Memory to make it better then to procure a good Judgement in him which wants it The Fifth saith He conceiv'd it no less difficult to remember the Places Images and odd precepts of this Art and apply them to the subject then to learn by heart at first the things themselves or their words which also when learnt by this Art are soon lost as being found upon chimeraes of which the Mind cannot alwayes so thorowly clear it self but there will be left some Idea thereof more apt to trouble the Memory then to assist it alwayes However I had rather learn a little labouronsly with the profit and impression ordinarily accompanying my pains then feed upon those vain pictures Wherefore I am prone to think that either there is no Art of Memory or else that it is unprofitable or mischievous and as such to be rejected by all the world The Sixth said Since where ever there is defect there is need of some Art to correct the same and remove from the Faculties the obstacles which they meet with in the exercise of their Offices why should Memory alone be destitute of this succour Considering it hath wayes so various that not onely words which signifie something but those which signifie nothing are of use to the Memory Therefore Aristotle saith He who would remember must make barbarismes And to six a name or word in the Mind a Man will utter many which come near it But as this Art is not to be despis'd so neither is it alwayes to be made use of much less in things which have some order of themselves as Anatomy Geography Chronology and History or in which a good natural Memory can contrive any They who have this Faculty vigorous from their birth or made it such by exercise wrong themselves in employing the precepts of this Art for that purpose as a Man of five and twenty years old should do if he made use of spectacles having no need thereof But it is onely fit for those who having a weak Memory would remember many barbarous names or some coats and numbers the variety whereof many times breeds confusion for the recollecting of which this Art teaches to remember certain shapes figures or species sometimes the most uncouth that can be excogitated to the end the Phancy may be more effectually moved by the same CONFERENCE XXIV I. Which of the Five Senses is the most noble II. Of Laughter I. Which of the five Senses is the most Noble AS he who hath the present sense of any Disease accounts that the greatest so they who exercise some one of their Senses more then the rest who get profit by it or are delighted in it willingly award the preceedence to the same Take the judgement of a Perfumer he values nothing but Odors and the smell which judgeth thereof He will tell you that if we had the perfect knowledge of Aromatical Compositions they would ravish all our Senses that Perfume must needs have something Divine in it because God so lov'd it that he particularly reserv'd it to himself and forbad all others to use a certain Composition under pain of death The same is also argu'd from the offence we take at the evil scent of any stinking thing that so the very name of it passing onely through our ears displeases us in such sort as to disparage the truth of the Proverb that Words do not stink as on the contrary the name alone of the Rose Violet and Jasmin seemes to recreate the smelling by the Ear. Poets and Lovers will be for the Eyes and the Touch. They who understand Opticks will hold that 't is the seeing which affordeth the greatest wonders Whence Comical Representations move so powerfully and Sight hath more influence upon us then Hear-say If you will take the judgement of Musitians the Hearing shall carry the Bell from the other senses and this Position is back'd with the experience of Melody Perswasion and the Art of Oratory which caus'd Antiquity to feign two sorts of Hercules the one who subdu'd monsters with the blows of his club and the other who captivated his Auditors with chains of Gold reaching from his Tongue to their Ears Philoxenus who wish'd a Crane's neck and they who live onely to drink and eat whereas we drink and eat to live will give the preheminence to the Taste Wherefore in my Opinion this Question is hard to be decided because it requires impartial Judges whose number is very small The Second said That for the right judging of the Cause all parties ought to be heard As for the Sight the fabrick of its Organ so artificially compos'd of Humours and Tunicles and guarded with Eye-lids and Brows as so many ramparts for its preservation sufficiently plead its excellence But that of the six Couple of Nerves for so many onely there are in the Brain the first and the second are peculiarly destinated to the Eyes this shews how highly Nature tenders them above all other parts Moreover Vision is perform'd in an Instant and makes present to us those things which are as remote from us as Heaven is from Earth and this by spiritual qualities for the Actions of Bodies are not expedited but in Time this is an other argument of its Excellence Further since nothing is more goodly then Light it seemes to follow that nothing is more excellent then the Sight whose Object it is Whence some Philosophers conceiv'd the Soul to have chosen the Eyes for its Mansion Next then for Hearing this Sense seemes to feed the Soul or rather to give it birth For if the Soul be consider'd naturally its food and life is to understand reason and discourse to which purposes the Hearing alone is serviceable being for this cause term'd the Sense of Discipline If the Soul be consider'd as it enjoyes a life more noble then the natural namely that of Grace the Sense of Hearing seemes the Author of this Life For the Just lives by Faith saith the Holy Scripture Now this Faith comes from Hearing as the Apostle testifies and not from Seeing For it is the evidence of things not seen and where we see there is no longer Faith As for the Smelling indeed good Odors recreate the Brain repair the Animal Spirits purifie and fit them to assist the Soul when it exerciseth its most noble operations but the weak Title of this Sense seemes to need a better Advocate then all the rest The Senses of Tasting and Touching remain but both in the same degree because one proceeds from the other Gustation being a sort of Contact In considering of these two Senses me-thinks I hear them complain of the ingratitude of Men for placing them in the lowest form notwithstanding their great service in the birth of Mankind by Generation which is a kind of Touching and in the subsequent preservation thereof incessantly by the Sense of Tasting And yet since all the commendation of an Instrument is to be measur'd by its end and benefit as the
