haue made great accompt of him But the Poet Ennius peraduenture hit better vpon this point when he forbade his death to be lamented or that any mourning funerals should bee performed he supposing that such a death was not to bee deplored which was seconded by immortality For the rest if there bee some sense or feeling in death and in our last gaspes it lasts not long especially in a very aged man and as for any feeling after death it is either nothing at all or else a thing to be much desired But wee must haue learned betimes to contemne death for without this Meditation none can haue any repose in minde seeing it is most certaine that die wee must not knowing when and it may be at the same moment or instant of our thought How can that man therefore enioy a peaceable soule if hee fear death which threatens him euery minute of his life I neede not dilate more at large of this wen I call to mind not only Lucius Brutus who was slain in the deliuery of his countrey or of the two Decij who violēcly plunged themselues the one within an huge deepe Dell and the other within a Battalion of armed men amongst whom he verily thought to haue beene slaine or Marcus Attilius who couragiously returned to cruell punishment choosing rather to lose his life than breake his oath which hee had plighted to his enemies and the two Scipioes that exposed their bodies to the enemies furie for the stopping of a passage or Lucius Paulus who by his owne death defaced the temerity rashnes of his collegued Consull in the discomfiture of the Romanes at Cannas and also Marcus Marcellus who being dead was honored with a Toombe by his most mortall enemie but I will also set before your eyes our moderne Regiments which haue often-times chearefully and with noble courage assaulted those places from whence no one of the troupes euer hoped to come off Should it be sayd that learned old men doe feare that which youth and those rusticall ignorant for the most part valiantly despise And moreouer me thinkes the being satisfied with all things else makes one also well satisfied with liuing Infancie hath certain disports and recreations which young men desire not to put in practise Old age feeles no contentment in the pleasures of youth and men of auncient yeeres seek not after that wherin men delight that are yet in the flower of their age and olde age discernes the very last employments of our life but yet in such sort that all in the end vanisheth away as the exercises of precedent times haue done the which comming to passe to bee satisfied with liuing clearely shewes that then it is high time to die For my part I see nothing that hinders me from setting down my opinion touching death and me thinkes I may speake thereof with good motiue seeing it appeareth so neer vnto me Out of doubt Scipio Laelius I thinke that your fathers which were honorable men my best friends though dead to the world doe yet liue and such a life as onely deserues to bee so called For while we are inclosed within these straite precincts of the body we trauell and we must will we nill wee yeeld vnto the yoak and burden the celestiall soule and off-spring of the highest Tabernacle being ouerwhelmed and as it were buried in earth this being a contrary habitation to eternitie and a diuine nature But I beleeue that the immortal Gods haue planted soules in humane bodies to the end there might be people to replenish preserue the world to contemplate the beautifull course of heauenly bodies to imitate them in constancie and regular life Besides many reasons and arguments which haue induced me to beleeue this the authority and reputation of the greatest Philosophers hath much furthered me I haue heard say that Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans somtimes named the Philosophers of Italy consequently inhabitants of our countrey were alwayes of opinion that our soules were extracted from Diuinity I haue vnderstood also of Socrates his discourse who was iudged by the Oracle of Apollo to be the wisest man of the world toward the later part of his life about the immortality of soules What neede wee any more behold my opinion herein Seeing the soules of men are so pregnant so retentiue and mindfull of things past foresee so discreetly those to come haue inuented so many mysteries and diuers other worthy Sciences excellent matters it is impossible that a nature capable of so great good should be mortal And the soule hauing perpetual motion without receiuing any inferiour beginning thereof considering that she onely moues of her self it must necessarily follow that she shall haue this motion for euer because shee can neuer abandon her selfe Also in that the nature of the soule is simple there concurring in her no mixed difference shee cannot be diuided And so being iudiciall she is by consequent immortall For this is a manifest proofe that men are intellectual before their being born in that children learning the most difficult Sciences doe suddenly comprehend such an infinitie of things that we may suppose they begin not then to knowe what is but onely remember call againe vnto minde These are almost the very words of Plato On the other side the great Cyrus of whome Xenophon hath written at large at the hower of his departure sayd thus vnto his children My deare beloued though I remaine no more amongst you yet do not thinke for all this that I haue afterwardes no more being nor am resident in any place for when I was in your cōpany you could not perceiue my soule but only you imagined it to be within my body by my exteriour actions Beleeue therefore that this soule remaines so still although you see the body no more The vertuous should not be honoured after death if their soules had performed nothing worthy of their memoriall long time