eyther excerciseth the humility or beates downe the pride nothing a at all in nature being euill euill being but a priuation of good but euery thing from earth to heauen ascending in a degree of goodnesse and so from the visible vnto the inuisible vnto which all are vnequall And in the greatest is God the great workeman yet b no lesser in the lesse which little thinges are not to be measured to their owne greatnesse beeing neare to nothing but by their makers wisedome as in a mans shape shane his eye-brow a very nothing to the body yet how much doth it deforme him his beauty consisting more of proportion and parilyty of parts then magnitude Nor is it a wonder that c those that hold some nature bad and produced from a bad beginning do not receiue GODS goodnesse for the cause of the creation but rather thinke that hee was compelled by this rebellious euill of meere necessity to fall a creating and mixing of his owne good nature with euill in the suppression and reforming thereof by which it was so foyled and so toyled that he had much adoe to re-create and mundifie it nor can yet cleanse it all but that which hee could cleanse serues as the future prison of the captiued enemy This was not the Maniches foolishnes but their madnesse which they should abandon would they like Christians beleeue that Gods nature is vnchangeable incorruptible impassible and that the soule which may be changed by the will vnto worse and by the corruption of sinne be depriued of that vnchangeable light is no part of God nor Gods nature but by him created of a farre inferiour mould L. VIVES NOthing a at all This Augustine repeats often and herein do al writers of our religion besides Plato Aristotle Tully and many other Philosophers agree with him Plato in his Timaeus holds it wicked to imagine any thing that God made euill he being so good a God him-selfe for his honesty enuied nothing but made all like him-selfe And in his 2. de rep he saith The good was author of no euill but only of things good blaming Hesiod and Homer for making Ioue the author of mischiefe confessing God to be the Creator of this vniuerse therby shewing nothing to be euill in nature I will say briefly what I thinke That is good as Aristotle saith iâ—…â—…s â—…etorik which we desire either for it selfe or for another vse And the iust contrary is euil wâ—…efore in the world some things are vsefull and good some auoideble bad Some 〈◊〉 and indifferent and to some men one thing is good and to others bad yea vnto one man at seuerall times seuerall good bad or neuter vpon seueral causes This opinioÌ„ the weaknesse of our iudgements respects of profit do produce But only that is the diuine iudgement which so disposeth all things that each one is of vse in the worlds gouernment And hee knoweth all without error that seeth all things to bee good and vsefull in their due seasons which the wise man intimates when hee saith That God made all things good each in the due time Therefore did hee blesse all with increase and multiplication If any thing were alwayes vnprofitable it should bee rooted out of the creation b No lesse Nature is in the least creatures pismires gnats bees spiders as potent as in horses oxâ—…n whales or elephants and as admirable Pliny lib. 11. c Those This heresie of the Manichees Augustine declareth De heres ad Quod vult deum Contra Faust. Manich. De Genes ad liter Of the error that Origen incurreth CHAP. 23. Bvt the great wonder is that some hold one beginning with vs of all thinges and that God created all thinges that are not of his essence otherwise they could neuer haue had beeing And yet wil not hold that plaine good beleefe of the Worlds simple and good course of creation that the good God made all thinges good They hold that all that is not GOD after him and yet that all is not good which none but God could make But the a soules they say not part but creatures of God sinned in falling from the maker being cast according to their deserts into diuers degrees down from heauen got certaine bodies for their prisons And ther-upon the world was made say they not for increase of good but restrrint of bad and this is the World Herein is Origen iustly culpable for in his Periarchion or booke of beginnings he affirmes this wherein I haue much maruaile that a man so read indiuine scriptures should not obserue first how contrary this was to the testimony of scripture that confirmeth all Gods workes with this And God saw that it was good And at the conclusion God saw all that hee made and loe it was very good Auerring no cause for this creation but onely that the good God should produce good things where if no man had sinned the world should haue beene adorned and filled b onely with good natures But sin being commited it did not follow that all should be filled with badnes the far greater part remaining still good keeping the course of their nature in heauen nor could the euil willers in breaking the lawes of nature auoyd the iust lawes of the al-disposed God For as a picture sheweth well though it haue black colors in diuers places so the Vniuerse is most faire for all these staines of sins which notwithstaÌ„ding being waighed by themselues do disgrace the lustre of it Besides Origen should haue seene and all wise men with him that if the world were made onely for a penall prison for the transgressing powers to bee imbodyed in each one according to the guilt the lesse offenders the higher and lighter and the greater ones the baser and heauier that then the Diuels the worst preuaricators should rather haue bin thurst into the basest that is earthly bodies then the worst men But that we might know that the spirits merits are not repaid by the bodies qualitie the worst diuell hath an c ayry body and man though he be bad yet of farre lesse malice and guilt hath an earthly body yea had ere his fall And what can be more fond then to thinke that the Sunne was rather made for a soule to be punished in as a prison rather then by the prouidence of God to bee one in one world as a light to the beauty and a comfort to the creatures Otherwise two ten or en hundred soules sinning all a like the world should haue so many Sunnes To auoyd which we must rather beleeue that there was but one soule sinned in that kind deseruing such a body rather then that the Makers miraculous prouidence did so dispose of the Sunne for the light comfort of things created It is not the soules whereof speake they know not what but it is their owne soules that are so farre from truth that they must needes be attanted and restraned Therefore these three I
silence wee know them both this by a the eare and that by the eye but not by any formes of theirs but priuation of formes Let none then seeke to know that of mee which I know not my selfe vnlesse hee will learne not to know what hee must know that hee cannot know for the things that we know by priuation and not by forme are rather if you can conceit mee knowne by not knowing and in knowing them are still vnknowne For the bodyes eye coursing ouer bodyly obiects sees no darkenesse but when it ceaseth to see And so it belongs to the eare and to no other sence to know silence which notwithstanding is not knowne but by not hearing So our intellect doth speculate the intelligible formes but where they faile it learneth by not learning for who can vnderstand his faults This I know that Gods nature can neuer faile in time nor in part but all things that are made of nothing may decay which doe not-with-standing more good as they are more essentiall for then doe they some-thing when they haue efficient causes but in that they faile and fall off and doe euill they haue deficient causes and what doe they then but vanity L. VIVES BY the a eare Contraries are knowne both by one methode say the Philosophers and the primatiue is knowne onely by seperation of the knowledge of the Positiue Of the peruerse loue whereby the soule goeth from the vnchangeable to the changeable good CHAP. 8. I Know besides that wherein the vicious will is resident therein is that done which if the will would not should not bee done and therefore the punishment falls iustly vpon those acts which are wills and not necesâ—…ities It is not the a thing to which wee fall but our fall that is euill that is wee fall to no euill natures but against natures order from the highest to the lower and therefore euill Couetise is no vice in the gold but in him that peruersly leaueth iustice to loue gold whereas iustice ought alwayes to bee preferred before ritches Nor is lust the fault of sweete bautious bodies but the soules that runnes peruersly to bodily delights neglecting temperance which scornes all company with those prepares vs vnto far more excellent and spirituall pleasures Vaine-glory is not a vice proper to humaine praise but the soules that peruersely affecteth praise of men not respecting the consciences testimonie Nor is pride his vice that giueth the power but the soules peruersly louing that power contemning the iustice of the most mighty By this then he that peruersly affected a good of nature though he attaine it is euill himselfe in this good and wretched being depriued of a better L. VIVES THE