and Troublesome his Ambition Envy Anger and other Passions so that in short he must needs be much the happier being freed from a thousand Cares and Distractions which the other is daily liable to I shall not mention how many have met with very good and favourable Masters under whom at last they have not only obtain'd their Freedom and got great Preferments but have been made Heirs of their Estates and how many having fallen into the Hands of Masters who were wise and learned Men have had cause to desire their Slavery as the Servant of Epicurus named Mus and Cicero's Slave called Tyro and several others Of Shame and Disgrace A Wise Man will still more willingly bear Shame and Disgrace when it is thrown upon him if he be satisfied of his own Innocence and that he has no way justly deserv'd it For whether it consists in being depriv'd of some publick Office Honour or Imployment even for this he may congratulate his good Fortune in having an opportunity of retiring and leading a private and quiet Life which otherwise he could not easily have obtain'd tho perhaps he earnestly desir'd it Or if it consists in the Whisperings and Reports that arise from among the People he hath too great and noble a Soul to value such Rumours He knows the Temper of the Populace to be very mutable that they will this Day applaud what they will to Morrow decry being never long pleased but as we say more fickle and unconstant than the Moon His Conscience stands him instead of a thousand Witnesses his satisfaction is that he cannot justly charge himself with any Crime with any Guilt In short if it consists in the Calumnies and Slanders of envioâ—â—â—â—d malicious Men or in opprobrious and injurious Language he is not of so mean a Spirit as to be cast down and discouraged for he does not take them as Injuries done to himself but gives them only the hearing as if they concerned him not as if they were related of some other or of him who was the first Inventer Therefore he who first unjustly rais'd em has more reason to be concerned for falsly accusing the Innocent nor will he be a little dissatisfied when he finds his mischievous Intention thus disappointed A wise Man further considers the great number of Fools there are in the World and if he should once think himself offended hereat he would be deemed one of that Number which must in no small measure disturb the quiet of his Mind Therefore he Arms himself before-hand against all such kind of Affronts by overlooking them and thinks that he ought no more to be moved at the Revilings of evil Men than the Moon is at the barking of the Dogs Of the loss of Children and Friends BUT what shall we say of the loss of Children and Friends and in one Word of all that is dear to us A wise Man will the less afflict himself because he knows that our Complaints our Sighs our Tears and our Lamentations are useless and that it is in vain to deal thus with Death who is not to be prevailed upon and never restores to us the Friends which it once snatches from us Therefore he prepares himself early for such Accidents which he knows may happen that when they do he may bear them with Courage and not be afflicted in vain Besides he observes That when wâ— are thus griev'd for the loss of our Children or Friends 't is not for their sakes but for our own that we thus lament and are troubled For to be grieved because they are safely arrived into the Haven and are no more vexed with the Evils and Miseries unto which this Life is subject this savours of Envy and Cruelty and to be troubled because they don't enjoy certain Pleasures of this Life is Weak and Ridiculous because they don't desire or stand in the least need of 'em and therefore are not at all displeased or so much as sensible of being deprived of ' em It makes therefore a very specious shew but at the same time is but a feigned and dissembling sort of Pity with which we adorn our Grief when we declare that we are grieved for their sakes seeing that in reality 't is for our own because for the time to come we shall be deprived of their Company because we shall receive no
more kind Offices as formerly no more Honour and Respect but be deprived of every thing that might render them dear and acceptable unto us Therefore a wise Man will think it unbecoming him to grieve in this manner for his own Interest as if he would have had them live only for his private Ends and so long only as they might be useful and serviceable to him and not so long as the wise Disposer of all Things had thought good and convenient for them to be Besides He may remember the time that he had no Children and if it was not grievous then to be without them so he ought not to think it so now he is deprived of 'em seeing in respect of him they are as when they were not And if we grieve more for the privation of what we once possess'd than to be without what we never had this seems to savour a little of the Ingratitude of the Vulgar who instead of being thankful for what they once enjoyed are still murmuring and repining because they can enjoy it no longer And he whom Death deprives of his Son may with more comfort support it considering that he hath not lost his Son but yielded him back to the Author of Nature who had lent him to him for a time and intrusted him with his Custody not for ever but for a limited time And if it be a Father who is dead a wise Son will consider that he hath left him enough to make his Life easy and preserve him from want if he hath left him only a Soul that can