before their death I could neuer yet bee perswaded that if soules liue within mortall bodies that euer they can die issuing out of the same or that the soule going out of the body which of it selfe is stupid and senselesse becommeth then also inexistent insensible but on the contrary when she is freed from all commixtion with this body shee then beginneth to be pure and entire then say I shee is mounted vnto the height and top of all wisedome Moreouer it being so that humane nature is dissolued by death wee plainely see whither all other things tend that is to say thither from whence they were first extracted the soule onely excepted the which wee neither see enter soiourne nor issue out of the body But for the rest you see there is nothing which so truely resēbles death as sleep And the soules of them that sleep clearly in this point shew their diuinitie that being free and in repose they foresee things to come which plainly argues their being after their relaxation from
these corporall bonds The which being granted honor mee then as a thing diuine but if the soule were to perish with the body yet for all this forbeare not to feare the Gods which support and gouerne this principall worke of theirs that is called man the which like to good children performing you shall inuiolably preserue the memoriall of my name This was Cyrus his discourse a little before his death But if I shall not herein bee too burdensom vnto you hearken what I will deliuer vnto you in mine owne behalfe No body shall euer perswade me O Scipio that either your predecessors or other men of great note whō it is not requisite to name would euer haue enterprised such memorable exploits to all posterities but that they cōsidered that their being in the world was to no other ende but to procure the good of their successors Think you to speake plainely and after the manner of old men which loue to set foorth themselues that I would haue so trauelled both day and night in warre peace if my renowne and glory should finish with this present life would it not be better then to liue idle and in repose without any trouble or vexation But my soule I know not in what maner gathering together new forces regardeth happinesse with such a penetrant eye as if departing this world shee should but only then beginne to liue And if it were otherwise that soules were not immortall honest men would not aspire vnto a perpetuall glory What is the meaning of this that euery wise man dies willingly and the wicked with great grief Think you not that the soule which sees farre clearer and further off knowes well that shee is going to a better place and on the contrary hee which hath an heauie and disturbed soule sees not the like Surely I desire nothing more thā to see your Fathers whom I haue honoured and cherished And besides the desire which I haue to drawe neere thē that I haue knowen I would willingly also talke with those of whō I haue heard which shewed thēselues vnto mee by their bookes and whose names I haue set downe amongst mine owne writings Now that I drawe neere vnto them it would displease me much to hang backward or to bee rowled downe againe as wee might doe with a round ball And if some God had permitted me to returne againe into my infancie and to crie in my cradle I would very constantly and flatly refuse such an offer for seeing I haue almost run my race I would not be called backe again from my goale to the first setting forward Is ther any true commoditie in this life Is it not troublesome through al the periods thereof But admit there are some cōmodities therein yet are we far from finding satisfactiō or obtaining of our wished ends and desires I will not raile against the same as diuers learned men haue often-times done neither repent I that I haue liued for I haue so passed my time that I am of opinion I haue done some good in the world I goe out of this life as out of an Inne not as out of mine own house seeing Nature hath sent vs forth hither for a litle time to passe forward in our iourney and not cōtinually here to inhabit Oh happy will that day be when I shall depart to this celestiall assembly of soules and leaue the rascallitie of this world for I shal not only then bee with those good men aboue-named but also with mine owne sonne one of the best men that euer the earth brought foorth whose body I haue seen brought to ashes wheras in reason hee should rather haue seen the like by mine But see his soule neuer leaues mee but continually fixing her lookes vpon me she is flowen vp now into those places whither she knowes that I must follow I bare this losse patiently as it appeares but yet I confesse that I was much trobled therwith euer comforting my selfe with this Meditatiō that ther should bee no long space betweene her departure and mine Out of the Epistles of SENECA Epist. XXIIII RVminate I pray thee in thine owne minde what thou hast often heard and as often spoken but then make triall of it by effect if you haue either heard or seriously vttered the same For it would bee too great a basenes in vs as men vse to cast in our teeth that we should only vse the words and not the workes of Philosophie As I remember I haue heard you sometimes handle this common place that we fall not suddenly vpō death but march towards the same by little and little To say the trueth wee die euery day for euery day a peece of our life slides away whatsoeuer is past and gone of our yeeres Death hath it already in his hands yea and euer when we our selues doe growe our life decreaseth First we lose our Infancie then our Adolescencie and then our youth Euen to the day before this what time soeuer is past is lost and gone the present day which now we passe we share stakes therein with Death So ought we alwayes to be