more desirable but if it destroy and abolish the whole what is better than in the midst of our labors here to fall asleep and so laid fast to take an eternal repose If that fall out to be true yet i better is the saying of Ennius than of Solon for that our Country-man saith None at my Funerals weep nor hard Fates blame But that wise man on the contrary Let not my death want tears may my Friends mourn And with deep sighs my Funerals adorn k But as for us if any such thing should fall out that a Message may seem to be sent us from God to depart this Life let us submit with joy and be thankful judging our selves discharg'd from Prison and our Shackles knock'd off that we may either return to dwell in our eternal and true home or may be set free from all Sense and uneasiness but if no such Message be sent us yet let us be prepared to think that day so dreadful to others to be to us happy and rank nothing amongst Evils l which is either by God appointed or by Nature the common Mother m For we were not without Cause or at all adventures born and bred but in truth there was some Power which had an especial Providence over man nor would beget or breed up such a Being as after it had endur'd all the labours of this Life should then fall into the eternal Evil of Death Let us rather think it a Haven to find provided for us into which I could wish we might ride with Sails top and top-gallant but if we shall be beaten off through contrary Winds yet not long after we must of necessity be driven back to the same place Now what is necessary for all can that be miserable to any one You have the Epilogue least you should think any thing hath been omitted or left unfinish'd S. I have it indeed and that Conclusion hath in truth more confirm'd me M. Very well say I but at present let us have some regard to our Health then to morrow and as many days after as we shall abide in this Tusculan Place let us mind these Matters and especially such as bring relief to our Discontents Fears and Lusts which is the greatest advantage that can be made of all Philosophy i Better is the Saying of Ennius The loss of the Vertuous finds in sorrow comfort and yet he that lives undesir'd dyes unlamented but Cicero must extoll his Country-man above a wise man of Greece k But as for us if any such thing should fall out that a message may seem to be sent us from God to depart this Life This is a particular Application of the former discourse to himself in that present juncture of Affairs wherein he seems not to be free from all apprehension of violence from the displeasure of Caesar and exasperated Spirits of some of the Caesarian Officers and their Army of Veterans spread all over Italy and the places whither he was then retired l Which is either by God appointed Death is not the Ordinance of a Creator but Sentence of a Judge m For we were not without cause or at all adventures born and bred but in truth there was some Power which had an especial Providence over man This is a masterly stroke to set forth our primitive Institution Man was ordain'd to some good end no less than that of Vertue and Glory which State being lost as evidently it is the same especial Providence watching over him hath by a new Covenant in the hands of a Mediator restor'd him to a lively hope that after he hath endur'd the labours of this painful Life he shall not then fall into the evil of eternal Death Patience under Pain The Proem Sect. 1 2 3 4. Book II. SECT I. The benefit of Philosophy NEoptolemus in Ennius saith he must act the Philosopher but a little for the part is no way pleasing But I my dear Brutus judge that I must study Philosophy for in what can I be better employ'd especially being out of all employment but not a little as he saith for it is hard in Philosophy to have a little known to him that doth not know the most or all for neither can a little be chosen but out of much nor will he that hath understood a little be satisfied till he hath learn'd the rest n But in a life of employment and such as was that of Neoptolemus at that time Military even that little doth often much good and brings advantages though not so great as might be reap'd from the whole course of Philosophy yet such as thereby we may in some measure be reliev'd against Lust or Fear or Discontent As by that Disputation which I lately held in my House at Tusculum there seem'd to have been wrought a great contempt of Death which is of no small influence to free the Soul from the fear of it For he who is continually afraid of that which cannot be avoided can by no means have any quiet of his Life but he that doth not fear death not only because he must of necessity dye but because death hath nothing dreadful in it that man hath gain'd good interest towards the ensuring a happy Life Although we are not ignorant that many will earnestly contradict these things which we could no ways prevent unless we would write nothing at all for if our very Orations which we desir'd should be approv'd to the