trot when they the sports remember Of lovely Venus leape for joy no cares their heart encomber So verily in these solemne pompes processions and sacrifices not onely the aged husband and the old wife the poore man that liveth in low and private estate but also The fat legd wench well under laid Which to the mill bestirs full yerne Her good round stumpes and well appaid To grinde her griest doth turne the querne the houshold hines and servants and the mercenarie day-labourers who get their living by the sweat of their browes doe altogether leape for mirth and joy of heart Kings and princes keepe great cheere in their roiall courts and make certeine roiall and publike feasts for all commers but those which they hold in the sacred temples at sacrifices and solemnities of the gods performed with fragrant perfumes and odoriforous incense where it seemeth that men approch neerest unto the majestie of the gods thinke they even touch them and be conversant with them in all honour and reverence such seasts I say yeeld a more rare joy and singular delectation than any other whereof he hath no part at all who denieth the providence of God for it is not the abundance and plentie of wine there drunke nor the store of roast sodden meat there eaten which yeeldeth joy and contentment at such solemue seasts but the assured hope and full perswasion that God is there present propitious favourable and gracious and that he accepteth in good part the honour and service done unto him For some feasts and sacrifices there be where there is no musicke at all of flutes and hautboies ne yet any chaplets and garlands of flowers used at all but a sacrifice where no god is present like as a temple without a sacred feast or holy banquet is profane unfestivall impious irreligious and without divine inspiration and devotion and to speake better wholly displeasant and odious to himselfe that offereth it for that he counterfeiteth by hypocrisie praiers and adorations onely in a shew and otherwise than he meaneth for feare of the mulutude and pronounceth words cleane contrary unto the opinions which he holdeth in Philosophie when he sacrificeth he standeth by the priest as he would by a cooke or butcher who cutteth the throat of a sheepe and after he hath sacrificed he goes his way home saying thus to himselfe I have sacrificed a sheepe as men ordinarily do unto the gods who have no care and regard of me For so it is that Epicurus teacheth his scholars to set a good countenance of the matter and neither to envie nor incurre the hatred of the common sort when they are disposed to be merie but seeming others in practise and themselves inwardly in being displeased with things done for according as Euenus saith What things are done perforce by us Displeasant be and odious Hereupon it is that they themselves do say and holde That superstitious persons are present at sacrifices and religious ceremonies not for any joy or pleasure they take there but upon a feare that they have and verily herein no difference is betweene them and superstitious folke in case it be so that they doe the same things for feare of the world which the other do for feare of the gods nay rather they be in a worse condition than those in that they have not so much hope of good as they but onely stand alwaies in dread and be troubled in mind lest they should be detected and discovered for abusing and deceiving the world by their counterfeit hypocrisie in regard of which feare they have themselves written books and treatises of the gods and of deitie so composed that they be full of ambiguities and nothing is therein soundly or cleerely delivered they do so maske disguise and cover themselves and all to cloake and hide the opinions which in deed they hold doubting the furie of the people Thus much concerning two sorts of men to wit the wicked and the simple or common multitude now therefore let us consider of a third kinde such as be of the best marke men of worth and honour most devout and religious in deed namely what sincere and pure pleasures they have by reason of the perswasion that they hold of God beleeving firmly that he is the ruler and director of all good persons the authour and father from whom proceed all things good and honest and that it is not lawfull to say or beleeve that he doth evill no more than to be perswaded that he suffereth evill for good he is by nature and looke whatsoever is good conceiveth no envie to any is fearefull of none neither is it moved with anger or hatred of ought for like as heat can not coole a thing but alwaies naturally maketh it hot so that which is good can not hurt or do ill Now anger and favour be farre remote one from the other so is choler and bitter gall much different from mildnesse and benevolence as also malice and frowardnesse are opposite unto bountie meeknesse and humanitie for that the one sort ariseth from vertue and puissance the other from weakenesse and vice Now are we not to thinke that the divine power is given to be wrathfull and gracious alike but to beleeve rather that the proper nature of God is alwaies to be helpfull and beneficiall whereas to be angry and to doe harme is not so naturall but that mightie Jupiter in heaven he descendeth from thence first downe to the earth to dispose and ordeine all things after him other gods of whom the one is surnamed The Giver another Mild and Bounteous a third Protectour or Defender as for Apollo as Pindarus saith Who doth in winged chariot flie Amid the starres in a zure skie To every man in his affaire Reputed is most debonaire Now as Diogenes was wont to say all things are Gods and likewise among friends all things are common and good men are Gods friends even so impossible it is that either he who is devout and a lover of God should not be withall happie or that a vertuous temperate and just man should not likewise be devout and religious Thinke ye then that these who denie the government of Gods providence need other punishment or be not punished sufficiently for their impietie in that they cut themselves from so great joy and pleasure as we finde in our selves we I say who are thus well given and religiously affected toward God The greatest joy that Epicurus stood upon and bare himselfe so boldly were Metrodorus Polyaenus Aristobulus and such and those he was alwaies emploied about either in curing and tending them when they were sicke or in bewailing them after they were dead whereas Lycurgus was honoured even by the prophetesse Pythia in these tearmes A man whom Jupiter did love And all the heavenly saints above As for Socrates who had a familiar spirit about him whom he imagined to speake and reason friendly with him even of kindnesse and good will and
unto him concerning two most faire and beautiful boies to this effect whether he should buy them for to send unto him or no he had like to have lost the place of government under him for his labour and yet to say a trueth who might have better done it than Alexander But like as of two paines griefs as Hippocrates saith the lesse is dulled and dimmed as it were by the greater even so the pleasures proceeding from vertuous and honourable actions do darken and extinguish by reason of the minds joies and in regard of their exceeding greatnesse those delights which arise from the bodie And if it be so as these Epicureans say that the remembrance of former pleasures and good things be materiall and make much for a joifull life which of us all will beleeve Epicurus himselfe that dying as he did in most grievous paines and dolorous maladies he eased his torments or asswaged his anguish by calling to minde those delights which beforetime he had enjoied For surely it were an easier matter to beholde the resemblance of ones face in the bottome of a troubled water or amid the waves during a tempest than to conceive and apprehend the smiling and laughing remembrance of a pleasure past in so great a disquietnesse and bitter vexation of the body whereas the memorie of vertuous and praise-worthy actions a man can not would he never so faine chase and drive out of his minde For how is it possible that Alexander the Great should ever forget the battell at Arbela or Pelopidas the defaiture of the tyrant Leontiades or Themistocles the noble field fought before Salamis for as touching the victorie at Marathon the memoriall thereof the Athenians doe solemnize with feasts even to this day like as the Thebans celebrate the remembrance of the famous fight at Leuctres and wee verily as you know well enough make feasts for the victorie of Daiphantus before the citie Hyampolis and not onely we keepe yeerely holiday then but also the whole country of Phocis upon that anniversarie day is full of sacrifices and due honours neither is there one of us that taketh so great contentment of all that hee eateth or drinketh such a festivall time as he doth in regard of the remembrance of those noble acts which those brave men performed we may well gesse and consider therefore what joy what mirth what gladnesse and solace of heart accompanied them all their life time after who executed these noble feats of armes considering that after five hundred yeeres and above the memorie of them is fresh and the same attended with so great cheere and rejoicing And yet Epicurus himselfe doth acknowledge that of glorie there doe arise certeine joies and pleasures for how could he doe lesse seeing that himselfe is so desirous thereof that he is even mad withall and fareth after a furious maner to atteine thereto insomuch as not onely he disavoweth his owne masters and teachers contesteth against Democrates whose opinions and doctrines he stealeth word for word upon certeine syllables and nice points mainteining that there never was any wise man nor learned clearke setting himselfe and his disciples aside but also which more is he hath bene so impudent as to say and write that Colotes adored him as a god touching his knees full devoutly when he heard him discourse of naturall causes and that his brother Neocles affirmed and gave out even from his infancie that Epicurus had never his like or fellow for wisdome and knowledge as also that his mother was happie and blessed for bearing in her womb such a number of Atomes that is to say indivisible small bodies who concurring all together framed and formed so skilfull a personage Is not this all one with that which Callicratides sometime said of Conon That he committed adulterie with the sea even so a man may say that Epicurus secretly by stealth and shamefully made love unto Glory and went about to solicit yea force her by violence not being able to win and enjoy her openly whereupon he became passionate and love-sicke for like as a mans bodie in time of famine for that it hath no food and nourishment otherwise is constreined even against nature to feed upon the owne substance even so ambition and thirst after glorie doth the like hurt unto the soules of ambitious persons for being readie to die for thirst of glorie and seeing they can not have it otherwise enforced they are to praise themselves But they that be thus passionatly affected with desire of praise and honour confesse not they manifestly that they reject forgo and neglect great pleasures and delights when through their feeble lazie and base minds they flie from publicke offices of State forbeare the management of affaires and regard not the favours of kings and following of great persons from whence Democritus saith there accrue unto man many ornaments to grace and commend this life For Epicurus shall never be able to make the world beleeve that esteeming so much as he did and making so great account of Neocles his brothers testimonie or the adoration of Colotes he would not have bene ready to have leapt out of his skin and gone besides himselfe for joy if he had beene received by the Greeks at the solemnitie of the Olympian games with joious acclamations and clapping of hands nay hee would no doubt have shewed that gladnesse and contentment of heart with open mouth hee would have bene aloft and flowen abroad as the Poet Sophocles saith Like to the Downe which being light and soft From thistle olde the winde doth mount aloft And if it be a gracious and acceptable thing for a man to brute that he hath a good name it followeth consequently that grievous it is to be in an ill name and what is more infamous and odious than to be friendlesse to want emploiment to be infected with Atheisme and impietie to live loosely and abandoned to lusts and pleasures finally to be neglected and contemned and verily setting themselves aside there is no man living but he thinketh al these qualities and attributes to agree fitly unto this sect of theirs True will some man say but they have the greater wrong Well the question now is not what is the trueth but what is the common opinion that the world hath of them and to this purpose I meane not to cite the publicke decrees and acts of Citres nor to alledge the defamatorie books written against them for that were too odious but if the oracles if divination if the praescience and providence of the gods if the naturall love and affectionate kindnesse of parents to their children if the managing of politike affaires if the conduct of armies if magistracie and rule in common-wealth be matters honourable and glorious then it must needs be that they who affirme That no travell ought to be made for the safetie of Greece but that we are to eat and drinke so as the bellie may be pleased and receive no harme
and DEMOCRITUS were of opinion that all things were made by Necessitie and that destinie justice providence and the Creatour of the world were all one CHAP. XXVI Of the Essence of Necessitie PLATO referreth some events to providence and others he attributeth to Necessitie EMPEDOCLES saith that the Essence of Necessitie is a cause apt to make use of the principles and elements DEMOCRITUS affirmeth it to be the resistance the lation motion and permission of the matter PLATO holdeth it to be one while matter it selfe and another while the habitude of that which is agent to the matter CHAP. XXVII Of Destinie HERACLITUS affirmeth that all things were done by fatall Destinie and that it and Necessitie be both one PLATO admitteth willingly this Destinie in the soules lives and actions of men but hee inferreth withall a cause proceeding from our selves The STOICKES likewise according with the opinion of Plato do hold that Necessitie is a cause invincible most violent and inforcing all things also that Destinie is a connexion of causes interlaced linked orderly in which concatenation or chaine is therein comprised also that cause which proceedeth from us in such sort as some events are destined and others not CHAP. XXVIII Of the substance of 〈◊〉 HERACLITUS saith that the substance of Destinie is the reason that pierceth throughout the substance of the universall world PLATO affirmeth it to be an eternall reason and a perpetuall law of the nature of the whole world CHRYSIPPUS holdeth it to be a certaine puissance spirituall which by order governeth and administreth all things And againe in his booke of definitions hee writeth thus Destinie is the reason of the world or rather the law of all things in the world administred and governed by providence or else the reason whereby things past have beene things present are and future things shall be The STOICKES are of opinion that it is the chaine of causes that is to say an order and connexion which cannot be surmounted and transgressed POSIDONIUS supposeth it to be the third after Jupiter for that Jupiter is in the first degree Nature in the second and fatall Destinie in the third CHAP. XXIX Of Fortune PLATO defineth Fortune to be in things proceeding from mans counsell and election a cause by accident and a verie casuall consequence ARISTOTLE holdeth it to be an accidentall cause in those things which from some deliberate purpose and impulsion tend to a certaine end which cause is not apparent but hidden and uncertaine And he putteth a difference between Fortune and rash adventure for that all Fortune in the affaires and actions of this world is adventurous but everie adventure is not by and by Fortune for that it consisteth in things without action againe Fortune is properly in actions of reasonable creatures but adventure indifferently in creatures as well unreasonable as reasonable yea and in those bodies which have neither life nor soule EPICURUS saith that Fortune is a cause which will not stand and accord with persons times and manners ANAXAGORAS and the STOICKS affirme it to be a cause unknowne and hidden to humane reason for that some things come by necessitie others by fatall destinie some by deliberate counsell others by Fortune and some againe by casualitie or adventure CHAP. XXX Of Nature 〈◊〉 holdeth that Nature is nothing only that there is a mixture and divulsion or separation of Elements for in this manner writeth he in the first booke of his Phisicks This one thing more I will yet say of things that be humane And Mortall mature none there is and deaths end is but vaine Amixture and divulsion of Elements and of all Onely there is and this is that which men do Nature call Semblably ANAXAGORAS saith that Nature is nothing else but a concretion and dissipation that is to say generation and corruption THE SECOND BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme HAving now finished the Treatise of PRINCIPLES ELEMENTS and such other matters linked and concurring with them I will turne my pen unto the discourse as touching their effects and works composed of them beginning first at that which is most spatious and capable of all things CHAP. I. Of the World PYTHAGORAS was the first who called the Roundle that containeth and comprehendeth all to wit the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the orderly digestion observed therein THALES and his disciples held that there is but one World DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and their scholler METRODORUS affirme that there be innumerable Worlds in an infinite space according to all dimensions and circumstances EMPEDOCLES saith that the course and race of the Sunne is the verie circumscription of the bounds and limits of the World and that it is the verie confinement thereof SELEUCUS held the World to be infinite DIOGENES affirmed the universalitie to be infinite but the world finite and determinate The STOICKS put a difference betweene universall and whole for they say that the universall together with voidnesse is infinite and that the whole without voidnes is the World so as these termes the Whole and the World be not both one CHAP. II. Of the figure and forme of the World THe STOICKS affirme the World to be round some say it is pointed or pyramidal others that it is fashioned in manner of an egge but EPICURUS holdeth that his Worlds may be round and it may be that they are apt besides to receive other formes CHAP. III. Whether the World be animate or endued with a soule ALL other Philosophers agree that the World is animate governed by providence but DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and as many as maintaine ATOMES and with all bring in VACUITY that it is neither animate nor governed by providence but by a certaine nature void of reason ARISTOTLE holdeth that it is not animate wholy and throughout all parts nor sensitive nor reasonable nor yet intellectuall or directed by providence True it is quoth he that celestiall bodies be capable of all these qualities as being compassed about with sphaeres both animate and vitall whereas bodies terrestriall and approching neere unto the earth are endued with none of them and as for the order and decent composition therein it came by accident and not by prepensed reason and counsell CHAP. IIII. Whether the World be incorruptible and eternall PYTHAGORAS and PLATO affirme that the world was ingendred and made by God and of the owne nature being corruptible shall perish for sensible it is and therefore corporall howbeit in regard of the divine providence which preserveth and mainteineth it perish it shall never EPICURUS saith that it is corruptible for that it is engendred like as a living creature or a plant XENOPHANES holdeth the world to be eternall ingenerable uncreated and incorruptible ARISTOTLE is of opinion that the part of the world under the moone is passible wherein the bodies also adjacent to the earth be subject to corruption CHAP. V. Whereof the World is nourished ARISTOTLE saith that if the World be nourished it is
pliable shewed very well that he held it for a singular vertue to be sociable and to know how to sort and agree with others like as the same Pindar us himselfe When God did call he gave attendance And never bragd of all his valiance meaning and signifying Cadmus The olde Theologians and Divines who of all Philosophers are most ancient have put into the hands of of the images of the gods musicall instruments minding nothing lesse thereby than to make this god or that a minstrell either to play on lute or to sound the flute but because they thought there was no greater piece of worke than accord and harmonicall symphonic could beseeme the gods Like as therefore hee that would seeke for sesquitertian sesquialterall or double proportions of Musicke in the necke or bridge in the belly or backe of a lute or in the pegs and pinnes thereof were a ridiculous foole for howsoever these parts ought to have a symmetrie and proportion one to another in regard of length and thicknesse yet the harmonie where of we speake is to be considered in the sounds onely Even so probable it is and standeth with great reason that the bodies of the starres the distances and intervals of sphaeres the celeritie also of their courses and revolutions should be proportionate one unto the other yea and unto the whole world as instruments of musicke well set and tuned albeit the just quantitie of the measure be unknowen unto But this we are to thinke that the principall effect and efficacie of these numbers and proportions which that great and sovereigne Creatour used is the consonance accord and agreement of the soule in it selfe with which she being endowed she hath replenished both the heaven it selfe when she was setled thereupon with an infinite number of good things and also disposed and ordeined all things upon the earth by seasons by changes and mutations tempered and measured most excellently well and with surpassing wisdome aswell for the production and generation of all things as for the preservation and safety of them when they were created and made AN EPITOME OR BREVIARIE of a Treatise as touching the creation of the Soule according to Plato in Timaeus THis Treatise entituled Of the creation of the soule as it is described in the booke of of Plato named Timaeus declareth all that Plato and the Platoniques have written of that argument and inferreth certeine proportions and similitudes Geometricall which he supposeth pertinent to the speculation and intelligence of the nature of the soule as also certeine Musical and Arithmeticall Theoremes His meaning and saying is that the first matter was brought into forme and shape by the soule Hee attributeth to the universall world a soule and likewise to every living creature a soule of the owne by it selfe which ruleth and governeth it He bringeth in the said soule in some sort not engendred and yet after a sort subject to generation But hee affirmeth that eternall matter to have bene formed by God that evill and vice is an impe springing from the said matter To the end quoth he that it might never come into mans thought That God was the authour or cause of evill All the rest of this Breviarie is word for word in the Treatise it selfe therefore may be well spared in this place and not rehearsed a second time OF FATALL NECESSITY This little Treatise is so pitiously torne maimed and dismembred thorowout that a man may sooner divine and guesse thereat as I have done than translate it I beseech the readers therefore to holde me excused in case I neither please my selfe nor content them in that which I have written ENdevour I will and addresse my selfe to write unto you most deere and loving friend Piso as plainly and compendiously as possible I can mine opinion as touching Fatall destinie for to satisfie your request albeit you know full well how wary and precise I am in my writing First and formost therefore thus much you must understand That this terme of Fatall destinie is spoken and understood two maner of waies the one as it is an action and the other as it is a substance In the first place Plato hath figuratively drawen it forth under a type described it as an action both in his diologue entituled Phaedrus in these words It is an Adrastian law or inevitable ordinance which alwaies followeth and accompanieth God And also in his treatise called Timaeus after this maner The lawes which God hath pronounced and published to the immortall soules in the procreation of the universall world Likewise in his books of Common-wealth he saith That Fatall necessitie is the reason and speech of Lachesis the daughter of Necessitie By which places he giveth us to understand not tragically but after a theologicall maner what his minde and opinion is Now if a man taking the said places already cited quoted would expound the same more familiarly in other words he may declare the former descriptiō in Phaedrus after this sort namely that Fatall destinie is a divine reason or sentence intransgressible and inevitable proceeding from a cause that cannot be diverted nor impeached And according to that which he delivereth in Timaeus it is a law consequently ensuing upon the nature and creation of the world by the rule whereof all things passe and are dispenced that be done For this is it that Lachesis worketh effecteth who is in trueth the daughter of Necessity as we have both alreadie said also shall better understand by that which we are to deliver hereafter in this and other treatises at our leasure Thus you see what Destinie is as it goeth for an action but being taken for a substance it seemeth to be the universall soule of the whole world and admitteth a tripartite division The first Destiny is that which erreth not the second seemeth to erre and the third is under heaven conversant about the earth of which three the highest is called Clotho that next under it is named Atropos and the lowest Lachesis and she receiveth the influences of her two celestiall sisters transmitting and fastening the same upon terrestriall things which are under her governmēt Thus have we shewed summarily what is to be thought said as touching Destiny being taken as a substance namely What it is what parts it hath after what sort it is how it is ordeined and in what maner it standeth both in respect of it selfe and also in regard of us but as concerning the particularities of all these points there is another fable in the Politiques of Plato which covertly in some sort giveth us intelligence thereof and the same have we assaied to explane unfolde unto you as wel as possibly we can But to returne unto our Destiny as it is an action let us discourse thereof forasmuch as many questions naturall morall and rationall depend thereupon Now for that we have in some sort sufficiently defined already what it is we are to consider consequently
enter into little businesse in the world be both alike commendable parts and the properties of civill and 〈◊〉 persons And in maner the same speeches or very like thereto he hath delivered in the third booke of such things as be expetible and to be chosen for themselves in these termes For in truth quoth he it seemeth that the quiet life should be without danger and in perfect security which few or none of the vulgar sort are able to comprehend and understand Wherein first and formost it is evident that he commeth very neere to the errour of Epicurus who in the government of the world disavoweth divine providence for that he would have God to rest in repose idle and not emploied in any thing And yet Chrysippus himselfe in his first booke of Lives saith That a wise man willingly will take a kingdome upon him yea and thinke to make his gaine and profit thereby and if he be not able to reigne himselfe yet he will at leastwise converse and live with a king yea goe foorth with him to warre like as Hydanthyrsus the Scythian did and Leucon of Pontus But I will set downe his owne words that we may see whether like as of the treble and base strings there ariseth a consonance of an eight so there be an accord in the life of a man who hath chosen to live quietly without doing ought or at leastwise to intermeddle in few affaires yea and yet afterwards accompanieth the Scythians riding on horsebacke and manageth the affaires of the kings of Bosphorus upon any occasion of need that may be presented For as touching this point quoth he that a wise man will go into warlike expeditions with princes live and converse with them we will consider againe thereof heereafter being as it is a thing that as some upon the like arguments imagine not so we for the semblable reasons admit and allow And a little after Not onely with those who have proceeded well in the knowledge of vertue and beene sufficiently instituted and trained up in good maners as were Hydanthyrsus and Leucon abovesaid Some there be who blame Calisthenes for that he passed over the seas to king Alexander into his campe in hope to reedifie the city Olynthus as Artstotle caused the city Stagyra to be repaired who highly commend Ephorus Xenocrates and Menedemus who rejected Alexander But Chrysippus driveth his wise man by the head forward for his gaine and profit as farre as to the city Panticapaeum and the deserts of Scythia And that this is I say for his gaine profit he shewed before by setting downe three principall meanes beseeming a wise man for to practise and seeke his gaine by the first by a kingdome and the beneficence of kings the second by his friends and the third besides these by teaching literature and yet in many places he wearieth us with citing this verse of Euripides For what need mortall men take paine Onely for things in number twaine But in his books of Nature he saith That a wise man if he have lost the greatest riches that may be esteemeth the losse no more than if it were but a single denier of silver or one grey groat Howbeit him whom he hath there so highly extolled and pussed up with glory heere hee taketh downe and abaseth as much even to make him a meere mercenary pedante and one that is faine to teach a schoole for he would have him to demaund and exact his salary sometime before hand of his scholar when he enters into his schoole and otherwhile after a certeine prefixed time of his schooling is come and gone And this quoth hee is the honester and more civill way of the twaine but the other is the furer namely to make him pay his mony aforehand for that delay and giving attendance is subject to receive wrong and susteine losse and thus much he uttereth in these very termes Those teachers that be of the wiser sort cal for their schoolage and minervals of their scholars not all after one maner but diversly a number of them according as the present occasion requireth who promise not to make them wise men and that within a yeere but undertake to doe what lies in them within a set time agreed upon betweene them And soone after speaking of his wise man He will quoth he know the best time when to demaund his pension to wit whether incontinently upon the entrance of his scholar as the most part do or to give day and set downe a certeine time which maner of dealing is more subject to receive injurie howsoever it may seeme more honest and civill And how can a wise man tell me now be a despiser of money in case hee make a contract and bargaine at a price to receive money for delivering vertue or if he doe not deliver it yet require his salary neverthelesse as if he he had performed his part fully Either how can he be greater than to susteine a losse and damage if it be so that he stand so strictly upon this point and be so warie that he receive no wrong by the paiment of his wages For surely no man is said to bee injuried who is not hurt nor endamaged and therefore how ever otherwise he hath flatly denied that a wise man could receive warning yet in this booke he saith that this maner of dealing is exposed to losse and damage In his booke of Common-wealth he affirmeth that his citizens will never doe any thing for pleasure no nor addresse and prepare themselves therefore praising highly Euripides for these verses What need men but for two things onely swinke Bread for to eat and water shere to drinke And soone after he proceedeth forward and praiseth Diogenes for abusing himselfe by forcing his nature to passe from him in the open street and saying withall to those that stood by Oh that I could chase hunger as well from my belly What reason then is there in the selfesame bookes to commend him for rejecting pleasure and withall for defiling his owne body as hee did so beastly in the sight of the whole world and that for a little filthy pleasure In his books of Nature having written that nature had produced and brought foorth many living creatures for beauty onely as delighting and taking pleasure in such lovely varietie and therewith having adjoined moreover a most strange and absurd speech namely that the peacocke was made for his tailes sake and in regard of the beauty thereof cleane contrary to himselfe in his books of Common-wealth he reprooveth very sharpely those who keepe peacocks and nightingals as if he would make lawes quite contrary to that soveraigne law-giver of the world deriding nature for taking delight and employing as it were her study in bringing foorth such creatures unto which a wise man wil give no place in his city and common-wealth For how can it otherwise be but monstrous and absurd for to finde fault with those who nourish such creatures
the world whereby all things are governed How is it possible then that these two positions should subsist together namely that God is in no wise the cause of any dishonest thing and that there is nothing in the world be it never so little that is done but by common nature and according to the reason thereof For surely among all those things that are done necessarily there must be things dishonest and yet Epicurus turneth and windeth himselfe on every side imagining and devising all the subtill shifts that he can to unloose set free and deliver our voluntary free will from this motion eternall because he would not leave vice excuseable without just reprehension whereas in the meane while he openeth a wide window unto it and giveth it libertie to plead That committed it is not onely by the necessitie of destiny but also by the reason of God and according to the best nature that is And thus much also moreover is to be seene written word forword For considering that common nature reacheth unto al causes it cannot otherwise be but all that is done howsoever and in what part soever of the world must be according to this common nature and the reason thereof by a certeine stint of consequence without impeachment for that there is nothing without that can impeach the administration thereof neither mooveth any part or is disposed in habitude otherwise than according to that common nature But what habitudes and motions of the parts are these Certeine it is that the habitudes be the vices and maladies of the minds as covetousnesse lecherie ambition cowardise and injustice as for the motions they be the acts proceeding from thence as adulteries thefts treasons manslaughters murders and parricides Chrysippus now is of opinion That none of all these be they little or great is done without the reason of Jupiter or against law justice and providence insomuch as to breake law is not against law to wrong another is not against justice nor to commit sinne against providence And yet he affirmeth that God punisheth vice and doth many things for the punishment of the wicked As for example in the second booke of the gods Otherwhiles there happen quoth he unto good men grievous calamities not by way of punishment as to the wicked but by another kinde of oeconomy and disposition like as it falleth out usually unto cities Againe in these words First we are to understand evill things and calamities as we have said heeretofore then to thinke that distributed they are according to the reason and dispose of Jupiter either by way of punishment or else by some other oeconomie of the whole world Now surely this is a doctrine hard to bee digested namely that vice being wrought by the disposition and reason of God is also punished thereby howbeit this contradiction he doeth still aggravate and extend in the second booke of Nature writing thus But vice in regard of grievous accidents hath a certeine peculiar reason by it selfe for after a sort it is committed by the common reason of nature and as I may so say not unprofitably in respect of the universall world for otherwise than so there were no good things at all and then proceeding to reproove those who dispute pro contra and discourse indifferently on both parts he I meane who upon an ardent desire tobroch alwaies and in every matter some novelties exquisite singularities above all other saith It is not unprofitable to cut purses to play the sycophants or commit loose dissolute and mad parts no more than it is incommodious that there should be unprofitable members hurtfull and wretched persons which if it be so what maner of god is Jupiter I meane him of whom Chrysippus speaketh in case I say he punish a thing which neither commeth of it selfe nor unprofitably for vice according to the reason of Chrysippus were altogether irreprehensible and Jupiter to be blamed if either he caused vice as a thing unprofitable or punished it when he had made it not unprofitably Moreover in the first booke of Justice speaking of the gods that they oppose themselves against the iniquities of some But wholly quoth he to cut off all vice is neither possible nor expedient is it if it were possible to take away all injustice all transgression of lawes and all folly But how true this is it perteineth not to this present treatise for to enquire and discourse But himselfe taking away and rooting up all vice as much as lay in him by the meanes of philosophy which to extirpe was neither good nor expedient doeth heerein that which is repugnant both to reason and also to God Furthermore in saying that there be certeine sinnes and iniquities against which the gods doe oppose themselves he giveth covertly to understand that there is some oddes and inequality in sinnes Over and besides having written in many places that there is nothing in the world to be blamed nor that can be complained of for that all things are made and finished by a most singular and excellent nature there be contrariwise sundry places wherein hee leaveth and alloweth unto us certeine negligences reprooveable and those not in small and trifling matters That this is true it may appeere in his third book of Substance where having made mention that such like negligences might befal unto good honest men Commeth this to passe quoth he because there be some things where of there is no reckoning made like as in great houses there must needs be scattered and lost by the way some bran yea and some few graines of wheat although in generality the whole besides is well enough ruled and governed or is it because there be some evill and malignant spirits as superintendents over such things wherein certeinly such negligences are committted the same reprehensible and he saith moreover that there is much necessitie intermingled among But I meane not hereupon to stand nor to discourse at large but to let passe what vanity there was in him to compare the accidents which befell to some good and vertuous persons as for example the condemnation of Socrates the burning of Pythagoras quicke by the Cylonians the dolorous torments that Zeno endured under the tyrant Demylus or those which Antiphon suffred at the hands of Dionysius when they were by them put to death unto the brans that be spilt and lost in great mens houses But that there should bee such wicked spirits deputed by the divine providence to have the charge of such things must needs redound to the great reproach of God as if he were some unwise king who committed the government of his provinces unto evill captaines and rash headed lieutenants suffering them to abuse and wrong his best affected subjects and winking at their rechlesse negligence having no care or regard at all of them Againe if it be so that there is much necessity and constraint mingled among the affaires of this world then is not God the
soveraigne lord and omnipotent master of all neither be all things absolutely governed and ruled by his reason and counsell Moreover he mightily opposeth himselfe against Epicurus and those who take from the administration of the world divine providence confuting them principally by the common notions and conceptions inbred in us as touching the gods by which perswaded we are that they be gracious benefactours unto men And for that this is so vulgar and common a thing with them needlesse it is to cite any expresse places to proove the same And yet by his leave all nations doe not beleeve that the gods be bountifull and good unto us For doe but consider what opinion the Jewes and Syrians have of the gods looke into the writings of Poets with how many superstitions they be stuffed There is no man in maner to speake of who imagineth or conceiveth in his minde that god is either mortall and corruptable or hath bene begotten And Antipater of Tarsis to passe others over in silence in his booke of Gods hath written thus much word forword But to the end quoth he that this discourse may be more perspicuous and cleare we will reduce into few words the opinion which we have of God We understand therefore by God a living nature or substance happie incorruptible and a benefactor unto men and afterwards in expounding each of these tearmes and attributes thus he saith And verily all men doe acknowledge the gods to be immortall It must needs be then that by Antipaters saying Chrysippus of all those is none For he doth not thinke any of all the gods to be incorruptiblesave Jupiter onely but supposeth that they were all engendred a like and that one day they shall all likewise perish This generally throughout all his bookes doth he deliver howbeit one expresse passage will I alledge out of his third booke of the gods After a divers sort quoth he for some of them are engendred and mortall others not engendred at all But the proofe and demonstration here of if it should be fetched from the head indeed apperteineth more properly unto the science of Naturall Philosophy For the Sunne and Moone and other gods of like nature were begotten but Jupiter is sempiternall And againe somewhat after The like shall be said of Jupiter and other gods as touching their corruption and generation for some of them do perish but as for his parts they be incorruptible With this I would have you to compare a little of that which Antipater hath written Those quoth he who deprive the gods of beneficence and well doing touch but in some part the prenotion and anticipation in the knowledge of them and by the same reason they also who thinke they participate of generation and corruption If then he be as much deceived and as absurd who thinketh that the gods be mortall and corruptible as he who is of opinion that they beare no bountifull and loving affection toward men Chrysippus is as farre from the trueth as Epicurus for that as the one bereaveth God of immortallity and incorruption so the other taketh from him bounty and liberality Moreover Chrysippus in his third booke of the gods speaking of this point and namely how other gods are nourished saith thus Other gods quoth he use a certaine nourishment whereby they are maintained equally but Jupiter and the world after a nother sort than those who are engendred and be consumed by the fire In which place he holdeth that all other gods be nourished except Jupiter and the world And in the first booke of Providence he saith that Jupiter groweth continually untill such a time as all things be consumed in him For death being the separation of the body and soule seeing that the soule of the world never departeth at all but augmenteth continually untill it have consumed all the matter within it we cannot say that the world dieth Who could speake more contrary to himselfe than he who saith that one and the same god is nourished and not nourished And this we need not to inferre and conclude by necessary consequence considering that himselfe in the same place hath written it plainly The world onely quoth he is said to be of it selfe sufficient because it alone hath all in it selfe whereof it standeth in no need of it selfe it is nourished and augmented whereas other parts are transmuted and converted one into another Not onely then is he contradictorie and rupugnant to himselfe in that he saith other gods be nourished all except the world and Jupiter but also here in much more when he saith that the world groweth by nourishing it selfe whereas contrariwise there had bene more reason to say the world onely is not augmented having for foode the distruction thereof but on the contrary side other gods doe grow and increase in as much as they have their nourishment from without and rather should the world be consumed into them if it be true that the world taketh alwaies from it selfe and other gods from it The second point conteined in that common notion and opinion imprinted in us as touching the gods is that they be blessed happie and perfect And therefore men highly praise Euripides for saying thus If God 〈◊〉 God indeed and really He needs none of this poets vertly His 〈◊〉 in hymnes and verses for to write Such 〈◊〉 wretched are which they endite Howbeit our Chrysippus here in those places by me alledged saith that the world alone is of it selfe sufficient as comprehending within it all that it hath need of What then ariseth upon this proposition that the world is sole-sufficient in it selfe but this that neither the Sun nor the Moone nor any other of the gods whatsoever is sufficient of it selfe and being thus insufficient they cannot be blessed and happie Chrysippus is of opinion that the infant in the mothers wombe is nourished naturally no otherwise than a plant within the earth but when it is borne and by the aire cooled and hardned as it were like 〈◊〉 it mooveth the spirit and becommeth an animall or living creature and therefore it is not without good reason that the soule was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say refrigeration But not forgetetting to be contrary unto himselfe he supposeth that the soule is the more subtile rare and fine spirit of nature For how is it possible that a subtile thing should be made of that which is grosse and that a spirit should be rarefied by refrigeration and astriction or condensation Nay that which more is how commeth it about that 〈◊〉 as he doth the soule of an infant to be engendred by the means of refrigeration he should thinke the sun to become animat being as it is of a firy nature engendred of an exhalation transmuted into fire For thus he faith in his third booke of Nature The mutation quoth he of fire is in this maner by the aire it is turned into water and
called unto him and asked what were the words that the woers of Penelope spake when they befield with admiration 〈◊〉 handling his bow And when Demetrius had prompted unto me the verse out of Homer Surely quoth I it comes into my minde to say the very same of this stranger Surely this fellow as I Weene Some prying spie or theefe hath beene not of bowes as he said of Ulysses but of sentences resolutions and discourses of Philosophie he hath beene conversant I say no doubt in all maner of literature and I warrant you no stranger nor Barbarian borne but a Grecian thorowly furnished with all knowledge and doctrine of the Greeks And verily this number of the worlds whereof he talketh bewraieth not an Aegyptian nor an Indian but favoureth of some Dorian out of 〈◊〉 and namely of Petron borne in the city of Himera who wrote a little booke of this argument which I have not read my selfe neither doe I know whether it be now extant but Hippys the Rhegine of whom Phanias the Eressian maketh mention writeth that this was the opinion and doctrine of Petron namely that there were 183 worlds which raught one another in order and traine but what he meant by this Reaching one another in order or traine he declared not neither annexed he any other probable reason thereof Then Demetrius And what likelihood or probability quoth he may there be in such matters considering that Plato himselfe alledging no argument or conjecture that carieth with it any shew of trueth and reason hath by that meanes overthrowen that opinion And yet quoth Heracleon we have heard you Grammarians say that Homer was the first authour of this opinion as if he divided the universall frame of All into five worlds to wit Heaven Water Aire Earth and Olympus of which he leaveth two to be common namely Earth to Allbeneath and Olympus to All above but the three in the 〈◊〉 betweene them hee attributeth unto three gods Semblably it seemeth that Plato allotting unto the principall parts and members of the said universall nature the first formes and most excellent figures of the bodies called them five worlds to wit of the Earth the Water the Aire the Fire and finally of that which comprehendeth the other and that hee called the forme of Dodecaedron that is to say with twelve bases or faces which amply extentendeth it selfe is very capable and mooveable as being a figure proper and meet for the animall motions and revolutions of the soules What need we at this present quoth Demetrius to meddle with Homer wee have had fables enough already if that be good As for Plato hee is farre enough off from naming those five different substances of the world five worlds considering that even in that very place where he disputeth against those who maintein an infinit number of wor'ds he affirmeth there is but one created by God and beloved by him as his onely begotten childe composed of all nature having one entier bodie sufficient in it selfe and standing in need of nothing else Whereupon a man may very well woonder and thinke it strange that having himselfe delivered a trueth he should give occasion to others thereby to take hold of a false opinion and wherein there is no apparence of reason For if he had not stucke hard to this unity of the world in some sort he might have laid the foundation for those who hold them to be infinit but that he should precisely affirme there were five and neither more nor fewer is exceeding absurd and farre from all probabilitie unlesse haply you quoth he casting his eie upon me can say somewhat to this point How now quoth I then are you minded thus to leave your first disputation of Oracles as if it were fully finished and ended and to enter upon another matter of such difficulty Nay qooth Demetrius we will not pasle it over so but this here that presenteth it selfe now and taketh us as it were by the hand we cannot put by for we will not dwell long upon it but onely touch it so and handle it by the way as that we may finde out some probability and then will we presently returne unto our former question proposed in the beginning First and formost therefore I say The reasons which permit us not to allow an infinit number of worlds impeach us not but that we admit more than one For as well in many worlds as in one there may be divination there may be providence and the least intercurrence of fortune but the most part of the greatest and principall things shall have and take their generations changes and mutations ordinarily which cannot possibly be in that infinity of worlds Over and besides more consonant it is to reason and accordeth better with the nature of God to say that the world is not created by him one onely and solitary for being as he is perfectly and absolutely good there is no vertue wanting in him and least of all others that which concerneth justice and amity which as they be of themselves most beautifull so they are best befitting the gods Now such is the nature of God that he hath nothing either unprofitable or in vaine and without use and therefore needs there must be beside and without him other gods and other worlds unto whom and which he may extend those sociall vertues that he hath For neither in regard of himselfe nor of any part in him needeth he to use justice gracious favour and bounty but unto others So that it is not likely that this world floteth and mooveth without a friend without a neighbour and without any societie and communication in a vast and infinit voidnesse especially seeing we behold how nature encloseth environeth and comprehendeth all things in their severall genders and distinck kinds as it were within vessels or the husks and covertures of their seeds For looke throughout the universall nature there is nothing to be found one in number but it hath the notion and reason of the essence and being thereof common to others neither hath any thing such and such a denomination but beside the common notion it is by some particular qualities distinct from others of the same kind Now the world is not called so in common then must it be such in particular and qualified it is in particular and distinguished by certeine differences from other worlds of the same kinde and yet hath a peculiar forme of the owne Moreover considering there is in the whole world neither man alone nor horse nor starre ne yet God or Daemon solitarie what should hinder us to say that nature admitteth not one onely world but hath many Now if any man shall object unto me and say that in nature there is but one earth or one sea I answer that he is much deceived and overseene in not perceiving the evidence that is of similare parts for we divide the earth into parts similare that it is to say of the semblable