tyr'd with one season because another soon succeeds it On the contrary we see variety of Food raiseth the languishing Appetite the diversity of Odors which succeed one another delight the Smelling Nothing is more acceptable to the Sight then a Meadow checker'd with several colours or a garden variegated with Tulips and other Flowers of all sorts and hues which the Spring discloses Harmony proceeds from the variety of Notes and the Orator who would move his Auditors must not speak too long upon the same thing in the same words he must alter his gesture and voice and the pauses which distinguish his action are very serviceable to that purpose But as there is nothing more swift then the Sight so no Sense is sooner weary with the semblance of its objects The reason whereof is this being a most active sense its operation doth not make it self perceiv'd by the Eye but by the changing of the object So that when it beholds alwayes the same thing it seemes to it self as if it beheld nothing Look upon the Earth all cover'd with Snow or a Chamber wholly hung with Black or some other single colour the Sight is offended therewith If Green offends us less it is because it is compounded of Yellow and Blew and the best blended of all the Colours and as such reunites the visual rayes between its two extremes yet it affordeth nothing near the delightfulness that ariseth from the variety of Tapistry I conceive therefore that the chief end of the diversity of Countenances is Distinction and lest the same thing should betide Women that did Alcmena in Plautus who suffer'd Jupiter to quarter with her because she took him for her Husband Amphitryo But the subordinate end is the Contentment which Man finds in this variety As for other causes the Efficient indeed doth something for Children commonly resemble their Fathers and Mothers But the Material contributes very much hereunto so that they who for example are begotten of a Masculine and Feminine Geniture wherein the sanguine temper is equally prevalent resemble one another and have a ruddy and well shap'd Countenance But because 't is next to impossible that the said temper should be equally found in two different subjects thence ariseth the variety of Complexions and Lineaments The Second said There is as great variety in all natural things as in Faces though it be not so remarkable to us For we see Birds and Beasts distinguish one another very well Now the Final Cause of this Diversity seemes to me to be the ornament of the World which otherwise would have nothing less then the importance of its name Musick and Painting receive graces from things which in reality are nothing namely Pauses which are onely privations of Notes and shadows which are defects of light This diversity of Visages which ariseth from that of the persons and their inclinations is as well contributary to the splendour and beauty of a state as of nature For if all things were alike there would be a confus'd identity and general disorder not much different from the ancient Chaos Nothing would be acted in Nature for action is not between things like but between things contrary Nor would there be Beauty in the Countenance if there were not diversity in the parts but all the Face were Eye or Nose For Beauty ariseth from Proportion and this from the correspondence of many different parts Very little would there be amongst Men if all were alike there being no Beauty when there is no deformity whereunto it may be compar'd and who so takes away Beauty takes away Love of which it is the foundation This divine link of humane society would be destroy'd for Love is a desire to obtain what we want and another possesseth and therefore it cannot exist but between persons unlike Nor could a State consist longer because all Men being externally alike would be so internally too all would be of the same profession and no longer seek to supply one anothers mutual necessities Now this diversity of persons proceeds from the divers mixture of the four Humours which being never found twice temper'd in the same sort each one having his peculiar constitution which the Physitians call Idiosyncrasie they never produce the same person twice nor consequently one and the same surface or external shape alike If the Matter design'd to constitute and nourish the bones be in too great quantity the Man is born robust large and bony if it be defective he becomes a dwarf and a weakling Again this Matter according as it carried to every bone in particular gives a differing conformation to the same which is also derived to the Muscles spread over those bones from which they borrow the external figure which they communicate to the skin The Third said He found two Causes of the Diversity of Countenances One in Heaven The other in the Heads of Women namely in their Imaginations Heaven is never found twice in the same posture by reason of the manifold Motions and Conjunctions of the Planets and yet 't is the Sun and Man that generate a Man and what is said of the Sun ought likewise to be understood of the other Coelestial Bodies It is necessary then that this variety in the Cause produce also variety in the Effect Hence it