bodies THE THIRD QUESTION What the cause is that women hardly are made drunke but olde men very soone FLorus one day seemed to marvell that Aristotle having in his treatise of drunkennesse set downe this position That olde men are soone surprized and overseene with wine but contrariwise women hardly and very seldome rendred no reason thereof considering that his maner otherwise is not to propose any such difficulties but hee doth decide and cleere the same And when he had made this overture he mooved the companie to inquire into the cause thereof and a supper it was where familiar friends were met together Then Sylla said That the one was declared by the other for if we comprehend the cause aright as touching women it were no hard matter to finde our a reason for old men considering that their natures and constitutions be most opposit and contrary in regard of moisture and drinesse roughnesse and smoothnesse softnesse and hardnesse for first and formost suppose this of women undoubtedly that their naturall temperature is very moist which causeth their flesh to be so tender soft smooth slieke and shining to say nothing of their naturall purgations every moneth when as therefore wine meeteth with so great humiditie being overcome by the predominancy thereof it loseth the edge and tincture as it were together with the force that it had so as it becommeth dull every way discoloured and waterish And verily to this purpose somewhat may be gathered out of the words of Aristotle for he saith That those who make no long draught when they take their wine nor drinke leasurely but powre it downe at once which manner of drinking they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not so subject to drunkennesse as others for that the wine maketh no long stay within their bodies but being forcibly thrust foorth soone passeth thorow and ordinarilie we may observe that women drinke in this manner and very probable it is that their bodies by reason of continual attraction of humours downward to the nether parts for their monethly termes is full of many conduits and passages as if they were divided into chanels pipes and trenches to draw foorth the said humours into which the wine no sooner falleth but away it passeth apace that it cannot settle nor rest upon the noble and principall parts which if they bee once troubled and possessed drunkennesse doth soone ensue Contrariwise that old men want naturall humiditie their very name in Greeke seemeth to implie sufficiently for called they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not because they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say inclining and stouping downward to the earth but because they are already in their habitude of bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say earthly Moreover their stiffenesse and unpliable disposition the roughnesse also of their skinne argueth their dry nature and complexion it standeth therefore to good reason that when they liberally take their wine their bodies which are rare and spungious within by occasion of that drinesse quickly catcheth and sucketh up the same and then by long staying there it worketh up into the head causeth the braine to beat and breedeth heavinesse there like as land-flouds gently glide over those fields which be solide hard washing them onely aloft and making no mire dirt but if the ground be light and hollow they enter and soke farther in even so wine being soone caught and drawne by the drinesse of old mens bodies staieth there the longer time and were not this so yet we may observe that the verie nature of old men admitteth the same symptomes and accidents which drunkennesse maketh Now these accidents occasioned by drunkennesse are very apparent to wit the trembling and shaking of their limbes faltering in their toong and speaking double immoderate and lavish speech pettishnesse and aptnesse to choler forgetfulnesse and alienation of the minde and understanding the most part whereof being incident to old men even when they are best in health and in most sober a little thing God wot will set them cleane out and any small agitation whatsoever will doe the deed so that drunkennesse in an old man engendreth not new accidents but setteth on foot and augmenteth those which be already common and ordinary with them To conclude there is not a more evident argument to proove and consirme the same than this that nothing in the world resembleth an old man more than a yoong man when hee is drunke THE FOURTH QUESTION Whether women by their naturall complexion be colder or hotter than men WHen Sylla had delivered his minde to that effect Apollonides an expert professour and well seene in raunging a battel in array seemed by his words to approove well of that which had bene alledged as touching old men but he thought that in the discourse of women the onely course was left out and overslipt to wit the coldnesse of their constitution by meanes whereof the hottest wine is quenched and forgoeth that fierie flame which flieth up to the head and troubleth the braines and this was received as a very probable and sufficient reason by all the company there in place But Athryilatus the physician a Thasian borne interjected some staie of farther searching into this cause For that quoth hee some are of opinion that women are not cold but hotter than men yea and others there be and that is a greater matter who hold that wine is not hotte at all but cold Florus woondering and amazed heereat This discourse and disputation quoth he as touching wine I reser to him there and with that pointed at me for that not many daies before wee had disputed together about that argument But as for women quoth Athryilatus that they bee rather hot than cold they argue thus First and formost they are smooth and not hairie on their face and bodie which testifieth their heat which spendeth and consumeth the excrement and so erfluitie that engendreth haire Secondly they proove it by their abundance of bloud which seemeth to be the fountaine of heat in the body and of bloud women have such store that they are ready to be inflamed yea to srie and burne withall if they have not many purgations and those quickly returning in their course to discharge and deliver them thereof Thirdly they bring in the experience observed at funerals which sheweth evidently that womens bodies be farre hotter than mens for they that have the charge of burning and enterring of dead corses doe ordinarily put into the funerall fire one dead body of a woman to tenne of men For that one corps say they helpeth to burne and consume the rest by reason that a womans flesh conteineth in it I wot not what unctuositie or oileous matter which quickly taketh fire and will burne as light as a torch so that it serveth in stead of drie sticks to kindle the sire and set all a burning Moreover if this be admitted for a