so it repugneth with others and is obstinate and disobedient whereupon it is that themselves enforced thereto by the truth of the thing do affirme and pronounce that every judgement is not a passion but that onely which stirreth up and mooveth a strong and vehement appetite to a thing confessing thereby no doubt that one thing it is in us which judgeth and another thing that suffereth that is to say which receiveth passions like as that which moveth and that which is mooved be divers Certes even Chrysippus himselfe defininig in many places what is Patience and what is Continency doth avouch That they be habitudes apt and fit to obey and follow the choise of reason whereby he sheweth evidently that by the force of truth he was driven to confesse and avow That there is one thing in us which doth obey and yeeld and another which being obeied is yeelded unto and not obeied is resisted Furthermore as touching the Stoicks who hold That all sinnes and faults be equall neither wil this place nor the time now serve to argue against them whether in other points they swerve from the trueth howbeit thus much by the way I dare be bolde to say That in most things they will be found to repugne reason even against apparent and manifest evidence For according to their opinion euery passion or perturbation is a fault and whosoever grieve feare or lust do sinne but in those passions great difference there is seene according to more or lesse for who would ever be so grosse as to say that Dolons feare was equall to the feare of Ajax who as Homer writeth As he went out of field did turne and looke behinde full oft With knee before knee decently and so retired soft or compare the sorrow of King Alexander who would needs have killed himselfe for the death of Clytus to that of Plato for the death of Socrates For dolours and griefs encrease exceedingly when they grow upon occasion of that which hapneth besides all reason like as any accident which falleth out beyond our expectation is more grievous and breedeth greater anguish than that whereof areason may be rendered and which a man might suspect to follow As for example if he who ever expected to fee his sonne advanced to honour and living in great repuration among men should heare say that he were in prison and put to all maner of torture as Parmeno was advertised of his sonne Philotas And who will ever say that the anger of Nicocreon against Anaxarchus was to be compared with that of Magas against Philemon which arose upon the same occasion for that they both were spightfully reviled by them in reprochful termes for Nicocreon caused Anaxarchus to be braid in a morter with yron pestles whereas Magas commanded the Executioner to lay a sharpe naked sword upon the necke of Philémon and so to let him go without doing him any more harme And therefore it is that Plato named anger the sinewes of the soule giving us thereby to understand that they might be stretched by bitternesse and let slake by mildnesse But the Stoicks for to avoid and put backe these objections and such like denie that these stretchings and vehement fits of passions be according to judgement for that it may faile and erre many waies saying they be certaine pricks or stings contractions diffusions or dilatations which in proportion and according to reason may be greater or lesse Certes what variety there is in judgement it is plaine and evident For some there be that deeme povertie not to be ill others holde that it is very ill and there are againe who account it the worst thing in the world insomuch as to avoid it they could be content to throw themselves headlong from high rocks into the sea Also you shall have those who reckon death to be evill in that onely it depriveth us of the fruition of many good things others there be who thinke and say as much but it is in regard of the eternall torments horrible punishments that be under the ground in hell As for bodily health some love it no otherwise than a thing agreeable to nature and profitable withall others take it to be the soveraigne good in the world as without which they make no reckoning of riches of children Ne yet of crowne and regall dignitie Which men do match even with divinitie Nay they let not in the end to thinke and say That vertue it serveth in no stead and availeth nought unlesse it be accompanied with good health whereby it appeareth that as touching judgement some erre more some lesse But my meaning is not now to dispute against this evasion of theirs Thus much onely I purpose to take for mine advantage out of their owne confession in that themselves do grant That the brutish and sensuall part according to which they say that passions be greater and more violent is different from iudgement and howsoever they may seeme to contest and cavill about words and names they grant the substance and the thing it selfe in question joining with those who mainteine that the reasonlesse part of the soule which enterteineth passions is altogether different from that whcih is able to discourse reason and judge And verily Chrysppus in those books which he entituled Of Anomologie after he hed written and taught that angenis blinde and many times will not permit a man to see those things which be plaine and apparent and as often casteth a darke mist over that which he hath already perfectly learned and knowen proceedeth forward a little further For quoth he the passions which arise drive out and chase forth all discourse of reason and such things as were judged and determined otherwise against them urging it still by force unto contrary actions Then he useth the testimonie of Menander the Poet who in one place writeth thus by way of exclamation We worth the time wretch that I am How was my minde destraught In body mine where were my wits some folly sure me caught What time I fell to this For why thereof I made no choise Farre better things they were 〈◊〉 which had my former voice The same Chrysippus also going on still It being so quoth he that a reasonable creature is by nature borne and given to use reason in all things and to be governed thereby yet notwithstanding we reject and cast it behinde us being over-ruled by another more violent motion that carieth us away In which words what doth he else but confesse even that which hapneth upon the dissention betweene affection and reason For it were a meere ridiculous mockerie in deed as Plato saith to affirme that a man were better worse than himselfe or that he were able now to master himselfe anon ready to be mastered by himselfe and how were it possible that the same man should be better worse than himselfe and at once both master and servant unlesse every one were naturally in some sort double and had
the whiles stand still and gently letting them do with us what they will untill they may with ease lay us all along when we have once yeelded to be so handled at their pleasure for surely they that give care to flatterers differ in no respect from those who set out their legs of purpose to be supplanted and to have their heeles tripped up from under them save onely in this that those are woorse foiled and catch the more shamefull fall I meane aswell such as remit punishment to naughtie persons because forsooth they love to be called mercifull milde and gentle as those on the contrary side who being perswaded by such as praise them do submit thēselves to enmities and accusations needlesse but yet perilous as being borne in hand made beleeve they were the onely men such alone as stood invincible against all flatterie yea and those whom they sticke not to tearme their very mouthes voices and therefore Bion likened them most aptly to vessels that had two eares for that they might be caried so easily by the eares which way a man would like as it is reported of one Alexinus a Sophister who upon a time as he walked with others in the gallerie Peripatos spake all that naught was of Stilpo the Megarean when one of the company said unto him What meane you by this considering that of late no longer since than the other day he gave out of you al the good that may be I wot wel quoth he for hee is a right honest gentleman and the most courteous person in the worlde Contrariwise Menedemus when he heard that Alexinus had praised him many a time But I quoth he do never speake well of Alexinus therfore a bad man he must needs be that either praiseth a naughty person or is dispraised of an honest man So hard it was to turn or catch him by any such meanes as making use and practising that precept which Hercules Atistheneus taught his children when hee admonished and warned them that they should never con those thanke who praised them and this was nothing else but not to suffer a mans selfe to be overcome by foolish modestie nor to flatter them againe who praised him For this may suffice in mine opinion which Pindarus answered upon a time to one who said unto him That in everie place and to all men he never ceased to commend him Grand mercie quoth he and I will do this favor unto you againe that you may be a true man of your word be thought to have spoken nothing but the truth To conclude that which is good and expedient against all other affections and passions they ought surely to remember who are easily overcome by this hurtfull modestie whensoever they giving place soone to the violence of this passion doe commit a fault and tread awry against their minde namely to call to remembrance the markes and prints of remorse and repentance sticking fast in their minde and to repent eftsoones and keepe the same a long time For like as waifaring men after they have once stumbled upon a stone or pilots at sea when they have once split their ship upon a rocke and suffred shipwracke if they call those accidents to remembrance for ever after doe feare and take heed not onely of the same but of such like even so they that set before their eies continually the dishonours and damages which they have received by this hurtfull and excessive modestie and represent the same to their minde once wounded and bitten with remorse and repentance will in the like afterwards reclaime themselves and not so easily another time be perverted and seduced out of the right way OF BROTHERLY LOVE OR AMITIE The Summarie A Man should have profited but badly in the schoole of vertue if endevouring to carry himselfe honestly toward his friends and familiars yea and his verie enemies he continue still in evill demeanor with his owne brethren unto whom he is joined naturally by the streightest line andlinke that can be devised But for that ever since the beginning of the world this proverbiall sentence from time to time hath beene currant and found true that the Unitie of Brethren is a rare thing Plutarch after he had complained in the verie entrance of this little booke that such a maladie as this raigned mightily in his time goeth about afterwards to apply a remedie thereto And to this effect he sheweth that since brotherly amitie is taught and prescribed by nature those who love not their brethren be blockish unnaturall enemies to their owne selves yea and the greatest Atheists that may be found And albeit the obligation wherein we are bound to our parents amounteth to so high a summe as we are never able fully to discharge he prooveth notwithstanding that brotherly love may stand for one verie good paiment toward that debt whereupon he concludeth that hatred betweene brethren ought to be banished for that if it once creepe in and get betweene it will be a verie hard matter to rejoine and reconcile them againe Afterwards he teacheth a readie and compendious way how a man ought to manage and use a brother ill disposed In what manner brethren should carrie themselves one to another both during the life of their father and also after his decease discoursing at large upon the dutie of those who are the elder or higher advanced in other respects as also what they should doe who are the yoonger namely that as they are not equall to their other brethren in yeeres so they be their inferiours in place of honor and in wealth likewise what meanes as well the one as the other are to follow for to avoid envie and jealousie Which done he teacheth brethren who in age come verie neere their naturall dutie and kindnesse that they ought to shew one unto another to which purpose he produceth proper examples of brotherly amttie among the Pagans In the ende since he can not possibly effect thus much that brethren should evermore accordwell together he setteth downe what course they are to take in their differences and disagreements and how their friends ought to be common betweene them and for a final conclusion he treateth of that honest care and respective regardone of another that they ought to have and especially of their kinsefolke which he enricheth with two other notable examples OF BROTHERLY LOVE or amitie THose ancient statues representing the two brethren Castor and Pollux the inhabitants of the citie Sparta were woont in their language to call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And two paralell pieces of timber they are of an equall distance asunder united and joined together by two other pieces overthwart now it should seeme that this was a device fitting verie well and agreeable to the brotherly amitie of the said two gods for to shew that undivisible union which was betweene them and even so I also do offer and dedicate unto you ô Nigrinus and Quintus this little
report with joy unto others how in the partition of their patrimonic they have by cunning casts connie-catched their brethren and over-wrought them so by their cautelous circumvention fine wit and slie policies as that they have gone away with the better part by ods whereas indeed they should rejoice rather and please themselves if in modestie courtesie kindnesse and yeelding of their owne right they had surpassed and gone beyond their brethren In which regard Athenodorus deserveth to be remembred in this place and indeed there is not one here in these parts but remembreth him well enough This Athenodorus had one brother elder than himselfe named Zenon who having taken upon him the management of the patrimonie left unto them both by their father had imbezeld and made away a good part of it and in the end for that by force he had carried away a woman and married her was condemned for a rape and lost all his owne and his brothers goods which by order of law was forfait and confiscate to the Exchequer of the Emperor now was Athenodorus abovesaid a verie beardlesse-boystill without any haire on his face and when by equitie and the court of conscience his portion out of his fathers goods was awarded and restored unto him he forsooke not his brother but brought all abroad and parted the one halfe thereof with him againe and notwithstanding that he knew well enough that his brother had used no faire play but cunningly defrauded him of much in the division thereof yet was he never angrie with him nor repented of his kindnesse but mildly cheerefully and patiently endured that unthanksulnes and folly of his brother so much divulged and talked of throughout all Grecce As for Solon when he pronounced sentence and determined in this manner as touching the government of the weale-publike That equalitie never bred sedition seemed verie confusedly to bring in the proportion Arithmeticall which is popular in place of that other faire and good proportion called Geometricall But he that in an house or familie would advise brethren as Plato did the citizens of his Common-wealth above all if possible it were to take away these words Mine and Thine Mine and not Mine or at leastwise if that may not be to stand contented with an egall portion and to maintaine and preserve equalitie certes he should lay a notable and singular foundation of amitie concord and peace and alwaies build thereupon the famous examples of most noble and renowmed personages such as Pittachus was who when the King of Lydia demaunded of him whether he had money and goods enough I may have quoth he more by one halfe if I would by occasion of my brothers death whose heire I am But forasmuch as not onely in the possession augmentation and diminishing of goods the lesse is evermore set as an adverse and crosse enemie to the more but also as Plato said simply and universally there is alwaies motion and stirring in unequallitie but rest and repose in equallitie and so all uneven dealing and unequall partition is dangerous for breeding dissension among brethren and possible it is that in all respects they should be even and equall for that either Nature at sirst from their very nativitie or Fortune afterwards hath not divided with even hand their severall graces and favours among them whereupon proceed envie and jealousie which are pernicious maladies and deadly plagues aswel to houses and families as also to States and Cities in these regards I say therefore a great regard and heed would be taken both to prevent and also to remedie such mischiefs with all speed when they begin first to ingender As for him who is indued with better gifts and hath the vantage over his other brethren it were not amisse to give him counsell first to communicate unto them those gifts wherein he seemeth to excell and goe beyond them namely in gracing and honouring them aswell as himselfe by his credit and reputation in advancing them by the meanes of his great friends and drawing them unto their acquaintance and in case he be more eloquent than they to offer them the use thereof which although it be emploied as it were in common is yet neverthelesse his owne still then let him not shew any signe of pride and arrogancie as though he disdained them but rather in some measure by abasing submitting and yeelding a little to them in his behaviour to preserve himselfe from envie unto which his excellent parts do lie open and in one word to reduce that inequallitie which fortune hath made unto some equallitie as farre forth as possible it is to do by the moderate carriage of his minde Lucullus verily would never daine to accept of any dignitie or place of rule before his brother notwithstanding he was his elder but letting his owne time slip expected the turne and course of his brother Neither would Pollux take upon him to be a god alone by himselfe but chose rather with his brother Castor to be a demie-god and for to communicate unto him his owne immortalitie thought it no disgrace to participate with his mortall condition and even so may a man say unto one whom hee would admonish My good friend it lies in you without diminishing one whit of those good things which you have at this present to make your brother equall unto your selfe and to joine him in honour with you giving him leave to enjoy as it were your greatnesse your glory your vertue and your fortune like as Plato did in times past who by putting downe in writing the names of his brethren and bringing them in as persons speaking in his most noble and excellent Treatises caused them by that meanes to be famous and renowmed in the world Thus he graced Glaucus and Adamanius in his books of Policie thus he honoured Antiphon the yoongest of them all in his Dialogue named Parmenides Moreover as it is an ordinary thing to observe great difference and oddes in the natures and fortunes of brethren so it is in maner impossible that in all things and in every respect any one of them should excell the rest For true it is that the foure elements which they say were created of one and the same matter have powers and qualities altogether contrary but surely it was never yet seene that of two brethren by one father and mother the one should be like unto that wise man whom the Stoicks do faine and imagine to wit faire lovely bountifull honourable rich eloquent studious civill and courteous and the other foule ill-favoured contemptible illiberall needie notable to speake and deliver his minde untaught ignorant uncivill and unsociable But even in those that are more obscure base and abject than others there is after a sort some sparke of grace of valour of aptnesse and inclination to one good thing or other for as the common proverbe goeth With Calthrap thistles rough and keene with Prickyrest-harow Close Sions faire and soft yea White-walflowers are
dispatched his letters unto thē to this effect To know whether they would receive him into their city or no they wrote backe againe in faire great capitall letters within a sheet of paper no more but O Y that is to say No so sent it unto him but he that would make answer to the former question of Socrates a little more civilly and courteously would say thus He is not within sir for he is gone to the banke or exchange to give yet a somwhat better measure he might perhaps adde moreover say He looketh there for cerreine strangers and friends of his But a vaine prating fellow and one that loves many words especially if his hap hath beene to read the booke of Antimachus the Colophonian wil make answer to the demand afore said in this wise He is not within sir gone he is to the Burse or Exchange for there he expecteth certeine strangers out of Ionia of whom and in whose behalfe Alcibiades wrote unto him who now maketh his abode within the citie of Miletus sojourneth with Tissaphernes one of the lieutenants generall of the great King of Persia who before time was in league with the Lacedaemonians stood their friend and sent them aid but not for the love of Alcibiades he is turned from them and is sided with the Athenians for Alcibtades being desirous to returne into his owne country hath prevailed so much that hee hath altered Tissaphernes his minde and drawen him away from our part and thus shall you have him rehearse in good earnest the whole eight booke in maner of Thucydides his story untill he have overwhelmed a man with a multitude of narrations and made him beleeve that in Miletus there is some great sedition that it is ready to be lost and Alcibiades to be banished a second time Herein then ought a man principally to set his foote and stay his overmuch language so as the center and circumference of the answer be that which he who maketh the demaund desireth and hath need to know Carneades before he had any great name disputed one day in the publike schooles and place appointed for exercise Unto whom the master or president of the place sent before hand and gave him warning to moderate his voice for hee spake naturally exceeding big and loud so as the schooles rung againe therewith Give men then quoth he a gage and measure for my voice upon whom the said master replied thus not unproperly Let him that disputeth with thee be the measure and rule to moderate thy voice by even so a man may in this case say The measure that hee ought to keepe who answereth is the very will and minde of him that proposeth the question Moreover like as Socrates forbad those meats which drew men on to eare when they are not hungry and likewise those drinkes which caused them to drinke who are not a thirst even so should a man who is given to much prattle be afraid of those discourses wherein he delighteth most and which he is woont to use and take greatest pleasure in and in case hee perceive them to run willingly upon him for to withstand the same and not give them interteinment As for example martiall men and warriours love to discourse and tell of battels which is the reason that the Poët Homer bringeth in Nestor eftsoones recounting his owne prowesse and feats of armes and ordinarie it is with thē who in iudiciall trials have had the upper hand of their adversaries or who beyond the hope and opinion of everie man have obteined grace and favour with kings and princes to be subject unto this maladie that evermore followeth them namely to report and recount eftsoones the maner how they came in place after what sort they were brought in the order of their pleading how they argued the case how they convinced their accusers overthrew their adversaries last of all how they were praised and commended for to say a truth joy and mirth is much more talkative than that olde Agryppina which the Poets doe feigne and devise in their comaedies for it rouseth and stirreth up it reneweth and refresheth it selfe ever anon with many discourses and narrations whereupon ready they are to fall into such speeches upon every light and colourable occasion for not onely is it true which the common proverbe saith Looke where a man doth feele his paine and griefe His hand will soone be there to yeeld reliefe but also joy and contentment draweth unto it the voice it leadeth the tongue alwaies about with it and is evermore willing to be remembred and related Thus we see that amorous lovers passe the greater part of their time in rehearsing certeine words which may renew the remembrance of their loves insomuch that if they cannot meet with one person or other to relate the same unto they will devise and talke of them with such things as have neither sense nor life like as we read of one who brake foorth into these words O datnty bed most sweet and pleasant couch ô blessed lamp ô happie candle light No lesse than God doth Bacchus you avouch nay God you are the mightiest in her sight And verily a busie prater is altogether as one would say a white line or strake in regard of all words to wit without discretion he speaketh indifferently of all matters howbeit if he be affected more to some than to others he ought to take heed thereof and absteine from them he is I say to withdraw and writhe him els from thence for that by reason of the contentment which he may therein take and the pleasure that he receiveth thereby they may lead him wide carie him every while very farre out of the way the same inclination to overshoot themselves in prating they finde also when they discourse of those matters wherein they suppose themselves to have better experience and a more excellent habit than others such an one I say being a selfe lover and ambitious withall Most part of all the day in this doth spend Himselfe to passe and others to transcend As for example in histories if he hath read much in artificiall stile and couching of his words he that is a Grammarian in relation of strange reports and newes who hath bene a great traueller and wandred through many forren countries hereof therefore great heed would bee taken for garrulitie being therein fleshed and baited willingly runneth to the old and usuall haunt like as every beast seeketh out the ordinary and accustomed pasture And in this point was the young prince Cyrus of a woonderfull and excellent nature who would never chalenge his play-fellowes and consorts in age unto any exercise wherein he knew himselfe to be superior and to surpasse but alwaies to such feats wherein he was lesse practised than they which he did aswell because he would not grieve their hearts in winning the prize from them as also for that he would profit thereby and learne
than out For like as Sophocles said merrily upon a time by way of derision That he would first cut off the haughtie and stately invention of Aeschylus and then abridge his affected curious and artificiall disposition and in the third place change the maner and forme of his elocution which is most excellent and fullest of sweet affections even so the students in Philosophie when they shall perceive that they passe from orations exquisitly penned and framed for ostentation in frequent and solemne assemblies unto morall speeches and those that touch the quicke aswell the milde and gentle motions as the hote and violent passions of the minde then begin they indeed to lay downe all pride and vanity and profit truely in the schoole of Philosophie Consider then not onely in reading the works of Philosophers or in hearing their lectures first and formost whether thou art not more attentive to the words than to the matter or whether thou be not carried with a greater affection to those who deliver a more subtill and curious composition of sentences than such as comprise profitable commodious substantiall fleshy matters if I may so say but also in perusing Poemes or taking in hand any history observe well and take heed that there escape thee not any one good sentence tending properly to the reformation of maners or the alleviation of passions for like as according to 〈◊〉 the bee setteth upon flowers for to sucke out of it the yellow honie whereas others love onely their colour or pleasant sent and neither care nor seeke for any thing els thereout even so when other men be conversant in Poemes for pleasure onely and pastime thou finding and gathering somewhat out thereof woorth the noting shalt seeme at the first sight to have some knowledge already thereof by a certeine custome and acquaintance with it and a love taken unto it as a good thing and familiar unto thee As for those that reade the books of Plato and Xenophon in no other regard but for the beautie of their gallant stile seeking for nought els but for the purity of speech and the very naturall Atticke language as if they went to gather the thin dew or tender mosse or downe of herbs What will you say of such but that they love physicke drugs which have either a lovely colour or a pleasant smell onely but otherwise the medicinable vertues thereof and properties either to purge the bodie or mitigate any paine they neither desire to know nor are willing to use Moreover such as are proceeded farther yet profited more have the skill and knowledge how to reape fruit not onely out of words spoken or books written but also to receive profit out of all sights spectacles and what things soever they see gathering from thence whatsoever is fit and commodious for their purpose as it is reported of Aeschylus and other such as he For Aeschylus being upon a time at the Isthmian games beheld the fight of the sword-fencers that fought at sharpe and when one of the said champions had received a grievous wound whereupon the whole theater set up a crie he jogging one that was by him named Ion of Chios See you not quoth he what use and exercise is able to do the partie himselfe that is hurt saith never a word but the lookers on crie out Brasides chanced among drie figs to light upon a sillie mouse that bit him by the finger and when he had shaken her off and let her goe said thus to himselfe See how there is nothing so little and so feeble but it is able to make shift and save it life if it dare onely defend it selfe Diogenes when he saw one make meanes to drinke out of the ball of his hand cast away the dish or cuppe that hee carried in his budget Loe how attentive taking heed and continuall exercise maketh men ready and apt to marke observe and learne from all things that make any way for their good And this they may the rather doe when the joine wordes and deedes together not onely in that sort as Thucidides speaketh of by meditating and exercising themselves with the experience of present perils but also against pleasures quarrels and altercations in judgements about defences of causes and magistracies as making proofe thereby of the opinions that they holde or rather by carriage of themselves teaching others what opinions they are to holde For such as yet bee learners and notwithstanding that intermeddle in affaires like pragmaticall persons spying how they may catch any thing out of philosophie and goe therewith incontinently in maner of juglers with their boxe either into the common place and market or into the schoole which young men frequent or els to princes tables there to set them abroad we are not to thinke them philosophers no more than those to be physicians who only fell medicinable spices drugs or compound confections or to speake more properly such a sophister or counterfeit philosopher as this resembleth the bird that Homer describeth which forsooth so soone as he hath gotten any thing carieth it to his scholars as the said bird doth in her mouth convey meat to her naked young ones that cannot flie And so himselfe he doth beguile And thereby take much harme the while converting and distributing naught of all that which he hath gotten to his owne nourishment nor so much as concocting and digesting the same and therefore we ought of necessitie to regard and consider well whether we use any discourse and place our words so that for our selves they may do good and in regard of others make no shew of vaine-glorie nor ambitious desire to be knowne abroad but onely of an intention rather to heare or els to teach But principally we are to observe whether our wrangling humour and desire to be cavilling about questions disputable be allaied in us or no as also whether we have yet given over to devise reasons and arguments to assaile others like as champions armed with hurlebats of tough leather about their armes and bals in their hands to annoy their concurrents taking more pleasure and delight to fell and astonish with one rap our adversarie and so to lay him along on the earth than to learne or teach him for surely modestie mildenesse and courtesie in this kinde will doe well and when a man is not willing to enter into any conference or disputation with a purpose to put downe and vanquish another nor to breake out into fits of choler not having evicted his adversarie to be readie as they say to tread and trample him under foot nor to seeme displeased and discontent if himselfe have the foile and be put to the woorst be all good signes of one that hath sufficiently profited And this shewed Aristippus very well upon a time when he was so hardly pressed and overlaid in a certaine disputation that he knew not what answer to make presently unto his adversarie a jolly bold and audacious sophister but
wives and children For the goddesse Diana in Ephesus yeelded sanctuarie franchise and savegard unto all debters against their creditours who fled for succour into her temple But the sanctuarie indeed of parsimonie frugalitie and moderate expense into which no usurers can make entrie for to hale and pull out of it any debter prisoner standeth alwaies open for those that are wise and affoordeth unto them a large space of joious and honorable repose For like as that Prophetesse which gave oracles in the temple of Pythius Apollo about the time of the Medians warre made answere unto the Athenian Embassadors That God gave vnto them for their safetie a wall of wood whereupon they leaving their lands and possessions abandoning their citie and forsaking their houses and all the goods therein had recourse unto their ships for to save their libertie even so God giveth unto us woodden tables earthen vessels and garments of course cloth if we would live in freedome Set not thy minde upon steeds of great price And chariots brave in silver harnesse dight With claspes with hookes and studs by fine device Ywrought in race to shew a goodly sight for how swift soever they be these usurers will soone overtake them and run beyong But rather get upon the next asse thou meetest with or the first pack-horse that commeth in thy way to flie from the usurer a cruell enemie and meere tyrant who demaundeth not at thy hands fire and water as sometimes did that barbarous King of Media but that which woorse is toucheth thy libertie woundeth thine honor and credit by proscriptions writs and open proclamations If thou pay him not to his conteut he is ready to trouble thee if thou have wherewith to satisfie him he wil not receive thy payment unlosse he list if thou prize and sell thy goods he will have them under their worth art thou not disposed to make a sale of them hee will force thee to it doest thou sue him for his extreame dealing he will seeme to offer parley of agreement if thou sweare unto him that thou wilt make paiment he will impose upon thee hard conditions and have thee at command if thou goe to his house for to speake and conferre with him hee will locke the gates against thee and if thou stay at home and keepe house thou shalt have him rapping at thy doore he will not away but take up his lodging there with thee For in what stead served the law of Solon in Athens wherein it was ordained that among the Athenians mens bodies should not be obliged for any civill debt considering that they be in bondage and slaverie to all banquers and usurers who force men to keepe in their heads and that which more is not to them alone for that were not such a great matter but even to their verie slaves being proud insolent barbarous and outrageous such as Plato describeth the divels and fiery executioners in hel to be who torment the soules of wicked and godlesse persons For surely these cursed usurers make thy hall and judiciall place of justice no better than a very hell and place of torment to their poore debters where after the manner of greedie geirs and hungrie griffons they flay mangle and eate them to the verie bones And of their beaks and talons keene The markes within their flesh be seene And some of them they stand continually over not suffring them to touch and taste their owne proper goods when they have done their vintage and gathered in their corne other fruits of the earth making them fast pine away like unto Tantalus And like as king Darius sent against the citie of Athens his lieutenants generall Datis and Artaphernes with chaines cordes and halters in their hands therewith to binde the prisoners which they should take semblablie these usurers bring into Greece with them their boxes and caskets full of schedules bils hand-writings and contracts obligatorie which be as good as so many irons and fetters to hang upon their poore debters and thus they go up and downe leaping from citie to citie where they sow not as they passe along good and profitable seede as Triptolemus did in old time but plant their rootes of debts which bring foorth infinite troubles and intolerable usuries whereof there is no end which eating as they goe and spreading their spaunes round about in the end cause whole cities to stoupe and stinke yea and be ready to suffocate and strangle them It is reported of hares that at one time they suckle young leverets and be ready to kinnule others that be in their bellies and withall to conceive a fresh but the debts of these barbarous wicked and cruell usurers do bring foorth before they conceive For in putting out their money they redemand it presently in laying it downe they take it up they deliver that againe for interest which they received and tooke in consideration of lone and use It is said of the Messenians citie Gate after gate a man shall here find And yet one gate ther 's alwaies behind But it may better be said of usurers Usurte here upon usurie doth grow And end thereof you never shall know and here withall in some sort they laugh at natural philosophers who holde this Axiome That of nothing can be engendred nothing for with them usurie is bred of that which neither is not ever was of that I say which never had subsistence nor being Howbeit these men thinke it a shame reproch to be a publicane and take to farme for a rent the publike revenewes notwithstanding the lawes do permit and allow that calling whereas themselves against all the lawes of the world exact a rent and custome for that which they put foorth to usurie or rather to speake a truth in lending their money they defraude their debtors as bankrupts do their creditors For the poore debter who receiveth lesse than he hath set downe in his obligation is most falsely coufened deceived and cut short of that which he ought to have And verily the Persians repute lying to be a sinne but in a second degree for in the first place they reckon to owe money and be indebted in as much as leasing followeth commonly those that be in debt But yet usurers ly more than they neither are there any that practise more falshood and deceit in their day debt bookes wherein they write that to such a one they have delivered so much whereas indeed it is farre lesse and so the motive of their lying is faire avarice neither indigence nor poverty but even a miserable covetousnes and desire ever to have more and more the end whereof turneth neither to pleasure nor profit unto themselves but to the losse and ruine of those whom they wring and wrong for neither till they those grounds which they take away from their debters nor dwell in the houses out of which they turne them nor their meat upon those tables which they have from them ne
yet clad themselves with their apparell of which they spolie them but first one is destroied than a second followeth after and is allured as a prey by the other And this is much like to a wilde fire which still consumeth and yet encreaseth alwaies by the utter decay and destruction of all that falleth into it and devoureth one thing after another And the usurer which maintaineth this fire blowing and kindling it with the ruine of so many people gaineth thereby no more fruit than this that after a certaine time he taketh his booke of accounts in hand and there readeth what a number of debters he hath bought out of house and home how many he had dispossessed of their land and living from whence he hath come and whither he hath gone in turning winding and heaping up his silver Now I would not that you should thus thinke of me that I speake al this upon any deadly war and enmitie that I have sworne against usurers For God be praised they neither horses mine Have driven away nor oxen ne yet kine But onely to shew unto them who are so ready to take up money upon usurie what a villanous shamefull and base thing there is in it and how this proceedeth from nothing else but extreame folly and timiditie of heart If thou have wherewith to weld the world never come into the usurers booke considering thou hast no need to borrow Hast thou not wherewith yet take not money up and pay not interest because thou shalt have no meanes to make paiment But let us consider the one and the other apart by it selfe Old Cato said unto a certaine aged man who behaved himselfe verie badly My friend quoth he considering that old age of it selfe hath so manie evils how commeth it to passe that you adde thereto moreover the reproch and shame of leawdnesse and misdemeanor even so may we say seeing that povertie of it selfe hath so many and so great miseries do not you over and above go and heape thereupon the troubles and anguishes that come of borrowing and being in debt neither take thou from penurie that onely good thing wherein it excelleth riches to wit the want of carking and pensive cares for otherwise thou shalt be subject unto the mockerie implied by this common proverbe A goat alone when beare unneth I may An oxe upon my shoulder you do lay Semblably you being not able to sustaine povertie alone do surcharge your selfe with an usuter a burden hardly supportable even for a rich and wealthie man How then would you have me to live haply some man will say And doest thou indeed aske this question having hands and feet of thine owne having the gift of speech voice and being a man unto whom it is given both to love and also to be loved as well to doe a pleasure as to receive a courtesie with thankesgiving Thou maist teach Grammar bring up yoong children be a porter or doore-keeper thou maist be a sailer or mariner thou maist row in a barge or galley for none of all these trades is more reprochfull odious or troublesome than to heare one say unto thee Pay me mine owne or discharge the debt that thou owest me Rutilius that rich Romane comming upon a time at Rome to Musonius the Philosopher said unto him thus in his eare Musonius Juptter surnamed Saviour whom you and such other Philosophers as you are make profession to imitate and follow taketh up no money at interest but Musonius smiling againe returned him this present answere No more doth he put foorth anie money for use Now this Rutilius who was an usurer reproched the other for taking money at interest which was a foolish arrogant humour of a Stoicke for what need hadst thou Rutilius to meddle with Jupiter Saviour and alledge his name considering that a man may report the selfe same by those very things which are familiar and apparent The swallowes are not in the usurers booke the pismiers pay not for use of money and yet to them hath not nature given either hands or reason or any art and mysterie whereas she hath indued man with such abundance of understanding and aptnesse to learne and practise that he can skill not onely to nourish himselfe but also to keepe horses hounds partridges hares and jaies why doest thou then disable and condemne thy selfe as if thou wert lesse docible and sensible than a jay more mute than a partridge more idle than a dogge in that thou canst make no meanes to have good of a man neither by double diligence by making court by observance and service nor by mainteining his quarrell and entring into combat in his defence seest thou not how the earth doth bring foorth many things and how the sea affoordeth as many for the use of man And verily as Crates saith I saw my selfe how Mycilus wooll did card And how with him his wife the rols did spin Thus during warre when times were extreame hard Both jointly wrought to keepe them from famin King Antigonus when he had not of a long time seene Cleanthes the Philosopher meeting him one day in Athens spake unto him and said How now Cleanthes doest thou grinde at the mill and turne the querne-stone still Yea sir quoth Cleanthes againe I grinde yet and I doe it for to earne my living howbeit for all that I give not over my profession of Philosophie O the admirable courage and high spirit of this man who comming from the mill with that verie hand which turned about the stone ground the meale and kneaded the dough wrote of the nature of the gods of the moone of the starres and the sunne But we do thinke all these to be base and servile works and yet verily because we would be free God wot we care not to thrust our selves into debt we pay for the use of money we faltter vile and base persons we give them presents we invite and feast them we yeeld as it were tribute under-hand unto them and this we do not in regard of povertie for no man useth to put forth his money into a poore mans hand but even upon a super fluity and riotous expense of our owne for if we could content our selves with those things that are necessarie for the life of man there would not be an usurer in the world no more than there are Centaures and monstrous Gorgones But excesse it is and deintinesse which hath ingendered usurers like as the same hath bred gold-smithes silver-smithes confectioners perfumers and diers of gallant colours We come not in debt to bakers and vinteners for our bread and wine but wee owe rather for the price and purchase of faire houses and lands for a great number and retinue of slaves of fine mules of trimme halles and dining chambers of rich tables and the costly furniture belonging thereto besides other foolish and excessive expenses which we often-times are at when we exhibit plaies and solemne pastimes into whole cities for to
publike exercises The Lacedaemonians likewise would never have put up the insolent behaviour and mockerie of Stratocles who having perswaded the Athenians to sacrifice unto the gods in token of thankesgiving for a victorie as if they had beene conquerours and afterwards upon the certaine newes of a defeature and overthrow received when he saw the people highly offended and displeased with him demaunded of them what injurie he had done them if by his meanes they had beene merrie and feasted three daies together As for the flatterers that belong to Princes courts they play by their-lords and masters as those fowlers do who catch their birds by a pipe counterfeiting their voices for even so they to winde and insinuate themselves into the favour of kings and princes doe resemble them for all the world and by this devise entrap and deceive them But for a good governour of a State it is not meet and convenient that he should imitate the nature and the manners of the people under his government but to know them and to make use of those meanes to every particular person by which he knoweth that he may best win and gaine them to him for the ignorance and want of skill in this behalfe namely how to handle men according to their humours bringeth with it all disorders and is the cause of irregular enormities as well in popular governments as among minnions and favorites of princes Now after that a ruler hath gotten authoritie and credit once among the people then ought he to strive and labour for to reforme their nature and conditions if they be faultie then is he by little and little to lead them gently as it were by hand unto that which is better for a most painefull and difficult thing it is to change and alter a multitude all at once and to bring this about the better he ought first to begin with himselfe and to amend the misdemeanours and disorders in his owne life and manners knowing that he is to live from thence foorth as it were in open Theater where he may be seene and viewed on everie side Now if haply it be an hard matter for a man to free his owne mind from all sorts of vices at once yet at least wise he is to cut-off and put away those that bee most apparent and notorious to the eies of the world For you have heard I am sure how Themistocles when hee minded to enter upon the mannaging of State-matters weaned himselfe from such companie wherein hee did nothing but drinke daunce revell and make good cheere and when he fell to sitting up late and watching at his booke to fasting and studying hard hee was woont to say to his familiars that the Tropheae of Miltiades would not suffer him to sleepe and take his rest Pericles in like case altered his fashions in the whole course and maner of his life in his person in his sober and grave going in his affable and courteous speech shewing alwaies a staied and setled countenance holding his hand ever-more under his robe and never putting it foorth and not going abroad to any place in the citie but onely to the tribunall and pulpit for publike orations or els to the counsell house For it is not an easie matter to weld and manage a multitude of people neither are they to be caught of every one and taken with their safetie in the catching but a gracious and gainfull piece of worke it were if a man may bring it thus much about that like unto suspicious craftie wilde beasts they be not affrighted nor set a madding at that which they heare and see but gently suffer themselves to be handled and be apt to receive instruction and therefore this would not in any wise be neglected neither are such to have a small regard to their owne life and maners but they ought to studie and labor as much as possibly they can that the same be without all touch and reproch for that they who take in hand the government of publike affaires are not to give account nor to answere for that onely which they either say or doe in publike but they are searched narrowly into and manie a curious eie there is upon them at their boord much listening after that which passeth in their beds great sifting and scanning of their marriages and their behaviour in wedlocke and in one word all that ever they doe privately whether it be in jest or in good earnest For what need we write of Alcibiades who being a man of action and execution as famous and renowmed a captaine as any one in his time and having borne himselfe alwaies invincible and inferiour to none in the managing of the publike State yet notwithstanding ended his daies wretchedly by meanes of his dissolute loosenes and outragious demeanour in his private life and conversation at home insomuch as he bereft his owne countrey of the benefit they might have had by his other good parts and commendable qualities even by his intemperance and sumptuous superfluitie in expence Those of Athens found fault with Cimon because he had a care to have good wine and the Romaines finding no other thing in Scipio to reproove blamed him for that hee loved his bed too well the ill-willers of Pompey the Great having observed in him that otherwhiles he scratched his head with one finger reprochedhim for it For like as a little freckle mole or pendant-wert in the face of man or woman is more offensive than blacke and blew marks than scars or maimes in all the rest of the bodie even so small and light faults otherwise of themselves shew great in the lives of Princes and those who have the government of the weale-publike in their hands and that in regard of an opinion imprinted in the minds of men touching the estate of governours and magistrates esteeming it a great thing and that it ought to be pure and cleere from all faults and imperfections And therefore deserved Julius Drusus a noble Senatour and great ruler in Rome to be highly praised in that when one of his workemen promised him if he so would to devise and contrive his house so that whereas his neighbours overlooked him and saw into many parts thereof they should have no place therein exposed to their view and discoverie and that this translating and alteration thereof should cost him but five talents Nay quoth he thou shalt have ten talents and make mine house so that it may bee seene into on everie side to the end that all the citie may both see and know how I live for in trueth he was a grave wise honest and comely personage But peradventure it is not so necessarie that a house lie so open as to be looked into on all sides for the people have eies to pierce and enter into the verie bottom of governours manners of their counsels actions and lives which a man would thinke to be most covert secret no lesse quick-sighted are
in to be pronounced by captaines unto their soldiours when they be armed and stand arranged in battell-ray a man may say of such as the Poet did What fooles would speake thus many words So neere to edge and dint of swords Over and besides true it is that a man of government may otherwhiles give a taunt and nipping seoffe he may cast out also a merrie jest to moove laughter and namely if it be to rebuke chastise yea and to quippe one and take him vp for his good after a modest maner and not to touch him too neere and wound him in honour and credite to his disgrace with a kinde of scurrilitie But aboue all it may beseeme him thus to doe when he is provoked thereunto and is driven to replie and give one for another by way of exchange for to begin first in that sort and to come prepared with such premeditate stuffe is more befitting a pleasant or common jester who would make the companie laugh besides that it carieth also an opinion of a malicious and spitefull minde and such are the biting frumpes and broad jests of Cicero and Cato the elder likewise of one Euxitheus a familiar and disciple of Aristotle for these many times began first to scoffe and taunt but when a man never doth it but by way of reply or rejoinder the sodaine occasion giveth him pardon to be revenged and withall such requitals carie the greater grace with them Thus dealt Demosthenes by one who was deepely suspected to be a theese for when he would seeme to twit Demosthenes by his watching and sitting up all night at his booke for to endite and write I wot well quoth Demosthenes that I trouble and hinder thee very much with keeping my candle or lampe burning all night long Also when he answered Demades who cried out aloud Demosthenes would correct me as much to say forsoorth as if according to the common proverbe the sow should teach Minerva Minerva quoth he taking that word out of his mouth what 's that you say Minerva was surprized not long since in adulterie Semblably it was with no ill grace that Xenetus answered his country-men and fellow citizens who cast in his teeth and upbraided him for that being their leader and captaine he fled out of the field With you quoth he my loving and deere friends I ran away for companie But great regard and heed would be taken that in this kinde he overpasse not himselfe nor go beyond the bonds of mediocritie in such ridiculous jests for feare that either he offend and displease the hearers unseasonably or debase and abject himselfe too grosly by giving out such ridiculous speeches which was the fault of one Democrates who mounting one day up into the pulpit or publicke place of audience said openly to the people there assembled That himselfe was like unto their citie for that he had small force and yet was puft up with much winde Another time also and namely when the great field was lost before Chaeronea he presented himselfe to speake unto the people in this maner I would not for any thing that the common wealth were driven to such calamitie and so hard an exigent that you should have patience to heare me and neede to take counsell at my hands for as in the one he shewed himselfe a base and vile person so in the other he plaied the brain-sicke foole and sencelesse asse but for a man of State neither is the one nor the other decent and agreeable Furthermore Phocion is had in admiration for his brevitie of speech insomuch as Polyeuctus giving his judgement of him said Demosthenes indeed is the greatest Oratour and the most famous Rhetorician but Phocion beleeve me is the best speaker for that his pithie speech was so couched that in few words it coutained much substance and good matter And even Demosthenes himselfe howsoever he made no reckoning of all other orators in his time yet if Phocion rose up to deliver a speech after him would say Lo heere standeth up now the hatchet or pruning knife of my words Well then endevour you as much as possibly you can when you are to make a speech before the multitude to speake considerately and with great circumspection directing your words so as they may tend to safetie and securitie and not in any case to vse vaine and frivolous language knowing well that Pericles himselfe that great governour was woont to make his praier unto the gods before hee entred into his oration in publicke audience That he might let fall no word out of his mouth impertinent to the matter which he was to handle and yet for all this you must be well exercised neverthelesse and practised in the knowledge how to be able to answere and replie readily for many occasions passe in a moment and bring with them as many sudden cases and occurrences especially in matters of government In which regard Demosthenes was by report reputed inferior to many others in his time for that otherwhiles he would withdraw himselfe and not be seene when occasion was offered if he had not well premeditated and studied aforehand of that which he had to say Theophrastus also writeth of Alcibiades that being desirous to speake not onely that which was convenient but also in maner and forme as it was meet many a time in the mids of his oration would make a stay and be at a nonplus whiles he sought and studied for some proper tearmes and laboured to couch and compose them sitting for his purpose but he who taketh occasion to stand up for to make a speech of sudden occurrences and respective to the occasions and times presented unto him such a one I say of all others doth most moove and astonish a multitude he I say is able to leade them as he list and dispose of them at his pleasure After this maner plaied Leon the Bizantine who was sent upon a time from those of Constantinople vnto the Athenians being at civill debate and dissention among themselves for to make remonstrances unto them of pacification and agreement for a very little man was he of stature and when the people sawe him mounted up into the place of audience everie one began to teigh tittre and laugh at him which he perceiving well enough And what would you do and say then quoth he if you sawe my wife whose crowne of hir head will hardly reach up so high as my knee At which word they tooke up a greater fit of laughter then before throughout the whole assembly And yet quoth he againe as little as we both be if we chance to be at variance and debate one with another the whole citie of Constantinople is not big enough for us nor able to holde us twaine Pytheas likewise the Orator at what time as he spake against the honors which were decreed for king Alexander when one said unto him How now sir dare you presume to speake of so great matters being as