is that Twins have so great resemblance together as having been conceiv'd and born under the same Constellation As for the Imagination 't is certain that of the Mother which intervenes at the time of Conception more powerfully determines the shape and colour of the Foetus then any other Cause as appears by the marks which Infants bring with them from their Mothers Womb who well remember that such things were in their Phancy and that they had a vehement apprehension of the same So that as many different Imaginations as Women have when they conceive make so many Countenances and other parts of the Body different II. Whether is the more noble Man or Woman Upon the Second Point it was said That in times of old there was found at Rome a Widower that had buried two and twenty Wives and at the same time a Widow that survived her two and twentieth Husband these two the people of Rome constrain'd to marry together after which both Men and Women awaited which of the two would dye first at length the Woman dy'd first and all the Men even to the little Boyes went to her interment every one with a branch of Lawrel in his Hand as having obtaind the victory over that Sex This Question of the nobleness and dignity of the one above the other is of greater consequence then that other in which not onely Women very frequently get the better there being more old women then old men through the sundry dangers whereunto men are expos'd and from which women are exempted but also Stags and Ravens which live hundreds of years much surpass either of them But one of the greatest difficulties arising in the
good examples who may innocently follow their inclination because it will lead them only to vertuous or at least indifferent things And for the vicious 't is certain the evil which they do not by reason of the repugnance which they have to it and the fear of punishment cannot be imputed to them for vertue nor consequently make them happy CONFERENCE XXXII I. Sympathie and Antipathy II. Whether Love descending is stronger then ascending I. Of Sympathy and Antipathy WHat a Father once said That the first second and third Point of Christian Philosophy was humility meaning that it all referr'd thereunto the same may be said of Sympathy and Antipathy which is the Similitude or Contrariety of Affections For the generation and corruption of all things is to be referr'd to them The sympathy of the simple qualities and the Elements wherein they are found are causes of the temperament of mixt bodies as the antipathy is of their dissolution 'T is they who unite and dis-unite those compound bodies and by approximating or removing them one from another cause all their motions and actions When these causes are apparent to us and may be probably imputed to qualities we recur to them as the most easie general and common But when we find bodies whose qualities seem alike to us and nevertheless they have very different effects we are then constrain'd to seek the cause thereof elsewhere and finding none we call it an Occult Propriety whose two daughters are Sympathy and Antipathy For Man being a reasonable creature is desirous to know the reason of every thing and when he cannot attain to it he becomes as much tormented as a Judge whose Jurisdiction is retrench'd and this through want of apprehending that what he knows hath no other proportion to what he ignores then finite yea very little hath to infinite And being unable to find the true reason of an infinite number of effects which ravish him with admiration yet resolving to have some one he feigns one under these names of Sympathy and Antipathy those two Hocus Pocus's to which he refers the cause why Corral stays bleeding Amber draws straw the Loadstone Iron which the Theamede rejects why the Star-stone moves in Vinegar the Cole-wort is an enemy to the Vines Garlick a friend to the Rose and Lilly increasing one the others ' odour why a man's fasting-spittle kills the Viper why Eeles drown'd in Wine make the drinker thenceforward hate it why Betony strengthens the Brain Succhory is proper to the Liver Bezoar a friend to the Heart and infinite others But because general causes do not satisfie us no more then Definitions whose Genuses are remote and the Differences common it seems we are oblig'd to a particular inquisition of their causes The Second said The Subjects in which Sympathies and Antipathies are found must be distinguish'd in order to assign their true causes For in things alike we may refer their effects to the similitude of their substances and accidents Thus the Lungs of a Fox are useful to such as are Phthisical the intestine of a Wolf is good for the Colick Eye-bright for the Eye Solomons's-Seal for the Rupture the black decoction of Sena for Melancholy yellow Rhubarb for choler white Agaric for Flegm Yet 't is not requisite that this resemblance be total for then a man's Lungs should rather be serviceable to the Phthisical then that of a Fox and the Load-stone should rather draw a Load-then Iron which yet do's not hold because there 's no action between things perfectly alike Antipathy also arises from the contrariety of Forms their qualities and other accidents Now we are much puzzl'd to assign the causes of this Sympathy and Antipathy in things which have nothing either of likeness or contrariety as when I see two unknown men play at Tennis the one with as good a grace as the other I have a kind of desire that one may rather win then the other Is it not rather chance which causes this Our will though free being always oblig'd to tend this way or that way and cannot chuse the worst or else all things being made by weight number and measure those affect one another most who have the same proportion in their composition or who had the same configuration of heaven at their birth Or every thing naturally affecting to become perfect seeks this perfection in all the subjects which it meets and when