confirmed both in the one and the other that we doe not too much loue nor hate our life we must end it when reason summons vs thereunto but wee must not desperatly nor rashly leaue it like one that takes his runne to fetch the better rise A wise and magnanimious man must neuer flie nor shun this life except when he is departing there-from but auoide like a rock a vicious passion which surprizeth and layes holde of many which is to say the desire and hastening of death Epist. XXVI DOubtlesse I debate with my self I discusse make exact examination as if my triall were at hande and the day already comne that must giue sentence of al my yeeres and dayes past Whatsoeuer wee haue either done or said hitherto is nothing they are but vaine and slight testimonials of our courage intermixed with much deceit cousinage Death only will assure mee what I haue profited in Philosophie I therefore prepare my selfe without all feare for that day wherein without all sophistication I shall bee able to iudge whether I haue been faint hearted or magnanimious both in word and deed when I vsed to bulke forth so many iniurious and reproachfull words against Fortune Concerning the esteem we are in amongst men it is alwaies doubtfull and declining on euery side also concerning thy studies and endeuors examine well al thy whole life Death shal denounce sentence vpon thee I say that disputatiōs learned discourse sentences collected from the precepts of wise men and speach adorned shew not the true force of courage the greatest cowardes haue many times the hardiest talke then it will onely appeare what thou hast profited when thou commest to combate with Death I am well content with humane condition I haue no feare of this iudgement Thou art yonger what cares he Here is no accompt made of yeeres no man
IACOB also blessed the Patriarkes these benedictions can not bee referred to any further matter but to that which the benedicents considered in those whō they blessed or to their fatherly affection But here we neither see the one nor the other more then the priuiledge onely of death the benediction of him who dies being of such efficacie as the holy Prophet desired to be made partaker thereof Let vs meditate and consider well on this verse to the end that when wee see the poore man die we may assist him and euerie one of vs say the blessing of the dead come vpon me If we see any body sicke let vs not abandon him if hee bee forsaken of others let not vs drawe backe but let vs remember to desire that the benedictiō of the dead may come vpō vs. How many men hath this short verse procured to be blessed How often hath it made me blusn when I forgot the dying when I visited not the sicke when I despised the poore when I haue suffered the poore captiue to be oppressed in prison or when I contemned and neglected the auncient man Let this therefore bee deeply imprinted in our hearts for the spurring forwarde of the more dull and for the further encouragement of all those which are already in a good course Let the last wordes of a dying man resounde in thine eares and let his soule issuing out of his body carrie with it from thee this benediction Deliuer him that is ledde to die and who had perished without thy succour to the end thou mayest then iustly say to thy selfe The blessing of the dead light vpon mee CHAP. 9. That the soule perisheth not together with the bodie WHo can then make any doubt but that death is good seeing that which troubleth vs that maketh vs ashamed that is our enemie that which is violent tempestuous alluring to all vices remaineth then vnprofitable for the earth and as it were inclosed in an iron cage that is in the graue On the contrary Vertue Science Honor Iustice and Pietie flie vp to heauen the soule continues with immortall goodnesse being conioyned and dwelling in him Act 17. from whom shee had her being as one sayd very well that we are his line progeny For the rest it is most certain that the soule dies not with the body for it is not of the body as the Scripture proues by diuers reasons Gen. 2. Adam receiued from our Lord God the spirit of life was made a liuing soule And Dauid sayde Psal 116. My soule return to thy rest because the Lord hath done good vnto thee But wherein He hath sayd he deliuered my feete from destruction Thou seest how he reioyceth to be assured of this death wherein all error takes end where sinne and not nature faileth Afterwards being stripped and at full libertie as it were hee addeth I will please the Lord in the land of the liuing Heauen is the land of the liuing where foules haue repose and where sinnes enter not but where vertues haue their true force and vigor But the world is a region full of the dead because it is replenished with sinne and in all reason it was well sayd Mat. 8. Let the dead burie the dead It is sayd in another Psalme Psal 23. His soule shall lodge amidst riches and his seed shall haue the earth to their inheritance which is to say His soule that feareth God shall bee placed in the middest of riches and wealth so as it shall remaine neere amidst the same This may also be vnderstood of him that liues in the body who inhabiteth in the middest of riches conuerseth in celestiall places if he feare God possesseth his bodie and the soueraignty therof hauing brought it into seruitude briefly he enioyes the inheritance of glory and the promises of saluatiō If we would therefore bee placed amidst wealth and riches after the death of this body let vs take heede that our soule be not cōbined mingled nor vnited to this body for fear it drawe her out of the right way and make her stagger to fall like a drūken man being disturbed by the illusions of the same let her defie it and the recreations therof that she may not be ouer-ruled by the