and said My counsell unto you is this That you make meanes either to be your selves the stronger in armes or els at the least-wise friended by them who are mightier than you When a brute was blazed abroad without any certeine authour that king Alexander the Great was deceased the oratours at Athens mounted the pulpits by-and-by and strave avie who could perswade the people most even in all haste to put themselves in armes and rebell but Phocion was of a contrarie minde to them all and his opinion was That they should stay and rest quiet until more assured newes came of his death For saith he if he be dead to day he will be so to morow yea and afterwards also When Leosthenes had set the citie all upon warre feeding the peoples hearts with great hopes of recovering their freedome and the sovereigntie of all Greece Phocion compared these projects of theirs unto the Cypres trees For they quoth hee be saire streight and tall but not a whit of fruit do they beare howbeit when the Athenians at the first sped well in sundrie battels and wan the field whereupon the citie made sacrifices unto the gods for the good newes thereof some would come unto him and say How now Phocion are you not pleased heerewith and would you wish all undone againe I am contented very well quoth he that it hath so fallen out but yet I repent never a whit of my former counsell The Macedonians immediatly after this made rodes into the countrey of Attica and beganne to overun harrie and spoile all the sea coasts for remedie whereof he caused all the lustie men of the citie who were of age to beare armes to enter into the field and when many of them came running unto him some calling upon him to seize such an hill others as instant with him to put his men in battell-ray in such a place O Hercules quoth he what a number of captaines doe I see and how few good souldiers howbeit he gave the enemies battell wan the victorie and slew Nicion the captaine generall of the Macedonians in the place Not long after the Athenians being vanquished in warre were constreined to receive a garrison from Antipater and Menillus captaine of the said garrison sent unto him in free gift certeine money wherewith he being offended said That neither Menillus was better than Alexander nor the cause so good for which he should take any gift at his hand at this present considering that he refused the like from Alexander Moreover Antipater was wont to say That he had two friends at Athens the one of whom to wit Phocion he could never perswade to take any thing and the other who was Demades he could not satisfie whatsoever he gave him When Antipater was in hand with him to do a thing which was not just You cannot quoth he ô Antipater have me to be your friend and a slatterer to After the death of Antipater when the Athenians had recovered their libertie and free state or popular government concluded it was and pronounced in a generall assembly and councell of the people that Phocion together with his friends and associats must suffer death as for the rest they went weeping and lamenting as they were led to execution but Phocion marched gravely and gave not a word now as he was going upon the way one of his enemies met him and spet upon his face whereupon he turned backe to the magistrates and said Is there no man here to represse the insolencie and villanie of this wretched varlet one of them who were to suffer with him tooke on and tormented himselfe exceedingly What quoth he to him ô Euippus doth it not thee good that thou goest to take thy death with Phocion And when the deadly cup was presented to him to drinke his last draught of hemlocke he was asked the question whether he had any more to say or no then addressing his speech unto his sonne I charge thee quoth he and beseech thee not to cary any ranckor and malice in thy heart to the Athenians for my death PISISTRATUS a tyrant of the Athaniens being advertised that some of his friends having revolted and conspired against him had seised upon the fort called Phyle went towards them carying himselfe about at his backe a fardell of his bedding and the furniture thereto belonging whereupon they demaunded of him what he would I come quoth he with an intent either to perswade you to returne with me or else with a resolution to tarrie heere with you my selfe and therefore have I brought my baggage with me He was advertised that his mother loved a yoong man who secretly kept her and used to lie with her howbeit in great feare and refusing her company many times whereupon he invited the man to supper and after supper he asked him how he did and how he liked his enterteinment Gaily well quoth he Thou shalt quoth Pisistratus finde no woorse every day so thou content and please my mother Thrasibulus cast a good liking and fancie to his daughter and as he met her on a time upon the way bestowed a kisse upon her whereat her mother was offended so as she exasperated her husband against him for it but he mildely answered her in this wise Why woman if we set our selves against them that love us and grow to malice them what shall we doe to those who hate us and so he gave the maiden in mariage to Thrasibulus Certeine lustie yoonkers after they had taken their cups well went in a maske and plaid the fooles through the citie and chauncing to meete with his wife abused her both in worde and deed very unseemely and dishonestly but the morrow after they came weeping before Pisistratus acknowledging their fault and craving pardon who made them this answer As for you endevour to be more wise and sober from hence foorth but I assure you my wife yesterday went no whither abroad nor stirred out of her dores When hee was about to marrie a second wife the children whom he had by the former demanded of him whether he were in any respect discontented with them that he should in despight of them espouse another No quoth he that is the least of my thought but cleane contrary i is because I like and love you so well I would willingly have more children to resemble you DEMETRIUS surnamed Phalereus counselled king Ptolomaeus to buy and reade those books which treated of pollicie and government of kingdomes and seigneories for that which courtiours and minions durst not say unto their princes was written within those books LYCURGUS who did set downe and establishe the lawes of the Lacedaemonians accustomed his citizens to weare their haire long For that saith he side haire maketh those who are faire seeme more faire and amiable but those who were foule more hideous and terrible In the reformation of the Lacedaemonian State some one there was
quoth he be throwen for all as if he would say This cast for it there is but one chance to lose all When Pompey was fled from Rome to the sea side and Metellus the superintendent of the publike treasurie would have hindred him for taking foorth any money from thence keeping the treasure house fast shut he threatned to kill him whereat Metellus seeming to be amazed at his adacious words Tush tush quoth he good yoong man I would thou shouldest know that it is harder for me to speake the word than to doe the deed And for that his soldiors staid long ere they were transported over unto him from Brundusuim to Dyrrhachium he embarked himselfe alone into a small vessell without the knowledge of any man who he was purposing to passe the seas alone without his companie but it hapned so that he was like to have beene cast away in a gust and drowned with the waves of the sea whereupon he made himselfe knowne unto the pilot and spake unto him aloud Assure thy selfe and rest confident in fortune for wot well thou hast Caesar a ship boord howbeit for that time he was empeached that he could not crosse the seas as well in regard of the tempest which grew more violent as also of his souldiers who ran unto him from all sides and complained unto him for griefe of heart saying That he offred them great wrong to attend upon other forces as if he distrusted them Not long after this he fought a great battell wherein Pompeius hand the upper had for a time but for that he followed not the train of his good fortune he retired into his campe which when Caesar saw he said The victorie was once this day our enemies but their head and captaine knew not so much upon the plaines of 〈◊〉 the very day of the battell Pompey having arranged his army in array commanded his soldiers to stand their ground and not to advaunce forward but to expect their enimies and receive the charge wherin Caesar afterwards said He did amisse and grossely failed for that therby he let slack as it were the vigor vehemencie of his soldiors which is ministred unto thē by the violence of the first onset abated that heat also of courage which the said charge would have brought with it When he had defaited at his very first encounter Pharnaces king of Pontus he wrote thus unto his friends I came I saw I vanquished After that Scipio and those under his conduct were discomfited and put to flight in Africke when he heard that Cato had killed himselfe he said I envie thy death ô Cato for that thou hast envied me the honour of saving thy life Some there were who had Antonie and Dolabella in jealousie and suspicion and when they came unto him and said That he was to looke unto himselfe and stand upon his good guard he made them this answer That he had no distrust nor feare of them who ledde an idle life be well coloured and in so good liking as they But I feare quoth he these pale and leane fellowes pointing unto Brutus and Cassius One day as he sat at the table when speech was mooved and the question asked what kind of death was best Even that quoth he which is sudden and least looked for CAESAR him I meane who first was surnamed Augustus being as yet in his youth required and claimed of Antonie as much money as amounted to two thousand and five hundred Myriades which he had transported out of Julius Caesars house after he was murdred and gotten into his owne hands for that he entended to pay the Romans that which the said Caesar had bequeathed unto them by his last will and testament for he had left by legacie unto every citizen of Rome 75. drams of silver but Antonie deteined the said summe of money to himselfe and answered yoong Caesar that if he were wife he should desist from demanding any such monies of him which when the other heard he proclaimed open port sale of all the goods that came to him by his patrimonie in deed sold the same and with the money raised thereof he satisfied the foresaid legacies unto the Romanes in which doing he wan all the hearts of the citizens of Rome to himselfe brought their evill wil and hatred upon Antonie Afterwards Rymetalces king of Thracia left the part of Antonius and turned to his side but he overshot himselfe so much at the table being in his cups and namely in that he could talke of nothing else but of this great good service and casting in his teeth this worthy alliance and confederacie of his so as he became odious therefore insomuch as one time at supper Caesar taking the cup dranke to one of the other kings who sat at the boord saying with a loud voice Treason I love well but traitors I hate The Alexandrians after their citie was woonne looked for no better than to suffer all the extremities and calamities that might follow upon the forcing of a city by assault but this Caesar mounting up into the publike place to make a speech unto the citizens having neere by unto him a familiar friend of his to wit Arius an Alexandrian borne pronounced openly a generall pardon saying that he forgave the citie first in regard of the greatnesse and beautie thereof secondly in respect of king Alexander the great their first founder and thirdly for Arius his sake who was his loving friend Understanding that one of his Procuratours named Eros who did negotiate for him in Aegypt had bought a quaile of the game which in fight would beat all other quailes and was never conquered himselfe but continued still invincible which quaile notwithstanding the said slave had caused to be rosted and so eaten it he sent for him and examined him thereupon whether it was true or no and when he confessed Yea he commanded him presently to be crucified and nailed to the mast of his ship He placed Arius in Sicilie for his agent and procuratour in stead of one Theodorus and when one presented unto him a little booke or bill wherein were written these words Theodorus of Tharsis the bauld is a theefe how thinke you is he not when he had read this bill he did nothing else but subscribe underneath I thinke no lesse He received yeerely upon his birth day from Mecaenas one of his familiar friends who conversed daily with him a cup for a present Athenodorus the Philosopher being of great yeeres craved licence with his good favour to retire unto his owne house from the court by reason of his old age and leave he gave him but at his farewell Athenodorus said unto him Sir when you perceive your selfe to be mooved with choler neither say do nor ought before you have repeated to your selfe all the 24. letters in the Alphabet Caesar hearing this advertisement tooke him by the hand I have need still quoth he of your company and
and lying Another for to animate him to this warre alleaged the prowesses and worthy exploits atchieved by them at other times against the Persians Me thinkes quoth he you know not what you say namely that because we have overcome a thousand sheepe we should therefore set upon fiftie woolves He was upon a time in place to heare a musician sing who did his part very well and one asked him how he liked the man and what he thought of him May quoth he I take him to be a great amuser of men in a small matter When another highly extolled the citie of Athens in his presence And who can justly and dulie quoth he praise that citie which no man ever loved for being made better in it When Alexander the great had caused open proclamation to be made in the great assemblie at the Olympick games That all banished persons might returne unto their owne countries except the Thebanes Behold quoth Eudamidas heere is a wofull proclamation for you that be Thebans howbeit honorable withall for it is a signe that Alexander feareth none but you onely in all Greece A certaine citizen of Argos said one day in his hearing That the Lacsedaemonians after they be gone once out of their owne countrey and from the obeisance of their lawes proove woorse for their travelling abroad in the world But it is contrary with you that be Argives and other Greekes quoth he for being come once into our cities Sparta you are not the woorse but proove the better by that meanes It was demaunded of him what the reason might be wherefore they used to sacrifice unto the Muses before they did hazard a battell To the end quoth he that our valiant acts might be well and woorthilie written EURYCRATIDAS the sonne of Anaxandrides when one asked him why the Ephori sat every day to decide and judge of contracts betweene men For that quoth he we should learne to keepe our faith and truth even among our enemies ZEUXIDAMUS likewise answered unto one who demaunded of him why the statutes and ordinances of prowesse and martiall fortitude were not reduced into a booke and given in writing unto yoong men for to reade Because quoth he we would have them to be acquainted with deeds and not with writings A certaine Aetolian said That warre was better than peace unto those who were desirous to shew themselves valorous men And not warre onely quoth he for by the gods in that respect better is death than life HERONDAS chaunced to be at Athens what time as one of the citizens was apprehended arraigned and condemned for his idlenesse judicially and by forme of law which when he understood and heard a brute and noise about him he requested one to shew him the partie that was condemned for a gentlemans life THEARIDAS whetted his sword upon a time and when one asked him if it were sharpe he answered Yea sharper than a slanderous calumniation THEMISTEAS being a prophet or soothsaier foretold unto king Leonidas the discomsiture that should happen within the passe or streights of Thermopylae with the losse both of himselfe and also of his whole armie whereupon being sent away by Leonidas unto Lacedaemon under a colour and pretense to enforme them of these future accidents but in truth to the end that he should not miscarie and die there with the rest he would not so doe neither could he forbeare but say unto Leonidas I was sent hither for a warrior to fight and not as an ordinary courrier and messenger to carrie newes betweene THEOPOMPUS when one demaunded of him how a king might preserve his kingdome and roiall estate in safetie said thus By giving his friends libertie to speake the truth and with all his power by keeping his subjects from oppression Unto a stranger who told him that in his owne countrey among his citizens he was commonly surnamed Philolacon that is to say a lover of the Laconians It were better quoth he that you were called Philopolites than Philolacon Another embassadour there came from Elis who said That he was sent from his fellow-citizens because he onely of all that citie loved and followed the Laconike maner of life of him Theopompus demaunded And whether is thine or the other citizens life the better he answered Mine Why then quoth he how is it possible that a citie should safe in which there being so great a number of inhabitants there is but one good man There was one said before him that the citie of Sparta maintained the state thereof entier for that the kings there knew how to governe well Nay quoth he not so much therefore as because the citizens there can skill how to obey well The inhabitants of the citie Pyle decreed for him in their generall counsell exceeding great honors unto whom he wrote backe againe That moderate honors time is woont to augment but immoderate to diminish and weare away THERYCION returning from the citie Delphos found king Philip encamped within the streight of Peloponnesus where he had gained the narrow passage called Isthmos upon which the city of Corinth is seated whereupon he said Peloponnesus hath but bad porters and warders of you Corinthians THECTAMENES being by the Ephori condemned to death went from the judgement place smiling away and when one that was present asked him if he despised the lawes and judiciall proceedings of Sparta No iwis quoth he but I rejoice heereat that they have condemned me in that fine which I am able to pay and discharge fully without borrowing of any friend or taking up money at interest HIPPODAMUS as Agis was with Archidamus in the campe being sent with Agis by the king unto Sparta for to provide for the affaires of weale publicke and looke unto the State refused to goe saying I cannot die a more honorable death than in fighting valiantly for the defence of Sparta now was he fourescore yeeres old and upward and tooke armes where hee raunged himselfe on the right hand of the king and there fighting by his side right manfully was slaine HIPPOCRATIDAS when a certaine prince or great lord of Caria had written unto him that he had in his hands a Lacedaemonian who having beene privie unto a conspiracie and treason intended against his person revealed not the same demaunding withall his counsell what he should doe with him wrote back againe in this wise If you have heeretofore done him any great pleasure and good turne put him to death hardly and make him away if not expell him out of your countrey considering he is a base fellow uncapable altogether of vertue He chaunced to encounter upon the way a yoong boy after whom followed one who loved him and the boy blushed for shame whereupon he said unto him Thou oughtest to goe in their company my boy with whom thou being seene needest not to change colour for the matter CALLICRATIDAS being admirall of a fleet when the friends of Lysander requested him to pleasure them in killing some of
good issue to the shame and ruine of the wicked but to the repose and quietnesse of all persons who desire seeke and procure that which is good THE VERTUOUS DEEDS of women I Am not of Thucydides minde dame Clea touching the vertue of women for he is of this opinon That she is the best most vertuous of whom there is least speech abroad aswell to her praise as her dispraise thinking that the name of a woman of honour ought to be shut up and kept fast within like as her bodie that it never may go forth Gorgias yet me thinks was more reasonable who would have the renowme and fame but not the face visage of a woman to be knowen unto men and it seemeth unto me that it was an excellent law and custome among the Romans which imported thus much That women aswell as men after their death might be honoured publickly at their funerals with such praises as they had deserved and therefore immediatly after the decease of the most vertuous ladie Leontis I discoursed with you at large upon this matter which discourse in my conceit was not without some consolation founded upon reason Philosophy and now also according to your request at that time I send you in writing the rest of our speech and communication tending to this point That the vertue of man and woman is all one and the very same which appeareth by the proofe and testimony of many and sundry examples drawen out of ancient histories collected by me not upon any intention to please the eare but if the nature of an example be such as alwaies to the periwasive power that it hath to proove there is joined also a lively vertue to delight This treatise of mine rejecteth not the grace of that pleasure which doth second and favourise the efficacie of a proofe neither is it ashamed to join Graces with Muses which as Eurypides saith is the best conjunction in the world inducing the minde most easily to give eare and credit unto good reasons by meanes of the delectation which it there findeth For if to proove that it is all one art to paint and draw the life of women and men I should produce and bring foorth such pictures of women as Apelles Zeuxis or Nicomachus have left behinde them hath any man reason to finde fault and to charge me that I aime and intend to delight the eie and content the minde rather than to verifie my assertion I suppose that no man will so doe semblably if otherwise to shew that the art of Poetrie or skill to represent in verse all things whatsoever is the same in women and men and nothing different one from the other I should conferre the Odes and verses of Sappho with those of Anacreon or the oracles penned by the Sibylles with those which are set downe by Bacchis is there any man that could justly blame such a demonstration for that it draweth the hearer to beleeve with some pleasure and content no man I trow would ever so fay and yet there were no better way to know either the resemblance or the difference in the vertue of man and woman than in comparing lives with lives and deeds with deeds as if wee should lay together the works of some noble science and consider them one by another even so likewise to see whether the magnificence of queene Semiramis hath all one forme and figure with that of king Sesostris and the wisedome of queene Tanaquil with that of king Servius or the magnanimitie of ladie Porcia with that of Brutus or of dame Timoclea with that of Pelopidas namely in that quality which is most principall and wherein lieth the chiefest point and force of these vertues for vertue admitteth certeine other differences as proper and particular colours according to divers natures and is in some sort conformable to the maners and conditions of those subjects wherein they be and to the temperatures of their bodies or to the verie nutriments and divers diets and fashions of their life For Achilles was after one sort valiant and Ajax after another the wisdome of Ulysses was not like unto Nestors neither were Cato and Agesilaus just alike Irene loved not her husband in that maner as Alcestis loved hers nor Cornelia Olympias were alike magnanimous and yet for all that we say not that there be many and diverskinds of fortitude sundry sorts of prudence and wisdome nor different justices in regard of the dissimilitude and varietie which ariseth particularly in ech one person so as the said peculiar differences do not exclude any one vertue from the proper definition thereof As for such examples as are most divulged and published abroad of which I presume you have already sufficient knowledge and firmely remember their historie by that which you have read in ancient books I wil passe them over at this present unlesse haply there be some acts worthy of remembrance which they were ignorant of who before our time have written the common histories and vulgar Chronicles But for that the women in times past aswell in common as particular have performed many memorable deeds it will not be amisse in the first place to set downe briefly what some of them have done in societie and companie together THE TROJANE DAMES OF those Trojanes who escaped after the winning and destruction of Troie the Great the most part went to seeke their fortune and by force of tempest the rather for that they had no skill in navigation and were not acquainted with the seas were cast upon the coast of Italie where putting into such baies ports creeks as they could meet with in that very place whence the river Tybris dischargeth it selfe into the sea with much adoe and great difficultie they landed and the men went wandring up and downe the countrey for to see if they could light upon those that might direct them in their voiage and give them some light and intelligence of those coasts Meane while the women communed and devised thus among themselves That since they had beene the most fortunate and happie nation in the world it were better for them to settle in any one certaine place whatsoever than still to wander uncertainely upon the seas and to make that their countrey and seat of habitation since they were not able to recover that native soile which they had lost to which motion after they had all with one accord agreed they set fire on their ships and the first ring-leader in this action was a Ladie by report named Roma which done they went farther up into the continent to meet with the men afore said who now by this time were cōming apace to the sea for to succour their ships on fire fearing their furious anger they fell to embrace and kisse them very kindly some their husbands others their kinsfolk and by this means appeased their wrath Hereupon arose that custom which continueth at this day among the Romanes that no men
present succour in time of adversitie unto as many as refuse not to remember and call to minde their joies passed and who never at all for any accident whatsoever complaine of fortune which we ought not to doe in reason and honestie unlesse we would seeme to accuse and blame this life which we enjoy for some crosse or accident as if we cast away a booke if it have but one blur or blot in it being otherwise written throughout most cleane and faire for you have heard it oftentimes said that the beatitude of those who are departed dependeth upon the right and sound discourses of our understanding and the same tending to one constant disposition as also that the chaunges and alterations of fortune beare no great sway to inferre much declination or casualitie in our life but if we also as the common sort must be ruled and governed by externall things without us if we reckon and count the chaunces and casualties of fortune and admit for judges of or felicitie our miserie the base and vulgar sort of people yet take you no heed to those teares plaints and moanes that men or women make who come to visit you at this present who also upon a foolish custome as it were of course have them ready at command for every one but rather consider this with your selfe how happie you are reputed even by those who come unto you who would gladly and with all their hearts be like unto you in regard of those children whom you have the house and family which you keepe the life that you leade for it were an evill thing to see others desire to be in your estate and condition for all the sorrow which now afflicteth us and your selfe in the meane time complaining and taking in ill part the same and not to be so happy and blessed as to find and feele even by this crosse that now pincheth you for the losse of one infaut what joy you should take and how thankefull you ought to be for those who remaine alive with you for heerein you should resemble very well those Criticks who collect and gather together all the lame and defective verses of Homer which are but few in number and in the meane time passe over an infinite sort of others which were by him most excellently made In this maner I say you did if you would search narrowly and examine every particular mishap in this life and finde fault therewith but all good blessings in grose let go by and never once respect the same which to do were much like unto the practise of those covetous misers worldings and peni-fathers who 〈◊〉 and care punish both bodie and minde untill they have gathered a great deale of good together and then enjoy no benefit or use thereof but if they chance to forgo any of it they keepe a piteous wailing and wofull lamentation Now if haply you have compassion and pitie of the poore girle in that she went out of this world a maiden unmarried and before that she bare any children you ought rather on the contrarie side to rejoice and take delight in your selfe above others for that you have not failed of these blessings nor bene disappointed either of the one or the other for who would holde and mainteine that these things should be great to those who be deprived of them and but small to them who have and enjoy the same As for the childe who doubtlesse is gone into a place where she feeleth no paine surely she requireth not at our hands that we should afflict grieve our selves for her sake for what harme is there befallen unto us by her if she her selfe now feele no hurt And as for the losses of great things indeed surely they yeeld no sense at all of dolor when they are come once to this point that there is no more need of them or care made for thē But verily thy daughter Timoxena is bereft not of great matters but of small things for in trueth she had no knowledge at all but of such neither delighted she in any but in such seeing then that she had no perceivance nor thought of those things how can she properly and truely be said to be deprived thereof Moreover as touching that which you heard of others who are woont to perswade many of the vulgar sort saying That the soule once separate from the bodie is dissolved and feeleth no paine or dolor at all I am assured that you yeeld no credit and beliefe to such positions aswell in regard of those reasons and instructions which you have received by tradition from our ancestors as also of those sacred and symbolical mysteries of Bacchus which we know wel enough who are of that religious confraternitie and professed therein Being grounded therefore in this principle and holding it firmely for an undoubted trueth That our soule is incorruptible and immortall you are to thinke that it fareth with it as it doth with little birds that are caught by the fowler alive and came into mens hands for if it have bene kept and nourished daintily a long time within the bodie so that it be inured to be gentle and familiar unto this life to wit by the management of sundry affaires and long custome it returneth thither againe and reentreth a second time after many generations into the bodie it never taketh rest nor ceaseth but is inwrapped within the affections of the flesh and entangled with the adventures of the world and calamities incident to our nature for I would not have you to thinke that olde age is to be blamed and reproched for riuels and wrinckles nor in regard of hoarie white haires ne yet for the imbecillitie and feeblenesse of the body but the worst and most odious thing in it is this That it causeth the soule to take corruption by the remembrance of those things whereof it had experience whiles it staied therein and was too much addicted and affectionate unto it whereby it bendeth and boweth yea and reteineth that forme or figure which it tooke of the bodie by being so long devoted thereto whereas that which is taken away in youth pretendeth a better estate and condition as being framed to a gentler habit more soft tractable and lesse compact putting on now a naturall rectitude much like as fire which being quenched if it be kindled againe burneth out and recovereth vigor incontinently which is the cause that it is farre better Betimes to yeeld up vitall breath And soone to passe the gates of death before that the soule have taken too deepe an imbibition or liking of terrene things here below and ere it be made soft and tender with the love of the bodie and as it were by certeine medicines and forcible charmes united and incorporate into it The trueth hereof may appeate yet better by the fashions and ancient customes of this countrey for our citizens when their children die yong neither offer mortuaries nor performe any sacrifices
kind of life all maner of delcacie and costly curiositie useth to follow Like as the sucking foale alway Runnes with the damme and doth not stay What supper then is not to be counted sumptuous for which there is evermore killed some living creature or other for doe we thinke little of the dispense of a soule and suppose we that the losse of life is not costly I do not now say that it was peradventure the soule of a mother a father some friend or a sonne as Empedocles gave it out but surely a soule endued with sense with seeing hearing apprehension understanding witte and discretion such as nature hath given to each living creature sufficient to seeke and get that which is good for it and likewise to avoid and shun whatsoever is hurtfull and contrary unto it Consider now a little whether those philosophers that teach and will us to eat our children our friends our fathers and wives when they are dead doe make us more gentle and fuller of humanitie than Pythagoras and Empedocles who accustome and acquaint us to be kind and just even to other creatures Well you mock and laugh at him that maketh conscience to eat of a mutton and shall not we say they laugh a good and make sport when we see one cutting and chopping pieces of his father or mother being dead and sending away some thereof to his friends who are absent and inviting such as be present and neere at hand to come and make merrie with the rest causing such joints and pieces of flesh to be served up to the table without any spare at all But it may be that we offend now and commit some fault in handling these books having not before-hand clensed our hands mundified our eies purified our feet and purged our eares unlesse perhaps this be their clensing and expiation to devise discourse of such things with sweet pleasant words which as Plato saith wash away all falt brackish hearing but if a man should set these books arguments in parallell opposition or comparison one with another he would judge that some of them were the Philosophie of the Scythians Tartarians Sagidians and Melanchlaenians of whom when Herodotus writeth he is taken for a liar and as for the sentences and opinions of Pythagoras and Empedocles they were the very lawes ordinances statutes and judgements of the auncient Greeks according to which they framed their lives to wit That there were betweene us and brute beasts certeine common rights who were they then that afterwards otherwise ordeined Even they who first of iron and steele mischievous swords did sorge And of poore labouring ox at plough began to cut the gorge For even thus also began tyrants to commit murders like as at the first in old time they killed at Athens one notorious and most wicked sycophant named Epitedeius so they did by a second and likewise a third now the Athenians being thus acquainted to see men put to death saw afterwards Niceratus the sonne of Nicias murdred Theramenes also the great commander and captaine generall yea and Polemarchus the philosopher Semblably men began at first to eat the flesh of some savage and hurtfull beast then some fowles and fish were snared and caught with nets and consequently crueltie being fleshed as it were exercised and inured in these and such like slaughters proceeded even to the poore labouring ox to the silly sheepe that doth clad and trimme our bodies yea and to the house-cocke and thus men by little and little augmenting their insatiable greedinesse never staied untill they came to manslaughter to murder yea and to bloudie battels But if a man can not proove nor make demonstration by sound reasons that soules in their resurrections and new nativities meet with common bodies so as that which now is reasonable becommeth afterwards reasonlesse and likewise that which at this present is wild and savage commeth to be by another birth and regeneration tame and gentle againe and that nature transmuteth and translateth all bodies dislodging and replacing the soule of one in another And cladding them with robes unknowen Of other flesh as with their owne Are not these reasons yet at leastwise sufficient to reclaime and divert men from this unbrideled intemperance of murdring dumb beasts namely that it breedeth maladies crudities heavinesse and indigestion in the bodie that it marreth and corrupteth the soule which naturally is given to the contemplation of high and heavenly things to wit when we have taken up a woont and custome not to feast a friend or stranger who commeth to visit us unlesse we shed bloud and cannot celebrate a marriage dinner or make merrie with our neighbours and friends without committing murder And albeit the said proofe and argument of the transmigration of soules into sundrie bodies be not sufficiently declared so as it may deserve to be credited and beleeved yet surely the conceit and opinion thereof ought to work some scruple and feare in our harts and in some sort hold us in stay our hands For like as when two armies encounter one another in a night battell if one chaunce to light upon a man fallen upon the ground whose bodie is all covered and hidden with armour and present his sword to cut his throat or runne him through and therewith heare another crying unto him that he knoweth not certeinly but thinketh and supposeth that the partie lying along is his brother his sonne his father or tent-fellow whether were it better that he giving eare and credit to this conjecture and suspicion false though it be should spare and forbeare an enemie for a friend or rejecting that which had no sure and evident proofe kill one of his friends in stead of an enemie I suppose there is not one of you all but will say that the later of these were a most grosse and leud part Behold moreover Merope in the tragedy when she lifteth up her ax for to strike her own sonne taking him to be the murderer of her sonne and saying withall Have at thy head for now I trow I shall thee give a deadly blow what a stirre and trouble she maketh over all the theater how she causeth the haire to stand upright upon the heads of the spectators for feare lest she should prevent the old man who was about to take hold of her arme and so wound the guiltlesse yoong man her sonne But if peradventure in this case there should have stood another aged man fast by crying unto her strike hardly for it is your enemie and a third contrariwise saying Strike not in any wise it is your owne sonne whether had beene the greater and more grievous sinne to let goe the revengement of her enemie for doubt that he was her sonne or to commit silicide and murder her sonne indeed for the anger she bare unto her enemie When as therefore there is neither hatred nor anger that driveth us to doe a murder when neither revenge nor feare of our
owne safetie and life mooveth us but even for our pleasure we have a poore sheepe lying under our hand with the throat turned upward a philosopher of the one side should say Cut the throat for it is a brute beast and another admonish us on the other side saying Stay your hand and take heed what you doe for what know you to the contrarie whether in that sheepe be the soule lodged of some kinsman of yours or peradventure of some God Is the danger before God all one and the same whether I refuse to eat of the flesh or beleeve not that I kill my child or some one of my kinsfolke But surely the Stoicks are not equally matched in this fight for the defence of eating flesh For what is the reason that they so band themselves and be so open mouthed in the maintenance of the belly and the kitchin what is the cause that condemning pleasure as they doe for an effeminate thing and not to be held either good or indifferent no nor so much as familiar and agreeable to nature they stand so much in the patronage of those things that make to the pleasure and delight of feeding And yet by all consequence reason would that considering they chase and banish from the table all sweet perfumes and odoriferous ointments yea and al pastrie worke and banketting junkets they should be rather offended at the sight of bloud and flesh But now as if by their precise philosophicall rules they would controule our day books and journals of our ordinarie expences they cut off all the cost bestowed upon our table in things needlesse and superfluous meane while they sinde no fault with that which savoureth of bloudshed and crueltie in this superfluitie of table furniture We doe not indeed say they because there is no communication of rights betweene beasts and us but a man might answer them againe verie well No more is there betweene us and perfumes or other forraine and exoticall sauces and yet you would have us to absteine from them rejecting and blaming on all sides that which in any pleasure is neither profitable nor needfull But let us I pray you consider upon this point a little neerer to wit whether there be any communitie in right and justice betweene us and unreasonable creatures or no and let us doe it not subtilly and artificially as the captious manner is of these sophisters in their disputations but rather after a gentle and familiar sort having an eie unto our owne passions and affections let us reason and decide the matter with our selves THAT A MAN CANNOT LIVE PLEASANTLY ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE OF EPICURUS The Summarie GReat disputations there have beene holden among the Philosophers and Sages of the world as touching the sovereigne good of man as it may appeere even at this day by the books that are extant among us and yet neither one nor other have hit the true marke whereat they shot to wit The right knowledge of God Howbeit some of them are a great deale farther out of the way than others and namely the Epicureans whom our author doth perstringe in many places as holding a doctrine cleane contrary unto theirs according as his writings doe testifie And forasmuch as Epicurus and his disciples placed and established this sovereigne good in pleasure of the bodie this their opinion is heere examined and confuted at large for in forme of a dialogue Plutarch rehearseth the communication or conference which he had with Aristodemus Zeuxippus and Theon as they walked together immediately after one lecture of his upon this matter who having shewed in generall tearmes the absurdities of this Epicurian doctrine maint eineth in one word That it is no life at all for to live according to the same Then he explaneth and sheweth what the Epicureans meane by this word To live and from thence proceedeth forward to refute their imagination and whatsoever dependeth thereupon and that by sound and weighty arguments intermingling many pretie conceits and pleasant jests together with certeine proper similitudes for the purpose After he had prooved that they were deceived themselves and seduced their disciples he holdeth moreover this point That even they deprive themselves of the true good which consisteth in the repose and contentment of the mind rejecting as they doe all Histories Mathematicall arts and liberall sciences and among the rest Poëtrie and Musicke shewing throughout all this discourse that such persons are deprived of common sense Passing forward he holdeth and mainteineth that the soule taketh joyin a contentment proper to it selfe and afterwards in discoursing of the pleasure that active life doth bring he refuteth more and more his adversarie addressing to this purpose a certeine conference and comparison betweene the pleasures of bodie and soule whereby a man may see the miserie of the one and the excellencie of the other This point he enricheth with divers examples the end whereof sheweth That there is nothing at all to be counted great or profitable in the schoole of Epicurus whose scholars never durst approove his opinion especially in death also That vertuous men have without all comparison much more pleasure in this world than the Epicureans who in their afflictions know not how to receive any joy or comfort by remembrance of their pleasures past And this is the very summe of the dialogue during the time that the above named persons did walke who after they were set began the disputation a fresh and spake in the first place of Gods providence condemning by diversreasons the atheisme of the Epicureans who are altogether inexcusable even in comparison of the common sort given to superstition continuing and holding on this discourse he depainteth very lively the nature of the Epicureans and commeth to represent and set down the contentment that men of honor have in their religion where also he holdeth this point That God is not the author of evill and that the Epicureans are sufficiently punished for their impietie in depriving themselves of that pleasure which commeth unto us by meditation of the divine wisedome in the conduct and management of all things Consequently he sheweth that this their prophane philosophie overthroweth and confoundeth all persons as well in their death as during their life Whereupon he proceedeth to treat of the immortality of the soule and of the life to come describing at large the misery of the Epicureans and for a finall conclusion he compriseth in fower or five lines the summary of all their error and so shutteth up and concludeth the whole disputation THAT A MAN CANNOT live pleasantly according to the doctrine of Epicurus COlotes one of the disciples and familiar followers of Epicurus wrote and published a booke wherein he endevoured to proove and declare That there was no life at all to speake of according to the opinions and sentences of other Philosophers Now as touching that which readily came into my minde for the answere of his challenge and the discourse against his
sect both men and women pray and request Pythocles for Epicurus sake not to make any account of those arts which we name liberall And in praising our Apelles among other singular qualities that they attribute unto him they set downe this for one That from his first beginning he had forborne the studie of the Mathematicks and by that meanes kept himselfe unspotted and undefiled As for histories to say nothing how of all other sciences they have neither heard nor seene any I will cite onely the words Metradorus writing of Poets Tush quoth he be not abashed nor thinke it a shame to confesse that thou knowest not of whether side Hector was of the Greeks part or of the Trojans neither thinke it a great matter if thou be ignorant what were the first verses of Homers Poeme and regard thou as little those in the mids Now for as much as Epicurus wist well inough that the pleasures of the body like unto the aniversarie Etesian minds doe blow over and passe away yea and after the flower of mans age is once gone decay sensibly and cease altogether therefore he mooveth a question Whether a wise man being now farre stept in yeeres and not able any more to keepe company with a woman taketh pleasure still in want on touching feeling or handling of faire and beautifull persons Wherein verily he is farre from the minde and opinion of Sophocles who rejoiced and thanked God that hee had escaped from this voluptuous and fleshly love as from the yoke chaine or clogge of some violent and furious master Yet rather ought these sensuall and voluptuous persons seeing that manie delights and pleasures corporall doe fade and decaie in old age And that with aged folk in this Dame Venus much offended is as saith Euripides to make provision then most all of other spirituall pleasures and to be stored before-hand as it were against some long siege with such drie victuals as are not subject to putrefaction and corruption Then I say should they hold their solemne feasts of Venus goodly morrow-minds to passe the time away by reading some pleasant histories delectable poemes or pretie speculations of musick or geometrie And verily they would not so much as thinke any more of those blind feelings and bootlesse handlings as I may tearme them which indeed are no more but the pricks and provocations of dead wantonnesse if they had learned no more but as Aristotle Heraclides and Dicaearchus did to write of Homer and Euripides But they being never carefull and provident to purvey such victuals and seeing all the rest of their life otherwise to be unpleasant and as drie as a kex as themselves are woont to say of vertue yet willing to enjoy still their pleasures continually but sinding their bodies to say nay and not able to performe the same to their contentment they bewray their corruption in committing foule and dishonest acts out of season enforcing themselves even by their owne confessions to awaken stirre up and renew the memorie of their former pleasures in times past and for want of fresh and new delights making a shift to serve their turne with the old stale as if they had beene long kept in salt-pickle or compast untill their goodnesse and life were gone desirous they are to stirre kindle and quicken others that lie extinct in their flesh as it were raked up in dead and cold ashes long before cleane against the course of nature and all for default that they were not provided before of some sweet thing laid up in their soule proper unto her and delightsome according to her worthinesse As for other spirituall pleasures wee have spoken of them already as they came into our minde but as touching musick which bringing with it so many cōtentments so great delights men yet reject flie fro no man I now would willingly passe it over in silence considering the absured and impertinent speeches that Epicurus giveth out for in his questions he maintaineth That a wise man is a great lover of shews spectacles delighting above all others to heare and see the pastimes sports sights exhibited in theatres during the feast of Bacchus yet wil not he admit any musical problemes any disputatiōs or witty discourses of Criticks in points of humanitie learning so much as at the very table in dinner and supper time but giveth counsell unto kings and princes that be lovers favorers of literature to abide rather the reading hearing of military narrations stratagemes at their feasts banquets yea and scurrill talke of buffons pleasants and iesters than any questions propounded or discussed as touching musicke or poetrie for thus much hath he delivered in his booke entituled Of Royaltie as if hee had written the same to Sardanapalus or Naratus who was in times past a great potentate and lord of Babylon Certes neither Hiero nor Attalus ne yet Archelaus would ever have bene perswaded to remove and displace from their tables such as Eruiptdes Simonides Melanippides Crates or Diodorus for to set in their roomes Cardax Ariantes and Callias knowen jesters and notorious ribauds or some parasiticall Thrasonides and Thrasyleons who could skill of nothing els but how to make folke laugh in counterfaiting lamentable yellings groanes howlings and all to move applause and clapping of hands If king Ptolomeus the first of that name who also first erected a librarie and founded a colledge of learned men had light upon these goodly rules and royall precepts of his putting downe would not he have exclamed and said unto the Samians O Muses faire ô ladies deere What envie and what spight is heere For beseeming it is not any Athenian thus maliciously to be bent unto the Muses and be at warre with them but according to Pindarus Whom Jupiter doth not vouchsafe His love and favour for to have Amaz'd they stand and quake for feare When they the voice of Muses beare What say you Epicurus you goe early in the morning by breake of day unto the Theater to heare musicians playing upon the harpe and lute or sounding shawmes and hautboies if then it fortune at the table in time of a banquet that Theophrastus discourseth of Symphonies and musicall accords or Aristoxenes of changes and alteration of tunes or Aristophanes of Homers works will you stop your eares with both hands because you would not heare for that you so abhorre and detest them Surely there was more civillity yet and honestie by report in that barbarous king of Scythia Ateas who when that excellent minstrell Ismenias being his captive taken prisoner in the warres plaied upon the flute before him as hee sat at dinner sware a great oath that he tooke more pleasure to heare his horse neigh. Doe not these men thinke you confesse and grant when they be well charged that they have given defiance to vertue and honestie proclaming mortall and irreconcilable warre without all hope of truce parle composition and peace for surely
