doth still sensibly and extreamely afflict him therewith So that which is mediocrity can be supported and endured by the constancie of our vertue without astonishing or mouing her and yet neuerthelesse not without offering some outrage and violence to our felicity But sith she exceedes the powers of patience there is no courage so ambitious but will be strucken and beaten downe to the ground by the thunder of Fortune whereof I no way feare the threatnings but the blowes and happy is he that can preuent and hinder that his feare deuance not the effect thereof SECTION V. Although wee graunt that Mans felicity consists in Vertue which is not absolutely true yet I affirme against the Stoickes that felicity is incompatible with griefe and paine THe noyse of weapons as one reporteth hindreth the voyce of Lawes but I beleeue with Zenos Scholler that the noyse of weapons and assaults of paine should more iustly hinder vs from vnderstanding the precepts of Philosophie This Philosopher being besieged by the sharpe points of griefe and paine seeing that it was more perswasiue to make him confesse that it was euill then the power of all his Stoicall reasons were to the contrary He ingeniously confessed that it was an euill because all his long study and time which hee had employed in Philosophie could not secure him from the torment and lesse againe from the trouble and impatiencie which griefe and paine brought him A Sect so rigorous that as one of them said It will neither rebate nor diminish any thing of the felicity of a Wise man although he were in Phalaris his Bull For felicity consists in vertue and this vertue is the vse of perfect reason which wee carie to goodnesse This reason conserues it selfe whole and found in the middes of rackes torments and afflictions and consequently this felicity I contrariwise say that so perfect a felicity is imaginary and although it were true and reall that necessarily it is changed by griefe and paine For the first head heereof I say That nature hath imprinted in all creatures a desire to compasse their owne ends whereunto being arriued they seeme to feele the true perfection of their being from which being estranged and separated they suffer if wee may say so some paine in their insensibility The simple bodies ariue more easily hereunto hauing nothing in them which contradicts this desire The compounded as they enclose and shut vp many contrary qualities they cannot attaine to this perfection because their desires and obiects being different and contrary one cannot enioy his tranquillity but with the preiudice of the others but if it fall out that they are dissolued and diuided by the fire then euery one retires to that part where his desire calls him But among the compounded there is none more multiplied then man because it seemes that nature would assemble in him as in a small compendium or Epitome all that which is generally defused in all sublunarie bodies and farâ—e the more because the soule being conioyned with it she hath brought her desire with her which tending to an infinite obiect giues her selfe but small rest and yet lesse to him of whom she hath the gouernment and conduction Therefore man being composed of so many contrary things hee nourisheth a discord and perpetuall ciuill warre within him and it is as it were impossible for him to appease it because the remedy of the one is the poyson of the other Heauen is the center of light things and Earth of those which are ponderous and heauie that as the compound of these two still obayes the predominate quality in such sort that hee cannot ariue to his centre without offering violence to the least So besides the contrary inclination of all the compounds which slide into the structure and fabrique of man wee must chiefely obserue and remarke these two Of the party Inferiour and Superiour Sensitiue and Reasonable who incessanâ—ly oppose and contradict each other and whereof the one cannot be in hiâ— perfect peace and tranquillity except the other bee farre remote and distant from his because their obiects being contrary and distant one from the other at one time they cannot be in diuers places nor much lesse in one and the same place without quarels and dissention for which cause and reason man cannot hope for perfect felicity in his life sith it ought to bee tearm'd of an vniuersall repose and tranquillity If an Enemie set fire to all the foure corners of a Citie and batter it with an intent to ruine and take it can we beleeue it is in peace because the Gouernour thereof is in a place of assurance and security So the minde being farre distant from the assaults and blowes of Fortune is not a good consequence of tranquillity and perfect felicity it will remaine then imperfect as man himselfe remaines imperfect and he should not be man if he had but one of these parties and priuiledges wherefore we may affirme that the vse of this perfect reason should not be this perfect felicity if it ioyne not with her the repose and tranquillity of her companion the body which