external senses For the eye may runne into errour and be fondly deceiued by reason this member may be mistaken the like may fall out to hearing and taste In summe it is not in vaine that the wise man saith vnto vs Let thine eyes beholde that which is right Prou. 4. let not thy tongue vtter peruerse things wherof we should not be admonished were it not that the senses erred very often If thou hast beheld a shamelesse woman hast been taken in her lookes or hast lusted after her as she was faire thine eyes haue looked astray they haue seene pernicious things and haue reported that vnto thee which they ought not to haue done For if they had behelde as they should they would haue discouered the villanous desires of this impudent woman her detestable impudencie her shamelesse immodestie her stinking ordures her infamous villanie the woundes of the soule and the scarres of the conscience Hee hath committed adulterie with a woman in his heart whome hee beheld at any time to desire her Thou seest that such an one sought after deceit in desiring the Adultresse and not truth because he desired to see to couet and not to vnderstand trueth The eye therefore lookes astray when the affection leaues the true path the which deceiues as the eye also doeth and therefore it was sayd vnto thee Bee not taken that is Let not thy soule be taken by thine eyes for a woman takes the precious soules of men Prou. 6. The hearing also deceiueth and by speach alluding vnto wantonnes hath often seduced abused and cousined euill instructed youth Let vs therefore defie these traps and snares which deceiue and surprise for hearts are tempted and thoughts intangled by the senses In stead of following these allurements let vs adhere to that which is good and prosecute it For the presence and communication thereof makes vs the better this company giues tincture and glosse vnto our maners for he which cleaueth to good drawes good there-from The soule that cleaues to the inuisible immortal good which is God flying abandoning frail earthly and mortall things becomes like vnto the good which she desires wherein she liues finds true nourishment so leaning to that immortall she is no more mortal The sinful soule dies not because she turns to nothing but in that she dies to God and liues to sin On the contrary the soule which workes not iniquitie dies not at all for she remaines still in her first substance afterwards in her full perfection and glory How can the substance therof perish seeing it is the soule that giues life he that receiues the soule receiues life and when the soule departs life flies
against this set down vnto me some prescription whereby I may not feare Death that life may not thus slip from me Teach me how the happinesse of this life consistes not in the length but in the vsage of the same that it so may and doeth often-times fall out that he which liues longest hath liued least time hee liuing least while longest Nature hath sent vs into the worlde very docile She gaue vs an imperfect reason which by our indeuours may be made more perfect Epist. LVII OVr bodies ebbe and turne backe like the course of the waters All the time which thou seest flits away with the time it selfe Nothing remains of all that wee see Euen I while I am now saying that all things are changed am changed my selfe Is it not that which Heraclitus affirmed wee in a manner descend not descend in one and the selfe same riuer the riuer retaines the same name but the waters fall away The like is in man but that it may more easily be discerned in a riuer wee are transported with no lesse swift course than this And therefore I can not but wonder at our follie that wee should so dearly loue a thing that so quickly leaues vs I meane this body of whose death wee are so much afraid seeing euery moment of this life is the death of the other Wilt thou feare that once which is acted alwayes fearest thou to die once when thou diest euery day by little and little Epist. LXII I Endeuour that euery day may be vnto me as all the rest of my life and yet I followe it not hard as if it were the last but questionlesse as potētially it may be the last In the same manner I wright vnto you this Letter euen as if in writing the same Death shuld cal me away I am now ready to depart and yet enioy still this life For making no great account of future time I labor to liue wel before old age in my olde age to die well To dy wel is no other thing but to die willingly Take a course that in all things which requisitely thou must performe thou doest not anything by compulsion Constraint and necessitie is for those that resist and not for those that doe things willingly He that doth of his own accord is not vrged nor constrained And therefore I say that he which willingly embraceth commandements is acquited of the most burdensome part of seruitude which is to doe that we would not Hee is not miserable that doth any thing by command but he that doth it in despite of his owne will Let vs therfore so frame our courage and willes that we may affect whatsoeuer the thing requireth aboue al without sorrow let vs thinke on our end for it is conuenient to prepare for death before Life Life is well enough furnisht of it self but we are too eager after the prouisions of the same we daily do wil think that still we want somthing Neither yeers nor dayes hinder our liuing long enough but onely our owne willes and desires I haue liued my deare friend Locilius so long as is sufficient I expect death as being fully replenished satisfied with life Epist. LXXI WE must one day arriue at this pleasant Port and wee ought not to refuse it but if any one come there to anchor in his first yeeres hee must no more complaine therefore than he which hath quickly made his voyage by Sea For