be content with little And if it be a Friend he will suppose that he hath still so much Virtue as to procure another so that he may think that he hath not so much lost as chang'd his Friend Of the loss of an Estate WHat shall we say likewise of the loss of Riches A wise Man will certainly so much the less concern himself for that he will consider as we have elsewhere observed That no Man becomes so Poor as to be deprived of the absolute Necessaries of Life seeing Nature places them within our reach in all parts of the World and certainly he were much to be blamed that should torment himself for the loss of that which is not absolutely necessary to his well-being and which he may live very well and happily without Let what we have remaining be never so small we may always find a great number of Persons who have not so much or perhaps no more and yet without troubling themselves lead more contented Lives than rich Men generally do Let them be never so Poor they Laugh and Rejoyce and their Pleasure is so much the greater in that they are freed from those Cares and Troubles which are inseparable from Riches But suppose a Man's Fortune be changed to the greatest disadvantage so that instead of a Palace there remains nothing to him but a Cottage instead of a Silk Garment one of Wool instead of Partridges nothing but black Bread instead of Wine cold Water instead of a Coach or Sedan a Traveller's Staff instead of a Golden or Silver Cup nothing but an Earthen Vessel or the Palm of his Hand and so of the rest Suppose I say all this how many Examples can we produce of those who have been satisfied with these mean Things have laugh'd and despis'd that deceitful Splendor and have spent their Days with more Pleasure and Content than those who abounded with ' em And how many are there at present who live very contentedly and happily after such a change nay who willingly part with their Riches to enjoy a more retir'd and contented way of Life We need not therefore here enumerate those primitive Philosophers who out of an Affection to Learning and the Pleasure of a free and contemplative Life forsook their Riches and embraced Poverty For we have of late discovered whole Nations who having no need of those Goods that we call Riches lead an innocent Life like to that of our first Fathers whose Times were stiled the Golden Age and supposed to be the happiest of all Ages But if you Fancy that it is more grievous to fall from a great and high Fortune than to have always remained in a low Condition 't is easy to perceive that this is nothing but an Opinion for in respect of the thing it self there is no difference if you have been Poor a long time or if you are become so of late unless perhaps you suppose that we are to think as Apicius did who as Seneca reports having amass'd a vast Estate together alotted some Thousands of Pounds for his Kitchen but when upon making up his Accounts he found that he had not above an Hundred thousand Pounds remaining poyson'd himself to prevent Starving Of Pain and of Death IN the next Place let us treat about Pain and Death those two Particulars which in Cicero's Opinion require an extraordinary courage of Mind to be able to overcome them For Pain as it is almost the sole and only substantial Evil or which depends not as the rest upon meer Fancy no doubt there is much Fortitude and a Greatness of Soul required patiently to undergo it A wise Man therefore will here seriously consider that he is born subject to many Inconveniences of Life and among the rest to Pain that it is the Property of Nature to be sensible of Evil but it is the Property of Virtue to bear it with Courage and that when the Evil is not to be avoided we ought rather to allay it by a patient quiet submitting to it than to aggravate and incense it by uneasy and vain Struglings Also that Pain is not a thing altogether intolerable seeing so many famous Examples prove the contrary not only among great Hero's and Philosophers such as Zeno and Anaxarches but even among the very Slaves themselves witness him whom the greatest Tortures could not hinder from expressing a joy upon his Countenance for having reveng'd the Death of his Master by killing Asdrubal who had Murdered him Nay whole Nations can testify the like as for Instance the Lacedemonians whose Children were wont to whip one another almost to Death and yet never shewed any sign of Pain either in their Countenance or Speech that so they might be rendred more capable of undergoing any thing for their Countries sake I shall not name that other Person who knowing that it was reputed no Shame among his Country-men to Steal but to be caught in the Theft suffered his Bowels to be devoured by a little Fox that he had Stole and hid in his Bosom without expressing any sign of Pain for fear of discovering the Theft He will also consider That if the Pain be light it is easy to be born if great that it is so much the more Glorious and Honourable to endure it with Courage and that by frequent Custom it will become more supportable or that being of no long continuance it will speedily
