this Art within the necessary uses of surveying and casting up Accompts Although it be Recorded in the Antiquities Cato the Elder surnam'd the Censor wrote seven Books of Origin's or Antiquities wherein he recounted the Foundations of the Principal Cities of Italy and Pedigrees of the Roman Nobility The Oration of the same Cato The abovemention'd Cato wrote above 150 Orations this against M. Fulvius Nobilior was I suppose to impeach him of high Misdemeanors for plundering the Ambracians of their Statues and Pictures with other publick and private Ornaments during his Government of Aetolia If Painting had been counted a Commendation to that noble Personage Fabius A Branch of the Fabian Family was surnam'd Painters because the first of that Denomination had painted the Temple of Safety they seem to have been Cadets of the Fabii Maximi or eldest House Honor cherisheth Arts That is Credit and Reward SECT III. Have overtaken them in Rhetorick which is encouragement to set upon Philosophy WHen on the contrary we soon clos'd with the Orator at first no Scholar but of a popular Eloquence though plain afterwards Scholar too for Galba Africanus Laelius are reported to have been learned and Cato who liv'd before them to have studied after these Lepidus Carbo the Gracchi since whom down to our Age men so ev'ry ways acomplish'd that we come not much if any thing at all behind the Greeks Philosophy to this Age hath lain neglected nor receiv'd any lustre from the Latin Tongue which is our present attempt to raise up and illustrate that so if when employ'd we were any way serviceable to our Country-men we may further serve them in our retirements wherein we are oblig'd to use the more diligence because many Books are said to be already written in Latin unadvisedly by well-meaning but insufficient men Now it is possible that one may have true Conceptions and yet not be able to express his Notions in proper Terms but for a man to commit his thoughts to writing for the publick who can neither put them in due method nor illustrate them with clear Proofs nor by any delightful Ornaments entertain his Reader is the part of one that at no rate abuses his own time and the benefit of Writing Hereupon they read their own Books among themselves nor doth any one else meddle with them but they that expect allowance to write after the same loose fashion Whereupon if we have brought Oratory any credit by our Industry we shall much more earnestly discover the Springs of Philosophy from whence those other Rivulets issued * * We soon clos'd with the Orator Tulley hath done his Proâ—â—â—â— that Honor as to draw up an accurate List of the 〈◊〉 Roman Advocates with their Character in a Treaâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 to the same Brutus and thence stil'd Brutus 〈…〉 the famous Orators 〈…〉 Books are said to be already written in Latin He inâ—◠〈…〉 Epicurean Pieces crudely done into Latin by 〈◊〉 and Amafinius known to him only by hearsay but 〈◊〉 as he would not give himself the trouble to read 〈…〉 SECT IV. Philosophy joyn'd with Oratory is more beneficial BUT as Aristotle a man of an incomparable Wit and great variety of knowledge being mov'd with the glory of Isocrates the Rhetorician begun himself to make Orations and to teach his Pupils so to do and to joyn Prudence with Eloquence in like manner are we resolv'd both not to disuse our ancient Practice of Oratory and withall to exercise our selves in this more sublime and copious Art For I ever judg'd that to be perfect Philosophy an ability to discourse at large and floridly upon the most important Points To which exercise we have so diligently apply'd our selves that we have already presum'd after the Greek Mode to hold formal Disputations and oppose what question should be Problematically maintain'd as of late since your departure having many of my Acquaintance with me in my Country-house at Tusoulum I made trial of my Abilities that way For as heretofore I was us'd to declaim upon Law-Cases which no man continu'd to do longer than I so now this serves for my Declamation in old Age. I bid one propound such Subjects as he was willing to hear controverted upon this I disputed either as I sate or walked So I have cast the dayes Acts as they call them into so many Books The manner of which was that when the Learner had propos'd his Judgment I oppos'd For this is the old and Socratick way to dispute against anothers Opinion by which means Socrates thought it might be most easily discover'd what carried along with it the greatest Probability But that our Disputations may be more clearly comprehended I shall lay them down so as if they were upon the place kept not barely reported Thus therefore shall the entrance upon the present Debate naturally arise * * In my