a thing It is not the action but the quality and manner thereof that is vicious said Plato Whether he that made the Angels natures made their wills good also by the infusion of his loue into them through his holy spirit CHAP. 9. SEeing therefore there is no naturall nor a essentiall cause effecting the euill of will but that euill of mutability of spirit which depraueth the good of nature ariseth from it selfe being effected no way but by falling from God which falling also hath no cause If we say also that good wills haue no efficient cause we must beware least they bee not held vncreated and coeternall with God But seeing that the Angels them-selues were created how can their wills but bee so also Besides being created whether were they created with them or without them first if with them then doubtlesse hee that made one made both and b as soone as they were created they were ioyned to him in that loue wherein they were created And therein were they seuered from the other because they kept their good-wills still and the other were changed by falling in their euill will from that which was good whence they needed not haue fallen vnlesse they had listed But if the good Angels were at first with-out good wills and made those wills in them-selues without Gods working were they therefore made better of them-selues then by his creation God forbid For what were they without good wills but euill Or if they were not euill because they had no euill wills neither nor fell from that which they had not how-so-euer they were not as yet so good as when they had gotten good wills But now if they could not make them-selues better then God the best workeman of the world had made them then verily could they neuer haue had good wills but by the operation of the creator in them And these good wills effecting their conuersion not to them-selues who were inferiours but to the supreme God to adhere vnto him and bee blessed by fruition of him what doe they else but shew that the best will should haue remained poore in desire onely but that he who made a good nature of nothing capable of himselfe e made it better by perfecting it of himselfe first hauing made it more desirous of perfection for this must bee examined whether the good Angels created good will in them-selues by a good will or a badde or none if by none then none they created If by a badde how can a badde will produce a good if by a good then had they good wills already And who gaue them those but he that created them by a good will that is in that chast loue of their adherence to him both forming them nature and giuing them grace Beleeue it therefore the Angelles were neuer without good will that is Gods loue But those that were created good and yet became euill by their proper will which no good nature can do but in a voluntary defect from good that and not the good being the cause of euill either d receiued lesse grace from the diuine loue then they that persisted therein or if the had equall good at their creation the one fell by the euill wills and the other hauing further helpe attained that blisse from which they were sure neuer to fal as we shewed in our last booke Therefore to gods due praise wee must confesse that the diffusion of Gods loue is beâ—…owed as well vpon the Angells as the Saints by his holy spirit bestowed vpon them and that that Scripture It is good for me to adhere vnto God was peculiar at first to the holy Angells before man was made This good they all participate with him to whome they adhere and are a holy citty a liuing sacrifice and a liuing temple vnto that God Part whereof namely that which the Angells shall gather and take vp from this earthly pilgrimage vnto that society being now in the flesh vpon earth or dead and resting in the e secret receptacles of soules how it had first original must I now explaine as I did before of the Angels For of Gods worke The first man came all man kind as the scripture saith whose authority is iustly admired throughout the earth and those
saith and dwelling in our members when it doth not reigne in our mortall body obeying the desires of it and when wee doe not giue vp our members as instruments of iniquity to serue it it is conuerted into a minde consenting not vnto it in any euill by Gods gouernment and man that hath it some-what quietly here shall haue it afterwards most perfectly setled sinlesse and in eternall peace L. VIVES BEare a yee The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b The spirit of meekenesse Because of that which followeth Considering thy selfe least thou also bee tempted It is fitte that one that corrects sinne should consider that hee might sinne him-selfe least if hee growe proud because hee is more perfect then his brother reuenge bee at hand and make him fall worse c The seruants Our Sauiour treating of brotherly remission reciteth this Parable Math. 18. d Not disposing Ecclesiastes the 7. 15. Behold the worke of God who can make streight that which hee hath made crooked And hence it is that a few rules serue to guide some in honestie and none other-some If the minde bee not inwardly mooued to good the outward words doe but little good e Being in vs for the pronenesse to badnesse that is in vs all is the punishment of the first mans sinne by which without great resistance wee are harried into all enormity Besides there is no sinne but vexeth him in whome it is The first reuenge saith Iuuenall is that no guilty man is quitte by his owne conscience But this place is diuersly read But the true sence is If that originall promise to sinne which wee haue all from Adam bee not predominant ouer the whole man nor reigne not as the Apostle saith in our members but bee subiected â—…o the minde and the minde vnto God the gouernour not consenting to that wicked procliuitie but rather peaceably restraining it and comming vnto the curing of GOD that good Phisitian then that crazed affect becommeth sound perfection and with the whole man attaineth immortality For this aptnesse or inclination to sinne which the schoole-diuines call fomes is sinne in vs. Of the cause and obstinacie of Cains wickednesse which was not repressed by Gods owne words CHAP. 7. BVt that same speaking of God vnto Caine in the forme of some of his creatures as wee haue shewed that hee vsed to doe with the first men what good did it doe him did hee not fulfill his wicked intent to murther his brother after GOD had warned him who hauing distinguished both their sacrifices reiecting the one and receiuing the other no b doubt by some visible signe and that because the one wrought euill and the other good Caine grew exceeding wroth and his looke was deiected And God said vnto him Why is thy looke deiected c â—…f thou offer well and diuidest not well d hast thou not sinned be quiet e vnto thee shall his desire be subiect and thou shalt rule ouer him In this admonition of God vnto Caine because the first words If thou offer well and diuidest noâ—… 〈◊〉 hast thou not sinned are of doubtfull vnderstanding the translators haue â—…ne it vnto diuers sences each one seeking to lay it downe by the line 〈◊〉 â—…h A sacrifice that is offred to the true God to whome onely such are 〈◊〉 well offered But the diuision may be euill made vpon a bad distinction of 〈◊〉 â—…es place offring offrers or of him to whome it is offred or of them to 〈◊〉 the offring is distributed meaning here by diuision a discerning beâ—… offring at due times in due places due offrings due distributions and the 〈◊〉 of all these As if we offer where when and what wee should not or 〈◊〉 better to our selues then we offer to God or distribute the offring to the â—…ctified herein prophaning the sacrifice In which of these Caine offended 〈◊〉 we cannot easily finde But as the Apostle Iohn said of these two bretheren 〈◊〉 Caine who was of the wicked and slew his brother and wherefore slew he him 〈◊〉 his owne workes were euill and his brothers good This proueth that God resâ—…d not his guifts for that hee diuided euill f giuing God onely some of â—…ll and giuing him-selfe to him-selfe as all do that leaue Gods will to 〈◊〉 their owne and liuing in peruersnesse of heart offer guifts vnto God as 〈◊〉 to buy him not to cure their vicious affects but to fulfill them This is the â—…ty of the earthly Citty to worshippe one or many Gods for victory and â—…striall peace neuer for charitable instruction but all for lust of soueraigneâ—… The good vse this world to the enioying of God but the wicked iust conâ—… wise would vse God to enioy the world g such I meane as hold God to 〈◊〉 to haue to doe in humanity for there are that are farre worse and beleeue 〈◊〉 So then Caine knowing that God respected his brothers sacrifice and 〈◊〉 ought to haue changed him-selfe and fallen to imitation of his good broâ—… not to haue swollen vp in enuy against him But because hee was sad and 〈◊〉 cast downe this greefe at anothers good chiefely his brothers God 〈◊〉 â—…nde great falt with for there-vpon hee asked him saying Why art thou sad 〈◊〉 is thy countenance cast downe His enuy to his brother God saw and reâ—…ded Man that knoweth not the heart might well haue doubted wheâ—…â—…ee was sad for his owne badnesse that