attends those who do not greatly seek it and as often flies from those who eagerly pursue and hunt after it So true is it saith he further That there is some secret hidden Power that over-rules human Affairs and seems to delight and sport it self with over-turning Crowns and Dignities and trampling 'em under Feet Vsque adeo res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevasque secures Proculcare ludibrio sibi habere videtur Of Destiny AS to what concerns Destiny Homer speaks more plainly of it than of Fortune for he makes Hector say That if the Destinies don't appoint nor order it nothing is able to take away his Life beside but no Man can avoid his Destiny Nam nisi Fata vocent nemo me mittat ad Orcum At Fatum vitat nemo mihi crede virorum Now tho' Cicero fancies that Fate and Destiny is but a foolish idle and superstitious Name Anilis plenum superstitionis fati nomen and Epicurus That 't is only a fantastical Name and that nothing is done by Destiny Nevertheless as there have always been Maintainers of Destiny some taking it in one sense others in another we must here endeavour to understand the several Opinions into which they have been divided Among these Opinions there are two Principal for some will have Destiny to be Divine others a meer Natural thing The First were the Disciples of Plato and the Stoicks according to whose Opinion Plutarch Chalcidius and some others look upon Destiny or Fate in two manners First As a Substance which they took for God himself or for that eternal Reason which from all Eternity hath ordered all things and hath so joined all Causes both Superior and Inferior together that all that happens either Good or Evil happens persuant to these Causes They bestowed several Names upon this Divine Substance or Reason for sometimes they termed it as Plato The Soul of the World The Reason and the eternal Law of the Nature of the Vniverse And sometimes as Zeno and Chrysippus The moving Virtue of Matter a spiritual Virtue and the Reason of the Order that Governs and Rules all Things Sometimes God Jupiter Understanding or Intellect as Aristotle and Seneca And sometimes with Heraclitus The Reason that penetrates into all Things And sometimes as Pythagoras The governing and ruling Cause of all Things both Vniversal and Particular Secondly As an Act namely in part for the Decree it self or for the Command by which God hath established and ordained all things and partly for the Order it self that Consequence and Concatenation of Causes at first appointed in which it pursues its course without varying in the least from the Rules and Methods at first prescribed For thus they spoke of it when they called Destiny The Law of Nature The Companion of the Whole The Daughter of Necessity The Order that includes and comprehends all other Orders Or as Chrysippus saith A certain eternal and immutable sequel of Things c. Sempiterna quaedam indeclinabilis series rerum catena volvens semetipsa sese implicans per aeternos consequentiae ordines in quibus apta connexaque est To which Lucan seems to allude in these two Verses At simul à prima descendit origine Mundi Causarum series atque omnia Fata laborant And Hesiod when he speaks distinctly of the three Parcae which Spin the Life of Man the first is named Atropos because the Time past is irrecoverable which is as the Thread spun and wound in the Spindle The second is called Clotho because of the Time present that runs which is as the Thread in the hand of her who Spins The third is Lachesis because of the Time to come or the hazard which is as the Wool or Flax that is not yet twisted Lachesis in Plato is said to govern the Time past Clotho the present Atropos the future That which is added of Lachesis that she receives the celestial Actions of the two other Sisters that she joyns them together and that she distributes them here below upon the Earth shews the Opinion of the Astrologers who bind the Fate of Mankind to the Stars and make it to depend upon them and come from them according to Manilius Fata quoque vitas hominum suspendit ab Astris An Opinion among the Astrologers more certain than that of the Sybils and the Oracles which were said to utter forth the Destinies For to hear them speak they seem to be no less acquainted with the Designs and Decrees of Heaven than the Oaks which Plato tells us came forth from Voices of the Enchantresses as Virgil observes Quam comitabantur fatalia carmina quercus Moreover as the Disciples of Plato the Stoicks and the other Patrons of Destiny seem consequently to defend Necessity which Seneca stiles a Necessity of all Things and of every Action which no Violence can break or alter For the Destinies saith he exercise their Right and their absolute and uncontrolable Power without favouring any and without being moved either with Prayers or Compassion they observe their fatal course appointed and irrevocable like as the swift and furious downfal of the Waters from some steep Places which neither go back nor stop for those Waters which follow but continually thrust down the first thus the constant sequel of Destiny makes the order of Things under this first and eternal Law to submit to the irrevocable Decree As therefore they seem to maintain I say a Necessity which altogether destroys the Liberty of human Actions and leaves nothing in our Free-will for that reason these Objections are opposed proceeding from the Inconveniences that will ensue The Chief of these Inconveniences is That if our Souls as they are placed and ranked in the sequel of Things be governed by the Destinies and being deprived of all Libery they act always out of an immutable and unavoidable Necessity the Liberty and ordinary Conduct of the Affairs of human Life fails and all Consultations are useless for whatever you resolve upon there shall nothing happen but what hath been decreed by the Destinies Thus Prudence will become idle and needless the study of Wisdom frivolous Legislators and Tyrants will be equally ridiculous because they command things that we must unavoidably do or what we can by no means perform So that there will be neither Vice nor Virtue nor any thing that will deserve either Praise or Blame seeing that they alone are reputed worthy of Praise who might do ill but behave themselves well and those worthy of Blame who might do well but behave themselves ill In this case no body will deserve Reward for any good Deeds as no body will deserve Punishment for any bad because the first cannot but act well and the latter hath not the Power to forbear and abstain from what is ill Finally if all things proceeded from an unavoidable Necessity in vain should we offer up our Prayers our Vows and Sacrifices c. 'T is