judgment of the Multitude for the Faculty is popular and the Approbation of the Auditors is the work that Eloquence hath to do but if there were some men in the World who would commend nothing but what they were confident themselves could imitate and made their own hope the Standard of their good words and when they were born down with copiousness of words and sense would say they had rather have Barrenness and Poverty than Plenty and Riches from whence o a sort of Attick Speakers took their Rise who knew not themselves what it was they pretended to follow and who are now silenc'd being almost laugh'd out of Court what do we think would become of us when we see we cannot now have the People any longer our abettor as we had before for Philosophy is contented to have but few judges and studiously avoids the multitude as being suspected by it and hated of it So that if a man would speak against Philosophy in general he might have the People on his side or if he would go about to attack this which we chiefly profess to follow he might have great assistance from the Doctrines of other Philosophers Now as to the Traducers of Philosophy in general we have answered them in our Hortensius n But in a Life of Employment Skill in Logick and knowledge of Natural and Moral Philosophy do undoubtedly conduce to Prudence and Moderation both in Discourse and Action He that hath not shar'd in such Education may through preguancy of parts and evenness of Temper grow
The Five Days DEBATE AT Cicero's House IN TUSCULUM Upon 1. Comforts against Death 2. Patience under Pain 3. The Cure of Discontent 4. The Government of the Passions 5. The Chief End of Man Between Master and Sophister LONDON Printed for Abel Swalle at the sign of the Unicorn at the West-end of St. Pauls 1683. TO THE READER IT may seem advisable to give some short accompt of the ensuing Work to obviate such Exceptions as are likely to be made against it in this censorious Age. That it is a Translation is own'd which infers no more than that all the World speak not the same Language but if Sense be common and Wisdom not ingross'd by any Age or Place then must it withall be concluded that Interpretation is beneficial This Book was never hitherto made English yet in its own Tongue hath been still reputed among the choicest Pieces of Humane Learning and sure in Discourses of this Nature the intelligent Reader doth not value Tully by the elegancy of his Style but soundness of Judgment and orderly deduction of Arguments True Philosophy being a ray of right Reason shines equallâ— in all Languages yet is more effectual when manag'd by a Master of Eloquution in earnest as concern'd in the very Cases which he Debates The Author of this Treatise famous for admirable Parts had by his industry and success in pleading Causes attain'd to great Wealth and Honour but upon alteration of the Government was oblig'd to retire to his Seat at Tusculum where the Scene of his Five Days Debate is laid The Subject matter of highest Importance suitable to the gravity of his Person and occasion of the times Cicero aged sixty years and beset with many State-Enemies put himself on this guard against the approaches of Natural Death or surprizes of an Assassinate These Consolations supported him under the affliction of his Daughter Tullia lately deceased in Child-bed He that had formerly rul'd the Bar by the Power of his Eloquence and sat Prince in the Roman Senate having withdrawn himself from the Insolence of a Victorious Army diverts his Melancholy upon these nobler Studies Thus disengag'd from Noise and Business from the vain Pomp of numerous but specious Friends he attends to his better part enquires after a State of true Happiness Here advises with the Ancient Sages and grave Philosophers of Greece These for the most part especially Socrates determine it to consist in a Peace of mind through the Exercise of Vertue ranging the Affections under the Obedience of Reason To assert the Dignity of Humane Nature in its Primitive Institution the excellency of the Soul as to its Original sistence Operations and Duration to settle the Empire of Reason a Liberty which no external Force can controul and that braves the atmost malice of Fortune These are steps by which the Spirit raiseth it self up to Object adequate to its Faculties contemplates the Beauties of the Universe wonderful order of the Celestial Motions and by the Chain of Causes ascends up to that all wise Power which at first dispos'd and always governs them An Idea of Wisdom did in some measure appear to the diligent searchers after Truth but in practice occur'd insufficiency of Knowledge and frailty of Resolution Whereupon Cicero puts himself upon enquiry after the Causes of our early Depravation Mankind must be govern'd by Conscience true but that must be inform'd by a Law antecedent to positive Constitutions which being in different Countries divers would leave the Boundaries of Good and Evil as litigious as those of Empire We are ordain'd