displeased God or for his brothers 〈◊〉 for which God accepted his sacrifice But God giuing a reason why 〈◊〉 â—…ould not accept his that hee might haue iuster cause to dislike him-selfe 〈◊〉 his brother hauing not diuided that is not liued well and being not worâ—… to haue his sacrifice accepted doth shew that hee was farre more vniust 〈◊〉 that he hated his iust brother for no cause yet hee sendeth him not away 〈◊〉 a good and holy command Bee quiet quoth hee for vnto thee shall his 〈◊〉 â—…ee subiect and thou shalt rule ouer him What ouer his brother God forâ—… no but ouer sinne for hee had said before hast thou not sinned and now â—…ddeth bee quiet for vnto thee c. Some may take it thus that sinne shall â—…ned vpon man so that hee that sinneth shall haue none to blame for it 〈◊〉 him-selfe for this is the wholesome medicine of repentance and the fit plea â—…rdon that these words of God be vnsterstood as a percept and not as a proâ—… for then shall euery man rule ouer sin when he doth not support it by â—…ce but subdue it by repentance otherwise hee that becomes the protecâ—… it shall sure become prisoner to it But if wee vnderstand this sinne to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carnall concupiscense whereof the Apostle saith The flesh coueteth aâ—… the spirit amongst whose workes enuy is reckened for one which inâ—… Cayne to his brothers murder then wee may well take these words 〈◊〉 It shal bee turned vnto thee and thou shalt rule ouer it for the carnall part being moued which
of Heroes and demi-gods but euen of the gods them-selues their adulteries rapines tyranies chasings out of parents and marriages of bretheren and sisters truly I thought all these things both lawfull and lawdable and affected them very zealously For I thought the gods would neuer haue bin lechers nor haue gone together by th' eares amongst them-selues vnlee they had allowed al these for good and decent Thus far Lucian We haue rehersed it in the words of Thomas Moore whome to praise negligently or as if wee were otherwise imployed were grosenes His due commendations are sufficient to exceed great volumes For what is hee that can worthily limme forth his sharpnes of wit his depth of Iudgement his excellence and variety of learning his eloquence of Phrase his plausibility and integrity of manners his iudicious fore-sight his exact execution his gentle modesty and vprightnes and his vnmoued loyaltie vnles in one word he wil say they are al perfect intirely absolute exact in al their ful proportions vnles he wil cal them as they are indeed the patterns and lusters each of his kinde I speake much and many that haue not known Moore will wonder at me but such as haue wil know I speak but truth so wil such as shal either read his works or but heare or looke vpon his actions but another time shal be more fit to spred our sailes in this mans praises as in a spacious Ocean wherin we wil take this ful and prosperous wind write both much in substance and much in value of his worthy honours and that vnto fauourable readers g As Persius saith Satyrd 3. Cum dirâ—… 〈◊〉 bids Mouâ—… ingenâ—… ferâ—…ti â—…cta 〈◊〉 When the blacke lust of sinne Dipt in hot poison burnes the minde within It is meant indeed of any gaules which is hotte poyson But Augustine vseth it heare for the generatiue sperme which some call Virus h Here-vppon it is that Terence bringes In his Eunuchus Chaerea who was carried disguised for an Eunuch by Parmeno vnto Thais beeing enamourd on a wench that Thraso the soldior had giuen to her and telling his fellow Antipho how he had inioyed her reâ—…ates it thus While they prepare to wash the wench satte in the Parlour looking vpon a picture wherein was painted how 〈◊〉 sent downe the showre of gold into Danaes lappe I fell a looking at it with her and because hee hadde plaid the same play before me my mind gaue me greater cause of ioy seeing a God hadde turned him-selfe into a man and stolne vnto a woman through another mans chimney and what God Euen hee that shaketh Temples with his thunder should I beeing but a wretch to him make bones of it No I didde it euen withall my heart Thus farre Terence Danae beeing a faire Virgin her father Acrisius kept her in a Tower that no man should haue accesse vnto her Now Iupiter being in loue with her in a showre of gold dropt through the chimney into the Tower and so inioyed â—…er that is with golden guifts against which no locke no guard is strong ynough hee corrupted both the keepers and the maid her-selfe Of the Romaâ—…s Stage plaies wherein the publishing of their gods foulest imparities did not any way offend but rather delight them CHAP. 8. I But wil some say these things are not taught in the institutions of the gods but in the inuentions of the Poets I will not say that the gods misteries are more obicaene then the Theaters presentations but this I say wil bring history sufficient to conuince all those that shal denie it that those playes which are formed according to these poeticall fictions were not exhibited by the Romaines vnto their goddes in their sollemnities through any ignorant deuotion of their owne but onely by reason that the goddes them selues didde so strictly commaund yea and euen in some sort extort from them the publike presenting and dedication of those plaies vnto their honours This I handled briefly in the first booke For a when the citty was first of al infected with the pestilence then were stages first ordained at Rome by the authorization of the chiefe Priest And what is he that in ordering of his courses will not rather choose to follow the rudiments which are to be fetched out of plaies or whatsoeuer being instituted by his gods rather then the weaker ordinances of mortall men If the Poets didde falsely record Iupiter for an adulterer then these gods being so chast should be the more offended and punish the world for thrusting such a deale of villany into their ceremonies and not for omitting them b Of these stage-plaies the best and most tollerable are Tragedy and Comedy being Poetical fables made to be acted at these shewes wherein notwithstanding was much dishonest matter in actions but none at al of wordes and these the old men do cause to be taught to their children amongst their most honest and liberal studies L. VIVES FOr a when the citty was Because in this booke and in the other following Saint Augustine doth often make mention of Stage-plaies it seemeth a fit place here to speake somewhat thereof and what should haue beene seattered abroad vpon many chapters I will here lay all into one for the better vnderstanding of the rest And first of their Originall amongst the Greekes first and the Romaines afterwards for imitation brought them from Greece to Rome The old husbandmen of Greece vsing euery yeare to sacrifice to Liber Pater for their fruites first vsed to sing something at the putting of the fire on the altars in stead of prayers and then to please him the better they sung ouer all his victories warres conquests triumphs and his captiuation of Kings For reward of which paines of theirs a Goat was first appointed or the Skin of an offered Goat full of wine So these rewards partly and partly oftentation set many good wits work amongst these plaine countrimen to make verses of this theame meane and few at first but as al thinges else in processe of time they grew more elegant and conceited and because the Kings that Liber had conquered afforded not matter ynough for their yearely songs they fell in hand with the calamities of other Kings like to the former and sung much of them And this song was called a tragedy either of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Goate the reward of the conqueror in this contention or of the wine-leese wherwith they anoynted their faces called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now some wil haue the Comedy to haue had the Originall from these sacrifices also others froÌ„ the sollemnities of Apollo Nomius that is the guardian of sheapheards and villages some say that both these sacrifices were celebrated at once I wil set down the most common opinion When the Athenians liued as yet in dispersed cotages Theseus hauing not yet reduced them to a Citty The husbandmen vsed after their sacrifices to breake iests
