cause of life nor the best moisture in euery quantity there are one or two requisite conditions annexed first concerning the qualitie that it be not too thinne and fluid such as is the naturall disposition of water but more cleauing and fat such as may resemble the nature of oile for its better preseruation from putrefaction secondly that it haue some competent degree of heat to keepe it from congealing last of all that it be pure not mingled with excrementall superfluities forasmuch as all mixture of superfluities is against nature enemie to good digestion and sound nutrition Those things thus obserued our moisture shall be sufficiently qualified for our liues maintenance Touching the quantitie in a word as is before said it must neither bee excessiue lest the too great quantitie oppresse our heat as wee see infusion of too much oile oftentimes put out the lampe nor yet defectiue lest the deuouring action of our heat too soone consume it but in a competent mediocrity such as the heat may neither ouer-hastily vanquish nor with the violence of excessiue inequalitie too suddenly be extinguished Where briefly wee may see the reason why man is longer liued than other creatures of more vast bodies for though in the large capacitie of their great receiuers they haue a greater quantity of this naturall moisture than is incident vnto mans small body yet haue they it not so well tempered and proportioned to their heat which may well bee gathered by their slowe and seldome breathing So that it is true which the Philosopher hath that the great or little quantitie of the bodie is no sufficient cause of long life And yet this is withall most true that where there is greatest store of humiditie with a competent proportion of heat there is greatest fitnesse naturally for long life And that is the reason why those that in their infancie are most subiect to a languishing diseasednesse are afterward most healthfull and for the most part longest liued For the abundance of their naturall moisture hindreth the too speedy preuailing of the heat by resisting its action and so is it the lesse mingled with forren impurities For as we see the Smiths fire by the moderate sprinckling of water though at first for a time its force is somewhat abated yet it at length hauing ouercome its weake aduersary as in triumph burneth the cleerer and lasteth longer so fareth it in our bodies for our heat not able on the sudden to ouersway our multitude of moisture is the longer hindred from consuming it whence proceedeth long life and after it hath gotten the vpper hand performeth with more facility its naturall functions whence commeth healthfulnesse where wee may also explane that Probleme why children that are too ripe witted in their childhood are for the most part either shortest liued or els toward their old age most sottish according to our Prouerbe Soone ripe soone rotten for hence wee may gather that from the beginning they had but little moisture ouer which their heat soone preuailed for much humiditie is cause of blockishnesse and folly whence is that of Galen that fleame being a cold waterish humour is of no force for ornament of good conditions and Plato doubted not to say that looke how much moisture there is in vs so much also is our folly and thereof it is as the same Plato obserueth that children and women are for the most part most foolish For the glorious light and Sunne-like splendour of the soule is therwith as with a cloud obscured and intercepted which is an euident proofe of the small store of moisture in these quicke witted forward children ouer which the heat so much the sooner obtaining dominion and in processe of time drying the braine the subordinate instrument of vnderstanding either quite destroieth it and so bringeth death or els so corrupts it that it is altogether vnable and vnfit to steed the inner senses in their functions whereon the vnderstanding in this prison of the boby principally dependeth which may no lesse fitly serue for answer vnto that consequent demand why those infants for the most part are soonest able to walke to talke to conceiue to remember and such like the reason is taken from the little quantitie of moisture which may bee gathered by the contrary disposition in the otherwise affected subiects as also by that which we see in daily experience in creatures of other kinds For whereas man by reason of his fluid vnsetled substance hath for the better strengthning of his ioints his bodie swathed and is a long time before he is able to stand or walke or performe any such like his vitall functions we see other creatures almost in the same moment borne and inabled to stand walke and such like for their vnequall quantitie of heat preuailing ouer the little store of moisture soone sitteth them for the performance of vitall actions that being the soules chiefe instrument in the discharge of her duties Now if any man shall aske what this iust proportion is and when they are tempred so as may best be auaileable for long life the answer is that heat and moisture are then well proportioned when neither the moisture with its too great quantity deuoureth the heat nor the ouermuch heat too suddenlie consumes and eateth vp the moisture Yet must the heat haue a kind of dominion ouer the moisture else can it not be able to nourish the bodie For in nutrition the thing nourished by reason of the instrument ordained for that purpose must actually worke vpon that whereby it is nourished And because that euery Agent must be proportioned vnto the patient in the inequality of excesse therefore must the heat being the soules sole actiue instrument of nutrition haue dominion ouer the moisture the subiect matter of that facultie Touching the complexions the question is which of them is best disposed and fitted for length of life To take that for granted which Fernelius doubteth of namely that there are foure if not onely yet chiefely notable complexions we answer that those of a sanguine constitution are by nature capable of the longest life as hauing the two qualities of life best tempred And therefore is compared vnto the aire which is moderatly hot and in the highest degree moist Yet not with that too thinne and fluid watrish moisture but more oily oile it selfe resembling the true nature of the aire Therefore the sanguine complexion is fittest for long life For choler is an humor like vnto fire extreame hot and moderatly drie and so vnsufficient to make supply of moisture to the deuouring operation of that firie heat which is in it In the flegmaticke the copiousnesse of that humour resembling water oppresseth the heat and so hindreth good digestion whence proceed crudities in the stomacke and liuer from whence they are diffused into the veines and so vnto all the parts of the body and at length the body is ouergrowen with corruption Lastly melancholy resembling the earth and its qualities