the same disposition is found in two several bodies or minds if they would arrive at that perfection by one and the same way this meeting serves for the means of union which is our sympathy and their different disposition or way the contrary The Third amongst sundry examples of Antipathy said That if we believe Apuleius the Look-glassing us'd by an incontinent woman spoils the visage of a chast that it is manifest between the horse and the Camel the Elephant and the Swine the Lyon and the Cock the Bull and the Fig-tree the Adder and a naked man the Ape and the Tortois the Serpent and the shadow of the Ash. For that which is observ'd amongst Animals who devour and serve for food to one another as the Wolf and the Sheep the Kite and the Chicken or amongst those who always offend and hurt one the other as Man and the Serpent deserve rather the name of Enmity whereof the causes are manifest But to speak truth all these effects are no more known to us then their causes are unknown He who endu'd them with Formes having annex'd Proprieties thereunto both the one and the other impenetrable to humane wit The Fourth said That for a lasting order amongst the creatures it was requisite that every one were naturally lead to its own preservation by adhering to what was conducible thereunto and eschewing the contrary Now to do this they needed instruments whereby to act which are their qualities either manifest which proceed from the Temperament and are either First or Second or else occult which proceed from every form and substance to which the Sympathies and Antipathies correspondences and contrarieties of all natural Bodies ought to be referr'd from whence issue some spirits bearing the character and idea of the form from which they flow These spirits being carried through the air just as odours are if their forces and vertues be contrary they destroy one another which is call'd Antipathy If the same be friendly they unite and joyn together the stronger attracting the weaker Hence Iron doth not attract the Load-stone but the Load-stone Iron So when a Wolf sees a man first the man loses his voyce or at least becomes hoarse because venomous spirits issue out the Wolfe's eyes which being contrary to those which issue out of the man inclose the same and by hindring them to flow forth hinder them from forming the voyce But when the man spies the Wolf first his effluvia being foreseen hurt less and have less power upon him because the man encourages himself against them The
which of the two is absolutely to be preferr'd before the other but it lies in the power of prudence to determine according to the variety of cases CONFERENCE XLII I. Of the Diversity of Languages II. Whether is to be preferr'd a good stature or a small I. Of the diversity of Languages WE have two notable examples in the Scripture one of God's displeasure when the Builders of the Tower of Babel were separated by the confusion of their Language the other of his favour when the Apostles were at the feast of Pentecost as it were united and incorporated into all Nations by the gift of Tongues Here we only adore Mysteries but fathom them not we seek the natural causes of the variety of speech and whether as there was but one at the first so the same may be recover'd again or any other found that may be universal to all people As to the first the variety alone of the Organs seems sufficient to diversifie speech Those Nations whose wind-pipes were more free easily retain'd the Hebrew aspirations if so be this Language were the first and not the Syriack as some hold alledging that its characters speak greatest antiquity or the Samaritane because the Thorath which is the law of God was written in it as also the most ancient Medals found in Palestine were stamp'd with it They whose breasts were more robust fram'd the German and other Languages which are pronounc'd with greater impetuosity the more delicate made the Greek Tongue the middle sort the Latine and their posterity degenerating the Italian which is pronounc'd only with the outer part of the lips and so of all the rest Whence it is that strangers never pronounce our Language perfectly nor we theirs which caus'd Scaliger to tell a German who spoke to him in Latine but pronounc'd it after his own way that he must excuse him for he did not understand Dutch Now every one of these Original Languages was chang'd again proportionably to the distance from its centre as circles made by a stone cast into the water lose their figure as they become wider Afterwards hapned the transplantations of Nations who with the confusion of blood and manners brought also that of speech for the Conquerours desiring to give Law to the vanquish'd as well in this as in all other things and the Organs of the people being unapt for the pronuntiation of a forreign tongue hence of the mixture of two arose a third Thus much for the first point But as for the second which is to reduce all Languages to one I hold the thing impossible For all things which are meerly of humane institution as Language is are as different as opinions are And if one and the same Tongue hath sundry very different Idiomes and Dialects as the French hath the Breton the Gascon the Poitevin the Parisian and many others as different as the French from the Italian which hath in like manner the Roman the Tusean the Neapolitan and the Sicilian all very differing with much more reason shall Nations divided by Seas and Climates speak diversely The opinions of men even of Philosophers themselves touching the same subject could never be reconcil'd and can it be imagin'd that all tongues should ever agree Nature affects nothing so much as variety which serves for discrimination of individuals Two men never writ or spake alike and we see that even the gestures and postures of others cannot be perfectly imitated by those who use their utmost care therein how then shall conformity be