Citie shew which precept of the gods b Marius or c Cinna or d Carbo violated in their giuing action vnto the ciuill warres which they began e vpon such vniust causes followed with such crueltie and iniuries and ended in more iniurious cruelties or what diuine authorities f Sylla himselfe broke whose life deeds and conditions to heare Salust describe and other true Historians whose haire would not stand vp right What is he now that will not confesse that g then the weale publike fell absolutely What is he now that will dare to produce that sentence of Virgill for this corruption of manners in the defence of their gods h Discéssere omnes adytis arisque relictis Dij quibus imperium hoc steterat Aen 2. The gods by whom this Empire stood left all The temples and the Altars bare But admit that this were true then haue they no reason to raile vpon Christianitie or to say that the gods being offended at that did forsake them because it was their predecessors manners that long agoe chaced all their great multitude of little gods from the cittie altars like so many flyes But where was all this nest of Deities when the i Galles sacked the cittie long before the ancient manners were contaminate were they present and yet fast a sleepe the whole cittie was all subdued at that time onely the Capitoll remained and that had beene surprized too if k the Geese had not shewen themselues better then the gods and waked when they were all a sleepe And here-vpon did Rome fall almost into the l superstition of the Aegiptians that worship birds and beasts for they henceforth kept a holy day which they called the m gooses feast But this is but by the way I come not yet to dispute of those accidental euils which are rather corporall then mentall and inflicted by foes or misfortunes I am now in discourse of the staines of the minde and manners and how they first decayed by degrees and afterward fell head-long into perdition so that thence ensued so great a destruction to the weale-publike though their cittie walles stood still vnbattered that their chiefest authors doubted not to proclaime it lost and gone Good reason was it that the gods should abandon their Temples and Altars and leaue the towne to iust destruction if it had contemned their aduices of reformation But what might one thinke I pray yee of those gods that would abide with the people that worshipped them and yet would they neuer teach them any meanes to leaue their vices and follow what was good L. VIVES THE a Gracchi These were sonnes vnto Titus Gracchus who was twise Consul triumphed twise and held the offices of Censor and Augur and Cornelia yonger daughter to African the elder they were yong men of great and admirable towardnesse both which defending the Agrarian lawe concerning the diuision of lands were murdered by the offended Senate in their Tribuneships Tiberius by Nasica a priuate man Caius by L. Opimius the Consul nine yeares after the first with clubs and stooles feete the latter with swords and this was the first ciuill dissension that euer came to weapons Anno P. R. C. DCXXVII b Marius Arpinas was his place of birth a man ignoble by descent but came to be seauen times Consull Hee first conquered Iugurth then the Cymbrians and Teutishmen and triumphed of all these at last enuying and hating Sylla who was his legate in the warre of Iugurthe he fell to ciuill warres with him wherein Marius was put to the worst and forced to flie into Africa c Cinna Marius being ouercome Sylla going to warre vpon Mithridates left C. Cornelius Cynna and Octauius Consuls in the cittie Cynna desirous of innouation seuered himselfe from his fellow and was chased out of the Citty by him and the good faction which iniurie Cynna endeuouring by all meanes possible to reuenge calleth back Marius out of Africa and so made warre vpon his countrie and entring it with mightie powers he butchered vp numbers and made himselfe the second time and Marius the seuenth time Consull without the voyces of the people in which Magistracie Marius dyed after many bloudy massacres and foule actes committed d Carbo There were many of the Carbo's as Tully writes to Papyrius Paetus of the Papyrian family but not of that of the Patriotts This of whom Saint Augustine speaketh was Cneus Papyrius Carbo one of Marius his faction who being ouer-come by Sylla fled into Sicily there at Lylibaeum was slaine by Pompey the great e Uniust cause L. Sylla and Q. Pompeyus being Consuls the Prouince of Asia and the warre of Mitrhidates fell vnto Sylla This Marius stomocked because of his olde grudge at P. Sulpitius Tribune a most seditious and wicked fellow to gette the people to make election of him for the warre against Mithridates The people though in a huge tumult yet tooke notice of what the Tribune propounded and commanded it should be so Sylla not brooking this disgrace demanded helpe of his armie and offered force to Marius his Ambassadors who went to take vp legions at Capua and so brought his angry powers to the Citty with intent to wreake this iniurie by fraude or force Hence arose the seedes of all the ciuill warres for Marius with his faction mette him in the Cittie at Port Esquiline and there fought a deadly sette battaile with him f Sylla This man was a Patriot of the Cornelian familie and hauing done worthy seruice in armes hee was made Consull In which Magistracie hauing conquered Mithridates chased out the ciuill warres ouer-throwne Marius the yonger Carbo Norbanus Sertorius Domitius Scipio and the rest of the Marian faction hee tooke vpon him perpetuall Dictatorship by the lawe Valerian wherein hee proscribed many thousands of the Romaine Citizens with outragious crueltie He was a most bloudy fellow and giuen ouer vnto all kinde of lust and intemperance g Then the weale publike Lucane by the mouth of Cato Olim vera fidei Sylla Marioque receptis Libertatis obijt Whilom when Marius and feirce Sylla stroue True liberty fell dead h Discessere omnes adytis The verse is in the second booke of Uirgils Aeneads which Seruius and Macrobius doe thinke belongeth vnto the calling out of the gods for when as a citty was besieged the enemy had an intent to raze it to the ground least they should seeme to fight against the gods and force them from their habitations against their wils which they held as a wicked deed they vsed to call them out of the besieged citty by the generall that did besiege it that they would please to come and dwell amongst the conquerors So did Camillus at the Veii Scipio at Carthage and Numance Mummius at Corinth i The Galls sacked The Transalpine Galls burst often into Italy in huge multitudes The last of them were the Senones who first sacked Clusium afterwards Rome Anno P. R. C. CCCLX whether
inspire and transforme them The later of the latine verses in the text dotâ—… not expresse Homers mind But I suspect it to be wronged in copying Of Gods fore-knowledge and mans freedome of election againâ—…t the opinion of Cicero CHAP. 9. AGainst those men Tully thinketh he cannot hold argument vnlesse hee ouerthrow diuination therefore he laboureth to proue that there is no praescience nor fore-knowledge of things to come a either in God or man there is directly no such matter Thus denieth he Gods fore-knowledge idely seeketh to subuert the radiant lustre of true prophecies by propounding a sort of ambiguous and fallible oracles whose truth not-withstanding he doth not confute But those coniectures of the Mathematiques he layeth flat for indeed they are the ordinance to batter them-selues But for al that their opinion is more tollerable yâ— ascribe a fate b vnto the stars then his that reiects al fore-knowledge of things to come For to acknowledge a God yet to deny that is monstrous madnes which he obseruing went about to proue euen that with the foole hath said in his heart there is no God Mary not in his own person he saw the danger of mallice too well and therfore making Cotta dispute hand-smooth against the Stoikes vpon this theame in his books De natura Deorum there he seemes more willing to hold with c Lucilius Balbus that stood for the Stoikes then with Cotta that argued against the diuine essence But in his bookes Of diuination hee directly opposeth the fore-knowledge of thinges d of him-selfe and in his owne person all which it seemeth hee didde least hee should yeelde vnto fate and so loose the freedome of election For hee supposed that in yeelding to this fore-know-ledge fate would follow necessarily there-vpon without all deniall But how-soeuer the Phylosophers winde them-selues in webbes of disputations wee as wee confesse the great and true GOD so do we acknowledge his high will power and fore-knowledge Nor lette vs feare that wee doe not performe all our actions by our owne will because he whose fore-knowledge cannot erre knew before that we should do thus or thus which Tully feared and therfore denied fore-knowledge and the Stoiks that held not al things to be done by necessity thought that they were done by fate What then did Tully fe re in this praescience that he framed such detestable arguments against it Verily this that if all euents were knowne ere they came to passe they should come to passe according to that fore-knowledge And if they come so to passe then God knoweth the certain order of things before hand and consequently the certaine order of the causes and if he know a certaine order of causes in all euents then aâ—…e all euents disposed by fate which if it be so wee haue nothing left in our power nothing in our will which granted saith he the whole course of humanity is ouerturned law correction praise disgrace exhortation prohibition al are to no end nor is ther any iustice in punishing the bad and rewarding the good For auoiding of which inconueniences so absurd and so pernitious he vtterly reiecteâ—…h this fore-knowledge of things and draweth the religious minde into this strait that either there must be som-what in the power of our will or else that there is a fore-knowledge of things to come but the granting of the one is the subuersioÌ„ of the other choosing of the