be condemn'd because he laughed at that too great Credulity and Superstition of the Heathens as well in Relation to Divination as in Relation to the Demons but it is to be blamed in that at least he hath not believed in general the being of Spirits seeing that not only Religion but Reason assures us of their Existence as it did really perswade those Philosophers amongst whom Plutarch reckons principally Thales Pythagoras Plato the Stoicks besides Empedocles and some others who affirmed that there were Demons who are living Substances and there are also Heroes who are Souls either Good or Evil freed from their Bodies For tho' they have erred as well in Relation to their Substance as to the Qualities that they attributed to their Demons yet however they judged aright when they believed that there were such But seeing we are to discourse of Divination perhaps it will not be amiss to speak first something of the Demons unto whom it was commonly ascribed Of Demons or Spirits according to the Opinion of Antiquity LET us suppose that they are those unto whom the Holy Writ gives usually the Titles of Angels and sometimes Demons Devils or Satan when it speaks of the Apostate Angels The Heathens call them not only Demons but also Genii tho' amongst them they were reputed to be of a Divine Nature or of a Nature little lower than the Divine They were also named Gods and Demi-Gods and Sons of Gods but yet Bastards as being born of Nymphs c. Not to insist upon the saying of Aristotle that they were separated Substances because not Corporeal and according to his Disciples Intelligences because they have Understandings Intelligences in Latin signifying the same as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek if what Lactantius and Macrobius after Plato have taught us is really true This being premised now that we may the better understand what notion Pythagoras Plato and the rest of 'em had of Demons we must call to Mind what hath been said of the Soul of the World For they who have received this Opinion have fancied that these Demons as well as our Souls were nothing else but Particles or small parcels of the Soul of the World And because they believed also that the Soul of the World was the same as God they imagin'd that the Demons were Particles of the Divine Nature and from them seveveral Heretick have taken occasion to discourse of Angels in the same manner in the infancy of the Christian Church for they fancy them to be taken out of the Divine Substance These Philosophers therefore thought the Soul of the World to be like a vast and bottomless Ocean from whence proceeds Angels and the Souls of Men upon Condition to return back again and reunite at last after a time as so many little Streams that run into the Sea Plotinus seems to compare them to the Body of a Tree whereof Demons and Souls were as the Branches the little Twigs the Leaves the Flowers and the Fruits Thus they fancied that in the same manner as the Water that runs through the Earth carries with it something of the Substance of the Minerals through which it passeth so the Particles of the Soul of the World clothed it often with the Substance of the most subtil Bodies unto which they remained chiefly fixed and tied And as they judged that this Soul though it is diffused through all the World it resided nevertheless more particularly in the upper Region and consequently amongst the Stars and chiefly in the Sun So they believed that when the Celestial Bodies spread abroad their Influences to revive and entertain the earthly Beings that they proceed from Heaven as so many Beams from this Soul that revives all things and that they Incorporate or become Bodies in a differing manner in their Passage clothing themselves with a kind of Airy Habit and remaining afterwards some in the Air and the others proceeding as far as the Earth So that they have believed that these kind of Substances which are thus composed of a thin Body such as is the Air and of a Particle of the Soul of the World are the Demons and the Souls Demons when they continue free from any mixture of the grosser Bodies of this Earth I shall not examin their other Fancy That if the thin Body with which the Particles of the Soul of the World is clothed be found to be of a sweet kind and favourable Composure then in their Opinion they happen to be good Demons or Spirits but evil when it is sharp and malicious Neither shall I take notice of their other Imagination That when our Souls are departed out of our Bodies they become again Demons not immediately nor equally because retaining some Relicks of the Human Body they could not be Demons until they were entirely stript but only Heroes or demi-Gods Let these be