found in the expression of our thoughts besides there being no connexion or affinity between things and words which not onely signifie several things in several Languages but have different acceptions in the same Language witness Homonymous words 't is loss of time to think of such a designe The Second said That to judge of a River it must be taken at its source Languages are the several ways of interpreting or declaring our conceptions and these are the means which our mind makes use of to conceive the species or images of things It knows them according as they are represented to it and they are represented to it according to the truth of the object when the conditions requisite to sensation or perception by sense concur namely a due disposition of the object medium and Organ As therefore when all these conditions are right it cannot be but all persons of the world must agree in one and the same judgement and all say e. g. that this Rose is red and that other white so it may seem that men should agree together in the copy and transcript since they do so in the Prototype that is have one and the same Language since they have one and the same conception Otherwise as to this communication with his own species man will be inferior to other animals who signifie their passions and inclinations so plainly and intelligibly among themselves that they answer one the other afar off Moreover abundance of words are the express and natural image of the things designed by them as Taffata to hisse to creak or clash to bounce to howle or yell and many others There are words which keep the same number of letters in all the learned Languages particularly the name of God which holds also in some modern as in the French Dutch c. but not in ours There are others which vary not at all but are one and the same among all Nations as the word Sac. Many things express'd by the same characters in writing are read by each people in their own Tongue as Figures or Cyphers which are read and pronounc'd otherwise in Hebrew and Greek then in Latine or French and yet they are taken by all to signifie the same thing The same may be said of the Hieroglyphicks and letters of China yea of all the figures of the Mathematicks For every one knows a Circle a Triangle and a Square although each Nation denominate the same diversly What hinders then but as all Nations have conspir'd and agreed together in those visible words so they may do too in those which are pronounc'd The Third said That to the end words may make things understood by all the world they ought to be signs of them either natural as smoak is of fire or by institution depending upon a very intelligible principle or occasion as when a Bush denotes a Tavern As for the first many dumb persons express their conceptions so genuinely by signs that all the world understands them and the Mimicks and Pantomimes of Rome were so excellent in this kind that Roscius one of them sometimes bid defiance to Ciero that he would express as perfectly by his gestures and postures whatsover he pleas'd as that incomparable Orator could do by his words And as those who are not given to writing have the best memories so those who have not that use of speech are more excellent then others in speaking by signs and understanding them there being
naturally keep up above the water yet by enclosing it in some sort of vessel you may violently make it continue under the water II. Of the capricious or extravagant humours of women Upon the second Point it was said It is not here pronounc'd that all women are capricious but only the reason inquir'd of those that are such and why they are more so then men To alledge the difference of souls and suppose that as there is an order in the Celestial Hierarchies whereby the Archangels are plac'd above Angels so the spirits of men are more perfect then those of women were to fetch a reason too far off and prove one obscure thing by another more so Nor is the cause to be found in their bodies taken in particular for then the handsome would be free from this vice the actions which borrow grace from their subject appearing to us of the same nature and consequently their vertues would seem more perfect and their defects more excusable whereas for the most part the fairest are the most culpable We must therefore recur to the correspondence and proportion of the body and the soul. For sometimes a soul lights upon a body so well fram'd and organs so commodious for the exercise of its faculties that there seems more of a God then of a man in its actions whence some persons of either Sex attract the admiration of all world On the contrary other souls are so ill lodg'd that their actions have less of man then of brute And because there 's more women then men found whose spirits are ill quarter'd and faculties deprav'd hence comes their capricious and peevish humour For as melancholy persons whose blood is more heavy are with good reason accounted the more wise so those whose blood and consequently spirits are more agile and moveable must have a less degree of wisdom and their minds sooner off the hooks The irregular motions of the organ which distinguishes their Sex and which is call'd an animal within an animal many times have an influence in the business and increase the mobility of the humours Whence the health of their minds as well as that of their bodies many times suffers alteration A woman fallen into a fit of the Mother becomes oftentimes enrag'd weeps laughs and has such irregular motions as not only torment her body and mind but also that of the Physitian to assign the true cause of them Moreover the manner of living whereunto the Laws and Customs subject women contributes much to their defects For leading a sedentary life wherein they have always the same objects before their eyes and their minds being not diverted by civil actions as those of men are they make a thousand reflections