should haue the better part in felicity because it is he true touchstone of good and euill as we haue formerly shewed In the second place I say That put the cause that felicity consists in the vse of perfect reason and that shee cannot long sympathize and agree with paine because all the faculties of the Soule in generall suffer according to the motions and alterations of the body So Reason is a materiall and corporall effect which hath her roote in the soule and which cannot perfect her selfe but by the benefit of the organes and the temperate concurrence of the refined spirits of the bloud which if they are of too great a number or quantity then they subuert embroyle yea confound themselues and become brutish and beastly as you see they doe by excesse of wine or sleepe And if there bee any defect they degenerate into capriciousnes or weakenesse of braine and ratiocination But aboue all she depends of the good disposition of the organes the minde being more liuely and actiue in health then sicknes A sweet and cleare ayre and a faire day doth cleare and consolidate the iudgement sharpens our wit dispelleth melancholly makes our reason more masculine and vigorous and in a word makes vs ciuiller and honester men Reason is engendered and growes with our body their powers are brought vp together and wee know that its infancie vigour maturity age and decrepitude doe commonly follow the age and temper of the body And what then if this body bee afflicted with griefe or paine shall shee not feele it What shall wee say of those whose excesse and violence of paine caries them to swooning and convulsions which proceedes and happens because the spirits of bloud being changed by this violence doe diuert themselues from their ordinary course and put themselues into disorder and confusion in the organ so that
another because on toucheth vs not more then another But our weake sight cannot support or suffer the darts and blowes of the Sunne as of some Torch or simple light Wee must then acknowledge and confesse that it is the obiect which toucheth it more or lesse sith Nature hath operated most wisely in vs in giuing vs senses which by their proper power and suggestion would beare themselues to our ruine and confusion Which would fall out if the effect that wee feele in our sight by the splendour of the Sunne proceeded onely from the visible facultie and not from the blowe or the touch of the Sunne But all obiects which come to strike our sight in a reasonable distance shee will be ioyfull in this meeting and feeling shee sees and knowes this obiect as much as shee can according to the resemblance and conformity betweene her and that which toucheth her Hearing is nothing else but a feeling of the tune or sound in this part the which accordingly more or lesse as it strikes our eare makes the sound graue or harsh sweet or displeasing and if it strike vs too rudely and violently it then not onely toucheth the eare but all the whole body as when a great noyse or thunder makes all things tremble and shake vnder vs and seemes to strike and astonish the foundations of houses by this suddaine and violent feeling In a word feeling is performed by the meanes of the ayre which according to the power of the obiect and as it is bent against vs or such part of our body makes either the visible the sound the smell the tast or the feeling which is vniuersally ouer all the body and which the common people beleeue doth onely merrit the name of feeling Neuerthelesse because in all doubtfull matters my humour is not to affirme any thing I therefore leaue to the opinion and iudgement of euery one the free choyse and liberty to beleeue what he pleaseth And I care not if they are one or many sith the diuersity of their functions seemes to merit if not an essentiall difference yet a different name It sufficeth that wee haue the centre of their operations in the common sence which together verifies their stile their rule their forme If he abuse it I appeale Hee is Iudge and party Neuerthelesse because the multiplicity of motions of that thing which passeth in our thoughts and which to this end is refined by the labour of the operation of vnderstanding seemes at first aboard to disburthen it selfe of that which is grossest in her and not to retaine but the simplest and most perfect Essence to make it the sweeter and more familiar to the tast and palate of the minde yet I doubt that shee estrangeth her selfe the more and that the more she is spiritualiz'd to our fantasie and minde the lesse shee discouereth her selfe and the more she growes great and corporall to our vnderstanding I meane she estrangeth her selfe from the truth SECTION III. Nature being iealous of secrets permits not the senses to discouer the essences of things nor that they can conuey any thing to our Vnderstanding that is not chang'd and corrupted by them in the passage THe so different opinion of things makes vs plainely see that wee are not yet arriued thereunto Wee cannot take hold of them in a good place wee deuest them at the