as you knowe well the windes hold and detaine some long vpon the Sea or he is hindred by retardatiō of calms when others runne their course swiftly with a fuzzing gallāt gale Imagine it so falles out with vs. Life caries some speedily to the place whither they must haue come at last though at leasure Others she holds a long time scorcheth them in their course but we our selues must neuer seeke to detain her For properly it is not a good to liue but to liue well and therfore a wise man liues as lōg as he should though not as long as he might Not one of vs amongst a thousand considers that one day wee must leaue this earthly tabernacle wee doe like the ancient inhabitants of a place which by habite and custome continue their abode though with a thousand iniuries and oppressions But wouldest thou be free in despite of this bodie in habite it as before the chāging of a lodging propound vnto it that one day thou must leaue that habitatiō Thou shalt by this means be the more couragious against the necessitie of thy departure but how can hee truely thinke of his end that endlesly wishes for desires al Ther is nothing wherein ordinary Meditation is so necessarily required Epist. LXXVIII THere is not so stupide or grosse amā which knowes not that one day he must die and yet when hee comes to the point he turnes his backe he trembles he laments I pray you he that should mourne because he had not liued a thousand yeeres agoe would you not iudge him the veriest sotte in the world As very a foole is he that weepes because he shall not liue a thousand yeers hence These bee like things Thou shalt not be and thou wert not All these two times belong to an other To this present point thou art reduced and admit thou extendest the same a litle whither supposest thou to extend it Why lamentest thou what defirest thou thou loosest but thy labour Neuer think that Gods preordination will bee diuerted by thy prayers It is firme irreuocable and conducted by a wonderful and eternall necessitie Thou shalt goe whither all things go what thing is new vnto thee thou wert borne to this condition the same happened to thy Father thy Mother to all thy predecessors those went before thee as also to all them that shal come after thee It is an indissoluble chaine an immutable order which attracts concatenates vnto it all things Ther is no path but hath his end Miserable wretch as thou art thou makest thy selfe a slaue vnto men a slaue vnto goods a slaue vnto Life For where there is not vertue and willingnesse to death life is but a seruitude And what hast thou I pray thee for which thou attendest Thou hast consumed all those pleasures which might slothen or detain thee There is nothing new vnto thee nay more there is nothing which may not iustly stir vp in thee a disdaine so well shouldest thou be satisfied And yet forsooth these are the things from which thou so vnwillingly doest depart For what didst thou euer worthy to come to light Cōfesse the truth it is not for thy loue of the Palace or Court nor for a griefe to leaue the nature of things that thou drawest back from dying Thou leauest with griefe the market place where thou leftest nothing behind thee It stands with life as with a Stage-play It is no matter how long it last but how well it is acted whersoeuer
thouendest it is all one end where thou wilt so thou concludest with a good periode Epist. XCIIII WE chide Destiny euery day why takes not death such an one why takes he him in the middest of his course why doeth such an one tenter out an old age irkesome to himself and others I pray you which is more reasonable that Nature should obey you or you Nature why takest thou care at what hour thou shalt depart seeing frō hence thou art sure to go We must not be careful how to liue long but how to liue suficiently To liue long depēds on Destiny to liue sufficiētly depēds on thine owne will That life is long which is accōplished then it is accomplisht fulfilled when the will is content when the mind enioies her happinesse and is settled in her own power What good hath such an one by hauing idlely passed ouer fourescore yeares Hee hath not properly liued but soiourned in this life He died not slowely but long seeing his life was no other but a death But thou wilt say hee liued fourescore yeeres thou must obserue frō what day thou reckonest his death for the vnprofitable part thereof hath been but death On the contrary another although he died in his vigor and strength discharged the offices of a good citizen a good friend a good childe hee omitted nothing of his duety though his age were vnperfect yet his life was perfect Why then dear friend Lucilius let our life bee vnto vs as the most precious things are let vs measure it not according to the time but according to our actions not according to the continuance but after the effectes of the same Wee may commend and repute him happy that wel emploied the little time he had to liue Age is an externall thing and without ourselues Though I be here yet this depends of another thing but to be an honest man depends on my selfe Require you of mee that I passe not my time obscurely as it were in darkenesse that I leade a true life that my time bee not lost demaunde you which is the longest life It is to liue while we attaine to wisedom he which comes to this point though he arriue not to the longer mark at least yet he hath obtained the principall Death passeth ouer all He that killed followes him that was slain It is nothing for which we take so much care And what matter is it how long thou auoidest that which in the ende cannot by any meanes bee auoided why fliest thou backe from that which thou canst not shunne Epist. C. OBserue the swiftnes of time consider the shortnesse of this carriere the which we also runne