upon their present condition comparing it with those whereof they account themselves worthy this puts their modesty to the rack and oftentimes carries them beyond the respect and bounds which they propos'd to themselves Especially if a woman of good wit sees her self marri'd to a weak husband and is ambitious of shewing her self Another judging her self to merit more then her rival not knowing to whom to complain of her unhappiness does every thing in despight And indeed they are the less culpable inasmuch as they always have the principles of this vice within themselves and frequently find occasions abroad The Second said that the word Caprichio is us'd to signifie the extravagant humour of most women because there is no animal to which they more resemble then a Goat whose motions are so irregular that prendre la chevre signifies to take snuffe without cause and to change a resolution unexpectedly For such as have search'd into the nature of this animal find that its blood is so sharp and spirits so ardent that it is always in a Fever and hence it is that being agitated with this heat which is natural to it it leaps as soon as it comes into the world Now the cause of this temper is the conformation of the Brain which they say is like that of a woman the Ventricles of which being very little are easily fill'd with sharp and biting vapours which cannot evaporate as Aristotle affirms because their Sutures are closer then those of men those vapours prick the Nerves and Membranes and so cause those extraordinary and capricious motions Hence it is that women are more subject to the Meagrim and other diseases of the head then men And if those that sell a Goat never warrant it sound as they do other animals there is no less excuse in reference to women Which caus'd the Emperour Aurelius to say that his Father in law Antoninus who had done so much good to others had done him mischief enough in giving him his daughter because he found so much bone to pick in a little flesh Moreover the Naturalists say that the Goat is an enemy to the Olive-tree especially which is a symbol of peace whereunto women are not over-well affected For not to mention the first divorce which woman caus'd between God and man by her lickorishness her talking her ambition her luxury her obstinacy and other vices are the most common causes of all the quarrels which arise in families and in civil life If you would have a troop of Goats pass over any difficult place you need force but one to do it and all the rest will follow So women are naturally envious and no sooner see a new fashion but they must follow it And Gard'ners compare women and girles to a flock of Goats who roam and browse incessantly holding nothing inaccessible to their curiosity There is but one considerable difference between them the Goat wears horns and the woman makes others wear them The Third said There is more correspondence between a woman and a Mule then between a woman and a Goat for leaving the Etymology of Mulier to Grammarians the Mule is the most teasty and capricious of all beasts fearing the shadow of a man or a Tree overturn'd more then the spur of the rider So a woman fears every thing but what she ought to fear The obstinacy of the Mule which is so great that it has grown into a Proverb is inseparable from the whole Sex most of them being gifted with a spirit of contradiction Mules delight to go in companies so do women the bells and muzzles of the one have some correspondence with the earings and masks of the other and both love priority The more quiet you allow a Mule it becomes the more resty so women become more vitious in idleness neither of them willingly admits the bridle between their teeth The Mule is so untoward that it kicks in the night time while 't is asleep so women are oftner laid then quiet Lastly the Mule that hath seem'd most tractable all its time one day or other pays his master with a kick and the woman that has seem'd most discreet at one time or other commits some notorious folly The Fourth said That those who invented the little
directly contrary to the felicity of a City which consists not onely in a society of Men but of Men of different conditions the meanest of which being commonly most necessary in a State would not be exercis'd if all were equally rich and powerful And if the necessity of Hunger which sometimes taught Pies and Crows to speak at Rome had not press'd most of the first inventors of Arts the same would be yet to discover Nothing is more beautiful in Nature then Variety nor yet in Cities Besides Men being apt to neglect the publick in comparison of their private interest were goods common they would be careless of preserving or increasing them and rely upon the industry of others Thus this equality would beget laziness whilst they that labour'd most could hope for no more then they that did nothing at all Moreover if Wives and Children were common as Socrates in Plato would have them it would be a great hindrance to propagation Children would not own their Parents nor these their Children and so there would be no paternal filial nor conjugal love which yet are the surest foundations of humane society Incests and Parricides would be frequent and there would be no place for the exercise of most virtues as of Chastity and Friendship the most perfect of all virtues much less of Liberality and Magnificence since nothing should be given but what belongs alike to all nor would any be capable of receiving The Third said That in a City which is a society of companions some things must be necessarily injoy'd in common as Publick Places Havens Fairs Priviledges Walls Town-houses Fortresses and publick charges But not all things in regard of the inconveniences which would follow thereupon and therefore Plato was forc'd to reform his first imaginary Republick and make another more sutable to the humours of men permitting every one the