was indifferent to create or not to create therefore there was in the instant of the creation some thing that restrained this his indifferency But we may answer That there was no such indifferency as they talke of God hauing from all eternity purposely determined at this time to beginne the worke of the creation So that vnto the fore-mentioned demand of the Atheist why God deferred the creating of the world vntill this moment of time we may answer that of the choise of this time rather then any other for this his worke there can no other reason be giuen but his most free-will that in his decree of creation restrained and bound it selfe to this time rather than vnto any other Now if they shall reply that we are not to imagine Gods will vnreasonable and therefore no doubt there was some reason that mooued him to this limitation of his will we may answer That we doe not deny but God had some reason though not without himselfe of this his prorogation Nay we may without offence goe so farre as to giue some reason of this dilation in generall That God would not from euerlasting create the world to shew the independency of his existence in regard of the creatures as also to giue vs vnderstand that not for any hope of benefit which should proceed to him from the creatures he vndertooke this worke but rather as it is the property of goodnesse to communicate it selfe out of the ouerflowing fountaine of his indefectiue goodnesse to deriue some commodity vnto vs his creatures for hee that could so long be without vs might without any inconueniency vnto himselfe for euer haue continued in that state of lonelinesse So that of the deferring of the creation in generall there may be a reason giuen but why hee began at this time rather than at any other either before or after there is no other reason but his owne free-will knowen vnto vs. But heere ariseth a doubt whether God could haue begun sooner or put off longer this worke of creation The answer is that he could by his potential and absolute power he could not by his actuall and conditionall For Gods power hath a two-fold consideration the one absolute without regard of any his decrees whatsoeuer whereby he is able to do all euen those things that he will not the other conditionall ioined with the consideration and respect of his will whereby he is able to doe all things which hee will and onely those things which he will God therefore respected without his decree was able sooner or later to create the world but if we consider him together with his purpose hee could not either haue preuented or deferred this his intended worke of the creation Nor do we heereby robbe God of his freedome or binde him to any part of the contradiction but if hee bee bound sure hee hath bound himselfe hauing this law onely prescibed him that he denie not himselfe that is indeed to take away his Godhead But if God would not from euerlasting make the world how is he not changed in his will The answer is that God would from euerlasting make the world but he would not make the world from euerlasting that is in plainer tearmes God had from euerlasting a will and purpose to create the world but it neuer was his will that the world should haue a coeternall being with himselfe so that Gods will is stil the same altogether vnaltered But they farther vrge this argument demanding how God by an euerlasting and old action of his wil could in time create the world anew remaining himselfe vnchangeable To which we may answer that a continued action of his will how ancient soeuer executing onely that which he before intended may well stand without admission of alteration as for example If the purpose of my will to day be to iourney toward London the next weeke which also according vnto purpose I performe will any man say my will is changed In like sort God from euerlasting decreeing to create the world at such a time if at the time purposed this his decree be put in execution is not thereby changed Nay rather he is thereby to be thought more vnchangeable for as much as he performeth that which before he did determine Why but say they God is not freed from alteration because that of a Non-creator hee was made a Creator The answer is That God was not heereby changed albeit there was indeed some change though improperly so called when as the world proceeded frō not being vnto being for the succession of a being after a not being importeth some alteration thogh not in the author of the new being but rather in the thing that receiued that being we shall make it plaine by this supposition Let vs imagine a vault or other close place so fenced from the Sunne beames that no light not the least glimmering can pierceit which afterward by digging or some such meanes may haue passage made thorough it for the Sunnes accesse would we say that the Sunne were by this meanes altered because it inlightneth a place which before was full of darknesse Euen so and much more so God the fountaine of Light whose Spirit moouing vpon the waters whereas before there was darknesse vpon the face of the deepe enlightned that darknesse distinguishing those things which before were confusedly mixed or rather bringing them