out of water having earth under it there ex haleth aire which aire comming to be subtilized the fire is produced and environeth it round about as for the stars they are set on fire out of these together with the sunne what is more contrary than to be set on fire and to be cooled what more opposite to subtilization and rarefaction than inspissation and condensation the one maketh water and earth of fire and aire the other turneth that which is moist and terrestriall into fire and aire And yet in one place he maketh kindling of fire and in another refrigeration to bee the cause of quickning and giving soule unto a thing for when the said firing and inflammation comes generall throughout then it liveth and is become an annimall creature but after it commeth to be quenched and thickned it turneth into water and earth and so into a corporall substance In the first booke of Providence he writeth thus For the world being throughout on fire presently it is with all the soule and governour of it selfe but when it is turned into moisture and the soule left within it and is after a sort converted into a soule and body so as it seemeth compounded of them both then the case is altered In which text he affirmeth plainly that the very inanimat parts of the world by exustion and inflammation turne and change into the soule thereof and contrariwise by extinction the soule is relaxed and moistned againe and so returneth into a corporall nature Heereupon I inferre that he is very absurd one while to make of senselesse things animat and living by way of refrigeration and another while to transmure the most part of the soule of the world into insensible and inanimat things But over and above all this the discourse which he maketh as touching the generation of the soule conteineth a proofe demonstration contrary to his owne opinion for he saith That the soule is engendred after that the infant is gone out of the mothers wombe for that the spirit then is transformed by refrigeration even as the temper is gotten of steele Now to prove that the soule is engendred and that after the birth of the infant hee bringeth this for a principall argument Because children become like unto their parents in behaviour and naturall inclination wherein the contrariety that he delivereth is so evident as that a man may see it by the very eie for it is not possible that the soule which is engendred after birth should be framed to the maners and disposition of the parents before nativity or else we must say and fall out it will that the soule before it was in esse was already like unto a soule which is all one as that it was by similitude and resemblance and yet was not because as yet it had not a reall substance Now if any one doe say that it ariseth from the temperature and complexion of the bodies that this similitude is imprinted in them howbeit when the soules are once engendred they become changed he shall overthrow the argument and proofe whereby it is shewed that the soule was engendred for heereupon it would follow that the soule although it were ingenerable when it entreth from without into the body is changed by the temperature of the like Chrysippus sometime saith that the aire is light that it mounteth upward on high and otherwhiles for it againe that it is neither heavy nor light To prove this see what he saith in his second booke of Motion namely that fire having in it no ponderosity at all ascendeth aloft semblably the aire and as the water is more conformable to the earth so the aire doth rather resemble the fire But in his booke entituled Naturall arts he bendeth to the contrary opinion to wit that the aire hath neither ponderosity nor lightnesse of it selfe He affirmeth that the aire by nature is darke and for that cause by consequence it is also the primitive cold and that tenebrosity or darknesse is directly opposite unto light and cleerenesse and the coldnesse thereof to the heat of fire Mooving this discourse in the first booke of his Naturall questions contrary to all this in his treatise of Habitudes he saith That these habitudes be nothing else but aires For that bodies quoth he be 〈◊〉 by them and the cause why every body conteined by any habitude is such as it is is the continent aire which in iron is called hardnesse in stone spissitude or thicknesse in silver whitenesse in which words there is great contrariety and as much false absurditie for if this aire remaine the same still as it is in the owne nature how commeth blacke in that which is not white to be called whitenesse softnesse in that which is not hard to be named hardnesse or rare in that which is not solide and massie to be called solidity But in case it be said that by mixture therein it is altered and so becommeth semblable how then can it be an habitude a faculty power or cause of these effects whereby it selfe is brought under and subdued for that were to suffer rather than to doe and this alteration is not of a nature conteining but of a languishing impotencie whereby it loseth all the properties and qualities of the owne and yet in every place they hold that matter of it selfe idle and without motion is subject and exposed to the receit of qualities which qualities are spirits and those powers of the aire which into what parts soever of the matter they get and insinuate themselves doe give a forme and imprint a figure into them But how can they mainteine this supposing as they do the aire to be such as they say it is for if it be an habitude and power it will conforme and shape unto it selfe every body so as it will make the same both blacke and soft but if by being mixed and contempered with them it take formes contrary unto those which it hath by nature it followeth then that it is the matter of matter and neither the habitude cause nor power thereof Chrysippus hath written often times that without the world there is an infinit voidnesse and that this infinitie hath neither beginning middle nor end And this is the principall reason whereby they resute that motion downward of the 〈◊〉 by themselves which Epicurus hath brought in for in that which is infinit there are no locall differences whereby a man may understand or specifie either high or low But in the fourth booke of Things possible he supposeth a certeine middle space and meane place betweene wherein he saith the world is founded The very text where he affirmeth this runneth in these words And therefore we must say of the world that it is corruptible and although it be very hard to proove it yet me thinks rather it should be so than otherwise Neverthelesse this maketh much to the inducing of us to beleeve that it hath a certeine incorruptibility if I may