Country-house at Tusculum Tully had a Summer-house near Tusculum 12. Miles from Rome formerly the Palace of Sulla whose Ruines are at this day to be seen call'd Sancta Maria di grotta ferrata It is a Monastery When the Learner had propos'd his Judgment I oppos'd The order of disputing among the ancient Greeks somewhat differs from our present Manner He that propos'd the Subject to be controverted I mean in the Affirmative or Negative is with them call'd the Auditor resembling in part our Respondent The Professor is the Opponent upon him lyes the whole weight of the Discourse He scans the Terms of the Question Distinguishes Restrains Defines which make up our Thesis He presseth the Proponent with the Antecedent of an Enthymeme or scatter'd Particulars of an Induction This gain'd he maketh out the Consequent Propositions either in short or apt Interrogatories or a continu'd Discourse till the Evidence be so plain that it extort Confession The calmness of the Teacher and ingenuity of the Auditor where Truth not Glory is the Prize cut off all occasion for a Moderator The whole is free Conference and friendly Debate upon the sole Design of undeceiving the Auditor prepossess'd with some popular but erroneous Perswasion SECT V. The Position Sophister I Am of the Judgment that Death is evil Master Whether to them that are dead or to them that must dye S. To both M. It is therefore miserable because evil S. True M. Therefore they who are already dead and they who must hereafter dye are both miserable S. That is my opinion M. There is none therefore but who is miserable S. No not one M. Nay further if you will be true to what you hold all that ever were or shall be born are not only miserable but also for ever miserable For had you only held them miserable who must dye you had excepted none of them who are alive for all must dye yet death would have been the end of misery but because they who be dead are also miserable a we are born to everlasting Misery For of necessity they are miserable who were dead a 100000 years
there are more and more dangerous Diseases of the Soul than of the Body For even these latter are therefore vexatious because they reach the Soul and afflict it Now the Soul vex'd is as saith Ennius to all quiet lost Stays no where long by new Lusts still is toss'd Now what Bodily Diseases in the whole World can be more grievous than those two Diseases to pass over the rest I say than Discontent and Lust But how can it be prov'd that it should be able to cure it self when it was the Soul that invented the Art of curing the Body And whereas the disposition of Bodies and Nature doth work much towards the curing of Bodies nor are Patients yet come under cure by certain consequence cur'd Souls on the contrary which are willing to be restor'd to their Health and follow the Prescriptions of the Wise do undoubtedly recover In truth there is a faculty of curing Souls even Philosophy whose succor is not as in bodily Diseases to be fetch'd from abroad but we must with our whole might and by all means labour that we may cure our selves Although as to Philosophy in its whole Latitude how much it is to be desired and studied hath been I suppose sufficiently discoursed c in my Treatise on that Subject call'd Hortensius and since that time we have scarcely ever ceas'd both disputing and writing upon Points of highest Importance In these Books too are laid down those Disputes which we had among Friends that came to visit us at our House at Tusculum But because in the two former there hath been spoken as to Death and Pain the third days Dispute shall make this third Volum for as soon as we were come down into our Academy I bid any one of them that were in presence propose a Subject to debate upon Then the Matter proceeded thus c In my Treatise on that Subject called Hortensius Tully writ a Book wherein he answers the Objections against Philosophy made by Hortensius and therefore calls it by his Name it is not now extant SECT IV. The Position offers it as a probable Opinion that a Wise man is liable to Discontent S. IT is my judgment that Discontent may be incident to a Wise man M. May the other Disturbances too Fears Lusts Wrathfulness for these are in a manner of that Nature which the Greeks call Passions I might Diseases and the word would fully justifie me But the Expression hath not been received in our Language for Pittying Envying Giggling Rejoycing all these the Greeks call Diseases being Commotions of the mind rebelling against Reason but we may as I suppose style the same inordinate Emotions of mind Distempers Diseases we cannot in any receiv'd Sense of the Word unless you be of another judgment S. I am in that clearly of your mind M. Do you think then that these are incident to a Wise man