but well I wot that in the prescribed praier taught vs by Christ in that verie tearme of euill is included and conteined the Diuell himselfe And therefore whatsoeuer we assuredlie resolue to be euill is as absolutely vnsufferable as any the limbs or deriued issues of the diuell Now lest I should be charged by following of a by-path to haue digressed and raunged from my theame I will reuert to the proofs and appliances borrowed from the bodie Let me know of them whether their stomacks be so strong as when they be clogged with heauie meats which they cannot digest yet will hold and still deteine the same neuer once striuing to cast them vp or is there any of them that in his owne bodie will with his tollerating patience endure a disease or griefe if it lyeth in his power to remedie and rid the same nay more admit he be thereby but a little troubled and not endamaged at all yet will he not for that trouble onely seek redresse thereof let it be but the itching of some salt humour or a fleabyting by a sleight touch of the skin starting all the spirits can he be so contented as not to attempt to ease himselfe of such disquieting Then from the warrant of God the sence of nature the directions of wisdome the necessitie dignitie of the State which is not only to remoue his opposites but to aduance it selfe to all perfection let vs abandon all such party-coloured and ambodexter tollerations not fitting the Iustice or dignitie or good of the Commonwealth Neuerthelesse lest I should too much lay open my weaknesse both in discretion by a presumptuous asseueration and in iudgement by propounding that for absolute which may perhaps be thought to accept of some exceptions and conditions I must annex hereunto unto some respectiue mitigation if not a seeming retractation It cannot be obscure but that in a case of vnauoydable necessitie to auoide thereby the extreamitie of a greater euill the lesser may though not likingly yet permittingly though not absolutely yet in some manner though not perpetuallie yet for a season receiue a bearing or forbearing conueiance though not an authorizing approbation And I must impute it wholy to our impotency that is so ouerladen with the manifold cumber of euils and those often of opposite natures as that we be forced by the repulsing of the worst to make a seeming shew of electing of lesser scant reckoning that to be any euill at all which by freeing of vs from a deadlyer mischiefe may bee deemed to haue wrought vnto vs our wel-accepted good And sith I haue reduced my reason to this degree of relenting I must seeke to make some probabilitie of farther prouing this point by the looking also vpon my first propounded patterne Our naturall bodies doe willingly and with a kind of chosing endure some diseases because they find the same to free them from other more extremely daungerous The opening of an issue stoppeth the entrance and breed of many grieuous sicknesses and nature seemeth oft pleased to suffer yea and to entertayne some enemies contentedly for the obtayning and purchasing of an ensuing founder welfare Therefore for a resoluing conclusion whereuppon to insist I will reconcile any my surmised repugnances with this explayning distinction Such euils as either through an impossibilitie of remouing are growne necessarie and so require rather fortitude to indure them than any prudencie to make choice of them or that by any helpfull vse whereunto they serue doe seeme to haue put off their former nature as becomming phisicke vnto vs partly may and partly will haue our sufferance But as I take it in the very terme of tolleration is meant and implyed a dispensing with and vpholding of such euils as being confessed to bee meerely and altogether of that qualitie yet neither so forceth vs by the restreint of our power but that wee may suppresse them neither induceth vs by the apparance of any behoofe or helpfulnesse to yeeld them fauour The discerning of which differences in any particular instances is fitlier recommended to the aduisednesse of the discreet gouernours than to bee left to the temeritie of any ouer venturous and peremptorie preiudicator To conclude this point of health It is so precious and of so vnualuable a worth as that when it is not so perfect as wee would haue it or when it is somewhat impaired we do not sticke willingly to do to our selues farther hurt to the end to heale our infirmities the more soundly Yea when wee haue no cause at all to cōplaine as being of a constitution not to be disliked yet doe we then take phisicke for a purpose to preuent sicknesse that may ensue and to confirme the continuance of our health So in our bodie of the Common-weale it is not to be disliked that though there be no great fault found and all things seeme to stand in good order yet now and then physicall courses be vsed by opening some veine by purging of superfluities and putting to payne some part thereof for the more certeintie of the generall good that not onely diseases themselues be auoided but euen all feare and suspition may be preuented to the preseruing and assuring of an inuiolable stabititie of the publique quietnesse Neuerthelesse as in the bodie it is a safe regard not otherwise to moue the humours than there is likelihood to rid and conquer them so in the state it requireth a iudicious and ponderous consulting when and how to