their children fall to gaming revelling masking and banquetting to drunkennesse wanton whooring love and such like misdemeanors So as in these regards this one Mot of Euenus in an Epigram of his deserveth to be praised and remembred See bow great paines all fathers undergo What daily griefes their chieldren put them to And yet for all this fathers cease not still to nourish and bring up children and such most of al who stand least in need of their children another day for a meere mockery it were and a ridiculous thing if a man should suppose that rich wealthy men do sacrifice unto the gods and make great joy at the nativitie and birth of their children because that one day they shall feede and susteine them in their old age and interre them after they be dead unlesse perhaps it may be said they rejoice thus and be so glad to have and bring up children for that otherwise they should leave none heires behind them as who would say it were so hard a matter to finde out and meet with those that would be willing to inherite the lands and goods of strangers Certes the sands of the sea the little motes in the sunne raised of dust the feathers of birds together with their variable notes be not so many in number as there be men that gape after heritages and be ready to succeed others in their livings Danaus who as they say was the father of 50. daughters if his fortune had beene to be childlesse I doubt not but he should have had more heires than so to have parted his goods and stare among them and those verily after another sort than the heires of his owne body For children yeeld their parents no thanks at all for being their inheritours neither in regard thereof do they any service dutie or honour unto them for why they expect and looke for the inheritance as a thing due and of right belonging unto them but contrariwise you heare how those strangers that hang and hunt about a man who hath no children much like to those in the comaedies singing this song O sir no wight shall do you any harme I will revenge your wrongs and quarrels ay Hold heare three-halfe-pence good to keepe you warme Purse it drinke it sing wo and care away As for that which Euripides saith These worldly goods procure men friends to chuse And credit most who then will them refuse It is not simply and generally true unlesse it be to those as have no children for such indeed are sure to be invited and feasted by the rich lords and rulers will make court and be serviceable to such for them great oratours and advocates will plead at the bar without fee and give their counsell gratis How mightie is a rich man with each one So long as his next heire is knowne to none where as you shall see many in the world who before time having a number of friends and honour enough and no sooner had a little childe borne unto them but they lost all their friends credit and reputation at once so that by this reckoning the having of children maketh nothing at all to the authoritie of their parents so that in regard thereof it is not that they doe so love their children but surely the cause of this their kindnesse and affection proceedeth altogether from nature and appeereth no lesse in mankind than in wilde beasts Howbeit otherwhiles this naturall love aswell as many other good qualities in men are blemished and obscured by occasion of vice that buddeth up afterwards like as we see wilde briers bushes and brambles to spring up and grow among good and kind seeds for otherwise we might as well collect and say that men love not themselves because many cut their owne throates or wilfully fall down headlong from steepe rocks and high places For Oedipus With bloudy hand his owne eie-lids did force And plucked out his eies upon remorce Hegesias disputing and discoursing upon a time of abstinence caused many of his auditours and scholars to pine themselves to death Such accidents of many sorts there be Permitted by the gods we daily see But al of them like as those other passions and maladies of the mind before named transport a man out of his owne nature and put him beside himselfe so as they testifie against themselves that this is true and that they do amisse heerein for if a sow having farrowed a little pigge devoure it when she hath done or a bitch chance to teare in peeces a puppie or whelpe of her own litter presently men are amazed at the sight thereof and woonderfully affrighted whereupon they sacrifice unto the gods certaine expiatorie sacrifices for to divert the sinister praesages thereof as taking it to a prodigious woonder as confessing thereby that it is a propertie given to all living creatures even by the instinct and institution of nature To love foster and cherrish the fruit of their owne bodies so farre is it from them to destroy the same And yet notwithstanding her corruption and depravation in this behalfe Like as in mines the gold although it be mixed with much clay and furred all over with earth shineth glittereth thorow the same and is to be seene afarre off even so nature amid the most depravate maners and corrupt passions that we have sheweth a certeine love and tender affection to little ones To conclude wheras the poore many times make no care at all to nourish and reare up their children it is for nothing els but because they feare left having not so good bringing up nor so civill education as they ought they should proove servile in behavior untaught unmanerly rude and void of all good parts and judging as they do povertie to be the extremity of all miseries that can befall to man their heart will not serve them to leave unto their children this hereditarie calamity as a most grievous and dangerous disease OF THE PLVRALITY OF FRIENDS The Summarie IN certeine discourses going before it appeareth what a benefit and good thing friendship is And now Plutarch addeth thereto a certaine correction very necessary in regard of our nature which is given alwaies to bend unto extremities and not able long to holde the golden-meane Like as therefore it bewraieth a miserable wretched and cursed mind to be desirous for to leade a life without acquaintance and familiarity with any person even so to make friends as they say hand over head and upon every occasion is peradventure unpossible but surely not expedient Our authour therefore willing to reforme this disordinate affection that is in many who because they would have a number of friends often-times have not one assured sheweth that it is farre better for a man to get one fast and faithfull friend than a great multitude of whom he can not make any certaine account propounding as aremedie for this covetous minde of entertaining such a plurality of friends the examples of those who are contented
and taught that the affirmative doth conteine of connexed propositions one hundred thousand and besides one thousand fortie and nine but the negative of the same propositions comprehendeth three hundred and ten thousand with a surplusage of nine hundred fiftie and two and Xenocrates hath set downe that the number of syllables which the letters in the alphabet being coupled and combined together do affoord amount to the number of one hundred millions and two hundred thousand over why should it therefore bee thought strange and wonderfull that our body having in it so many faculties and gathering still daily by that which it eateth and drinketh so many different qualities considering withall that it useth motions and mutations which keepe not one time nor the same order alwaies the complications and mixtures of so many things together bring evermore new and unusuall kinds of maladies such as Thucydides wrot was the pestilence at Athens conjecturing that this was no ordinarie and usuall maladie by this especially for that the beasts of prey which otherwise did eat