fore-knowledge we must loose the freedome of election and choosing this we must deny the other Now this learned and prouident man of the two maketh choyse of freedome of election and to confirme it denieth the fore-knowledge vtterly And so instead of making men free maketh them blasphemous But the religious mind chooseth them both confesseth confirmeth them both How saith he For granting this fore-knowledge there followeth so many consequents that they quite subuert all power of our will and holding thus by the same degrees we ascend till we find there is no praescience of future things at all for thus we retire through them If there be any freedome of the will all things do not follow destiny If all thinges follow not destiny then is there no set order in the causes of things Now if there bee 〈◊〉 set order in the causes of all things then is there no set order of the things them-selues in Gods fore-knowledge since they come from their causes If there bee not a sette order of all thinges in GODS fore-knowledge then all things fall not out according to the sayd knowledge Now if all thinges fall not out as hee hadde his fore-knowledge of them then is there in God no fore-knowledge of thinges to come To these sacriligious and wicked opposers thus wee reply GOD doth both know all thinges ere they come to passe and wee doe all thinges willingly which wee doe not feele our selues and knowe our selues directly inforced to Wee hold not that all thinges but rather that nothing followeth fate and whereas Fate vseth to be taken for a position of the stars in natiuities and conceptions we hold this a vaine and friuolous assumption wee neither deny an order of causes wherein the will of God is all in all nether do we cal it by the name of Fate g vnles Fate be deriued of fari to speak for we cannot deny that the scripture saith God spake oncâ—… these two things I haue heard that power belongeth vnto God to thee O Lord mercy for thou wilt reward euery man according to his workes For whereas hee saith God spake once it is meant that hee spake vnmooueably and vnchangeably that all thinges should fall out as hee spake and meant to haue them In this respect wee may deriue fate from fari to speake but we must needes say withall that it is vsed in another sence then we would haue men to thinke vppon But it doth not follow that nothing should bee left free to our will because God knoweth the certaine and sette order of all euents For Our very wills are in that order of causes which God knoweth so surely and hath in his praescience humain wils beeing the cause of humaine actions So that hee that keepeth a knowledge of the causes of all thinges cannot leaue mens wills out of that knowledge knowing them to bee the causes of their actions g For Tullies owne wordes Nothing commeth to passe without an efficient cause is sufficient alone to sway downe this matter quite against him-selfe for what auailes the subsequence Nothing is without a cause but euery cause is not fatall because there are causes of chance nature and will It is sufficient that nothing is done but by precedent cause For those causes that are casuall giuing originall to the name of Fortune wee deny them not wee say they are secret and ascribe them either to the will of the true God or of any other spirit The h naturall causes wee doe neuer diuide from his will who is natures
that the euents of things to come proceed not from Gods knowledge but this from them with not-withstanding in him are not to come but already present wherein a great many are deceiued wherfore he is not rightly said to fore-know but only in respect of ouâ—… actions but already to knowe see and discerne them But is it seen vnfit that this eternall knowledge should deriue from so transitory an obiect then we may say that Gods knowledge ariseth from his prouidence and will that his will decreeth what shall bee and his knowledge conceiueth what his will hath appointed That which is to come saith Origen vppon Genesis is the cause that God knoweth it shall come so it commeth not to passe because God knoweth it shall come so to passe but God fore-knoweth it because it shal come so to passe m Vse the word So do most of the latines Poets Chroniclers and Orators referring fate to men and will to God and the same difference that is here betweene fate will Boethius puts betweene fate and prouidence Apuleius saith that prouidence is the diuine thought preseruing hiâ—… for whose cause such a thing is vndertaken that fate is a diuine law fulfilling the vnchangable decrees of the great God so that if ought be done by prouidence it is done also by fate and if Fate performe ought Prouidence worketh with it But Fortuâ—… hath something to doe about vs whose causes we vtterly are ignorant of for the euents runne so vncertaine that they mixing them-selues with that which is premeditated and we thinke well consulted of neuer let it come to our expected end and when it endeth beyond our expectation so well and yet these impediments haue intermedled that wee call happynesse But when they peâ—…uert it vnto the worst it is called misfortune or vnhappynesse In Dogmata Platonis Whether necessity haue any dominion ouer the will of man CHAP. X. NOr need we feare that a Necessity which the Stoikes were so affraid off that in their distinctions of causes they put some vnder Necessity and some not vnder it and in those that did not subiect vnto it they gâ—… our wils also that they might bee free though they were vrged by necessity But if that bee necessity in vs which is not in our power but will be done do what wee can against it as the necessity of death then is it plaine that our wills are subiect to no such necessity vse we them howsoeuer well or badly For we do many things which wee could not do against our wils And first of all to will it selfe if we will a thing there is our will If we will not it is not For we cannot will against our wills Now if necessity be defined to be that whereby such a thing musts needes fall out thus or thus I see no reason we should feare that it could hinder the freedome of our wills in any thing b For we neither subiect Gods being nor his praesciences vnto necessity when wee say God must needes liue eternally and God must needes fore-know all thinges no more then his honour is diminished in saying hee cannot erre hee cannot die He cannot do this why because his power were lesse if he could doe it then now it is in that he cannot Iustly is he called almighty yet may hee not dye nor erre He is called almighty because he can do all that is in his will not because he can suffer what is not his will which if he could he were not almighty So that he cannot do some things because he can do all things So when wee say that if we will any thing of necessity we must will it with a freedome of will tisâ—… true yet put we not our wil vnder any such necessity as depriues it of the freedome So that our wils are ours willing whatâ—…vve will and if we will it not neither do they will it and if any man suffer any thing by the will of another against his own will his will hath the own power still his sufferance commeth rather froÌ„ the power of God then from his own will for if hee vvilled that it should be other wise and yet could not haue it so his will must needes bee hindered by a greater power yet his will should be free still not in any others power but his that willed it though he could not haue his will performeds wherfore what-soeuer a man suffereth against his wil he ought not attribute it vnto the wils of Angels Men or any other created spirits but euen to his who gaue their wils this power So then c our wils are not vse-les because that God fore-seeth what wil be in them he that fore-saw it what-euer it be fore-saw somwhat and if he did fore know somewhat then by his fore-knowledge there is som-thing in our vvils Wherfore vve are neither compelled to leaue our freedom of will by retayning Gods fore-knowledge nor by holding our willes freedome to denie GODS fore-knowledge GOD forbid vvee should vve beleeue and affirme them both constantly and truly the later as a part of our good faith the former as a rule for our good life and badly doth hee liue that beleeueth not aright of GOD. So God-forbid that wee should deny his fore-knowledge to be free by whose helpe wee either are or shall bee free d Therefore law correction praise disgrace exhortation and prohibition are not in vaine because hee fore-knew that there should bee such They haue that power which hee fore-knew they should haue and prayers are powerfulâ—…â—…o attaine those thinges which hee fore-knoweth that hee will giue to such as pray for them Good deedes hath hee predestinated to reward and euil to punishment e Nor doth man sinne because God fore-knew that he would sin nay therfore it is doubtlesse that he sinneth when he doth sin because that God whose knowledge cannot be mistaken fore-saw that neither fate nor fortune nor any thing else but the man himselfe would sin who if he had not bin willing he had not sinned but whether he should be vnwilling to sinne or no that also did God fore-know L. VIVES THaâ—… a a necessitie Me thinketh saith Tully that in the two opinions of the Philosophers thâ—… 〈◊〉 holding faâ—…e the doer of all things by a very law of necessity of which opinion Democritus Heraclitus Empedocles and Aristotle were and the other exempting the motions of the wil from this law Chrysippus professing to step into a meane as an honorable arbitrator betweene them inclineth rather to those that stand for the minds freedom De fato lib. Therfore did Oenomaus yâ— Cynike say that Democritus had made our mindes slaues and Chrysippus halfe slaues Euseb. de praep Euang. l. 6. Therin is a great disputation about Fate The Stoikes bringing all vnder fate yet binde not our mindes to any necessity nor let them compel vs to any action For all things come to passe in fate by causes precedent and subsequent
