and inspiring Genius whilst he compos'd some of his immortal Works He desired much to have had Issue by her and perform'd the last Offices to her in the following Verses which express with Passion his Conjugal Affection HELPES dicta fui Siculae Regionis Alumna Quam procul à patria Conjugis egit amor Quo sine moesta dies nox anxia flebilis hora Nec solum Caro sed Spiritus unus erat Lux mea non clausa est tali remanente marito Majorique animae parte superstes ero Porticibus sacris tam nunc peregrina quiesco Judicis aeterni testificata Thronum Ne qua manus Bustum violet nisi fortè jugalis Haec iterum cupiat jungere membra suis Vt Thalami CumulÃque comes nec morte revellar Et socios vitae nectat uterque Cinis In English thus Led by the Charms of my kind Lord I came To Rome Sicilian HELPES was my Name My Days Nights Hours he did with Pleasure crown One were our Bodies and our Souls were one Though forc'd from hence I do my Fate survive Whilst still my nobler Part in him doth live A Stranger in this sacred Porch I lie And of th' Eternal Judg I testify O let no Hand invade my Tomb unless My Lord would mingle this my Dust with his As once one Bed then should we have one Grave And I in both shou'd him my much-lov'd Partner haue His other Wife was RVSTICIANA Daughter to Quintus Aurelius Memius Symmachus who was also Chief of the Senate and Consul in the Year CDXXCV By her he had many Children two of which were Consuls viz. QVINTVS ANICIVS SYMMACHVS and ANICIVS MANLIVS SEVERINVS BOETIVS in the Year DXXII. this bearing the Name of his Father the other of his Grandfather Boetius well considering that Symmachus his Father-in-law being without Heirs-male he shou'd do a grateful thing to him if he gave his Name to his eldest Son by his Daughter 'T is likely that his Wealth was not small because besides that he owns in his Writings that he liv'd in great Plenty and Splendour and that he had an Abundance and Affluence of all worldly things his Father supported the honourable Office of the Consulate and his Grandfather in the most difficult times of the Empire commanded the Pretorian Bands Nor was he only considerable by his Patrimony for he had a great Accession to his Fortune by his Wife RVSTICIANA to whom and her Sons the whole Estate of Symmachus did descend since Galla the other Daughter of Symmachus upon the Death of her Husband who died young soon after the time of his Consulship was expir'd vow'd perpetual Chastity and associated her self to the Vestals To these Ornaments of Birth and Fortune Nature added also the considerable Faculties of Speaking and Writing in which he so excell'd that himself acknowledges the first and that the second was not wanting to him will appear to any one who examines what he has written upon the several Subjects of Mathematicks Logick and Divinity But this Divine Work of the Consolation of Philosophy doth far exceed the rest for it abounds in various and difficult Arguments and yields many choice Sentences and Rules of Life Upon every Subject which he attempts he does so acquit himself that none can be said to have taught more accurately to have prov'd more irrefragably or to have illustrated with more Perspicuity To be short he had so much Strength of Soul and Thought and he shew'd so much Judgment in all his Managements that even a most knowing Prince fear'd his Parts and his Vertues and Integrity became his Crime and wrought his Ruine These were the Causes of his Banishment and Death With these he studied to defend the good and to curb and restrain ill Men whenever it was in his Power For whilst he sustain'd the Dignity of Master of the Offices it being dangerous for him then to refuse to do so he was made President of the Council to whom it belong'd to oversee the Discipline of the Palace and being Partaker of many of the Secrets of his Prince was call'd often to advise him in his weightiest Affairs of State and on all these Occasions he gave great Proofs of his Abilities and inviolable Equity Amongst other of his generous and good Actions he defended Paulinus and Albinus both Consulars and the Senate it self with the rich Province of Campania against the Rapine and Violence of King Theodorick Cyprian Triguilla and Conigast and also against the devouring Avarice of the Captain of the Guards and other barbarous Spoilers By these Proceedings he became the Object of ill Mens Hate and incurr'd also the Displeasure of the King But at this very time the Orthodox Emperor Justin succeeding to Anastasius the Arian like a new Sun enlightned the Oriental Regions with the Light of the true Faith He confirm'd that Peace which was desir'd by Theodorick King of the Gothes who then Odoacer being slain reign'd in Italy He having reconcil'd the Church of Constantinople and also several others to Hormisda Bishop of Rome did immediately by his Edict banish all Arians except the Gothes out of the Eastern Empire Theodorick the Goth was troubled at this Action above measure however he dissembled his Resentment when behold three Informers Men of desperate Fortune and worse Lives Gaudentius and Opilio for several Offences being condemn'd to Banishment and Basilius lately dismiss'd from being Steward of the King's Household and also much indebted apply to the King and accuse BOETIVS for that he should hinder an Informer from bringing in his Witnesses to prove the whole Senate guilty of Treason that he declar'd his Design by several Letters of restoring the Liberty of Italy and that he had endeavour'd to raise himself to Honours by magical Arts and other unlawful Means Theodorick jealous as all are of the Rights and Safety of his Crown and fearing too that if the true Religion should be asserted the Romans being more addicted to Justin would attempt some Great thing and knowing that what was done in the East against the Arians was done at the Request and in favour of Hormisda and the Senate of Rome did give ready Faith to those Accusers and immediately sent them to the Senate at Rome from which Place this good Man was then far distant where they were to present their Accusations and to declare that the Lives and Safety of the Prince and of all the Gothes were now in great Jeopardy So to the Grief of all good Men the innocent Boetius absent unheard and undefended was condemned to Death and to Proscription But the King fearing that Justice and all the World would have but too good Cause of Offence against him if this Man should die he changed his Sentence from Death to Banishment that so he might be a Terror to other People and he might still have him in his Power to make a Sacrifice of when his barbarous Soul should thirst after Blood Therefore in the Year
which are to be done and he doth in several Ways and according to Time administer by Fate those very things which he hath so disposed So then whether Fate be exercised and moved by some Divine Spirits which attend upon Providence or by some Soul or by the Ministry of the whole Body of Nature or by the Celestial Motions of the Stars or by Angelick Vertue or by the manifold Subtlety of Demons whether good or bad or if by any of these or if by all of them the Series of Fate is woven This certainly is manifest that the immovable and simple way of doing things is Providence and that the movable Contexture and temporal Order of those things which the Divine Purity fore-disposed and ordered to be done is Fate Hence it is that all things which are under the Dominion of Fate are also subject to Providence which commands even Fate it self But some things which are placed under the Guidance and Protection of Providence are wholly exempt from the Jurisdiction of Fate and surmount the Series of it and those are such things as are stably fixed near to the Divinity and are above the Order of fatal Mobility For even as amongst several Circles turning about the same Centre that which is innermost approacheth most to the Simplicity of the middle Point and is as it were a Centre round which they may turn to those placed without it and that which is outermost rolling in a greater Circuit the further it departs from the middle Individuity of the Point so much the more Space it doth fill but yet if any thing should join and fasten it self to the Point it is constrained to be immovable and ceaseth to be dilated By parity of Reason the further any thing departeth from the first Mind that is from God it is so much the more embarassed and faster bound in the Bonds of Destiny and every thing is by so much the freer from Fate by how much it approacheth nearer to the Centre of all things And if it closely adheres to the Firmness of the supreme Mind without moving it goes beyond the Necessity and Power of Destiny As Ratiocination then is to the Intellect as that which is begotten is to that which hath a proper Being as Time is to Eternity as the Circle is to the Centre so is the movable Order of Fate to the stable Simplicity of Providence This Order moveth the Heavens and the Stars tempereth the Elements and maketh them agree amongst themselves and by an alternative Change transforms them It reneweth all things which are born and which die by the like Progressions of Sexes and Seeds This binds together the Actions and Fortunes of Men by an indissoluble Connection of Causes which since they proceed from the Origine of immovable Providence must also themselves necessarily be unchangeable For so things are always best governed if that pure Simplicity or Singleness dwelling in the Divine Nature may produce that unalterable Order of Causes for this Order by its own Unchangeableness and Constancy may restrain those things which in their Nature are mutable and which would otherwise rashly and irregularly float about Hence it is that although things may seem confused and disturbed to Men who cannot aright consider this Order nevertheless the proper Manner and Course of every thing directs and disposeth it to the true Good For there is nothing done for the sake of Evil no not by the most flagitious Wretches who as I have fully before demonstrated are in their Researches after Good diverted by crooked Error whilst the Order proceeding from the Centre of Sovereign Good doth not mislead any from its Principles But thou mayst say what greater Confusion can there be that both prosperous and adverse things should by times happen to good Men and that evil Men can enjoy what their Hearts can desire and yet be afflicted too with things which they hate Do People live now a-days so vertuously and with so much Integrity that those whom Men think good or bad must necessarily be either But in this the Judgments of Men disagree much For those whom some judg worthy of a Reward others think to deserve Punishment But let us grant that it