entrance of their proper qualities and receiue new knowledge of the minde and such impression as shee pleaseth Of the obiect which presents it selfe to vs euery one of our senses seize that which is pleasing and proper to him except the essence that is to say the true being thereof so that all our Art is to know the obiect by this sort but not that he is of this sort Vice and the defect of our knowledge doth not change or alter it in any thing The childe which lookes thorowe a red glasse hath hee not cause to laugh to see thy face of that colour but hast thou not more cause to laugh to see how he is abused and deceiued and the soule which in our body will intermeddle to iudge all according as it is athwart so many grosse and thicke glasses as are our senses and susceptible of so many different colours Doth she afford lesse cause Againe if all that we see we sawe to be all of one sort wee might then establish a certaine knowledge of our ignorance and not of the thing for the true Being and Essence thereof is in it selfe and cannot discouer it selfe to our knowledge Truth cannot glide and passe into our vnderstanding because our senses change and corrupt that which it brings vs from without and that of things which by them comes into our fancies is obscured in its passage And as much difference and distance as there is betweene the thing and the image and resemblance thereof so much difference there is betweene the true reality of the thing and that which wee imagine wee know yea there is more for betweene man and his picture there is some resemblance but our senses being too weake to apprehend and comprehend that of truth cannot so much as represent vs the image or figure thereof because there is no comparison or resemblance betweene true and false But our senses deceiue themselues and contradict and contrary one the other as in painting the picture which in our eyes seemes a corporall statue is found smooth and flat when we feele it In these contrary apparances the one must needes be true and the other false if rather they are not both false The senses therefore do not carie the image of truth to common sense sith the image ought still to be the resemblance of the thing If wee presse the corner of our eye wee shall see two Candles for one Our hearing being somewhat stopped receiues sounds otherwise then they are The sicke Patient findes wine sowre and bitter which in health he holdes to be sweet and pleasant The Senses likewise finde themselues abused by the power of the vnderstanding The passions of the soule change their function Loue placeth a thousand rarities of beauty in her obiect and Hatred and Disdaine as many imperfections The Vermilion and the Ceruse which to our knowledge adornes and beautifies the face of a woman enflames our amorous desires and despight of all these shewes and apparances we say they will neuer fade or faile and wee shall be beleeued to haue farre more reason to quarell the truth thereof it selfe then to contradict it It is true that if thereon wee are prest or called in question wee cannot retire farther backe we must fight and it hazardeth the entire losse of Arts and Sciences In such a cause I know it is farre fitter to cast away our weapons then to vse them and not to support so vniust a quarell with so weake defences I know not who shall be iudge hereof and for my part I name and institute complesancie to be Arbitrator of this difference And
is a bird of the same nest and that he ought to enforme himselfe of all before he giue vs demonstrations for Articles of faith which haue no other foundation but doubt and incertainty For we most say with Epicure that all things are compounded of points sith it is the beginning middle and end of a line But the line is to the Superficies that which the point is to the line and the superficies to the body that which the line is to the superficies wherefore this point being in all and through all to the line must likewise be in all and throw all to to the body For withdrawing by the power of the imagination because this is solely the work of imagination all the points which may meet or can be imagined in the line there will then remaine no more line or that which remaines will haue no more points But she cannot be diuided but by the points therefore either the line shall bee nothing more when the points shall be taken away or she shall be indiuisible in her length because she is not deuisible but by the points which shall be no more May I not then conclude of the absurdity of their Demonstrations and Principles For the same that we haue done to the line by withdrawing of the points we may doe to the superficies by the substraction of lines and to the body by the substraction of the superficies and there will nothing remaine to vs but the point which they themselues can neither expresse nor define but by negation But can there be found any thing in the body of Nature which is nothing and neuerthelesse is euery where and composeth all and that from thence we may inferre that the Mathematician