so speedily Marke the following on of all humane kind tending all to one place They which seem to be farre off followe notwithstanding hard after others Hee who thou supposest to bee dead is but onely sent before Can there bee a more vnreasonable matter than when thou must necessarilie performe the same iournie to weep for him which hath out-gone thee in the way Whosoeuer lamēts for any ones death laments onely because hee was a man One selfe all the world Whosoeuer was first born must afterwards die We are distinguished by measurable space but equall in the issue One goes before another followes but both goe the same way All things are dissolued all things passe into their contrary this being Dame Natures pleasure In all these revolutions of humane things there is nothing certaine but Death and yet euery one cōplaines of that which neuer failed nor deceiued any body But he died being an infant I will not in this point also affirme that it was the better for him to be so soone dispatched out of this life But let vs come to him that hath liued to olde yeeres I pray you what great matter hath hee gained of this Infant In vnderstanding and ideally propound vnto thy selfe this wonderful distance of time and comprehend it all together Afterwards compare me with this Infinite the ordinary age of man then thou shalt see how small a matter it is that wee desire and how little it is that we extend out in length And yet of this age let vs but consider how much is spent in griefe how much in cares how much in the conceit of death before it comes to our wished desire how much in sicknesse how much in fears briefly how much in our yong and vnprofitable yeers And notwithstanding of all this we euen sleep out the moity Adde hereunto the troubles sorows and daungers you shall see that in the longest life of all the time which we truly liue is the least of al. Life is neither good nor euill but it is the place of good or euill Hee that dies in his youth in that by all likelihoode hee might aswell haue impaired as amēded is like one that hath lost a die wherwith he might rather haue lost thā won In briefe for the breuitie of age if you compare it to the infinitie of time we are al equally young and old for the most extended age of a man is but as a point or minute Epist CII EAche day eache hower teacheth vs that we are nothing by some very fresh and vnanswerable argumēt puts vs in minde of our fragility whē we would otherwise forget it vrging vs to haue an eye vnto death when intellectually we conceiue in our selues some eternitie Graft Pear-trees plant vines in order said a certain man Oh what a foolish thing it is to proportion out our age we haue not so much as the power of to morrowe in our hands Oh what a wonderful foolerie their hopes come vnto which enter into long and tedious affairs I will buy I will build I will put out for profit I will exact I will purchase Honors and then in time wee come to these resolutions but I am old and my old age being satisfied in all these things I will lead it in repose and quiet Beleeue that euen to those deemed most happie all things are doubtfull No man can promise any thing to him selfe of future things and that which we hold slippes euen out of our hands that hower it self which we instantly run some incommodity or other glides betweene our fingers Time passes away according to a certaine and immutable lawe but cōcealed from vs. Now what haue I to doe whether this bee certain and knowen vnto Nature or not seeing it is vncertaine and vnknowen vnto me We many times propound vnto our selues long nauigations not to returne againe in a long time while we haue run vaging about and discouering many straunge coastes wee propound to our selues the wars and the slowe recompenses of our military indeuours briefly of place honours and aduancement from one office to another And in the meane while Death comes vpon vs without euer thinking thereon if it bee not sometimes exposed to our eyes by the examples of others mortality which takes no longer impression
also in our mindes than wee woonder at the same But what greater sottishnesse is there then to woonder that the thing which falles out euery day should happen one day Our limites are expresly set downe where the inexorable necessitie of Destinie hath placed them but no man knowes howe neere the time is Let vs therefore so frame our minds as if it were already come vnto the point Let vs not deferre nor procrastinate Hee that setteth his last hand euery day to his life hath nothing to do with time Therefore my friend Lucilius make haste to liue and thinke that as many dayes as thou leadest so many liues thou liuest Hee that liues in hope the neerest time euer slippes him and he is possessed with such a greedinesse of liuing that the feare of death maketh him most miserable Lame him of an hande of a foote of a thigh breake his back dash out all his teeth so hee liueth it is enough for him all goes well Moreouer is it such a miserie to die He desires the extreamest euils and that which is most hard to endure he wisheth to prolong and vndergoe a great time And at what price for what reward To obtain long life But then what maner of life is this A lingering death Is there any one that would request to linger in torment to perish member after member or that would rather lose his life by little and little than to be suddenly and quickely dispatcht Denie now therfore if you can that it is not a great benefit of Nature this necessitie of death imposed vpon vs. Many are ready to make worser bargaines to betray their friends for to liue longer themselues to prostitute their owne children that they may see the day of testimoniall of so many impieties We must shake off this desire of liuing and say it is no matter