is possible that some one may be able to distinguish betwixt the Good and the Bad Is it possible therefore that he should look into the inward Temperament of the Mind and pronounce of it as one may of the Body But it is miraculous to him who knows it not why sweet things should be agreeable to some Bodies and bitter to others and why some sick People are eased by Lenitives others are helped by sharper Medicines But it is no wonder to the Physician who knoweth the Measure and Temperament of Health and Sickness But what other thing is it that makes the Mind healthful and strong than Goodness And what is its Sickness but Vice Who is the Preserver of Good and the Driver away of Evil other than God the great Ruler and Physician of the Mind who when he looks about him from the high Observatory of his Providence sees and knows what is convenient for every one and then accommodates him with the Convenience Hence then proceeds that remarkable Miracle of the Order of Destiny since the all-knowing God doth that at which the Ignorant are astonished But now that I may glance at a few things concerning the Depth of the Divine Knowledg which humane Reason may comprehend that Man whom thou believest to be most just and the greatest Observer and Maintainer of Equity of that Man I say the all-knowing Providence doth think otherwise And (q) My Familiar Lucan Lucan is here stiled by Philosophy Familiaris noster Lucanus because he was a Philosopher and a Vein of Philosophy seems to run through the whole Work of his Pharsalia my Familiar Lucan told us that the vanquishing Cause was pleasing to the Gods but the vanquish'd to Cato Know this then that whatsoever thou seest done contrary to thy Hope or Expectation that notwithstanding the Order of things is preserved right and entire but to thy perverted Opinion it seemeth Confusion But let us suppose that a Man may have behaved himself so well that the Approbation of God and Man may both agree in him but he is perhaps of a weak Courage so that if any thing cross should befal him he will forgo his Innocence since with it he cannot retain his Fortune The wise Dispensation of Providence then spareth him whom Adversity may make worse lest he should be put to labour and travel who is not able to undergo such Hardship nor to bear Afflictions Another Man is Master of all Vertues is holy and one who draws nigh to God Providence judgeth it Injustice that that Man should be oppressed by any Adversity so that it will not suffer him to labour even under any bodily Distemper But as (r) One more excellent than I. It is supposed that our Philosopher meaneth here Hermes Trismegistus He
been formidable to Cyrus and being taken by him was led to the Flames to be a miserable Sacrifice to his Fury was delivered by a Shower which in that Moment was poured down from Heaven Hast thou forgot how Paulus Aemilius Consul of Rome when he had taken (f) Perseus The Son of Philip last King of the Macedonians was overcome by Paulus Aemilius the Roman Consul at Samothrace and with his Sons led in Triumph When he was first taken and brought before Paulus he pitying his Fortune wept and commanded him to sit down by him Perseus King of the Macedonians was grieved and even wept for his Sorrows and Captivity What doth the Tragick Buskin more exclaim against than Fortune overturning with an undistinguishing Stroke the Happiness and Peace of Kings and Common-wealths Dist thou not learn when thou wert young that Jupiter at the Entry of his Palace of Olympus doth always reserve * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two great (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Doctrine of the Platonists Boetius learnt when he was a young Student at Athens For those Philosophers finding that the Souls of Men which they believed were formed long before they were joined to the Bodies did some of them live miserable and some of them more happy feigned that two great Vessels did stand before the Gates of Jupiter's Palace one of which was filled with Good the other with Evil of either of which as the Souls which were to be infused into Bodies did drink they were to have an happy or a miserable Lot upon Earth Tuns out of the one of which he dispenses Good out of the other Evil to the World What if thou hast drunk too deep of the Vessel of Good What if for the present I have only vailed my self and am not wholly departed from thee What if even this very Mutability so much complained of which is of my Essence should give thee just Cause to hope for and expect better things Yet do not despair be not dismayed nor desire whilst thou art plac'd within the common Circumstances of Humanity to live under a Law to be calculated for thy Meridian and to be appropriated to thy Complexion and Inclinations METRUM II. I. Si quantas rapidis flatibus incitus Pontus versat arenas c. If Plenty from her teeming Horn As many Riches on the World should pour As there are Sands upon the briny Shore Or Stars in Heaven before the purple Morn In the triumphal Chariot of Day All seen from far upon the Eastern Way Yet would not miserable Man Cease to complain But with his causeless Cries He would importune Heaven and pierce the Skies II. Although his Prayers reach the Almighty's Ear Though with Success he crown his Vow Though Wealth and Honour on him he confer Yet Cares his Mind and Clouds possess his Brow He thinks his present Blessings poor And wildly gapes and ever calls for more What Curb or what commanding Rein Can Avarice within just Bounds retain Since when full Streams of Blessings on us flow Our Thirst doth still increase our desires still grow The Man who thinks he 's poor though rich he be Doth truly labour under Poverty PROSA III. Phi. IF therefore Fortune should speak for her self to thee on this manner I believe thou hast not any thing to answer or if thou hast any thing by which thou canst defend thy Complaint offer it and thou shalt have free Liberty to speak Boet. These things which thou urgest are indeed specious being enriched with all the Charms of Rhetorick and Musick yet their Sound then only affects and delights us when they strike our Ears But the Miserable have a much deeper Sense of their Misfortunes which these Notes cannot remove and when they leave off to entertain our Ears their Sorrow which is settled within with greater Force attacks the Mind Phi. So it is indeed for these are not Specificks for thy Disease which rebels against its Cure but rather Nourishers of it when time serves I shall administer those things which will pierce to its bottom But nevertheless that thou mayst not number thy self amongst the Miserable let me ask thee hast thou forgot the measure of thy Happiness and Prosperity I speak not of the Care which the Chief Men of the City took of thee when thou wert left an Orphan when thou wert grac'd with the Affinity of those great Personages and wert taken into their Affections before thou wert received into their Alliance which is the most happy and estimable kind of Propinquity Who did not account thee most happy in the Noble Alliance of thy (h) The Fathers-in-law of Boetius were Festus and Symmachus of whom mention is made in the Life of Boetius Fathers-in-law in the chaste and exemplary Vertues of thy (i) Though Boetius had two Wives Elpis and Rusticiana yet I suppose mention is made here only of Rusticiana because she only was living at that time when this Book was composed Wife and in the Noble Dispositions of thy (k) Boetius had four Sons Patricius Hypatius Symmachus and Boetius that two of these were Consuls is certain but which they were I do not find Sons I pass by for common things I will not mention those Dignities conferr'd upon (l) Boetius being young was admitted into the Order of the Patricii and perhaps he had been honoured with the Consulate which Dignity was rarely conferr'd upon any one before the 30th Year of his Age. thee in thy Youth which have often been denied to antient Men for I am impatient to come to that which was the Crown of thy Felicity If the Fruits of humane Labours can have any Weight of Happiness can the Memory of that Day for any Evil which may since have befallen thee ever pass out of thy Mind in which thou sawest thy two Sons advanced to the Degree of Consuls carried from thy House accompanied by so great a Number of Senators and with the Joys and Acclamations of the People when thou sawest them in the Court placed in their (m) Curule Seats It was the Ivory Chair which was in the Chariot in which the Chief Magistrates of Rome did ride From hence they were called Magistratus Curules who only had the Right of setting up Images Curulis a curru dempto altero nam Senatores qui Curulem magistratum i. e. majorem bonorem gerebant honoris gratiâ in Curiam vehi soliti erant Curru in quo sella erat Eburnea supra quam considerent Gell. Curule Seats and thy self in the Praises of the absent King Theodorick didst display the Treasures of thy Wit and didst deserve the Crown of Eloquence when in the (n) The Circus It was a Place of an Oval Figure in which the Romans by the Appointment of Tarquinius Priscus one of their first Kings did exercise their Games from whence those Games were called Circenses Custom required afterwards that every one who was