from nothing to this their perfection is not at all altered but still remaineth the same euer vnchangeable And indeed if euery new worke of God should make him changeable how should hee not be often changed creating daily the soules of now liuing men For to say they haue being before their ioining vnto the body is plainly hereticall and Origen was in that behalfe accused of a verie grosse error Nor is it likely nor yet indeed possible they should come by traduction or propagation from our parents For our soules being as the Angels are Spirituall substances are as farre from that abilitie of procreation as the Angels are those supernaturall celestiall creatures and there is the like reason for both The Angels by reason of their spiritualitie are void and vncapable of procreation mens soules also being no lesse spirituall than the Angels are also vnfit for procreation therefore one soule begets not another much lesse comes it of a corporall seed it selfe being spirituall It remaines therefore that they are then anew created by God and so coupled vnto their bodies Neither is God for this cause changed seeing as is aforesaid he doth now onely put in execution that which before he had in intention and therefore to conclude this whole argument with that saying of Hugo de Sancto Victore Gods will was eternall and the worke of his will was temporary for alwaies euen from Eternitie he had a will to create the world yet neuer was he purposed to make the world from euerlasting but his purpose and will was to make that in time which hee purposed
being to an vtter not being at all hauing a limited and finit power To which purpose a learned frier said excellently well That the first maker of all things in respect of its being and not being is subiect onely vnto Gods wil permitted to the rule of Naturall agents onely in regard of transmutation For a Naturall agent may induce or expell a forme either substantial or accidentall But how farre soeuer mans Power or Nature is caried in fury laboring by might and maine towards an vtter ruinating and distruction of things yet shall it neuer attaine vnto Annihilation They may indeed by tyrannous inflicting of death make that which is neere the matter of a man the matter of a carcase they may also with fire burne the dead corps but though a thousand thousand woods should bee spent in burning of one poore carcase yet were they neuer able vtterly to annihilate and bring it vnto nothing So that Nature is too weake to cause Annihilation But yet saie the scrupulous aduersaries God who by his infinite and supernaturall power was able of nothing to make the world is by the same his boundles power able at his pleasure to returne it to nothing It is true indeed out of question that God by his absolute vndecaied power is sufficient as well to distroy the world as he was at the beginning to make it by his absolute power I say considered without regard of his will but if we respect his power restrained by his will that is regard what he will and hath decreed to do if by his word we may learne his will we may truly answer that God himselfe cannot annihilate the word because he can do nothing that implieth contradiction or that any way importeth mutability whereby of God he should be made no God Nor do we heerby take away his omnipotency nay rather we establish his power it being a chiefe point of infirmity and weakenesse to bee capable of change and able to deny it selfe but God hath decreed not to annihilate the world therefore he cannot now turne it vnto nothing how then may some man say shall it haue an end for if neither of it selfe it incline nor can be by any meanes naturall inforced to Annihilation no nor God himself can turne it into nothing what end shall it haue The answer is that as man hath his end by death whereas notwithstand his soule is immortall his body is onely changed into its first matter not turned into nothing so the world though incapeable of annihilation as hath beene proued yet hath in it an end vneuitable when it shall be changed from the present corrupt estate into a far more excellent and heauenly condition of indurance and immortality But heere ariseth a doubt moued by those scoffers that Peter prophecied should come in the last daies which demaund Where is the promise of his comming For since the father fell on sleepe all things haue continued alike from the beginning of the creation Where by the way let vs obserue that they make the time of Christs comming and the end of the world things of one and the same signification so that as many testimonies of scripture as warrant the certainty of Christs comming serue also to proue the worlds end and dissolution To their reason we may answer with Peter that the worlds long and hither to vnchanged continuance is no sure proofe of impossibility to bee destroied For God that by his bare word could of nothing make the world can now also with as great facrlity alter the state of the same But their supposition is most vntrue for the world hath not from the beginning continued in the same state vnaltred the whole earth being in Noahs floud ouerwhelmed with waters But to this they may answer that it was no generall or vniuersall destruction being extended onely to the liuing creatures they also in part preserued in Noahs arke It is true indeed that this was onely a particular or partial destruction the heauens remaining altogether vntouched the other elements also incorrupted But yet this sheweth a change in the worlds estate which they seemed to deny Touching the generall distinction of all things Peter after answereth to which place we wil refer them But that wherein the difficulty of the whole controuersie consisteth is the immutable estate of the heauenly bodies wherein hath beene obserued by experience of all ages a constancy almost admirable when in this sublunary region of elementish bodies there hath beene as great variety and almost a circular alteration And indeed were the heauens capable of corruption how could the spheare of the Moone situated