for Honour but there is a vain applause the counterfeit of true Glory Besides Judgment often renders to Passion or Interest so that he was sensible how short the Best are of Perfection Indeed he follows the Probable Doctors rather than the Positive for to say the truth as to the Particulars of a future State what can frail man unassisted by Divine Revelation comprehend or deliver for certain Our Senses make no faithful report of Things beyond their narrow Sphere Our most quick-sighted Mind hardly penetrates the surface of objects lying in our way Nor can we recover things past as the order of the Creation beyond the help of Records without Divine Tradition This uncertainty of Natural Knowledge in the highest Points whilst it contributes to a conviction of its own present insufficiency for recovering the end to which it was once ordain'd demonstrates the need we have of a safer guidance than that of our own Wisdom and inhances the Benefit of Supernatural Truths From this doubtful apprehension as to a future condition and frailty of Nature our Author is mov'd to resolve all his care into an affiance in the paternal goodness of God upon this he suspends comfortable hopes and seems already to breath after a Blessed Eternity Philosophy had no mean design to repair our decai'd Natures and advance us to the perswasion of a certain Immortality This glorious purpose a Covenant of Grace in the Sacred Indentures ingross'd doth more amply effect Be nothing of this understood to arraign at the Bar of the written Law those Nations whom God through his unsearchable Counsels had for some time left to the enquiring out his Being and Will by the dim Light of Nature and their impaired Reason Only suffice it that we know there is no other way to Happiness than by complying with those easie and honourable terms of Reconciliation offer'd A Royal Pardon however full hath been revok'd when not receiv'd with thankfulness Again that we mistake not Privilege for Performance nor exalt our selves by looking down with scorn and censure upon others under unlike Circumstances but rather as in truth we ought place our selves with them upon the same level at the more competent Tribunal of Natural Conscience common to us both and there take an impartial Tryal whether their attainments from Reason do not aggravate our improficiency under Grace and consign us over to a less tolerable doom Can we read that Socrates by Arguments drawn from the visible World and the reflex acts of his own mind could collect the Souls Immortality a future Judgment Rewards and Punishments hear him declare that in Contemplation hereof he prepar'd himself so to live as that his Apology might find acceptance in that day nay further maintain that we ought rather to submit to the most infamous Death than quit the profession of an honest Principle Lastly can we see him refusing unwarrantable delivery from Prison seal this Doctrine with his Blood aveng'd in the signal and speedy Destruction of his Capital Enemies Can we read these eminent Instances of improvement in Morals and not be provok'd to call our selves to account with what ready submission have we received Truths deliver'd us upon Divine Testimony Do we give them that Obedience which their Authority challenges Are we prepar'd to contend for them if Providence order the Tryal at the price of our Lives If in this Scale any of us
Elements which furnish material cause of existence to all compound Bodies pitches upon a fifth Essence of which the rational Soul should consist for to think and forecast to learn and teach to invent with so many other Abilities of Memory Love Hatred Desire Fear Anxiety Joy he doth not conceive these and the like can be inherent in any of those four Elements Hereupon he adds a fifth nameless Nature and so calls the Soul by the new name of a pure Act being in continu'd and perpetual Motion SECT XI Inferences from these diverse Opinions THese are almost all the Opinions about the Soul as far as I can recollect for let us wave Democritus a brave man indeed and excellent Scholar but who fram'd the Soul upon a casual rencounter of smooth and globular Moths for among those Gentlemen there is no feat so strange but what omnipotent Atomes can perform Of these Opinions which is true God alone knows which hath the greatest appearance of truth is much to be question'd Had we best therefore discuss these different Opinions or return to the enquiry at first propos'd S. I would fain both might be if it were possible but it is hard to confound them Wherefore if without scanning them at large we may be deliver'd from the Terrors of death let that be our business but if that cannot be obtain'd till this question of the Souls nature be decided let us now dispatch this and that another time M. I judge that more convenient which I find you like better for it will be concluded with good Reason that whatsoever of those Opinions which I have alledged prove true death must be either not evil or rather good