is nothing nor yet his Art and Science why then will we borrowe of imagination the principle of so reall and true a Being as the body which falls vnder our senses sith there is no conformity nor resemblance of the measure to the thing measured The Astrologers haue more reason to forme Epicicles to the Sunne and Moone and because they cannot attaine thereto they are constrained to lend a body and a forme to their inuentions If they cannot approach the Sunne they will approach the Sunne neere to them to forme him materiall springs and lockes to the end that they may manage him according to their owne pleasures and fashion and that he may not escape from them and as well they shall not be beleeued But what doth it seeme to them or doe they thinke that the diuine prouidence who ruleth and limiteth the motions of all things could doe nothing without them and that Heauen if it were not hung fast by her Poles and the Sunne and Moone linked and nayled fast to their Heauen that they would fall on our heads That the Planets could not moue because euery moment without rule order they met and contended and troubled themselues in their course and reuolution As if I say this diuine prouidence had not established so much but a fairer order aboue among these celestiall bodies where in outward shew apparence he is more pleased because hee delights in cleannesse and purity then hee hath done belowe here among the elements which take not the hand and place one of the other but euery one keepes himselfe in his proper place and station ordained to him Earth mounts not vp to the Region of fire nor the ayre throwes her selfe not downe into that of water but according to their vsuall custome commerce and the harmony which Nature hath contracted betweene them as is seene in the mixture of compounds which of their discordant accords and agreements yeeld so sweet a Harmony and Diapazon But sith this wise Mother of the world is so carefull to conserue peace among beasts who deuoure not one the other yea likewise among corruptible bodies although age hauing destroyed them she can easily make propriate others of the same clay of the same matter which shee moulds and workes continually in her hands by a farre stronger consideration shee hath reason to entertaine and maintaine a perfect peace rule order and measure among those caelestiall bodies and that it were not in her power to establish if they were entermixed and confused in the order which was prescribed to them from their beginning by him who neuer had nor shall haue end or beginning They can and are well conseru'd without them and without their Epicicles and hee among them who can erect his eyes in the contemplation of this great body in comparison of the earth of that which wee possesse and enioy will assuredly iudge that Nature vseth vs as children because it giues vs nothing but trifles of small or no value yea which are not worth the losing in regard of those which we want and enioy noâ— I beleeue that the Epicicle which they giue to the Moone differs not much from that of their wit and I thinke I wrong them not in the comparison A heauenly body doth at least deserue as noble a scituation as a feeble and earthly imagination They conduct and gouerne themselues very well without vs and I would to God we could doe it so well without them and although their influence whereof man cannot know the cause and motion if he ascend not to the head spring and fountaine distribute vs Happinesse or Misfortune good or euill yet neuerthelesse we will giue them but a younger Childes portion and will make them trot retire and aduance according to our pleasures but our Vanitie cannot be concealed or kept from them they retaine recorde thereof so as whosoeuer can breake open and discouer those seales he shall presently and palpably behold things past present and to come and as the flood of all mortall matters runnes incessantly with one and the same impetuositie Our designes are faire and generous but their execution ridiculous our mountaines of Pride and Vanity produce and propagate vs nothing but Mice and are more to bee lamented and pittied in the weakenesse of our wits then those small Pigmees for the weakenesse of their bodies in their enterprise vpon Hercules If those Giants which would heretofore assault and scale Heauen yea the Throne of the Gods and pull the Thunder out of Iupiters hands had finished â—hâ—ir intended enterprise they would haue 〈◊〉 vs of what matter the Sunne was 〈◊〉 how he is captiue bound and tied to 〈◊〉 what is his Epicycle Apogee and other 〈◊〉 misteries functions if their presumption and rashnesse were not at the very instant 〈◊〉 vnder the very weight and burthen of 〈◊〉 â—â—mour and weapons to shew that the 〈◊〉 Presumption and Vanitie of our Reasons brings vs nothing else but shame and confusion The principles of these Sciences are weake shaking and trembling it is a labour to support and affirme them but when they are avered and that their principles and demands are granted then they afterwards triumph in their demonstrations They approoue a thousand faire