and discontentment should be infamous and reputed for wicked persons and such as are so taken must needs be odious and in great disgrace if so be they hold honour good name and reputation to be things pleasant and delectable When Theon had made an end of this speech thought good it was to give over walking and when as our custome and manner was we were set downe upon the seats we rested a pretie while in silence ruminating as it were and pondering that which had beene delivered but long this was not for Zeuxippus thinking upon that which had beene said And who quoth he shall goe through with that which remaineth behind considering that me thinks we are not as yet come to a full point and finall conclusion for seeing that erewhile he hath made mention by the way of Divination and likewise put us in minde of Divine providence two maine points I may tell you whereupon these men doe greatly stand and which by their saying yeeld them not the least pleasure contentment repose of spirit and assurance in this life therefore I hold it necessarie that somewhat were said as touching the same Then Aristodemus taking the matter in hand As for the pleasure quoth he which they pretend in this case me thinks by all in maner that hath beene spoken that if their reasons should goe for currant and bring that about which they purpose intend well may they free and deliver their spirit of I wot not what feare of the gods and a certaine superstition butsurely they imprint no joy nor minister any comfort and contentment to their minds at all in any regard of the gods for to be troubled with no dread of the gods nor comforted by any hope from them worketh this effect and maketh them so affected towards the gods as we are to the fishes of the Hyrcan sea expecting neither good nesse nor harme from them But if we must adde somewhat more to that which hath beene said alreadie thus much I take it wee may be bold to set downe as received and granted by them First and formost that they impugne them mightily who condemne and take away all heavinesse sorrow weeping sighes and lamentations for the death of friends and they assirme that this indolence tending to a kinde of impassibilitie proceedeth from another evill greater and woorse than it to wit cruell inhumanitie or else an outragious and furious desire of vainglorie and ostentation and therefore they hold it better to suffer a little sorrow and to grieve moderately so a man runne not all to teares and marre his eies with weeping nor shew all maner of passions as some doe by their deeds and writings because they would be thought affectionate and heartie lovers of their friends and withall of a gentle and tender nature For thus much hath Epicurus delivered in many of his books and namely in his letters where he maketh mention of the death of Hegesianax writing unto Dositheus the father and Pyrsos the brother of the man departed For long it is not since by fortune those letters of his came to my hands which I perused and in imitating their maner of arguing I say That Atheisme and impietie is no lesse sinne than the crueltie or vaine and arrogant ostentation abovesaid unto which impietie they would induce us with their perswasions who take from God both favor and also anger For better it were that to the opinion and beliefe which we have of the gods there were adjoined and engraffed an affection mixed and compassed of reverence and feare than in flying therefro to leave unto our selves neither hope nor pleasure no assurance in prosperitie ne yet recourse unto the goodnesse of of the gods in time of adversitie True it is that we ought to ridde away from the opinion that we have of the gods all superstition if it be possible as well as from our eies all gummie and glutinous matter offending the sight but if this may not be we are not therefore to cut away quite or to put out the eies cleane of that faith and beliefe which men for the most part have of the gods and this is not a severe feareful and austere conceit as these imagine who traduce and slander divine providence to make it odious and terrible as folke doe by little children whom they use to scarre with the fantasticall illusion Empusa as if it were some infernall furie or tragicall vengeance seizing upon them but some few men there be who in that sort doe feare God as that it is better and more expedient for them so to doe than otherwise not to stand in awe of him for in dreading him as a gracious and propitious lord unto the good and an enemie unto the wicked by this one kinde of feare which maketh them that they have no need at all of many others they are delivered from those baits which many times allure and entice men to evill and thus keeping vice short and not giving it head but holding it neere unto them and within their reach that it cannot escape and get from them they be lesse tormented than those who be so hardie as to emploie the same and dare put it in practise but soone after fall into fearefull fits and repent themselves But as touching the disposition toward God in the common sort of men who are ignorant unlettered and of a grosse conceit for the most part howbeit not very wicked nor starke naught true it is that as together with the reverence and honour that they beare to the gods there is intermingled a certaine trembling feare which properly is called superstition so likewise there is an infinit deale more of good hope and true joy which causeth them to praie unto the gods continually for their owne good estate and for happie successe in their affaires and they receive all prosperitie as sent unto them from heaven above which appeereth evidently by most notable and significant arguments for surely no exercises recreat us more than those of religion and devotion in the temples of the gods no times and seasons are more joious than those solemne feasts in their honour no actions no sights more delight and joy our hearts than those which we doe and see our selves either singing and dauncing solemnly in the presence of the gods or being assistant at their sacrifices or the ceremonious mysteries of divine service for at such times our soule is nothing sadde cast downe or melancholike as if she had to deale with some terrible tyrants or bloudie but chers where good reason were that she should bee heavie and dejected but looke where she thinketh and is perswaded most that God is present in that place especially she casteth behinde her all anguishes agonies sorrowes feares and anxieties there I say she giveth herselfe to all manner of joy even to drinke wine most liberally to play disport laugh and be merie As the poet said in love and wanton matters Both grey-beard old and aged
with meat before them thereby to drive those in their messe and who were set at the table from eating with them and by that meanes to engorge themselves and fill their bellies alone with the best viands served up Semblably they who are excessively and out of all measure ambitious before others as their concurrents and corrivals blame and dispraise glorie and honour to the end that they alone without any competitours might enjoy the same And heerein they doe like unto mariners sitting at the oare in a bote or gally for howsoever their eie is toward the poupe yet they labour to set the prow forward in that the flowing of the water by reciprocation caused by the stroke of the oares comming forcibly backe upon the poupe might helpe to drive forward the vessell even so they that deliver such rules and precepts whiles they make semblant to flie from glory pursue it as fast as they can for otherwise if it were not so what need had he whosoever he was to give out such a speech what meant he else to write it and when he had written it to publish the same unto posteritie If I say he meant to be unknowne to men living in his time who desired to be knowne unto those that came after him But let us come to the thing it selfe How can it chuse but be simply naught Live so hidden quoth he that no man may perceive that ever you lived as if he had said Take heed you be not knowne for a digger up of sepulchres a defacer of the tombs monuments of the dead But contrariwise a foule dishonest thing it is to live in such sort as that you should be willing that we al know not the maner thereof Yet would I for my part say cleane contrary Hide not thy life how ever thou do and if thou hast lived badly make thy selfe knowne bewiser repent amend if thou be endued with vertue hide it not neither be thou an unprofitable member if vicious continue not obstinate there but yeeld to correction admit the cure of thy vice or rather at leastwise sir make a distinction define who it is to whom you give this precept If he be ignorant unlearned wicked or foolish then it is as much as if you said thus Hide thy feaver cloke cover thy phrēsie let not the physician take notice of thee goe and put thy selfe into some darke corner where no person may have a sight of thee or of thy maladies and passions go thy way aside with all thy naughtinesse sicke as thou art of an incurable and mortall disease cover thy spight and envie hide thy superstition suppresse and conceale as it were the disorderly beatings of thine arteries take heed be afraid how you let your pulse be felt or bewray your selfe to those who have the meanes are able to admonish correct and heale you But long ago in the old world our ancestors were wont to take in hand and cure openly in publike place those that were diseased in body in those daies everie one who had met with any good medicine or knowne a remedie whereof he had the proofe either in himselfe being sicke or in another cured thereby would reveale and communicate the same unto another that stood in need thereof and thus they say The skil of Physick arising first and growing by experience became in time a noble and excellent science And even so requisit it is and necessarie to discover and lay open unto all men lives that be diseased and the infirmities of the soule to touch and handle them and by considering the inclinations of every man to say thus unto one Subject thou art to anger take heed thereof unto another Thou art given to jealousie and emulation beware of it doe thus and thus to a third Art thou amorous and full of love I have beene so my selfe otherwhiles but I repent me thereof But now a daies it is cleane contrarie in denying in cloaking covering and hiding men thrust and drive their vices inwardly and more deepely still into their secret bowels Now if they be men of woorth and vertuous whom thou counsellest to hide themselves that the world may take no knowledge of them it is all one as to say unto Epaminondas Take no charge of the conduct of an army or to Lycurgus Amuse not your head about making lawes and to Thrasibulus Kill no tyrants to Pythagoras Keepe no schoole nor teach in any wise to Socrates See you dispute not nor hold any discourses of philosophie and to your selfe Epicurus first of all Write not to your friends in Asia enroll and gather no soldiors out of Aegypt have no commerce nor negotiate with them do not protect and defend as it were with a guard from villanie and violence the yoong gentlemen of Lampsacum send not your books abroad to all men and women alike thereby to shew your learning finally ordeine nothing about your sepulture To what tended your publicke tables what meant those assemblies that you made of your familiar friends and faire yoong boies to what purpose were there so many thousands of verses written and composed so painfully by you in the honour of Metrodorus Aristobulus Chaeredemus to the end that after death they should not be forgotten Was all this because you would ratifie and establish vertue by oblivion arts by doing nothing philosophy by silence and felicitie by forgetfulnesse Will you needs bereave mans life of knowledge as if you would take away light from a feast to the end that mē might not know that you your followers do all for pleasure upon pleasure then good reason you have to give counsell saie unto your selfe Live unknowne Certes if I had a minde to leade my life with Haedia the harlot or to keepe ordinarily about me the strumpet Leontium to detest all honestie to repose all my delight and joy in the tickling pleasures of the flesh and in wanton lusts these ends verilie would require to be hidden in darknesse and covered with the shadow of the night these be the things that would be forgotten and not once knowne But if a man in the science of naturall philosophie delight in hymnes and canticles to praise God his justice and providence or in morallknowledge to set out and commend the law humane societie and the politike government of common-weale and therein regard honour and honestie not profit and commodity what reason have you to advise him for to live obscurely Is it because he should teach none by good precept is it for that no man should have a zealous love to vertue or affect honestie by his example If Themistocles had never bene knowne to the Athenians Greece had not given Xerxes the foile and repulse likewise if Camillus had beene unknowne to the Romanes peradventure by this time Rome had beene no city at all had not Dion knowne Plato Sicilie should not have beene delivered from tyrannie But this
to wit That the tribe which beareth his name should never be thrust downe into the lowest and last place THE SECOND BOOKE OF THE SYMPOSIAQUES The Summarie or severall Chapters thereof 1 WHat be those things which Xenophon saith that men are better contented to be asked of at the table yea and to be scoffed at for than otherwise no. 2 What is the reason that we have better stomacks to our meat and eat more in Autumne than in any other season of the yeere 3 Whether the hen was before the egge or the egge before the hen 4 Whether wrestling was of all the sacred exercises and games of prize most ancient 5 Why Homer among all the combats of prize putteth evermore in the first place the fight at buffets next to it wrestling and last of all running the race 6 What is the cause that the pine sapin or pitch tree and other like yeelding rosin can not be graffed by way of inoculation or the scutisian 7 Of the stay-ship fish Remora 8 How it commeth to passe that the horses Lycospades are said to be more courageous and better spirited than any others 9 How is it that the sheepe worried by wolves yeeld flesh more sweet and tender but wooll more subject to breed lice than others 10 Whether our ancestours did better in old time to eat every man his owne part divided by himselfe at the boord or the men now living who feed in common of viands set before them all together THE SECOND BOOKE OF the Symposiaques THE FIRST QUESTION What be the things whereof Xenophon saith That men love better to be asked and to be scoffed at for when they sit at the boord than otherwise no OF those things ô Soissus Senecio which are provided to furnish and set out feasts and banquets some are to be raunged as altogether necessarie namely bread wine viands meats both flesh and fish benches stooles formes and tables others be but accessaries and may be spared devised onely for pleasure and not upon any urgent necessitie as plaies shewes and pastimes brought in either to be heard or seene some pleasant buffon also or mery jester to make folke laugh such an one as Philip in Kallais his house which disports men are delighted in otherwhiles if they be presented and if they be not they are not greatly missed nor much cared for neither is the feast thought defectuous for want thereof The same may be said of table talke for one kinde there is which modest and civill men doe embrace and enterteine in regard of their proper use fitting and agreeable for meales and meat indeed another sort they admit and allowas conteining some gentle speculation and the same beseemeth rather the time imploied in hearing musicke of flute hautboies lute and viall And of both these our first booke conteined certaine miscellane examples one with another as namely of the first sort were these questions Whether it be good and commendable to treat and dispute of philosophicall matters at the table or no Also whether it be better that the master of the feast himselfe place his guests at the boord or permit them to sit at their owne discretion Of the second kind be these whereupon arose this common saying That love teacheth musicke or poetrie as also the question concerning the tribe Aeantes and such like For mine owne part I would call the former Sympotica as properly belonging to a feast the other by the generall name Symposiaca as beseeming rather a banquet after the feast is done howbeit set downe they are by me pell-mell and not distinctly but according as every one of them came into my minde and remembrance neither must the readers marvell if I collect and gather certeine speeches for to dedicate unto you which have beene haply held heeretofore by others or by your owne selfe for albeit our learning is not alwaies a calling to remembrance yet oftentimes it falleth out that to remember and to learne concurre and meet together in one subject matter Moreover having digested in every booke ten questions the first of this second is one that Xenophon a disciple of Socrates hath in some sort proposed unto us when hee writeth That Gobryas being upon a time at supper with Cyrus as he praised many other fashions of the Persians so he commended them especially in this That they demaunded one of another such questions wherewith they stood better pleased than if they had not beene asked at all and betweene whiles let flie such pleasant scoffes and jestes as that the parties so scoffed at liked thereof better than otherwise if they had beene let alone For if it be so that other men even with their praises many times offend us why shold we not greatly admire the seemely grace and wittie conceit of those whose scoffes and jests yeeld pleasure and contentment to those who seeme to be mocked therewith This is the reason why Sopater having one day invited us to a feast at Patrae mooved this talke and saide Gladly would I know what kinde of questions and interrogatories they were of what nature and what the manner of them was For no small part it is quoth hee of our entercourse and mutuall communication one with another to have the dexteritie and skill both to know and also to observe the decencie and congruitie in such pleasant demaunds and facete jests Nay quoth I againe a great matter it is but marke if Xenophon himselfe as well in the Symposium or banquet of Socrates as in those of the Persians giveth not us to understand what was the order thereof and if you thinke good that we enter into this discourse and that I should adde somewhat of mine owne First and formost this is mine opinion That men are well enough pleased to be asked those questions to which they are able easily to answere and namely of such things as they have best skill and experience of for if one should demaund of them matters that they know not either they be offended and grieved if they can say nothing unto them like as those who are called upon to pay debts which they are not able to discharge or if they bring out crosse impertinent and untoward reasons they are much troubled dismaied and perplexed whereas if their answers bee not onely readie and easie but also wittie and exquisite so much the more pleasant and agreeable it is to the answerers now those I count wittie and exquisite which carie somewhat with them that the common multitude knoweth not or which few men have heard of such as be the points of astrologie or logicke especially if they be well seene therein and have as it were the habit of them for everie man is well pleased and appaied not onely in practising and spending his time as Euripides saith Whereby he may quit him so well That even himselfe he may excell but also in reasoning and discoursing of that wherein he hath best skill and knowledge For men take great
in great capitall letters Why quoth he a man may see this if hee were starke blinde and had never an eie in his head but Theocritus of Chios his prisoner he put to death for that when one to comfort him came and said That if the kings eies once had a sight of him he should be pardoned and save his life Why then quoth he God have mercie upon me for impossible it is for me to escape death which he said because king Antigonus had but one eie Leo the Bizantine when Pasiades objected unto him his bleered eies saying Mine eies before with looking upon yours Goe to quoth he you twit and reproch me for a bodily infirmity that I have and never looke your selfe upon a sonne of your owne who carrieth the vengeance of God upon his shoulders now this Pasiades had a sonne who was crumpt-shouldred and bunch-backed Likewise Archippus who in his time bare a great sway in Athens as being one of the oratours who led the people and ruled the State was very angry with Melanthius who alluding to his bunch backe and scoffing thereat used these tearmes That he did not stand manfully upright in the defence of the citie but stouped and bended forward as if he had suffered it likewise to leane reele and sincke downward And yet some there be who can carrie these broad jests patienly and with good moderation as one of the minions of king Antigonus who having craved of him a talent in free gift and seeing that he was denied it required at the kings hands that he would allow him a good strong guard to accompanie him For feare quoth he that I be forlaied by the way and risled by him who enjoined me to carrie a talent of silver at my backe See how men are diversly affected in these externall things by reason of the inequallitie of their maimes some after one sort and some after another Epaminondas sitting at a feast with his companions and colleagues in government dranke wine as sharpe as vineger and when they asked him why he did so and whether it made for his health I know not that quoth he but well I wot this that good it is to put mee in minde of my home diet And therefore in casting out of jests and pleasant taunts regard would be had of mens natures and dispositions for that some have broader backs to beare scoffes than others and endevour we must so to converse with men both in bourd and in earnest that wee offend no person but be acceptable unto all As for love a passion very divers it is and passing variable as in all other things so in jests and gibes especially for that some will take offence and be soone angry others will be merrie and laugh it out if they be touched in that point and therefore above all things the opportunitie of the time would be well observed for like as when a fire is newly kindled and but weake at the first the winde will put it quite out but when it hath gotten strength and burneth foorth it mainteineth feedeth and augmenteth the flame even so love when it is a breeding and whiles it lieth secret and sheweth not it selfe quickly taketh displeasure and offence against those that discover it but when it is once broken foorth and is made apparent and knowen to all then nourished it is and taketh delight to be blowen as it were and enflamed more with scoffes and merry jestes and that which pleaseth lovers best is this when they be jested with in the presence of those whom they love and namely in love matters otherwise not and if the case stand so that they be woonderfully enamoured upon their owne wedded wives or yoong laddes by the way of honest and vertuous love then they joy exceedingly they glory and take a pride in being scoffed at for the love of them Heereupon Arcesilaus being upon a time in his schoole when one of these professed lovers and amorous persons chaunced in communication to give him these words Me thinks this that you have said toucheth none of this companie replied thus and said No more than you are touched and mooved and withall shewed him a faire and well favoured youth in the prime of his yeeres sitting by him Furthermore good regard and consideration would be had who they be that are present and in place for otherwhiles men are disposed to take up a laughter at merry words which they heare among friends and familiars who would not take it well but be offended thereat if the same were delivered before wife father or schoole-master unlesse it were some thing that agreed very well with their humour as for example if one should mocke a companion of his before a philosopher for going bare-footed or sitting up at his booke all night long studying and writing or in the presence of his father for being thristie and spending little or in the hearing of his owne wife that he cannot skill of courting and loving other dames but is altogether devoted and serviceable unto her alone thus Tigranes in Xenophon was mocked by Cyrus in these tearmes What and if your wife should heare say that you made a page of your selfe and caried your bedding and other stuffe upon your owne necke She shall not quoth he heare it but be an eie witnesse thereof and see it in her presence Furthermore when they who give out such merrie taunts as these be partakers therein and in some sort doe include themselves withall lesse blame-woorthy they are and nothing so much to be reproved as for example when a poore man glaunceth against povertie or a new upstart and gentleman of the first head against meane parentage or an amorous person girdeth at the wantonnesse of another lover for it may seeme thereby that there was no meaning and intent to offend or offer wrong but that all was merrily spoken seeing they participate in the like defects for otherwise it might nippe very much and go too neere to the quicke Thus one of the affranchised or freed men of the emperour growen up on a sudden to be exceeding rich bare himselfe very proud and disdainfull to certeine philosophers who sat at the table and supped together with him insulting very insolently over them and in the end comming out with this foolish question How it came to passe that the broth or pottage made of beanes whether they were blacke or white looked greene alike Aridices one of the philosophers there in place asked him presently againe what the reason was that the wales or marks of stripes and lashes were all red indifferently whether the whippes were made of white or blacke leather thongs at which reply the other was so dashed and disquieted that he rose from the boord in a pelting chafe and would not tarie But Amphias of Tarsis supposed to be no better than a gardiners sonne having by way of scorn scoffed at one of the familiar friends of the lord deputie there for his meane
house onely but I beleeve well the whole citie with outcries utas clapping of hands and alarmes and therefore we are to stand in great feare and dread of such pleasures as these for exceeding forcible they be and most powerfull as those who stay not there as those doe which affect either taste feeling or smelling to wit in the unreasonable part of the soule without passing any farther but they reach unto the very judgement and discourse of reason moreover in other delights and pleasures although reason should faile and not be able to withstand them but give over in plaine field yet there be other passions a good many which will resist and impeach them for say there be some daintie and delicate fish to be bought and sold in the market nigardise oftentimes holdeth backe a gluttons fingers from drawing out his purse-strings who otherwise would bee busie and readie enough to helpe his deintie tooth covetousnesse likewise otherwhiles turneth away a wanton leacher and whoremaster from medling with a deare costly courtisane who holdes her-selfe at an exceeding high price like as Menander in one of his comedies bringeth in a pretie pageant of this matter for when as certeine baud had brought unto a banquet where divers youthes were drinking and making merrie together a passing faire wench yoong withall and trimly set out in every point for to entice and allure them they Cast downe their heads and like good merry mates Fell to their junkets hard and deinty cates For when it stands upon this point that a man must take up money at interest or els goe without his pleasure certes it is a shrewd punishment to bridle his lust and incontinence for wee are not alwaies so willing and ready to lay our hand to our purses now the eies and eares of such as love musicians and ministrels and other such gentleman-like sports and recreations as we call them satisfie their furious appetites affections in sounding musick plaies shewes for nothing and without any cost for why such pleasures as these they may be sped with and enjoy in many places at the publicke and sacred games of prize in theaters and at feasts and all at other mens charges and therefore an easie matter it is to meet with matter enough for to spoile and undoe them quite who have not reason to governe and direct them Heereat hee made a pause and so there was some silence for a while And what would you have quoth Callistratus this reason either to doe or say for to succour and save us for she will not fasten round about our eares those little cases or bolsters to cover our eares with which Xenocrates speaketh of neither wil she cause us to rise from the table so soone as we heare a musician to tune his lute or prepare his pipe No in truth quoth Lamprias but looke how often soever as wee fall into the danger of these pleasures we ought to call upon the muses for to succour us we must flie into that mountaine Helicon of our auncients for such an one as is enamoured upon a sumptuous and costly strumpet we cannot tell how to match by and by with a Penelope nor marrie unto Panthea but if one take pleasure in bawdy ballades lascivious songs and wanton daunces we may soone divert him from thence by setting him to reade Euripides Pindarus or Menander and so wash a filthie eare and furred all over with salt as Plato saith with a sweet and potable lotion of good sayings and wise sentences for like as magicians commaund those who are possessed or haunted with evill spirits to rehearse and pronounce apart by themselves Ephesian letters or words for a counter-charme even so when we are among these vanities where minstrels play their parts and moriske dauncers their may-games fetching their frisks and gambols Shaking themselves in furious wise With strange allarmes and hideous cries Wagging and flinging every way Their necks and heads all while they play Let us then call to remembrance the grave holy and venerable writings of those ancient Sages and conferring them with these sottish sonets ribaud rimes paltrie poemes and ridiculous reasons we shall not be endangered by them nor turne side as they say and suffer our selves to be carried away with them downe the streame THE SIXTH QUESTION Of such guests as be named shadowes and whether he that is called by one may go unto another to supper if he may when and to whom HOmer in the second booke of his Ilias writeth of Menelaus how he came of his owne accord unbidden to a feast that his brother Agamemnon made unto the princes and chiefe commanders of the armie For why he well conceived in his minde That troubled much his brother he should finde And as he would not neglect and oversee thus much that either the ignorance or forgetfulnesse in his brother should be otherwise seene so he was lesse willing to discover it himselfe in failing for to come as some froward and peevish persons are woont to take holde of such oversights and negligences of their friends being better content in their hearts thus to be neglected than honoured because they would have advantage and somewhat to complaine of But as touching such as are not invited at all to a feast nor have no formall bidding whom now adaies we call shadowes and yet are brought in by those who were invited there arose one day a question how this custome first came up and tooke beginning Some were of opinion that Socrates began it who perswaded Aristodemus upon a time being not bidden to goe with him to a feast at Agathons house where there fell out a pretie jest and a ridiculous for Aristodenius tooke no heed when he thither came that he had left Socrates by the way behinde him and so himselfe entred before into the roome which is as much as the shadow before the bodie and the light comming after but afterwards at the feasting and enterteinment of friends that are travellers and passe by as strangers especially if they were princes or great governours because men knew not who were in their traine and whom they deigned this honour for to sit at their owne table and to eat and drinke with them the custome was to request themselves for to bring with them whom they would but withall to set downe a determinate number for feare lest they should be so served as one was who invited to a supper Philip king of Macedonie into the countrey for he came unto his hoasts house with a great retinew after him who had not provided a supper for many guests Philip perceiving that his friend was hereupon in great perplexitie and knew not what to doe sent unto every one of his friends that he brought with him a servitour of purpose to round them secretly in the eare that they should so eat of the viands before them as that they reserved a piece of their stomacke for a daintie tart or cate that was
and daintie feeding which without any just or lawfull cause troubleth disquieteth the seas and descendeth into the very bottome of the deepe for we have no reason at any time to call the red sea-barbell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say corne devourer nor the guilt-head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say vine waster or grape eater nor yet any mullets lubins or sea-pikes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say seed gatherers as we name divers land beasts noting them thereby for the harme and annoiance they doe unto us neither can we impute unto the greatest fish in the sea the least wrong or shrewd turne wherewith wee charge in our exceeding neerenesse and parsimonie some cat or wezill a mouse or rat which haunt our houses in which regard they precisely contemning themselves not for feare of law onely to doe wrong unto men but also by the very instinct of nature to offer no injurie unto any thing in the world that doth them no harme nor displeasure used to feed on fish lesse than on any other meat admit there were no injustice in the thing all busie curiositie of men in this point being so needlesse as it is bewraieth great intemperance and wastfull gluttony and therefore Homer in his poeme deviseth this that not onely the Greeks encamping upon the streight of Hellespont absteined wholy from eating fish but also that the delicate and daintie toothed Phaeacians the wanton and licorous woers likewise of lady Penelope dissolute though they were otherwise and all islanders were never served at their tables with any viands or cates from the sea no nor the companions of Ulysses in that grear and long voiage of theirs which they had at sea ever laid hooke leape or wee le or cast net into the sea for fish so long as they had a bit of bread or handfull of meale left But when their ship had vittailes none But all therein was spent and gone even a little before that they laid hands upon the kowes of the sunne then began they to fish not iwis for any deintie dishes but even for necessary food With bended hookes for now their maw Great hunger bit and guts did gnaw So that for extreme need they were forced to eat fish and to kill the sunnes kine whereby wee may perceive that it was a point of sanctimonie and chastitie not onely among the Aegyptians and Syrians but the Greeks also to forbeare feeding upon fish for that beside the injustice of the thing they abhorred as I thinke the superfluous curiositie of such food Heereupon Nestor tooke occasion to speake And why quoth he is there no reckoning made of my countrey-men and fellow-citizens no more than of the Megarians and yet you have heard me to say often times that the priests of Neptune whom we call Hieromnemones never eat fish for this god is surnamed Phytalmios that is to say the President of breeding and generation in the sea and the race descending from that ancient Hellen sacrificed unto Neptune by the name and addition of Patrogeneios that is to say the stock-father and principall Progenitour being of opinion that man came of a moist and liquid substance as also be the Syrians which is the very cause that they worship and adore a fish as being of the same kinde generation and nouriture with themselves philosophizing and arguing in this point with more apparence and shew of reason than Anaximander did who affirmed not that men and fishes were bred both in the same places but avouched that men were first engendred within fishes themselves and there nourished like their yoong frie but afterward when they became sufficient and able to shift and helpe them they were cast foorth and so tooke land like as therefore the fire eateth the wood whereby it was kindled and set a burning though it were father and mother both unto it according as he said who inserted the marriage of Ceyx among the works of Hesiodus even so Anaximander in pronouncing that fish was both father and mother unto men taxeth and condemneth the feeding thereupon THE NINTH QUESTION Whether it be possible that new diseases may be engendred by our meats PHilo the physician constantly affirmed that the leprosie called Elephantiasis was a disease not knowen long since for that none of the ancient physicians made any mention of this maladie whereas they travelled and busied their braines to treat of other small trifling matters I wot not what and yet such subtilties as the common sort could hardly comprehend But I produced and alledged unto him for a witnesse out of philosophie Athenodorus who in the first booke of his Epidemiall or popular diseases writeth that not onely the said leprosie but also Hydrophobie that is to say the feare of water occasioned by the biting of a mad dogge were first discovered in the daies of Asclepiades now as the companie there present marvelled that these maladies should newly then begin and take their consistence in nature so they wondered as much on the other side how so great and grievous diseases could be hidden so long and unknowen to men howbeit the greater part inclined rather to this second later opinion as being more respective and favourable to man for that they could not be perswaded that nature in such cases should in mans bodie as it were in some citie studie novelties and be evermore inventing and working new matters As for Diogenianus he said that the passions and maladies of the soule held on their common course and went the accustomed way still of their predecessours And yet quoth he wickednesse is very manifold in sundry sorts and exceeding audacious to enterprise any thing and the mind is a mistresse of herselfe and at her owne command having puissance to turne and change easily as she thinketh good and yet that disordinate confusion of hers hath some order in it keeping a measure in her passions and conteining herselfe within certeine bounds like as the sea in the flowings and tides in such sort as that she bringeth forth no new kinde of vice such as hath not bene knowen unto those in olde time and of which they have not written for there being many different sorts of lusts and desires infinite motions of feare as many kinds of paine and no fewer formes of pleasure which would require great labour to reckon up and not to give over These neither now nor yesterday Began but all have liveday And no man knowes nor can say well Since when they first to men befell nor yet whereupon any new maladie or moderne passion hath arisen in our body considering it hath not of it selfe the beginning of motion properly as the soule hath but is knit and conjoined with nature by common causes and composed with a certeine temperature the infinite varietie whereof wandereth notwithstanding within the pourprise of set bounds and limits like unto a vessell which lying at anchor in the sea neverthelesse doth wave and
a little troubled at this chalenge but after he had paused and thought upon the matter a while in the end he spake to this effect It is an ordinary thing quoth he with Plato to play with us many times merrily by certeine devised names that hee useth but whensoever hee inserteth some fable in any treatise of the soule he doth it right soberly and hath a deepe meaning and profound sense therein for the intelligent nature of heaven he calleth a Chariot volant to wit the harmonicall motion and revolution of the world and heere in this place whereof we are now in question to wit in the end of the tenth booke of his Common-wealth he bringeth in a messenger from hell to relate newes of that which he had there himselfe seene and calleth him by the name of Era a Pamphylian borne and the sonne of Armonius giving us covertly by an aenigmaticall conveiance thus much to understand That our soules are engendred by harmonie and so joined to our bodies but when they be disjoined and separate from them they runne together all into aire from every side and so returne againe from thence unto second generations what should hinder then but this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was put downe by him not to shew a truth whereof he spake but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a probable speech and conjecturall fiction or else a thing spoken as it should seeme to a dead bodie and so uttered vainly and at a venture in the aire for Plato alwaies toucheth three causes as being the philosopher who either first knew or principally understood how fatall destiny is mingled with fortune and againe how our freewill is woont to bee joined with either of them or is complicate with both and now in this place before cited hee sheweth excellently well what power each of these causes hath in our humane affaires attributing the choice and election of our life unto free will for vertue and vice be free and at the commaund of no lord and tying to the necessitie of fatall destinie a religious life to God-ward in them who have made a good choise and contrariwise in those who have made a choise of the woorst but the cadences or chaunces of lots which being cast at a venture and lighting heere and there without order befall to every one of us bring in fortune and preoccupate or prevent much of that which is ours by the sundry educations or governments of common-weale wherein it hapneth each of us to live for this I would have every one of you to consider whether it bee not meere folly and without all reason to seeke for a cause of that which is done by fortune and casually for if lot should seeme to come by reason there were to be imputed no more to fortune or adventure but all to some fatall destinie or providence Whiles Lamprias delivered this speech Marcus the Grammarian seemed to count and number I wot not what upon his fingers to himselfe apart but when he had made an end the said Marcus named aloud all those soules or spirits which are called out in Homers Necya Among which quoth he the ghost onely of Elpenor wandering still in the middle confines is not reckoned with those beneath in another world for that his bodie as yet is not interred and committed to the earth as for the soule of Tiresias also it seemeth not to bee numbred with the rest To whom now dead Proserpina above the rest did give This gift alone right wise to be although he did not live as also the power to speake with the living and to understand their state and affaires even before he had drunke the bloud of sacrificed beasts If then quoth hee ô Lamprias you subtract these two and count the rest you shall finde that the soule of Ajax was just the twentieth of those which presented themselves to Ulysses and heereto alluded Plato as it should seeme by way of mirth joining his fable together with that evocation of spirits otherwise called Necyra in Homers Odyssea THE SIXTH QUESTION What is covertly meant by the fable wherein Neptune is feigned to have beene vanquished as also why the Athenians take out the second day of the moneth August NOw when the whole company were growen to a certeine uprore Menephyllus a Peripateticke philosopher calling unto Hylas by name You see quoth he now that this question was not propounded by way of mockerie and contumelious flouting but you my good friend leaving this froward and mal-contented Ajax whose name as Sophocles saith is ominous and of ill presage betake your selfe unto Neptune and side with him a while who is wont to recount unto us himselfe how he hath beene oftentimes overcome to wit in this city by Minerva at Delphi by Apollo in Argos by Juno in Aegina by Jupiter and in Naxus by Bacchus and yet in all his repulses disfavors and infortunities he bare himselfe alwaies mild and gentle carying no ranckor or malice in his heart for proofe heereof there is even in this city a temple common to him and Minerva in which there standeth also an altar dedicated to Oblivion Then Hylas who seemed by this time more pleasantly disposed But you have forgotten quoth he ô Menephyllus that we have abolished the second day of the moneth August not in regard of the moone but because it was thought to be the day upon which Neptune and Minerva pleaded for the scignorie of this territorie of Attica Now I assure you quoth Lamprias Neptune was every way much more civill and reasonable than Thrasibulus in case being not a winner as the other but a loser he could forget all grudge and malice A great breach and defect there is in the Greeke originall wherein wanteth the farther handling of this question as also 5. questions entier following and a part of the 6. to wit 7 Why the accords in musicke are devided into three 8 Wherein differ the intervals or spaces melodious from those that be accordant 9 What cause is it that maketh accord and what is the reason that when one toucheth two strings accordant together the melody is ascribed to the base 10 What is the cause that the eclipticke revolutions of sunne and moone being in number equall yet we see the moone oftner ecclipsed than the sunne 11 That we continue not alwaies one and the same in regard of the daily deflux of our substance 12 Whether of the twaine is more probable that the number of starres is even or odde Of this twelfth question thus much remaineth as followeth Lysander was wont to say That children are to be deceived with cockall bones but men with othes Then Glaucias I have heard quoth he that this speech was used against Polycrates the tyrant but it may be that it was spoken also to others But whereby do you demaund this of me Because verily quoth Sospis I see that children snatch at such bones the Academiques catch at words for it
division of the earth 15 The zones or climates of the earth how many and how great they be 16 Of earth quakes 17 Of the sea how it is concret and how it comes to be bitter 18 How come the tides that is to say the ebbing and flowing of the seas 19 Of the circle called Halo Chapters of the fourth Booke 1 Of the rising of Nilus 2 Of the soule 3 Whether the soule be corporall and what is her substance 4 The parts of the soule 5 Which is the mistresse or principall part of the soule and wherein it doth consist 6 Of the soules motion 7 Of the soules immortalitie 8 Of the senses and sensible things 9 Whether the senses and imaginations be true 10 How many senses there be 11 How sense and notion is performed as also how reason is ingendred according to disposition 12 What difference there is betweene imagination imaginable and imagined 13 Of sight and how we doe see 14 Of the reflexions or resemblances in mirrors 15 Whether darknesse be visible 16 Of hearing 17 Of smelling 18 Of tasting 19 Of the voice 20 Whether the voice be incorporall and how commeth the resonance called eccho 21 How it is that the soule hath sense and what is the principal predomināt part therof 22 Of respiration 23 Of the passions of the body and whether the soule have a fellow-feeling with it of paine Chapters of the fift Booke 1 Of divination or 〈◊〉 of future things 2 How dreames 〈◊〉 3 What is the substance of naturall seed 4 Whether naturall seed be a body 5 Whether femals as well as males doe yeeld naturall seed 6 After what maner conceptions are 7 How males and females are engendred 8 How monsters are ingendred 9 What is the reason that a woman accompanying often times carnally with a man doth not 〈◊〉 10 How twinnes both two and three at once be occasioned 11 How commeth the resemblance of parents 12 What is the cause that infants be like to some other and not to the parents 13 How women proove barren and men unable to ingender 14 What is the reason that mules be barren 15 Whether the fruit within the wombe is to be accounted a living creature or no. 16 How such fruits be nourished within the wombe 17 What part is first accomplished in the wombe 18 How it commeth to passe that infants borne at seven moneths end doe live and are livelike 19 Of the generation of living creatures how they be ingendred and whether they be corruptible 20 How many kindes there be of living creatures whether they all have sense and use of reason 21 In what time living creatures receive forme within the mothers wombe 22 Of what elements is every generall part in us composed 23 How commeth sleepe and death whether it is of soule or bodie 24 When and how a man beginneth to come unto his perfection 25 Whether it is soule or bodie that either sleepeth or dieth 26 How plants come to grow and whether they be living creatures 27 Of nourishment and growth 28 From whence proceed appetites lusts and pleasures in living creatures 29 How the feaver is ingendred and whether it be an accessarie or symptome to another disease 30 Of health sicknesse and olde age THE FIRST BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme BEing minded to write of naturall philosophie we thinke it necessary in the first place and before all things els to set downe the whole disputation of Philosophie by way of division to the end that we may know which is naturall and what part it is of the whole Now the Stoicks say that sapience or wisdom is the science of all things aswell divine as humane and that Philosophie is the profession and exercise of the art expedient thereto which is the onely supreame and sovereigne vertue and the same divided into three most generall vertues to wit Naturall Morall and Verball by reason whereof Philosophie also admitteth a three-folde distribution to wit into Naturall Morall Rationall or Verball the Naturall part is that when as we enquire and dispute of the world and the things conteined therein Morall is occupied in intreating of the good and ill that concerneth mans life Rationall or Verball handleth that which perteineth unto the discourse of reason and to speech which also is named Logique or Dialelectique that is to say Disputative But Aristotle and Theophrastus with the Peripateticks in maner all divide Philosophie in this maner namely into Contemplative and Active For necessarie it is say they that a man to atteine unto perfection should be a spectatour of all things that are and an actour of such things as be seemely and decent and may the better be understood by these examples The question is demanded whether the Sunne be a living creature according as it seemeth to the sight to be or no He that searcheth and enquireth into the trueth of this question is altogether therein speculative for he seeketh no farther than the contemplation of that which is semblably if the demand be made whether the world is infinit or if there be any thing without the pourprise of the world for all these questions be meere contemplative But on the other side mooved it may be How a man ought to live how he should governe his children how he is to beare rule and office of State and lastly in what maner lawes are to be ordeined and made for all these are sought into in regard of action and a man conversant therein is altogether active and practique CHAP. I. What is Nature SInce then our intent and purpose is to consider and treat of Naturall philosophie I thinke it needfull to shew first what is Nature for absurd it were to enterprise a discourse of Naturall things and meane-while to be ignorant of Nature and the power thereof Nature then according to the opinion of Aristotle is the beginning of motion and rest in that thing wherein it is properly and principally not by accident for all things to be seene which are done neither by fortune nor by necessitie and are not divine nor have any such efficient cause be called Naturall as having a proper and peculiar nature of their owne as the earth fire water aire plants and living creatures Moreover those other things which we do see ordinarily engendered as raine haile lightning presteres winds and such like for all these have a certeine beginning and every one of them was not so for ever and from all eternitie but did proceed from some originall likewise living creatures and plants have a beginning of their motion and this first principle is Nature the beginning not of motion onely but also of rest and quiet for whatsoever hath had a beginning of motion the same also may have an end and for this cause Nature is the beginning aswell of rest as of moving CHAP. II. What difference there is betweene a principle and an element ARistotle and Plato are of opinion that there is a
likewise corruptible and wil perish but so it is that it hath no need of nouriture and so by consequence it is eternall PLATO is of opinion that the world yeeldeth unto it selfe nouriture of that which perisheth by way of mutation PHILOLAUS affirmeth that there is a two-folde corruption one while by fire falling from heaven and another while by water of the moone powred 〈◊〉 by the 〈◊〉 and turning about of the aire the exhalations whereof become the food of the world CHAP. VI. At which element began God the fabricke of the world THe Naturalists doe holde that the creation of the world began at earth as the very center thereof for that the beginning of a sphaere or ball is the center PYTHAGORAS saith that it began at fire and the fifth element EMPEDOCLES saith that the first thing separate apart was the skie or fifth essence called Aether the second Fire after which the Earth of which being thrust close and pressed together by the violence of revolution sprang Water from which Aire did evaporate also that heaven was made of that Skie or Quintessence the sunne of Fire and of the other elements were constipate and felted as it were terrestriall bodies and such as be neere the earth PLATO is of opinion that this visible world was formed to the molde and pattern of the intellectuall that of the visible world the soule was first made and after it that which is corpulent that of the fire and earth first that which standeth of water and aire second PYTHAGORAS affirmed that of the five solid bodies which are also called Mathematicall the Cube that is to say asquare bodie with sixe faces went to the making of the earth of the pointed Pyramis was made fire of Octoedra or solide bodie with eight bases the earth of Icosiedra with twentie sides the water of Dodecaedra with twelve faces the supreame sphaere of the universall world and himselfe herein also doth Pythagorize CHAP. VII Of the order of the worlds fabricke PARMENIDES imagineth certeine coronets as it were enterlaced one within another some of a rare substance others of a thicke and the same mixed of light and darknesse betweene also that the bodie which conteined them all together was as firme and solid as a wall LEUCIPPUS and DEMOCRIRUS enwrapped the world round about with a tunicle or membrane EPICURUS held that the extremitie of some worlds were rare of others thicke and that of them some were moveable others immoveable PLATO setteth downe Fire first secondly the Skie then Aire afterwards Water and last of all Earth but otherwhiles he conjoineth the Skie unto Fire ARISTOTLE rangeth in the first place the impassible Aire which is a certeine fifth bodie and after it the Elements passible to wit Fire Aire Water and Earth the last of all which unto the celestial bodies he attributeth a circular motion and of the others situate beneath them unto the lighter kinde the ascent or rising upward unto the weightier descent or setling downward EMPEDOCLES is of opinion that the places of the elements are not alwaies steadie and certeine but that they all interchange mutually one with another CHAP. VIII What is the cause that the world bendeth or copeth forward DIOGENES and ANAXAGORAS affirme that after the world was made and that living creatures were produced out of the earth the world bowed I wot not how of it selfe and of the owne accord to the Southerne or Meridionall part thereof haply by the divine providence so ordering all that some parts of the world should be habitable others inhabitable according to excessive colde extreame heat and a meane temperature of both EMPEDOCLES saith that by reason that the aire gave place to the violence of the Sunne the two Beares or Poles bended and inclined as for those parts which were northerly they were elevated and mounted aloft but the southerne coasts were depressed and debased as much and so accordingly the whole world CHAP. IX Whether without the world there be any vacuitie THe schoole of Pythagoras holden that there is a voidnesse without the world to which and out of which the world doth draw breath but the STOICKS affirme that into it the infinite world by way of conflagration is resolved POSIDONIUS admitteth no other infinitie than as much as is sufficient for the dissolution thereof In the first booke of vacuitie ARISTOTLE saith there is voidnesse PLATO affirmeth that there is no emptinesse at all either without or within the world CHAP. X. What be the right sides and which be the left in regard of the world PYTHAGORAS PLATO and ARISTOTLE do take the East for the right part and the West for the left EMPEDOCLES saith that the right side bendeth toward the summers Tropick and the left toward the Tropick of winter CHAP. XI Of Heaven and what is the substance thereof ANAXIMENES affirmeth the exterior circumference of Heaven to be earthy EMPEDOCLES saith that Heaven is solid being made of aire condensate by fire after the manner of chrystall and that it conteineth the fierie and airie nature in the one and the other hemisphaere ARISTOTLE holdeth that Heaven is composed of the fifth body above fire or else of the mixture of heat and cold CHAP. XII Of the division of Heaven and namely into how many Circles it is divided THALES and PYTHAGORAS with his followers doe say that the sphaere of the whole Heaven is parted into five circles which they call certeine Zones cinctures or girdles of which circles one is called the Arctick and is alwaies to bee seene of us a second the summer Tropick a third Aequinoctiall the fourth winter Tropick and the fifth the Antartick circle which is evermore unseene as atouching the oblique or crooked circle called the Zodiacke which lieth under the other three middle circles above named it toucheth them all three as it passeth and every of them are cut in right angles by the Meridian which goeth from pole to pole PYTHAGORAS was the first men say that observed the obliquity of the Zodiack which invention neverthelesse Oenopides the Chian ascribeth to himselfe as if he were the authour of it CHAP. XIII What is the substance of the Starres and how they were made and composed THALES affirmeth them to be terrestriall and nathlesse fierie and ardent EMPEDOCLES holdeth them to be enflamed by that fire which the skie conteining within it selfe did violently strike and send foorth at the first excretion ANAXAGORAS saith that the sky which environeth is indeed of the owne essence of a fiery nature but by the violent revolution of it selfe snatcheth up stones from the earth and setting them on 〈◊〉 they become Starres DIOGENES thinketh that Starres be of the substance of a pumish stone as be being the breathing holes of the world and againe the same philosopher saith that they bee certeine blinde-stones not apparent howbeit falling often to the earth are there quenched as it hapneth in a place called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to