for what pride those wicked fiendes had their fall Hence arose those routes of gods whereof partly wee haue spoken and others of other nations as well as those wee now are in hand with the Senate of selected gods selected indeed but for villany not for vertue Whose rites Varro seeking by reason to reduce to nature and to couer turpitude with an honest cloake can by no meanes make them square together because indeed the causes that hee held or would haue others hold for their worship are no such as he takes them nor causes of their worship For if they or their like were so though they should not concerne the true God nor life eternall which true religion must affoord yet their colour of reason would be some mitigation for the absurd actes of Ignorance which Varro did endeuour to bring about in diuers their theater-fables or temple-mysteries wherein hee freed not the theaters for their correspondence with the temples but condemned the temples for their correspondence with the theaters yet endeuouring with naturall reasons to wipe away the filthy shapes that those presentments imprinted in the sences Of Numa his bookes which the Senate for keeping their mysteries in secret did command should be burned CHAP. 34. BVt contrarywise we do finde as Varro himselfe said of Numa his bookes that these naturall reasons giuen for these ceremonies could no way be allowed of nor worthy of their priests reading no not so much as their secret reseruing For now I will tell yee what I promised in my third booke to relate in conuenient place One a Terentius as Varro hath it in his booke de Cultu deorum had some ground neare to mount Ianiculus and his seruants plowing neare to Nâ—… his tombe the plough turned vp some bookes conteining the ceremonies institutions b Terentius brought them into the citty to the Praetor who hauing looked in them brought this so weighty an affaire before the Senate where hauing read some of the first causes why hee had instituted this and that in their religion The Senate agreed with dead Numa and like c religious fathers gaue order to the Praetor for the burning of them Euery one here may beleeue as he list nay let any contentious mad patron of absurd vanity say here what he list Sufficeth it I shew that the causes that Nâ—… their King gaue for his owne institutions ought neither to bee shewed to people senate no nor to the Priests them-selues and that Numa by his vnlawfull 〈◊〉 came to the knowledge of such deuillish secrets as he was worthy to be 〈◊〉 â—…ded for writing of Yet though hee were a King that feared no man hee duâ—… for all that either publish them or abolish them publish them he would noâ—…â—…are of teaching wickednesse burne them he durst not for feare of offendiâ—… deuils so he buried them where he thought they would be safe d not 〈◊〉 â—…he turning vp of his graue by a plough But the Senate fearing to reâ—… their ancestors religion and so agreeing with Numa's doctrine yet held 〈◊〉 â—…kes too pernicious either to bee buried againe least mens madder cuâ—… should seeke them out or to bee put to any vse but burning to the end 〈◊〉 seeiâ—…g they must needs stick to their old superstition they might doe it with â—…ame by concealing the causes of it whose knowledge would haue disturâ—… whole cittie L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Terentius The storie is written by Liuy Ualerius Plutarch and Lactantius Liuy 〈◊〉 â—…erius his ordinary follower say that Q. Petilius found the bookes Pliny out of 〈◊〉 that Gn. Terentius found them in one chest not two Liuy calles that yeares 〈◊〉 C. Bebius Pamphilus and M. Amilius Lepidus for whom Hemina putteth P. Corâ—…â—…gus after Numa his reigne DXXXV of the bookes the seuerall opinions are 〈◊〉 13. cap. 13. b Terentius Petilius they sayd some say he desired the Pretor they 〈◊〉 â—…ead others that he brought a Scriuener to read them The historie in Liuy lib. 40. 〈◊〉 and Plinie lib. 1. 'T is sufficient to shew the places He saith he brought them inâ—… for though Numa's tombe were in the cittie namely in the foureteenth region 〈◊〉 yet being beyond Tyber such as came to the Senate house seemed to come out 〈◊〉 â—…bes or countrie c Religious fathers as touched with feare that religion should 〈◊〉 by the publication of those bookes Some read religious in reference vnto bookes 〈◊〉 â—…ng scruples of religion in mens mindes for that is the signification of the Latine 〈◊〉 any man will read it irreligious d Not fearing It was a great and religious 〈◊〉 â—…as had ouer Sepulchers of old none might violate or pull them downe it was a 〈◊〉 twelue tables and also one of Solons and Numa's of most old law-giuers Greekes â—…es belonging rather to their religion then their ciuill law for they held Sepulchers 〈◊〉 â—…les of th' Infernall gods and therefore they wrote vpon them these letters D. M. S. 〈◊〉 â—…anibus sacrum A place sacred to the gods of Hell and their sollemnities were 〈◊〉 â—…cia Cicero de legib lib. 2. Of Hydromancie whereby Numa was mocked with apparitions CHAP. 35. 〈◊〉 Nâ—…ma him-selfe being not instructed by any Prophet or Angell of God 〈◊〉 faine to fall to d Hydromancie making his gods or rather his deuills to 〈◊〉 in water and instruct him in his religious institutions Which kinde of 〈◊〉 â—…n saith Varro came from Persia and was vsed by Numa and afterwards 〈◊〉 â—…thagoras wherein they vsed bloud also and called forth spirits infernall 〈◊〉 â—…ncie the greekes call it but Necromancie or Hydromancie whether ye like 〈◊〉 it is that the dead seeme to speake How they doe these things looke they 〈◊〉 for I will not say that their lawes prohibited the vse of such things in 〈◊〉 cities before the comming of our Sauiour I doe not say so perhaps they 〈◊〉 allowed it But hence did Numa learne his ordinances which he published 〈◊〉 publishing their causes so afraide was he of that which he had learned 〈◊〉 which afterward the Senate burned But why then doth Varro giue them such a sort of other naturall reasons which had they beene in Numa's bookes they had 〈◊〉 beene burned or else Varro's that were dedicated to c Caesar the priest should haue beene burned for company So that Numa's hauing nymph a â—…ia to his wife was as Varro saith nothing but his vse of water in Hydromâ—…cy For so vse actions to bee spiced with falshood and turned into fables So by that Hydromancy did this curious King learne his religious lawes that hee gaue the Romaines and which the Priests haue in their bookes marry for their causes them hee learned also but kept to himselfe and after a sort entoumbed them in death with himselfe such was his desire to conceale them from the world So then either were these bookes filled with the deuills best all desires and thereby all the politique Theology that presenteth them such filthynesses made
be other beginnings found eyther knowne to God or his fâ—…es saith Apulcius out of Plato e Which conteyneth This is Plato's opinion related by Augustine not his owne This I adde because our truth-hunter sets it as Augustines and then comes in with his realityes and formalities such as Augustine neuer dreamed of For Plato saith God is the mindes light like as the sunne wee see is the light of the body whereby we see So is God the cause of our vnderstanding whose sacred light infuseth things and the knowledge of truth into vs. De Rep. 6. The sunne is the light of the world visible and God of the inuisible Nazanz f He did with most Plato Xenophon Aeschines Xenocrates and other reduced Socrates his wordes into Dialogues wherein hee most elegantly reprehendeth their ignorance that perswaded both them-selues and the multitude that they knew all things Such were Protogoras Gorgias Euthydemus Dionysodorus and others g Wher-vpon His disputation saith Plato ouerthrew him Three saith Laertius accused him Anytus Melitus Lycon an Orator in Anytus his defence of the trades-mens tumultuous crew and the other Cittizens whome Socrates had often derided Melitus defended the Poets whom Socrates would haue expelled the Citty Of these thinges read Plato and Xenophon in their Apologies for Socrates But the playnest of all is Laertius in his life of Socartes He was condemned by two hundred eighty one sentences h Callumnious My accusers saith Socrates nor my crymes can kill me but enuy onely which both hath destroyed and will destroy the worthyest euer i Yet did Athens They did so greeue for his death that they shut vp all the schooles and made a sad vacation all