of flesh would not touch a dead bodie those also who fell sicke about the red sea as Agathircides maketh report were afflicted with strange symptomes and accidents which no man had ever read or seene and among others that there crawled from them certeine vermin like small serpents which did eat the calves of their legs and the brawnes of their armes and looke whensoever a man thought to touch them in they would againe and winding about the muskles of the flesh ingendered inflammations and impostumes with intolerable paine This pestilent disease no man ever knew before neither was it ever seene since by others but by them alone like as many other such accidents for there was a man who having beene a long time tormented with the disurie or difficultie of his urine delivered in the end by his yard a barley straw knotted as it was with joints and we know a friend and guest of ours a yoong man who together with a great quantitie of naturall seed cast foorth a little hairie worme or vermin with many feet and therewith it ranne very swiftly Aristotle writeth also that the nourse of one Timon of Cilicia retired her selfe for two moneths space every yeere and lurked in a certeine cave all the while without drinke or meat or giving any other apparence of life but onely that shee tooke her breath certes recorded it is in the Melonian books that it is a certeine signe of the liver diseased when the sicke partie is verie busie in spying seeking and chasing the mice and rats about the house a thing that now a daies is not seene let us not marvell therefore if a thing be now engendred that never was seene before and the same afterward cease as if it had never beene for the cause lieth in the nature of the bodie which sometime taketh one temperature and one while another but if Diogemanus bring in a new aire and a strange water let him alone seeing he is so disposed and yet we know well that the followers of Democritus both say and write that by the worlds which perish without this and by the straunge bodies which from that infinitie of worlds runne into this there arise many times the beginnings of plageu and pestilence yea and of other extraordinarie accidents we will passe over likewise the particular corruptions which happen in divers countries either by earthquakes excessive droughts extreme heats and unusuall raines with which it cannot be chosen but that both winds and rivers which arise out of the earth must needs be likewise infected diseased and altered but howsoever those causes wee let goe by yet omit we must not what great alterations and changes be in our bodies occasioned by our meats and viands and other diet and usage of our selves for many things which before time were not wont to hee tasted or eaten are become now most pleasant dainties as for example the drinke made of honie and wine as also the delicate dish of a farrowing swines shape or wombe as for the braine of a beast it is said that in old time they were wont to reject and cast it from them yea and so much to detest and abhorre it that they would not abide to heare one to name it and for the cucumber the melon or pompion the pomeeitron and pepper I know many old folke at this day that cannot away with their taste credible it is therefore that our bodies receive a woonderfull change and strange alteration by such things in their temperature acquiring by little and little a divers qualitie and superfluitie of excrements farre different from those before semblably wee are to beleeve that the change of order in our viands maketh much heereto for the services at the boord which in times past were called the cold tables to wit of oisters sea-urchings greene sallads of raw lettuce such other herbs be as it were the light forerunners of the feast as transferred now by Plato from the rereward to the forefront and have the first place whereas besore in old time they came in last a great matter there is also in those beavers or fore-drinkings called Propomata for our ancients would not drinke so much as water before they did eat and now a daies when as men are otherwise fasting have eat nothing they will be in maner drunke after they have well drenched their bodies they begin to fall unto their meats and whiles they be yet boiling they put into the stomacke those things that bee attenuant incisive and sharpe for to provoke and stirre up the appetite and still fill themselves up full with other viands but none of all this hath more power to make mutation in our bodies nor to breed new maladies than the varietie of sundry fashions of bathing of flesh for first formost it is made soft liquid and fluid as iron is by the fire and afterwards it receiveth the temper and tincture of hard sleele by cold water so that me thinks if any one of those who lived a little before us should see the dore of our stouphes and baines open he might say thus Heere into runneth Acheron And fire-like burning Phlegethon Whereas in our forefathers daies they used their bathes and hot-houses so milde so kinde and temperate that king Alexander the Great being in a fever lay and slept within them yea the Gaules wives bringing thither their pots of pottage and other viands did eat even there with their children who bathed together with them but it seemeth in these daies that those who are within the stouphes and baines be like unto those that are raging madde and barke as dogs they puffe and blow like fed swine they lay about them and tosse every way the aire that they draw in as it were mingled with fire water suffereth no piece nor corner of the body in quiet and rest it shaketh tosseth and remooveth out of place the least indivisible parcell
calling one Atropos another Lachesis and a third Clotho for as touching the motions and revolutions of the eight heavenly Sphaeres hee hath attributed as presidents unto them so many Syrenes in number and not Muses Then Menephylus the Peripateticke comming in with his speech There is quoth hee some reason and probabilitie in the Delphians saying but surely the opinion of Plato is absurd in that unto those divine and eternall revolutions of the heavens he hath assigned in stead of Muses the Syrenes which are daemons or powers not verie kinde and good nor beneficiall either leaving out as he doth the Muses altogether or els calling them by the names of the Destinies and saying they be the daughters of Necessitie for surely Necessitie is a rude thing and violent whereas Perswasion is gentle and gracious by the meanes of Muses amiable taming what it will and in my minde Detesteth more the duritie And force of hard necessitie than doth that grace and Venus of Empedocles That is true indeed quoth Ammonius it abhorreth that violent and involuntarie cause which is in our selves enforcing us to doe against our evils but the necessitie which is among the gods is nothing intollerable nor violent nor hard to be obeied or perswaded but to the wicked no more than the law of a citie that unto good men is the best thing that is which they cannot pervert or transgresse not because it is impossible for them so to do but for that they are not willing to