that which cannot offend vs despight our selues Nature hath caused vs to be all borne equally rich esteemes so little of the goods she giues vs which we tearme riches as of our passions and the feare to lose them Seneca sayes that the Gods were more propitious and fauourable when they were but of earth then since when they were made of Gold or Siluer meaning thereby that the rest and tranquillity of the mind was more frequently found in the life of our fore-fathers who sought no other riches then the fruites of their labours then it hath done since when men being curious to open the bosome and rip vp the bowells of the earth haue therein found Mines of Gold and Siluer which shee hath dispersed and sowen among vs as seed of discord and diuision The meanest estate and condition and those steps which are neerest the earth are still the firmest and surest as the highest are the most dangerous And if Pouertie bee any way harsh or distastfull it is onely because she can throw vs into the armes of Hunger Thirst Heate Cold or other discommodities So in Pouertie it is not she which is to be feared but rather Griefe and Paine whereof we will hereafter speake in its proper place But some one will say who is he that apprehends and feares not Death There is no pouerty so poore which findes not wherewith to liue The body is easily accustomed and hardned to endure Heate or Cold but what remedy is there against Death who with his sharpe sithe cuts and reapes away so many pleasures yea the very threed of our life which can neuer be regained for although old men approach Death in despight of themselues and that their distast of worldly pleasures the forerunner thereof should yet giue them resolution to aduance boldly neuerthelesse they retire backe they tremble at the ghastly sight and shadow of Death yea they are affraide sincke downe in their beds and wrap themselues vp in their couerlets and to vse but one word they dye euery moment at the onely feare and thought of Death And I who am in the Spring-time of my age cherished of the Muses and beloued of Fortune in the very hight of all pleasures and voluptuousnesse shall not I yet feare Death So many Griefes and Sorrowes so many conuulsions and gnashing of our teeth are they not to be apprehended and feared can the linkes of that marriage of the Body and Soule be dissolued and broken but by some violent effect and power those who are insensible feare their dissolution Flowers and Trees seeme to mourne at the edge of the Knife and shall not then our sense and feeling bee sensible thereof yea and remarke and see it in our feare I answere It is true that of all things which Nature representeth vnto vs most terrible there is nothing which shee hath depainted in such fearefull colours as the figure and image of Death Euery thing tendes to the conseruaâ—ion of its being and generously oppose and fight against those who seeke to destroy it But the feare which wee entermixe with it is not of the match oâ— party but is onely of our owne proper beliefe and inuention Paine which seemes to be the iustest cause to make vs apprehend it is excluded and hath nothing to doe with it because the seperation of the soule and body is done in so sodaine a moment and instanâ— that our Vnderstanding hardly perceiuing it it iâ— very difficult for our sense to doe it Those gastly lookes which deuance it or the rewâ—rd of good or euill which followes it are no appurtenances â—or dependancies of this instant or moment But I will say more For as there is no time in this instant so likewise there is no paine because the senses cannot operate or agitate according to the opinion of Philosophers but with some certaine Interim of time and which is more that those last panges are passed away without any sense or feeling thereof And contrariwise if in this seperation the paine should be either in the body or soule or both First the body feeles it not because there is nothing but the senses which can perceiue it who being in disorder and confusion by the disturbance of the vitall spirits which they oppresse and restraine their disposition is thereby vitiated The function of the senses being interrupted they cease to operate and therefore of feeling the effect of paine but more especially when the spirits abandon them and retire and withdrawe themselues from the heart The which wee perceiue and see in those who fall in a swoone whose eyes remaine yet open without seeing and without operation which happeneth and comes to passe because the spirits which should make the wheeles of the sight to moue and operate haue abandoned their places and functions The Soule of her selfe cannot remedy it no more then a Fountainer can cause his water-workes to play when there is no water the which by reason thereof is then meerely out of his power And as the eye by the defect hereof performes not her function and without perceiuing thereof ceaseth to operate so all the other senses by the same rule and reason doe faile vs. When