perspicuous Truth without difficulty and they resemble those Birds which see well by Night but are blind in the Day-time For whilst they do not regard the Order of things but only their own disordered Affections they vainly imagine the Power of doing Evil or Impunity after it is acted to be an Happiness But now behold what the Law Eternal delivereth Conform thy Mind to the best things and then thou shalt have no need of a Judg to confer upon thee a Reward since thou hast adjoined thy self to the most excellent things But if thou art inclined to Impiety and dost imbrace wicked Practices seek for no Avenger without for thou hast sorfeited thy Advantages and associated thy self with the worst of things as if thou shouldst by turns sometimes behold the Heavens sometimes the sordid Earth and that all other things ceasing from without thy Eye should seem to carry thee now above the Stars and that again thou shouldst be placed upon the Earth But the Multitude doth not consider this What then Shall we put our selves into the Company of those which I have before shewed to resemble Beasts What wilt thou say if a Man who hath quite lost his Sight and hath also forgotten that ever he saw and should think that he wants nothing to render him perfect should we therefore judg those who retain their Sight to be blind also Either will the Many acquiesce in what I shall say although it is supported by as firm Reasons to wit that those are more unhappy who do than they who suffer Injuries Bo. I would willingly hear those Reasons Ph. Canst thou deny but that all ill Men deserve Punishment Bo. No I cannot Ph. But I am throughly satisfied that impious Men are many ways unhappy Bo. Certainly they are so Ph. Then thou doubtest not that those who deserve Punishment are miserable Bo. I agree Ph. If therefore thou wert to be Judg to which dost thou think thou wouldst adjudg Punishment to him who hath done or to him who hath suffered the Injury Bo. I doubt not but that I should adjudg Satisfaction to the Sufferer by punishing the Doer of Wrong Ph. The injuring Person then would seem more miserable to thee than him who had receiv'd the Wrong Bo. That follows Ph. From this then and from several other Reasons founded on the same bottom it appears that Impiety properly and by its own Nature makes Men miserable and that an Injury done to any Man is the Misery of the Doer and not of the Sufferer But now Orators and Advocates run a Course contrary to this For they endeavour the Pity and Compassion of the Judges for those who suffered any thing bitter or grievous when the juster Pity is due to them who did the Wrong who should be led to Judgment as the Sick are to the Physician not by angry but by merciful and compassionate Accusers that so they may by the Application of Punishment as a fit and proper Remedy be cured of the Malady of the Crime By this means the Employment of this kind of Defenders would either wholly cease or else that it may be more to the Advantage of Mankind it would be turned into an Habit of Accusation and would always be forward to accuse and not to excuse ill Men and even those Wretches themselves if they could through the least Hole or Chink behold that Vertue which they have forsaken and see that they should be in some way of cleansing themselves from their filthy Vices by receiving the Pains and Torments which are due to them they ought for the Recompence of regaining the Vertue from which they have fallen not to esteem them so but should chearfully refuse the Defence of their Advocates and give themselves up wholly to their Accusers and Judges Hence it is that the Wise hate no Body For who but the most foolish would hate good Men and it is irrational to hate the most profligate For if a depraved Temper be as it were the Sickness of the Soul since we do not think those whose Bodies are distempered to be worthy of our Hate but rather of our Compassion much less are those over whom Vice more cruel than any bodily Distemper hath gain'd the Ascendant to be adjudged so but are rather to be looked upon as Subjects of our Pity METRUM IV. Quid tantos juvat excitare motus Et propria fatum sollicitare manu c. Why should vain Man so great Commotions raise Why with his Hand should he his Fate convey If Death be sought that comes and never stays For winged Steeds to help it on its way They whom the Lion and the rugged Bear The Indian Tiger and the foaming Boar With eager Teeth and with arm'd Claws do tear Do stain their Swords in their own reeking Gore Is it because their Manners diff'ring are And that their many Customs disagree That they unjustly thus engage in War And fiercely urge each others Destiny This Reason is not just for shedding Blood Wouldst thou to each Man give what he deserves Love as by Right thou art oblig'd the Good And pity him who from fair Vertue swerves PROSA V. Boet. HERE I plainly see what Happiness or Misery is placed in the Deserts of good and of evil Men. But in this same common Estate of Fortune I perceive something both of Good and Evil For no wise Man had rather be expos'd to Banishment Poverty and Ignominy than excel in Riches Honours Power and continue in a flourishing Estate in his own Country For in this the more clearly and openly the Duty of Wisdom doth appear when the Happiness of the Governours is in some measure diffused and communicated to Subjects whilst Imprisonment and all legal Punishments are only due to those pernicious and profligate Citizens for whom they were at first instituted and appointed Why then should things suffer so unnatural a Change Why should Punishments due to Crimes oppress the Good and the Rewards of Vertue be born only by wicked and flagitious Men These things I much wonder at and I desire to learn from thee what may be the Reason of so unjust a Distribution For my Wonder would be less did I believe all things to be governed by Chance But now even God the Governour of all things doth heighten my Astonishment who whilst he doth often distribute good things to the Good and evil things to the Wicked yet doth sometimes give to the Vertuous an hard Portion and to the impious Man he grants his Heart's Desire What Difference then is there to be found unless Men may be acquainted with the Cause betwixt his Proceedings and the Actings of Chance Ph. Nor is it at all to be admired if Men fancy something rash and confus'd in these Methods of Acting if they are ignorant of the Reason of that Order by which God proceeds But although thou art ignorant of the Cause of this great Disposal of things yet because the good Governour of all things doth temper and
Prophesying by Jupiter Hence Hor. l. 2. Sermon Sat. 5. Hoc quoque Tiresia praeter narrata petenti Responde quibus amissas reparare queam res Artibus atque modis O nulli quicquam mentite vides ut Nudus inopsque domum redeam te vate This Prophet used to speak ambiguously as others who pretended to that Gift did and was used to say Quicquid dicam aut erit aut non When Horace in the same Place O Laertiade quicquid dicam aut erit aut non Divinare etenim magnus mihi donat Apollo Tiresias who said Quicquid dicam aut erit aut non All that I shall say shall either happen or shall not Or how much doth Divine Providence differ from humane Opinion if it make uncertain Judgments of things as Men do the Events whereof are not certain But if there can be nothing of Uncertainty in him who is the sure Fountain of all things the Event of those things must be certain which he firmly did know before would happen Whence it follows that Men have no Freedom in their Counsels and Actions which the Divine Mind foreseeing all things without Falsity or Error doth strongly bind and necessarily oblige to one Event And if it be once granted that there is no Freedom of Will it is very evident how great the Confusion and how mighty the Distraction will be of humane Affairs For in vain are Rewards and Punishments propos'd to the Vertuous and Flagitious which have not been deserved by any free and voluntary Motion of the Soul And that which is now adjudged to be the most just will be esteemed the most unequal thing in the World which is that evil Men should be punished and the good rewarded whom their proper Will doth not incline either to Vertue or Vice but who are by a certain Necessity imposed upon Futurities compell'd and thrust forwards towards both Nor would there be such things as Vertue or Vice but rather an undistinguished Mixture and Confusion of all Rewards And from this also it will follow that since all Order is derived from Providence and that nothing is left free to the Counsels and Intentions of Men that also our Vices shall be referr'd to the Author of all Good than which no Opinion can be more impious And of this it will also be a Consequence that Men shall have no Reason either to hope for any thing from God or to pray to him For for what should any Man either hope or pray since the Series and the unalterable Course of Destiny knitteth all things together which are desirable Therefore that only Commerce and Alliance which is betwixt God and Men I mean the Liberty of Hoping and Praying shall be abolished and quite extinguished For at the just Price of Humility and Vertue we deserve the inestimable Reward of Divine Grace And these are the only Means to wit Hope and Prayer by which Men seem to have Power to speak with God and to be advanced and joined to the inaccessible Light even before they obtain their Requests And if Men believe that Hope and Prayer have no Power because of the Necessity of future Events what thing is there then by which we may be united and may hold fast to God the Prince and Director of all things Wherefore Mankind must of necessity as thou didst sing a little before be dissevered and disjoined from its Good and must shrink from its Beginning METRUM III. Quaenam discors foedera rerum Causa resolvit c. Tell me what disagreeing Cause Loosens the Bands and from their Laws All Beings frees what powerful Hand Doth make the two (e) Great Truths They are the Divine Providence and the Free Will of Man great Truths contend Which separate subsist and be Yet when they 're join'd do disagree Tell me can Truths then never differ And do they still agree together The Mind with Members cloth'd and Night Can never with her darkned Sight Bring the close Bonds of things to light But why doth Man disturb his Mind The hidden Notes of Truth to find Knows he what he to know desires But who for what is known inquires If not what blindly seeks he Who Wisheth for that he doth not know Or in pursuit of it why doth he go Or if he seek where shall he find The Thing or if Chance be so kind To shew it to him how shall he When found know what its Form should be Or when the Soul doth God behold Can it all Principles unfold But whilst in Flesh it now is hid It doth not quite it self forget With it the Sums of things remain Though it Particulars doth not retain Who to seek Truth then doth advance Is not in either Circumstance For every thing he knoweth not Nor hath he wholly all forgot But of what to his Thought doth come He recollects and weighs the Sum That he may add those Parts which he Hath lost to those kept in his Memory PROSA IV. Phil. THIS is the old Complaint against Providence and the Question hath been much agitated and canvas'd by (f) M. T. Cicero Videas lib. 2. de Divinatione Marcus Tullius Cicero in his Book of Divination and thou thy self hast considered it much and long and made deep Researches into it but it hath not yet been diligently and thorowly determined by any of you And the Cause of these Difficulties is that the Motions of humane Ratiocination and Discourse cannot approach to the Purity of the Divine Prescience which if Men would any way comprehend there would be no doubt or scruple left Which Difficulties I shall endeavour to clear to you and remove when I have explained and answered those Reasons by which thou hast been moved For I ask why thou dost not think the Reasons of those who attempt to solve this Question efficacious and satisfactory which because they cannot maintain that Prescience is a necessary Cause of things to come think that Free-will is nothing hindered by Prescience Let me ask dost thou draw an Argument of the Necessity of future things from any other Topick than this that those things which are foreknown cannot but come to pass If therefore Foreknowledg imposeth no Necessity upon future things as thou thy self a little before didst confess what is it which may constrain the voluntary End of things to a certain Event Now for Argument-sake that thou mayst better understand what Will follow let us suppose that there is no Prescience Shall therefore as much I mean as in that lies those things which proceed from Free-will be constrained to submit to the Laws of Necessity Bo. No certainly Ph. Let us then again suppose that there is such a thing as Prescience but that it doth not bind things by Necessity the same entire and absolute Liberty of the Will will I think remain But thou wilt say that although the Prescience of things to come doth not intimate a Necessity of their coming yet it is a Sign that they