For if the Soul be Heart or Blood or Brains of a certain because it is Corporal it will dye with the other Body If it be breath perhaps it will scatter into thin Air If Fire it will be quench'd If it be the Harmony of Aristoxenus it will be discomposed What need I mention Dicaearchus who allows not the Soul to be any Substance according to all these Opinions none hath any concern after Death for Life and Sense are extinguish'd together But what is insensible hath neither interest in good or evil The Judgments of the rest open some door of Hope if this may chance to please you that our Souls when they have escap'd out of our Bodies may arrive at Heaven as at their own Home S. That is well pleasing to me and I could principally wish that it were so But next however it is could be contented with the perswasion that it were so M. What need have you of our pains to that purpose can we surpass Plato in Eloquence Read over diligently his Book about the Soul you will need no further Information S. I have in truth done so and that many times but I know not how whilst I am in reading I yield my assent when I have laid down the Book and begin to meditate with my self upon the Soul's Immortality all my former Assent slips out of my mind M. What think you of this do you grant that Souls do either subsist after death or determine upon death S. I readily grant it M. b What if they survive S. I allow they are blessed M. If they dye S. That they are not miserable because they have no being for that Point upon compulsion from you we a little before granted M. How then or wherefore do you say death in your judgment to be an evil which either renders us blessed in case the Soul survive or not miserable as being without all Sense b What if they survive I allow they are blessed An intellectual Life is a Blessing compar'd with Annihilation but to this must be added Reconciliation to God on such Terms as he hath declar'd consistent with the Honor of his Justice and Truth SECT XII Arguments that the Soul subsists after Death from immemorial Tradition from Funeral Rites and from the Veneration of ancient Heroes S. BE pleas'd therefore to declare in the first place if you are able that the Soul subsists after Death if you cannot evince that for it is a hard matter to make out clearly inform us that Death carrieth no evil along with it for I fear least that be evil I say not to be insensible but that we must lose our Senses M. We can produce the best Authority for that Sentence which you would gain now this both ought and is wont to be of greatest moment in deciding all Causes as first the consent of all Antiquity who the less distance they were remov'd from their original and divine Extraction did perhaps discern truth more clearly Therefore this one Principle was deeply engrasted in those old Sires who liv'd in the non-age of time that there was Sense after Death nor would man by departure out of Life be so rais'd up from the Foundations as to perish totally And this may be collected as from many other Instances so in particular from the Pontifical Sanctions about Ceremonies at the places of burial which they would never have observ'd with so much Devotion nor aveng'd the breach of them under such inexpiable Penalties had it not been imprinted in their minds that death was not an Annihilation but a removal and change only of Life which used to conduct Men and Women of good Fame up to Heaven and which continu'd in others but was depress'd to the grosser Regions investing the Earth After this Ritual and the Opinion of our Ancestors In Heaven lives Romulus with the Gods in bliss as Ennius compliant with Fame sweetly sings In like manner among the Greeks and from them deriv'd to us and as far as the Western Ocean is Hercules esteem'd a God so powerful and propitious From hence Bacchus born of Semâ—le and in like renown Castor and Pollux Brethren Sons of Tynearus who are deliver'd to have been in the Battles of the Roman People not only assistants of Victory c but also Messengers there of express What is not Ino Cadmus's Daughter who was nam'd by the Greeks Leucothea term'd by the Romans Matuta What is not almost all Heaven not to instance in more peopled with Inhabitants of humane Race c But also Messengers thereof In the War with the Latins at the Regillan Lake two Knights on white Horses were seen to lead up the Roman Battalia and after the Victory the same night to wash their Houses at the Fountain of Juiurna where having brought Post to Rome the News of the day won they vanish'd The like divine Express is said to have brought the word to Domitius Aenobarbus the day that Perses King of Macedon was beaten by Paulus Aemilius SECT XIII From this that the Superior Gods are receiv'd to have been Men deceas'd BUT if I should go about to ransack old Monuments and discover out of them what the Greek Writers have disclos'd those very Gods which are reputed of the higher Rank will be found to have pass'd from us here to