ouer the Citty put Melitus to death banished Anitus and erected Socrates a brazen statue of Lysippus his workemanship k Many All the sects almost deriued from Socrates the Platonists Academikes Cyrenaikes Cynikes Peripatetiques Megarians and Stoikes t Study and emulation This onely question made all the sects m Which being not For his disputations rather were confutations of others then doctrines of his owne For professing himselfe to know nothing hee thought it vnfit to affirme any thing Plato's Thaeatetus n The finall good To which all things haue reference Cic. de finib For this saith hee lib. 3. beeing the vtmost you knowe I interprete the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Wee may call it the last or the end for which all thinges are desired and it selfe onely for it selfe as Plato Aristotle and the rest affirme o Aristippus A Cyrenian the first Socratist that taught for money as hee would haue also paid for his learning But Socrates neuer tooke pay saying his Genius forbad him Hee suffered also Dionysius of Syracusa the younger to deride him and flattered him for gayne Hee made bodily pleasure the greatest good Diog. Laert. Of them the Cyrenaikes Phylosophers had their originall An end of this with a briefe note out of Hierome vppon Ecclesiastes speaking of pleasure Let this quoth he Be affirmed by some Epicurus or Aristippus or the Cynikes or such Phylosophicall cattell it must bee the Cyrenaikes for what had the Cynikes to doe with bodily pleasures p Antisthenes The author of the Cynikes or Dogsect maister to Diogines of Synope the Cynike hee held vertue the greatest good q Each of The diuersity of opinions herein you may read in Cicero his 2. de finibus And wee haue toucht them briefely in the preface to his worke de legibus Of Plato the cheefe of Socrates his schollers who diuided Phylosophy into three kindes CHAP. 4. BVt of all Socrates his schollers there was one whose glory worthily obscured all the rest Plato a Hee was an Athenian borne of honest parentage and endowed with perfection of vnderstanding farre more then all his fellowes So hee thinking that his inuention and b Socrates his instructions were all too short of the true ayme of Phylosophy and therefore would needes goe trauell to any place where Fame tolde him he might drinke of the fount of noble sapience So went hee into c Aegipt and there learnt all that hee held worth learning and from thence into d Italy where the Pythagoreans were famous and there didde he drayne from the most eminent teachers all the Phylosophy of Italy And because hee dearely affected his maister Socratâ—…s hee maketh him in all his Dialogues to temperate that which a either he had learned of others or inuented of him-selfe with his delicate vrbanity and motality So whereas the study of f wisedome is eyther concerning action or contemplation and thence assumeth two seuerall names actiue and contemplatiue the actiue consisting in the practise of morality in ones life and the contemplatiue in penetrating into the abstruse causes of nature and the nature of Diuinity g Socrates is said to excell in the actiue Pythagoras in the contemplatiue But Plato conioyned them into one perfect kinde which h hee subdiuided into three sorts The Morall consisting chiefly in action The Naturall in contemplation The Rationall in i distinction of true and false k which though it bee vsefull in both the other yet it pertaineth more particularly to contemplation And therefore this Trichotomy or triple diuision doth not contradict the other Dichotomy that includeth all in action and contemplation But as for Plato's opinion herein what should be the end of all actions the cause of all natures and the light of all reasons is both tedious to follow and may not bee rashly affirmed For l delighting in his maister Socrates his dissembling of his knowledge whome hee maketh disputant in all his dialogues and affecting that he left his owne opinions in these great questions as ambiguous very neare as his maisters yet do we intend out of his owne discourses and his relations m from others to repeat some of his positions eyther such as do square with truth of that religion which our faith professeth and defendeth or such as oppose it as farre as shall concerne the singularity or multititude of goddes whome the Catholike religion sayth we must worship for the obtayning of eternall felicity in the life to come For it may be that such as knew Plato to excell al the other Phlosophers of al nations and vnderstood him far bettter then others do think that in God is the cause of natures the light of reason and the rule of life which haue reference to the three Phylosophies Naturall Rationall and Morall n For if a man were created by his excelling part to aspire to that which excelleth all that is the One True almighty God without whome nothing hath being no reason instructeth and no vse assisteth o then let him be searched out in whom we haue all security let him be beheld in whom is al our certainty let him bee beloued in whome is all our morality L. VIVES PLato a His parents were Aristo and Perictione Hee came from Codrus by the father the last King of Athens by the mother
that end which the order of the vniuerse requireth so that that corruption which bringeth all natures mortall vnto dissolution cannot so dissolue that which was but it may become that afterwards which it was before or that which it should be which being so then God the highest being who made all things that are not him-selfe no creature being fitte for that equalitie being made of â—…othing and consequently being not able to haue beene but by him is not to be discommended through the taking offence at some faults but to bee honored vpon the due consideration of the perfection of all natures L. VIVES A a certaine Euery thing keeping harmonious agreement both with it selfe and others without corrupting discorde which made some ancient writers affirme that the world 〈◊〉 vpon loue The cause of the good Angells blisse and the euills misery CHAP. 6. THE true cause therefore of the good Angells blisse is their adherence to that most high essence and the iust cause of the bad Angels misery is their departure from that high essence to reside vpon them-selues that were not such which vice what is it else but a pride For pride is the roote of all sinne These would not therefore stick vnto him their strength and hauing power to bee more b perfect by adherence to this highest good they preferred them-selues that were his inferiours before him This was the first fall misery and vice of this nature which all were it not created to haue the highest being yet might it haue beatitude by fruition of the highest being but falling from him not bee â—…de nothing but yet lesse then it was and consequently miserable Seeke the câ—…e of this euill will and you shall finde iust none For what can cause the wills 〈◊〉 the will being sole cause of all euill The euill will therefore causeth euill workes but nothing causeth the euill will If there be then either it hath a will or â—…one If it haue it is either a good one or a bad if good what foole will say a good will is cause of an euill will It should if it caused sinne but this were extreame absurditie to affirme But if that it haue an euill will then I aâ—…ke what caused this euill will in it and to limite my questions I aske the cause of the first euill will For not that which an other euill will hath caused is the first euill will but that which none hath caused for still that which causeth is before the other caused If I bee answered that nothing caused it but it was from the beginning I aske then wheâ—…er it were in any nature If it were in none it had no being if it were in any it corrupted it hurt it and depriued it of all good and therefore this Vice could not be in an euill nature but in a good where it might doe hurt for if it could not hurt it was no vice and therefore no bad will and if it did hurt it was by priuation of good or diminishing of it Therfore a bad will could be from eternity in that wherein a good nature had beene before which the euill will destroied by hurt Well if it were not eternall who made it It must be answered something that had no euill will what was this inferior superior or equall vnto it If it were the superior it was better and why then had it not a will nay a better will This may also bee said of the equall for two good wills neuer make the one the other bad It remaines then that some inferior thing that had no will was cause of that vicious will in the Angels I but all things below them euen to the lowest earth being naturall is also good and hath the goodnesse of forme and kinde in all order how then can a good thing produce an euill will how can good be cause of euill for the will turning from the superior to the inferior becomes bad not because the thing where-vnto it turneth is bad but because the diuision is bad and peruerse No inferior thing then doth depraue the will but the will depraues it selfe by following inferior things inordinately For if two of like affect in body and minde should beholde one beautious personage and the one of them be stirred with a