our Soule will take her last farewell of our body shee flyes to the regions of the Liuer and Heart as to her publique places all the spirits being dispierced and bending here and there in the body to take her last fare-well of them which retire without that the parts or members farther off doe feele any paine of this seperation but because henceforth they can no more feele it for that they carie away with them the heat and strength of feeling If therefore there be any paine it must be in the noble parts who profer their last farewell and thankes to the Soule for the care labour and paine which shee hath had to giue them life and motion The Husband cannot lâ—aue or goe from his Wife without a great sense and feeling of sorrowe for his sighes griefes and teares testifie how bitter and displeasing this seperation is to him Can therefore this seperation of the soule from the body bee performed with lesse griefe and paine Some will say that the most remote parts and members shall be insensible thereof and endure and suffer nothing in this reluctation and conflict which is onely because they haue giuen this charge and conferred this commission to the noble parts to performe it As in the seperation of one whom we deerely affect and loue all the whole body which suffereth in this farewell to make his griefe and sorrowes the more apparent commits the charge thereof to the eyes by their teares and to his breast by her sighes to expresse his sense and feeling thereof I answere that there is no paine because the spirits who withdrawe themselues by the defects and failing of others in these interiour parts are either in good and perfect order and their function is common and therefore without paine or else
in confusion and then the function and organes of the spirits are changed and consequently their effect which is the sense and feeling thereof Which is seene by those who fall into a trance or swooning They feele nothing lesse then paine in those parts which with farre more reason should betide them because the force and power of the spirits dispierced throwe all the body is in one instant assembled and gathered together in this place whereas contrariwise Death hapneth and comes to vs by the extinguishing of the spirits who by their extreame weakenesse cannot furnish power enough to moue the wheeles and organes of our feeling and as without paine they haue abandoned the remotest parts and members they faile in them without any perceiuing thereof The body depriued of Knowledge and therefore ignorant of his losses supports it without any paine or griefe So that if there be any paine or bitternesse in this seperation it should be in the soule who touched with the remembrance of fore-past pleasures which she hath enioyed and tasted in her commerce and traffique with the body shee cannot depart or estrange her selfe without paine and lamentation But I affirme and say that paine hath no power but ore the Body and that the Soule being wholly simple pure and spirituall is exempt of its iurisdiction and it hath no hold or power ouer her That if the knowledge which she hath bee capable to giue him any sense or feeling of paine it should bee for his good But there is nothing which the Soule embraceth with more passion nor desireth so eagerly then her rest and tranquillity I meane the enioyance and possession of her obiect for then chiefely when she is detained in the prison of the body she findes nothing pleasing in this strange Countrie which can content her appetite Iudge then if she gâ—ieue to depart and dislodge from the body and whether a Prisoner detained by the Turkes when we take off the chaines from his hands and feete pay his Ransome to reconduct him into his natiue country so restore him to the free possession of his goods and liberty haue any great cause to afflict himselfe for this separation I confesse you will answere me that I no more feare Death for its paine sith there is none so sharpe which we will not willingly endure and suffer and which is not entermixed with some sweetnesse if we flaâ—ter our selues with the hope of a remedy But who is he who ought not to apprehend the losse of goods which are common to the one and the other to the minde and the body which being diuided and separated their sweet enioyance can no more be recouered I say that if this losse be a griefe or euill this euill ought to concurre and meet either in the enioying thereof or then when you possesse and enioy it no longer As for the present should you not iniustly complaine because you enioy it quietly and that you attribute the good which they bring vs to the possessing of them But it is no euill no more then when you enioy them not because the euill is the feeling which we haue of a thing that afflicts vs but Death depriues vs of all sense and feeling and therefore of this paine and affliction that if you afflict your selfe because death depriues you of the remembrance thereof by the same reason euery night before you sleepe you ought to bewaile and lament it and to take your farewell