change the same Moreover as touching those Syrenes of Homer there is no reason that the fable of them should affright us for after an aenigmaticall and covert sort even he signifieth very well unto us that the power of their song and musicke is neither inhumane nor pernicious or mortall but such as imprinteth in the soules which depart from hence thither as also to such as wander in that other world after death a vehement affection to divine and celestiall things together with a certeine forgetfulnesse of those that be mortall and earthly deteining and enchanting them as it were with a pleasure that they give unto them in such sort as by reason of the joy which they receive from them they follow after and turne about with them now of this harmonie there is a little echo or obscure resonance commeth hither unto us by the meanes of certeine discourses which calleth unto our soule and putteth into her minde such things as then and there are whereof the greatest part is enclosed and stopped up with the abstructions of the flesh and passions that are not sincere howbeit our soule by reason of the generositie wherewith it is endued doth understand yea and remember the same being ravished with so vehement an affection thereof that her passion may be compared properly unto most ardent and furious fits of love whiles she still affecteth and desireth to enjoy but is not able for all that to loosen and free her-selfe from the bodie howbeit I doe not accord and hold with him altogether in these matters but it seemeth unto me that Plato as he hath somewhat strangely in this place called the axes and poles of the world and heavens by the names of spindels rocks and distaves yea tearmed the starres wherves so to the Muses also he hath given an extraordinarie denomination of Syrens as if they related and expounded unto the soules and ghosts beneath divine and celestiall things like as Ulysses in Sophocles saith that the Syrenes were come The daughters who of Phorcis were That doth of hell the lawes declare As for the Muses they be assigned unto the eight heavenly sphaeres and one hath for her portion the place and region next to the earth those then which have the presidences charge of the revolution of those eight sphaeres do keepe preserve and mainteine the harmony and consonance aswell betweene the wandering planets and fixed starres as also of themselves one to another and that one which hath the superintendence of that space betweene the moone and the earth and converseth with mortall and temporall thinges bringeth in and infuseth among them by the meanes of her speech and song so farre forth as they be capable by nature and apt to receive the same the perswasive facultie of the Graces of musicall measures and harmonie which facultie is very cooperative with civile policie and humane societie in dulsing and apeasing that which is turbulent extravagant and wandering in us reducing it gently into the right way from blind by-pathes and errors and there setleth it but according to Pyndarus Whom Iupiter from heaven above Vouchsafeth not his gracious love Amaz'd they be and flie for feare When they the voice of Muses heare Whereto when Ammonius had given acclamation alluding as his maner was unto the verse of Xenophanes in this wise These things doe cary good credence And to the trueth have reference and withall mooved us every one to opine and deliver his advice I my selfe after some little pause and silence began thus to say That as Plato himselfe by the etymologie of names as it were by traces thought to finde out the properties and powers of the gods even so let us likewise place in heaven over celestial things one of the Muses which seemeth of the heaven to to be called Urania Certes it standeth to great reason that these heavenly bodies require not much variety of governmēt for that they have but one simple cause which is nature but whereas there be many errors many enormities trespasses thither we must transfer those eight one for to correct one sort of faults and disorders and another for to amende reforme another and for that of our life one part is bestowed in serious grave affaires and another in sport game throughout the whole course thereof it hath need of a moderate temperature musicall consent that which in us is grave serious shall be ruled and conducted by Calliope Clio and Thalia being our guides in the skill and speculation as touching gods and goddesses as for the other Muses their office and charge is to support and hold up that which is inclined and prone to pleasure plaie and disport not to suffer it through weaknesse and imbecillity to runne headlong into loosnesse and bestiality but to keepe in represse and hold it in good and decent order with dauncing singing and playing such as hath their measures and is tempered with harmonie reason and proportion For mine owne part considering that Plato admitteth and setteth downe in every one two principles and causes of all our actions the one inbred and naturall to wit a desire and inclination to pleasures the other comming from without foorth to wit an opinion which covereth the best insomuch as the one he calleth sometime Reason and the other Passion and seeing that either of these againe admitteth distinct differences I see certainly that both of them require a great government and in verie
division of the earth 15 The zones or climates of the earth how many and how great they be 16 Of earth quakes 17 Of the sea how it is concret and how it comes to be bitter 18 How come the tides that is to say the ebbing and flowing of the seas 19 Of the circle called Halo Chapters of the fourth Booke 1 Of the rising of Nilus 2 Of the soule 3 Whether the soule be corporall and what is her substance 4 The parts of the soule 5 Which is the mistresse or principall part of the soule and wherein it doth consist 6 Of the soules motion 7 Of the soules immortalitie 8 Of the senses and sensible things 9 Whether the senses and imaginations be true 10 How many senses there be 11 How sense and notion is performed as also how reason is ingendred according to disposition 12 What difference there is betweene imagination imaginable and imagined 13 Of sight and how we doe see 14 Of the reflexions or resemblances in mirrors 15 Whether darknesse be visible 16 Of hearing 17 Of smelling 18 Of tasting 19 Of the voice 20 Whether the voice be incorporall and how commeth the resonance called eccho 21 How it is that the soule hath sense and what is the principal predomināt part therof 22 Of respiration 23 Of the passions of the body and whether the soule have a fellow-feeling with it of paine Chapters of the fift Booke 1 Of divination or 〈◊〉 of future things 2 How dreames 〈◊〉 3 What is the substance of naturall seed 4 Whether naturall seed be a body 5 Whether femals as well as males doe yeeld naturall seed 6 After what maner conceptions are 7 How males and females are engendred 8 How monsters are ingendred 9 What is the reason that a woman accompanying often times carnally with a man doth not 〈◊〉 10 How twinnes both two and three at once be occasioned 11 How commeth the resemblance