so neere the fire haue continued so long vnconsumed Let vs therfore a little examine how the cause stands with the heauens in the matter of corruption There are two different opinions of them that make the heauens incorruptible some to deliuer them from corruption haue made them void of all matter others allot them a matter but in a distinct kinde from that of the sublunary bodies all agreeing that they be incorruptible The chiefe of the first sect is Auerroes a learned Turke who expostulating the matter with vs demands by what meanes we came to know the matter of the heauens For the onely meanes to prooue the existence of matter in any thing is as he calleth it Substantiall transmutation or more plainely the succession of formes But in heauen there hath beene no such succession no nor any alteration of qualities therefore the heauens are immateriall But wee may answer first that the being of matter in anie thing is knowen as wel by accidentary or locall as by substantiall transmutation But the heauens haue a locall Motion or Mutation at least in their parts therfore they consist of matter Secondly we answer thus that although the heauens haue all this while lasted without change in their substance yet seeing they are capable of future transmutation we may thence conclude the presence of matter in them For who would say that there is in a sucking child no reasonable soul because he seeth in him no actuall vse of reason or present conceit of learning we know that his potentiall disposition and sitnesse to conceiue is testimony sufficient of that soule which is in him Their second argument is this all things consisting of a corporall matter are withall corruptible for the ability of receiuing the yet absent formes being a propertie inseparable from the matter which also is accompanied with a longing desire to supply its defects there must needs be granted an expulsion of the incumbent forme for induction of a new successor wherein is corruption or els this The matters inclination and ingrafted desire as it were must be alway frustrate which folly the most wise God of Nature detesteth therfore there is in the heauens no such matter as we talke of To which argument they that make the matter of the celestiall bodies different from that of the sublunary creatures frame this answer
be abolished and the same substance indued with a more glorious condition To which accordeth that of Dauid Psa 102. They shall perish but thou shalt indure they shall all wax old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall bee changed plainely signifying that the perishing of the creatures shall be onely an alteration which God shall bring vpon them Now to that fruitlesse question of the heauens motion or rest we may answer probably that they shall haue an end of moouing for their motion being ordained onely for ordering things below especially for continuance of their generation seeing all propagation of the species in liuing creatures as also mutuall procreation in the elementish liuelesse bodies being ended to what purpose should the heauens mouing longer indure Which may also semblably be answered touching the action and passion of the elements as also for the being of things compounded of their mixture as plants and sensible creatures being things ordained onely for mans helpe and sustenance who in that blessed state of immortality without the least defect shall neede no such supply of his wants which quiet restfull estate of these vnder-bodies is not as some haue fondly imagined to be attributed onely vnto the quiet rest of the heauens for when at the praiers of Ioshua the Sunne stood still and with it the rest of the celestiall bodies vnlesse we imagine the whole course of them to haue beene peruerted yet ceased not the naturall actions of things below for euen at that time did Ioshua fight But the true cause of their rest from motion is the will of the first cause without whose adiuuant-fellow-working the secundary causes are quite disabled to performe their functions From hence therefore namely from the certainety of the worlds dissolution we thus reason for our maine position For if the world vncapable of eternity haue a limited time of endurance which it cannot passe then hath man also his continuance bounded at least within compasse of the worlds lasting For location being a thing inseparable from existence the world mans habitation and mansion house being dissolued man the principall inhabitant must haue aioynt and fellow dissolution But for the more through-handling of this vndoubted truth our purpose is more particularly to treat thereof therefore to leaue this farre fetched though not impertinent reason taken from the worlds ineuitable destruction we will come to a neerer and more proper disquisition holding our selues within the compasse of mans owne nature I haue read of a late liuing learned Physitian Paracelsus by name who had such confidence in the absolute perfection of his skill that he doubted not to professe himselfe able by Physicke to preserue a man in so perfect a temperature that he should neuer die by sicknesse but his owne hastie leauing of his life was confutation sufficient of his either false ostentation or extreme madnesse For himselfe either not able which bewraied his vnskilfull impotencie or els vnwilling which shewed his wilfull folly ere he came to the prime of his age before he was thirtie yeeres old ended his daies learning at length by his owne experience that arte can neuer ouercome the necessitie of nature nor mans cunning preuent or preuert the decrees of the destinies But to the matter in hand the question is whether man by nature is subiect vnto death the end of nature To which we answer that mans nature hath a double consideration first in the incorrupt stare and puritie of creation secondly in the degenerated condition of corruption which although it were altogether vnknowen vnto the Gentilish Philosophers yet is its consideration in part Philosophicall therefore not wholly to bee omitted Now in the