when wee suffer seeing that one day suffer it wee must It imports not how long thou liuest but how wel And long life is often a preiudice to liuing well Epist. CIII WE attend another originall and state of things Wherfore without fear expect this diffinitiue houre which shall fetch thee from hence All that thou seest about thee suppose it to bee but moueable the necessaries of thine Inne thou hast further to go Nature satisfieth men at their departure as well as at their entrie Wee carrie away no more than wee brought all that couers thee must be taken away thy skinne shal be thy last couering And this thy skin also thy flesh thy blood dispersed diffused ouer al thy body these bones these veins and sinewes which nourished the fluent parts shall bee snatcht and taken away frō thee The day which thou fearest to bee thy last shall be thy natiuity to an eternall life Thou criest and lamentest so doeth hee that is borne Wherfore art thou sad so ordinarily is hee So the couerings and swathing bands of those that are borne perish come to nothing How louest thou these things as thine owne these are things wherewith thou art but couered But a day wil come wherein thoushalt be laid opē that shall drawe thee frō the habitatiō of this stinking corruptible body From this time forward meditate on higher things The secrets of Nature shall one day be discouered vnto thee There shall be a dissipation of this darkenesse and a most cleere light shall reverberate on all our parts Imagine to thy selfe that it shall be the resplendence of a number of starres ioyning their lights together There shall be no more vapor or shadow to obscure the cleere ayre all quarters of heauen shall be equally relucent the day and the night which come by turnes are but accidents of this inferiour ayre Thou wilt say thou liuedst here in darknesse when being perfect and entire thou beholdest the whole light it selfe which now thou hast but a glimpse of by the narrowe casements of thine eyes and thou admirest it a-far off What wilt thou then thinke of diuine light when thou seest it in the proper place This contemplation will suffer nothing base abiect or vile to creepe into the minde It intimates vnto vs that God is a witnesse to all our actions it cōmands vs to approue our selues before him to prepare our selues hereafter for him to set before our eyes that eternity the which whosoeuer comprehēds in his intellect he is afraid of no armie nor daunted with the sound of the trumpet nor trembleth for any threates that can bee vsed against him For what can he iustly feare which hopes to die Cōceiue how beneficiall good examples are and then thou wilt see that the memorie of worthy men is no lesse profitable than their presence Epist. CVIII WHy it is no such excellent thing to liue Thou art entred into a long and tedious way thou must fall and rise vp againe droop be weary Here thou leauest one companion there thou cariest another to his graue and in another place art put thy self in the same fear Must this rough and vneuen way bee passed amids so many obstacles Must we needs die Let the minde be prepared against all things Let him knowe that hee is come into a goodly place where teares and cares make their residence where pale sicknesse and sad olde age haue chosen their habitation We must necessarily passe our life in such company These things cannot bee auoided Thou mayest well contemne and make litle reckoning of them But you cannot make this slight regard when you often think theron and cast your compt as of things that must come to passe There is no man but he approaches more couragiously to that whereunto of long time he hath been prepared and makes the more forcible resistāce whereas contrariwise a man taken on the sudden not prepared is astonished with the least matters Now seeing all things are cumbersome thogh it were but for their instability and noueltie by ruminating thereon cōtinually thou shalt be not apprentise or vnskilfull of any euil Let vs admire nothing wherunto we are born And none can cōplaine of them because they are equall to all equall I meane in this point in that he which once escaped them is subiect to incurre them another time For the law is not sayd to bee iust and equall because all men equally vse the same but in that it was iustly constituted for all Let our mindes bee reduced to an equity and without complaining of our mortall nature let vs pay our tribute chearfully Doth Winter bring colde why colde is necessary The Summer is it hot why heate also wee must haue Doeth intemperate ayre preiudice our health Sicknesse cannot be auoyded Somtimes a sauage beaste encounters vs and an otherwhile a man more pernicious thā the wild beasts themselues Fire consumes one water another We cannot tel how to change the nature of things The best is to pay that we cannot be released of and to second and follow the will of God without murmuring from whō all