named Florentia her Calphurnius a Romane deflowred whereupon he commaunded the yoong maid-childe which she bare to be cast into the sea but the souldiour who had the charge so to doe tooke compassion of her and chose rather to sell her unto a merchant and it fortuned so that the ship of a certeine merchant arrived in Italy where Calphurinus bought her and of her body begat Contruscus 28 Aeolus king of Tuskan had by his wife Amphithea six daughters and as many sonnes of whom Macareus the yoongest for very love defloured one of his sisters who when the time came brought foorth a child when this came once to light her father sent unto her a sword and she acknowledging the fault which she had committed killed her-selfe therewith and so did afterwards her brother Macareus as Sostratus reporteth in the second booke of the Tuscan storie Papyrius Volucer having espoused Julia Pulchra had by her six daughters and as many sonnes the eldest of whom named Papyrius Romanus was enamoured of Canulia one of his sisters so as she was by him with childe which when the father understood hee sent unto her likewise a sword wherewith she made away her-selfe and Romanus also did as much thus Chrisippus relateth in the first booke of the Italian Chronicles 29 Aristonymus the Ephesian sonne of Demostratus hated women but most unnaturally he had to doe with a she asse which when time came brought foorth a most beautifull maide childe surnamed Onoscelis as Aristotle writeth in the second booke of his Paradoxes or strange accidents Fulvius Stellus was at warre with all women but yet he dealt most beastly with a mare and she bare unto him after a time a faire daughter named Hippona and this is the goddesse forsooth that hath the charge and overseeing of horses and mares as Agesilaus hath set downe in the third booke of Italian affaires 30 The Sardians warred upon a time against the Smyrneans encamped before the walles of their city giving them to understand by their embassadors that raise their siege they would not unlesse they sent unto them their wives to lie withall the Smyrneans being driven to this extremity were at the point to doe that which the enemies demaunded of them but a certeine waiting maiden there was a faire and welfavoured damosell who ranne unto her master Philarchus and said unto him that he must not faile but in any case chuse out the fairest wenches that were maide-servants in all the citie to dresse them like unto citizens wives and free borne women and so to send them unto their enemies in stead of their mistresses which was effected accordingly and when the Sardians were wearied with dealing with these wenehes the Smyrneans issued foorth surprized and spoiled them whereupon it commeth that even at this day in the citie of Smyrna there is a solemne feast named Eleutheria upon which day the maide-servants weare the apparell of their mistresses which be free women as saith Dositheus in the third booke of Lydian chronicles Antepomarus king of the Gaules when he made warre upon the Romans gave it out flatly and said that he would never dislodge and breake up his campe before they sent unto them their wives for to have their pleasure of them but they by the counsell of a certeine chamber maide sent unto them their maid-servants the Barbarians medled so long with them that they were tired and fell sound asleepe in the end then Rhetana for that was her name who gave the said counsell tooke a branch of a wilde figge tree and mounting up to the toppe of a rampier wall gave a signall thereby to the Consuls who sallied foorth and defeated them whereupon there is a feastivall day of chambermaids for so saith Aristides the Milesian in the first booke of the Italian historie 31 When the Athenians made warre upon Eumolpus and were at some default of victuals Pyrander who had the charge of the munition was treasurer of the State for to make spare of the provision diminished the ordinary measure and cut men short of their allowances the inhabitants suspecting him to be a traitor to his country in so dooing stoned him to death as Callistratus testifieth in the third booke of the Thracian history The Romans warring upon the Gaules and having not sufficient store of victuals Cinna abridged the people of their ordinary measure of corne the Romans suspecting therupon that he made way thereby to be king stoned him likewise to death witnesse Aristides in his third booke of Italian histories 32 During the Peloponnesiack warre Pisistratus the Orchomenian hated the nobles and affected men of base and low degree whereupon the Senators complotted and resolved among them selves to kill him in the Counsell house where they cut him in pieces and every one put a gobbet of him in his bosome and when they had so done they scraped and clensed the floore where his blood was shed The common people having some suspition of the matter rushed into the Senat house but Tlesimachus the kings youngest sonne who was privy to the foresaid conspiracie withdrew the multitude from the common place of assembly and assured them that he saw his father Pisistratus carying a more stately majesty in his countenance than any mortal man ascending up with great celerity the top of mount Pisaeus as Theophilus recordeth in the second of his Peloponnesiackes In regard of the warrs so neere unto the city of Rome the Roman Senat cut the people short of their allowances in corne whereat Romulus being not well pleased allowed it them a gaine rebuked yea and chastised many of the great men who thereupon banded against him and in the middest of the Senat house made him away among them cut him in pieces and bestowed on every man a slice of him in his bosome Whereupon the people ran immediatly with fire in their hands to the Senat house minding to burne them all within but Proculus a noble man of the city assured them that he saw Romulus upon a certeine high mountaine and that he was bigger than any man living and become a very god The Romans beleeved his words such authority the man caried with him and so retired back as Aristobulus writeth in the third booke of his Italian Chronicles 33 Pelops the sonne of Tantalus and Eurianassa wedded Hippodamia who bare unto him Atreus and Thyestes but of the Nimph Danais a concubine he begat Chrysippus whom he loved better than any of his legitimate sonnes him Laius the Theban being inamoured stole away by force and being attached and intercepted by Atreus and Thyestes obteined the good grace and favour of Pelops to enjoy him for his love sake Howbeit Hippodamia perswaded her two sonnes Atreus and Thyestes to kill him as if she knew that he aspired to the kingdome of their father which they refusing to doe she her selfe imploied her owne hands to perpetrate this detestable fact for one night as Layus lay sound asleepe she
honoured and worshipped among the Samnites His wife Fabta had committed adulterie with a faire and well favoured yoong man named Petronius Valentinus and afterwards treacherously killed her husband Now had Fabia his daughter saved her brother Fabricianus being a verie little one out of danger and sent him away secretly to be nourished and brought up This youth when he came to age killed both his mother and the adulterer also for which act ofhis acquit he was by the doome of the Senate as Dositheus delivereth the storie in the third booke of the Italian Chronicles 38 Busiris the sonne of Neptune and Anippe daughter of Nilus under the colour of pretended hospitalitie and courteous receiving of strangers used to sacrifice all passengers but divine justice met with him in the end and revenged their death for Hercules set upon him and killed him with his club as Agathon the Samian hath written Hercules as he drave before him thorow Italy Geryons kine was lodged by king Faunus the sonne of Mercurie who used to sacrifice all strangers and guests to his father but when hee meant to do so unto Hercules was himselfe by him slaine as writeth Dercyllus in the third booke of the Italian histories 39 Phalaris the tyrant of the Agrigentines a mercilesse prince was wont to torment put to exquisite paine such as passed by or came unto him and Perillus who by his profession was a skilfull brasse-founder had framed an heyfer of brasse which he gave unto this king that hee might burne quicke in it the said strangers And verily in this one thing did this tyrant shew himselfe just for that he caused the artificer himself to be put into it and the said heyfer seemed to low whiles he was burning within as it is written in the third booke of Causes In Aegesta a citie of Sicilie there was sometime a cruell tyrant named Aemilius Censorinus whose manner was to reward with rich gifts those who could invent new kinds of engines to put men to torture so there was one named Aruntius Paterculus who had devised and forged a brasen horse and presented it unto the foresaid tyrant that he might put into it whom he would And in truth the first act of justice that ever he did was this that the partie himselfe even the maker of it gave the first hansell thereof that he might make triall of that torment himselfe which he had devised for others Him also hee apprehended afterwards and caused to bee throwen downe headlong from the hill Tarpeius It should seeme also that such princes as reigned with violence were called of him Aemylii for so Aristides reporteth in the fourth booke of Italian Chronicles 40 Euenus the son of Mars Sterope tooke to wife Alcippe daughter of Oenomaus who bare unto him a daughter named Marpissa whom he minded to keepe a virgin still but Aphareus seeing her carried her away from a daunce and fled upon it The father made suce after but not able to recover her for verie anguish of mind he cast himselfe into the river of Lycormas and thereby was immortalized as saith Dositheus in the fourth booke of his Italian historie Anius king of the Tuskans having a faire daughter named Salia looked straightly unto her that she should continue a maiden but Cathetus one of his nobles seeing this damosell upon a time as she disported herselfe was enamoured of her and not able to suppresse the furious passion of his love ravished her and brought her to Rome The father pursued after but seeing that he could not overtake them threw himselfe into the river called in those daies Pareüsuis and afterwards of his name Anio Now the said Cathetus lay with Salia and of her bodie begat Salius and Latinus from whom are discended the noblest families of that countrey as Aristides the Milesian and Alexander Polyhistor write in the third booke of the Italian historie 41 Egestratus an Ephesian borne having murdered one of his kinfmen fled into the citie Delphi and demaunded of Apollo in what place he should dwell who made him this answere that he was to inhabit there whereas he saw the peasants of the countrey dauncing and crowned with chaplets of olive branches Being arrived therefore at a certaine place in Asia where he found the rurall people crowned with garlands of olive leaves and dauncing even there hee founded a citie which he called Elaeus as Pythocles the Samian writeth in the third booke of his Georgicks Telegonus the sonne of Vlysses by Circe being sent for to seeke his father was advised by the oracle to build a citie there where he should find the rusticall people and husbandmen of the countrey crowned with chaplets and dauncing together when he was arrived therefore at a certaine coast of Italie seeing the peasants adorned with boughes branches of the wild olive tree passing the time merily and dauncing together he built a citie which upon that occurrent he named Prinesta and afterwards the Romans altering the letters a little called it Preneste as Aristotle hath written in the third booke of the Italian historie THE LIVES OF THE TEN ORATOVRS The Summarie IN these lives compendiously descibed Plutarch sheweth in part the government of the Athenian common-weale which flourished by the meanes of many learned persons in the number of whom we are to reckon those under written namely Antipho Andocides Lysias Isocrates Isaeus Aeschines Lycurgus Demosthenes Hyperides and Dinarchus but on the other side he discovereth sufficiently the indiscretion of cretaine oratours how it hath engendred much confusion ruined the most part of such personages themselves and finally overthrowen the publick estate which he seemeth expresly to have noted and observed to the end that every one might see how dangerous in the managemēt of State affaires he is who hath no good parts in him but onely a fine and nimble tongue His meaning therefore is that lively vertue indeed should be joined unto eloquence meane while we observe also the lightnesse vanitie and ingratitude of the Athenian people in many places and in the divers complexions of these ten men here depainted evident it is how much availeth in any person good in struction from his infancie and how powerfull good teachers be for to frame and fashion tender minds unto high matters and important to the weale publicke In perusing and passing through this treatise a man may take knowledge of many points of the ancient popular government which serve verie well to the better understanding of the Greeke historie and namely of that which concerneth Athens As also by the recompenses both demanded and also decreed in the behalfe of vertuous men we may perceive and see among the imperfections of a people which had the soveraigntie in their hands some moderation from time to time which ought to make us magnifie the wisedome and providence of God who amid so great darkneffe hath maintained so long as his good pleasure was so many States and governours in Greece which
Afterwards the said Caeranus himselfe died and when his kinsfolke friends burned his corps nere to the sea side in a funerall fire many dolphins were discovered along the coast hard by the shore shewing as it were themselves how they were come to honour his obsequies for depart they would not before the whole solemnitie of this last dutie was performed That the scutchion or shield of Ulysses had for the badge or ensigne a dolphin Stesichorus hath testified but the occasion and cause thereof the Zacynthians report in this manner as Criteus the historian beareth witnesse Telemachus his sonne being yet an infant chanced to slip with his feet as men say to fall into a place of the sea where it was very deep but by the means of certaine dolphins who tooke him as he fell saved he was and carried out of the water whereupon his father in a thankfull regard and honour to this creature engraved within the collet of his signet wherewith hee sealed the portrait of a dolphin likewise carried it as his armes upon his shield But forasmuch as I protested in the beginning that I would relate to you no fables and yet I wot not how in speaking of dolphins I am carried farther than I was aware and fallen upon Ulysses and Caeranus somewhat beyond the bounds of likelihood and probabilitie I will set a fine upon mine owne head and even here for amends lay a straw and make an end You therefore my masters who are judges may when it pleaseth you proceed to your verdict SOCLARUS As for us we were of mind a good while since to say according to the sentence of Sophocles Your talke ere while which seem'd to disagre Will soone accord and joint-wise framed be for if you will both of you conferre your arguments proofes and reasons which you have alledged of the one side and the other and lay them all together in common betweene you it will be seene how mightily you shall confute and put downe those who would deprive bruit beasts of all understanding and discourse of reason WHETHER THE ATHENIANS WERE MORE RENOWMED FOR MARTIALL ARMES OR GOOD LETTERS The Summarie WE have here the fragments of a pleasant discourse written in the favour of Athenian warriours and great captaines which at this day hath neither beginning nor end and in the middle is altogether maimed and unperfect but that which the infortunitie of the times hath left unto us is such yet as thereout we may gather some good and the intention of Plutarch is therein sufficiently discovered unto us for he sheweth that the Atheutans were more famous and excellent in feats of armes than in the profession of learning Which position may seeme to be a strange paradox considering that Athens was reputed the habitation of the muses and if there were ever any brave historians singular poets and notable oratours in the world we are to looke for them in this citie Yet for all this he taketh upon him to proove that the prowesse of Athenian captaines was without all comparison more commendable and praisewoorthie than all the dexteritie of others who at their leasure have written in the shade and within house the occurrents and accidents of the times or exhibited pleasures and pastimes to the people upon the stage or scaffold And to effect this intended purpose of his be considereth in the first place historiographers and adjoineth thereto a briefe treatise of the art of painting and by comparison of two persons bringing newes of a field fought where of the one was onely a beholder and looker on the other an actor himselfe and a souldier fighting in the battell he sheweth that noble captaines ought to be preferred before historians who pen and set downe their desseignes and executions From history he passeth on to poesie both comicall and tragicall which he reproveth and debaseth notwithstanding the Athenians made exceeding account thereof giving to understand that their valor consisted rather in martiall exploits-In the last place he speaketh of oratours and by conference of their or ations and other reasons proveth that these great speakers deserve not that place as to have their words weighed in ballance against the deeds of many politike and valiant warriours WHETHER THE ATHENIANS were more renowmed for martiall armes or good letters WEll said this was in trueth of him unto those great captaines and commanders who succeeded him unto whom hee made way and gave entrance to the executions of those exploits which they performed afterwards when himselfe had to their hands chased out of Greece the barbarous king Xerxes and delivered the Greeks out of servitude but aswell may the same be said also to those who are proud of their learning and stand highly upon their erudition For if you take away men of action you shall be sure to have no writers of them take away the politike government of Pericles at home the navall victories and trophaes atchieved by Phormio neere the promontorie of Rhium the noble prowesses of Nicias about the isle Cythera as also before the cities of Corinth and Megara take away the sea-sight of Demosthenes before Pylos the foure hundred captives and prisoners of Cleon the worthy deeds of Tolmias who scowred all the coasts of Peloponnesus the brave acts of Myronides and the battell which he woon against the Boeotians in the place called Oenophyta and withall you blot out the whole historie of Thucydides take away the valiant service of Alcibtades shewed in Hellespont the rare manhood of Thrasylus neere unto the isle Lesbos the happie suppression and abolition of the tyrannicall oligarchie of the thirty usurpers by Theramenes take away the valourous endevours of Thrasybulus and Archippus to gether with the rare desseignes and enterprises executed by those seven hundred who from Phyla rose up in armes and were so hardie and resolute as to levie a power and wage warre against the lordly potentates of Sparta and last of all Conon who caused the Athenians to go to sea againe and maintaine the warres and therewithall take away Cratippus and all his Chronicles For as touching Xenophon he was the writer of his owne historie keeping a booke and commentarie of those occurrents and proceedings which passed under his happie conduct and direction and by report he gave it out in writing that Themistogenes the Syracusian composed the said narration of his acts to the end that Xenophon might win more credit and be the better beleeved writing as he did of himselfe as of a stranger and withall gratifying another man by that meanes with the honour of eloquence in digesting and penning the same All other historians besides as these Clinodemi and Diylli Philochorus and Philarchus may be counted as it were the actors of other mens plaies who setting downe the acts of kings princes and great captaines shrowded close under their memorials to the end that themselves might have some part with them of their light and splendor For surely there is a certaine
part of politike government like as Demades was woont to say That the dole of mony distributed by the poll to the citizens in the theaters for to see the plaies was the very glew of the popular State And tell me what conjunction is that which will make of many propositions one by couching and knitting them together as the marble doth unite the iron that is cast and melted with it by the fire and yet I trow no man will say that the marble for all that is part of the iron or so to be called Howbeit such things verily as enter into a composition and which be liquefied together with the drogues mingled therewith are wont after a sort to doe and suffer reciprocally from the ingredients But as for these conjunctions there be who deny that they doe unite any one thing saying That this maner of speaking with conjunctions is no other but a certeine enumeration as if a man should reckon in order all our magistrates or count the daies of a moneth Moreover of all other parts of speech it is very evident that the Pronoune is a kinde of Noune not onely in this respect that it is declmed with cases as the Noune is but also for that some of them being pronounced and uttered of things and persons determinate doe make a most proper demonstration of them accordant to their nature neither can I see how he who hath expresly named Socrates hath declared his person more than hee who said This man heere To come now unto that which they tearme a Participle surely it is a very medly and mixture of a Noune and a Verbe and not a part of speech subsisting alone of it selfe no more than those Nounes or names which are common to Masculine and Feminine and these Participles are raunged with them both with Nounes in respect of their cases and with Verbes in regard oftenses and verily the logicians call such tearmes reflected as for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say wiisely foreseeing is a reflexion of a wise foreseer and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say minding sobriety is a reflexion of a sober minded person that is to say as if they had the nature and power of Nounes and appellations As touching Prepositions a man may liken them very well to pennaches crests or such like ornaments above morions or head attires or else to bases predstals and footsteps under statues and pillers forasmuch as they are not so much parts of speech as busie and conversant about them but see I pray you whether they may not be compared to truncheons pieces and fragments of words like as those who when they write a running hand in haste doe not alwaies make out the letters full but use pricks minims and dashes For these two Verbes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be both of them manifest clippings of the full and compleat words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof the one signifieth to enter in the other to goe foorth Likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a plaine abbreviation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to be borne or have being before Also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to sit downe or cause one to sit downe Semblable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men are disposed to say for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to fling stones and to digge through walles when they are disposed to make haste to speake short And therefore a man may well say that every one of these excepting Noune and Verbe doe some good in our speech and helpe well in a sentence but for all that they cannot be called either elements of speech for there is none but the Noune and the Verbe as it hath beene said before that maketh this composition conteining verity and falsity which some tearme proposition others axiome and 〈◊〉 nameth speech or oration A COMMENTARIE OF THE CREATION OF THE SOULE WHICH PLATO DESCRIBETH IN HIS BOOKE TIM AE US The Summarie AMong those discourses which may exercise the wittes and busie the braines of most curious spirits those of Plato may be raunged which in divers places of his dialogues but especially in his Timaeus he hath delivered and namely where he treateth of nature metaphysically intermingling with a certeine deepe and profound maner of doctrine as a man may perceive by his writings his resolutions as I may say irresolute proceeding all from the ignorance of the sacred story and the true sense of Moyses As for example that which he saith as touching the soule of the world an absurd and fantasticall opinion if it be not handled and expounded aright Our authour being minded in this treatise to dispute philosophically upon the creation of the said soule runneth thorow numbers tones tunes and harmonies aswell terrestriall as celestiall for to declare the meaning of Plato but with such brevitie in many places that a man had need to reade with both his eies and to have his minde wholly intentive and amused upon his words for the under standing of him Meanewhile this would be considered seeing that in such matters we have God be thanked sufficient to resolve us in the word of God and the good books of the doctours of the church all this present discourse should be read as comming out of the hands of a man walking in darknesse and to speake in one word of one blinde himselfe and following a blinde guide to the end that in stead of highly admiring these subtilties of Plato as some in these daies doe whose heads are not staied and well setled we might know that the higher that man in his wisdome mounteth with his pen farre from Gods schoole the lesse he is to be received and accepted of A COMMENTARIE OF THE creation of the soule which Plato describeth in his booke Timaeus The father to his two sonnes AUTOBULUS and PLUTARCH Greeting FOrasmuch as ye are of this minde that whatsoever I have heere and there said and written in divers places by way of exposition touching that which I supposed in mine opinion Plato held thought and understood concerning the soule ought to be reduced brought together into one and that I should doe well to declare the same at large in a speciall 〈◊〉 apart by it selfe because it is not a matter which otherwise is easie to be handled and managed as also for that seeming as it doth somewhat contrary to most of the Platonique philosophers themselves in which regard it had need to be well mollified I will therefore in the first place set downe the very text of Plato in his owne proper tearmes word for word as I finde them written in his booke entituled Timaeus Of that indivisible substance which alwaies continueth about the same things as also of that which is divisible by many bodies he composed a third kinde of
it such was their deformity and inequality It appeareth plainly that he maketh these bodies in some sort to have a being and subsistence before the creation of the world Contrariwise when he saith that the body is yoonger than the soule and that the world was made and created in as much as the same is visible and palpable as having a body and that all things appeare so as they are when they were once made and created manifest it is and every man may see that he attributeth a kinde of nativity to the nature of the body and vet for all that farre is he off from being contradictory and repugnant to himselfe so notoriously and that in the most maine points For it is not the same body nor of the same sort which he saith was created by God and to have bene before it was for that were directly the case of some mount-banke or jugling enchanter but himselfe sheweth unto us what we are to understand by this generation or creation For before time quoth he all that is in the world was without order measure and proportion but after that the universall world began to be fashioned and brought into some decent forme whereas he found the fire first the water the earth and the 〈◊〉 pell mell in the same places and yet having some shew and token what they were but confusedly hudled every where as a man may well thinke that every thing must needs be so where God is absent in this case as they were then God I say finding them first brought the same into frame and fashion by the meanes of formes and numbers Furthermore having said before that it was the worke not of one onely proportion but of twaine to joine and frame together the fabricke of the world a solid masse as it was and carying a depth and thicknesse with it and declared moreover that God after he had bestowed water and aire betweene fire and earth conjoined withall and framed the heaven together with them Of these things quoth he such as they were and fower in number the body of the world was in engendred agreeable in proportion and entertaining amity by that meanes Insomuch as being once thus united and compact there is nothing that can make disunion or dissolution but he alone who first limited and brought all together teaching us hereby most plainely that God was the father and author not of the body simply nor of the frame fabricke and matter onely of the world but also of that proportion measure beauty and similitude which is in the body thereof semblably thus much we are to thinke of the soule as if one were not created by God nor the soule of the world but a certaine power of motion fantasticall turbulent subject unto opinion stirring and moving of it selfe and alwaies but without any order measure or reason whatsoever The other when God had adorned it with numbers proportions convenient he ordained to be the regent governesse of the world created like as it selfe was also created Now that this is the true sentence meaning of Plato and not by a fantasticall manner of speculation and inquisition as touching the creation or generation as well of the world as of the soule this besides many others may be an argument that of the soule he saith it was created and not created of the world alwaies that it was engendred and created but never eternall and not created To proove this we need not for to cite testimonies out of the booke Timaeus considering that the said booke throughout from the one end to the other treateth of nothing else but of the generation or creation of the world And of other bookes in his Atlanticke Timaeus making his praiers nameth him who beforetime was by his worke and now by his word God And in his Politique his Parmenidian guest saith that the world being framed and made by God became partaker of many good things and in case there be any evill thing in it the same is a remnant mingled within the first habitude and estate wherein it was at first before the constitution thereof all irregular and disorderly And in his bookes of Common-wealth speaking of that number which some call the Mariage Socrates began to discourse and say thus The God quoth he who is created and engendred hath his period and conversation which the perfect number doth comptise In which place what can he call the God created and engendred but the world ***** ******************* The first copulation is of one and two the second of three and foure the third of five and six of which there is not one that maketh a quadrate number either by it selfe or by others the fourth is of seven and eight which being joined to the first make in all the square quadrat number six and thirtie But of those numbers which Plato hath set downe the quaternarie hath a more perfect and absolute generation namely when even numbers are multiplied by even intervals and uneven numbers likewise by odde intervals for first it conteineth unitie as the very common stocke of all numbers as well even as odde and of those under it two and three be the first flat and plaine numbers and after them foure and nine are the first squares then follow eight and seven and twentie the first cubique numbers putting the unitie out of this account By which it appeareth that his will was not that these numbers should be all set one above another directly in a right line but apart one after another alternatively the even of the one side and the odde of the other according to the description above made Thus shall the files or conjugations also be of like with like and make the notable numbers aswel by composition or addition as by multiplication of one with another by composition thus Two and three make five foure nine make thirteene eight and seven and twentie arise to five and thirtie For of these numbers the Pythagoreans call five 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much to say as a sound supposing that of the spaces and intervals of Tone the fift was the first that spake or sounded thirteene they tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the Remanent or Defect like as Plato did despairing to divide a Tone in two equall portions and five and thirtie they tearme Harmonie for that it is composed of the first numbers cubique proceeding from even and od of the foure numbers to wit six eight nine and twelve conteining an Arithmeticall and Harmonicall proportion But this will appeare more evidently by this figure here described and represented to the eies Suppose then there be a figure set downe in forme of a tile called Parallelogrammon with right angles A.B.C.D. But forasmuch as the numbers proposed affoord not places for the medieties which are inferred necessary it was to extend the numbers to larger tearmes and bondes reteining still the same proportions in regard whereof we must
Logicall as touching speech Ethicall concerning maners and Physicall belonging to the nature of things of which that which is respective unto speech ought to precede and be ranged first secondly that which treateth of maners thirdly that which handleth naturall causes Now of these Physicks and naturall arguments the last is that which treateth of God and this is the reason that the precepts and traditions of divine matters and of religion they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one would say the very last and comming in the end Howbeit this treatise of the gods which by his saying ought to be set last himselfe in the very same booke rangeth above maners and setteth before all other morall questions For neither seemeth he to speake of the ends nor of justice nor of good and evill things nor of marriage nor of the nouriture and education of children 〈◊〉 yet of law nor of the government of the Common-wealth in any sort but as they who propose and publish decrees unto cities and States make some preamble before of good lucke or happie fortune so he useth the preface of Jupiter of Fatall destinie of Divine providence also that there being but one world the same doth consist and is mainteined by one mightie power Which points no man doth firmly beleeve nor can be resolutely perswaded in unlesse he wade deeply into the profoundest secrets and discourses of naturall Philosophie But hearken I beseech you a little to that which he saith of these matters in his third booke of the gods It is not possible quoth he to finde out any other fountaine and original beginning of justice than from Jupiter and common nature for from hence it must needs be that every such thing is derived if that we meane to discourse of good things and evill Againe in his Treatise of naturall positions there is no other way or at leastwise not a better of proceeding to the discourse of good things and bad nor of of vertues nor of sovereigne felicitie than from common nature and the administration of the world Moreover as he goeth forward in another place We are to annex and adjoine hereunto quoth he a treatise of good and evill things considering there is not a better beginning thereof nor yet a reference and relation more proper neither is the speculation and science of nature in any other respect requisit or necessarie to be learned but onely for to know the difference of good and evill And therefore according to Chrysippus this naturall science both goeth before and also followeth after morall things or to say a trueth at once in more expresse termes it were a strange and difficult inversion of order to holde that it is to be placed after them considering that without it it were impossible to comprehend any of the other and a very manifest repugnance it were to affirme that science naturall is the beginning of morall which treateth of good and evill and yet ordeine neverthelesse that it should be taught not before but after it Now if any man say unto me that Chrysippus in his booke entituled The use of speech hath written that he who first learneth Logicke I meane the knowledge and philosophie concerning words ought not altogether for to forbeare the learning of other parts but that he ought to take a taste of them according as he hath meanes thereto well may he speake a trueth but withall confirme he shall my accusation still of his fault for he fighteth with himselfe in ordering one while that a man should learne in the last place and after all the science that treateth of God as if that were the reason why it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Finall and another while teaching cleane contrarie that the same is to be learned even with the very first and at the beginning for then farewell all order for ever and welcome confusion if we must learne all things hudled together at all times But yet this is not the woorst for having set this downe for a reasolution That the doctrine as touching good things and evill ought to begin and proceed from the knowledge of God yet he will not have them who settle themselves and enter into the studie of morall philosophie to take their beginning there but that in learning this to catch somewhat of that by the way even as much as they have easie meanes to come by and afterwards to repasse from morall philosophy unto Theologie without which he saith there can bee neither entrance nor progresse in the knowledge of maners Moreover he saith that To dispute of one and the same question pro contra to and fro he disalloweth not simply and in generality but his advise is to use the same so warily and with such discretion as otherwhiles oratours doe in pleading when they alledge the reasons of their adversaries not to uphold and mainteine the same but onely for to refure and disproove that likelihood and probabilitie which they pretend For otherwise quoth he thus to doe is the maner of those Skepticks who be alwaies doubtfull and withhold their consent in every thing a meere shift that serveth their turne for whatsoever they hold but as for those who would worke and establish in mens hearts a certeine science according to which they might undoubtedly guide and conduct themselves they ought to sound and search the contrary and from point to point by stepmeale to direct their novices newly entred even from the beginning to the very end wherein there falleth out otherwhiles fit opportunity to make mention of contrary sentences and opinions for to refute and resolve that which might seeme to have apparence of trueth as the maner is in pleading before judges for these be the very words and proper tearmes that he useth Now what an absurd and impertinent a thing it is that philosophers should thinke they were to put downe the contrary opinions of other philosophers and not withall their reasons and arguments but onely as advocates pleading at the barre to disable and weaken their proofes and so to weary their adversaries as if disputation were onely to win the honour of victory and not to finde out a trueth we have elsewhere discoursed against him sufficiently But that himselfe not heere and there in his disputations but oftentimes and in many places hath confirmed with might and maine yea and with so great asseveration and contention contrary resolutions unto his owne opinions that it were a right hard matter for any man to discerne which of them he approoveth most they themselves in some sort doe say who admire the subtilty of the man and the vivacity of his spirit who also both thinke and sticke not to affirme that Carneades spake nothing of his owne invention but by the helpe and meanes of which arguments Chrysippus used to proove his owne assertions hee returned the same contrariwise upon himselfe to confute his precepts
insomuch as eftsoones in disputation he would alluding to a verse in Homer cry out aloud in this maner Unhappy man thus for to doe Thine owne pure strength will worke thy woe as if he lay open and ministred great advantages and meanes against himselfe to those who went about for to infringe and calumniate his opinions But as touching those treatises and discourses which he hath put foorth and set out against ordinary custome his followers do so gloriously boast and joy that they give out if all the books of the Academiques that ever lived were laid together they deserved not to be compared with that which Chrysippus wrote in calumniation of the senses an evident signe either of their ignorance who say so or els of their owne blinde selfe-love Howbeit certeine it is that afterwards being desirous to defend custome and the senses he was found much inferior to himselfe and the latter treatise came farre short of the former and was nothing at all so pithy in such sort as he is contradictorie and repugnant to himselfe whiles he alwaies prescribeth and willeth to conferre and oppose contrary sentences not as one patronizing any but making an ostentation that they be false and afterwards sheweth himselfe to be a more vehement accuser than a defender of his owne proper sentences and counselling others to take heed of repugnant and contrary disputations as those which distract and impeach their perception himselfe is more studious and diligent to addresse such proofes as overthrow perception than those which are to establish and confirme the same and yet that he feared no lesse hee declareth plainly in the fourth booke of his lives where he writeth thus We are not rashly nor without good respect and advisement to admit and allow repugnant disputations and contrary opinions to be proposed nor to answere those probable arguments which are brought against true sentences but heerein we must warily goe to worke and cary our selves so as fearing 〈◊〉 lest the hearers being thereby distracted and diverted let goe this apprehension and conception and be not of sufficient capacity to comprehend their solutions but after such a feeble sort as that their comprehensions be ready to falter and shake considering that even they who customably comprehend sensible objects and other things which depend of senses quickly forgo the same being distracted as well by Megarian interrogatories as by others more forcible and in greater number Now would I gladly demand of these Stoicks whether they thinke these Megarian interrogatories more puissant than those which Chrysippus hath written in sixe bookes or rather Chrysippus himselfe would be asked the question For marke I pray you what he hath written of the Megarian disputation in his booke entituled The use of speech after this maner Such a thing as befell in the disputation betweene Stilpo and Menedemus both renowmed personages for their learning and wisedome and yet the whole maner of their arguing is now turned to their reproch and plain mockery as if their arguments were either very grosse or else too captious sophistical and yet good sir these arguments which it pleaseth you to scorne and tearme the reproach of those who make such interrogatories as containing in them notorious leawdnesse you feare lest they should divert any from perception And even your owne selfe 〈◊〉 so many books as you doe against custome whereunto you have adjoined whatsoever you could devise and invent labouring to surmount and surpasse Arcesilaus did you never expect and looke to scare and terrifie any of the readers that should light upon them For Chrysippus verily useth not onely slender and naked arguments in disputing against custome but as if he were an advocate pleading at the barre mooveth affections being passionate and affectionate himselfe breaking out eftsoones into these tearmes of giving the foole and imputing vanity and sottishnesse and to the end that he might leave no place for contradiction at all but that he delivereth repugnances and speaketh contraries thus hath he writen in his Positions naturall A man may very well when he hath once perfectly comprised a thing argue a little on the contrary side and apply that defence which the matter it selfe doth affoord yea and otherwhiles when he doth comprehend neither the one nor the other discourse of either of them pro contra as much as the cause will yeeld Also in that treatise of his concerning the use of speech after he had said we ought not to use the power and faculty of disputation no more than armes or weapons in things that tend to no purpose and when the case requireth it not he addeth soone after these words For we ought to imploy the gift of reason and speech to the finding out of trueth and such things as resemble it and not contrariwise howsoever many there be that are wont so to doe And peradventer by these Many he meaneth those Academicks who ever doubt and give no assent to any thing and they verily for that they comprehend neither the one nor the other doe argue on both parts to and fro that it is perceptible as if by this onely or especiall meanes the trueth yeelded a certeine comprehension of it selfe if there were nothing in the world comprehensible But you who accuse and blame them writing the contrary to that which you conceive as touching custome and exhorting others to doe the same and that with an affectionate defence doeplainly confesse that you use the force of speech and eloquence in things not onely unprofitable but also hurtfull upon a vaine ambtious humor of shewing your ready wit like to some yoong scholar These Stoicks affirme that a good deed is the commandement of the law and sin the prohibition of the law and therefore it is that the law forbiddeth fooles and leawd folke to doemany things but prescribeth them nothing for that indeed they are not able to doe ought well And who seeth not that impossible it is for him who can doe no vertuous act to keepe himselfe from sin and transgression Therefore they make the law repugnant to it selfe if it command that which to performe is impossible and forbid that which men are not able to avoid For he that is not able to live honestly cannot chuse but beare himselfe dishonestly and whosoever he be that cannot be wise must of necessity become a foole and even them selves doe holde that those lawes which are prohibitive say the same thing when they forbid one and command likewise another For that which saith thou shalt dot steale saith verily the same to wit Steale not but it forbiddeth withall to steale and therefore the law forbiddeth fooles and leawd persons nothing for otherwise it should command them somewhat And thus they say that the Physician biddeth his apprentise or Chyrurgian to cut or to cauterize without adding thereto these words handsomly moderatly and in good time The Musician likewise commandeth his scholar to sing or play upon the harpe a lesson without putting
hit upon the woorse in these places the casuall inclination of the minde to the first object and the putting of the matter to the hazard of a lot is nothing else but to bring in a choise of things indifferent without any cause In the third booke of Logique having premised thus much that Plato Aristotle and their successours and disciples even as farre as to Polemon and Straton had bestowed great study and travelled much therein but above all others Socrates with this addition that a man would wish with so many and such noble personages to erre for company he commeth in afterwards with these words If they had quoth he treated and discoursed hereof cursarily or by the way a man haply might laugh at this place well enough but since that they have so seriously and exactly disputed of Logique as if it were one of the greatest faculties and most necessarie sciences it is not like that they were so grosly deceived being men throughout all the parts of philosophy so singular as we repute them to be How is it then may a man reply and say that you neverrest baying and barking at these so woorthy and excellent personages and convincing them as you suppose to have erred For there is no likelihood that they writing so diligently and exactly as they have done of Logique should of the principles and elements of the end of good things of Justice and the gods write carelessely and after a loose maner howsoever you are disposed to 〈◊〉 their treatises and discourses blinde repugnant to themselves and stuffed with an infinit 〈◊〉 of faults and errors In one place he denieth that the vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a joy to see evill happen unto another hath any being or reall subsistence For that quoth he no good man was ever knowen to rejoice at the harme of another but in his second booke as touching Good having declared what Envie is namely a griefe for another mans well fare because men are desirous to detract and debase their neighbours to the end they might be superiours themselves he addeth afterwards the joy for another mans harme and that in these words Annexed thereunto quoth he is the joy for another mans harme because men are desirous that their neighbours about them should be brought low for the like causes but when they decline and turne to other naturall affections there is engendred Pity and Mercie In which words it appeareth that he ordaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a thing really subsistent as well as envie and pittie which notwithstanding elsewhere he said had no being at all in the world no more than the hatred of wickednesse or the desire of filthy lucre Having in many places affirmed that men are never a whit more happie for long continuance of felicity but that they be still as happy who enjoy felicity but one minute of an 〈◊〉 in as many other places againe he avoucheth the contrary saying that a man should not so much as put forth his finger for a transitory and momentany prudence which endureth but a while passeth away like unto the flash and leame of a lightening But it shal suffice to relate the very words which he hath written in his sixth booke of morall questions as touching this matter for when he had premised thus much that every good thing doth not cause equall joy nor all vertuous duties like vantery he commeth after with these words For if a man is to have prudence one moment of time or the last daie onely of his life he should not so much as hold up or stretch out his finger for a prudence that lasteth so small a while although no man is said to be the more blessed for long continuance of happinesse neither is eternall beatitude more expetible or desirable than that which passeth away within a minute of an houre Now if he had thought that prudence were a good thing bringing forth blessednesse as Epicurus did a man could have found fault with nothing else but the absurdity onely of so strange an opinion and paradox But seeing that prudence is no other thing than beatitude of it selfe and even very felicity how can it be avoided that herein there should not be a contradiction and repugnancy of speech namely to say that transitory happinesse is as eligible and as much to be desired as that which is perpetuall and to hold that the felicity of one moment is worth naught He affirmeth that vertues doe follow and accompany one another not onely in this respect that he who hath one hath likewise all the rest but also in this that he who worketh by one worketh with all according to the other neither saith he is any man perfect unlesse he be possessed of all vertues Howbeit in the sixt booke of morall questions Chrysippus saith that neither a good and honest man doth alwaies beare himselfe valiantly nor a naughty man behave himselfe cowardly for that as certeine objects be presented into mens fantasies it behooveth one man to persevere and persist in his judgements and another to forsake and relinquish the same for probable he saith it is that even the wicked man is not alwaies lascivious Now in case it be so that to be a valiant man is as much as to shew valour and to be a coward the same that to use cowardise they speake contraries who affirme that a naughty person practising one vice worketh by all together and that a valiant man useth not alwaies valour nor a dastard cowardise He denieth Rhetorique to be an art as touching the ornament dispose and order of an oration pronounced and besides in the first booke he hath thus written And in mine opinion requisit it is to have not onely a regard of an honest decent simple adorning of words but also a care of proper gestures actions pauses and staies of the voice as also a meet conformation of the countenance and the hands Being as you see thus exquisit and curious in this passage yet in the same booke cleare contrary having spoken of the collision of vowels and hitting one of them upon another We are not only quoth he to neglect this and to thinke of that which is of greater moment and importance but also to let passe certeine obscurities and defects solaecismes also and incongruities of which many others would be ashamed Now one while to permit and allow such exquisit curiosity in the orderly dispose of a manstongue even as far as to the decent setting of the countenance and gesture of the hands and another while not to bash at the committing of grosse incongruities defects and obscurities is the property of a man who cares not what he saith but speakes whatsoever comes in his head Over and besides in his naturall positions treating of those things which require the view of the eie and experience after he had given warning that we should go warily to worke and not rashly yeeld our assent