mention'd only in reference to the Opinion of those who chiefly follow Hesiod who as Plutarch relates hath made mention of four sorts of Beings that are endowed with Reason the Gods the Demons the Heroes and Men I say those who follow Hesiod for Plato Pythagoras and others who believe these last to be the greatest Protectors of Demons have divided Rational Beings into three sorts namely Gods Demons and Men. Moreover we may shew by several Passages that they fancied these Demons to be of a certain middle Nature between the Gods and Men or as they speak upon the Confines of Immortals and Mortals But no Man better explained this Opinion than Apuleius for after that he had said that 't is by their Means and Mediation that there is a Correspondence between the Gods and Men and as the other Regions of the World have their Beings to inhabit and live there so the Superiour Region hath the Stars the Fire the small Animals mentioned by Aristotle the Sea Fish the Earth all our Terrestrial Animals So the Air ought not to be without its Inhabitants which are the Demons In this manner he explains himself The Bodies of the Demons saith he have very little weight which hinder them from ascending to the highest Regions nor are they so light as to fall down to the lowest They are Creatures of a third Nature suitable to the middle Region where they dwell They are between the Gods and Men being immortal as the Gods but subject to Passions as Men for as they are as we subject to Anger and to Mercy and like us suffer themselves to be overcome by Prayers and Intreaties by Gifts and Honours so they are like us stir'd up to Wrath by Injuries and Contempt In a Word saith he Daemones sunt genere animalia ingenio rationabilia animo passiva corpore aeria tempore aeterna Where you may observe what he saith of Eternity cannot agree with the Opinion of others who make them subject to Generation and Corruption unless we understand a long time for Eternity For as these last say Man is said to be Mortal because of the
Dissolution of that part by which the Soul is tied and joyned to the Body tho the Soul by that means never perisheth so the Demons ought to be reputed Mortal because tho that Beam of the Divinity which makes up the principal and intelligent part of their Being never perisheth yet this part is separated from the thin Body unto which when it is united it is reputed a Demon. This is likely to have given occasion to what we have before spoken of their Opinion That the Demons did sometimes become Gods as heretofore the Egyptians believed concerning Isis and Osiris Hercules Liber and others as Plutarch observes And by that we may understand what Jupiter speaks in Ovid That he hath Demi-Gods Their dwells below a Race of Demi-Gods Of Nymphs in Waters and of Fauns in Woods Who tho not worthy yet in Heaven to live Let them at least enjoy that Earth we give But tho all this be full of fabulous Inventions however we may thereby perceive that the antient Philosophers allowed the existence of Demons and that several have treated about 'em and declared them to be of a Nature differing from the Divine Nature But if they have fancied them to have Bodies this Opinion is to be excused among those Philosophers because 't is but of later Ages that we have been better instructed that God alone was a Spirit without Body they being persuaded that Angels and the Souls of Men were made of a very fine and thin Substance and for that reason there is nothing to hinder the assigning to them Images tho they are persuaded also that they are Immortal by the special favour of God The Reason that induced these antient Philosophers to believe that there are Demons seems to be grounded upon the Notion they had of the Divine Providence for tho they believed that God takes care of all Things yet they fancied nevertheless that it did not become his glorious Majesty to extend his Care to every particular Person by himself and without some Ministers that might execute his Orders They therefore imagin'd that God keeps his Court in Heaven is attended by Ministers and Servants always ready to obey him by whose means he provides for all the World but especially for this inferior World They called these Ministers whom they acknowledged to be very nimble and active Beings and to us invisible Demons but they assigned the name of Genii to those whose chief office is to take care of Men. Now tho we cannot but acknowledge that they have hit upon a real Truth seeing 't is certain that there are Spirits and Angels in the World who are God's Ministers and who give their assistance especially to Men nevertheless this Opinion is to be understood with caution for to speak absolutely 't is not unbecoming the Majesty of God to do all Things and provide for all Things of himself for 't is from him that all his Ministers have received all their Strength and Power and 't is he who is present at the doing of every Thing and assists every particular Action by his Divine Influence So that God makes use of Ministers not because 't is below him not to make use of 'em or because he is not able to govern otherwise But because we suppose the State of the World to be such as he will have it and that he hath thought it convenient thus to order it But let this be as it will their Fancy appears not only conformable to this distinction of the Hierarchies and celestial Orders taken out of the Holy Scriptures but to those Doctors also and learned Divines who hold That God hath ordained particular Angels