concupiscence and to be so much the more fir'd because we emulate those who are in possession of those Goods which we pursue Doubtless blessed shall we be when divested of these Bodies we shall with them have put off their craving desires and fond Emulations Now as it fareth with us here when releas'd from cares we love to recreate our selves in beholding some moral Divertisements or other pleasing sights we shall have then much more liberty to attend to it d and shall lay out our selves wholly in contemplating the wonderful Effects of Nature and discerning their Causes both because our minds have naturally unplanted in them an insatiable longing to come at the sight of Truth And because the very Borders of those heavenly places at which we shall have arriv'd as by their proximity they will furnish greater advantages as the discovery of the celestial Bodies with their motions so will they accordingly excite in us a more ardent desire to enquire after them For it was this beautiful order which put our Fathers and Grand-fathers even here on Earth as Theophrastus saith upon Philosophy and inflam'd them with a desire of Knowledge but they shall with more inlarged Faculties and satisfaction comprehend them who while here upon Earth however they were invelopped in thick mists of Obscurity yet by the piercing sight of a clear mind endeavoured to descry them d And shall lay out our selves wholly in contemplating the wonderful Effects of Nature and discerning their Causes To behold natural Causes is delightful to the Understanding God is said to look down upon his Works and rejoyce But our greatest satisfaction is by them as in a Mirror to behold the infinite Wisdom and Power of him who hath dispos'd them And since the Creature must pass away in the general Conflagration there remains no other beatifical Vision but to behold the face of the Creator reconciled to us through a gracious Redeemer to which only purity of heart can prepare SECT XX. And thence contemplate Nature NOW if they fancy themselves to have got some advantage who have seen the Mouth of the Black-Sea and those Streights through which the Galley enter'd which was nam'd Argo because in her the Flower of Greece From Argos row'd to fetch the Golden Fleece And those also who have seen the Streights mouth where the swift current Libya and Europe parts What a rare sight do we think it will be when we may see the whole Earth at one view and as its Situation Form Circuit so both its Country's habitable and those again utterly uninhabitable through excess of cold or heat For we do not at present behold with our eyes the things we do see Since there is no sense in the Body but as not only Naturalists inform but also Physitians who in Dissections have seen and examin'd the several parts there are certain open passages bored from the Seat of the Soul to the Eyes to the Ears and to the Nostrils whence oftentimes either being deep in Meditation or seiz'd with some violent Distemper though our eyes and eares be both sound and open we can neither see nor hear with them So that it is very apparent that it is the Soul which both sees and hears and not those parts which are but as it were the Casements of the Soul with which yet it can perceive nothing unless it be mindful and attentive It is further observable that with the same mind we comprehend objects of a most different Nature as colour taste heat scent and sound which the Soul could never distinguish from the report of five Messengers unless all were committed to her that she alone might be judge of all And in truth those things will be seen much more clearly and transparently when the Soul shall get free to the place whither Nature is bound for at present however Nature hath fram'd those overtures which are a thorough-fair from the Body to the Soul after a most curious and artificial manner yet are they in a sort obstructed by gross and impure Matter but when the Soul shall he by her self nothing shall interpose to hinder her from discerning every object according to its proper Nature SECT XXI That the Epicureans who plead for Annihilation have no such reason to triumph in their Scheme of natural Knowledge improv'd WE could sufficiently dilate upon this Subject if the Matter requir'd it how many how different how great entertainments of the Sight the Soul should find in the heavenly places The Consideration of which makes me often admire at the strange Vanity of some Philosophers who magnifie their knowledge of Nature and in great Extasies of Joy offer up thanks to him that first invented and revealed it worshipping him as a God For by his means they pretend themselves freed from the most insupportable Lords everlasting Terror and apprehension day and night What Terror What Apprehension Is there any old Good-wife so doting as to fear those things which you see now had you not learn'd the Scheme of natural Philosophy you should have fear'd Acheron 's low Regions which pale shades frequent Where Clouds o're-spread the gloomy