possession of some goods yet with this restriction that he would not have any become too unproportionably rich The Fourth said That Plato's design in his Republick was to conjoyn action and contemplation he would have a City first Mistress of her self then of the world more venerable then formidable to its neighbours less rich then just but sober temperate chaste and especially religious And to render it such he conceiv'd that by removing all impediments from within by equality of goods he trac'd out the way to contemplation which is the supreme good whereunto men aspire and therefore community of goods which is conducive thereunto cannot be too highly esteem'd But in this Age it would deprive all goods of that name by rendring them common and there would be no common good if there were none particular CONFERENCE LXXVII I. Of Sorcerers II. Of Erotick or Amorous Madness I. Of Sorcerers THe malignant Spirit 's irreconcilable to humane nature exalted above his own is such that he is not contented with doing all the mischief he can by himself but imployes his Ministers and Officers to that purpose as God whose Ape he is imployes his holy Spirits in his works These Officers are Magicians and Sorcerers The former are such as being either immediately instructed by the Devil or by Books of Magick use characters figures and conjurations which they accompany either with barbarous and insignificant words or some perversely taken out of the Holy Scripture by which means they make the Devil appear or else give some answer by sound word figure picture or other sign making particular profession of Divination Sorcerers are their servants aiming onely to do mischief and Sorcery is a species of Magick by which one hurts another by the Devils help And as the operation of the Devil is requisite thereunto so is the consent of the Sorcerers and Gods permission without which one hair falls not from our heads This consent is grounded upon a compact either express or tacite the former whereof is made by rendring homage either immediately to the Evil Spirit or to the Magician in his name or by addressing a request to him Commonly they take an oath of fidelity in a circle describ'd upon the ground the Devil herein as in other things imitating the Deity which is represented by a Circle A tacite compact is when one makes use of such means learn'd from a Magician or magical books known to be such or sometimes ignorantly But the most ordinary means which they use in their witchcrafts are powders which they mingle with food or else infect the body clothes water or air Amongst which the black powders are design'd to procure death the grey or red to cause sickness and the white to cure either when they are forc'd to it or in order to some greater mischief although this virtue depend not any ways upon their colour nor always upon their qualities Sometimes they perform their witcheries with words either threatnings or praises Not that these have any virtue in themselves any more then straws herbs and other things wherewith they bewitch people but because the Devil is by covenant to produce such or such effects by the presence of these things shewing himself a faithful performer in certain things to the intent he may at last deceive them in all The Second said That the charms of Sorcerers differ according to the end whereunto they are design'd some cause sleep and that by potions charmes and other enchantments the most usual of which are pieces of a dead body fastned to the house enchanted candles made of a particular wiek and fat or of the feet and hands of dead persons anointed with Oyle which the Devil gives them these they either light up or place candles at each finger and so long as this dismal light lasts they in the house remain in a deep sleep Other enchantments are to procure Love some of which act either within or without the body consisting of what is most sacred in Religion and most filthy in Nature so abominable is this practice and done in hatred of the Creator some likewise procure hatred hinder generation make women miscarry increase their pains of child-bearing dry up the milk breed thornes pieces of glass and iron knives hair and such other preternatural things in the body Of all which magical effects some indeed are real but the most part are prestigious The real are when the Devil makes use of natural causes for such an effect by applying actives to passives according to the most perfect knowledge which he hath of every things essence and properties having lost no gifts of Nature by sin but onely those of Grace But when the effect is above his power or God permits it not then he makes use of delusions to cover his impotence making appearance of what is not and hindring perception of what really is Such was Gyges's ring which render'd him invisible when he pleas'd and Pasetus's feasts from which the guests departed with intollerable hunger as also the money wherewith he pay'd his Merchants who found nothing at night in their bags And that
That every thing that disturbs the publick quiet is to be repress'd concludes that the Seditious are to be punish'd So 't is not enough for a Mathematician to know that equal things added to equal things are likewise equal unless he apply this universal principle to particular lines surfaces and bodies Which is done either by the Synthetical or by the Analytical way which nevertheless must be follow'd by the Synthetical Now 't is in the application of these general rules to particulars that errour is committed even in the most certain Sciences The Seventh said That there are few Sciences because there are few Principles and Proposition's demonstrable as the contingent and the absolute are not Whence it is that the future is not demonstrable and hence follows the incertainty of Politicks Wherefore only necessary Propositions whereof the truth is permanent and eternal are demonstrable and all these are