to watch for the preservation of divers kinds of Beings of several sorts of Animals and Plants c. And who judge that there is no Absurdity that there should be sometimes in the Air Demons or Spirits who by the permission or command of God do wonderful Things as to cause Showers of Blood of Stones Thunder and Storms or extraordinary Earthquakes And truly if we may believe Philo Those which the Philosophers call Demons are the same with those whom Moses names Angels namely Souls that fly about the Air that the Air might have its Creatures as well as the Earth the Water and the Fire have theirs Besides in Holy Writ we read of certain Powers of the Air Nay some use Inchantments against Demons who mix themselves in the black and thick Clouds from whence we usually apprehend the coming of Thunders Hail and Storms That which these same Philosophers speak of Genii namely that there is one Chief who governs a whole Nation and therefore called the Genius of the People or Nation and a particular Genius for every Man which is chiefly and properly stiled his Genius is also agreable with what we say in other Words The protecting Angel of a whole Nation and the Guardian Angel of every private and particular Person For God saith Epictetus hath given to every Man a tutelar Genius that watches continually that never Slumbers and cannot be deceived O Mortals when you have shut your Doors upon you and closed your Windows and that you are buried in Darkness never fancy your selves to be alone and take heed of acting any thing unjust You are not then alone God is in your Chamber and your Angel is there they have no need of Light to see what you are doing and contriving Plato speaks almost the very same Thing and is of Opinion That every one of us have our Guardian from whom we can conceal nothing and who is a constant Witness of every thing that we do whether it be Good or Evil and for whom we are to have a particular Respect These Philosophers also were persuaded that there were good and evil Genuii whom we name good and evil Angels for they thought that the good Things came from the Good and the Evil from the mischievous Angels Now that God suffers evil Angels or Demons to be the Enemies of Men and to endeavour to destroy them this relates to the general Providence of God who hath done nothing but for just and reasonable Ends tho not known nor discoverable to Men. And we may say in a Word that God suffers them as well that good Men might be exercised and that by their Sufferings and Patience they might deserve more as that the Wicked by their means might be Punished That which we ought here to add is That tho we are sometimes tempted by the Devil that we are not therefore to pretend that to be a sufficient Excuse for the Evil committed as if it were only the Work of the Devil for the Holy Scripture declares That every one is rather tempted and drawn by his own Lusts Hereby we ought to understand that we have no reason to fear so much the Devil as our selves and that we ought to accustom our selves to allay the Fire of our Concupiscence and Lust by Temperance that so we might the easier frustrate all
not possibly Conceive because her Womb was closed up Another tells her that doubtless she was with Child because nothing is sealed or closed up in vain and without cause What ought we to think of that Conjectural Art which is to no other end but to delude and deceive us by the subtilty of Wit Is it that the great number of Observations and Precepts that the Stoicks have gathered concerning this matter signifies any thing else but a little Cunning and Subtilty which from some likelyhood carries its Conjecture now this way than another Suppose one should now find a Serpent twin'd about the young Roscius yet in his Cradle which perhaps was false but if there should be found one in the Cradle there is no great wonder because the Serpents are very common and numerous at Celoin they being often found by the Fire-side I know that these Soothsayers pretend that there is nothing more Illustrious nothing more Noble more Excellent than their Art I wonder why the Immortal Gods should be willing to shew such strange and miraculous Thing in favour of a Charlatan and that they would never shew so much Favour to a Scipio Africanus For as to that Divination which is without Art we might justly take for Fabulous such as that related amongst the Heathens of certain Spirits that appeared openly and familiarly discoursed and foretold things that were to come For to mention something of that of Brutus that told him that he should lose the Day at the Battel in the Fields of Philippi and that he would there appear to him We must observe that Brutus having revealed this Apparition the foregoing Night to Cassius the next Morning Cassius told him that this supposed Apparition or Spirit was but a Mist before his Eyes or of his deluded Imagination And that this was the more probable because Brutus was of a Melancholy Temper as Plutarch observes that the troubles of his Mind so oppressed him that he seldom slept and when he considered in what danger the Common-wealth was and remembred that Pompey had been unhappy in a like cause he pondred what Resolution he might take if things succeeded not well and that which is considerable ruminating and thinking upon these and such like things when the Night was well spent all his Camp very silent all their Lights out and he half asleep 't is no wonder that he then thought he had seen and heard his Genius or Spirit