S. Plainly I am of your opinion that they are M. Then truly this Wisdom so much glorified is of no great value since it differs not much from madness S. What do you take every stirring the Affections for stark madness M. I am not the only Person that take it to be so but that which I use often to admire I find that this was the Sense of our Ancestors many Ages before Socrates from whom all this Doctrine of Life and Manners is deriv'd S. How doth that appear M. Because the name of Distemper signifieth a Sickness and Disease of the mind that is being out of Temper and that crazedness of mind which they called madness or being distempered Now the Philosophers style all Passions Diseases and say that no Fool is free from these Diseases but they that are not in Temper are Distempered Now the Souls of all unwise men are not in Temper therefore all unwise men are Distempered Now this Temper of Souls they judg'd to be plac'd in a calmness and constancy of mind a mind destitute of these things they called Distemper or Madness because in a disturb'd Mind as well as Body there can be no good Temper SECT V. That men imported by Passions are Mad. NOR was that less ingenuous when they term'd such habit of the mind as is withdrawn from the conduct of Wisdom being out of the Wits or besides ones self Whence we may perceive that those who gave these Names to things were of the same judgment as Socrates deliver'd and the Stoicks have firmly maintain'd that all unwise men are not sound in their Principle Now the Soul that is any ways Diseas'd and the Philosophers as I lately said term these inordinate Motions Diseases is no more sound than the Body when it is Diseas'd So it follows that Wisdom is the soundness of the Mind but Folly a kind of unsoundness Distemper and being out of the Wits d And these words are much more significant and expressive in Latin than in Greek as it occurs in many Instances a different Import but of that elsewhere now to the matter in hand The importance therefore of the very word declareth of what Nature and Property the whole matter under question is For they must needs be understood sound of mind whose mind is disturb'd with no Passion as with a Disease Those who are contrariwise affected must needs be called unsound of Mind Distemper'd or Mad. Therefore nothing can be better express'd than the Latin Phrase when we say of men that they are broke loose from Government when they are transported with unbridled Lust or Anger although Anger it self be but a sort of Lust for Anger is defin'd to be a Lust of Revenge They therefore that are said not to be their own Masters are therefore said so to be because they are not under the Government of their Understanding to which Faculty the Soveraignty of the whole Soul is by Nature given Now whence the Greeks derive their name for Madness I cannot easily guess but we are more distinct in our Terms than they for we separate this Distemper of Mind which is joyn'd with Folly and of larger extent from distractedness The Greeks indeed aim at a peculiar word but are not very happy in it What we call Rage they term Melancholly As though the Soul were only disturb'd by Choler adust and not oftentimes either by excess of Wrath or Fear or Grief with which sort of Rage we say Athamus Alcmaeon Ajax Orestes were transported He that is in this Circumstance the twelve Tables forbid him to have the management of his own Estate Therefore it is not written if he cometh to be unsound of judgment but to be distracted For they judg'd that Folly that is a shallowness of Parts or a mind fickle and destitute of sound judgment might discharge ordinary Offices and answer the common and daily occasions of the World but they look'd upon being distracted as a total darkness of the Understanding which though it seem a greater Evil than want of a sound Judgment yet is this of that Malignity that e a wise
speak true only I shall mind them though it should be never so true that a wise man acts always in subserviency to his Body or to word it more inoffensively doth nothing but what may turn to advantage maketh his own Interest the ultimate end and measure of all his Actions yet because these Principles are not plausible that they would keep their Joy to themselves but forbear to utter lofty words SECT XXII The judgment of the Cyrenian Sect how far allowable THE opinion of the Cyrenaicks remains to be discust these think that Discontent then ariseth when any Affliction falls upon us unawares there is much in that as I said above and I know Chrysippus is of the mind that what is not foreseen cometh with the greater Blow yet this is not all However an undiscover'd onset of Enemies puts into somewhat more Confusion than what is expected and a sudden Tempest at Sea gives greater Terror