first cōsideration of nature we answer negatiuely forasmuch as vndefiled nature was vncapable of the soules separation from the bodie betweene which there was so absolute and perfect an harmony and consent that as the vnderfaculties of the soule were in subiection to the reasonable and most principall part thereof without the least iarre and disagreement so fared it in the bodie though compounded of the contrarie natures of the foure elements yet so wel tempered by proportion that there could bee no obseruance of the least discord But after that mans pride set abroch by the diuels suggestion ventred to taste of the forbidden fruite for desire of knowledge the light of reason being the life of the soule ouercast by the vnauoidable cloudes of ignorance there grew a disagreement and quarrell among the subiect inferior parts of the soule from whence followed the warre of the elements in the bodie neuer to bee ended till the field were lost by blood and therefore excellent was the speech of the Frier Ferus The diseases of the bodie came from sinne the soules sicknesse the death of the body from the death of the soule and who dares say the dealing is vnequall that hee should incurre the death of the body who wilfully reiected the life of the soule or who marueils that the diuell by Gods sufferance tormenteth the bodie with diseases that gaue the diuell a place of dwelling in his soule so that the death of the bodie being the separation of the soule from the bodie was a punishment inflicted for mans wilfull sequestration of himselfe from God and it is a good collection more then coniecturall that the bodie had neuer beene subiect to the corruption of destruction had not the soule beene tainted with the corruption of defiling Man therefore in his primarie state of creation was not naturally subiect vnto death but in the defiled condition of corrupted nature death is become ineuitable and therefore Thales Milesius one of the seuen wise men was wont to say that there was no difference betweene a mans life and his death being both things agreeable vnto nature and thence proceeded their resolute contempt of death because they thought it was ineuitable whereupon the Epicure himselfe considering the ineuitablenesse of deaths comming was as Maximus witnesseth wont to say that against other things we must finde some defence and remedie onely death was vnresistable our bodie the vndefenced citie of our soule being all vnsufficient to withstand the violent assaults of death But to leaue the infinite testimonies of the learned grounded vpon so long experience let vs deale with reasons more artificiall and shew this trueth first in particular that euery man hath his endurance dated which he cannot passe afterward goe vnto the species to declare it also in the whole kinde The principall and maine reason is taken from his composition for man consisting of a matter and a forme as doe also the other bodily liuing creatures though the spirituall substance of his soule be immortall yet his body being made of the first matter whose inseparable companion is a desire of change there must of necessitie follow dissolution for God and nature according to our presupposition doing nothing in vaine this insatiable appetite of receiuing newe formes shall
not finally remaine wholly frustrate if therefore we grant an induction of a new forme we must withall grant an expulsion of that that before was inherent for as much as two formes of diuers kindes are vnsufferable together in the same subiect whereupon doth follow the corruption of the whole compound But if we shall make a more diligent and narrow inquirie into the causes of this dissolution we may find plentie of reasons ministred to confirme this trueth Now the first cause naturall of naturall death is contrarietie in the compound for all corruption presupposing alteration which is onely betwixt and by meanes of contrarie qualities contrarietie of the inherent qualities being the onely cause of alteration is also cause of the compounds corruption which is farther manifested by exprience for so we see things wherein is least disagreement to be of longest continuance and the immateriall substance of the creatures spirituall voide of all contrarietie vncapable also of corruption so that the inherence of contrarietie is one special cause of the compounds dissolution Man therefore whose bodie consists of the euer-iarring elements Fare Aire Water Earth hath also an vnresistable home bred cause of dissolution Furthermore the consent of al Philosophers and reason it selfe hath set downe this trueth as vndeniable that mans life and the chiefe maintenance thereof consisteth principally if not wholly in the due and iust proportionable temperature of the foure first qualities Heat Cold Drinesse Moisture and till their disproportion there is no danger of death or any growing sicknesse whereupon Auerroes hath this definition of sicknesse That it is nothing els but the vnnaturall disproportion of those foure qualities whereby the part whereinto the same is incident is disabled to performe its naturall functions whereout ariseth this collection as necessarie being almost all one with those things foresaid viz. that the disproportion of the foure first qualities and their swaruing from their iust temperature is cause of their subiects dissolution but in euerie man wee see a declining from his engrafted natural complexion which also increaseth more and more according as his ages are altered therfore mans dissolution cannot bee auoided where by the way wee must not let passe the saying of the Philosopher that mans life consisteth in heat which also is thereby prooued because in the presence thereof if it be not excessiue we see a kinde of claritie and vigor as it were newly infused at its departure the wonted or rather farre greater recourse of languor But we are not so to vnderstand that saying of the Philosophet as if heat were the sole onely cause of life for euen by Aristotle his own witnesse the temper of the foure first qualities