stirre and atempt such medicinall trialls Aduisednesse aduentureth not without aduantage knowing that the awaked Dog not well awed or ouermatched will the more insultingly be enraged The diseases that may annoy or indaunger the state are more than I am able to recount much lesse can tell how to cure neither would I by a more single comparing thereof to the diseases of the bodie giue cause to bee censured as either superstitiously curious or superfluously busie-headed This field is spacious and incloseth a large circuit of plentifull matter for discourse and I take it to be no lesse difficultie succinctly to comprehend vnder any heads of diuision the discrepant multiplicitie of diseases in the politique than it is in the naturall bodie wherein as daily experience propoundeth it vnto vs notwithstanding the almost innumerable and most industrious discoueries of the learned in so many reuolutions of ages yet still more and more diuersities doe start vp and occurre to consideration I see the pathway and method for an orderly entrance into a treatise of that nature by the distinct rehersall of euerie the seuerall diseases either generall to the whole or proper to any part but as I must confesse my feeblenesse standing confounded by the verie sight of the immensitie thereof so do I humblie yeeld my meannesse to be farre vnapt to intermeddle where the paines and exquisitnes of some greater Patriot may be well bestowed So much onely as in passage must needs bee mentioned as may serue
seeke either to settle in some principall part as in a fortified place entrenching the same with strong obstructiōs or els outwardly to get an head which if they cannot by scattering bee dispatched are to beeforced to breake out rather than to fester within Some diseases haue a propertie like the Adder that turneth to be a Serpent being chaunged after a while from being the same it was into an other new and different worser than it selfe Most diseases haue certaine degrees standing points of either encrease or declination and according as nature is comforted and seconded by the helpes of Phisicke so they eyther slacke their sharpnesse or become outragious after they haue once touched and attained to those poynts Yet there resteth one rule that ruleth all the rest which is That euery disease desireth his proper cure wherein if there bee any missing or mistaking the mischiefe will bee this That the weakening of nature by that which is wrong applyed for such phisicke not fitting the disease worketh vpon nature must necessarily augment the power and perill of the sicknesse This position is of a much importing consequence and howsoeuer I leaue all the former to the applying and moralizing of the Reader this I may not so suddēly forsake or lightly passe ouer it cōcerneth the skil of the Phisiciō who hath our liues in his hands There bee sometimes such nimble headed Pragmatickes that taking vpon them to be great entermedlers in state affaires do for want of grounded knowledge in the politicall science make many foule escapes whom I may resemble to the empericke Phisicions who hauing bene brought vp onely in an experimentall prentiship do seldome apply that which is proper but wholy trusting to their ordinarie receipts not able to looke into the right nature of the disease or the diuers variations therof or the complexion strength of the patient or the fitnesse of the season for ministring or the proportion of the medicine to the qualitie of the sicknesse and thereunto ignorant also of the methode for orderly proceeding or iudiciously to marke or obserue the right prognostica do daily by their desperate dealings endamage and weaken if not cast away such as be so hazarded vnder their charge Such blind aduēturing without rule or arte to be vsed in the needfull occasions of the Commonweale who seeth not how hurtfull and pernicious it may proue and therfore forbearing as I haue bound my selfe to doe to inlarge this discourse out of other learning I will onely serue my turne with stretching of this one comparison thus farre farther That as the profound and rationall Phisicion is for certaintie of cure and direction in the regiment of health to bee chosen and vsed before the rash vnskilfull Empiricke So the learned and well seene in the principles of politicall doctrine is fitter to bee imployed and trusted with the publike dispatches and affaires tending to the preseruation and amendment of the state than any bold busie bodies that either creepe in at vnwares or thrust in by shouing and shouldring their agencies being too daungerous where the bodie of the Realme must become their patient For where their skill is all but by tradition and not attayned by the studie and enquirie after causes and reasons how be they able in the middest of so manie deceauable differences to find for each particular occurrance the proper and right requisite application without the which whatsoeuer is or seemeth remedied breaketh foorth anew waxing raw and sore againe Thenceit commeth that oftentimes the medicine is worse than the disease and the Phisicion becommeth the heire vnto his patient because where wee most repose our selues in a confidence of helpe there through an vnaduised cariage in the partie trusted affecting his owne end and wandering from his right way wee be most seduced and left succourlesse exposed to all