changing their minde should determine to hurt afflict plague destroy and crush us quite they could not bring us to a woorse state and condition than wherein we are already according as Chrysippus saith That mans life can not be brought to a lower ebbe nor be in woorse plight and case than now it is insomuch as if it had a tongue and voice to speake it would pronounce these words of Hercules Of miseries to say I dare be bold So full I am that more I can not hold And what assertions or sentences may a man possibly finde more contrary and repugnant one against another than those of Chrysippus as touching both gods and men when he saith That the gods are most provident over men and carefull for their best and men notwithstanding are in as wofull state as they may be Certeine Pythagoreans there are who blame him much for that in his booke of Justice he hath written of dunghill cocks that they were made and created profitable for mans use For quoth he they awaken us out of our sleepe and raise us to our worke they hunt kill and devoure scorpions with their fighting they animate us to battell imprinting in our hearts an ardent desire to shew valour and yet eat them we must for feare that there grow upon us more pullaine than we know what otherwise to do withall And so farre foorth mocketh he and scorneth those who finde fault with him for delivering such sentences that he writeth thus in his third booke of the Gods as touching Jupiter the Saviour Creatour and Father of justice law equity and peace And like as cities quoth he and great townes when they be over full of people deduct and send from thence certeine colonies and begin to make warre upon some other nations even so God sendeth the causes that breed plague and mortalitie to which purpose he citeth the testimony of Euripides and other authours who write that the Trojan warre was raised by the gods for to discharge and disburden the world of so great a multitude of men wherewith it was replenished As for all other evident absurdities delivered in these speeches I let passe for my purpose is not to search into all that which they have said or written amisse but onely into their contradictions and contrarieties to themselves But consider I pray you how Chrysippus hath alwaics attributed unto the gods the goodliest names and most plausible termes that can be devised but contrariwise most savage cruell inhumane barbarous and Galatian deeds For such generall mortalities and carnages of men as the Trojan warre first brought and afterwards the Median and Peloponnesiacke warres are nothing like unto colonies that cities send forth to people and inhabit other places unlesse haply one would say That such multitudes of men that die by warre and pestilence know of some cities founded for them in hell and under the ground to be inhabited But Chrysippus maketh God like unto Deiotarus the king of Galatia who having many sonnes and minding to leave his realme and roiall estate unto one of them and no more made away killed all the rest besides him to the end that he being left alone might be great and mightie like as if one should prune and cut away all the branches of a vine that the maine stocke might thrive and prosper the better and yet the cutter of the vine disbrancheth it when the shoots be yoong small and tender and we also take away from a bitch many of her whelps when they be so yoong as that they can not yet see for to spare the damme whereas 〈◊〉 who hath not onely suffered and permitted men to grow unto their perfect age but 〈◊〉 given them himselfe their nativitie and growth punisheth them and plagueth them afterwards devising sundry meanes and preparing many occasions of their death and destruction when as indeed he should rather have not given unto them the causes and principles of their generation and birth Howbeit this is but a small matter in comparison and more grievous is that which I will now say for there are no warres bred among men but by occasion of some notable vice seeing the cause of one is fleshly pleasure of another avarice and of a third ambition and desire of rule And therefore if God be the authour of warres he is by consequence the cause of wickednesse and doth provoke excite and pervert men and yet himselfe in his treatise of judgement yea and his second booke of the Gods writeth that it stands to no sense and reason that God should be the cause of any wicked and dishonest things For like as the lawes are never the cause of breaking and violating the lawes no more are gods of impietie so that there is no likelihood at all that they should move and cause men to commit any foule and dishonest fact Now what can there be more dishonest than to procure and raise some to worke the ruine and perdition of others and yet Chrysippus saith that God ministreth the occasions and beginnings thereof Yea but he contrariwise will one say commendeth Euripides for saying thus If Gods do ought that lewd and filthy is They are no more accounted Gods iwis And againe Soone said that is Mens faults t' excuse Nothing more ready than Gods t' accuse as if forsooth we did any thing els now but compare his words and sentences together that be opposit and meere contrary one unto another And yet this sentence which now is heere commended to wit Soone said that is c. we may alledge against Chrysippus not once nor twice nor thrice but ten thousand times For first in his treatise of Nature having likened the eternity of motion to a drench or potion made confusedly of many herbs and spices troubling and turning all things that be engendred some after one sort and some after another thus he saith Seeing it is so that the government and administration of the universall world proceedeth in this sort necessary it is that according to it we be disposed in that maner as we are whether it be that we are diseased against our owne nature maimed or disinembred Grammarians or Musicians And againe soone after according to this reason we may say the like of our vertue or vice and generally of the knowledge or ignorance of arts as I have already said Also within a little after cutting off all doubt and ambiguity There is no particular thing not the very least that is which can otherwise happen than according to common nature and the reason thereof now that common nature and the reason of it is fatall destinie divine providence and Jupiter there is not one search even as farre as to the Antipodes but he knoweth for this sentence is very rife in their mouthes And as for this verse of Homer And as ech thing thus came to passe The will of Jove fulfilled was he saith that well and rightly he referred all to destiny and the universall nature of
out of water having earth under it there ex haleth aire which aire comming to be subtilized the fire is produced and environeth it round about as for the stars they are set on fire out of these together with the sunne what is more contrary than to be set on fire and to be cooled what more opposite to subtilization and rarefaction than inspissation and condensation the one maketh water and earth of fire and aire the other turneth that which is moist and terrestriall into fire and aire And yet in one place he maketh kindling of fire and in another refrigeration to bee the cause of quickning and giving soule unto a thing for when the said firing and inflammation comes generall throughout then it liveth and is become an annimall creature but after it commeth to be quenched and thickned it turneth into water and earth and so into a corporall substance In the first booke of Providence he writeth thus For the world being throughout on fire presently it is with all the soule and governour of it selfe but when it is turned into moisture and the soule left within it and is after a sort converted into a soule and body so as it seemeth compounded of them both then the case is altered In which text he affirmeth plainly that the very inanimat parts of the world by exustion and inflammation turne and change into the soule thereof and contrariwise by extinction the soule is relaxed and moistned againe and so returneth into a corporall nature Heereupon I inferre that he is very absurd one while to make of senselesse things animat and living by way of refrigeration and another while to transmure the most part of the soule of the world into insensible and inanimat things But over and above all this the discourse which he maketh as touching the generation of the soule conteineth a proofe demonstration contrary to his owne opinion for he saith That the soule is engendred after that the infant is gone out of the mothers wombe for that the spirit then is transformed by refrigeration even as the temper is gotten of steele Now to prove that the soule is engendred and that after the birth of the infant hee bringeth this for a principall argument Because children become like unto their parents in behaviour and naturall inclination wherein the contrariety that he delivereth is so evident as that a man may see it by the very eie for it is not possible that the soule which is engendred after birth should be framed to the maners and disposition of the parents before nativity or else we must say and fall out it will that the soule before it was in esse was already like unto a soule which is all one as that it was by similitude and resemblance and yet was not because as yet it had not a reall substance Now if any one doe say that it ariseth from the temperature and complexion of the bodies that this similitude is imprinted in them howbeit when the soules are once engendred they become changed he shall overthrow the argument and proofe whereby it is shewed that the soule was engendred for heereupon it would follow that the soule although it were ingenerable when it entreth from without into the body is changed by the temperature of the like Chrysippus sometime saith that the aire is light that it mounteth upward on high and otherwhiles for it againe that it is neither heavy nor light To prove this see what he saith in his second booke of Motion namely that fire having in it no ponderosity at all ascendeth aloft semblably the aire and as the water is more conformable to the earth so the aire doth rather resemble the fire But in his booke entituled Naturall arts he bendeth to the contrary opinion to wit that the aire hath neither ponderosity nor lightnesse of it selfe He affirmeth that the aire by nature is darke and for that cause by consequence it is also the primitive cold and that tenebrosity or darknesse is directly opposite unto light and cleerenesse and the coldnesse thereof to the heat of fire Mooving this discourse in the first booke of his Naturall questions contrary to all this in his treatise of Habitudes he saith That these habitudes be nothing else but aires For that bodies quoth he be 〈◊〉 by them and the cause why every body conteined by any habitude is such as it is is the continent aire which in iron is called hardnesse in stone spissitude or thicknesse in silver whitenesse in which words there is great contrariety and as much false absurditie for if this aire remaine the same still as it is in the owne nature how commeth blacke in that which is not white to be called whitenesse softnesse in that which is not hard to be named hardnesse or rare in that which is not solide and massie to be called solidity But in case it be said that by mixture therein it is altered and so becommeth semblable how then can it be an habitude a faculty power or cause of these effects whereby it selfe is brought under and subdued for that were to suffer rather than to doe and this alteration is not of a nature conteining but of a languishing impotencie whereby it loseth all the properties and qualities of the owne and yet in every place they hold that matter of it selfe idle and without motion is subject and exposed to the receit of qualities which qualities are spirits and those powers of the aire which into what parts soever of the matter they get and insinuate themselves doe give a forme and imprint a figure into them But how can they mainteine this supposing as they do the aire to be such as they say it is for if it be an habitude and power it will conforme and shape unto it selfe every body so as it will make the same both blacke and soft but if by being mixed and contempered with them it take formes contrary unto those which it hath by nature it followeth then that it is the matter of matter and neither the habitude cause nor power thereof Chrysippus hath written often times that without the world there is an infinit voidnesse and that this infinitie hath neither beginning middle nor end And this is the principall reason whereby they resute that motion downward of the 〈◊〉 by themselves which Epicurus hath brought in for in that which is infinit there are no locall differences whereby a man may understand or specifie either high or low But in the fourth booke of Things possible he supposeth a certeine middle space and meane place betweene wherein he saith the world is founded The very text where he affirmeth this runneth in these words And therefore we must say of the world that it is corruptible and although it be very hard to proove it yet me thinks rather it should be so than otherwise Neverthelesse this maketh much to the inducing of us to beleeve that it hath a certeine incorruptibility if I may
so say namely the occupation or taking up of the middle place wherein it standeth because it is in the mids for if it were thought otherwise to be founded it were altogether necessarie that some corruption should take holde of it And againe a little after for even so in some sort hath that essence bene ordeined from all eternity to occupie the middle region being presently at the very first such as if not by another maner yet by attaining this place it is eternall and subject to no corruption These words conteine one manifest repugnance and visible contrariety considering that in them he admitteth and alloweth in that which is infinit a middle place But there is a second also which as it is more darke and obscure so it implieth also a more monstrous absurditie than the other for supposing that the world can not continue incorruptible if it were seated and founded in any other place of the infinitie than in the mids it appeareth manifestly that he feared if the parts of the substance did not moove and tend toward the mids there would ensue a dissolution corruption of the world But this would he never have feared if he had not thought that bodies naturally from all sides tend to the middes not of the substance but of the place that conteineth the substance where of he had spoken in many places that it was a thing impossible and against nature for that within voidnesse there is no difference by which bodies can be said to move more one way than another and that the construction of the world is cause of the motion to the center as also that all things from every side do bend to the mids But to see this more plainly it may suffice to alledge the very text in his second booke of Motion for when he had delivered thus much That the world is a perfect body and the parts of the world not perfect because they are respective to the whole and not of themselves Having also discoursed as touching the motion thereof for that it was apt and fitted by nature to moove it selfe in all parts for to conteine and preserve and not to breake dissolve and burne it selfe he saith afterwards But the universall world tending and mooving to the same point and the parts thereof having the same motion from the nature of the body like it is that this first motion is naturally proper to all bodies namely to encline toward the mids of the world considering that the world mooveth so in regard of it selfe and the parts likewise in that they be the parts of the whole How now my goodfriend may some one say what accident is befallen unto you that you should forget to pronounce these words withall That the world in case it had not fortuned for to settle in the mids must needs have bene subject to corruption and dissolution For if it be proper and naturall to the world to tend alwaies to the same middle as also to addresse the parts thereof from all sides thereto into what place soever of the voidnesse it be carried and transported certes thus 〈◊〉 and embracing as it were it selfe as it doth it must needs continue incorruptible immortall and past all danger of fracture or dissolution for to such things as be broken bruised dissipated and dissolved this is incident by the division and dissolution of their parts when ech one runneth and retireth into their proper and naturall place out of that which is against their owne nature But you sir supposing that if the world were seated in any other place of voidnesse but in the mids there would follow a totall ruine and corruption thereof giving out also as much and therefore imagining a middle in that where naturally there can be none to wit in that which is infinit have verily quit cleane and fled from these tensions cohaerences and inclinations as having in them no assured meanes for to mainteine and holde the world together and attributed all the cause of the eternall maintenance and preservation thereof unto the occupation of a place And yet as if you tooke pleasure to argue and convince yourselfe you adjoine to the premisses thus much In what sort every severall part moveth as it is cohaerent to the rest of the body it stands with good reason that after the same maner it should moove by it selfe alone yea if for disputation sake we imagine and suppose it to be in some void part of this world and like as being kept in and enclosed on every side it would move toward the mids so it would continue in this same motion although by way of disputation we should admit that all on a sudden there should appeare some vacuity and void place round about it And is it so indeed that every part what ever it be compassed about with voidnesse forgoeth not her naturall inclination to move tend to the mids and should the world it selfe unlesse some fortune blind chance had not prepared for it a place in the mids have lost that vigor power which conteineth and holdeth all together so some parts of the substance of it moove one way and some another Now surely heerein there be many other maine contrarieties repugnant even to natural reason but this particularly among the rest encountreth the doctrine of God divine providence to wit that in attributing unto them the least and smallest causes that be he taketh from them the most principall and greatest of all other For what greater power can there be than the maintenance and preservation of this universall world or to cause the substance united together in all parts to cohaere unto it selfe But this according to the opinion of Chrysippus hapneth by meere hazzard and chance for if the occupation of a place is the cause of worlds incorruption and eternity and the same chanced by fortune we must inferre there upon that the safety of all things dependeth upon hazzard and adventure and not upon fatall destiny and divine providence As for his doctrine disputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of things possible which Chrysippus hath delivered directly agaisnt that of fatall destiny how can it chuse but be repugnant to it selfe for if that be not possible according to the opiniō of Diodorus which either is or shall be true but whatsoever is susceptible naturally of a power to be although the same never come into act or esse is to be counted possible there will be a number of things possible which never shal have being by destiny invincible inexpugnable surmoūting al things And therefore either this doctrine overthroweth al the force and puissance of destiny or if it be admitted as Chrysippus would have it that which potentially may be wil fal out oftentimes to be impossible whatsoever is true shall be also necessary as being comprised contained by the greatest and most powerfull necessity of all others and whatsoever is false impossible as
is called Pseudomenos for to say my good friend that the augmentation cōposed of contrary positions is not notoriously false and againe to affirme that syllogismes having their premisses true yea and true inductions may yet have the contrary to their conclusions true what conception of demonstrations or what anticipation of beleefe is there which it is not able to overthrow It is reported of the Pourcuttle or Pollyp fish that in winter time he gnaweth his owne cleies and pendant hairy feet but the Logicke of Chrysippus which taketh away and cutteth off the principall parts of it what other conception leaveth it behinde but that which well may be suspected For how can that be imagined steady and sure which is built upon foundations that abide not firme but wherein there be so many doubts and troubles But like as they who have either dust or durt upon their bodies if they touch another therewith or rub against him doe not so much trouble and molest him as they doe begrime and beray themselves so much the more and seeme to exasperate that ordure which pricketh and is offensive unto them even so some there be who blame and accuse the Academicks thinking to charge upon them those imputations wherewith themselves are found to be more burdened For who be they that pervert the common conceptions of the senses more than do these Stoicks But if you thinke so good leaving off to acuse them let us answere to those calumniations and slanders which they would seeme to fasten upon us LAMPRIAS Me thinks Diadumenus that I am this day much changed and become full of variety me thinks I am a man greatly altered from that I was ere while for even now I came hither much dismaied and abashed as being depressed beaten downe and amazed as one having need of some advocate or other to speake for me and in my behalfe whereas now I am cleane turned to an humor of accusation and disposed to enjoy the pleasure of revenge to see all the packe of them detected and convinced in that they argue and dispute themselves against common conceptions and anticipations in defence whereof they seeme principally to magnifie their owne sect ** saying that it alone doth agree and accord with nature DIADUMENUS Begin we then first with their most renowmed propositions which they themselves call paradoxes that is to say strange and admirable opinions avowing as it were by that name gently admitting such exorbitant absurdities as for example that such Sages as themselves are onely kings onely rich and faire onely citizens and onely Judges or pleaseth it you that we send all this stuffe to the market of olde and stale marchandise and goe in hand with the examination of these matters which consist most in action and practise whereof also they dispute most seriously LAMPRIAS For mine owne part I take this to be the better For as touching the reputation of those paradoxes who is not full thereof and hath not heard it a thousand times DIADUMENUS Consider then in the first place this whether according to common notions they can possibly accord with nature who thinke naturall things to be indifferent and that neither health nor good plight and habitude of body nor beawty nor cleane strength be either expetible profitable expedient or serving in any stead to the accomplishment of that perfection which is according to nature nor that the contraries hereunto are to be avoided as hurtfull to wit maimes and mutilations of members deformities of body paines shamefull disgraces and diseases Of which things rehearsed they themselves acknowledge that nature estrangeth us from some and acquainteth us with other The which verily is quite contrary to common intelligence that nature should acquaint us with those things which be neither expedient nor good alienate us from such as be not hurtfull nor ill and that which more is that she should either traine us to them or withdraw us from them so farre forth as if men misse in obtaining the one or fall into the other they should with good reason abandon this life and for just cause depart out of the world I suppose that this also is by thē affirmed against common sense namely that nature her selfe is a thing indifferent and that to accord and consent with nature hath in it some part of the soveraigne good For neither to follow the rule of the law nor to obey reason is good and honest unlesse both law and reason be good and honest But this verily is one of the least of their errors For if Chrysippus in his first booke of exhortations hath written thus A blessed and happie life consisteth onely in living according to vertue and as for all other accessaries quoth hee they neither touch nor concerne us at all neither make they any whit to beatitude he cannot avoid but he must avow that not onely nature is indifferent but also which is more senselesse and foolish to associate and draw us into a league with that which in no respect concerneth us and we our selves likewise are no better than fooles to thinke that the soveraigne felicity is to consent and accord with nature which leadeth and conducteth us to that which serveth nothing at all to happinesse And yet what agreeth and sorteth sooner to common sense than this that as things eligible are to be chosen and desired for the profit and helpe of this life so naturall things serve for to live answerable to nature But these men say otherwise for although this be their supposition that to live according to nature is the utmost end of mans good yet they hold that things according to nature be of themselves indifferent Neither is this also lesse repugnant to common sense and conception that a well affected sensible and prudent man is not equally enclined and affectionate to good things that be equall and alike but as some of them he waigheth not nor maketh any account of so for others againe he is prest to abide and endure all things although I say the same be not greater or lesse one than another For these things they hold to be equall namely for a man to fight valiantly in the defence of his country and chastly to turne away from an olde trot when for very age she is at the point of death for both the one and the other doe that alike which their duty requireth And yet for the one as being a worthie and glorious thing they would be prest and ready to lose their lives whereas to boast and vaunt of the other were a shamefull and ridiculous part And even Chrysippus himselfe in the treatise which he composed of Jupiter and in the third booke of the Gods saith that it were a poore absurd and foolish thing to praise such acts as proceeding from vertue namely to beare valiantly the biting of a flie or sting of a wespe and chastly to abstaine from a crooked old woman stooping forward ready to tumble into her
hot from colde or white colours from blacke For the apprehensions and conceits of these qualities are from without forth brought in by the senses naturall but the other are within vs taking their originall from those good things that we have within us Now these men entring into the question and common place of sovereigne felicity with their Logicke subtilties as if they were to handle the lying sophisme called Pseudomenos or that masterfull maner of reasoning named Kyritton have not solved one of the doubts and questions which there were but mooved and raised an infinite number of others that were not there before Moreover there is no man who knoweth not that there being two sorts of good things the one which is the very utmost end and the other the meanes to attaine thereto the one is more excellent and perfect of the twaine And Chrysippus himselfe knoweth well enough this difference as it may appeare by that which he hath written in his third booke of Good things for he disagreeth with those who are of opinion that the end of sovereigne good is science and putteth this downe in his treatise of Justice If there be any who supposeth that pleasure is the end of good things hee thinketh not that justice can be safe if not the finall end but simply good and no more he is of another minde I do not thinke that you would heare me at this present to rehearse his owne words for his third booke as touching Justice is extant and to be had every where When as they say therefore my friend elsewere that no good thing is greater or lesse than another but that the finall end is equall with that which is not the end and no better than it it is evident that they be contrary and repugnant not onely to the common notions but also to their owne very words And againe if of two evils the one maketh us woorse than we were when it came unto us and the other hurteth us indeed but maketh vs not woorse that evill in mine opinion is the greater which maketh us worse neither doth that more hurt which causeth us not to be the woorse And Chrysippus verily confesseth that there be certeine feares sorrowes and deceitfull illusions which well may hurt and offend us but not make us woorse But reade over and peruse the first of those books which are written against Plato as concerning Justice for in respect of other causes it were very well done and worth your labour to note the frivolous babling in that place of this man where he makes no spare to deliver all matters and doctrines whatsoever indifferently even those aswell of his owne sect as of other strangers slat opposit to common sense as for example That it is lawfull to propose two ends and two scopes of our life and not to referre all that ever we do unto one end And yet more than that is this also a common notion That the end verily is one but every thing that is done ought to have a relation to another and yet of necessitie they must abide the one or the other For if the first things according to nature be not expetible for themselves and the last end but rather the reasonable election and choise of them and if every man doth what lies in him to have and obteine those things which are first according to nature and all actions and operations have their reference thither namely to acquire and enjoy the principall things according to nature if I say they thinke so it must needs be that without aspiring and aiming for to get and atteine those things they have another end to which they must referre the election and choise of the said things and not the things themselves for thus will be the end even to know how to chuse them well and to take them wisely but the things themselves and the enjoying of them will be of small moment being as a matter and subject which hath the dignity and estimation for thus I suppose they use and put downe in writing this very word to shew the difference LAMPRIAS Certes you have passing well and woorthily reported unto us both what they say and how they deliver it DIADUMENUS But marke I beseech you how they fare like unto those who will needs streine themselves to leape over and beyond their owne shadow for they leave not behinde but carie evermore with them some absurdity in their speech and the same farre remote alwaies from common sense for as if one should say That an archer doeth all that lieth in him not to hit the marke but to doe all that ever he can he might be justly taken for a man who spake aenigmatically by darke riddles and uttered strange and prodigious words even so doe these old doting fooles who with all their power endevour to maintaine that to obteine the things according to nature is not the end of aiming and aspiring to things according to nature but forsooth to take and chuse them and that the desire of health and seeking after it in any man endeth not in health of ech one but contrariwise that health is referred to the appetite and seeking after it saying moreover that to walke to read or speake aloud to endure sections or incisions yea and to take purging medicines so all be done by reason are the ends of health and not it the end of those meanes Certes these men dote rave speake idly as well as they who should say let me goe to supper that we may sacrifice bath or sweat in the stouph Nay that which more is that which these men say perverteth order and custome and conteineth a confusion shufling turning upside downe of al our affaires whatsoever We study not say they to walke in due time for to concoct digest our meats well but we concoct and digest our meat because we might walke in due season Why Hath nature given us health for Ellebore or rather brought foorth Ellebor for health sake For what could be uttered more strange and absurd than such propositions as these and what difference is there betweene him who saith that health was made for medicinable drogues and not drogues medicinable for health and another who holdeth that the gathering the choise the composition and use of such medicines is to be preferred before health it selfe or rather he thinks that health is not in any respect expetible but hee setteth downe the very end in the penning and handling of those medicines affirming forsooth that appetite is the end of fruition and not fruition of appetite And why not quoth he all while there be added thereto these termes considerately and with reason True will we say againe if a man have regard unto the obteining and enjoying of the thing which he pursueth for otherwise that considerate reason is to no purpose in case all be done for to obteine that the fruition whereof is neither honorable nor happy LAMPRIAS And since
principally in two severall Treatises of the former tome perceived how Plutarch is quite contrary unto the Epicureans and namely in one of those Treatises he dealeth with a certaine booke which he now expresly refuteth where Colotes endevoured to proove that a man can not possibly live well according to the opinions of other Philosophers Plutarch sheweth on the contrarie side that impossible it is to leade a joifull life after the doctrine of Epicurus and that it is accompanied with overweening impudency and slanderous calumniation And not contenting himselfe thus to have confuted them of purpose once or twice he setteth upon them in this discourse and particularly he copeth with Colotes whose slouth filthinesse and impiette he heere describeth The summe of all which declamation is this That these Epicureans are not any way worthy the name of Philosophers who contrariwise tread and trample under foot all the parts of true Philosophie discovering in their writings aswell as thorowout all their lives meere beastly brutalitie But all that is delivered in this Treatise may be reduced well to two principall points The one conteineth a defence or excuse of the doctrine taught by Democritus Empedocles Parmenides Socrates and other ancient Philosophers standered by Colotes who extolled farre above them the traditions and precepts of his master The other discovereth divers absurdities and strange opinions of the Epicureans even by their owne testimonies whom Plutarch refelleth soundly handling in this disputation many articles of Philosophie Naturall Morall and Supernaturall and particularly of the Senses of Nature of the Atomes of the Universall world of the Knowledge of man of the Opinion of the Academicks of the Apprehensions faculties passions and affections of the soule of the certeintie of things sensible of the falsitie and trueth of imaginations of the use of Lawes of the profit of Philosophie of the sovereigne good of religion and of other such matters the principles whereof the Epicureans abolished bringing in paradoxes woonderfull strange for to shuffle things confusedly and make all uncerteine All which is marked particularly in the traine and course of the authours owne words and therefore needlesse it is to specifie thereof any more because I would avoid tantologies unnecessary repetitions True it is that in certeine refutations Plutarch is not so firme as were to be desired but that may be imputed to his ignorance of the true God As for the rest it may suffice serve to know the misery wretchednes of the Epicureans and that other Philosophers had many good parts and delivered many beautifull speeches whereof all vertuous persons may reape and gather great fruit in applying and referring the same to their right use And for to close up all he maketh a comparison betweene true Philosophers and the Epicureans proving in very many places that Colotes and his fellowes like himselfe are people not onely unprofitable but also most pernicious and so by consequence unworthy to live in the world AGAINST COLOTES THE Epicurean COlotes whom Epicurus was wont ô Saturninus to call by way of slattering diminution Colatar as and Colatarius composed and put forth a little booke which he entituled That there could be no life at all according to the opinions of other Philosophers and dedicated the said booke unto king Ptolemaeus Now what came into my minde to speake against this Colotes I suppose you would take pleasure to reade the same in writing being as you are a man who loveth elegancie and all honest things especially such as concerne the knowledge of antiquity besides esteemeth it the most prince like exercise and roiall study to beare in minde and have alwaies in hand as much as possibly may be the discourses of auncient Sages Whereas therefore of late this booke was in reading one of our familiar friends one whom you know well enough Aristodemus by name an Aegian borne a man exceeding passionate and of all the Academicks a most sranticke sectary of Plato although hee carie not the ferula like unto the madde supposts of Plato I wot not how contrary to his usuall maner was very patient and silent all the while giving care most civilly even to the very end But so soone as the lecture was done Goe to now my masters quoth he whom were we best to cause for to arise and fight with this fellow in the quarrell and defence of Philosophers For I am not of Nestors minde neither doe I greatly praise him for that when there was to be chosen the most valiant warrior of those nine hardy knights who were presented to enter into combat with Hector hand to hand committed the election unto fortune and put all to the lot But you see also quoth I that even he referred himselfe to be ordered by the lot to the end that the choise might passe according to the dispose and ordinance of the wisest man The lot out of the helmet then did fall Of Ajax whom themselves wisht most of all And yet if you command me to make election How can I ever put out of mind Divine Ulysses a prince so kind Consider therefore and be well advised how you may be able to refell this man Then Aristodedemus But you know full well quoth he what Plato sometime did who being offended with his boy that waited upon him would not himselfe swindge him but caused Speusippus to doe so much for him saying withall That he was in a fit of choler And even so I say as much to you Take the man to you I pray and entreat him at your pleasure for my selfe am very angry with him Now when all the rest of the company were instant with me and praied me to take this charge in hand Well I see quoth I that I must speake seeing you will needs have it so but I am affraid lest I may seeme my selfe to be more earnestly bent against this booke than it deserveth in the defence and maintenance of Socrates against the incivility rudenesse scurrility and insolence of this man who presenteth as one would say unto him hay as if he were a beast and demaundeth how he may put meat into his mouth and not into his care whereas haply the best way were to laugh onely at him for such railing especially considering the mildnesse and gentle grace of Socrates in such cases Howbeit in regard of the whole host beside of other Greeke Philosophers namely Democritus Plato Empedocles Parmenides and Melissus who by him are foully reviled it were not onely a shame to be tongue tied and keepe silence but also meere sacriledge and impiety to remit any jot or forbeare to speake freely to the utmost in their behalfe being such as have advanced philosophy to that honour and reputation which it hath And verily our parents together with the gods have given us our life but to live well we suppose and that truely that it commeth from the philosophers by the meanes of that doctrine which we have received from them as
a confused mixture of all qualities together like unto a wind-instrument composed for all kinds of melodious musicke But they confesse that all their rules are lost and their judgement quite gone if they admit any object in some sort pure and syncere and allow not ech one thing to be many See moreover in this place what discourse and disputation Polyaenus held with Epicurus in his banquet as touching the heat of wine For when he demanded in this maner How now Epicurus say you not that wine doth heat one made answere That he affirmed not universally that wine did cause heat and a little after For it seemeth that wine is not universally a heater but rather that such a quantitie of wine may be said to enchafe and set such an one in heat And then adjoining the cause he alledgeth the concurrences compressions and dispersions of the Atomes the commixtions and conjunctions of others when the wine commeth to be mingled with the body and then he addeth this conclusion And therefore generally we are not to say that wine doth heat but so much wine may well heat such a nature and so disposed whereas another nature it cooleth in such and such a quantity For in such a masse there be those natures and complexions of which cold if need were may be composed and being joined with others as occasion serveth may cause a vertue refrigerative And hereupō it is that some are deceived saying that wine uniuersally is hot and others againe affirming it to be universally colde He then who saith that the multitude and most part of men do erre in holding that to be simplie hot which doth heat and that likewise to be cold which doth coole is deceived himselfe if he thinketh not that it followeth by good consequence upon that which hee hath said that one thing is more such than such And afterwards he inferreth this speech that many times wine entring into the body bringeth with it neither a calefactive nor a refrigerative vertue but that when the masse of the body is moved and stirred so as there is a transposition made of the parts then the Atomes which are effective of heat concurre together one while into one place and through their multitude set the body into an heat and inflamation but another while by dispersing and severing themselves asunder inferre coldnesse Moreover he dissembleth not but that he is proceeded thus farre as to say that whereas wee take things to be and doe call them bitter sweet purgative soporiferous and lightsome none of them all have any entier quality or perfect property to produce such effects nor to be active more than passive all while they be in the body but that they be susceptible of sundry temperatures and differences For even Epicurus himselfe in his second booke against Theophrastus in saying that colours are not naturall unto bodies but are engendred according to certeine situations and positions respective to the eie-sight of man saith by this reason that a bodie is no more destitute of colour than coloured And a little before word for word he writeth thus But over and beside all this I know not how a man may say that these bodies which be in the darke have any colour at all and yet oftentimes when the aire a like darke is spred round about some there be who can distinguish the diversity of colours others perceive nothing at all by reason of their feeble dim-sight Againe when we goe into a darke house we see not at our first entrance any colours but after we have beene there a pretie while we perceive them well enough And therefore we are to say that ech body is not rather coloured than not coloured If then colour be a relative and hath being in regard of some other things white also is a relative and blew likewise if these then sweet and bitter semblably so that a man may truely affirme of every quality that it is not more such than not such For to those who are so disposed a thing shall be such and to them that are not so affected not such So that Colotes doeth all to dash and beray both himselfe and his master also with the same mire and dirt wherein he saith those doe sticke who hold that things are not more such than such What then doth this egregious clerke heerein onely shew himselfe according to the old proverbe Aleech professing others for to cure Whiles he himselfe is full of sores impure No verily but much more yet in his second reprehension he chaseth ere he is aware Epicurus together with Democritus out of this life for he giveth out that Democritus said The atomes are unto the senses by a certeine law and ordinance colour by the said law sweet and by the same law bitter Also that he who useth this reason and holdeth this opinion knoweth not himselfe if he be a man nor whether he be dead or alive To contradict these speeches I wot not well how but thus much I say that this is as much inseparable from the sentences and doctrine of Epicurus as figure and weight by their saying from the Atomes for what saith Democritus That there be substances in number infinite which are called Atomes because they cannot be divided howbeit different without qualitie and impassible which doe moove and are caried dispersed to and fro in the infinit voidnesse which when they approch one another or concur and meet together or else be enterlaced enfolded one about another then appeereth of these thus heaped and hudled together one thing water another fire another a plant and another a man That all these be Atomes still termed by him 〈◊〉 and nothing else For there can be no generation of that which is not no more than that which once was can become nothing by reason that these Atomes are so firme and solid that they can neither change nor alter not suffer And therefore neither can there be colour made of those things which have no colour nor nature or soule of such as be without quality and are impassible Whereupon Democritus is to be blamed in that he confesseth not those things that be accident unto principles but supposeth those to be principles whereto these happen For he should not have put downe principles immutable or at leastwise when he had supposed them to be such not to see withall that therewith the generation and breeding of all qualities perisheth And to denie an absurdity when one seeth it is impudence in the highest degree As for Epicurus he saith verily that he supposeth the same principles that Democritus doth but he saith not that colour sweet white and other qualities are by law and ordinance Now if he confesse not that he saith which neverthelesse he said it is no other but an old custome of his that which he is woont to doe For much like it is to this that he will seeme to take away divine providence and yet hee saith that he
commeth to passe that even with you All commeth to be but One unlesse you will use vaine words and void of sense speaking of voidnesse and fighting in vaine as with a shadow against those auncient Philosophers But these Atomes you will say are according to the opinion of Epicurus in number infinite and every thing that appereth unto us ariseth from them Beholde now what principles you put downe for generation to wit infinity and voidnesse whereof the one is without action impassible and bodilesse the other namely infinity disorderly void of reason incomprehensible dissolving and confounding it selfe for that by reason of multitude it cannot be circumscribed nor contained within limits But Permenides hath not abolished either fire or water or any rocke no nor the cites as Colotes saith inhabited as well in Europe as in Asia considering that he hath both instituted an orderly dispose digestion and also tempering the elements together to wit light and darke of them and by them absolutely finisheth all things visible in the world for written he hath at large of Earth of Heaven of Sunne Moone and starres as also spoken much of mans generation and being as he was a very ancient Philosopher he hath left nothing in Physiologie unsaid and whereof he hath not delivered both by word and writing his owne doctrine not borrowed else where passing over the repugnancie of other received principall opinions Moreover he of all others first and even before Socrates himselfe observed and understood that in nature there is one part subject to opinion and another subject to intelligence And as for that which is opinable inconstant it is and uncertaine wandring also and carried away with sundry passions and mutations apt to diminish and paire to increase also and growe yea and to be diversly affected and not ever after one sort disposed to the same in sense alike As for the intelligible part it is of another kinde For sound it is whole and not variable Constant and sure and ingenerable as he himselfe saith alwaies like to it selfe perdurable in the owne nature essence But Colotes like a 〈◊〉 cavilling at him catching at his words without regard of the matter not arguing against his reasons indeed but in words onely affirmeth flatly that Parmenides overthroweth all things in one word by supposing that All is One But he verily on the contrary side abolisheth neither the one nature nor the other but rendreth to ech of them that which is meet and apperteineth thereto For the intelligible part he rangeth in the Idea of One and of That which is saying that it is and hath being in regard of eternity and incorruption that it is one because it alwaies resembleth it selfe and receiveth no diversity As for that part which is Sensible he placeth it in the ranke of that which is uncerteine disorderly and ever mooving Of which two we may see the distinct judgement in the soule by these verses The one reteins to truth which is syncere Perswasive breeding science pure and cleere For it concerneth that which is intelligible and evermore alike and in the same sort The other rests on mens opinions vaine Which breed no true beleefe but uncertaine For that it is conversant in such things as receive al maner of changes passions mutabilities And verily how possibly he should admit and leave unto us sense and opinion and not withall allow that which is sensible and opinable a man is not able to shew But forasmuch as to that which is existent indeed it appertaineth to remaine in being and for that things sensible one while are and another while are not but passe continually from one being to another and alter their estate insomuch as they deserve rather some other name than this of being This speech as touching All that it should be one is not to take away the plurality of things sensible but to shew the difference betweene them and those that be intelligible which Plato in his treatise of Ideae minding to declare more plainly gave Colotes some advantage for to take holde of him And therefore me thinks it good reason to take before me all in one traine that also which he hath spoken against him But first let us consider the diligence together with the deepe and profound knowledge of this Philosopher Plato considering that Aristotle Xenocrates Theophrastus and all the Peripateticks have followed his doctrine For in what blinde corner of the world unhabitable wrot he his booke that you Colotes in heaping up together these criminations upon such personages should never light upon their works nor take in hand the books of Aristotle as touching the heaven and the soule nor those compositions of Theophrastus against the Naturalists nor that Zoroastres of Heraclitus one booke of Hell and infernall spirits another of Doubts and questions Naturall that also of Dicaearchus concerning the soule In all which books they are contradictory and repugnant in the maine and principall points of Naturall philosophy unto Plato And verily the prince of all other Peripateticks Strato accordeth not in many things with Aristotle and mainteineth opinions cleane contrary unto those of Plato as touching Motion Understanding the Soule and Generation And in conclusion he holdeth that the very world is not animall and whatsoever is naturall is consequent unto that which is casuall and according to fortune As for the Ideae for which Aristotle every where seemeth to course Plato and mooveth all maner of doubts concerning them in his Ethicks or morall discourses in his Physicks in his Exotericall dialogues he is thought of some to dispute and discourse with a more contentions and opinative spirit than became a Philosopher as if he propounded to himselfe for to convell and debase the Philosophy of Plato so farre was hee from following him What impudent and licentious rashnesse therefore is this that one having never knowen nor seene what these learned clerks had written and what their opinions were should coine and devise out of his owne fingers ends and falsly charge upon them those things which never came into their heads and in perswading himselfe that he reprooveth and refuteth others to bring in a proofe and evidence written with his owne hand for to argue and convince himselfe of ignorance or rash and audacious impudence saying that those who contradict Plato agree with him and they that repugne against him doe follow him But Plato quoth he hath written That horses are in vaine counted by us horses and men likewise And in what odde corner of Platoes works hath Colotes found this hidden As for us wee reade in all his books that horses be horses and men be men and that fire even by him is esteemed fire for hee holdeth every one of these things to be sensible and opinable and so he nameth them But this our trim man Colotes as though hee wanted never a jot of the highest pitch of sapience and knowledge presumeth forsooth and taketh it to be