is the truest most proper continent cause of life but the meaning is that our naturall heate is the chiefe instrument of the soule to exercise the vitall functions as nutrition augmentation and such like yet so tempred that it exceed not the proportionable measure of our naturall moisture the food and nourishment of our heat And hence is that of Ficinus that our life as light consisteth in heat whose foode and maintenance is of an aerie and fatte moisture not vnlike vnto oile whose immoderate excesse and impuritie or defect are all wasters of our vitall heate so that there was as great necessitie of moisture as of heat in the performance of our natutall vitall functions whence came the necessitie of nourishment for our congenerate heat hauing a consuming action vpon our moisture the resistance thereof being altogether vnable to withstand the heats assaulting action Nature that like a kinde mother is neuer wanting to the necessities of her of spring hath bestowed on our soule a faculty whereby to restore our decaied moisture through the assimilation of the nourishment applied vnto the wasted substance Now the especiall meanes of this decay as is aforesaid is our heats assaulting action whereby the soule continually engendreth of our humiditie new spirits for maintenance of the vitall and sensual actions which being wasted by their neuer-ceasing operation as nothing is able long to continue without interchangable rest haue of necessitie a supplie from our humiditie and our moisture also equally decaied hath the like supply made by nourishment which wee receiue lest there should follow a sudden destruction hence therefore that is from the necessitie of continuall nourishment we inferre a decay of naturall moisture for otherwise whereunto is nutrition directed But heere remaineth a doubt for if there be restitution of the lost naturall moisture made by the receipt of nourishment whence commeth death the end of nature for our heat hauing alway what to feede vpon either by nature or by this outward supply of nourishment and death neuer assailing vs but by the banishment and extinguishing of this naturall heate where is this necessity of ending our life The answer is that the impurity of the outward nourishment inwardly applied by degrees tainteth that naturall ingendred humidity and by its continuall mixture at length wholly corrupteth it For as in the mingling of water with wine the greater the infusion of water is the more is the infeebling and weakening of the wines force till at length it be cleane oppressed and extinguished so is it in the case of nutrition wherein though at first our naturall heat and moisture retaine their purity and naturall quality yet at length by continuall mixture of the alimentary humor there followeth a totall and perfect corruption of their integrity Now if by the restoratiue faculty of the soule there could bee supplie made of as pure moisture as that which was lost the creature might for any thing in nature be preferued aliue for euer And therefore Ficinus beside the iust proportion of moisture vnto the heat requireth also purity and incorruption in the moisture for as euerie moisture is not a preseruer of the light of a lampe but though oile maintaines the flame yet water doth quench it so is it in the case of our life which principally consisteth in heat for the watrish humidity doth cleane extinguish it And thence it is that old men when they are neerest vnto their end abound with a watrish humour yet are they said to be cold and dry as wanting indeed that moisture which is the fittest for their heat to feed vpon So that the truth of the position is manifest in the particulars namely that euery man hath an end and tearme of indurance which he cannot passe Now this end commeth either by meanes naturall and growing in him or by violent and vnnaturall meanes Whereupon they haue distinguished death into two kinds one Naturall the other Violent Naturall death is where our natiue moisture is by meanes of our haturall heat continually working vpon it consumed dispatched whence followeth a lingring languishing and pining of our naturall heate as wanting what to feed vpon contrary to the subtile opinion of the fault-finding Iulius Scaliger that thought our naturall heat
cold and drought both enemies to life hasteneth the destruction of the body whereunto it is incident The second inward cause of long life is the moderation of our affections Whether it be that naturall appetite of meat and drinke for nourishmēt or those other of anger loue ioy lust sorrow and such like For all these are auaileable both waies either in excesse to kill or in moderation to saue Touching the moderate vse of meats and drinkes what neede we seeke farre for proofe of its profitablenes to preserue life when we see so many daily by surfetting ouercharging their stomacks with too much and too riotus vse of meats vntimely end their daies and contrariwise men very crasie and sickely by temperancie and moderation many times protract their liues almost to an incredible length For so is it reported of one Herodicus a student in Aristotle his daies the most weake and sickely of any that liued in that time by the testimony both of Plato of Aristotle who notwithstanding by his diligent care and guidance of himselfe liued full out 100. yeeres and no maruell for so did he repaire the daily decay of his humidity by supply of nourishment and neither ouerwhelmed his heat with the abundance of moisture nor mingled his radicall moisture with too much externall superfluous impurities Where we may resolue that doubt how it comes to passe that often drinkers of wine for the most part hasten their death The reason is that the vehement heat of the wine consumeth their moisture and so by detraction of the heats food in time also extinguisheth the heat Now if any man shall require me to prescribe a diet vnto him though I be no Physitian yet will I referre him vnto that of the excellent Emperour who neuer eat till he was hungry nor euer proceeded to a gluting