calamities Discretion is the Limbecke that extracteth to his right vse all kind of learning without it nor the Phisicion in his manyfold varietie of diseases and medicines nor the Politician in his multiplicitie of causes and cases can affect any thing either with certaintie to good or laudably to reputation If this be not his best guide like the threed of Ariadne to lead him through the laberinth of so many intricat diuersities how shall hee be able to rule the matter when hee standeth enwrapped and euen ouer-matched with the contrarietie of rules One rule telleth him that Nulla remedia tam sunt salutaria quam quae faciunt dolorem The best medicines doe most payne vs by the imitation whereof the State Phisicion will perhaps trust most to his sharpe and austere remedies Another rule aduiseth such application as is Secundū naturam et quod cuiusque natura desiderat Hereof it cōmeth that what delighteth and pleaseth though it be not for goodnes comparable yet for his familiar agreeablenesse to our stomack and nature is to be preferred vnto that which is offensiue vnsauorie or churlish This consideration preuaileth in gouernment also to haue all the businesse of correction and reformation transacted quietly without contrarious conflicting and by such meanes as may rather giue contentment than make conquest because what is loathed or not brooked may more hurt or molest in recoyling than auaile by an vnwilling and painfull retention Aristotle propoundeth as a Probleame That the selfe fame inflammations by some be cured with cooling and by others are ripened and digested by heating This phisicke hath also bene wisely put in practise in the tendance of the raging vlcers and impostumations of the bodie politique when the hote humour of haughtinesse in great men hath sometimes by gentlenesse and counsell bene allayd and other sometimes by vrging and more heating brought to a rupture running out What encumbreth or annoyeth nature is sometimes at his first gathering before it getteth an head dissolued and dispersed and sometimes againe is suffered yea and forced to shew his vttermost virulence and to get vnto him his full strength before it be once medled with The same medicines that easeth vs of griefe in one part may annoy vs in another that help at one time may hurt at another or that heale one may dispatch another Wee vse not the same course in Summer as we doe in Winter nor the same when the bodie is too full as when it is brought low nor the same to children and old folks as to men of confirmed strength nor the same in the height or amendment which wee doe at the beginning of the disease Such respectiuenesse we may expect from the political Phisicion that he be not pragmatically tied to the Idem or Eodem modo but that from the axiomes conclusions of learning he doe so aplie his cogitations to the discrepancie of occasions as that being vsque quaque sapiens he accomodate his cures rather by certeinty than at aduenture and euen therein to shew himselfe regular by
soueraigns care of their subiects welfare The excellencie of soueraigntie Soueraignes ordained by God Rom. 13. Against ambition Soueraignes haue a waightie charge Soueraignes impart to inferior magistrats a part of their power All command in the state deriued from the soueraigne Soueraignes wrōged by the negligence of vnder officers Against forrain supremacy The rights of soueraigntie not to be to far extended nor too much restreyned First of soueraigntie The powers of the soule set forth The matching of the powers of soueraignty to the powers of the soule Soueraigntie in his vegetable power In the sensitiue and intellectuall Councellours Fauorites The Soueraignes will and whether it alone may stand for law Plato Soueraignes often misinformed Customes and inclinations of the people oft preuaile with the soueraign Resolution in the soueraign Obedience in the people Rebels Opinion Sutors in Court like Appetites Malecontents Pretenses in treason Records and their imbeziling or falsifying Prerogatiue royall Soueraignes not to be euill spoken of Cicero The Soueraigne a God The large extent of soueraigntie by cōparison with God and the soule Of the Soueraignes shewing himself to the people Philip Comm. Plato Mans head his root The excellencie of the head or Soueraigne The head loued of the bodie Soueraignes haue a sympathie with subiects How to think of soueraignes faults Subiects haue a cause to beare with Soueraignes faults No opposition to the Soueraigne much lesse no deposing of them Kind subiects take vpon themselues the blame imputed to the Soueraigne In Pseud. The soueraign likened to the heart The cōmaund and force of soueraigntie Of the Soueraigne all hold what they haue Bountie in a Soueraigne Soueraignes loue of vertue Soueraigns to looke well to them that be neer about thē How factions grow The Soueraignes sports not to be grudged at Two wayes to wrong the Soueraigne Maiestie in a Soueraigne A Soueraigne how to bee respected Diuersities of respects in the Soueraign touching his person and his soueraigntie Man the great miracle of nature Nor head nor heart haue any power to doe wrong Certaine essentiall orders in the state The gifts of statesmen to be wel disposed of Chiefe officers or nobles to be well safgarded The fower Elements of the bodie politique The well mixing of the elements The predominance