reproch or touch notwithstanding shee was yoong and therewith beautifull This fresh widow whiles she treated of a mariage to be made betweene Bacchon a yoong gentleman a neighbours childe whose mother was a very familiar friend of hers a certeine yoong maiden a kinswoman of her owne by often talking with him and frequenting his company much fell herselfe in some fancie with the yoong man Thus both hearing and speaking much good and many kinde speeches of him and seeing besides a number of other gentlemen and persons of good woorth to be enamoured upon him by little and little she also fell to bee in hot love with the youth howbeit with a full intention and resolution to doe nothing that should be dishonest or unbeseeming her place parentage reputation but to be wedded unto Bacchon lawfully in the open sight of the world and so to live with him in the estate of wedlocke As the thing it selfe seemed at the first very strange so the mother of the yoong man of one side doubted and suspected the greatnesse of her state and the nobility magnificence of her house linage as not meet correspondent to his cōdition for to be a lover or to be matched there and on the other side some of his companions who used to ride forth a hunting with him considering that the yoong age of Bacchon was not answerable to the yeeres of Ismenodora buzzed many doubts in his head and frighted him from her what they could saying That she might be his mother and that one of her age was not for him and thus by their jesting and scoffing they hindered the mariage more than they who laboured in good earnest to breake it for hee began to enter into himselfe and considering that he was yet a beardlesse youth and scarcely undergrowen he was abashed and ashamed to mary a widow Howbeit in the end shaking off all others he referred himselfe to Anthemion and Pisias for to tell him their minds upon the point and to advise him for his best Now was Anthemion his cousen german one of good yeeres and elder than himselfe farre and Pisias of all those that made love unto him most austere and therefore he both withstood the mariage and also checked Anthemion as one who abandoned and betraied the yoong man unto Ismenodora Contrariwise Anthemion charged Pisias and said he did not well who being otherwise an honest man yet heerein imitated leawd lovers for that he went about to put his friend beside a good bargaine who now might be sped with so great a mariage out offo worshipfull an house and wealthy besides to the end that he might have the pleasure to see him a long time stripped naked in the wrestling place fresh still and smooth and not having touched a woman But because they should not by arguing thus one against another grow by little and little into heat of choler they chose for umpiers and judges of this their controversie my father and those who were of his company and thither they came assistant also there were unto them other of their friends Daphnaeus to the one and Protogenes to the other as if they had beene provided of set purpose to plead a cause As for Protogenes who sided with Pisias he inveighed verily with open mouth against dame Ismenodora whereupon Daphnaeus O Hercules quoth he what are we not to expect and what thing in the world may not happen in case it be so that Protogenes is ready heere to give defiance and make warre against love who all his life both in earnest and in game hath beene wholy in love and all for love which hath caused him to forget his booke and to forget his naturall countrey not as Laius did who was but five daies journey distant for that love of his was slow and heavy and kept still upon the land whereas your Cupid Protogenes With his light wings displaied and spred Hath over seafull swiftly fled from out of Cilicia to Athens to see faire boies and to converse and goe up and downe with them for to say a trueth the chiefe cause why Protogenes made a voiage out of his owne countrey and became a traveller was at the first this and no other Heere at the company tooke up a laughter and Protogenes Thinke you quoth he that I warre not against love and not rather stande in the defence of love against lascivious wantonnesse and violent intemperance which by most shamefull acts and filthy passions would perforce chalenge and breake into the fairest most honest and venerable names that be Why quoth Daphnaeus then do you terme mariage and the secret of mariage to wit the lawfull conjunction of man and wife most vile and dishonest actions than which there can be no knot nor linke in the world more sacred and holy This bond in trueth of wedlocke quoth Protogenes as it is necessary for generation is by good right praised by Polititians and law-givers who recommend the same highly unto the people and common multitude but to speake of true love indeed there is no jot or part therof in the societie and felowship of women neither doe I thinke that you and such as your selves whose affections stand to wives or maidens do love them no more than a flie loveth milke or a bee the hony combe as caters and cookes who keepe foules in mue and feed calves and other such beasts fatte in darke places and yet for all that they love them not But like as nature leadeth and conducteth our appetite moderately and as much as is sufficient to bread and other viands but the excesse thereof which maketh the naturall appetite to be a vicious passion is called gourmandise and pampering of the flesh even so there is naturally in men and women both a desire to enjoy the mutuall pleasure one of another whereas the impetuous lust which commeth with a kinde of force and violence so as it hardly can be held in is not fitly called love neither deserveth it that name For love if it seise upon a yoong kinde and gentle heart endeth by amity in vertue whereas of these affections and lusts afterwomen if they have successe and speed never so well there followeth in the end the fruit of some pleasure the fruition and enjoying of youth and a beautifull body and that is all And thus much testified Aristippus who when one went about to make him have a distaste and mislike of Lais the curtisan saying that she loved him not made this answer I suppose quoth he that neither good wine nor delicate fish loveth me but yet quoth he I take pleasure and delight in drinking the one and eating the other For surely the end of desire and appetite is pleasure and the fruition of it But love if it have once lost the hope and expectation of amity and kindnesse will not continue nor cherish and make much for beauty sake that which is irksome and odious be it neverso gallant and in
to turne away their eies from beholding And yet her grandiloquence and stout resolutions in her speech whereby she did exasperate and provoke Vespasian most was such that it diminished much the pitifull ruth and compassion that the beholders of the execution had of her for when she was past hope of obtaining her husbands life she would needs die in his turne and required that exchange for him saying withall that it was a greater joy unto her for to live in darkenesse and under the earth than to see him emperour And heerewith quoth my father ended their discourse as touching Love at what time as they were neere unto Thespies for then they might perceive comming toward them faster than with a footepace one of Pisias friends named Diogenes unto whom Soclarus spake aloud when he was yet a good way off You bring us no newes I hope Diogenes of warre Osse better than so quoth he being as there is a mariage toward why mend you not your pace therefore and make haste thither for the nuptiall sacrifice staieth onely for your comming At which words as my father said all the rest of the company joied and were exceeding glad onely Zeuxippus shewed himselfe mal-content and not well pleased for he could not dissemble it howbeit he was the first man that approoved the act of Ismenadora as good and lawfull and even now he willingly set a garland upon his ownehead and put on a white wedding robe marching before all the companie through the market place to render thankesgiving unto the god Love for this mariage Well done quoth my father then I sweare by Jupiter goe we on all hands away and let us be gone that we may laugh and make our selves merie with this man and withall adore and woriship the god for evident it is that hee taketh joy in that which hath beene done and is present with his favour and approbation to grace the wedding OF THE FACE APPEARING WITHIN THE ROUNDLE OF THE MOONE The Summarie THis dialogue is defective in the beginning thereof In it are brought in Sylla and Pharnaces with some others disputing with Plutarch as touching one point of naturall Philosophy worthy to be considered and read over and over 〈◊〉 by those that take delight in such pleasant speculations meete for good wits to be exercised in The waight of this matter concerneth the globe of the Moone and 〈◊〉 principally this not able accident of the face which appeareth therein by occasion whereof divers questions depending upon the first and principall are discussed and resolved by our authour according as he hath comprised and understood them But here is the mischiefe in this discourse like as in many others of this second tome that it is not only headlesse but maimed also and dismembred otherwise and yet the translatour and the french especially hath with great dexterity laid the pieces together so as the breaches can hardly be seene unlesse a man looke very neere Now the principall matters handled here be these that follow After that Plutarch had refuted three opinions concerning the face in the Moone and brought in one Lucius maintaining that position of the Academiques who presuppose that the Moone is terrene and consisteth of an earthly substance he entreth into disputation against those who attribute one centre unto the world and the earth labouring to confirme his owne opinion by divers arguments marked in their order which he handleth with such a grace that yet a man may see withall how naturall Philosophy destitute of that light of Gods word which by Moses in the first chapter of Genesis resolveth and cleereth infinit disputations and controver sies in these matters is in a maner blinde and stumbleth many times most grosly and absurdly Moreover according to the traine of words and speeches which commonly in such conferences follow one upon another they treat of the centre and motion of the universall world of the proportion thereof and the principal parts of it of the illumination of the Moone of reflexions and mirrours of eclipses and the shadow of the earth Item whether the Moone be a globe of fire or of what else what is her colour from whence preceedeth how commeth this resemblance of a face which is observed in her whether she be inhabited or no as also of her nature and effects Toward the end he 〈◊〉 a fable fetched from the Poets and ancient naturall Philosophy for to mollifie and make more probable and credible that which had beene delivered as touching those that dwell within the Moone In sum this treatise giveth good proofe of the quicke and pregnant wit of our authour who could enter into and perce through althings whereof if he have not alwaies attained unto the exact knowledge we should rather by all likelihood blame the iniquity of long time which hath not permitted us to have these bookes entire and whole than the insufficiency of so deepe a clerke To conclude this ought to unite those that sound and search into the secrets of nature to ioine with that which the moderne Philosophers of our time are able to write sleightly and at ease of such matters what hath beene delivered by the ancients who indeed have made the coverture unto those who succeeded after them to the end that there might be drawen out of them all a certaine firme resolution which raiseth us up above the Moone and all other celestiall bodies unto the onely God and sole Creator of so many admirable works thereby to acknowledge serve and praise him according as his omnipotent greatnesse doth deserve OF THE FACE APPEARING in the roundle of the Moone WEll thus much said Sylla for it accorded well to my speech and depended thereupon but I would very willingly before all things else know what need is there to make such a preamble for to come unto these opinions which are so currant and rife in every mans mouth as touching the face of the Moone And why not quoth I considering the difficultie of these points which have driven us thither for like as in long maladies when we have tried ordinarie remedies and usuall rules of diet and found no helpe thereby we give them over in the end and betake our selves to lustrall sacrifices and expiations to anulets or preservatives for to be hanged about our necks and to interpretations of dreames even so in such obscure questions and difficult speculations when the common and ordinarie opinions when usuall and apparent reasons wil not serve nor satisfie us necessary it is to assay those which are more extravagant and not to reject and despise the same but to enchant or charme our selves as one would say with the discourses of our auncients and trie all meanes for to finde out the trueth for at the very first encounter you see how absurd he is intollerable who saith that the forme or face appeering in the Moone is an accident of our eie-sight that by reason of weaknes giveth place to the
note of notorious impudencie Next neighbours unto these are they who among imputations and blames adjoine certaine praises as in the time of Socrates one Aristoxenus having given him the termes of ignorant untaught dissolute came in with this afterwards but true it is that he doeth no man wrong and is woorst to himselfe for like as they who will cunningly and artificially flatter otherwhiles among many and unmeasurable praises mingle some light reprehensions joining with their sweet flatteries as it were some tart sauce to season them certeine words frankly and freely spoken even so the malicious person because he would haue that beleeved which he blameth putteth thereto some little sprinkling of a few praises There may be exemplified and numbered many other signes and marks of malice but these may suffice to give us to understand the nature and intention of this author whom now we have in hand First and formost therefore to begin at heavenly wights and as they say at Vesta Io the daughter of Inachus whom all the Greeks thinke to have bene deified and honored with divine honors by the barbarous nations in such sort as that she hath left her name to manie seas and noble ports in regard of her great glory and renowme and opened the source as it were and original beginning of many right noble most famous and roiall families this our gentle Historiographer saith that she yeelded her selfe unto certaine marchants of Phoenicia to be caried away for that she having bene defloured not against her will by a master of a ship feared lest she should be spied great with child and withall belieth the Phoenicians themselves as if they gave out as much of her He reports himselfe also to the restimony of the sages and wise men of Persia that the Phoenicians ravished and caried her away with other women shewing withall directly his opinion a little after that the most noble and bravest exploit that ever the Greeks atcheived to wit the war of Troy was an enterprise begone in folly for a leawd and naughty woman for it is very apparent quoth he that these women if they had not bene willing themselves they had never bene so ravished and had away as they were And therefore we may as well say that the gods did foolishly to shew themselves angry and offended with the Lacedaemonians for the abusing of the daughters of Scedasus the Leuctrian as also to punish Ajax for that he forced lady Cassandra for certeine it is according to Herodotus that if they had not bene willing they had never beene defloured and yet himselfe saith that Aristomenes was taken alive and caried away by the Lacedaemonians and afterwards Philopoemen captaine generall of the Achaeans tasted the same fortune and Atilius Regulus the consull of the Romans fell likewise into the hands of his enimies all of them such personages as hardly may be found more valiant and hardy warriors in the world But what marvell is this considering that men doe take leopards and tygres alive Now Herodotus blameth the poore women who were by force abused and defendeth those wicked men who offered them that abuse Besides so much affected he is in love unto the Barbarous nations that he will acquite cleere Busirides of that ill name which went of him for slaying of his guests sacrificing men and attributing unto all the Aegyptians by all his testimonies much godlinesse religion and justice returneth upon the Greeks this inhumaine and abhominable cruelty For in his second booke he writeth that Menelaus having received Helena at the hands of king Proteus his wife and bene by him honored with great and rich presents shewed himselfe againe a most unjust and wicked man For when the winde and weather served him not for to embarke and saile away he wrought by his report a most cursed and detestable fact in taking two of the inhabitants male children of that countrey and cut them in peeces for sacrifice by occasion whereof being hated of the Aegyptians and pursued he fled directly with his fleet and departed into Libya For mine owne part I wot not what Aegyptian hath given out this report of Menelaus but contrariwise I know full well that in Aegypt they retaine still to this day many honors in the memoriall both of him and also of his wife Helena Moreover this writer holding on still his course reporteth that the Persians learned of the Greeks to abuse boies carnally and contrary to kinde And yet how is it possible that the Persians should learne this vilany and filthinesse of the Greeks considering that the Persians maner all doe confesse that the children were there guelded before they had ever seene the Greeks sea Also he writeth that the Greeks were taught by the Aegyptians their solemne pompes festivall processions and publicke assemblies likewise to adore the twelve gods yea that Melampus had learned of the same Aegyptians the very name of Dionysus that is to say Bacchus who taught it the other Greeks As touching the sacred mysteries and secret ceremonies of Ceres that they were brought out of Aegypt by the daughters of Danaus as also that the Aegyptians beat themselves and are in great sorrow yet will themselves name nothing why they so doe but remaine close and keepe silence in the religious service of the gods As touching Hercules and Bacchus whom the Aegyptians esteeme as gods and the Greeks very aged men he maketh mention in no place of this precise observation and distinction howsoever he faith that this Aegyptian Hercules was reckoned and ranged in the second order of the gods and Bacchus in the third as those who had a beginning of their essence and were not eternall and yet he pronounceth those other to be gods but unto these he judgeth that we ought to performe anniversarie funerals as having beene sometime mortall and now canonized demi-gods but in no wise to sacrifice unto them as gods After the same maner spake he of Pan overthrowing the most holy and venerable sacrifices of the Greeks by the vanities and fables which the Aegyptians devised Yet is not this the woorst nor so intollerable for deriving the pedegree of Hercules from the race of Perseus he holdeth that Perseus was an Assyrian according to that which the Persians say But the captaines and leaders of the Dorians saith he seeme to be descended in right line from the Aegyptians and fetch their genealogie and ancestours from before Danae and Acrisius for as concerning Epaphus Io Iasus and Argus he hath wholly passed over and rejected striving to make not onely the other two Herculees Aegyptians and Phoenicians but also this whom himselfe nameth to be the third a meere stranger from Greece and to enroll him among Barbarians notwithstanding that of all the ancient learned men neither Homer nor Hesiodus ne yet Archilochus Pisander Stesichorus Alcman nor Pindarus do make mention of any Hercules an Aegyptian or Phoenician but acknowledge one alone to wit our Boeotian and Argien And that
this matter thus word for word Pactyas quoth he being advertised that the Persian army approched fled first to Mitylenae and afterwards to Chios and there he fell into the hands of Cyrus Moreover this our author in his third booke describing the expedition or journey of the Lacedaemonians against Polycrates the tyrant saith that the Samians both are of opinion and also report that it was by way of recompence and requitall because they had sent them aid in their warre against Messene that the Lacedaemonians entred into armes and warred upon the tyrant for to reduce the exiled persons home againe and restore them to their livings and goods but he saith that the Lacedaemonians deny flatly this to have bene the cause saying it was neither to set the Isle Samos at liberty nor to succour the Samians that they enterprised this warre but rather to chastice the Samians for that they had intercepted and taken away a faire standing cup of gold sent by them as a present unto king Croesus and besides a goodly cuirace or brestplate sent unto them from king Amasis And yet we know for certaine that in all those daies there was not a city in Greece so desirous of honour nor so infest and deadly bent against tytants as Lacedaemon was for what other cuppe of gold or cuirace was there for which they chaced out of Corinth and Ambracia the usurping race of the Cypselidae banished out of Noxos the tyrant Lygdamis expelled out of Athens the children of Pisistratus drave out of Sicyone Aeschines exiled from Theses Symmachus delivered the Phocaeans from Aulis and turned Aristogenes out of Miletus as for the lordly deminions over Thessaly they utterly ruinated and rooted out which Aristomedes and Angelus usurped whom they suppressed and defaited by the meanes of Leotychidas their king But of these things I have written else where more exactly and at large Now if Herodotus saith true what wanted they of extreame folly and wickednesse in the highest degree indisavowing and denying a most just and honorable occasion of this warre to confesse that they made an invasion upon a poorer and miserable nation oppressed and afflicted under a tyrant and all in remembrance of a former grudge to be revenged for a small wrong upon a base minde and mechanicall avarice Now haply he had a fling at the Lacedaemonians and gave them a blur with his pen because in the traine and consequence of the story they came so just under it but the city of the Corinthians which was cleane out of his way he hath notwithstanding taken it with him and bespurted and dashed as he passed by with a most grievous slander and heavy imputation The Corinthians also quoth he did favor and second with great affection this voiage of the Lacedaemonians for to requite an hainous outrage and injury which they had received before time at the Samians handes And that was this Periander the tyrant of Corinth sent three hundred yoong boies that were the sonnes of the most noble persons in all Corfu to king Aliattes for to be guelded These youths arrived in the Isle Samos whō being landed the Samians taught how to sit as humble suppliants within the temple and sanctuary of Diana set before them for their nourishment certaine cakes made of Sesam seed hony And this forsoth was it that our trim historiographer calleth so great an outrage abuse offred by the Samians unto the Corinthians for which he saith the Lacedaemonians also were stirred up and provoked against them because they had saved the children of Greeks from eviration But surely he that fasteneth this reproch upon the Corinthians sheweth that the city was more wicked than the tyrant himselfe As for him his desire was to be revenged of the inhabitants of Corfu who had killed his sonne among them but the Corinthians what wrong received they of the Samians for which they should in hostile maner set upon them who opposed themselves and empeached so inhumane and barbarous crueltie to be committed and namely that they should revive and raise up againe an old cankred grudge and quarrels that had lien dead and buried the space of three generations and all in favour and maintenance of tyranny which had laine very grievous and unsupportable upon them and whereof being overthrowen and ruined as it is they cease not still to abolish and doe out the remembrance for ever Loe what outrage it was that the Samians committed upon the Corinthians but what was the revenge and punishment that the Corinthians devised against the Samians For if in good earnest they tooke indignation and were offended with the Samians it had beene meet not to have incited the Lacedaemonians but to have diverted them rather from levying warre upon Polycrates to the end that the tyrant not being defaited and put downe they might not have beene freed nor delivered from tyrannicall servitude But that which more is what occasion had the Corinthians to bee angrie with the Samians who though they desired yet could not save the Corcyreans children considering they tooke no displeasure against the Cnidians who not onely preserved but also restored them to their parents And verily the Corcyreans make no great regard nor speake ought of the Samians in this behalfe mary the Cnidians they remembred in the best maner for the Cnidians they ordeined honours priviledges and immunities and enacted publicke decrees to ratifie and confirme the same For these Cnidians sailing to the Isle of Samos arrived there drave out of the foresaid temple the guard of Pertander tooke the children foorth and brought them safe to Corfu according as Antenor the Candiot and Dionysius the Chalcidian in the booke of Foundations have left in writing Now that the Lacedaemonians undertooke this expedition not for to be quit with the Samians and to punish them but to deliver them rather from the tyrant and for to save them I will beleeve no other testimonie but the Samians themselves For they affirme that there is among them now standing a tombe or monument by them erected at the publike charges of the citie for the corps of Archias a citizen of Sparta whose memoriall they doe honour for that in the said service he fought valiantly and lost his life for which cause the posteritie descended from that man doe yet unto this day beare singular affection and do all the pleasures they can unto the Samians as Herodotus himselfe beareth witnesse Furthermore in his fifth booke he writeth that Clisthenes one of the most noble and principall personages of all Athens perswaded the priestresse Pythia to be a false prophetesse in mooving the Lacedaemonians alwaies by her answers that she gave out for to deliver the citie of Athens from the thirtie tyrants and thus unto a most glorious peece of worke and right just he adjoineth the imputation of so great an impietie and a damnable device of falshood and withall bereaveth god Apollo of that prophesie which is so good and honest yea
his body to be hanged up when he was dead and the other to be pricked whiles he was alive And this our Historiographer hath used this cruelty which they shewed unto Leonidas dead for a manifest proofe that the Barbarous king hated Leonidas in his life time above all men in the world And in avouching that the Thebans who sided with the Medes at Thermopylae were thus branded marked as slaves and afterwards being thus marked fought egerly in the behalfe of the same Barbarians before Plateae me thinks he may well say as Hippoclides the feat moriske dancers unto whom when at a feast he bestirred his legges and hopped artificially about the tables one said unto him Thou dancest truly Hippoclides answered againe Hippoclides careth not greatly for the trueth In his eighth booke he writeth that the Greeks being affrighted like cowards entred into a resolution for to flie from Artemisium into Greece and that when those of Euboea besought them to tarry still a while untill such time as they might take order how to bestow their wives children and familie they were nothing moved at their praiers nor gave any eare unto them untill such time as Themistocles tooke a peece of mony of them and parted the same betweene Eurybiades and Adimantus the Pretour or captaine of the Corinthians And then they staied longer and fought a navall battell with the Barbarians And verily Pindarus the Poet albeit he was not of any confederate city but of that which was suspected and accused to hold of the Medians side yet when he had occasion to make mention of the battell at Artemisium brake forth into this exclamation This is the place where Athens youth sometime as writers say Did with their bood of liberty the glorious groundworke lay But Herodotus contrariwise by whom some give out that Greece hath bene graced and adorned writeth that the said victory was an act of corruption bribery and mere theft and that the Greeks fought against their wils as being bought and sold by their captaines who tooke mony therefore Neither is here an end of his malice For all men in maner doe acknowledge and confesse that the Greeks having gotten the upper hand in sea fight upon this coast yet abandoned the cape Artemisium and yeelded it to the Barbarians upon the newes that they heard of the overthrow received at Thermopylae For it had bene no boot nor to any purpose for to have sitten still there and kept the sea for the behoofe of Greece considering that now the warre was hard at their dores within those straights and Xerxes master of all the Avenies But Herodotus feigneth that the Greeks before they were advertised of Leontidas death held a counsell and were in deliberation to flie For these be his words Being in great distresse quoth he and the Athenians especially who had many of their ships even the one halfe of their fleet shrewdly brused and shaken they were in consultation to take their flight into Greece But let us permit him thus to name or to reproch rather this retrait of theirs before the battell but he termed it before a flight and now at this present he calleth it a flight and hereafter he will give it the name of flight so bitterly is he bent to use this vile word flight But quoth he there came to the Barbarians presently after this in a barke or light pinnace a man of Estiaea who advertised them how the Greeks had quit the cape Artemisium and were fledde which because they could not beleeve they kept the messenger in ward and safe custody and thereupon put forth certaine swift foists in espiall to discover the trueth What say you Herodotus What is it you write That they fled as vanquished whom their very enimies themselves after the battell could not beleeve that they fled as supposing them to have had the better hand a great deale And deserveth this man to have credit given him when he writeth of one perticular person or of one city apart by it selfe who in one bare word spoileth all Greece of the victory He overthroweth and demolisheth the very Trophaee and monument that all Greece erected He abolisheth those titles and inscriptions which they set up in the honor of Diana on the East side of Artimisium calling all this but pride and vaineglory And as for the Epigram it ran to this effect From Asia land all sorts of nations stout When Athens youth sometime in navall fight Had vanquished and all these coasts about Disperst their fleet and therewith put to flight And staine the hast of Medes Loe heere in sight What monuments to thee with due respect Diana virgin pure they did erect He described not the order of the battels and how the Greeks were ranged neither hath he shewed what place every city of theirs held during this terrible fight at sea but in that retrait of their fleet which he termeth a flight he saith that the Corinthians sailed formost and the Athenians hinmost he should not then have thus troden under foot and insulted too much over those Greeks who tooke part with the Medes he I say who by others is thought to be a Thurian borne and reckoneth himselfe in the number of the Halicarnasseans and they verily being descended from the Dorians come with their wives and children to make warre against the Greeks But this man is so farre off from naming and alledging before the streights and necessities whereto those states were driven who sided with the Medians that he reporteth thus much of the Medians how notwithstanding the Phocaeans were their captiall enemies yet they sent unto them aforehand that they would spare their countrey without doing any harme or damage unto it if they might receive from them as a reward fifite talents of silver And this wrote he as touching the Phocaeans in these very termes The Phocaeans quoth he were the onely men who in these quarters sided not with the Medians for no other cause as I finde upon mature consideration but in regard of the hatred which they bare against the Thessalians for if the Thessalians had bene affected to the Greeks I suppose the Phocaeans would have turned to the Medes And yet a little after himselfe wil say that thirteene cities of the Phocaeans were set on fire and burnt to ashes by the Barbarian king their countrey laid waste the temple within the citie Abes consumed with fire their men and women both put to the sword as many as could not gaine the top of the mount Pernassus Neverthelesse he rangeth them in the number of those that most affectionatly tooke part with the Barbarians who indeed chose rather to endure all extremities and miseries that warre may bring than to abandon the defence and maintenance of the honour of Greece And being not able to reproove the men for any deeds committed he busied his braines to devise false imputations forging and framing with his pen divers surmises and suspicions against them not
grace Them to incite the warres to undertake Dame Venus then for those good womens sake To Median archers expos'd not as a pray The Greeks nor would their Citadel betray Such matters as these he should have written and made mention of rather than inserted into his historie how Aminocles killed his owne sonne Over and besides after he had satisfied himselfe to the ful with most impudentimputations which he charged upon Themistocles accusing him that he ceased not secretly to rob and spoile the Isles without the knowledge of the other captaines joined in commission with him in the end taketh from the Athenians the crowne of principall valiance and setteth it upon the head of the Aeginets writing thus The Greeks having sent the first fruits of their spoiles and pillage unto the temple at Delphos demanded of Apollo in generall whether he had sufficient and stood content with that portion of the bootie unto whom he answered that of all other Greeks he had received enough wherewith he was well pleased but of the Aeginets not so at whose hands he required the chiefe prise and honor of prowesse which they woon at the battell of Salamis Thus you see he fathereth not upon the Scythians the Persians or Aegyptians his lying tale which he coggeth and deviseth as Aesope doth upon crowes ravens and apes but he useth the very person of god Apollo Pythius for to disappoint and deprive the Athenians of the first place in honor at the battell of Salamis as also The mistocles of the second which was adjudged unto him at Isthmus or the streights of Peloponnesus for that ech captaine there attributed the highest degree of prowesse to himselfe and the next unto him and thus the judgement heereof growing to no end and conclusion by reason of the ambition of the said captaines he saith All the Greeks weighed anchor and departed as not being willing to conferre upon Themistocles the sovereigne honour of the victorie And in his ninth and last booke having nothing left to wreake his teene upon and to discharge his malicious and spightfull stomacke but onely the Lacedaemonians and that excellent piece of service which they performed against the Barbarians before the city of Plateae he writeth That the Lacedaemonians who aforetime feared greatly that the Athenians being sollicited and perswaded by Mardonius would forsake all other Greeks now that the Streights of Isthmus were mured up their country safe enough they tooke no further care of others but left them at six and seven feasting making holiday at home deluding the embassadors of the Athenians and holding them off with delaies and not giving them their dispatch And how is it then that there went to Plateae a thousand and five Spartans having every one of them seven Ilotes about him for the guard of his person How is it I say that they taking upon them the adventure of so great a perill vanquished and discomfited so many thousands of Barbarians But hearken what a probable cause hee alledgeth There was quoth he by chance a man at Sparta named Chileus who came from Tegaea thither and sojourned there for that among the Ephori he had some friends as betweene whom and him there was mutuall hospitalitie He it was who perswaded them to bring their forces into the field shewing unto them that the bulwarke and wall for the defence of Peloponnesus would serve in small stead or none if the Athenians joined once with Mardonius and this was it that drew Pausantas forth with his power to Plateae so that if some particular businesse haply had kept Chileus at home still in Tegea Greece had never gotten the victorie Againe not knowing another time what to doe with the Athenians one while he extolleth their city on high and another while he debaseth it as low tossing it to and fro saying that being in question about the second place of honor with the Tegeats they made mention of the Heraclidae alledging their valiant acts which before time they had atchieve aganinst the Amazones the sepultures also of the Peloponnesians who died under the very wals of the castle Cadmea and finally that they went downe to Marathon vaunting gloriously in words and taking great joy that they had the conduct of the left wing or point of the battell Also a little after he putteth downe that Pausanias the Spartans willingly yeelded the superioritie of command to them and desired them to take the charge of the right wing themselves to the end they might confront the Persians and give them the left as if they had excused themselves by their disuse in that they were woont to encounter with the Barbarians And verily albeit this is a meere mockerie to say that they were unwilling to deale with those enemies who were not accustomed to fight with them yet he saith moreover that all the other Greeks when their captaines ledde them into another place for to encampe in so soone as ever their standerds marched advanced forward The horsemen quoth he in generall fled and would willingly have put themselves within the city Plateae but they fledde indeed as farre as to the temple of Juno Wherein he accuseth all the Greeks together of disobedience cowardise and treason Finally he writeth that there were none but the Lacedaemonians and the Tegeates who charged the Barbarians nor any besides the Athenians who fought with the Thebans depriving all other cities equally of their part in the glory of that so noble an exploit for that there was not one of them who laid hand to worke but sitting all still or leaning upon their weapons hard by abandoning and betraying in the meane time without doing ought those who fought for their safetie untill that the Phliasians and the Megarians though long it were first hearing that Pausanias had the upper hand ranne in with more haste than good speed and falling upon the cavallerie of the Thebanes where they were presently defaited and slaine without any great adoe But the Corinthians quoth he were not at this fray but after the victorie keeping above on the high ground among the mountaines by that meanes met not with the Thebanes horsemen For the cavallery of the Thebanes seeing the Barbarians to fly all in a rout put themselves foorth before them to make them way and by this meanes very affectionately assisted them in their flight and all in recompence and by way of thankesgiving forsooth for so you must take it for those marks which were given them in their faces within the streight of Thermopilae But in what ranke and place of this battell the Corinthians were raunged and how they did their devoir and quit themselves against the Barbarians before Plateae you may know by that which Simonides writeth of them in these verses Amid the host arraunged stood and in the battell maine Those who inhabit Ephyra waterd with many a vaine Of lively springs Men who in feats of martiall armes excell And joinct with them they
ancient Musicians used in their numbers and measure their variety much more diverse different than now it is So that we may boldly say that the varietie of thymes the difference also and diversitie of strokes was then more variable For men in these daies love skill and knowledge but in former times they affected numbers and measures So that it appeareth plainely that the ancients abstained from broken Musicke and song not because they had no skill but for that they had no will to approve thereof And no mervell for many fashions there be in the world and this our life which are well enough knowen though they be not practised many strange they be by reason of disuse which grew upon occasion that some thing was observed therein not decent seemly But that it was not for ignorance nor want of experience that Plato rejected other kindes of Musicke but onely because they were not beseeming such a common wealth of his we will shew hereafter and withall that he was expert and skilfull in harmony For in that procreation of the soule which he describeth in the booke of Timaeus he declareth what study he had emploied in other Mathematicall studies and in Musicke besides writing after this maner Thus in maner quoth he did God at the first And after that he filled the double and treble intervals in cutting off one portion from thence and putting it betweene both of them in such sort as in everie intervall or distance there were two moities Certes this Exordium or Prooeme is a sufficient proofe of skill and experience in harmonie according as wee will shew heereafter Three sorts of primitive medieties there be out of which all other bee drawen to wit Arithmeticall Geometricall and Harmonicall Arithmeticall is that which surmounteth and is surmounted in equall number Geometricall in even proportion and Harmonicall neither in reason and proportion nor in number Plato therefore intending to declare harmonically the harmony of the foure elements of the soule and the cause why things so divers accorded together in each intervall hath put downe tow medieties of the soule and that acording to musical proportion For in the accord Diapason in Musicke two intervals there are betweene two extremities whereof we will shew the proportion For the accord Diapason consisteth in a double proportion as for example six and twelve will make a double proportion in number And this intervall is from Hypate Meson unto Nete Diczeugmenon Now six and twelve being the two extremities Hypate Meson conteineth the number of six and Nete Diezeugmenon that of twelve It remaineth now that we ought to take unto these the meane numbers betweene these two extremities the extreames whereof will be found the one in proportion Epitritos or 〈◊〉 the other Hemiotios or sesquialterall And these be numbers eight and nine For eight is serquitertian to six and nine sesquialterall Thus much as touching one of the extreames As for the other which is twelve it is above nine in sesquitertian proportion and above eight in sesquialterall These two numbers then being betweene six and twelve and the intervall 〈◊〉 compounded and consisting of Diatesseron and Diapente it appeareth that Mese shall have the number of eight and Paramese the number of nine which done there will be the same habitude from Hypate and Mese that is from Paramese to Nete of a disjoint Tetrachord The same proportion is found also in numbers for the same reason that is from six to eight is from nine to twelve and looke what reason there is betweene six and nine the same is betweene eight and twelve Now betweene eight and six the proportion is sesquitertian as also betweene twelve and nine But betweene nine and six sesquialterall like as betweene twelve and eight Thus much may serve to shew that Plato was well studied and very expert in the Mathematicks Now that harmony is a venerable worthy and divine thing Artstotle the desciple of Plato testifieth in these words Harmony quoth he is celestiall of a beautifull and wonderfull nature and more than humaine which being of it selfe divided into foure it hath two medieties the one arithmeticall the other harmonicall and of the parts thereof the magnitudes and extremities are seene according to number and equality of measure for accords in song are appropriat and fitted in two Tetrachords These be the words of Aristotle who said that the body of harmony is composed of parts dislike and accordant verily one with the other but yet the medieties of the same agree according to reason arithmeticall for that Nete according to Hypate by double proportion maketh an accord and consonants of Diapason For it hath as we have before said Nete of twelve unities and Hypate of six Paramese according with Hypate in proportion sesquialterall of nine unities But of Mese we say that it hath eight unities the principal intervals of Musicke are composed of these to wit Diatessaron which consisteth of a proportion sesquitertian of Diapente which standeth upon a sesquialterall and Diapason of a duple For so is preserved the proportion sesquioctave which is accordingto the proportion Toniaeus Thus you see how the parts of harmony doe both surmount and also are surmounted of other parts by the same excesse and the medieties of medieties as well according to expresse in numbers as Geometricall puissance Thus Aristotle declareth them to have these and such like powers namely that Nete surmounteth Mese by a third part and that Hypate is semblably surmounted of Paramese in such sort as these excesses are of the kinde of Relatives which have relation to another for they surmount and be surmounted by the same parts And therefore by the same proportion the two extreames of Mese and Paramese doe surmount and be surmounted to wit sesquitertian and sesquialterall And after this fort is the harmonicall excesse But the excesse of Nete and Mese by arithmeticall proportion sheweth the exuperances in equall partie and even so Paramese in proportion to Hypate for Paramese surmounteth Mese in proportion sesquioctave Like as againe Nete is a double proportion of Hypate and Paramese of Hypate in proportion sesquialterall and Mese sesquitertian in regard of Hypate See then how harmony is composed according to Aristotle himselfe of her parts and numbers And so verily by him it is composed most naturally of a nature as well finit as infinit both of even and also of od it selfe and all the parts thereof for it selfe totally and whole is even as being composed of foure parts or termes the parts whereof and their proportions be even od and even not even For nete it hath even of twelve unities Paramese od of nine unities Mese even of eight unities and Hypate even not even of six unities So that harmony thus composed both it selfe and the parts thereof one to the other as well in excesse as in proportions the whole accordeth with the whole and the parts together And that which more is the very
estate and degree which is meet for them and according to their nature These things and such like for all the world they say are reported of Typhon who upon envy and malice committed many outrages and having thus made a trouble and confusion in all things filled sea and land with wofull calamities and miseries but was punished for it in the end For Isis the wife and sister of Osiris in revenge plagued him in extinguishing and repressing his fury and rage and yet neglected not she the travels and paines of her owne which she endured her trudging also and wandring to and fro nor many other acts of great wisdome and prowesse suffered she to be buried in silence and oblivion but inserting the same among the most holy ceremonies of sacrifices as examples images memorials and resemblances of the accidents happing in those times she consecrated an ensignement instruction and consolation of piety and devout religion to godward as well for men as women afflicted with miseries By reason whereof she and her husband Osiris of good Daemons were transmuted for their vertue into gods like as afterwards were Hercules and Bacchus who in regard thereof and not without reason have honours decreed for them both of gods and also of Daemons intermingled together as those who in all places were puissant but most powerfull both upon and also under the earth For they say that Sarapis is nothing else but Pluto and Isis the same that Proserpina as Archemachus of Eubaea and Heraclitus of Pontus testisie and he thinketh that the oracle in the city Canobus is that of father Dis or Pluto King Ptolemaeus surnamed Soter that is to say saviour caused that huge statue or colosse of Pluto which was in the city Sinope to be be taken from thence not knowing nor having seene before of what forme and shape it was but onely that as he dreamed he thought that he saw Serapis commanding him withall speed possible to transport him into Alexandrta Now the king not knowing where this statue was nor where to finde it in this doubtfull perplexity related his vision aforesaid unto his friends about him and chanced to meet with one Sosibius a great traveller and a man who had bene in many places and he said that in the city of Sinope he had seene such a statue as the king described unto them Whereupon Ptolemaeus sent Soteles and Dionysius who in long time and with great travell and not without the especiall grace of the divine providence stole away the said colosse and brought it with them Now when it was come to Alexandria and there seene Timotheus the great Cosmographer and Antiquary and Manethon of the province Sebennitis guessed it by all conjectures to be the image of Pluto and namely by Cerberus the hel-dog and the dragon about him perswading the king that it could be the image of no other god but of Serapis For it came not from thence with that name but being brought into Alexandria it tooke the name Serapis by which the Aegyptians doe name Pluto And yet Heraclitus verily the Naturalist saith that Hades and Dronisis that is to say Pluto and Bacchus be the same And in trueth when they are disposed to play the fooles and be mad they are caried away to this opinion For they who suppose that Hades that is to say Pluto is said to be the body and as it were the sepulcher of the soule as if it seemed to be foolish and drunken all the while she is within it me thinkes they doe allegorize but very baldly And better it were yet to bring Osiris and Bacchus together yea and to reconcile Sarapis unto Osiris in saying that after he hath changed his nature he became to have this denomination And therefore this name Sarapis is common to all as they know very well who are professed in the sacted religion of Osiris For we ought not to give eare and credit to the bookes and writings of the Phrygians wherein we finde that there was one Charopos the daughter of Hercules and that of Isatacus a sonne of Hercules was engendred Typhon neither yet to make account of Phylarchus who writeth that Bacchus was the first who from the Indians drave two beeses whereof the one was named Apis and the other Osiris That Sarapis is the proper name of him who ruleth and embelisheth the universall world and is derived of the word Sairein which some say signifieth as much as to beautifie and adorne For these be absurd toies delivered by Phylarchus but more monstrous and senselesse are their absurdities who write that Sarapis is no god but that it is the coffin or sepulchet of Apis that is so called as also that there be certain two leaved brasen gates in Memphis bearing the names of Lethe Cocytus that is to say oblivion and wailing which being set open when they interre and bury Apis in the opening make a great sound and rude noise which is the cause that we lay hand upon every copper or brasen vessell when it resoundeth so to stay the noise thereof Yet is their more apparence of trueth and reason in their opinion who hold that it was derived of these verbes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to move as being that which moveth the whole frame of the world The priests for the most part hold that Sarapis is a word compounded of Osiris and Apis together giving this exposition withall and teaching us that we ought to beleeve Apis to be an elegant image of the soule of Osiris For mine owne part if Sarapis be an Aegyptian name I suppose rather 〈◊〉 it betokeneth joy and mirth And I ground my conjecture upon this that the Aegyptians ordinarily call the feast of joy and gladnesse termed among the Athenians Charmosyna by the name of Sairei For Plato himselfe saith that Hades which signifieth Pluto being the sonne of Aidos that is to say of shamefastnesse and reverence is a milde and gracious god to those who are toward him And very true it is that in the Aegyptians language many other proper names are significant and carry their reason with them as namely that infernall place under the earth into which they imagine the soules of the dead doe descend after they be departed they call Amenthes which terme is as much to say as taking and giving but whether this word be one of those which in old time came out of Greece and were transpotted thither we will consider and discusse better hereafter Now for this present let us prosecute that which remaineth of this opinion now in hand For Osiris and Isis of good Daemons were translated into the number of the gods And as for the puissance of Typhon oppressed and quelled howbeit panting as yet at the last gaspe and striving as it were with the pangs of death they have certaine ceremonies and sacrifices to pacify and appease Other feasts also there be againe on the contrary side wherein they
named Mithres and heereupon it is that the Persians call an intercessor or mediator Mithres He teacheth us also to sacrifice unto the one of them for petition of good things and for thankesgiving but to the other for to divert and turne away sinister and evill accidents To which purpose they used to stampe in a morter a certeine herbe which they call Omomi calling upon Pluto and the darknesse then temper they it with the bloud of a woolfe which they have killed in sacrifice this done they carie it away and throw it into a darke corner where the Sunne never shineth For this conceit they have that of herbes and plants some appertaine unto the good god and others to the evill daemon or divell Semblably of living creatures dogs birds and land urchins belong to their good god but those of the water to the evill fiend And for this cause they repute those very happie who can kill the greatest number of them Howbeit these Sages and wise men report many fabulous things of the gods as for example that Oromazes is engendred of the cleerest and purest light and Arimanius of deepe darknesse also that they warre one upon another And the former of these created sixe other gods the first of Benevolence the second of Verity the third of good discipline and publike Law and of the rest behinde one of Wisedome another of Riches and the sixth which also is the last the maker of joy for good and honest deeds But the later produceth as many other in number concurrents as it were and of adverse operation to the former above named Afterwards when Oromazes had augmented and amplified himselfe three times he remooved as farre from the Sunne as the Sunne is distant from the earth adoring and embelishing the heaven with starres and one starre above the rest he ordeined to be the guide mistresse and overseer of them all to wit Sirius that is to say the Dogge-starre Then after he had made foure and twentie other gods he enclosed them all with in an egge But the other brought foorth by Arimanius who were also in equall number never ceased untill they had pierced and made a hole unto the said smooth and polished egge and so after that evill things became mingled pel-mell with good But there will a time come predestined fatally when this Arimanius who brings into the world plague and famine shall of necessitie be rooted out and utterly destroied for ever even by them and the earth shall become plaine even and uniforme neither shall there be any other but one life and one common-wealth of men all happie and speaking one and the same language Theopompus also writeth that according to the wise Magi these two gods must for three thousand yeeres conquer one after another and for three thousand yeeres be conquered againe by turnes and then for the space of another three thousand yeeres levie mutuall warres and fight battels one against the other whiles the one shall subvert and overthrow that which the other hath set up untill in the end Pluto shall faint give over and perish then shall men be all in happie estate they shall need no more food nor cast any shadow from them and that god who hath wrought and effected all this shall repose himselfe and rest in quiet not long I say for a god but a moderate time as one would say for a man taking his sleepe and rest And thus much as touching the fable devised by the Magi. But the Chaldaeans affirme that of the gods whom they call Planets or wandring starres two there be that are beneficiall and dooers of good two againe mischievous and workers of evill and three which are of a meane nature and common As for the opinion of the Greeks concerning this point there is no man I suppose ignorant thereof namely that there be two portions or parts of the world the one good allotted unto Jupiter Olympius that is to say Celestiall another bad appertaining to Pluto infernall They fable moreover and feigne that the goddesse Harmonia that is to say Accord was engendred of Mars and Venus of whom the one is cruell grim and quarrellous the other milde lovely and generative Now consider the Philosophers themselves how they agree heerein For Heraclitus directly and disertly nameth warre the Father King and Lord of all the world saying that Homer when he wisheth and praieth Both out of heaven and earth to banish warre That god and men no more might be at jarre wist not how ere he was aware he cursed the generation and production of all things which indeed have their essence and being by the fight and antipathie in nature He was ignorant that the Sunne would not passe the bounds and limits appointed unto him for otherwise the furies and cursed tongues which are the ministresses and coadjutresses of justice would finde him out As for Empedocles he saith that the beginning and principle which worketh good is love and amity yea and otherwhiles is called Harmonie by Merops but the cause of evill Malice hatred cankred spight Quarrell debate and bloudy fight Come now to the Pythagoreans they demonstrate and specifie the same by many names for they call the good principle One finite permanent or quiet straight or direct odde quadrat or square right and lightsome but the bad twaine infinite moving crooked even longer one way than another unequall left and darke as if these were the fountaines of generation Anaxagoras calleth them the minde or understanding and infinity Aristotle termeth the one forme the other privation And Plato under darke and covert termes hiding his opinion in many places calleth the former of these two contrary principles The Same and the later The other But in the bookes of his lawes which he wrote when he was now well stept in yeeres he giveth them no more any obscure and ambiguous names neither describeth he them symbolically and by aenigmaticall and intricate names but in proper and plaine termes he saith that this worke is not moved and managed by one sole cause but haply by many or at leastwise no fewer than twaine where of the one is the creatour and worker of good the other opposite unto it and operative of contrary effects He leaveth also and alloweth a third cause betweene which is neither without soule nor reasonlesse ne yet unmoovable of it selfe as some thinke but adjacent and adherent to the other twaine howbeit enclining alwaies to the better as having a desire and appetite thereto which it pursueth and followeth as that which heereafter we will deliver shall shew more manifestly which treatise shall reconcile the Aegyptian Theologie with the Greeks Philosophy and reduce them to a very good concordance for that the generation composition and constitution of this world is mingled of contrary powers howbeit the same not of equall force for the better is predominant but impossible it is that the evill should utterly perish and be abolished so deepely is it imprinted