of parents 12 What is the cause that infants be like to some other and not to the parents 13 How women proove barren and men unable to ingender 14 What is the reason that mules be barren 15 Whether the fruit within the wombe is to be accounted a living creature or no. 16 How such fruits be nourished within the wombe 17 What part is first accomplished in the wombe 18 How it commeth to passe that infants borne at seven moneths end doe live and are livelike 19 Of the generation of living creatures how they be ingendred and whether they be corruptible 20 How many kindes there be of living creatures whether they all have sense and use of reason 21 In what time living creatures receive forme within the mothers wombe 22 Of what elements is every generall part in us composed 23 How commeth sleepe and death whether it is of soule or bodie 24 When and how a man beginneth to come unto his perfection 25 Whether it is soule or bodie that either sleepeth or dieth 26 How plants come to grow and whether they be living creatures 27 Of nourishment and growth 28 From whence proceed appetites lusts and pleasures in living creatures 29 How the feaver is ingendred and whether it be an accessarie or symptome to another disease 30 Of health sicknesse and olde age THE FIRST BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme BEing minded to write of naturall philosophie we thinke it necessary in the first place and before all things els to set downe the whole disputation of Philosophie by way of division to the end that we may know which is naturall and what part it is of the whole Now the Stoicks say that sapience or wisdom is the science of all things aswell divine as humane and that Philosophie is the profession and exercise of the art expedient thereto which is the onely supreame and sovereigne vertue and the same divided into three most generall vertues to wit Naturall Morall and Verball by reason whereof Philosophie also admitteth a three-folde distribution to wit into Naturall Morall Rationall or Verball the Naturall part is that when as we enquire and dispute of the world and the things conteined therein Morall is occupied in intreating of the good and ill that concerneth mans life Rationall or Verball handleth that which perteineth unto the discourse of reason and to speech which also is named Logique or Dialelectique that is to say Disputative But Aristotle and Theophrastus with the Peripateticks in maner all divide Philosophie in this maner namely into Contemplative and Active For necessarie it is say they that a man to atteine unto perfection should be a spectatour of all things that are and an actour of such things as be seemely and decent and may the better be understood by these examples The question is demanded whether the Sunne be a living creature according as it seemeth to the sight to be or no He that searcheth and enquireth into the trueth of this question is altogether therein speculative for he seeketh no farther than the contemplation of that which is semblably if the demand be made whether the world is infinit or if there be any thing without the pourprise of the world for all these questions be meere contemplative But on the other side mooved it may be How a man ought to live how he should governe his children how he is to beare rule and office of State and lastly in what maner lawes are to be ordeined and made for all these are sought into in regard of action and a man conversant therein is altogether active and practique CHAP. I. What is Nature SInce then our intent and purpose is to consider and treat of Naturall philosophie I thinke it needfull to shew first what is Nature for absurd it were to enterprise a discourse of Naturall things and meane-while to be ignorant of Nature and the power thereof Nature then according to the opinion of Aristotle is the beginning of motion and rest in that thing wherein it is properly and principally not by accident for all things to be seene which are done neither by fortune nor by necessitie and are not divine nor have any such efficient cause be called Naturall as having a proper and peculiar nature of their owne as the earth fire water aire plants and living creatures Moreover those other things which we do see ordinarily engendered as raine haile lightning presteres winds and such like for all these have a certeine beginning and every one of them was not so for ever and from all eternitie but did proceed from some originall likewise living creatures and plants have a beginning of their motion and this first principle is Nature the beginning not of motion onely but also of rest and quiet for whatsoever hath had a beginning of motion the same also may have an end and for this cause Nature is the beginning aswell of rest as of moving CHAP. II. What difference there is betweene a principle and an element ARistotle and Plato are of opinion that there is a
difference betweene a Principle and an Element but Thales Milesius thinketh they be both one howbeit there is a great difference betweene the one and the other for elements be compounded whereas we holde that the first Principles neither be compounded nor are any complet substance and verily earth water aire and fire we tearme Elements but Principles we call other Natures in this respect that there is nothing precedent or before them wherof they are ingendred for otherwise if they were not the first they should in no wise be Principles but that rather were to be so called wherof they be ingendred Now certeine things there are precedent whereof earth and water c. be composed to wit the first matter without all forme and shape as also the first forme it selfe which we call Entelechia and thirdly Privation Thales therefore is in an error when he saith that water was both the Element and Principle or first beginning of all things CHAP. III. Of principles or first beginnings what they be THALES the Milesian affirmed that Water was the first principle of the whole world and this man seemeth to have beene the first author of philosophie and of him tooke the Ionique fect of Philosophers their name for many families there were successively of Philosophers who having studied Philosophie in Aegypt went to Miletum when hee was farre stept in yeeres where he mainteined this position That all things were made of Water so all things were to be resolved againe into Water The reasons of this conjecture of his were these first because naturall seed is the principle and beginning of all living creatures and that is of a moist substance therefore probable it is that all other things likewise have humiditie for their principle secondly for that all sorts of plants be nourished by moisture which if they want they wither and fade away thirdly considering that the fire or the sunne it selfe and the starres is nourished and mainteined by vapours proceeding from the waters the whole world also by consequence consisteth of the same which is the reason that Homer supposing all things to be engendred of water saith thus The ocean sea from whence 〈◊〉 thing 〈◊〉 is and hath beginning But ANAXIMANDER the Milesian holdeth that