satiety For the extreames are dangerous both excesse and defect too much meate hindring good digestion and ingendring crudities too little giuing occasion of the heats too sudden preuailing ouer the moisture both which are friends of death Not would I counsell men strictly to tie themselues vnto set houres for that saith Paracelsus is dangerous causing many times either delaie of applying nourishment or too speedy ministring before the former digestion is finished And heere we may seasonably annex the vse of exercise for that is a thing very auaileable to digestion dispersing the nourishment into the parts of the body and being as it were the bellowes to kindle and reuiue our naturall heate for ouermuch rest and ceasing from motion cooleth the body And as the elementish fire which we vse vnlesse it bee sometime blowen and fed as it were with aire is extinguished so our naturall heat without exercise and motion is after a sort cast on sleep or rather benummed whence proceedeth that other daughter of dulnesse collection of excremental superfluities the heat being not able to digest our receiued nourishment thence is that corruption and rottennesse which ouertaketh these slow-backes as we see standing water soonest putrifie and gather filth Wherefore Aristotle enquiring the causes of the toilesome trauell of some women in child-birth ouer others setteth down this as principall among the rest namely their idlenesse and want of exercise for his experience of women in other countries so accustomed to paines taking had taught him for to them child-bearing was not so painefull their labour consuming those excrements that are the vsuall impediments of ease in that kinde Nor will I take vpon me to limit any man to any kind of exercise rather than an other or appoint any time although this caueat will not be amisse prescribed that they vse not to stirre themselues more violently than is ordinary before the through digestion of meate for then they clogge their stomacks and make them vnfit for after concoction and withall fill their bodies with raw humours which by exercise are dispersed through the veines into al the parts of the body onely as inother things so especially in exercise of what kinde soeuer either for delight or of paines let them remember moderation that it be neither too much nor to little Not too much that is neither too vehement nor yet continual but interchangeable for both these by consuming of the spirits are alike hurtfull not too little for continued rest and idlenesse as is afore said engendreth putrefaction Where the consideration of the moderate vse of sleepe and waking is very incident for they are both things necessary for maintenance of life in their mediocrity both as hurtfull if beyond measure For immoderate and vnseasonable watching wasteth the spirits and by consuming of the vitall iuice causeth leannesse in the body enfeebleth the parts thereof hindreth the operation of the senses drieth the marrow and the braine insomuch that oftentimes it proceedeth to doting and frensie So likewise too much sleepe hindreth our health and well-fare by loosing the parts of the body dulling the naturall heat consuming the moisture and such like But moderatly vsed and interchangeably they are notable meanes of procuring and preseruing health not only because this varietie and change is verie delightsome and refreshing but much more by restoring or hindring the decay of Nature Now touching these other affections as anger ioie sorrow and such like though wee read not of many that haue suddenly died for anger yet by reason of that sudden emission of hear into the outward parts of the body and kindling as it were the fire of choler it must needs be very hurtful when as all suddennesse especially ioyned with vehemency is an horror vnto nature And choler inflameth the blood whence proceedeth that vnreasonablenesse raging vsually obserued in men ouermuch angred But examples are plentifull of such as with sudden and immoderat ioy haue died as Pliny reports of Sophocles and Dionysius the Sicilian Tyrant that immediately vpon tidings of victory gaue vp the ghost And Liuie maketh mention of two mothers at Rome that after the bloudy battell of Cannas for ioie of the safe and vnexpected returne of their sonnes suddenly fell downe dead the one meeting her sonne at the City gate the other in her house bewayling the reported death of her sonne when on the sudden beside her expectation safely presented himselfe to her sight The like also Gellius writeth of one Dingenes of Rhodes that hauing his three sons for the mastery obtained at the games in one day crowned after his sonnes imbracements and the peoples applause suddenly yeelded vp the ghost The meanes of this death was the sudden dilatation of the heart the vitall spirits and the heat whose beginning is the heart being too farre caried from their fountaine So also read wee of Aristotle that not able to finde the reason why Euripus a part of the sea situated betweene Aulis of Bootia and Eubaea ebbed flowed seuen times a day for very greefe died the means and maner of his death being the too great contraction of the