Firmament Is it not a shame for a Philosopher to glory that he is got above these fears and that he knows them to be but Fables By which it appears what profound natural Parts these men have who should have believ'd such Stories if they had not been bred up to Learning A great prize too they have got by this Learning that when they come to dye they are to perish Soul and Body Which admit to be true for I am not contentious what great matter of joy or boasting doth the Doctrine afford Though to speak truth I cannot find any considerable Objection against the opinion of Pythagoras and Plato for had Plato alledged no reason for it see what deference I have to his Person he would have dash'd me with his bare Authority but now he hath back'd his Judgment with so many Reasons that he seems to me to have endeavoured to make others to be so but himself truly to have been of the perswasion SECT XXII An immaterial Substance though invisible may subsist of it self as God so the Soul YET many stubborn Opponents there are who pass Sentence of Death upon Souls as Capital Malefactors Nor have they other ground upon which they derogate credit from the Eternity of Souls but only this that they cannot fancy nor comprehend what should be the nature of a Soul separate from the Body as if they understood what were the nature of it when united to it what fashion what size what place it takes up So that were man a Creature who might be look'd into and all his inward Parts discover'd whether would the Soul be visible or for its extraordinary subtilty escape the sight These things they would do well to consider who say they cannot conceive what a Soul should be without a Body they will find what Conception they have of it now it is
Rule how far we should strive against Pain for it is not so much the Question whether Pain be evil or not as the business to fortifie the mind against impatience under Pain i The Stoicks bring little Arguments to prove it not to be evil as though it were a Contest about words and no real concern Zeno why do you impose upon me for when the thing that seems terrible to me you affirm to have no ill in it at all I am caught and desire to know how that which I judge most miserable should not be so much as evil Nothing saith he is evil but what is base and vitious Nay now you triffle again I know that Pain is no lewdness Forbear teaching me that teach me this that it is indifferent whether I am in Pain or not in Pain There is no difference at all saith he in order to happiness which is plac'd in Vertue alone but yet it is to be refus'd Why so It is rough unnatural hard to be endur'd bitter grievous i The Stoicks bring little Arguments to prove it not to be evil Cicero having confuted the Epicureans who contrary to their own Principles in a Bravado gave out that they counted Pain pleasant or at the worst but indifferent now attacks the Stoicks who thought it indeed offensive but not evil because not morally evil this Restriction of the term he doth not allow because in common acceptation it is of larger import Then satisfieth them with assigning a different definition of the term Evil according to the received Sense Yet withall he allows it comparatively to bear no proportion with dishonesty so that forfeiture of Honor and Conscience in the least is infinitely worse than suffering the greatest Pain Then dismisseth the Cause as a meer Controversie about words Here he bears the Person of a moderate Peripatetick SECT XIII Pain must not betray us to indecent Carriage THIS is command of Language to be able to express in such variety of Terms that which we commonly call in one word Evil. You define but remove not my Pain when you say it is rough preternatural and almost intolerable nor do you speak any untruth but you that boast in words should not shrink in the trial since nothing is good but what is honourable nothing evil but what base This is rather to wish what we would have then to inform what is The better and truer Decision were that whatsoever Nature abhorreth is to be reckon'd among things evil what it covets among the good This being laid down for a Maxim and all Contention about words remov'd nevertheless so much will that excell which they rightly embrace which we call honourable honest and comely which we sometimes comprise under the general name of Vertue that all other the reputed Goods of the Body and Fortune appear but little and inconsiderable Nor can any one Evil no nor if all were brought together into one place be comparable with the Evil of dishonesty Wherefore k if what you granted in the beginning Dishonour be worse than Pain Pain is of no force at all for whilst you shall think it mean and unmanly to sigh howl lament to be dejected melancholly impatient then will Dignity then Honour then Decency present themselves before you and you look stedfastly on them and restrain your self Pain truly will give way to Vertue and be enfeebled by the assuming Courage For either there is no Vertue or all Pain