SEVERINUS BOETIUS ANICIUS MANLIUS Ex veteri Natua marmorea quâ—… est Roma ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS BOETIUS OF THE CONSOLATION OF Philosophy In Five BOOKS Made English and Illustrated with NOTES By the Right Honourable RICHARD Lord Viscount PRESTON LONDON Printed by J. D. for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-noster-Row and Francis Hildyard Bookseller in York MDCXCV TO THE READER A Long Retirement in the Country having afforded me many Hours of leisure I considered that I could not employ them better than in giving an English Dress to this Part of the Works of Boetius intituled Of the Consolation of Philosophy Chaucer the antient Poet of our Nation was the first whom I find to have attempted a Translation of this Book into our Tongue but that is now almost as unintelligible to the English Reader as the Original is the Alterations of our Language which he is said before any of our Country-men to have endeavoured to refine having been very many and great since the times in which he flourished I have also seen two other Translations the one of them published in the Year 1609. The other only of four Books in that of 1674 imprinted at Oxford and though I shall not censure either of them I may modestly say that I see nothing in them which may hinder me from offering one to the Publick which may be more correct In this small but most admirable Book are to be found great Variety of Learning many weighty Sentences much well-digested Morality and exact Rules for Life This and the other Works of our Author shew him to have been a Man of comprehensive Learning and of great Piety and Devotion and his Constancy in Suffering makes him appear to have been of as great Vertue and Courage He fell into ill Times living when the Roman Empire was just expiring being brought to its Period by the violent Irruptions of several Northern Nations which flowed down upon it like an impetuous Torrent whose Force was not to be resisted but did carry all things before it it being then the Custom of those People who lived Northwards beyond the Rhine and the Danow born in an healthful and prolifick Climate to abandon their native Countries when they were over-stock'd as they often happened to be and to seek new Habitations By this Means the Face of Italy and indeed of a great Part of Europe was overspread with Barbarism Arts and Civility were buried in their own Ruines and all was subjected to the Will and Violence of bloody Conquerors In the worst of these Times this good Man endeavoured to maintain the Rights of his Country and was the great Supporter of that small Part of the Roman Liberty which remained desiring nothing more than to see it one day restored but it was not the Pleasure of Heaven to grant his Desire it rather thought fit to permit him to fall into the Hands of his Tormentors whose Persecutions and Cruelties only ended with his Life and under the more barbarous Treatment of those who gave a Liberty to their Tongues as appeareth in several Parts of this Book to traduce and vilify his afflicted Vertue to debase and decry his Sufferings who handled his Wounds without Compassion and who by stabbing his Fame and Reputation became more criminal than those partial Judges who condemned him to Death and more bloody than those Executioners who acted the Tragedy upon his Body Hence it is that we may find him to have been the Subject of Reflection and Discourse to the Assemblies of the Pretenders to Policy the Enquirers after and Tellers of News who were generally the Knaves and Fools of his Country and of those mean-spirited Men who being at a Distance from the Dangers and Misfortunes with which he was oppress'd thought they might safely pass a Censure upon his Actions and Carriage like Plowers plowing upon his Back and making their Furrows long and so at his Expence advance a little Trophy of Reputations to themselves by pretending perhaps that their Demeanour should have been with more Firmness if they had been in his Circumstances when most of them had not Souls calmly to think upon what he with Constancy and Bravery did endure It is true that this way of treating Unfortunate though Good Men as it had a Beginning long before the Times of Boetius so daily Experience shews that it hath been carefully continued since even to our own and will be carried on doubtless till all things shall have an End He from whom Fortune hath withdrawn her kinder Influences and upon whom those who under God govern the World do not think fit to shine whatever his Merits may have been before will find himself exposed to all the Injuries which his Superiours Equals or Inferiours shall think good to heap upon him He becometh a Reproof to all his Enemies but especially amongst his Neighbours his Kinsfolks and Acquaintance stand far off him and are afraid of him and they who see him without do convey themselves from him He becomes like a broken Vessel and is clean forgotten like a dead Man out of Mind He heareth the Blasphemy of the Multitude which is always as ill-grounded as it is loud and the Drunkards make Songs upon him So that the Observation made by the ingenious and learned Mr. Dryden in his Dedication before the Translation of Juvenal pag. 35 36. appears to be very just which is that amongst Men those who are prosperously unjust are entituled to a Panegyrick but afflicted Vertue is insolently stabbed with all manner of Reproaches No Decency is considered no Fulsomness is omitted no Venom is wanting so far as Dulness can supply it for there is a perpetual Dearth of Wit and Barrenness of good Sense and Entertainment But these are the ordinary Turns of Providence to which all Men ought to submit as those who are endowed with Piety and good Sense do with Willingness ever making the right Use of them without being surprized at them because they know that that Happiness is only to be found within themselves which others so anxiously hope and seek for from foreign Objects This makes the worst of Evils Banishment or Death to be endured with Chearfulness by Men of great Souls they knowing that the Persecution of this World is to be the last Proof of their Patience and Fidelity and that when that is at an end their Vertue shall be rewarded and crowned It now remains that I acquaint the Reader with the Design of this Book and also that I say something concerning my Performance upon it Our Philosopher here attempts to bring Man to a true Understanding of the Sovereign Good of humane Minds for some time after the Creation of the World he lived and acted according to the Divine Rules and the Law of Nature but being fallen into a State of Sin and Impiety he soon lost all his natural and glorious Idea's and Forms and was no longer cherished with the kind Favours
Earth did give Who Nature 's kindly Products thought the best They yet not lost in Luxury Did with the Acorn Hunger satisfy And the most carving Stomach fill They knew not Hypocras nor Hydromel Nor could the differing Elements join Of Honey and of racy Wine Nor did the (r) Serian The Seres were People who Orosius saith L. 3. C. 23. did inhabit a Country betwixt the Rivers Hydaspes and Indus in whose Territories groweth a Tree covered with a small Down according to several Authors as Virgil. Georg. l. 2. Veileraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres And Seneca in Oct. v. 667. Nec Moeni â distinguit acu Quae Phoebeis subditus Euris Legit eois Ser arboribus Claudian also Car. v. 179. Stamine quod molli tondent de stipite Seres This Down is produced from the Bowels of the Silk worm which Worm is elegantly described in the following Verses by Antonius Hallaeus mentioned before Est Olli mater sanies dat frondea Nutrix Pabula Thysbaeo Morus polluta cruore Queis avidam ut clausus latebroso in carcere pavit Ingluviem totoque Satur jam corpore turget Viscera dum vacuans paulatim huic molle figurat Lanicium illuviemque modis in tenuia miris Nec fila teretem glomerans convolvit in orbem Vt verò emeritus perfecit nobile pensum Exanimo similis pretiosâ ut conditus Vrnâ Hic jacet at luci mox redditur induit alas Jamque avis vermis neutrumque denique monstrum est Serian Fleece in (s) Tyrian Is the Purple with which Silks are died and it is called Tyrium venenum because it is a Liquor drawn from a Shell-fish and enters into and infects the Wool or the Silk as Poison doth the Bowels and Veins of those who take it It has the Epithet of Tyrium because Tyre a City of Phoenicia was famous for the Fishery of the Murex which was the Shell-fish yielding this Purple Liquor Tyrian Colours shine II. Our Fathers on their grassy Beds did sleep Had smiling Visions and inspiring Dreams The passing Rivulets and lucid Streams Gave wholsom draughts Vnder the spreading Shade Of the tall Pine through which no Ray could peep The gentle Mortal careless lay Shunning the Heats of the Meridian Ray. III. No Man did plow the Deep or stem the Floods With swelling Canvass and with busy Oar Nor did the Merchant then expose his Goods To sale upon an unknown Shore The threatning Notes of the hoarse Trumpet then Did not the Man of War awake Ambition did no hateful Quarrels make Nor shining Blades wich Purple stain For headlong Fury never could Move Men to go to War When what was got was but a Wound or Scar And there was no Reward for shedding Blood IV. O that those Days would come again Which long ago went floating by And swallowed in the mighty Gulf of Time Make now an useless part of vast Eternity The Love of Wealth doth all engage And more than (t) Aetna The Love of Riches is fitly here compared to the Fire of Aetna for Aetna is a Mountain in the Island of Sicily called now by the Italians il Mont Gibello which always burns and flames and is celebrated by most of the antient Poets Virg. 