to those that are Sailing than that which was sometime foreseen and most such Instances have like Effects yet when one looks narrowly into the Nature of unexpected Contingencies he shall find nothing else but that all suddain things seem greater and that for two Reasons First because space is not left of considering how great the accidents are and then because there seems to have been a possibility of Prevention had it been foreseen the evil createth the sharper remorse as if it had been incur'd by some fault of our own That this is so time demonstrates that Process whereof doth give such ease that though the Evils remain the same yet the Trouble is asswaged and in the most taken quite away Many Carthaginians liv'd in Bondage at Rome Macedonians when King Perses was made Captive I my self also when young saw in Peloponnesus some Corinthians these could have taken up that Lamentation out of the Andromache All these I saw But perhaps too they had already Sung it over so often as to leave doing it any more for such was their Look Language all their other motion and presence that one would have taken them for Argives or Sicyonians and the Ruines on a suddain beheld at Corinth more affected me than the Corinthians themselves for long consideration through tract of time had cicatriz'd their Souls We have read a Book of a Clitomachus which he sent to his Captive Country-men to comfort them upon the rasing of Carthage in that is a Disputation of Carneades written which he saith he put down into his Note-Book upon this Thesis that it was the Respondents opinion that a wise man would be discontented at the Captivity of his Country What Carneades disputed on the contrary is written so great a Remedy therefore of the present distress is apply'd by the Philosopher as would not have been requisite when it had been grown old for had the same Book been sent some years after to them in Bondage it would not have been administer'd to their Wounds but Scars For grief diminisheth by a soft and gentle progess not that the matter is wont to receive any change or can admit it but use teacheth that Lesson which Reason ought that those things in reality are lesser which to appearance were greater a Clitomachus A Carthaginian who at forty years of Age came to Athens Carneades being Professor in the Academy of the Platonicks him he heard and afterwards succeeded in that Chair being well â—â—â—s'd in the Stoick Peripatetick and Academick Schemes SECT XXIII Forecast of possible Calamities is needful WHAT need therefore is there of Reason will some say or of any Argument at all of Comfort such as we are wont to use when we would abate the grief of those that are greatly dejected for this is obvious to lay before them that nothing should be thought unexpected But how will he bear his affliction more patiently who knows that there is a necessity for such accidents to befall frail men for this same Language deducts nothing from the Sum of ill only acquaints us that nothing is befallen us which should not have been expected Nor yet is this sort of Address wholly ineffectual in comforting but whether it have the most efficacy again I cannot say therefore these unexpected accidents are not so considerable as that the whole trouble should arise from thence Perhaps they give the greater Blow yet have not that effect to make Accidents seem greater because they are new but because they are sudden Therefore there is a two-fold Method of finding out Truth nor in those things only which seem evil but in those also which pass for good for either we enquire of the Nature of the thing it self of what kind it is and how great as sometimes concerning Poverty whose burden we alleviate by recounting How small and few things they are which Nature craveth or else we pass our discourse over from the subtilty of Arguing to Aâ—â—â—gation of Examples Here Socrates is produc'd here Diogenes here that Passage of Caecilius A Gray Coat often Wisdom may conceal For whereas Poverty hath still one and the same Force what reason can be alledged why it should have been b tolerable to C. Fabricius others say they cannot sustain it Therefore that method of comforting which teacheth Accidents to be common to men is like this second sort of Arguments for such Disputation not only containeth this to lead us into the knowledge of man's Nature but further implyeth that those things are in themselves tolerable which others have born and do bear b Tolerable to C. Fabricius He was General of the Romans his whole Cupboard of Plate was a Salt and Boul for Sacrifice which yet stood on a Horn Foot He refus'd a great Sum of Gold presented him by the Samnian Embassadors and return'd his excuse to Pyrrhus offering him to be second in the Kingdom of Epirus His Daughters at