because you goe to lose the memory thereof Those who haue iudged most sollidly and pertinently of Death and who haue most curiously depainted it at Nature and Life haue compared it to sleepe But if we will aske the opinion of Trophonius and Agamedes they will teach vs what is the most Soueraigne of our Riches and contents because after they had built and consecrated a stately Temple to the honour of Apollo they besought him in requitall that he would eternally grant them the best thing and it was answered them by the Oracle that their demand should be satisfied within three dayes but before the expiration thereof they both died He who is in the worst estate and condition beginnes to hope when he hath no more to feare whereof he is not presently afflicted Man being then so miserable in his life hath he not reason to aime and aspire to some better thing To feare Death saith Socrates is the part of a Wise man because all the World ignores it in not knowing whether it be our good or our euill But what should we not feare if we feare that which cowardise her selfe hath sought for her retraite and shelter and for the speediest and most soueraigne remedy of all afflictions and miseries The Egyptians had still in their Bankets the Image of Death neuerthelesse it was not feare who had the charge to represent them this picture but it was Constancy and Vertue who had that commission and who would not permit that in the middest of their Delights and Ioyes they should be interrupted by any vnexpected accident But if Death then befell them that he should be of their company that the ceremony might not be troubled in regard they kept him his place and dish and briefely that the ioy of the company mought not be disturbed for because they neither knew the certaine place or time where they should attend Death they therefore attended him in all times and places Aristotle tells vs that there is no feare but of doubtfull things it is then in vaine for vs to apprehend it or that our feare prepares him such base and cowardly courages in regard there is nothing more ceâ—taine then Death How many are there found who suruiue their glory and whose languishing life hath not serued but for a Tombe to bury their reputation It was said by a Philosopher that the sweete pleasures of life was but a slauery if the libertie to die were to be said so why then should we feare that which the wisest of the World held the surest harbour and sanctuary of our tranquillity It now rests that we fight against the feare of paine which serues but to afflict vs with a present griefe of that which it may be will nâ—uer befall vs or at least farre otherwise then we feare The Painter Parhasius exposed his Slaues to the Racke thereby the more naturally to represent the feigned tortures of Prometheus We are Slaues to feare who of an imaginary euill delights to cast on vs the gall and bitternesse of a thousand true vexations and afflictions For how often haue we shaked and trembled with feare at those things which haue produced vs no greater damage then the bare apprehension thereof Haue we euer feared or expected any thing with extreame impatiency but that we haue still found it altered and changed with the beliefe and hope thereof Hath not paine many sharpe points and throes of it selfe without it be any way needfull for our feare to edge or sharpen them As farre distant
as they may be they still approach vs opens them our brest and heart and casts them into our very blood Hee who cannot defend the blow which threatens him at least let him defend the feare thereof whereby he shall diminish at least the one halfe of his griefe and paine Our feares are as easily deceiued as our hopes If our griefe and paine be violent it will be short if wee cannot carry it it will carry vs but if it be moderate and supportable then our constancy can agree and sympathise with it howsoeuer it will be high-time to thinke thereof when we come to resent and feele it But aboue all things wee must remember that there can nothing befall vs which is not incident and common to all the World and that we entertaine and receiue the conditions of this our life onely at our owne perills and fortunes There is good and euill ease and paine and therefore there will bee no particular rule or law made for vs. Destiny doeth not vnwinde for one man the threed of the aduentures and fortunes of all the World and that very paine which wee endure depends of a part of diuine power which must finish its course hath the rising of this Starre beene a maligne aspect vnto vs why his setting will giue vs a benigne and gracious influence Nothing remaines long fixed or immooueable in Tortures and Torments there is yet some relaxation and ease all Paines and Griefes haue their Interims which giues other Formes and Faces to voluptuousnesse then a dumbe or obscure felicity Briefely it is an ineuitable Decree which hath no appeale it is therefore farre better for vs to aduance and follow then to permit our selues to bee dragged and constrained and so by our