of the elements actiue or passiue maketh the complexion of the bodie politique The elements to be held in concord Discords in the parts of one and the same elemēts Sundry formes of bodies politique In a distemper all turneth to hurt euen that which otherwise were good enough The degrees of growth in the bodie politike Philosophers The causes o change in the bodie politique Astronomers God in alterations worketh the causes and oft without causes Difference of parts in the Common-wealth vegetable Sensitiue Rationall Dieting of the bodie Too precise or too careles of health Exercise of the bodie Tendance of the body politike according to different respects Equalitie to be obserued Against paritie to proue differences of dignitie riches Not to reward worse than not to punish Difference of dignities and degrees Dignities ill bestowed Why the body politique is called a Common wealth Mutualitie of helpe in the members More respect of the chiefe members The enemies bend most against the best Each part to be appointed to his owne workes Parts disordered maketh the bodie to seeme monstrous Against conspiracie of the parts in the state ciuill Of the late intended Treason Against idle vagrant or vnptofitable people Against ingrossing of offices No need to put many offices vpon one man A concordāce of the parts of the body politike in their cōmon works In the worke of ruling but one head Britania one body needing but one head Proofes for Vnion Imperfections in the body politike yet a bodie Shifts to supplie defects Mercenarie souldiers and straungers The vse of leagues betwixt differēt Countries Perfection in the State Signes of being in good estate The best plight most to be mistursted Signes infer no certeintie Health how necessarie in both bodies Griefe in any one part putteth the whole out of health Aristotle Ethic. lib. 3. Discontentednesse Originall orders the best preseruatiues of health in the State Alterations how daungerous Nature best brooketh things accustomed Alterations must not be suddē or wholy but by degrees and by parts Cases of alteration Better keep health than recouer it To prouide in prosperitie for aduersitie Time preuention Of small beginnings great mischiefes Against Tolleration Cases admitting some sufferance of euill We may hurt to heale The diseases of the State How they doe arise Differences in faults Against equalitie of sinne Punishment must bee proportionable to the offence Outward euils not so dangerous as inward Laws the phisicke of the state dependeth of the soueraigne authoritie The meanest officers do minister phisicke to the state The cause why magistracy is oft repugned at Necessitie of magistracie Magistrats not to be discouraged or giue ouer their cure The likenes of the worke of magistrats and of Phisicions Sundrie sorts of medicines in the state ciuill In altering of punishment what may be left to the Magistrat Points to be obserued of the states Phisition and first of the manner of the disease Curing by contrarie The cause must be first knowne The complexion to be knowne Seasons to be obserued To minister the medicines in pleasing manner To know perfectly the bodie and all the parts To haue greatest care of the best parts Great mens faults most perilous and most to be respected 1 1 Diseases in the nobler parts most to be looked to 2 2 Where the cause is inward 3 3 Where the cause is vnknowne 4 4 Where the disease feedeth it selfe from other parts adioyning 5 5 Diseases inueterate 6 6 Relaps into any disease 7 7 To applie cure in time 8 8 Infectious diseases 9 9 Diseases depriuing sence 10 10 Diseases comming suddenlie 11 11 Diseases wherunto we be accustomed 12 12 Diseases of the whole bodie 13 13 Diseases desperate 14 14 Diseases vncurable 15 15 Diseases of great men require more help and aduise 16 16 Diseases made worse by feeding on that they desire 17 17 Diseases discouered in their signes 18 18 Destruction of members in any disease when to be vsed 19 19 Diseases oft dissolued by nature 20 20 Diseases to be forced to break outwardly 21 21 Diseases growing to a worse nature than they were 22 22 The state or standing point of a disease 23 23 Euerie disease must haue his proper cure Against vnskilfull Pragmatickes The learned fitter for gouernmēt than the vnlearned Vnperfect curing Discretion in state busines Seueritie Lenitie Contrarie waies to cure the same disease Diuersities in curing vppon diuers respects Repealing of some and making of new lawes Magistrats may make vse of the wicked Good magistrats praised The Phisicions louing of the patient Couetousnesse in getting of fees Desire of gaine in some lawiers To be neuer out of law a great miserie Magistrats may haue priuat faults yet good magistrats Magistrats to be chosen for their skill in gouernment Magistrats rather to be natiue than forraine Magistrats must not desist frō their duties for abuses offred vnto them Magistrats must giue good example Magistrats not to haue too many offices or imploiments Compared to a Surgion in three properties Magistrats do sometimes offend the law themselues Magistrats offending to be punished by other Magistrats Magistrats faults no pretence to disobey them Magistrats deseruings soone forgotten Magistrats care and wisdome is iudged of by the euents Magistrats discouragement for the want of execution of lawes by them made Reasons resolue vaine if there be no will to performe Lawes often by cauils illuded Obedience the chiefe vertue of Subiects The Subiects chiefe care to content the Soueraigne Politicall gouernors are to be made famous by the prayses of the learned The benefit which a Soueraigne shall haue by the studying of politicall books Prouerb 24. The dedication of Politicall works due to the gouernors of the State Curiositie of looking Into state businesse In Trinumo Inquisitiuenes To prie into the princes dealings or dispositions how dangerous it is A caueat from natures work In soueraignty a great mistery