1. Georg. Vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam Flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa And by several others whose Descriptions of it are common Aetna's Flames doth rage And nothing can the burning Thirst asswage Ill fare the Man who broke the deep And secret Closets of the Earth And gave to Gold and Diamonds a Birth Which in their Causes did desire to sleep And whence a thousand Troubles Men do daily reap PROSA VI. BUT why should I discourse of Dignities and Powers which Men wholly ignorant of the true Nature of Dignity and Power advance and extol to the Skies which if they are conferr'd upon a wicked Man not the raging Flames of Aetna nor the most impetuous Deluge ravage so much nor do so much harm as those Weapons in such an hand I believe you remember your Ancestors desired to abolish the (u) Consular Tarquinius Superbus the last of the Roman Kings being become hateful by his Tyranny to the People who were also the more inraged by the impious Violence of Sextus his Son committed upon the Chastity of Lucretia was expelled by the Assistance of Brutus after he had reigned twenty five Years Then Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus were first created Consuls At length as the Form of the Roman Government had changed from Regal to be Consular so according to Livy it was again changed from that of Consuls to that of the Decem-viri For the Pride of the Consuls every Day encreasing or rather the Fierceness of the People being not wholly subdued which had derived its Original from Shepherds and other savage People who at first for their Defence had gathered into a Body the Consuls were laid aside and the Decem-viri succeeded whose Power because they had acted many things very tyrannically was condemned and taken away the third Year after it had been introduced into the Government Consular Government which gave beginning to the Roman Liberty because of the Pride of the Consuls as their Ancestors before for the same Consideration had banished Kings out of their City But if sometimes which seldom happens good Men arrive at them what other thing is there pleasing in them besides the Probity of those who use and enjoy them So it comes to pass that Vertue receives not Honour from Dignities but Dignities derive Honour from Vertue But what is this Power so much celebrated and so much desired O ye terrene Animals do you not consider who they are over whom you seem to exercise Authority If thou shouldst see an ambitious Mouse claiming a Superiority with her self over the rest of her Species wouldst thou not almost burst with Laughter So then if thou considerest the Contexture and Temperament of his Body what canst thou find in the World more feeble than Man or more subject to Casualties and Misfortunes to whom even a Fly one of the smallest Products of Nature by a Bite or by creeping into the secret Recesses of his Body may be the Cause of Death But why should any Man exercise Authority over another unless it be over his Body or what is yet inferiour to that over his Possessions which are the Gifts of Fortune Shalt thou ever gain an Ascendant over a free and clear Soul Shalt thou ever move the high-born Mind consistent with it self and knit together by the Bands of Reason from the proper Centre of its Quiet When a certain Tyrant once thought by Torments to compel a (w) Philosophy speaks here of Anaxarchus the Philosopher a Follower of Democritus This Anaxarchus having incurred the Displeasure of Nicocreon King of Cyprus was ordered by him to be put into a Mortar and to be pounded with great brazen Pestles He
stretcheth it self to the four Quarters of the World East West North and South Thus Virg. Aen. l. 6. En hujus nate auspiciis illa inclyta Roma Imperium terris animos aequabit Olympo Hic vir hic est tibi quem promitti saepius audis Augustus Caesar Divûm genus aurea condet Saecula qui rursus Latio regnata per aâ—va Saturno quondam super Garamantas Indos Proferet imperium jacet extra sydera tellus Extra anni solisque vias ubi coelifet Atlas Axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum Lands gave Law Which Phebus in his daily Voyage saw Stretching along from the remotest East To th' utmost Point of the Sea-beaten West And all those other Countries did controul Which tow'rds the South reach from the Northern Pole Could Nero's Power remove his Passions Sway Or force his Rage his Reason to obey Power should not added be to him whose Will Before did prompt and urge him to do ill PROSA VII Boe. THOU knowest well that I did the least of any Man covet mortal and fading Possessions I only desired an honourable Occasion of being employed in Business and fit Matter to exercise my Vertue lest it should silently grow useless and old Phi. This is one thing which may tempt I had almost said debauch some Minds naturally well inclin'd and endowed though not yet arrived at the Perfection of Vertue I mean the Desire of Glory and the Fame of having deserved well of ones Country and the Common-wealth but how small and how truly void of Weight even that is do but from hence observe Thou hast learnt from Astrological Demonstrations that the whole Circuit of the Earth bears the Proportion only of a Point to the Greatness of the Heaven that is if it be compar'd to the Magnitude of the Celestial Globe it may be judged to have no Space or Compass And of this small Region of the World almost the fourth Part is inhabited by living Creatures known to us as Ptolomy hath seemed to prove And if thou shalt abate also all which is overflown by the Sea and Marshes and Lakes and also all that Space of the Globe which is desart and overspread with Sands or burnt up by the too near Vicinity of the Sun thou wilt find that what is left for the Habitation of Men is but a very small Proportion And do you who are placed in and confined to the least Point of this Point think of nothing but of propagating your Fame and exerting your Names and making your selves renowned What is there august or magnificent in Glory confined to so small and narrow Bounds Add to this that this little Enclosure is inhabited by several Nations differing in Tongue in Manners and in way of Life to whom as well by reason of the Difficulties and Inconveniencies of Journying as by the Diversity of Languages and the Unfrequency of Commerce not only the Fame of particular Men but even the Names of great Cities cannot arrive In the time of Marcus Tullius as himself in his Writings tells us the Fame of the Roman Common-wealth which was then well grown and robust and redoubled by the Parthians and several other Nations in these Parts was not yet known to those who inhabited beyond the Mountain Caucasus Thou seest then how narrow and strait that Glory is which thou labourest so much to propagate and dilate Dost thou think that the Glories of a Roman Man shall reach those Places where the Fame and Story of the illustrious Roman Common-wealth would never reach Do not the Customs and Institutions of several Countries disagree among themselves so that that which with some is adjudged to be Praise-worthy with others is thought to deserve Disgrace and Punishment Hence it appears that it is not the Interest of any Man who desires Renown to have his Name spread through many Countries and divers People but that he should be content with that Glory and Fame which he can arrive at amongst his Country-men and not care to have the Immortality of it extended beyond the Bounds of one Country But how many Men great and famous in their Generations hath the Carelesness and Neglect of Writers passed by in Silence Although indeed one may justly ask what can such Memorials profit a Man which with their Authors must at length yield to the Powers of Age and be with them buried in Oblivion But Men imagine that they have obtained Immortality if their Names shall but live in future Ages But if they would compare this to the infinite Progress of Eternity what have they which should make them pleased at the Diuturnity of their Fame For if the Duration of one Moment be compared with that of ten thousand Years the Spaces of both being definite it hath some though a very little Portion of it But yet this very Number of Years and as many more as can by Numbers be multiplied cannot at all be compared to endless Duration For there may be some Comparison betwixt finite Beings amongst themselves but there can be none at all betwixt Infinite and Finite Hence it is that Fame however durable and lasting considered with infinite Eternity will seem not only to be little but indeed nothing But you think you cannot do well unless you have the empty Applause of the People and forgoing the Pleasures of a good Conscience and the Consideration of the innate Worth of Vertue and the Pleasure of Actions resulting from it you look for a Reward from the partial Breath and vain Discourses of the Many Observe now how one once ingeniously plaid upon the Lightness and Folly of such Arrogance A certain Person accosted another with contumelious Language who had assumed to himself the Name of a Philosopher not out of a Principle of Vertue but for the itch of Vain-glory and he added that he should now know if he were a true Philosopher by bearing patiently the Injuries offered to him he putting on for a while a counterfeit Patience said then to the other Dost thou now believe me to be a Philosopher He answered smartly again I had indeed believed it if thou couldst still have held thy Tongue What then is it that great and worthy Men for of such I speak who would by vertuous ways acquire Glory what is it I say of Advantage which they receive by a great Name after the Body is resolved into Dust For if which our Reason and Religion forbids us to believe the whole Fabrick of Man Body and Soul is dissolv'd and dies together then is there no Glory nor can there be when he to whom it belongs doth no more exist But if the Soul which hath deserved well when it 's enlarg'd from its earthly Prison doth take a swift and unimpeach'd Flight to Heaven will it not despise the Earth and its Businesses and being wrapt in the Joys of Heaven rejoice that it is wholly exempt from sublunary Considerations and Concerns METRUM VII Quicunque solam mente