some who openly maintaine that Osiris is the Sunne and that the Greeks call him Sirtus but the article which the Aegyptians put before to wit O is the cause that so much is not evidently perceived as also that Isis is nothing else but the Moone and of her images those that have hornes upon them signifie no other thing but the Moone croissant but such as are covered and clad in blacke betoken those daies wherein she is hidden or darkened namely when she runneth after the Sunne which is the reason that in love matters they invocate the Moone And Eudoxus himselfe saith that Isis is the president over amatorious folke And verily in all these ceremonies there is some probabilitie and likelihood of trueth But to say that Typhon is the Sunne is so absurd that we ought not so much as give eare to those who affirme so But returne we now to our former matter For Isis is the feminine part of nature apt to receive all generation upon which occasion called she is by Plato the nurse and Pandeches that is to say capable of all yea and the common sort name her Myrionymus which is as much to say as having an infinite number of names for that she receiveth all formes and shapes according as it pleaseth that first reason to convert and turne her Moreover there is imprinted in her naturally a love of the first and principall essence which is nothing else but the soveraigne good and it she desireth seeketh and pursueth after Contrariwise she flieth and repelleth from her any part and portion that proceedeth from ill And howsoever she be the subject matter and meet place apt to receive as well the one as the other yet of it selfe enclined she is alwaies rather to the better and applieth herselfe to engender the same yea and to disseminate and sowe the defluxions and similitudes thereof wherein she taketh pleasure and rejoiceth when she hath conceived and is great therewith ready to be delivered For this is a representation and description of the substance engendred in matter and nothing else but an imitation of that which is And therefore you may see it is not besides the purpose that they imagine and devise the soule of Osiris to be eternall and immortall but as for the body that Typhon many times doth teare mangle and abolish it that it cannot be seene and that Isis goeth up and downe wandring heere and there gathering together the dismembred pieces thereof for that which is good and spirituall by consequence is not any waies subject to change and alteration but that which is sensible and materiall doth yeeld from it selfe certeine images admitting withall and receiving sundry porportions formes and similitudes like as the prints and stamps of seales set upon waxe doe not continue and remaine alwaies but are subject to change alteration disorder and trouble and this same was chased from the superor region and sent downe hither where it fighteth against Horus whom Isis engendred sensible as being the very image of the spirituall and intellectuall world And heereupon it is that Typhon is said to accuse him of bastardie as being nothing pure and sincere like unto his father to wit reason and understanding which of it selfe is simple and not medled with any passion but in the matter adulterate and degenerat by the reason that it is corporall Howbeit in the end the victorie is on Mercuries side for hee is the discourse of reason which testifieth unto us and sheweth that nature hath produced this world materiall metamorphozed to the spirituall forme for the nativity of Apollo engendred betweene Isis Osiris whiles the gods were yet in the belly of Rhea symbolizeth thus much that before the world was evidently brought to light and fully accomplished the matter of reason being found naturally of it selfe rude and unperfect brought foorth the first generation for which cause they say that god being as yet lame was borne and begotten in darkenesse whom they call the elder Horus For the world yet it was not but an image onely and designe of the world and a bare fantasie of that which should be But this Horus heere is determinate definit and perfect who killeth not Typhon right out but taketh from him his force and puissance that he can doe little or nothing And heereupon it is that by report in the citie Coptus the image of Horus holdeth in one hand the generall member of Typhon and they fable besides that Mercurie having berest him of his 〈◊〉 made thereof strings for his harpe and so used them Heereby they teach that reason framing the whole world set it in tune and brought it to accord framing it of those parts which before were at jarre and discord howbeit remooved not nor abolished altogether the pernicious and hurtfull nature but accomplished the vertue thereof And therefore it is that it being feeble and weake wrought also as it were and intermingled or interlaced with those parts and members which be subject to passions and mutations causeth earthquakes and tremblings excessive heates and extreame drinesse with extraordinarie windes in the aire besides thunder lightnings and firie tempests It impoisoneth moreover the waters and windes infecting them with pestilence reaching up and bearing the head aloft as farre as to the Moone obscuring and darkning many times even that which is by nature cleane and shining And thus the Aegyptians do both thinke and say that Typhon sometime strooke the eie of Horus and another while plucked it out of his head and devoured it and then afterwards delivered it againe unto the Sunne By the striking aforesaid they meane aenigmatically the wane or decrease of the Moone monethly by the totall privation of the eie they understand her ecclipse and defect of light which the Sunne doth remedy by relumination of her streight waies as soone as she is gotten past the shade of the earth But the principall and more divine nature is composed and consisteth of three things to wit of an intellectuall nature of matter and a compound of them both which we call the world Now that intellectuall part Plato nameth Idea the patterne also of the father as for matter he termeth it a mother nurse a foundation also and a plot or place for generation and that which is produced of both he is woont to call the issue and thing procreated And a man may very well conjecture that the Aegyptians compared the nature of the whole world especially to this as the fairest triangle of all other And Plato in his books of policy or common wealth seemeth also to have used the same when he composeth and describeth his nuptiall figure which triangle is of this sort that the side which maketh the right angle is of three the basis of foure and the third line called Hypotinusa of five aequivolent in power to the other two that comprehend it so that the line which directly falleth plumbe upon the base must answer proportionably to the male
the base to the female and the Hypotinusa to the issue of them both And verily Osiris representeth the beginning and principle Isis that which receiveth and Horus the compound of both For the number of three is the first odde and perfect the quaternarie is the first square or quadrate number composed of the first even number which is two and five resembleth partly the father and in part the mother as consisting both of two and three And it should seeme also that the very name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the universall world was derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say five and so in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in old time signified as much as to number and that which more is five being multiplied in it selfe maketh a quadrat number to wit twentie five which is just as many letters as the Aegyptians have in their alphabet and so many yeeres Apis also lived And as for Horus they used to call him Kaimin which is as much to say as seene for that this word is sensible and visible Isis likewise is sometime called Mouth otherwhiles Athyri or Methyer And by the first of these names they signifie a Mother by the second the faire house of Horus like as Plato termeth it to be the place capable of generation the third is compounded of Full and the cause for Matter is full of the world as being maried and keeping companie with the first principle which is good pure and beautifully adorned It should seeme haply also that the Poet Hesiodus when he saith that all things at the first were Chaos Earth Tartarus and Love groundeth upon no other principles than those which are signified by these names meaning by the Earth Isis by Love Osiris and by Tartarus Typhon as we have made demonstration For by Chaos it seemes that he would understand some place receptacle of the world Moreover in some sort these matters require the fable of Plato which in his booke entituled Symposium Socrates inferred namely wherein he setteth downe the generation of Love saying that Penia that is to say povertie desirous to have children went and lay with Poros that is to say riches and slept with him by whom she conceived with childe and brought foorth Love who naturally is long and variable and begotten of a father who is good wife and al-sufficient and of a mother who is poore needy and for want desirous of another and evermore seeking and following after it For the foresaid Poros is no other but the first thing amiable desireable perfect and sufficient As for Penia it is matter which of it selfe is evermore bare and needy wanting that which is good whereby at length she is conceived with childe after whom she hath a longing desire and evermore ready to receive somewhat of him Now Horus engendred betweene them which is the world is not eternall nor impassible nor incorruptible but being evermore in generation he endevoreth by vicissitude of mutations and by periodicall passion to continue alwaies yoong as if he should never die and perish But of such fables as these we must make use not as of reasons altogether really subsisting but so as we take out of ech of them that which is meet and convenient to our purpose When as therefore we say Matter we are not to rely upon the opinions of some Philosophers and to thinke it for to be a bodie without soule without qualitie continuing in it selfe idle and without all action whatsoever for we call oile the matter of a perfume or ointment and gold the matter of an image or statue which notwithstanding is not voide of all similitude and even so we say that the very soule and understanding of a man is the matter of vertue and of science which we give unto reason for to bring into order and adorne And some there were who affirmed the minde or understanding to be the proper place of formes and as it were the expresse mould of intelligible things like as there be Naturalists who hold that the seed of a woman hath not the power of a principle serving to the generation of man but standeth in stead of matter and nourishment onely according unto whom we also being grounded heerein are to thinke that this goddesse having the fruition of the first and chiefe god and conversing with him continually for the love of those good things vertues which are in him is nothing adverse unto him but loveth him as her true spouse and lawfull husband and like as we say that an honest wife who enjoieth ordinarily the company of her husband loveth him neverthelesse but hath still a minde unto him even so giveth not she over to be enamoured upon him although she be continually where he is and replenished with his principall and most sincere parts But when and where as Typhon in the end thrusteth himselfe betweene and setteth upon the extreme parts then and there she seemeth to be sadde and heavy and thereupon is said to mourne and lament yea and to seeke up certeine reliques and pieces of Osiris and ever as she can sinde any she receiveth and arraieth them with all diligence and as they are ready to perish and corrupt she carefully tendeth and keepeth them close like as againe she produceth and bringeth foorth other things to light of her selfe For the reasons the Idaeae and the influences of God which are in heaven and among the starres doe there continue and remaine but those which be disseminate among the sensible and passible bodies in the earth and in the sea diffused in the plants and living creatures the same dying and being buried doe many times revive and rise againe fresh by the meanes of generations And heereupon the fable saith thus much more that Typhon cohabiteth and lieth with Nephthys and that Osiris also by stealth and secretly keepeth company with her for the corruptive and destroying power doeth principally possesse the extreme parts of that matter which they name Nephthys and death and the generative preserving vertue conferreth into it little seed the same weake and feeble as being marred and destroied by Typhon unlesse it be so much as Isis gathereth up saveth which she also norisheth mainteineth But in one word to speake more generally he is stil better as Plato Aristotle are of opinion for the naturall puissance to engender to preserve moveth toward him as to a subsistance and being whereas that force of killing destroying moveth behind toward non subsistence which is the reason that they call the one Isis that is to say a motion animate and wise as if the word were derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to move by a certeine science and reason for a barbarous word it is not But like as the generall name of all gods and goddesses to wit Theos is derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of visible and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 that is to say of running even so both we and also the Aegyptians have called this goddesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Isis of intelligence and motion together Semblably Plato saith that in old time when they said Isia they meant Osia that is to say sacred like as Noesis also and Phronesis quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the stirring and motion of the understanding being caried and going forward and they imposed this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those who have found out and discovered goodnesse and vertue but contrariwise have by reprochfull names noted such things as impeach hinder and stay the course of natural things binding them so as they can not go forward to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indigence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cowardise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 griefe as if they kept them from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say free progresse and proceeding forward As for Osiris a word it is composed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holy and sacred for he is the common reason or Idea of things above in heaven and beneath of which our ancients were woont to call the one sort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say sacred and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holy The reason also which sheweth celestiall things and such as move upward is called Anubis and otherwhiles Hermanubis as if the one name were meet for those above and the other for them beneath whereupon they sacrificed unto the former a white cocke and to the other a yellow or of saffron colour for that they thought those things above pure simple and shining but those beneath mixed of a medley colour Neither are we to marvell that these termes are disguised to the fashion of Greeke words for an infinit number of more there be which have beene transported out of Greece with those men who departed from thence in exile and there remaine untill this day as strangers without their native countrey whereof some there be which cause Poetry to be slandered for calling them into use as if it spake barbarously namely by those who terme such Poeticall and obscure words Glottas But in the books of Herimes or Mercurie so called there is written by report thus much concerning sacred names namely that the power ordeined over the circular motion and revolution of the Sunne the Aegyptians call Horus and the Greeks Apollo that which is over the wind some name Osiris others Sarapis some againe in the Aegyptian language Sothi which signifieth as much as conception or to be with childe and thereupon it is that by a little deflexion of the name in the Greeke tongue that Canicular or Dogge starre is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is thought appropriate unto Isis. Well I wote that we are not to strive as touching names yet would I rather give place unto the Aegyptians about the name Sarapis than Osiris for this is a meere Greeke word whereas the other is a stranger but as well the one as the other signifieth the same power of Divinity And heereto accordeth the Aegyptian language for many times they terme Isis by the name of Minerva which in their tongue signifieth as much as I am come of my selfe And Typhon as we have already said is named Seth Baebon and Smy which words betoken all a violent stay and impeachment a contrariety and a diversion or turning aside another way Moreover they call the loadstone or Sederitis the bone of Horus like as iron the bone of Typhon as Manethos is mine author for as the iron seemeth otherwhiles to follow the said loadstone and suffereth it selfe to be drawen by it and many times for it againe returneth backe and is repelled to the contrary even so the good and comfortable motion of the world endued with reason by perswasive speeches doeth convert draw into it and mollifie that hardnesse of Typhon but otherwhiles againe the same returneth backe into it selfe and is hidden in the depth of penurie and impossibility Over and besides Eudoxus saith that the Aegyptians devise of Jupiter this fiction that both his legs being so growen together in one that he could not goe at all for very shame he kept in a desert wildernesse but Isis by cutting and dividing the same parts of his body brought him to his sound and upright going againe Which fable giveth us covertly thus to understand that the understanding and reason of God in it selfe going invisibly and after an unseene maner proceedeth to generation by the meanes of motion And verily that brasen Timbrel which they sounded and 〈◊〉 at the sacrifices of Isis named Sistrum sheweth evidently that all things ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to bestirre and shake and never cease moving but to be awakened and raised as if otherwise they were drowsie lay asleepe and languished for it is said that they turne backe and repulse Typhon with their Timbrels aforesaid meaning thereby that whereas corruption doth bind and stay nature generation againe unbindeth and seteeth it a worke by the meanes of motion Now the said Sistrum being in the uppert part round the curvature and Absis thereof comprehendeth foure things that are stirred and mooved for that part of the world which is subject to generation and corruption is comprehended under the sphaere of the Moone within which all things move and alter by the meanes of the foure elements Fire Earth Water and Aire upon the Absis or rundle of the Sistrum toward the toppe they engrave the forme of a cat with a mans face but beneath under those things which are shaken one while they engrave the visage of Isis another while of Nephthys signifying by these two faces nativity and death for these be the motions and mutations of the elements By the cat they understand the Moone for the variety of the skin for the operation and worke in the night season and for the fruitfulnesse of this creature for it is said that at first she beareth one kitling at the second time two the third time three then foure afterwards five and so to seven so that in all she brings foorth 28 which are the daies of every Moone And howsoever this may seeme fabulous yet for certeine it is true that the appuls or sights of these cats are full and large when the Moone is at full but contrariwise draw in and become smaller as the Moone is in the wane As for the visage of a man which they attribute unto the cat they represent thereby the witty subtilty and reason about the mutations of the Moone But to knit up all this matter in few words reason would that wee should thinke neither the Sunne nor the water neither earth nor heaven to be Isis or Osiris no more than exceeding drouth extreame heat fire and sea is
situate in their naturall seats as it is meet and appertaineth and each of those worlds shall have superior inferiour circular and a centre in the midst not in regard of another world nor of that which is without but in it selfe and in respect of it selfe And as for the supposition which some make of a stone without the world it cannot be imagined how possibly it should either rest or moove for how can it hang still seeing it is ponderous and waighty or moove toward the midst of the world as other heavy bodies considering it is neither part of it nor counted in the substance thereof As concerning that earth which is contained in another world and fast bound we need not to make doubt and question how it should not fall downe hither by reason of the wieght not be plucked away from the whole seeing as we doe that it hath a naturall strength to containe every part thereof For if we shall take high and low not within and in respect of the world but without forth we shall be driven unto the same difficulties and distresses which Epicurus is fallen into who maketh his little Atomes or indivisible bodies to move and tend toward those places which are under foot as if either his voidnesse had feet or the infinity which he speaketh of permit a man to imagine either high or low And therefore some cause there is to marvell at Chrysippus or rather to enquire and demand what fansie hath come into his head and mooved him to say that this world is seated and placed directly in the midst and that the substance thereof from all 〈◊〉 having taken up and occupied the place of the midst yet neverthelesse it is so compact and tied together that it endureth alwaies and is as one would say immortalized for so much hath he written in his fourth booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Of possible things dreaming to no purpose of a middle place in that vast 〈◊〉 and yet more absurdly attributing unto that middle which is not nor hath any subsistence the cause of the worlds continuance and stabilitie especially having written thus much many times in other places that the substance is governed and mainteined partly by the motions tending to the mids and partly by others from the mids of it As for other oppositions besides that the Stoicks make who is there that feareth them as namely when they demand How it is possible to mainteine one fatall necessity and one divine providence and how it can otherwise be but that there should be many DIES and ZENES that is to say Joves and Jupiters if we grant that there be many worlds For to begin withall if it be an inconvenience to allow many such Joves and Jupiters their opinions verily be farre more absurd for they devise an infinit sort of Sunnes Moones Apolloes Dianaes and Neptunes in innumerable conversions revolutions of worlds Moreover what necessitie is there to enforce us to avow many Jupiters if there be many worlds and not rather in every of them a severall god as a sovereigne governor and ruler of the whole furnished with all understanding and reason as he whom we surname the Lord and Father of all things Or what should hinder but that all worlds might be subject to the providence destiny of Jupiter and he reciprocally have an eie to oversee all to direct digest and conduct all in ministring unto them the principles beginnings seeds and reasons of all things that are done and made For it being so that we do see even here many times a bodie composed of many other distinct bodies as for example the assembly or congregation of a city an armie and a daunce in every one of which bodies there is life prudence and intelligence as Chrysippus thinketh impossible it is not likewise that in this universall nature there should be ten fifty yea and a hundred worlds using all one and the same reason and correspondent to one beginning But contrariwise this order and disposition is best beseeming the gods For we ought not to make the gods like unto the kings of a swarme of bees which go not forth but keepe within the hive nor to holde them enclosed and imprisoned as it were rather and shut up fast within Matter as these men do who would have the gods to be certeine habitudes or dispositions of the aire and supposing them to be powers of waters and of fire infused and mixed within make them to arise and be engendred together with the world and so afterwards to be burnt likewise with it not allowing them to be loose and at libertie like as coatch-men and pilots are but in maner of statues or images are set fast unto their bases with nailes and sodered with lead even so they enclose the gods within bodily matter and pin them hard thereto so as being jointed as it were sure unto it they participate therewith all changes and alterations even to finall corruption and dissolution Yet is this opinion fare more grave religious and magnificent in my conceit to holde that the gods be of themselves free and without all command of any other power And like as they firy light Castor and Pollux succour those who are tossed in a tempest and by their comming and presence Allay the surging waves of sea below And still the blustring winds aloft that blow and not sailing themselves nor partaking the same perils with the mariners but onely appearing in the aire above save those that were in danger even so the gods for their pleasure goe from one world to another to visit them and together with nature rule and governe every one of them For Jupiter verily in Homer cast not his eies far from the city of Troy either into Thracia or the Nomades and vagrant Scythians along the river Ister or Daunbie but the true Jupiter indeed hath many faire passages goodly changes beseeming his majesty out of one world into another neither looking into the infinit voidnesse without nor beholding himselfe and nothing els as some have thought but considering the deeds of men and of gods the motions also and revolutions of the starres in their sphaeres For surely the deity is not offended with variety nor hateth mutations but taketh much pleasure therein as a man may guesse by the circuitions conversions and changes which appeare in the heaven I conclude therefore that the infinitie of worlds is a very senselesse and false conceit such as in no wise will beare and admit any god but emploieth fortune and chance in the managing of all things but contrariwise the administration and providence of a certeine quantity and determinate number of worlds seemeth unto me neither in majestie and worthinesse inferior nor in travell more laborious than that which is emploied and restreined to the direction of one alone which is transformed renewed and metamorphozed as it were an infinit sort of times After I had delivered this speech I
which is full of ripe understanding of considerate wisedome and of good directions and plots well and surely laied In which persons the white head and gray beard which some laugh and make good game at the crow-foot about the eies the furrowes in the forehead the rivels and wrinckles in the face besides appearing beare witnesse of long experience and adde unto them a reputation and authoritie which helpe much to perswade and to draw the minds of the hearers unto their will and purpose For to speake truely youth is made as it were to follow and obey but age to guide and command and that citie or State is preserved wherein the sage counsels of the elders and the martiall prowesse of the yonger beare sway together And for this cause highly and woonderfully are these verses following praised in Homer and namely in the first place Then to begin a goodly sort of ancient captaines bold Assembled he in Nestors ship a counsell there to hold upon the same reason also that counsel of the wisest and principall men assistant unto the kings of Lacedaemon for the better government of the State the oracle of Apollo Pythius first called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Elders and Lycurgus afterwards directly and plainly tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Old men and even at this very day the counsell of Estate in Rome is named a Senate that is to say an assembly of ancient persons And like as the law and custome time out of minde hath allowed unto Kings and Princes the diademe that is to say a roiall band or frontlet the crowne also to stand upon their heads as honourable mots ensignes of their regall dignitie and sovereigne authoritie even so hath nature given unto olde men the white head and hoarie beard as honourable tokens of their right to command and of their preeminence above others And for mine owne part I verily thinke that this nowne in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a prize or reward of honour as also the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much to say as to honour continue still in use as respective to the honour due unto olde men who in Greeke are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for that they bathe in hot waters or sleepe in softer beds but because in cities well and wisely governed they be ranged with kings for their prudence the proper and perfect goodnesse whereof as of some tree which yeeldeth winter fruit which is not ripe before the latter end of the yeere nature bringeth forth late and hardly in olde age and therefore there was not one of those martiall and brave couragious captaines of the Greeks who found fault with that great king of kings Agamemnon for making such a praier as this unto the gods That of the Grecian host which stood of many woorthie men Such counsellers as Nestor was they would vouchsafe him ten but they all agreed with him and by their silence confessed That not onely in policie and civill government but also in warre olde age carrieth a mightie great stroke for according as the ancient proverbe beareth witnesse One head that knowes full wisely for to reed Out goesten hands and maketh better speed One advice likewise and sentence grounded upon reason and delivered with perswasive grace effecteth the greatest and bravest exploits in a whole State Well say that olde age hath many difficulties and discommodities attending upon it yet is not the same therefore to be rejected for the absolute rule of a king being the greatest and most perfect estate of all governments in the world hath exceeding many cares travels and troubles insomuch as it is written of king Seleucus that he would often-times say if the people wist how laborious and painfull it were to reade and write onely so many letters as he did they would not deine to take up his diademe if they found it throwen in their very way as they goe And Philip being at the point to pitch his campe in a faire ground when he was advertised that the place would not affoord forage for his labouring beasts O Hercules quoth he what a life is this of ours that we must live forsooth and care to serve the necessitie of our asses Why then belike it were high time to perswade a king when he is aged for to lay downe his diademe to cast off his robes of purple to clad himselfe in simple array to take a crooked staffe in hand and so to go and live in the countrey for feare lest if he with his gray haires raigned stil he should seeme to do many superfluous and impertinent things and to direct matters out of season Now if it were unseemely and a meere indignitie to deale with Agesilaus with Numa and Darius all kings and monarchs after this sort unmeet likewise it is that we should remove and displace Solon out of the counsell of Areopagus or depose Cato from his place in the Romane Senate because of their olde age Why should we then goe about to perswade such an one as Pericles to give over and resigne his government in a popular State for over besides there were no sense at all that if one have leapt and mounted into the tribunall seat or chaire of estate in his yoong yeeres and afterwards discharged upon the people common-wealth those his violent passions of ambition and other furious fits when ripe age is now come which is woont to bring with it discretion and much wisdome gathered by experience to abandon and put away as it were his lawfull wife the government which hee hath so long time abused The foxe in Aesops fables would not suffer the urchin to take off the tiques that were setled upon her bodie For if quoth she thou take away these that be already full there will come other hungry ones in their place and even so if a State rejected evermore from administration of the common-wealth those governours that begin once to be olde it must needs be quickly full of a sort of yoong rulers that be hungrie and thirstie both after glory but altogether void of politike wit and reason to governe for how can it otherwise be and where should they get knowledge if they have not bene disciples to learne nor spectatours to follow and imitate some ancient magistrate that manageth state affaires The Cards at sea which shew the feat of sailing and ruling ships can not make good sea-men or skilfull pilots if they have not beene themselves many times at the stearne in the poope to see the maner of it and the conflicts against the waves the winds the blacke stormes and darke tempests What time in great perplexitie The mariner doth wish to see Castor and Pollux twins full bright Presaging safetie with their light How then possibly can a yoong man governe and direct a citie well perswade the people aright deliver wise counsel in the Senate having but read one little booke treating of pollicy or haply
written an exercise or declamation in the Schoole Lyceum touching that argument unlesse besides he have stood close unto the reines or hard by the helme many a time by marking both citie rulers and martiall captaines how they have but beene put to their trial and according to the sundry experiences and accidents of fortunes enclining now to the one side and then to the other after many dangers and great affaires have gotten sufficient knowledge and instruction before hand I can not see how it can be but if there were no other thing at all besides yet surely an ancient man is to manage still the affaires of State and it were but to traine and teach the yoonger that be to come up after him for like as they who teach children musick or to reade do themselves Sol fa sing the note they finger strike the key or string they reade spell the letters before them all to shew how they should do even so the ancient politician doth frame and direct a yoong man not onely by reading unto him by discoursing and advertising him without foorth but also in the very managing and administration of affaires fashioning forming and casting him as it were lively in a mold as well by operation and example as by words and precepts For he that is schooled and exercised herein not in the schooles of the Sophisters that can speake in number measure as in the wrestling hall where the body is annointed with a cōposition of oyle waxe together against exercises performed without any danger at all but as it were at the verie publike games indeed in the view of the whole world such as the Olympicks and Pythicks were he I say followeth the tracts and footsteps of his master and teacher as saith Simonides As suckling foale that keepes just pace And runnes with dam in everie place Thus did Aristides under Calisthenes Cimon under Aristides Phocion under Chabrias Cato under Fabius Maximus Pompeius under Sylla and Polybius under Philopaemen For all these personages when they were yoong drew neere and joined themselves with others that were ancient and having taken root close by them grew up together with them in their actions and administrations whereby they got experience and were inured to the managing of the State with honour and reputation Aeschines the Academique Philosopher when certaine envious sophisters of his time charged him and said That he made a semblance and shew that he had beene the disciple and hearer of Carneades whereas he never was I say unto you quoth he that I heard the man when as his speech abandoning the bruit applause and tumultuous noise of the people by reason of his old age was shut up close and housed as it were for to do good more familiarly in private conference And even so it is with the government of an aged person when as not onely his words but also his deeds be farre remote from affected pompe in outward shewes and all vaine glorie Much like as is reported of the blacke Storke called Ibis who by that time that she is become old hath exhaled and breathed foorth all that strong and stinking savour which she had and beginneth to yeeld a sweet and arromaticall smel even so there is no counsell nor opinion in old men vaine turbulent or inconstant but all grave quiet and setled And therefore in any wise as I said before if it were but for yoong mens sake onely and no more elder persons are to weld the affaires of State to the end that as Plato speaking of wine mingled with water said that it was to make the furious god wise by chastising him with another that was sober and temperate the staid wisedome of old age tempered with youth swelling and boiling before the people and transported with the greedy desire of honour and with ambition might cut off that which is furious raging and over violent But over and besides all that hath beene said before they who thinke that to be employed in the managing of publike affaires is all one as to saile for trafficke or to go foorth to warre in some expedition are much deceived for both navigation also war men undertake for a certaine end and no sooner have they attained thereto but they cease but the managing of State affaires is not a commission or office pretending or intending any profit and commoditie for the scope that it shooteth at but it is the life and profession of a living creature which is gentle tame civill and sociable borne to live so long as it pleaseth nature civilly honestly and for the publike good of humane societie This is the reason that of a man it should be said that he still is occupied in such affaires of common-weale and not that he hath beene so employed like as to be true and not to have beene true to be just and not to have beene just to love his countrey and citizens and not to have loved them is his dutie and profession For even nature her selfe directeth us hereto and singeth this lesson in our eares I speake to those who are not altogether corrupted and marred with sloth and idlenesse Thy father thee a man hath once begat To profit men alwaies in this or that Againe Let us not cease nor any end finde To do all good unto mankinde As touching them who pretend and alledge for excuse feeblenesse or impotencie they do accuse sicknesse the maimed indisposition of the bodie rather than age For you shall see many yoong men sicke feeble and as many old folke lusty strong so we are not to remoove aged persons simply from the adminstration of the common-weale but the impotent onely and unsufficient nor to call unto that vocation yong men but such as be able to undergo the charge for Aridaeus was yong enough and Antigonus in yeeres and yet this man as olde as he was went within a little of conquering all Asia but the other had never but the bare name onely of a King like as in a dumbe-shew upon a stage making a countenance onely with a guard of partizans and halberds about him without speaking one word and so he was a ridiculous pageant and laughing stocke among his nobles and peeres who were alwaies his rulers and led him as they list And even as he who would perswade Prodicus the Sophister or Philetas the poet yong men both howbeit leane feeble sickly and for the most part of their time bed-ridden for to meddle with government of State were a very foole and senselesse asse so hee were no whit better who should debarre such old men as Phocion as Masanissa the African or Cato the Romane from exercising publike magistracie in citie or taking the charge of a Lord Generall in the sield for Phocion one day when the Athenians all in the haste would needs have gone forth to warre at an unseasonable time commaunded by proclamation that as many as were not above threescore
the tyrant Demylus and having no good successe therein but missing of his purpose maintained the doctrine of Parmenides to be pure and fine golde tried in the fire from all base mettal shewing by the effect that a magnanimous man is to feare nothing but turpitude and dishonour and that they be children and women or else effeminate and heartlesse men like women who are affraid of dolor and paine for having bitten off his tongue with his owne teeth he spit it in the tyrants face But out of the schoole of Epicurus and of those who follow his rules and doctrines I doe not aske what tyrant killer there was or valiant man and victorious in feats of armes what lawgiver what counsellour what king or governour of state either died or suffred torture for the upholding of right and justice but onely which of all these Sages did ever so much as imbarke and make a voiage by sea in his countries service and for the good thereof which of them went in embassage or disbursed any mony thereabout or where is there extant upon record any civill action of yours in matter of government And yet because that Metrodorus went downe one day from the city as far as to the haven Pyraeaeum tooke a journey of five or six miles to aide Mythra the Syrian one of the king of Persias traine and court who had bene arrested and taken prisoner he wrot unto all the friends that he had in the world of this exploit of his and this doubty voiage Epicurus hath magnified exalted in many of his letters What a doe would they have made then if they had done such an act as Aristotle did who reedified the city of his nativity Stagira which had bene destroied by king Philip or as Theophrastus who twice delivered and freed his native city being held and oppressed by tyrants Should not thinke you the the river Nilus have sooner given over to beare the popyr reed than they bene weary of discribing their brave deeds And is not this a grievous matter and a great indignity that of so many sects of Philosophers that have bene they onely in maner enjoy the good things and benefits that are in cities without contributing any thing of their owne unto them There are not any Poets Tragedians or Comedians but they have endevoured to doe or say alwaies some good thing or other for the defence of lawes and policie but these here if peradventure they write ought write of policie that we should not intermeddle at all in the civill government of state of Rhetoricke that we should not plead any causes eloquently at the barre of Roialty that we should avoid the conversing and living in kings courts neither doe they name at any time those great persons who manage affaires of common weale but by way of mockerie for to debase and abolish their glorie As for example of Epaminondas they say that he had indeed some good thing onely in name and word but the same was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say as little as might be for that is the very terme that it pleaseth them to use Moreover they name him heart of yron demaunding why he marched up and downe through out all Peloponnesus with his armie as he did and sat not rather quiet at home in his owne house with a dainty chaplet upon his head given wholly to make good chere and to sleepe with his belly full in a whole skin But me thinks I should not for any thing omit in this place to rehearse what Metrodorus hath written in his booke of philosophy wherein abjuring all dealing in government of state he saith thus Some there be of these wisemen quoth he who being full of vanity and arrogancy had so deepe an insight into the businesse thereof that in treating of the rules of good life and of vertue they suffer themselves to be carried away with the very same desires that Lycurgus and 〈◊〉 fell into What was this vanity indeed and the aboundance of vanity and pride to set the city of Athens free to reduce Sparta to good policy and the government of holsome lawes that yong men should doe nothing licenciously nor get children upon curtisans and harlots and that riches wanton delicacie intemperance loosenesse dissolution should beare no sway nor have the commaund in cities but law onely and justice for these were the desires of Solon And thus Metrodorus by way of scorne and contumelious reproch addeth thus much more for a conclusion to the rest And therefore quoth he it is well beseeming a gentleman to laugh a good and right heartly at all other men but especially at these Solones and Lycurgi But verily such an one were not a gentleman Metrodorus nor well borne but servile base unruly and dissolute and who deserved to be scurged not with the whip which is for free borne persons but with that whip Astragalote where with the maner was to whip and chastice those gelded sacrificers called Gally when they did amisse in the cerimonies and sacrifices of Cylote the great mother of the gods Now that they warred not against the lawgivers but the very lawes themselves a man may heare and learne of Epicurus for in his questions he demaundeth of himselfe whether a wise man being assured that no man ever should know would doe and commit any thing that the law forbiddeth and he maketh an answere which is not full nor an open plaine and simple affirmation saying doe it I will marry confesse it and be knowen thereof I will not Againe writing as I suppose unto Idomeneus he admonisheth him not to subject and enthrall his life unto lawes and the opinions and reputations of men unlesse it be in this regard onely that otherwise there is prepared odious whipping chere and that neere at hand If then it be so that they who abolish lawes governments and policies do withall subvert and overthrow mans life if Metrodorus and Epicurus doe no lesse withdrawing and averting their friends and followers from dealing in publicke affaires and spitefully hating those who doe meddle therein miscalling and railing at the chiefe and wisest lawgivers that ever were yea and willing them to contemne the lawes so that they keepe themselves out of the feare of the whip and danger of punnishment I cannot see that Colotes hath in any thing so much belied others and raised false imputations against them as he hath indeed and truely accused the doctrine and opinions of Epicurus OF LOVE The Summarie THis Dialogue is more dangerous to be read by yoong men than any other Treatise of Plutarch for that there be certeine glaunces heere and there against honest marriage to upholde indirectly and under hana the cursed and 〈◊〉 filthinesse covertly couched under the name of the Love of yoong boyes But minds guarded and armed with true chastitie and the feare of God may see evidently in this discourse the miserable estate of the world in that there be found
patrons and advocates of so detestable a cause such I meane as in this booke are brought in under the persons of Protogenes and Pisias Meane while they may perceive likewise in the combot of matrimoniall love against unnaturall Poederastie not to be named that honestie hath alwaies meanes sufficient to defend it selfe for being vanquished yea and in the end to go away with the victorie Now this Treatise may be comprised in foure principall points of which the first after a briefe Preface wherein Autobulus being requested to rehearse unto his companions certeine reports which before time hee had heard Plutarch his father to deliver as touching Love entreth into the discourse conteineth the historie of Ismenodora enamoured upon a yoong man named Bacchon whereupon arose some difference and dispute of which Plutarch and those of his companie were chosen arbitratours Thereupon Protogenes seconded by Pisias and this is the second point setting himselfe against Ismenodora disgraceth and discrediteth the whole sex of woman kinde and praiseth openly enough the love of males But Daphnaeus answereth them so fully home and pertinently to the purpose that he discovereth and detecteth all their filthinesse and confuteth them as be hoovefull it was shewing the commodities and true pleasure of conjugall love In this defence assisted he is by Plutarch who prooveth that neither the great wealth nor the forward affection of a woman to a man causeth the mariage with her to be culpable or woorthy to be blamed by divers examples declaring that many women even of base condition have beene the occasion of great evils and calamities But as he was minded to continue this discourse newes came how Bacchon was caught up and brought into the house of Ismenodora which made Protogenes and Pisias to dislodge insomuch as their departure gave entrie into the third and principall point concerning Love what it is what be the parts the causes the sundry effects and fruits thereof admirable in all sorts of persons in altering them so as they become quite changed and others than they were before which is confirmed by many notable examples and similitudes In the last point Plutarch discourseth upon this argument and that by the Philosophy of Plato and the Aegyptians conferring the same with the doctrine of other Philosophers and Poets Then having expresly and flatly condemned Paederastie as a most 〈◊〉 and abhominable thing and adjoined certaine excellent advertisements for the entertening of love in wedlocke betweene husband and wife of which he relateth one proper example his speech endeth by occasion of a messenger who came in place and drew them all away to the wedding of Ismenodora and Bacchon beforesaid OF LOVE FLAVIANUS IT was at Helicon ô Autobulus was it not that those discourses were held as touching Love which you purpose to relate unto us at this present upon our request and intreaty whether it be that you have put them downe in writing or beare them well in remembrance considering that you have so often required and demanded them of your father AUTOEULUS Yes verily in Helicon it was ô Flavianus among the Muses at what time as the Thespians solemnized the feast of Cupid for they celebrate certeine games of prise every five yeeres in the honour of Love as well as of the Muses and that with great pompe and magnificence FLAVIANUS And wot you what it is that we all here that are come to heare you will request at your hands AUTOBULUS No verily but I shall know it when you have tolde me FLAVIANUS Mary this it is That you would now in this rehersall of yours lay aside all by-matters and needlesse preambles as touching the descriptions of faire medowes pleasant shades of the crawling and winding Ivie of rils issuing from fountaines running round about and such like common places that many love to insert desirous to counterfeit and imitate the description of the river Ilissus of the Chast-tree and the fine greene grasse and prety herbs growing daintily upon the ground rising up alittle with a gentle assent and all after the example of Plato in the beginning of his Dialogue Phaedrus with more curiositie iwis and affectation than grace and elegancie AUTOBULUS What needs this narration of ours my good friend Flavianus any such Prooeme or 〈◊〉 for the occasion from whence arose and proceeded these discourses requireth onely an affectionate audience and calleth for a convenient place as it were a stage and scaffold for to relate the action for otherwise of all things els requisit in a Comedie or Enterlude there wanteth nothing onely let us make our praiers unto the Muses Mother Ladie Memorie for to be propice unto us and to vouchsafe her assistance that we may not misse but deliver the whole narration My father long time before I was borne having newly espoused my mother by occasion of a certeine difference and variance that fell out betweene his parents and hers tooke a journey to Thespiae with a full purpose to sacrifice unto Cupid the god of Love and to the feast hee had up with him my mother also for that 〈◊〉 principally apperteined unto her to performe both the praier the sacrifice So there accompanied him from his house certeine of his most familiar friends Now when he was come to Thespiae he found Daphnaeus the sonne of Archidamus and Lysander who was in love with Simons daughter a man who of all her woers was best welcome unto her and most accepted Soclarus also the sonne of Aristion who was come from Tithora there was besides Protogenes of Tarsos and Zeuxippus the Lacedaemonian both of them his olde friends and good hosts who had given him kinde enterteinment and my father said moreover that there were many of the best men in 〈◊〉 there who were of his acquaintance Thus as it should seeme they abode for two or three daies in the citie enterteining one another gently at their leasure with discourses of learning one while in the common empaled parke of exercises where they youth used to wrestle and otherwhiles in the Theaters and Shew-places keeping companie together But afterwards for to avoid the troublesome contentions of Minstrels and Musicians where it appeared that all would go by favour such labouring there was before hand for voices they dislodged from thence for the most part of them as out of an enemies countrey and retired themselves to Helicon and there sojourned and lodged among the Muses where the morrow morning after they were thither come arrived and repaired unto them Anthemion and Pisias two noble gentlemen allied both and affectionate unto Barchon surnamed The Faire and at some variance one with another by reason of I wot not what jealousie in regard of the affection they bare unto him For there was in the city of Thespiae a certeine Dame named Ismenodora descended of a noble house and rich withall yea and of wise and honest carriage besides in all her life for continued shee had no small time in widowhood without blame