things haue their originall It is the part of a badde Souldier to follow his captain mournfully Destiny leads him by the hande that goes willingly and drags him along that goes by cōpulsion So must we liue so must we speake that Death may finde vs ready iocund not hanging back He is truely of an haughty and generous courage that thus rangeth his own mind and contrariwise that man is degenerate and base which striues against it thinking corruptly of this worldly ordinance that will rather correct God than himselfe Epist CXXI A Man is neuer so diuine as when hee considereth well of his mortall nature and conceiues that he was borne a man to die and that this body is not his proper habitation but rather an Inne nay and that but a baiting place the which hee must presently leaue It is a great argument of a spirit descended from aboue if he esteeme these places where hee conuerseth base and incapacious not fearing to depart from thēce For in that he knowes frō whence hee is come and often calles the same to mind he also knowes whither hee must returne Doe wee not see how many discommodities wee vndergoe and that this bodie of ours euill befittes vs One while we complaine of our bellies another of our breasts and then of our throats sometimes our sinewes and then our feete torment vs one while a deiection and then some distillation Now there is too much blood and then too little we are tempted and harried hither and thither For so it ordinarily fals out with him that dwelles in another mans house And notwithstanding being endowed with such a goodly body wee here propoūd vnto our selues eternall things and as farre as humane age can extend it selfe so farre wee promise to our selues by hopes Wee are content with no riches with no puistance Can there bee a more shamelesse or sottish thing than this Wee were created to die and yet euen when wee are ready to die nothing seems enough vnto vs. For euery day wee are neerer to our last periode and there is no hower which spurs vs not forwarde to the place wherein we must be layed See how humane vnderstanding is dazeled And therefore a great spirit which in the end comes to discouer a better nature than this bodily structure takes an order to beare himselfe industriously and honestly in the place allotted vnto him as for the rest of all the things before him he esteems not one of them his owne onely vsing them as belonging vnto him for a time like to the Pilgrim and Traueller Out of the first Booke of tranquillitie of life ALl our whole life is but as it were a seruice and we must inure our selues to the cōdition thereof complaining as little as may be and imbracing all that which hath properly any commodity in it self There is nothing so harsh wherin a mild spirit may not find some consolation He liues euil that knowes not how to die He that feares death shall neuer performe any man-like action while hee liues but he that vnderstāds how this was allotted vnto him from his conception will liue regularly and with like courage take order that whatsoeuer may happē it light not on him suddenly or vnlooked for Sickenes imprisonment decay of estate fire none of these will bee sudden to him For saith the wise man I know in what a tumultuous house Nature hath placed mee So many times the alarme hath bin giuē hard by me so many times there haue bin vntimely funerals gone by my gate oftentimes the fall of a ruinus house hath thundred in mine eares one night hath taken from me many of those which the Court and familiar conuersation had conioined with me and cut them off euen hard at mine elbowe I wonder that so many daungers cōming about me they haue alwayes failed But see on the cōtrary the greatest number of men when they embark they neuer dreame of a storme No man thinks how the same which happens to one may fal out to any other whosoeuer For euery one that had but made a goodimpression of this euen in his bowels and diligently obserued other mens harmes the same hauing as free accesse to himself he wold be well armed long before his being assailed It is too late after a danger to frame his courage to beare perill patiently but rather hee sayes I thought such a thing would neuer haue beene I could neuer be brought to beleeue that it would haue come thus to passe And why not Where are the riches which pouertie famine and beggerie doe not followe steppe by steppe Where are the dignities the Augurall and Consular roabes that are not subiect to putting out of their place or banishment to some blemish of infamie or to some extream ignominie Where is the kingdome whose ruine is not threatned whose executioner and heads-man is not at hand c. Out of the Booke of the shortnes of life PAulinus the greatest part of mortall men complaine of Natures malignity that wee are begotten for so short an age and that the time allotted vs passeth so violently swiftly away that life then leaues the greater part of men when they haue scarcely made their preparatiō for to liue But the time which wee haue is not smal only we lose much thereof Our life that is giuē vs is large long enough to cōpasse great matters if it were well employed But when it runnes away in delights idlenes when we employ it in nothing that is good extreame necessitie pressing vs in the end wee then perceiue our life is gone without discerning how it went away Thus much it imports we receiued not a short life but haue made it so short our selues We are no waies indigent of life but prodigall Euen as great opulencie and wealth when it comes into the hands of an euil husbād is wasted in a moment and mean riches on the contrary increaseth by the imployment of a thrifty man the more that hee vseth the same so this our age is wonderfully extended by him that can dispose well of it Why complaine we then of Nature she hath beene very courteous and benigne towards vs. Life is long enough if thou canst but tell how to vse it One is possest with insatiable auarice another vexeth himself with double diligence in superfluous labours one is imbrued in wine another languisheth in idlenesse this man is tormented and tossed with an ambition depēding on anothers voice and suffrage that man with an hope of gaine in the precipitant desire of trafficke runnes ouer al Countreys and Seas Others are in trauaile with a great desire of warre being euer occupied either in their own daungers or in perswading other men to perils There are also some who like to follow no course but Death layes hold of them languishing and gasping with annoy and wearinesse so that I make no doubt of the truth of that which the greatest amongst Poets pronounced by way of oracle Of