ouercharging assaults They haue some restoratiue to repaire the decaies and raise againe the deiected estate of health They haue some consuming corrosiues to eate out what is become dead and vnsensible They haue some soporiferous to enduce a sleeping dulnesse and stupiditie whilest cures of great aduenture must be effected They haue some lenetiue to asswage excessiue and raging paines They haue some exasperating heaters to digest and draw out the cores of corruption They haue some drying consumers to waste away the superfluous confluence of any annoying matter They haue some attractiue openers to loose and draw forth any inwardly infixed festerings They haue dispersers dissoluers of any gathered together or swelling putrifactions They haue repercussiues to suppresse and repell all beginning outrages They haue expellers of all that is hurtfull and burdenous cleansing the verie fountaynes of euill They haue preseruatiues against all venemous and infectious contagious They haue substantiall consolidators of the dissolued and apostumed parts reducing all agayne to the health and vnitie of nature and they both do enterchangingly vse or administer all or any of these according to the many different qualities malice degrees disposition state and condition of diseases The Phisition is not so strictlie tied to the vsuall forme or composure of his receits and prescriptions but that he doth often alter the same in particuler persons as he is induced by the obseruation of sundrie circumstances signes and accidents Such a discretion some thinketh the Magistrat might be trusted with that all offences comming vnder one head of law should not receiue alike the same vnalterable censuring but that vpon aduised consideration of diuersities sometimes there be vsed quallifications dispensations and mitigations and somtimes againe an encrease and addition of paine should be deuised as the quallitie or manner of the fault shall deseruedly giue occasion For example doth not Iustice require that where one felonie is of a more hainous nature than an other or one Treason more foule and horrible than another the same should be condignly rewarded with an extraordinarie seueritie beyond the letter of the law except we should respectiuely to such inequallitie make more and these different lawes which should distinguishingly set forth diuersities of punishment as the hainousnes of desert shall giue cause and not wrap vp all alike vnder one generall title binding them to one and the same recompensing condemnation But whether is the better to make more choice of prescribed phisicke which by the multiplicitie of diuers respects might grow too infinite or to allow more libertie to the Phisitions in sorting their appliances to the inequallities aforesaid Id Deus aliquis viderit This is proponed for a truth perpetuall vniuersall and vnresistable that where difference of considerations maketh a Maius and Minus in any fault the punishment also should be proportionable by the intention or remission of lenitie or austeritie The States Phisitions after the order and skill of phisick naturall be diligently to obserue in what manner each disease taketh or setleth and how the same may be particularly encountred that he may the better for Militat omnis Medicus so with Ambuscadoes beset the way and prepare resistance to intercept or interrupt it in his courses that in what sort soeuer it shall approch or giue the onset it may be strongly met withall and fitly confronted with his contrarie for right sagely doth their wisdomes discerne that as in the naturall so in the politike bodie the remediyng of any maladies is the more readily performed by the repelling thereof with their directest opposites But for as much as without a discouerie of the right cause of any disease it cannot be well discerned or resolued where or how to set foot to make head against it it is behoueable studiously to find out the beginnings the entrings the breedings and the first occasioning causes of each sicknesse that in the contriuing of the cure thereof it may be combatted correspondently Neither is it to be thought lesse necessarie exactly to know the constitution and complexion of the bodie politique that in the right applying of remedies it may vndeceiueably be conceiued how according to the diuersities therof medicines may be ministred either stronger or weaker speedier or flower oftner or seldomer for the aduantage of preuailing Yea it seemeth also requisite that the be well seen in the obseruation of times and seasons for the more fortunate effecting of his intended cures for like as in priuat so in publike grieuances there is a certaine point of opportunitie to be watched and taken hold on sorting more fittingly to the furtherance of such good