Infinitie is the principle of al for every thing proceedeth from it resolveth into it againe therefore there be engendred infinit worlds and those vanish againe into that whereof they bee engendred and why is there this Infinitie Because quoth he there should never faile any generation but still have 〈◊〉 howbeit even he also erreth heerein for that he declareth not what is this Infinitie whereof he speaketh whether it be aire water or any other body he faileth likewise in this that he putteth downe a subject matter but overthroweth the efficient cause for this Infinity whereof he talketh is nothing else but matter and matter cannot atteine to perfection nor come into act unlesse there be some mooving and efficient cause ANAXIMENES the Milesian mainteineth that aire is the principle of the world for that all things come of it and returne unto it Like as quoth he our soule which is aire keepeth us alive even so spirit and aire mainteine the Being of the whole world for spirit and aire be two words signifying both one thing But this Philosopher is out of the way as well as the rest in that hee thinketh that living creatures be composed of a simple spirit or uniforme aire and impossible it is that there should be but one principle of all things to wit matter but there ought withall to be supposed an efficient cause for it is not enough to be provided of silver or gold for to make a vessell or piece of plate if there come not unto it the efficient cause to wit the gold-smith semblably we are to say of brasse wood and all other sorts of matter ANAXAGORAS the Clazomenian is perswaded and so teacheth That the principles of the world and all that therein is are small like parcels which hee tearmeth Homaeomeries for hee thought it altogether absurd and impossible that any thing should bee made of that which is not or bee dissolved into that which hath no being for howsoever we take our nourishment simple and uniforme as for example eat bread of corne and drinke water yet with this nutriment are nourished haires veines arteries sinewes bones and other parts of the bodie which being so Confesse wee must quoth hee likewise that in this food which wee receive are all things which have their Being and that all things doe grow and encrease of that which hath Being so that in this nourishment be those parcels which breed bloud sinewes bones and other parts of our body which may bee comprehended by discourse of reason for we are not to reduce all unto the outward sense to shew and proove that bread and water effect these things but it may suffice that in them these parts are conceived by reason Inasmuch therefore as in nourishment there be parcels semblable unto that which they breed in that regard he called them Homaeomeries affirming them to be the principles of all things and even so he would have these semblable parcels to be the matter of all things and for efficient cause he setteth downe a Minde or understanding that ordereth and disposeth al. And thus beginneth he to goe to worke and reasoneth in this wise All things at first were consumed and hudled together pell mell but that Minde or understanding doth sever dispose and set them in order in this one thing yet he hath done wel and is to be commended that unto the matter he hath adjoined a workman ARCHELAUS an Athenian the sonne of Apollodorus affirmeth that the principle of all things was the infinit aire together with the condensation and rarefaction thereof of which the one is fire and the other water and these Philosophers following by continuall succession one upon another after Thales made that sect which is called 〈◊〉 But from another head PYTHAGORAS the sonne of Mnesarchus a Samian borne the first author of the name of Philosophie held that the principle of all things were Numbers and their symmetries that is to say the proportions that they have in their correspondency one unto another which hee calleth otherwise Harmonies those elements that be composed of them both are tearmed by him 〈◊〉 furthermore hee reckoneth among Principles Unitie and Twaine indefioit of which the one tendeth and hasteneth to an efficient and specificall cause to wit a Minde and the same is God the other unto a passive and materiall cause namely the visible world Moreover he thought that the Denarie or Ten was the absolute nature and perfection of numbers for that all men as well Greeks as Barbarians count untill ten and when they be thither come they returne backe againe unto unitie over and besides hee said That all the power of ten consisted within fower and in a quaternarie the reason is this
and DEMOCRITUS were of opinion that all things were made by Necessitie and that destinie justice providence and the Creatour of the world were all one CHAP. XXVI Of the Essence of Necessitie PLATO referreth some events to providence and others he attributeth to Necessitie EMPEDOCLES saith that the Essence of Necessitie is a cause apt to make use of the principles and elements DEMOCRITUS affirmeth it to be the resistance the lation motion and permission of the matter PLATO holdeth it to be one while matter it selfe and another while the habitude of that which is agent to the matter CHAP. XXVII Of Destinie HERACLITUS affirmeth that all things were done by fatall Destinie and that it and Necessitie be both one PLATO admitteth willingly this Destinie in the soules lives and actions of men but hee inferreth withall a cause proceeding from our selves The STOICKES likewise according with the opinion of Plato do hold that Necessitie is a cause invincible most violent and inforcing all things also that Destinie is a connexion of causes interlaced linked orderly in which concatenation or chaine is therein comprised also that cause which proceedeth from us in such sort as some events are destined and others not CHAP. XXVIII Of the substance of 〈◊〉 HERACLITUS saith that the substance of Destinie is the reason that pierceth throughout the substance of the universall world PLATO affirmeth it to be an eternall reason and a perpetuall law of the nature of the whole world CHRYSIPPUS holdeth it to be a certaine puissance spirituall which by order governeth and administreth all things And againe in his booke of definitions hee writeth thus Destinie is the reason of the world or rather the law of all things in the world administred and governed by providence or else the reason whereby things past have beene things present are and future things shall be The STOICKES are of opinion that it is the chaine of causes that is to say an order and connexion which cannot be surmounted and transgressed POSIDONIUS supposeth it to be the third after Jupiter for that Jupiter is in the first degree Nature in the second and fatall Destinie in the third CHAP. XXIX Of Fortune PLATO defineth Fortune to be in things proceeding from mans counsell and election a cause by accident and a verie casuall consequence ARISTOTLE holdeth it to be an accidentall cause in those things which from some deliberate purpose and impulsion tend to a certaine end which cause is not apparent but hidden and uncertaine And he putteth a