is to be slighted Would you have it that there is any Prudence without which no Vertue can be so much as understood Now what think you of her will she suffer you to do any thing so as to take Pains to no purpose Will Temperance permit you to be immoderate in any thing Can Justice be observ'd by him who for grievousness of Pain reveals Secrets l bewrays Complices and abandons many Duties What for Fortitude how will you answer her and her Attendants Bravery of Spirit Gravity Patience Contempt of the World While you afflict your self are heartless and make a piteous moan shall you hear O stout man while you demean your self after such manner none will call you so much as man Valour therefore must be parted with or Grief buried k If what you granted in the beginning Dishonour be worse than Pain Tully hath certainly gain'd the Point by the short and ready answer of the ingenuous Youth according to the common Notion that Mankind undebauch'd hath of true Honor the end to which we were ordain'd and measure of our Actions l Bewrays Complices Where King-killing is accounted an Heroical Vertue there must concealing of Accomplices pass for on Act of Perfection This looks suspiciously upon the Conspiracy of Brutus though it may have regard to that of Zeno Eleates afterwards mention'd which former might influence the latter SECT XIV must be opposed with Courage KNOW you therefore that if you loose a Silver Cup the rest of your Plate may be safe but if you loose one Vertue although m Vertue cannot be lost but n if you confess there is one Vertue that you have not it will follow that you have none Can you therefore say that he is a Valiant man or of a gallant Spirit or Grave or Patient or that he despiseth the World either that Philoctetes for I had rather learn from you but he to be sure is not valiant who lyeth in a damp Grot on bed of Leaves Who yelling roaring bellowing with deep Groans Maketh the touch'd Rocks reverberate his sad moans I do not deny Pain to be Pain for what need else were there of Fortitude but I say it may be suppress'd by Patience if there be any such Vertue as Patience if there be none why do we magnifie Philosophy or why do we value our selves in being denominated from her Pain doth prick why let it goad you If you be defenceless offer your Throat but o if you be senc'd with Armour of Vulcans making that is with Fortitude p make resistance For unless you do so this Guardian of your Dignity will abandon you utterly The Cretan Laws which either Jupiter himself made q or Minos agreeable to Jove's will as the Poets deliver r and those also of Lycurgus incur their Youth to labours to Hunting Racing Hunger and Thirst Freezing Sweltring the s Children at Sparta are so disciplin'd at the Altar that much blood gushes out of their Bodies sometimes also as I heard when I was there till they fell down dead None of these ever cry'd out or so much as setch'd a Groan What then shall not Men be able to bear what Children have been able to bear what Custom can effect shall not Reason effect the same m Vertue cannot be lost Perseverance in Vertue was by the genuine Stoicks asserted to the wise man as an essential Property to his Happiness Cleanthes held that Vertue cannot be lost if it be true n If you confess there is one Vertue that you have not it will follow that you
approach Hence the Saying of Theseus in Euripides is commended which we shall take the Liberty to translate out of the Original as we have often done the like on other occasions I as by a great Scholar taught On future Troubles fix'd my thought Untimely Death or Banishment Still to me did some Cross present That whatsoe're Change should arise Might me not unprepar'd surprize Now what Theseus saith he heard of a learned man that Euripides by a Figure transfers to him from himself for he had been the Hearer of Anaxagoras concerning whom they report that upon the News brought of his Son's death he reply'd I know that I begot him Mortal which expression declareth that these occurrents are sharp to them by whom they have not been consider'd Therefore it is no question but that all things which are reputed evil fall more grievous when they come unawares So that although this be not the sole Cause which creates the greatest Disquiet yet because the foresight and preparation of the Soul is of great Power to the diminishing of Grief let all the incidents to Humane Life be well consider'd by every man and in truth this is that excellent and Divine Wisdom to have a full insight and experience of all the Chances of Humane Life to admire nothing when it is happen'd to suppose of nothing but that it may come to pass before it is come to pass Wherefore all men whil'st in most prosperous State To bear affliction most should meditate Suits Fines safe home return'd still bear in mind Son faulty Daughter sick Wife dead to find All common possible nothing new appear What unexpected cometh for profit clear SECT XV. Is also ground of Constancy NOW since Terence hath