because he was perswaded by the Doctrines of his Sect being a Stoick that there were good and evil Spirits besides there are four Circumstances that discover in what disturbance his Mind was then in and that we may suppose him to have been but in a Slumber or as we say Dreaming or half asleep The first is that he enquired of his Servants if they had heard nothing This shews that he himself was doubtful whether this had happened to him awake or asleep The second that the Domesticks answered him that they had neither seen nor heard any thing nevertheless if it had been so they could not but have seen that monstrous Image or Appearance at least to have heard its Voice which Brutus declared to be to this effect I am O Brutus thy evil Genius thou shalt see me again at the Fields of Philippi The third that his Servants should have heard the Speech of Brutus to the Spirit when he askt it whether it was a God or Man and what it would have Ecquis tu Deorum aut hominum es Ecquid tibi vis qui ad nos venisti And that Word which he spake without being daunted after the Spirit had discoursed with him Videbo The fourth is that Brutus according to the Relation of Plutarch was settled in his Mind after that he had heard and advised with Cassius by whose reasoning he understood that all this was but a meer Dream But what shall we say of that famous Genius or Demon of Socrates 'T is true Socrates himself speaks of it diversly in several Places but as this Philosopher was altogether employed about prescribing Precepts of good Manners he may perhaps make use of this cunning to add a greater weight to his wholsome Admonitions for we may know well enough with what authority he speaks who is supposed to be divinely Inspired Besides when Simias in Plutarch made it his business to inquire of Socrates himself what this Genius was Socrates never answered him a Word This shews sufficiently that Socrates would not tell a lie by confirming it nor would deny it by answering for fear that his wholsome and good Councils should lose thereby their Authority and Influence So that we may suppose that the Genius of Socrates was nothing else but his Reason his Wisdom and Natural Prudence which had been empowered by a constant and continual Study of Philosophy and which discover'd to him what was best to be done and furnished him with those good Counsels which he imparted to his Auditors and this is so much the more probable because Xenocrates one of the Disciples and Successors of Plato and who consequently ought to know the Thoughts of Plato and of Socrates saith That he is happy who is inriched with a good Soul and that such a Soul is to every one of us a Genius or advising Spirit And Plato speaks in this manner of that most excellent part our Soul That God hath bestowed it upon us to be as our Demon that inhabits in the highest and loftiest Fortress of our Bodies and that he who takes care of that divine Spark within him and who emproves well his familiar Spirit becomes extraordinary Happy Clemens Alexandrius speaks almost to the same Purpose when he teaches That Happiness is nothing else but to emprove well our Spirit or Genius and that the principal part of our Souls is called by the name of Demon. As to what concerns that supposed Agitation by which the Spirit being as it were out of it self and seperated from all Matter foretold things to come this supposeth that the Spirit is a Particle of God or of the Soul of the World and by that means knows all things as being of the same Nature with God who is present in all Actions and every where and therefore is ignorant of nothing Now the Disciples of Plato and generally all those who are perswaded that our Soul is part of the Soul of the World fancy that when the Soul is ingaged in the Body it sees not plainly all things as that Soul doth whereof it is a Particle but nevertheless that it is in a possibility to see and know them first when it is stirred up by the strength of certain Diseases for Aristotle acknowledgeth that in those Persons who are troubled with Melancholy there seems something Divine which predicts the time to come Secondly when it withdraws its self in its own Being and is in a perfect Tranquility and Sequestring it self at the same moment from the Thoughts and Incumbrances of Corporeal
Matters and is if we may so say altogether in its own Power which happens as they say chiefly in Dreams or when we are ready to die and when it begins to free it self from the Clog of the Body for these be the very Words of Plato cited by Cicero Plato therefore appoints us to prepare and dispose in such a manner our Bodies for sleep that there may be nothing to cause a mistake or disturbance for this cause the Disciples of Pythagoras were forbidden to eat Beans because this Food causeth the the Stomach to swell and begets Wind and Vapors that disturb the Tranquility of the Mind when therefore in our sleep the Spirit is disengaged from these hindrances of the Body it calls to Mind the time past sees the present and foresees the time to come for the Body of a sleeping Person is like that of a dead Man but his Spirit is living and in its full Vigour But not to stay here to refute this Persuasion because 't is a meer Fable to say that our Souls are the Particles of the Divine Substance and that there are some who can Prophecy in their Madness in their Melancholy or in their Sleep Let us only conclude with Cicero's Words That 't is very absurd to believe that God sends Dreams for that they are incident