and mistaken Opinions of the Vulgar than which nothing can be more mean and base For they who are praised and applauded undeservingly must needs if they have any Modesty be ashamed and blush at the Recital of their own Praises But if Esteem and Praise be purchased by Desert what Satisfaction yet can they add to the Mind of a wise Man who measures not his Good by popular Rumour but by the just Rules of Truth and Conscience And if it seem a fair and noble thing for a Man to have made himself famous and to have propagated his Name then by Consequence it must be adjudged the contrary not to have done so But since as I have before demonstrated there must be many People in the Earth whom the Renown of one Man could never reach then of necessity it must follow that he whom thou accountest glorious must to the greatest part of the World be inglorious and obscure Amongst these things I do not think popular Favour to be worthy to be taken notice of which is neither the Product of Judgment nor ever was or can be of Duration And now who doth not see how vain how empty and how uncertain Titles of Nobility are which if referred to Renown they are wholly foreign to it For Nobility seems to be that Fame and Praise which proceedeth from the Merits of Ancestors Now if Praise can give Nobility they necessarily are noble who are praised Then it follows thou canst derive no Splendor from the Nobility of another if thou hast none of thine own But if there be any Good and Advantage in Nobility I think it is only this that it serves to impose a kind of Necessity upon those who possess it of not degenerating from the Vertues of their Progenitors METRUM VI. Omne hominum genus in terris Simili consurgit ab ortu c. The many Nations of the teeming Earth Do from the same Beginning spring To the same fruitful Loins they owe their Birth They have one Father and one King He to the Moon gave Horns and gave the Ray To Phebus which adorns the welcome Day His Love and Bounty gave the Earth to Men These did with Stars adorn the Sky He in the Body did the Soul inshrine Which noble Part he sent from high All Beings therefore from this Source do flow Out of this Root these noble Branches grow If Men consider then from whence they rise Why should they boast of Pedigree On God their Maker let them cast their Eyes And no one can ignoble be But he who meanly doth to Vice submit And doth his noble Origine forget PROSA VII WHY should I here discourse of the Pleasures of the Body the Desire of which is full of Anxiety and the satisfying of them of Repentance What dangerous Diseases what intolerable Pains being like-Fruits of Iniquity do they bring to the Bodies of those who enjoy them and what Joys are to be found in the Motions of them I confess I know not But this I know that whoever will call to mind his Luxury and Lusts shall find much Bitterness in the Issue of them If these things can make Men happy I see no Cause why Beasts also may not be said to be in a possibility of obtaining Happiness since by their Instinct they are urged to intend and pursue bodily Delights The Satisfaction of having a Wife and Children were great but it hath been said though against Nature that some in their Children have found Tormentors How biting and uneasy the Condition of such is it is not necessary to tell thee who hast before this tried it and who art now under so great a Discomposure In this I approve the Opinion of (y) Euripides Though he was a Poet yet he was also a Philosopher and Disciple to Anaxagoras and in his Andromache he hath the Expression which our Author quotes above Euripides who said that he who hath no Children is happy in his Misfortune METRUM VII Habet omnis hoc voluptas Stimulis agit fruentes c. Those who do Pleasures court must find That they will leave a Pain behind And as the busy Bee Away doth fly when she Hath Honey given so they Will with no Person stay And like that angry Insect so They sorely wound th' Enjoyer too PROSA VIII FROM what I have said then it may without doubt appear that all these mentioned Ways are wrong and deceitful and cannot lead Men to that Happiness which they promise And with how many Evils and Inconveniences they are perplexed I shall soon shew thee Consider then thus Hast thou a mind to amass Wealth then thou must bereave the Possessor of it Wouldst thou shine in Dignities and Titles thou must supplicate him who is the Fountain of them and who only can confer them and so thou who desirest to out-go others in Honour shall by meanly asking it become contemptible Dost thou affect Power thou wilt expose thy self to Danger by subjecting thy self to the Traps and Snares of those who are under thee Art thou desirous of Glory being distracted by sharp and severe Dispensations thou shalt forgo thy Security and Quiet Wouldst thou lead a voluptuous Life think then that all Men will scorn and contemn him who is a Slave to that vile and frail thing his Body And now upon how weak a Foundation do they build upon how uncertain a Possession do they rely who value and affect corporal Delights Canst thou surpass the Elephant in Bulk or the Oxe in Strength Canst thou excel the Tigers in Swiftness Behold the vast Space and Extention of the Heavens their Firmness and the Swiftness of their Motions and then at length cease to admire vile or less things Nor is the Heaven more to be admired for these Qualities mentioned than for those exact Orders and Methods by which it is governed How fleeting and of how short Duration is Beauty and Exactness of Feature how swiftly it passeth fading sooner than a vernal Flower For as Aristotle saith if a Man had the Eyes of a (z) A Lynx It is a Proverb now to see with the Eyes of a Lynx which did arise thus Linceus is said to have been the first who found out Mines of Brass of Silver and of Gold from hence it was fabled that he was so sharp-sighted that he could with his Eyes pierce through the Earth and see what was done in Hell Non possis oculo quantum contendere Linceus Non tamen idcirco contemnas Lippus inungi Horat. Epist l. 1. Ep. 1. Lynx that so he might pierce through every Medium which should oppose him would not he if he looked into the inward Recesses of the Body of (a) Alcibiades He was General of the Athenians one of great Endowments and very beautiful At first his Life was very vitious but afterwards by the Instructions and Perswasions of Socrates he changed his Manners and became vertuous Alcibiades whose outward Form was so fair and charming find it
threefold Nature not that it consists of three Elements as some think but because it is one and the middle one also of three things which by our natural Light we can know and distinguish to wit it is placed betwixt the Mind which we cannot perceive by our Senses and the Body which we may Thirdly it is said cuncta movere not because all Bodies are moved by this Spirit or Soul for many are solid whose Parts do therefore rest and are quiet but because no Bodies may be moved unless this do move Fourthly it is said a Deo connecti because as no Body doth move but by Touch or Contact so this Soul or Spirit of the World cannot move unless it be connected with the Body to be moved but it was connected by God by whom when it was first made it was moved by those Laws of Nature which God himself did constitute Fifthly it is said per consona membra resolvi because this anima mundi is a most liquid Body whose Parts as they are moved and resolved into divers Places so they enter the different Members of the informed Body But these Members are agreeing as amongst themselves so with this Soul or Spirit by which they are to be moved so that the lesser Members have Motion first from the Soul then the greater from the lesser Members and also from the Soul Lastly it is said secta circuire because joining its End to the Beginning of its Motion it may seem to form that Motion into a round And it is cut or divided because it being liquid as Water or Air it is a Mass or Congeries of several little Bodies which as they are moved are separated one from the other This Soul is said to circulate through the Body in which it doth reside because every Body unless it be resisted continueth its Motion So the Sap of a Tree doth rather chuse to ascend to the Top of it than to press it self through the Bark and it is easier for this Spirit or Soul to circulate in its Body than to go out of it several Bodies being ready every where to resist it Middle Soul firmly connect Of th' threefold Nature which each thing doth move Then by agreeing Numbers it resolv'st When that is done and cut into two Orbs It moves about returning to it self And then incompassing the Mind profound Doth by that fair Idea turn the Heaven Thou by such Causes dost produce all Souls And (k) All Souls and lesser Lives Our Philosopher meaneth by this humane Souls and those also of vegetative and sensitive Creatures and he giveth to them the Epithet of Minores because they are included in lesser Vehicles or Machines putting this Difference however between Man and other Creatures that there is in him besides this corporeal Spirit which is subservient to principal Form a Mind which hath the Faculty of thinking from whence it is that this corporeal Spirit loseth in a Man its Name and Dignity and therefore it may be said that in a Man there is only one Soul and that endowed with Reason Esse apibus partem divinae mentis haustus Aetherios dixêre Deum namque ire per omnes Terrasque tractusque maris coelumque profundum Hinc pecudes armenta viros genus omne ferarum Quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas Virg. l 4. Georg. v. 220. lesser Lives thou mak'st them to be fit To their light Vehicles and them dost sow In Heaven and Earth they then again to thee By a kind Law and Ordinance benign Like a recoiling Flame gladly revert O Father let our Minds ascend on high And view thy Throne august let them behold The Fountain of all Good and when we have Found the true Light may our Minds Eyes on thee The noblest Object be for ever fix'd Dispel the Mists remove the mighty Bulk Of Earth-bred-weight and in thy Splendor shine For thou art ever clear thou to the Good Art Peace and Rest whoever seeth thee Sees End Beginning Bearer Leader Path in one PROSA X. NOW that thou hast had the Character of the true and also of the false Felicity truly represented to thee I think it time to shew thee in what the Perfection of Happiness is placed And whilst we are in quest of this I think our best Method will be to examine whether there can in Nature be such a Good as that which thou hast before defin'd lest the Vanity of Imagination and Heat of Thought should deceive us and carry us beyond the Truth of the Matter subjected to our Inquiry But that such a thing doth exist and that it is as it were the Fountain of all Good cannot be denied for every thing which is said to be imperfect is proved to be so by the Diminution of that which is perfect Hence it is that if any thing in any kind be said to be imperfect it is presently understood that in it there is also something perfect For if Perfection be taken away no Man can tell in what that which is said to be imperfect can exist For Nature doth not derive her Origine from things diminished