lustfull desire towards it and the others thoughts stand chaste what shall wee thinke was cause of the euill will in the one and not in the other Not the seene beauty for it transformed not the will in both and yet both saw it alike not the flesh of the beholders face why not both nor the minde we presupposed them both alike before in body and minde Shall we say the deuill secretly suggested it into one of them as though hee consented not to it in his owne proper will This consent therefore the cause of this assent of the will to vicious desire is that wee seeke For to take away one let more in the question if both were tempted and the one yeelded and the other did not why was this but because the one would continue chaste and the other would not whence then was this secret fall but from the proper will where there was such parity in body and minde a like sight and a like temptation So then hee that desires to know the cause of the vicious will in the one of them if hee maâ—…ke iâ—… well shall finde nothing For if wee say that hee caused it what was hee ere his vicious will but a creature of a good nature the worke of GOD that vnchangeable good Wherefore hee that saith that hee that consented to this lustfull desire which the other with-stood both beeing before alike affected and beholding the beautifull obiect alike was cause of his owne euill will whereas he was good before this vice of will Let him aske why he caused this whether from his nature or for that hee was made of nothing and he shall finde that his euill will arose not from his naâ—…ure but from his nothing for if wee shall make his nature the effecter of his vicious will what shall wee doe but affirme that good is the efficient cause of euill But how can it bee that nature though it bee mutable before it haue a vicious will should doe viciously namely in making the will vicious L. VIVES BVt a pride Scotus holds that the Angels offence was not pride I thinke onely because hee will oppose Saint Thomas who held with the Fathers the contrary b Perfect in essence and exellence That we ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will CHAP. 7. LEt none therefore seeke the efficient cause of an euill will for it is not efficient but deficient nor is there effect but defect namely falling from that highest essence vnto a lower this is to haue an euill will The causes whereof beeing not efficient but deficient if one endeuour to seeke it is as if hee should seeke to see the darknesse or to heare
their hurt and their soules in following their appetites when neede requireth so in flying of death they make it as apparant how much they set by their peace of soule and body But man hauing a reasonable soule subiecteth all his communities with beasts vnto the peace of that to worke so both in his contemplation and action that there may bee a true consonance betweene them both and this wee call the peace of the reasonable soule To this end hee is to avoide molestation by griefe disturbance by desire and dissolution by death and to ayme at profiâ—…e knowledge where vnto his actions may bee conformable But least 〈◊〉 owne infirmity through the much desire to know should draw him into any pestilent inconuenience of error hee must haue a diuine instruction to whose directions and assistance hee is to assent with firme and free obedience And because that during this life Hee is absent from the LORD hee walketh by faith and not by sight and therefore hee referreth all his peace of bodie of soule and of both vnto that peace which mortall man hath with immortall GOD to liue in an orderlie obedience vnder his eternall lawe by faith Now GOD our good Maister teaching vs in the two chiefest precepts the loue of him and the loue of our neighbour to loue three things GOD our neighbour and our selues and seeing he that loueth GOD offendeth not in louing himselfe it followeth that hee ought to counsell his neighbour to loue GOD and to prouide for him in the loue of GOD sure hee is commanded to loue him as his owne selfe So must hee doe for his wife children family and all men besides and wish likewise that his neighbour would doe as much for him in his need thus shall hee bee settled in peace and orderly concord with all the world The order whereof is first a to doe no man hurt and secondly to helpe all that hee can So that his owne haue the first place in his care and those his place and order in humane society affordeth him more conueniency to benefit Wherevpon Saint Paul saith Hee that prouideth not for his owne and namely for them that bee of his houshold denieth the faith and is worse then an Infidell For this is the foundation of domesticall peace which is an orderly rule and subiection in the partes of the familie wherein the prouisors are the Commaunders as the husband ouer his wife parents ouer their children and maisters ouer their seruants and they that are prouided for obey as the wiues doe their husbands children their parents and seruants their maisters But in the family of the faithfull man the heauenly pilgrim there the Commaunders are indeed the seruants of those they seeme to commaund ruling not in ambition but beeing bound by carefull duety not in proud soueraignty but in nourishing pitty L. VIVES FIrst a to doe no Man can more easily doe hurt or forbeare hurt then doe good All men may iniure others or abstaine from it But to doe good is all and some Wherefore holy writ bids vs first abstaine from iniury all we can and then to benefit our christian bretheren when wee can Natures freedome and bondage caused by sinne in which man is a slaue to his owne affects though he be not bondman to any one besides CHAP. 15. THus hath natures order prescribed and man by GOD was thus created Let them rule saith hee ouer the fishes of the sea and the fowles of the ayre end ouer euery thing that creepeth vpon the earth Hee made him reasonable and LORD onely ouer the vnreasonable not ouer man but ouer beastes Wherevpon the first holy men were rather shep-heards then Kings GOD shewing herein what both the order of the creation desired and what the merit of sinne exacted For iustly was the burden of seruitude layd vpon the backe of transgression And therefore in all the scriptures wee neuer reade the word Seruant vntill such time as that iust man Noah a layd it as a curse vpon his offending sonne So that it was guilt and not nature that gaue originall vnto that name b The latine word Seruus had the first deriuation from hence those that were taken in the warres beeing in the hands of the conquerours to massacre or to preserue if they saued them then were they called Serui of Seruo to saue Nor was this effected beyond the desert of sinne For in the iustest warre the sinne vpon one side causeth it and if the victory fall to the wicked as some times it may c it is GODS decree to humble the conquered either reforming their sinnes heerein or punishing them Witnesse that holy man of GOD Daniel who beeing in captiuity confessed vnto his Creator that his sinnes and the sinnes of the people were the reall causes of that captiuity Sinne therefore is the mother of seruitude and first cause of mans subiection to man which notwithstanding commeth not to passe but by the direction of the highest in whome is no iniustice and who alone knoweth best how to proportionate his punnishment vnto mans offences and hee himselfe saith Whosoeuer committeth sinne is the seruant of sinne and therefore many religious Christians are seruants vnto wicked maisters d yet not vnto free-men for that which a man is addicted vnto the same is hee slaue vnto And it is a happier seruitude to serue man then lust for lust to ommit all the other affects practiseth extreame tirany vpon the hearts of those that serue it bee it lust after soueraignty or fleshly lust But in the peacefull orders of states wherein one man is vnder an other as humility doth benefit the seruant so doth pride endamage the superior But take a man as GOD created him at first and so hee is neither slaue to man nor to sinne But penall seruitude had the institution from that law which commaundeth the conseruation and forbiddeth the disturbance of natures order for if that law had not first beene transgressed penall seruitude had neuer beene enioyned Therefore the Apostle warneth seruants to obey their Maisters and to serue them with cheerefulnesse and good will to the end that if they cannot bee made free by their Maisters they make their seruitude a free-dome to themselues by seruing them not in deceiptfull feare but in faithfull loue vntill iniquity be ouerpassed and all mans power and principality disanulled and GOD onely be all in all L. VIVES NOah a layd it Gen. 9. b The latine So saith Florentinus the Ciuilian Institut lib. 4. And they are called Mancipia quoth hee of manu capti to take with the hand or by force This you may reade in Iustinians Pandects lib. 1. The Lacaedemonians obserued it first Plin. lib. 7. c It is Gods decree Whose prouidence often produceth warres against the wills of either party d Yet not vnto free Their Maisters being slaues to their owne passions which are worse maisters then men can be Of the iust law of soueraignty CHAP. 16.