so aptly insinuated this Notion borrow'd from Philosophy shall not we out of whose Fountains it is drawn both say the same thing better and more firmly hold it for this is that countenance always the same which Xanthippe is reported to have used to declare that her-Husband Socrates had and that she saw him have one and the same when he went forth and when he return'd home again Nor was it that brow which M. Crassus the Ancient bore of whom Lucilius reports that he laugh'd but once all his life-time but it was calm and serene for so have we receiv'd by Tradition And well might it be always the same countenance when there was no alteration in the mind by which the looks are fashion'd Wherefore I receive from the Cyrenaicks these Arms against contingent Events whereby their approaching insults may through long Premeditation be rebated and withall I judge that their Evil is from conceit and not nature For if it were in that object why would they be alleviated by being foreseen but there is somewhat more accurately to be spoken on this matter after we have look'd into the opinion of Epicurus who judgeth that they must all of necessity be Discontented who conceive themselves to be under Evils whether these Evils have been foreseen and expected or whether they are grown old for that neither are Evils abated by long time nor yet alleviated by foresight of them and that the poring on Evils not yet come and perhaps that never will come is foolish For that all Evil is Vexation enough when it is come but he that is always thinking that some Adversity may possibly befall him to him it becometh an everlasting Evil but if it shall never actually come upon him a voluntary Disquiet is taken up on false grounds so the mind is always vex'd either with enduring or expecting Evil. But the relief of Discontent he placeth in two things a taking of the mind from considering its troubles and setting it on the Contemplation of Pleasures for he judges the Soul in capacity to obey Reason and to follow whether that leads therefore Reason forbids to dwell upon the Causes of its Trouble it fetcheth off from anxious thoughts the sight of the mind dim'd with poring upon its Miseries and when it hath sounded a retreat from them it pusheth it forward again and provoketh it to look on and with the whole fancy tast variety of Pleasures with which he thinks the life of a wise man is fill'd both through the memory of the past and hope of following ones This account we have given after our own fashion the Epicureans deliver after theirs but let us see what grounds we have to slight what they say SECT XVI The contrary Tenet of Epicurus and his Followers FIRST they do ill to reprove a Premeditation of future Contingences since there is nothing doth so much take off the edge of Discontent and weaken it as the continual consideration thoroughout the whole course of our Lives that there is nothing but may befall us as a Meditation on man's Frame as on the condition of Life and a Study to submit to it This hath not that effect to make us always but never melancholly for he that considers the order of Nature and the Vicissitudes of Life and the Frailty of Mankind is not melancholly when he considers these things but is then most principally imploy'd in the exercise of Wisdom for he reaps a double advantage both that in the consideration of man's circumstances he enjoyeth the proper Office of Philosophy and in case of Adversity he is supported by a threefold Consolation First that he hath long consider'd that such accidents might come which consideration alone doth most weaken and allay all Afflictions Then he cometh to learn that all Tryals common to men should be born as such patiently Lastly that he perceiveth there is no Evil but where is blame but there is no blame when that falls out the Prevention of which was not in man to warrant for that sounding a retreat which Epicurus enjoyneth when he calleth us off from looking upon our Evils is null For not to take notice or to put out of memory is not in our Power when those things gore us which we conceive to be Evil. They Tear Fret Spur-gall apply Torches for Torture allow no breathing time And you bid us to forgo what is against Nature what remedy is by Nature given would you wring away that of a grief worn old True it is a slow Process yet of great Efficacy which length and time do effect You bid me consider the good and forget the bad you would say somewhat and worthy a great Philosopher if you held those things to be good which were most suitable to the Dignity of man SECT XVII The true Remedy assign'd SHOULD Pythagoras now or Socrates or Plato say to me Why are you cast down or why do you fret or why do you sink and render to Fortune which may perhaps pinch and prick you cannot to be sure over-power you Great force there is in the Vertues rouse up them if they chance to be dormant In the first place will present it self to you Fortitude which will oblige you to take such courage as to contemn