their Marriage receiv'd a Portion from the Publick Treasury SECT XXIV The use of Presidents THE question is about Poverty many Patient Poor men are instanc'd in About despising Honour many that have fallen into disgrace are produc'd and for that very reason more happy And particularly the Life of those is commended who have prefer'd Privacy and Retirement before Pomp and Business Nor is c that Stanza of the most potent King pass'd by in silence who commends an old man and declares him happy because he should pass to his Grave ignoble and inglorious In like manner losses of Children taken quietly are extoll'd by producing instances and thereby the Sorrows of them who exceed their due bounds asswaged so the persevering Patience of others causeth the Accidents to seem much less than what they were before reputed to have been Thus upon consideration by degrees it appears how much opinion hath impos'd upon us Now this the above-mention'd Telamon declareth I knew when I begot them and Theseus On future troubles still I thought and Anaxagoras I knew that I begot a Mortal For all these Persons by long consideration upon the
Elements which furnish material cause of existence to all compound Bodies pitches upon a fifth Essence of which the rational Soul should consist for to think and forecast to learn and teach to invent with so many other Abilities of Memory Love Hatred Desire Fear Anxiety Joy he doth not conceive these and the like can be inherent in any of those four Elements Hereupon he adds a fifth nameless Nature and so calls the Soul by the new name of a pure Act being in continu'd and perpetual Motion SECT XI Inferences from these diverse Opinions THese are almost all the Opinions about the Soul as far as I can recollect for let us wave Democritus a brave man indeed and excellent Scholar but who fram'd the Soul upon a casual rencounter of smooth and globular Moths for among those Gentlemen there is no feat so strange but what omnipotent Atomes can perform Of these Opinions which is true God alone knows which hath the greatest appearance of truth is much to be question'd Had we best therefore discuss these different Opinions or return to the enquiry at first propos'd S. I would fain both might be if it were possible but it is hard to confound them Wherefore if without scanning them at large we may be deliver'd from the Terrors of death let that be our business but if that cannot be obtain'd till this question of the Souls nature be decided let us now dispatch this and that another time M. I judge that more convenient which I find you like better for it will be concluded with good Reason that whatsoever of those Opinions which I have alledged prove true death must be either not evil or rather good For if the Soul be Heart or Blood or Brains of a certain because it is Corporal it will dye with the other Body If it be breath perhaps it will scatter into thin Air If Fire it will be quench'd If it be the Harmony of Aristoxenus it will be discomposed What need I mention Dicaearchus who allows not the Soul to be any Substance according to all these Opinions none hath any concern after Death for Life and Sense are extinguish'd together But what is insensible hath neither interest in good or evil The Judgments of the rest open some door of Hope if this may chance to please you that our Souls when they have escap'd out of our Bodies may arrive at Heaven as at their own Home S. That is well pleasing to me and I could principally wish that it were so But next however it is could be contented with the perswasion that it were so M. What need have you of our pains to that purpose can we surpass Plato in Eloquence Read over diligently his Book about the Soul you will need no further Information S. I have in truth done so and that many times but I know not how whilst I am in reading I yield my assent when I have laid down the Book and begin to meditate with my self upon the Soul's Immortality all my former Assent slips out of my mind M. What think you of this do you grant that Souls do either subsist after death or determine upon death S. I readily grant it M. b What if they survive S. I allow they are blessed M. If they dye S. That they are not miserable because they have no being for that Point upon compulsion from you we a little before granted M. How then or wherefore do you say death in your judgment to be an evil which either renders us blessed in case the Soul survive or not miserable as being without all Sense b What if they survive I allow they are blessed An intellectual Life is a Blessing compar'd with Annihilation but to this must be added Reconciliation to God on such Terms as he hath declar'd consistent with the Honor of his Justice and Truth SECT XII Arguments that the Soul subsists after Death from