reluctation and contradiction to incurre the anger of our great Captaine SECTION VII Of all Passions there is no greater Enemie to Reason nor lesse capable of councell then Choler IT is reported that Minerua on a time playing on a Flute in the looking-glasse of a fountaine was so extreamely angry with her selfe to see the deformity of her Face counterfeited by reason of the swelling of her cheekes that she threw her Flute to the ground and brake it If Man were so curious to consider the deformitie of his manners and the indecency which Choler imprints on his face I beleeue that he would spend all his anger on this passion and that Reason would againe counsell him once againe to be Cholericke thereby to cut off the roote of so pernitious a vice I know not if our Soule could be seene of our eyes in the furious fumes of this passion who could indure the sight thereof for iudge what she may be interiourly sith her exteriour Image is so foule and deformed The liueliest traces and the most delicate Lineaments which make her most commendable are those which Reason and Vertue pourtray in her But what can we more see faire in her as soone as they are defaced by the darke and obscure colours of this passion the madnesse thereof ingendereth such a combustion and disorder that Reason is constrained to retire as wholly confused and to abandon the conduction of the Soule to the rage and insolency of this fury She makes vs beleeue that we are offended and that there is nothing but reuenge which can diminish our iniury as if Vice could be corrected by her selfe and neuerthelesse not being able to wreake it on others as soone as she would she then performes it on her selfe and teares her selfe in pieces conditionally that she may sprinckle some of her owne blood on the face of her Enemy Oh Passion what an Enemy art thou to man knowest thou nothing else but how to offend him Thou puttest weapons into our hands to repulse iniuries and then thou makest vs Enemies to our selues to the end that wee may haue occasion to offend our selues and thereby from one the same wound to cause to proceede the iniury and the reuenge But herein she is the more dangerous in that she aduanceth not little and little by degrees and solicites not the Soule as other passions doe but contrary-wise she drawes and precipitates her at one blow After we are fallen into this frenzie it matters no more what hath occasioned it for we still aduance and passe on to the bottome of this precipice which the Poets haue well represented to vs who for oâ—e Apple reduced Greece and Asia to fire and sword The same cause which makes a Master of a family to murmur in his house animates a Prince against his Subiects and an iniury which puts weapons into our hands against a particular person doeth some times occasion enkindle a warre in a whole Kingdome at least if Fortune haue giuen vs reputation and power enough to effect it Choler is easie enough to be curbed in her beginning but very difficult to be restrained when she is escaped our hands she takes the snaffle in her teeth violently carrieth vs away and takes no other counsell but from her owne licentious madnesse In this passion we may obserue three seuerall motions The first proceedes from the power of Nature as a certaine vnwilling disposition and changing of affection which we cannot remedy but by a prescription of long time and custome and yet very difficulty because Nature hath this power in men to mooue them despight of themselues yea and to make them remember the very strongest of their imperfections The second is voluntary to wit then when this passion consults and takes councell of Reason and submits to it but he who flattereth his Choler and doeth not stop it in this point and behalfe let him neuer hope to restraine it in the third and last motion because Reason hauing once stooped vnder the command of this passion she tramples on her throate takes the possession of our Iudgement and being shut vp and fortified in our house sets fire both without and within it and then by little and little consumes her selfe in the flames thereof I am of opinion that it was for this cause and reason that Seneca said that it were better to exclude Vertue from our Soules then to receiue or admit Choler because the end thereof prooues most commonly the beginning of repentance For Reason eleuating her selfe by degrees and disingaging her selfe from the tyranny of this domesticall Enemy she then comes to know the disorder occasioned by her owne blindnesse whereof she is taken as surety and pledge because she must answere for the force and power which she hath committed vnto him Or if our Reason thinke to iustifie her selfe for that she seemes at his arriuall to prescribe and giue him Lawes let her know that Choler forgets them and that she neuer remembers them except it be then when they offend her Those who are intemperate in their sicknesse prohibit and defend to be obeyed when they are sicke sith man cannot be temperate in this sicknesse of the Soule I meane Choler I am of