not only to Men of Sense and Honour and Wisdom but even to Men of meanest and lowest Degree Of the Oracles LAstly for the Oracles and those Predictions that are ascribed to the Sybils and to the Prophets when they were possess'd with a divine Fury that disturb'd them caused their Colour and Countenance to change their Head and Breast to swell in such a manner that they were quite out of breath and as it were ready to expire as Virgil excellently represents it Thus while she laid And shivering at the sacred Entrance staid Her Colour chang'd her Face was not the same And hollow Groans from her deep Spirit came Her Hair stood up convulsive Rage possess'd Her trembling Limbs and heav'd her labouring Breast Greater than Human Kind she seem'd to look And with an Accent more than Mortal spoke Her staring Eyes with sparkling Fury roul When all the Gods came rushing on her Soul I shall not say that this kind of Fury seems not becoming the Divine Majesty and therefore Cicero hath great cause to speak of it in these words What Reason or Authority can you produce for this Divine Fury Can it be suppos'd that what a wise Man cannot foresee a Fool or a Man depriv'd of his Senses should be able to discover I shall only observe some Particulars that will discover to us the Vanity and Folly of the thing The first is the affectation of delivering their Oracles in Verse and not in Prose We have already observed that the Disciples of Epicurus made but a sport of those Verses as being ridiculous and unworthy of the Divinity In this manner Cicero speaks of them These Verses which they say the Sybil in her fury made and pronouc'd savour more of Cunning and Subtilty than of Transport and Disturbance of Mind for the Author who compos'd them hath artificially contrived that whatsoever happen'd it will seem to be thereby foretold for they express nothing precisely nor plainly neither of Men nor Times but have designedly made them obscure that they might seem at another time to be fit for other purposes all which does not denote a Person in furious Transports but one who is sensible and cautious of what he doth or saith The Second particular is this Amphibologia or manner of delivering these Oracles with a double Signification which Savours of a Subtilty that is no greater than what belongs to Man Besides among many of those who are most Famous there are several that are forged and invented meerly for Pleasure For Example in relation to these Craesus the Halys passing shall destroy A mighty Mass of Wealth Pyrrhus thy Force the Romans shall destroy Cicero informs us that the First was never given to Croesus and that Herodotus may have invented it of his own Head as Ennius contrived the latter And especially as to the latter for that it was certainly forged at pleasure and that it was never delivered to Pyrrhus because Apollo never spoke in Latin and that in the Days of Pyrrhus Apollo had left off making Verses The third particular is the Juggling or Forgeries related at large by Eusebius which prove that the Oracles were never delivered by the Gods or by the Demons but that they were contrived by cunning Knaves Cheats and Impostors as Lucian very well observed when he tells us by what means he himself discovered all the Subtilty by which the false Prophet Alexander had made himself so famous in the Oracle He saith moreover that this false Prophet hated very much the Christians and the Epicureans because they maintained that the Oracles were nothing but meer Lies In this manner Eusebius speaks of them They have among them Promoters and Ministers of their Cheats and Tricks who walk up and down and round about to inquire diligently and ask those who came for what purpose and upon what occasion every one comes to consult the Oracle They have in their Temples a great many dark Corners and Places to retreat and hide where the People are not to enter and where they place themselves to hear what is spoken without being seen So that the Darkness of the place the Precaution the Superstition of those that come and the Authority of the Ancients who have believed in these Oracles are of great use to 'em We might add also the Folly and Stupidity of the People who never try nor examin things and the Dexterity the Cunning and Subtilty of those who manage the Business and who promise to every one pleasing Things and entertain all the World with fair Hopes c. He relates afterwards their ambiguous manner of speaking their unusual and barbarous Words and the affected composure of their Expressions how often the Oracles have been proved guilty of Falshood and how often those who by their Advice have undertaken Wars and have met with very ill Success how many Persons they have deluded unto whom they promised Health and Prosperity And after his Conclusion from hence that they were no Gods but Impostors who uttered these Oracles he continues and goes on thus But why do you think it is that they thus court Strangers and give them such great Encouragments more than the Inhabitants of the Place who are their Friends or Fellow-Citizens unto whom they should consequently endeavour to render the Gods more Propitious than to others who are no ways related to them The Reason is plain for it is much more easy to deceive Strangers who understand not their Jugglings than Neighbours who are acquainted with all their slights and cunning This shews sufficiently that there is nothing here Divine nothing that is above the Reach and Contrivance of Man Afterwards he reckons