immemorial Tradition from Funeral Rites and from the Veneration of ancient Heroes S. BE pleas'd therefore to declare in the first place if you are able that the Soul subsists after Death if you cannot evince that for it is a hard matter to make out clearly inform us that Death carrieth no evil along with it for I fear least that be evil I say not to be insensible but that we must lose our Senses M. We can produce the best Authority for that Sentence which you would gain now this both ought and is wont to be of greatest moment in deciding all Causes as first the consent of all Antiquity who the less distance they were remov'd from their original and divine Extraction did perhaps discern truth more clearly Therefore this one Principle was deeply engrasted in those old Sires who liv'd in the non-age of time that there was Sense after Death nor would man by departure out of Life be so rais'd up from the Foundations as to perish totally And this may be collected as from many other Instances so in particular from the Pontifical Sanctions about Ceremonies at the places of burial which they would never have observ'd with so much Devotion nor aveng'd the breach of them under such inexpiable Penalties had it not been imprinted in their minds that death was not an Annihilation but a removal and change only of Life which used to conduct Men and Women of good Fame up to Heaven and which continu'd in others but was depress'd to the grosser Regions investing the Earth After this Ritual and the Opinion of our Ancestors In Heaven lives Romulus with the Gods in bliss as Ennius compliant with Fame sweetly sings In like manner among the Greeks and from them deriv'd to us and as far as the Western Ocean is Hercules esteem'd a God so powerful and propitious From hence Bacchus born of Semâ—le and in like renown Castor and Pollux Brethren Sons of Tynearus who are deliver'd to have been in the Battles of the Roman People not only assistants of Victory c but also Messengers there of express What is not Ino Cadmus's Daughter who was nam'd by the Greeks Leucothea term'd by the Romans Matuta What is not almost all Heaven not to instance in more peopled with Inhabitants of humane Race c But also Messengers thereof In the War with the Latins at the Regillan Lake two Knights on white Horses were seen to lead up the Roman Battalia and after the Victory the same night to wash their Houses at the Fountain of Juiurna where having brought Post to Rome the News of the day won they vanish'd The like divine Express is said to have brought the word to Domitius Aenobarbus the day that Perses King of Macedon was beaten by Paulus Aemilius SECT XIII From this that the Superior Gods are receiv'd to have been Men deceas'd BUT if I should go about to ransack old Monuments and discover out of them what the Greek Writers have disclos'd those very Gods which are reputed of the higher Rank will be found to have pass'd from us here to
so violently that we should not see reason enough to endure them any longer good Gods m why do we make much difficulty for the Harbor is at hand death upon the spot an eternal receptacle into a State of insensibility n Theodorus said to Lysimachus threatning him with death you have indeed rais'd your self to great advancement if you can compare in power with a Spanish Fly Paul when King Perses petition'd him not to be led in Triumph reply'd That is in your own Power Much hath been said of death the first day when the Debate was expresly concerning death and not a little the second when the Subject was about Pain he that can remember that is in no great danger of not thinking death either to be desir'd or at least not to be fear'd k That he heard ill M. Crassus the Triumvir one of the three Keepers of the Liberty of Rome with Pompey and Julius Caesar he certainly lay under a flagrant infamy of unsatiable Covetousness both at home and with the Persians On this account Tully inveighs against him in his last Paradox He was also brought into some suspicion in the matter of Catiline but there compurg'd by him and perhaps he doth the like here only in point of disaffection to the Government in his time establish'd l Our Epicureans A colour or facetious Argument taken to expose that Sect. m Why do we make much difficulty A Stoical case to favour impatience in Pain n Theodorus Call'd Atheist was sent Embassador by Ptolomy to Lysimachus King of Thrace where speaking resolutely he was threat'ned by him who was of a cholerick Temper when he bid him come no more into his presence he reply'd he would not unless Ptolomy sent him again Some of the Fathers count him falsly traduc'd of Atheism because he disallow'd the worship of the Greeks and being a Cyrenian and known to Ptolomy he might have acquaintance with the Alexandrian