and inconsummate but proceeding from an intire and absolute Substance she extends her self in the remotest and most fruitless Beings So that if as before I have demonstrated there be a certain imperfect Felicity a fading Good there must also be without doubt a solid and perfect one It is most logically and truly concluded said I But where this doth reside continued she thus consider That God the Governour of all things is good is proved by the universal Opinion of all Men. For since nothing can be found out which is better than God who will deny Him to be good than whom nothing can be better Reason then doth so clearly demonstrate that God is good that at the same time it evinceth the sovereign Good to be in him For if it were not so he could not be the Ruler of all things for there would be some Being excelling him which would possess the perfect Good and in this World seem to excel him and be antienter than he We have already shewn that all perfect things excel those which are less perfect Wherefore that we may not infinitely produce our Reasons it must be confess'd that the great God is full of the greatest and most perfect Goodness But we have already shewn that perfect Goodness is true Happiness Therefore it necessarily follows that true and consummate Happiness resides only in the great and most perfect God This returned I I apprehend aright nor can I by any means say against it Then I pray thee saith she see how well and irrefragably thou canst prove what I have said to wit that God is wholly replenished with the sovereign Good How shall I do that replied I Dost thou presume said she that the Father of all things hath received this sovereign Good with which he is proved to abound from any thing without himself or that he
their Souls but only from the Principles of Nature for the Will often pushed on by urgent Causes affects and imbraces that Death which Nature fears and abhors And on the contrary we see that the Works of Generation by which alone the Race of Men is propagated and which Nature always affects often restrained by the Will Therefore this Love which every thing beareth to it self doth not proceed from the Motions of the Soul but from the Intentions of Nature For Providence hath given to all things created by it this greatest Cause and Principle of Duration to wit a Desire of existing as long as it can Therefore doubt not but every Being hath a natural Appetite towards Living and an Abhorrence of Dissolution Bo. I now confess that plainly and without doubting I see those things which before seemed uncertain to me Ph. I go on then Whatever doth desire to subsist and endure doth also desire Unity for if this be taken away its Essence is dissolved Bo. That is most true Ph. Then all things desire one thing Bo. I assent Ph. But I have before demonstrated that that one thing must be that which is good Bo. You have so Ph. All things therefore desire Good which Good you may describe to be that which is desired of all Bo. Nothing is truer For either all things must be reduced to nothing and so being destitute of an Head float and rove about without Governance and Order or if there be any thing to which all things do tend that must be the chief of all Goods Ph. I rejoice but too much O my Pupil for thou hast fixed in thy Mind the very middle and manifest Note of Truth but this thing hath been discovered to thee because a little before thou saidst thou wert ignorant of it Bo. What is that Ph. Thou didst not know what was the End of all things And this is it which every one desires And because we have from our former Arguments gathered that Good is that which is the Subject of all Mens Desires we must necessarily confess that Good is the End of all things METRUM XI Quisquis profunda mente vestigat verum Cupitque nullis ille deviis falli c. Who into Truth doth deep Researches make And would not in his Quest his way mistake Let him into himself revolve his Eye Collect his Thoughts each Property espy Of Beings let him too instruct his Mind That what she seeks without she in her self may find Then that which cloudy Error did o'r spread Will like the Sun exalt its radiant Head For when Oblivion did the Mind invade It did not wholly Light exterminate The generous Seeds of Truth lie close beneath And rise when Learning 's gentle Zephyrs breath Else how could Truth in thy Discourse appear Vnless its hidden Principles lay there So if what (m) Plato in his Phaedo toucheth upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reminiscence It is said there that Socrates had frequently this Saying in his Mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that to learn is no other thing than to remember what had been forgotten before Plato's Muse did sing is true To learn is but Remembrance to renew PROSA XII Boet. I Now very much assent to Plato since this second time thou hast brought these things to my remembrance At first when my Memory was drowned by the contagious Conjunction of my Body with my Soul and then when I afterwards lost it in those Pressures of Sorrow under which I laboured Ph. If thou wilt a little recollect what thou hast granted above thou wilt not be far from remembring that thing of which a little before thou didst confess thy Ignorance Bo. What thing was that Ph. It was by what Power the Universe is governed Bo. I confess I did in that own my want of Knowledg but although I have a Prospect of what thou wilt infer yet I desire to hear it made more plain from thy Mouth Ph. A little time before thou didst think that there was no Reason to doubt but that this World was governed by God Bo. Nor do I think otherwise now nor shall I ever think that it ought to be doubted and I will briefly recount to you the Reasons which lead me to this Opinion The differing and contrariant Parts of which this World is compos'd had never been brought together into one beautiful Form without the Assistance of a powerful Hand to join them And even after such a Conjunction the disagreeing Qualities of their Natures had dissociated the Parts and ruined the Fabrick if the same conjoining Hand had not kept them together For the Order and Methods of Nature could not so certainly proceed nor produce so regular Motions disposed and limited according to Times Places Actings Spaces and Qualities unless there were one remaining fix'd and immovable Being to mesnage so great Varieties of Change I give this excellent Being whatever it is by which all things created endure and are actuated and informed the known Denomination of God Ph. Seeing that thou hast so right a Sentiment of these things there is but little more to be done now that thou mayst once more be happy and safe and that thou mayst revisit thy own Countrey But let us reflect a little upon what we have before proposed Have not we agreed that Sufficiency is of the Nature of true Happiness And have we not granted that God is that true Happiness Bo. We have Ph. And that towards the Government of this World he shall need no Helps or foreign Instruments for if he should he should not then be self-sufficient Bo. That necessarily follows Ph. Therefore by himself alone he disposeth of all things Bo. It cannot be denied Ph. And I have shewed that God is the real Good Bo. I remember it well Ph. By that Good then doth he order every thing because he governs all things by himself whom we have granted to be the Sovereign Good and he is that great and certain Rule and Method of Government which keeps the Machine of the World together giving it Stability and preserving it from Corruption Bo. I entirely agree to this and I did foresee before that this was it which thou wert about to say Ph. I believe it and now I believe thy Eyes are more intent upon these great Truths But what I shall say is not less open to thy View Bo. What is that Ph. Since God is rightly believed to govern all things by his Goodness and all those things as I have before taught to hasten by a natural Bent and Intention towards Good can it be doubted but that they voluntarily submit to his Government and that of their own Accord they willingly comply with and yield up themselves to him their Ruler Bo. That must necessarily be otherwise the Government could not subsist if People were suffered to draw different ways there would be no Safety for those who obey Ph. Is there any Being then which follows the Dictates of
they lose their Vertue they also lose their humane Nature But since only Vertue can carry Men above the common Pitch of Humanity it is sure that those whom Vice hath deposed from the common Condition of Mankind it must also throw below the Merit of Men. Then it happens that you cannot esteem him to be a Man whom you see thus transform'd by his Vices Doth the violent Oppressor and the Ravisher of other Mens Goods burn with Avarice Thou mayst say that he resembles the Wolf Is he fierce and doth he give himself over to Controversies and Chiding Thou mayst compare him to the Dog Is he treacherous and one who delights to deceive He is then like the young Foxes Is he intemperate in his Anger He seems to carry about with him the Fury of the Lion Is he timorous and fearful of what ought not to be fear'd He is like the Hart. Is he light and doth he inconstantly change his Purposes He differs nothing from the Birds of the Air. Doth he wallow in filthy and unclean Lusts He rolls himself in the Mire like the nasty Sow So that whosoever leaves off to be vertuous ceases to be a Man and since he cannot attain to a Divine Nature he is turn'd into a Beast METRUM III. Vela Neritii Ducis Et vagas pelago rates Eurus appulit Insulae c. Whilst he on unknown Seas did widely rove The eastern Winds at length to that Isle drove The wise (f) Neritian Captain Vlysses he was the Son of Laertes and Anticlea an eloquent and wise Captain of the Grecians who after the Siege of Troy was ended was driven into many Dangers at Sea during the Time of ten Years before he could arrive at Ithaca of which Island he was King as also of Dulichium both in the Ionian Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer lib. 1. Odyss Ithaca is situated betwixt Zephalonia to the West and the Echinades to the East which Islands are now called by the Italians Le Curzolari and by the French Les Cursolaires The modern Name of Ithaca is now by the Italians Valle di Compare and its Circuit is not of above twenty Miles Dulichium is one of the Echinades Islands it is very small and is rather to be called a Rock and lies betwixt the Coast of Aetolia and Zephalonia It is now by the Italians called Dolichio He is here called the Neritian Captain from the Mountain Neritus which is a Mountain in Ithaca with which Title he went to the Trojan War Neritian Captain's wandring Sail Where (g) Circe She is said to have been the Daughter of the Sun and of Perse a Nymph and to have been very skilful in Magick and Sorcery She was married to the King of the Sarmatians and having poisoned her Husband she fled to Italy and inhabited a Mountain there where she led a vitious Life and entertained her Guests with all sorts of Debaucheries therefore she is fabled to have turned Men into Wolves Tigers and other sorts of Beasts Accipimus sacrâ data pocula dextrâ Quae fimul arenti sitientes hausimus ore Et tetigit virgâ summos Dea dira capillos Et pudet referam setis horrescere coepi Nec jam posse queri pro verbis edere raucum Murmur in terram toto procumbere vultu Osque meum sensi pando occallescere rostro Colla tumere toris qua modo pocula parte Sumpta mihi fuerant illâ vestigia seci Ovid. Metam l. 14. Circe Daughter of the Sun doth dwell Where with enchanted Draughts she entertains Her new-come Guests binds them with her Chains Whilst into various Forms her Magick Hand Doth turn those Men and doth all Herbs command One the Resemblance of a Boar doth bear He the (h) Marmarick Marmarica is a Country of Africa lying towards Egypt where the greatest and strongest Lions are found as India is the Place where the fiercest Tigers are Mille Lupi mistique Lupis Vrsique Leaeque Occursu fecêre metum sed nulla timenda Nullaque erat nostro factura in corpore vulnus Quinetiam blandas movere per acra caudas Nostraque adulantes comitant vestigia donec Excipiunt Famulae Ovid. Metam lib. 14. ver 260. Marmarick Lion's Paw doth wear And like the Wolf another doth appear Who when he would with Tears his Fate lament Doth clothe in dreadful Howlings his Complaint The Indian Tyger's Looks another shows And round the Palace mild and calmly goes But the (i) The Arcadian God Our Philosopher stiles Mercury Numen Arcadis alitis Numen because he was feigned to be the Son of Apollo and Maia and also the God of Eloquence Ales because he was feigned to have Wings upon his Head and Feet because Eloquence over which he was said to preside takes its Course swiftly through the Air and diffuseth it self through the World and Arcas because he was born in Arcadia Hence Virgil. Aeneid lib. 8. Vobis Mercurius pater est quem candida Maia Cyllenes gelido conceptum vertice fudit Mercury was said to have given an Herb to Vlysses after he had run through so many Hazards and been toss'd upon so many Seas by the Help of which he was freed from the Charms of Circe Pacifer huic dederat florem Cyllenius album Moly vocant Superi nigrâ radice tenetur Tutus eo monitisque simul coelestibus intrat Ille domum Circes ad insidiosa vocatus Pocula conantem virgâ mulcere capillos Reppulit stricto pavidam deterruit ense Ovid. Metam lib. 14. Arcadian God when he had found His lov'd Ulysses in these Fetters bound Releas'd him soon from all these poisonous Harms Which he deriv'd from the Circean Charms Yet had the Mariners just now drunk a-cheer And into Swine soon metamorphos'd were They deeply tasted of th' infected Bowl Drunk with their Fate about they madly roll And now they change their wonted humane Food And range about for Acrons in the Wood Body and Members lost the Voice doth fail Only the nobler Mind doth still prevail And doth the Sadness of the Change bewail But O! too weak are Circe's Force and Hand Against whose Power Vertue can bravely stand She in her Fortress plac'd despiseth all The strong Efforts of both Vice doth enthral Mens strongest Powers and where it entrance finds The Body safe it wounds the strongest Minds PROSA IV. Boet. I Confess that vitious Men are not unjustly called Beasts for although they retain the Form and Shapes of an humane Body yet the Qualities of their Souls shew them to be changed into them But I would not have it in the Power of those vitious Persons who even rage with a Desire of destroying just Men to do so Ph. Nor is it in their Power as shall be shewed in a convenient Place but if this Power which People think ill Men to have were taken away from them they would be eased of the greatest part of their Punishment
Force which doth behold Each Being then or whence is that Which doth divide those things when known Or that again which recollects Divided things changing its way Alternately for sometimes it Raiseth its Head to higher things Then to the lowest doth descend And when t' it self it doth return Confuteth false things by the true This Cause now efficacious is More powerful too than that which doth Admit the Characters impress'd Like servile Matter yet the Sense Which in the living Body doth remain Doth go before and doth excite And move the Forces of the Mind As when the Light doth strike the Eye Or as the Voice doth strike the Ear Then is the Force of Thought awak'd Calls out the Species which it hath within It self to move about and act Applies them to the outward Notes Mingling and joining all those Images Fix'd in it self in foreign Forms PROSA V. BUT if in knowing and perceiving of Bodies although the Qualities objected from without may affect the Instruments or Organs of the Senses and the Passion or Suffering of the Body may go before the Strength and Vigour of the acting Soul which may call forth the Act of the Mind or Thought residing within it self and may in the mean time excite the Forms which lie quietly within If I say in the perception of bodily things the Soul is not by the Impression of Passion made to know these things but by its own Power judgeth of the Passion and Suffering of the Body how much more then shall those things which are absolved and free from the Passions and Affections of Bodies and from any Commerce with them not in discerning be guided by outward Objects but accomplish and execute purely the Acts of their own Minds and Thoughts By this Reason then there are several sorts of Knowing to several and differing Substances For Sense which is alone destitute of all other Knowledg is allotted to those Creatures which cannot move such as are Shells of the Sea and other things which are nourished by sticking to the Rocks But the imaginative Power is possessed by Beasts which can move of themselves and who seem to have some kind of Faculty of desiring or refusing things but Reason is the Talent of Mankind alone as Intelligence only appertains to the Divine Nature Hence it is that that Knowledg exceeds all other which by its own Nature is not only acquainted with the Matter of that which properly belongs to it but also with that which is subjected to all others But how will it then fall out if Sense and Imagination oppose and are contrary to Reason affirming that that Universal is nothing which Reason thinks it so perfectly sees For Sense intimates that that which is sensible and imaginable cannot be universal Then therefore the Judgment of Reason must be true that nothing can be sensible Or else because she knows that many things are subject to Sense and Imagination the Conception of Reason must be vain which considereth that which is sensible and singular as an Universal But if Reason should again answer to those things and say that she truly comprehends what is sensible and imaginable within the Compass of Universality but yet she cannot aspire to the Knowledg of Universality because Knowledg of the former cannot exceed corporeal Figures But as to the Knowledg of things we ought to give Belief to the more firm and perfect Judgment of them In a Contest of this kind therefore ought not we who have in us all the Powers of Reason Imagination and Sense rather to approve and support the Cause of Reason Like this it is when humane Reason imagines that the Divine Understanding beholdeth or knoweth not things to come but just as they are beheld or known by her For thus thou arguest What things do not seem to have certain and necessary Events they cannot be foreknown certainly to happen Of these things therefore there is no Fore-knowledg or if we believe that there be any then is there nothing which doth not happen of Necessity If therefore we might have the Judgment of the Divine Mind as we are Partakers of Reason we should judg as we have already judged that Imagination and Sense ought to yield to Reason and also judg that it is most just that humane Reason ought to submit it self to the Mind of God Wherefore if we may let us advance our selves to the Height of the highest Intelligence and there Reason shall see that which she cannot find in her self and that is in what manner the Prescience of God seeth and defineth all things although they have no certain Event nor let this be looked upon as an Opinion but rather the Purity and Simplicity of the Supreme Knowledg which can be included within no Bounds METRUM V. Quam variis terras animalia permeant figuris Namque alia extento sunt corpore pulveremque verrunt c. In Shapes how differing Creatures wander thrô the Earth Some with extended Bodies go and sweep the Dust And by th' Impression of their Breasts a Furrow make Some beat the yielding winds with nimbleness of wing And with a moister Flight swim through the Air Some with their Feet affect to press the softer ground Or in the verdant Meads or in green Woods to walk Yet thô thou seest them differ in their various Forms They do in this together centre and agree That their Looks downward bent their heavier Sense makes dull But Man alone doth raise his noble Head on high Light and erect he stands and doth despise the Earth Thou art admonish'd by this Figure then unless Thy earthly Mind doth thee deceive that whilst towards The Heavens thy Face thou raisest and thy Forehead dost Advance thou shouldst advance thy Mind on high Lest whilst thy Body tow'rds the starry Regions looks Thy noble Mind should tow'rds the Centre be deprest PROSA VI. Phil. BEcause therefore as I have demonstrated a little before that every thing which is known is not by its own Nature known but by that of him who comprehendeth it let us now behold as far as it is lawful for Philosophers what the Estate is of the Divine Substance that we may better see what this Knowledg is It is the common Judgment then of all those who live by the Rules of Reason that God is Eternal Let us then consider what Eternity is for this would lay open to us at the same time the Nature of God and his Knowledg Eternity therefore is a total and a perfect Possession of a Life which shall never have an End which appears more clearly from the Comparison of temporal things For whatsoever liveth in time proceedeth to the present from what is past to what is to come And there is nothing under the Laws of Time which can at once comprehend the whole Space of its Life For a Man doth not yet possess to Morrow and what was Yesterday he hath already lost and in the Life of this Day you live no