naturall excesse of heat set on fire with the accesse of the externall heat of the aire Now for such as abound with too much moisture their best habitation in my iudgement is in hot and drie regions that the heat and drought of the soile may abate the superfluity of the humor But there are some of a moderate and well proportioned constitution and if any man shall aske what country is best for them to dwel in I answer that there are two sorts of men thus tempered some are of a more weake and lesse hardy disposition and to them I would prescribe a dwelling in countries rather hot then cold that the heat of the place may comfort and strengthen the heate of their bodies Others againe are more hardy better able to indure any not extreame violence of cold and for them it is best to liue in colder climates for so is their heat better inabled to performe it functions of digestion and such like and therefore Aristotle in his Politicks saith that Northren men and generally such as dwell in colder countries are stronger and bigger bodied and most an end better couraged and longer liued for the coldnesse of the compassing aire reflects the heat into the inward parts and by that reflexion the heats force is increased and the parts gathered better and closer together which both further the performance of its duties And that is the reason why men in Winter are more hungry and deuouring than in Summer as experience teacheth vs all for the stomacke is strengthned by the heats compression to the better concocting of the receiued nourishment Thus therefore may wee conclude with the exposition of Aristotle his opinion in this case when he saith that hot places are fittest for long life in his booke of the Length and shortnesse of mans life and in his Politicks The inhabitants of colder climates are stronger and longer liued for thus may we reconcile this apparent contradiction that for men of more cold complexions hot places are most preseruatiue and healthfull and for the contrary complexioned men contrary affected places so that if two of the same constitution imagine them both to be hot liue the one in a cold the other in an hot region if their heat was not accordingly proportioned to their moisture but vnequally in the excesse he that made choise of the colder habitation prouided best for his life And thus haue we briefelie set downe the common-receiued causes of long life where-out by the consequence of contraries wee may deduce the causes of short life And they are first the small quantity and watrishnesse of the moisture Secondly the superfluous abundance of excrements Thirdly the badnesse and vnholesomenesse of the soile Fourthly the vngentle aspects of the Starres that ruled either in our conception or birth Fiftly want of good nourishment Sixtly intemperance either in our diet or exercise or obeying of our affections To which some adde the fewnesse or tendernesse of teeth for that is a signe of thickenesse in the bone of the head the matter allotted to the teeths generation being turned into the substance of the scull which also importeth the weakenesse of the braine which is by meanes thereof vnfit for breathing and therefore being of a moist disposition the more fit for putrefaction as standing-waters soonest putrefie and gather filth but this I take rather for a signe then a cause of short life Now come we to that we first and principally intended to shew the differences of mens ages and the causes thereof together with their seuerall and singular properties wherein we will deale so much the more sparingly by reason of those doubtes and difficulties remooued in the former part of the treatise so that we shall not neede to digresse into any by-controuersies but keepe a direct and a straight course And to begin with the Definition for more orderly proceeding it may thus briefely be described An age is a period and tearme of mans life wherein his naturall complexion and temperature naturally and of its owne accord is euidently changed For such is the disposition and nature of our bodie that by the continuall combat and interchangable dominion of the euer-iarring elements it often changeth its primary constitution so that though there were no outward cause of transmutation which notwithstanding are many and manifold yet haue wee that home-bred cause within vs that would in time alter our temperature for our naturall heat vncessantly working vpon our natural moisture doth though not suddenly change the proportion into extreames yet by degrees perceiuably preuaileth more and more ouer the humidity For so see wee the same body in our youth and child-hood diuersly tempered our infancy ful of moisture as the fluid soft substance of our flesh manifestly declareth our youth bringeth a farther degree of solidity our riper age euer tēperate thence still declineth our body vnto colde and drinesse till at length death ceaseth vpon our bodies being the last end and period of our life But euery slight change of the foure qualities proportion changeth not our temperature for then we shuld euery day haue a diuers complexion our bodies eftsoones with wine and exercise changed from cold to heat and by the contrary from heat to cold yet by reason of the short indurance of these distemperatures the body returning to its former constitution we cannot say there is a new complexion wrought in the body for a temperature or complextion is a firme and standing habit of the body Nor yet must wee imagine the talnesse and growing of the body or the new budding of haires to be causes sufficient to procure this distinction but the variation of our originall constitution is the true and proper cause of this diuersity and difference And yet not euery change of the complexion but that onely which proceedeth from that inwardly ingendred cause of destructions for many times by the vnseasonable and immoderate heat of the aire as also by intemperate and riotous liuing men euen in the most milde temperat countries alter their complexions and with the Aethiopian become euen decrepit old men if we respect their constitutions and those other incident qualities of old age before they haue finished the full tearme of thirty yeeres and therefore was it added in the description that it must be a naturall and a selfe-alteration Now according to these naturall and euident alterations of heat and moistures proportion so may we best most properly diuide the ages Pythagoras diuides thē into four kinds or rather setteth downe their number which be according to his reckoning foure in number Child-hood youth man-hood old age proportioning our life to the foure parts of the yeere our Child-hood to the spring wherein all things together with a pleasant verdour and greenenesse flourish and by a plentifull supply of moisture continually increase in growth Our youth vnto Summer for that growen strength of the body and minde Our man-age vnto the Autumne or Haruest when after the