necessarily demonstrable because they have infallible principles yet only such of these whose principles are known by men are demonstrable by men So 't is certain that the Inundation of Nilus and the flux and reflux of the Sea are not demonstrable because men know not the principles are not known Whereby it appears how ridiculous they are who undertake to demonstrate every thing CONFERENCE LXXXV I. Whether the manners of the Soul follow the temperament of the Body II. Of Sights or Shews I. Whether the manners of the Soul follow the temperament of the Body THe extream variety of men's actions and manners cannot proceed from the diversity of their souls which are accounted all equal but from that of the bodies wherein according to the various tempers thereof the soul produces that variety of manners And as in natural and animal actions one and the same Soul digests in the stomack makes blood in the Liver and Veins sees by the Eyes and reasons in the Brain so likewise it is sometimes sad when the melancholy humour predominates in the body sometimes cheerful when blood abounds and sometimes also froward or angry when the choler is agitated The Second said That the soul being the form as the body is the matter it must be the cause of all humane actions not the body which receives them since the soul informs and perfectionates the body and begets in it the habit which produces the manners and actions As the horse governs not the rider but the contrary and 't is to the rider that the honour or blame of the course is to be imputed And were the soul but a quality as the most prophane have ventur'd to affirm yet the same priviledge must be reserv'd to it which is allow'd to the predominant quality in every compound which gives it not only the denomination but also the action as in compound medicaments the most active simple carries the credit from the rest Besides if the body and the humours thereof were the author and cause of manners an ignorant person could never become learned and a single Lecture of Xenocrates had never made a Drunkard cast off his chaplet of flowers and turn a Philosopher The examples of many grand personages sufficiently ill furnish'd with graces of the body evidence what certainty there is in arguing from the out-side of the corporeal structure to the furniture of the soul and that the signs of malice remark'd in some as in Zoilus from his having a red beard a black mouth and being lame and one-ey'd of Thersites and Irus from their having sharp heads rather shew the malice or ignorance of such as make these remarks then prove that these dispositions of body are the true cause of malice we see people of the same temper hair stature features and other circumstances very different in their manners and inclinations And the same is observ'd in horses For since the Stars the most powerful agents do not constrain but only incline certainly the humours cannot do more True it is their inclination is so strong that no less grace of Heaven is needful to resist the same then strength to retain a man that is rolling down the declivity of a hill Yet Socrates remaining unmov'd by the embraces of a Curtezan whom his Scholars contriv'd into his bed to try him although he was naturally very prone to vice justifies that how hard soever it be to stop the slipping foot when it is once going yet 't is not impossible and therefore the manners of the soul do not always follow the constitution of the body Not considering the power which the fear of God hath over our wills the effects whereof I here meddle not with as being supernatural since they have sometimes destroy'd all the maximes of nature witness those that give themselves to be burnt for the faith The Third said That the body must needs contribute to the soul's actions as being its instrument But it contributes only what it hath namely its temperament and other proprieties Therefore 't is from this temperament that the same are diversifi'd The soul sees no longer when the eyes are shut or blinded 't is wise in a well temper'd brain not only in a dry as Plato in his Timaeus conceiv'd because he saw children grow more prudent as their brain was desiccated 't is stupid in a too moist brain and foolish or furious in one inflam'd as in deliration or madness 'T is also forc'd to leave its body when a violent Fever hath so deprav'd the humours thereof that there remains not the temper necessary to its reception Therefore it follows the temper of the humours Thus because we see fire introduc'd into any combustible subject and extinguish'd when the same is consum'd we say fire follows combustible matter and becomes of the same nature quantity and other qualities Moreover Hippocrates saith Nations are warlike or cowardly laborious or not of good or bad nature according to the diversity of climates and soils they inhabit which render them diversly temper'd Hence in Asia where the air is temperate and less subject to changes then Europe and Africa men are more healthy and handsome their manners more equal and laudable on the contrary in Countries more cold or hot the inhabitants are either more cruel or more boisterous more hardy or more timerous and Mountaineers are more industrious as on the contrary those who live in a fertile soil are commonly more slothful Hence amongst the Greeks the Thebans and all the Baeotians whose Country was rich and the air very thick were very dull and the Athenians very subtle which was the cause that 't was said people were born Philosophers at Athens on the contrary 't was a prodigious thing to see one wise Anacharsis among the Scythians Hippocrates addes the seasons too according to the change whereof men's manners are also found divers But all these cannot act upon the soul but by the organ of the body changing its humours and introducing new qualities into the parts thereof The Fourth said Even sucking children give some tokens to what their