indeuours Besides I do not see but for the manner of his ministring it may vnto him as vnto the Phisition be allowed to vse to gaine an acceptation of his receipt a kind of beguiling loue by sweetning and giuing of a more pleasing reliefe to his remedies that the same so kindlie accomodated may haue rather the welcome of a friend than be abhorred as an enemy One skill more he is yet to borrow of the Phisition which is the diligent noting and distinguishing of each part from other by the extent of their nature by their proper place by their different workings by their adherence and mutuall respects or by any other their discrepant proprieties lest he do through such ignorant mistaking vnaptly misapplie to the hurt of one what he had consideratly prepared for the good of another he is to haue as penetrating an insight as carefull an ouerlooking and as particuler a knowledge of each thing considerable in the ciuill bodie as the Anatomist hath in the serching and seuering of euery veine arterie or synew or in the describing and bounding out of euerie the parts passages offices or actions in the bodie naturall In his tendance and care though hee be to haue the whole in a generall suruey espying and amending whatsoeuer requireth the correction of any remedies yet is he more circumspectly and with all watchfulnesse to looke vnto such diseases which harmeth and distresseth the best and vitall yea those roiall parts of Nobilitie and Magistracie where the soule in sort seateth and sheweth it selfe not onely because the in-dwelling as it were of so great a guest deserueth a well clensed puritie and soundnes but for other also no lesse remarkable respects of the consequentiall mischiefes thereof arising to the residue of the bodie sith when any tender or noble part is ill affected or out of order all the rest be therewithall afflicted as both partaking heauily with the vnrest grieuances and passions thereof and also filled with the annoying fluxes vpon them vnburdned Let vs for the cleerer demonstrance of this matter cast our eyes and imaginations yet more markingly vpon the bodie naturall wherein when the distemperature of vnequally sorted humours haue inuaded and possessed any chiefe part the disease therein bred or setled becommeth generall extending a touch
and taint ouer all the helping functions thereof be withheld as restrained by such obstructions In the steed whereof his infection is sucked and deriued all abroad to the corrupting and peruerting of whatsoeuer hath any dependancie or affinitie therewith yea so far forth as not onely the common sence by such disturbance misconceiueth his apprehensions but also that reason it selfe is wholy beguiled and misled with some rauing error allowing the furmised in steed of the reall good so as the whole bodie therby is vexed with giddinesse and tumults So when great men of a better condition and higher degree shall grow humerous opinionate and factious besides their withdrawing of their faith alleageance and former good seruices they doe not only seduce the vnskilfull and vnruly Commons but also traine on with their suggestion of colourable causes some officers of publique trust as parts of the reasonable power to adhere vnto them in their misconceiuing aduentures till all be endaungered by such mutinous confusion But hauing dwelt too long in the description of this disease for the remedying whereof preuention is the best prescription what I haue farther to deliuer touching the diseases of the State or the likenes which they haue with them of the bodie or how to carrie or direct the manner of tendance or ordering of them I must be faile more compendiously to couch the infinitenes thereof within the compasse of some short positions lest raunging too far I be offensiuelie tedious orseeking to match all I mar all by making more a doo than I need The forenoted diseases setled in the nobler parts are the more principally to be prouided for and it is ordinarie to withdraw the anguish thereof to some of the lesse principall yea though it should be with torments of incision burning or ligature Where the greife is outward and the cause inward it is the surest course of curing to begin at the remouing of the inward cause whereby the fountaines of supplie may be dried vp and the braunching euill more easelie withered away When the disease proceedeth from vnknowen causes it is more to be suspected and feared because it mateth and amazeth the Phisition himselfe finding either no apparance of reason how to make resistance or applying hazardably with likelyhood of as well hurting as helping It is vsuall that a disease setled in one part feedeth it selfe by sucking the corruption from other parts adioyning wherein for the timely cutting off of such a confluence to make a strong faction it is likewise vsuall to comfort and make good the parts adiacent that the griefe more singly accompanied may the more soundly be encountred The diseases that be inueterate oflong continuance asketh a long healing and be seldome so soundly remedied but they will reuert and ioyne with any new grieuance and be lightly then more exasperate and cumbersome than before or than the new it selfe The relaps into a disease from which wee haue been lately recouered doubleth the perill of the first sicknesse being aduantaged by the weaknesse and poore case which it