Jews SECT XLI That it is an opinion almost universally held by the Philosophers that wise men are always happy THAT order seems in my judgment fit to be observ'd in Life which is enjoyn'd in the treats of the Greeks either drink or be gone And reason good for either let a man enjoy the pleasure of taking his Cup with others or let him timely withdraw lest he being sober be fallen upon by the rest in a drunken Fit So should a man avoid by retiring what injuries of Fortune he cannot sustain These same directions of Epicurus repeats Hierom word for word Now if those Philosophers who are of the opinion that vertue of it self is of no consideration all that we call honest and praise-worthy they say to be meer Jargon and a pure Rant yet if these judge the wise man to be always happy what I pray do you think should the Philosophers descended from Socrates and Plato do some of which say there is so great excellency in the goods of the mind that those of the Body and external ones are eclips'd by them others do not so much as count them goods place all their advantages in their mind Which Controversie of theirs Carneades was wont to moderate as an Umpire to which both Parties refer'd their Cause to be compromis'd For whereas what things the Peripateticks think goods the Stoicks count the same Conveniencies and yet the Peripateticks do not attribute more to Riches Health and other things of like Nature then the Stoicks since they were to be weigh'd by reality not words he deny'd there was any just cause of Dissention Wherefore let the Philosophers of other Perswasions look to it how they can gain this Point Yet I am pleas'd that they make a profession beseeming Philosophers about wise mens title to living in perpetual happiness But since we must be going to morrow let us comprise in memory these five days Debates And to say the truth I think I shall draw them up in writing for upon what can we better employ o this leisure such as it is and we will send these other five Books to our Friend Brutus by whom we have not only been invited to the making Philosophical Treatises p but also provok'd Wherein how much we shall profit others we cannot easily tell but for our own most bitter griefs and various disquiets charging us on every side no other relief could be found o This leisure such as it is Spoken with some Stomach for his being at that time in Prudence oblig'd to compound for his safety by retirement from his honourable Emploiments p But also provok'd By example and the address of his Book upon alike Subject FINIS THE CONTENTS Of the First BOOK Comforts against Death The Prologue Sect. 1 2 3 4. SECT I. THAT the Greeks were inferior to the Romans in most Points of useful knowledge Page 1. SECT II. However Superior in Poetry Pictures Musick and Geometry P. 3. SECT III. Equall'd by them in Oratory which is encouragement to set upon Philosophy P. 5. SECT IV. Philosophy joyn'd with Oratory is more beneficial P. 6. SECT V. The Position that the Proponent taketh Death to be Evil. P. 8. SECT VI. The local Hell of the Poets to be fictitious P. 10. SECT VII They who are not are not miserable P. 12. SECT VIII Nor is dying miserable but essay'd to be prov'd rather good P. 14. SECT IX What Death is What the Soul in vulgar opinion P. 16. SECT X. What it is in the judgment of divers Philosophers P. 17. SECT XI Inferences from these different Opinions P. 19. SECT XII Arguments for the Souls subsistence after death from immemorial Tradition from Funeral Rites and from the veneration of ancient Heroes P. 21. SECT XIII From this that there is a Tradition of the Superior Gods having been Men deceas'd P. 23. SECT XIV From an innate care of Posterity Zeal for the State P. 25. SECT XV And thirst after Glory P. 26. SECT XVI That dead mens Souls abide in Caverns under Earth is the groundless Fiction of Poets or imposture of Magicians P. 28. SECT XVII That it is more likely they ascend P. 30. SECT XVIII Nor vanish P. 32. SECT XIX But mount the Sky P. 33. SECT XX. And thence contemplate Nature P. 35. SECT XXI That the Epicureans who plead for Annihilation have no such reason to triumph in their Scheme of Natural knowledge improved P. 37. SECT XXII An immaterial Substance though invisible may subsist of it self as God so the Soul P. 38. SECT XXIII Arguments for the immortality of the Soul from its being the principle of its own Motion P. 40. SECT XXIV From the capaciousness of its memory P. 41. SECT XXV Corollaries upon the former Arguments from that of Invention P. 44. SECT XXVI From further Endowments P. 46. SECT XXVII From its Divine Original P. 48. SECT XXVIII From its Faculties P. 49. SECT XXIX From its Nature P. 51. SECT XXX From the Authority of Socrates and Cato P. 52. SECT XXXI From the Sequestring it self from the Body