had formerly brought vs vnto Some diseases taken in time are easily helped which if they be suffered to run on and through our heedlesnesse confirme themselues do as easilie grow vncureable and where a small matter at the first might restore health there after some continuance the medicine will come too late Such diseases as be infectious and do spread far and neer are to be auoyded by all meanes as scant to be helped by any meanes seeing that they force the Phisitions themselues to flight not daring to entrude venterously into the thickest daunger and when they be chased away or hide themselues vpon whom our hope of help relyeth what can be expected but remedilesse miserie The diseases that bring with them a depriuation of sence without any feeling or acknowledging of sicknesse argueth a great vnlikelyhood of recouerie because nature yeeldeth her selfe as contented and no wayes opposing thereunto When sicknesse commeth suddenly and vnexpected the verie violence of that surprise so daunteth the hart as that the fort will be lost before the forces be assembled The disease that haunteth vs and whereunto we be accustomed we do watch and obserue verie diligently that we may meet with it at euery turne and turne away his rigor before it can get the masterie and against it we be better prepared with vsuall applications The disease that is vniuersall affecting the whole bodie awaketh stirreth all the parts to bring together their concordant aide and is the more caringly to be withstood because it aduentureth the whole at one stake Where the diseases seemeth remedylesse and of desperat condition there it is permitted and aduised to minister desperat medicines Vncureable diseases shame and foile the Phisitions and then doth it go hard with them when the patient wholy depending vpon their help Iaieth the blame vpon their vnsufficiencie where contrarywise if they help at a pinch all seeming past help then doe they as it were play their prizes make themselues well esteemed and much renowmed In the diseases of great men and those grieuous and daungerous the whole colledge of Phisitions is consulted with for the greater the cause or person is the more will the attendance and assistance of Councell Iudges and Magistrates concur for the suppressing of such raging fits by timely remedies Many diseases haue an eager appetite to those meats which are fittest to encrease their force and it is a part of the cure appertaining thereunto to restraine the patient from the vse of such hurtfull food as if a mad man were to bee kept from a sword he that is aguish from wine the seditious from seducing books and traiterous complottors and the vngouerned from riches and honour Such diseases as detecteth and discouereth themseluesby some certaine signes whereby they may be knowne may be sooner suppressed and the verie assuaging or altering of those signes doth often weaken vanquish and driue away the disease it selfe Where a disease is particular only to one part as to the eye the hand foot or such like the losse wherof inferreth not the destruction of the whole there rather than a continuall molesting annoying grieuance should encumber the ioyes of life the part wherunto such paine sticketh is so affixed as that it cannot be remoued or remedied were better to be pulled out cut of disseuered frō the bodie howbeit much extremitie is to be abidden and many waies for healing are to be tried befor it com to so hard a passe as to harden the hart to endure such violence Manie diseases are dissolued and ouercome meerly by the strength of nature that the Phisicions ayd is not implored at all and many againe because their nature hath beene too much trusted vnto and Phisicke hath bene neglected or loathed maketh a conquest ouer both The excesse of humours will
or superioritie of gouerning be not strong enough to hold his owne the exsuperance of the humour predominant hauing altered the complexion of the bodie will also violently draw the soule to follow the forme of his temperature wherefore right needfull it is in any Commonweale to contriue the true and proportionable mixture of these foure Elements lest when they be put at odds reuerting to the originall repugnances of their nature they do fill the state with hatefull strifes in the steed of blessefull peace For as in the bodie naturall if the wisdome of the Creator had not composed into a concord the contrarieties of the first Elements it had as still sticking in the confusion of the first Chaos neuer attained the strength beautie order which we now admire So in the ciuill bodie if prudent policie by aduised tempering of the disparitie of the people should not conioyne them to a well agreeing consent how could any hope be conceiued but that the difference of poore and rich vulgar noble ignorant and learned fearfull and valiant industrious and such as take their ease must needs by their opposite quallities not onely deface the dignitie but also subuert the stabilitie of the state yea the differences of such as be all of one Element through a naturall emulation each part seeking to attaine neerest to the center and perfection of that whereunto he is incircled proueth oft spitefully troublesome and must come vnder the care of a well disposing prudencie For as the more trafiquing maketh the greater merchants the happier husbanding the richer yeomen so the more vertuous may stand vpon it to be reckoned the more generous And each exsuperance will disturbe the temper if for the gouerning of such inequalities and preuention of strife amongst themselues the wisdome of the State taught by natures example did not vse a correspondent cariage From the discrepance of vnequall temperature ariseth so sundrie formes and shapes of bodies politique Some are hugely big and their verie greatnes rendreth them vnwildie hauing their armes and their legs too far a sunder some verie little yet well compact actiue and strongly set to saue themselues some carie a goodly shew on their outside yet inwardly looked into haue great defects as either a foule Soule in so faire a bodie or some deadly wringes tormenting their verie bowels Some not so well fauoured or pleasingly shaped yet are sound enough and in good health Some be so fat and ouer fed with wealth as their neighbours be therby tempted to make attempts against them some so lean and forlorne as that their pouertie is their best safetie some all sluggish and sottish can scant attend their owne defence but do so long praie aide of others till they be made a prey to all some haughtie and fierce are neuer out of quarrels making and taking occasions through the flames of ambition and the gall of reuengefulnesse to exercise a continuall enmitie Thus we see how after the example of the bodie naturall the State ciuill also is diuersly figured and varieth his formes whereof were I not bound to breuitie I could of each sort make instance and demonstrance in particuler But it liketh me better to hold my accustomed course by speaking in generalitie for that I may so hope to instruct some and be sure to offend none Where the humors are in good harmonie of good agreement the bodie thereby in good health there we doe not dislike to haue flesh and fat enough but if they be peccant and so the bodie crasie then the more liberally we feede the more dangerouslie wee doe offend So in a State when each degree conformeth it selfe to his owne duties makng in the whole a perfection of loue and obedience then the abundance of riches the multitude of people the titles of honor the encrease of power are both auailable commendable But when any part becommeth outragious or exorbitant whereby the body is in a distemper and getteth an euill habite then what was otherwise comely and comfortable will turne cumbersome and dangerous working a cleane contrarie effect of a greater endamagement if not of an vtter diuastation The naturall body hath his infancy his youthfulnes his confirmed declyning and decrepid age so hath each Commonwealth his beginning his enlargâ—â—ing his puissance his drowping his decay and downfall The Philosophers for the reason of alterations in both the bodies direct vs to their principals of generation and corruption telleth vs of the imbecillitie and mutabilitie of things compounded of the difficultie of persisting in perfectnes of the easie declination into the worse and of their foreframed connexion of effecting causes The Astronomers haue also alike fitted them both with certaine climatericall changes appointed periodes and fatall reuolutions yea they teach vs that the influence of superior planets do forcibly preuaile as in and ouer priuate persons so also ouer whole regions and kingdomes changing and inuerting them at their pleasures I will yeeld vnto the Philosophers their consequences and dependancie of causes touching the many variable euents in both bodies yet with this prouision That the first cause combyning and causing all causes be not forgotten who alone hath all life and death beginnings and endings at his dispose Neither will I sticke with the Astronomers to acknowledge their stinted times and prefixed points beyond the which neither of the said bodies can passe or prolong themselues one instant But to attribute that to the Starres which the God which holdeth all the starres in his hands challengeth to himselfe and his owne foredecreeing councels were to refuse the sunne and be guided by a star-light He it is that raiseth and strengthneth some mightier like to superior planets to subdue the worthlesse whom he hath refused and his inclining of harts is the right powerfull influence that effecteth these great chaunges Then leauing this humane wisdome fast tied vp within these limitations as in the iron net of Vulcan I will onely make this gaine of that first comparison That sith the said two bodies are so fitly and fully conioined in semblance by their whole course euen from the cradle to the graue I shall not need to feare blame for fashioning of their agreeablenes in other also more particuler considerations In the Commonwealth as in the bodie some parts seeme chiefely vegetable caring for nothing more than to mainteine their growth by their sucking from all the vaines of the land the nutriment and prouisions of this life Some liue all sensually giuing no rest or contentednesse to themselues but by pleasing of their sences feeding of their affections and fulfilling of their desires be it of reuenge in the course of wrath and quarelling or of haughtines to aspire or of lust to sensualitie Othersome moderated with staiednes in both the former shape their liues after the powers rationall and intellectuall disposing themselues by the rules of reason to vertuous actions