difference between Fortune and rash adventure for that all Fortune in the affaires and actions of this world is adventurous but everie adventure is not by and by Fortune for that it consisteth in things without action againe Fortune is properly in actions of reasonable creatures but adventure indifferently in creatures as well unreasonable as reasonable yea and in those bodies which have neither life nor soule EPICURUS saith that Fortune is a cause which will not stand and accord with persons times and manners ANAXAGORAS and the STOICKS affirme it to be a cause unknowne and hidden to humane reason for that some things come by necessitie others by fatall destinie some by deliberate counsell others by Fortune and some againe by casualitie or adventure CHAP. XXX Of Nature 〈◊〉 holdeth that Nature is nothing only that there is a mixture and divulsion or separation of Elements for in this manner writeth he in the first booke of his Phisicks This one thing more I will yet say of things that be humane And Mortall mature none there is and deaths end is but vaine Amixture and divulsion of Elements and of all Onely there is and this is that which men do Nature call Semblably ANAXAGORAS saith that Nature is nothing else but a concretion and dissipation that is to say generation and corruption THE SECOND BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions The Prooeme HAving now finished the Treatise of PRINCIPLES ELEMENTS and such other matters linked and concurring with them I will turne my pen unto the discourse as touching their effects and works composed of them beginning first at that which is most spatious and capable of all things CHAP. I. Of the World PYTHAGORAS was the first who called the Roundle that containeth and comprehendeth all to wit the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the orderly digestion observed therein THALES and his disciples held that there is but one World DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and their scholler METRODORUS affirme that there be innumerable Worlds in an infinite space according to all dimensions and circumstances EMPEDOCLES saith that the course and race of the Sunne is the verie circumscription of the bounds and limits of the World and that it is the verie confinement thereof SELEUCUS held the World to be infinite DIOGENES affirmed the universalitie to be infinite but the world finite and determinate The STOICKS put a difference betweene universall and whole for they say that the universall together with voidnesse is infinite and that the whole without voidnes is the World so as these termes the Whole and the World be not both one CHAP. II. Of the figure and forme of the World THe STOICKS affirme the World to be round some say it is pointed or pyramidal others that it is fashioned in manner of an egge but EPICURUS holdeth that his Worlds may be round and it may be that they are apt besides to receive other formes CHAP. III. Whether the World be animate or endued with a soule ALL other Philosophers agree that the World is animate governed by providence but DEMOCRITUS EPICURUS and as many as maintaine ATOMES and with all bring in VACUITY that it is neither animate nor governed by providence but by a certaine nature void of reason ARISTOTLE holdeth that it is not animate wholy and throughout all parts nor sensitive nor reasonable nor yet intellectuall or directed by providence True it is quoth he that celestiall bodies be capable of all these qualities as being compassed about with sphaeres both animate and vitall whereas bodies terrestriall and approching neere unto the earth are endued with none of them and as for the order and decent composition therein it came by accident and not by prepensed reason and counsell CHAP. IIII. Whether the World be incorruptible and eternall PYTHAGORAS and PLATO affirme that the world was ingendred and made by God and of the owne nature being corruptible shall perish for sensible it is and therefore corporall howbeit in regard of the divine providence which preserveth and mainteineth it perish it shall never EPICURUS saith that it is corruptible for that it is engendred like as a living creature or a plant XENOPHANES holdeth the world to be eternall ingenerable uncreated and incorruptible ARISTOTLE is of opinion that the part of the world under the moone is passible wherein the bodies also adjacent to the earth be subject to corruption CHAP. V. Whereof the World is nourished ARISTOTLE saith that if the World be nourished it is
wing because it lifteth up the soule from things base and mortall unto the consideration of heavenly and celestiall matters 6 How is it that Plato in some places saith the Anteperistasis of motion that is to say the circumstant contrariety debarring a body to moove in regard that there is no voidnesse or vaculty in nature is the cause of those effects which we see in physicians ventoses and cupping glasses of swallowing downe our viands of throwing of 〈◊〉 waights of the course and conveiance of waters of the fall of lightenings of the attraction that amber maketh of the drawing of the lodestone and of the accord and consonance of voices For it seemeth against all reason to yeeld one onely cause for so many effects so divers and so different in kinde First as touching the respiration in living creatures by the anteperistasis of the aire he hath elsewhere sufficiently declared but of the other effects which seeme as he saith to be miracles and woonders in nature and are nothing for that they be nought else but bodies reciprocally and by alternative course driving one another out of place round about and mutually succeeding in their roomes he hath left for to be discussed by us how each of them particularly is done FIrst and formost for ventoses and cupping glasses thus it is The aire that is contained within the ventose stricking as it doth into the flesh being inflamed with heat and being now more fine and subtil than the holes of the brasse box or glasse whereof the ventose is made getteth forth not into a void place for that is impossible but into that other aire which is round about the said ventose without forth and driveth the same from it and that forceth other before it and thus as it were from hand to hand whiles the one giveth place and the other driveth continually and so entreth into the vacant place which the first left it commeth at length to fall upon the flesh which the ventose sticketh fast unto and by heating and inchasing it expresseth the humor that is within into the ventose or cupping vessell The swallowing of our victuals is after the same maner for the cavities as well of the mouth as of the stomacke be alwaies full of aire when as then the meat is driven within the passage or gullet of the throat partly by the tongue and partly by the glandulous parts or kernelles called tonsells and the muscles which now are stretched the aire being pressed and strained by the said meat followeth it hard as it giveth place and sticking close it is a meanes to helpe for to drive it downeward Semblably the waighty things that be flung as bigge stones and such like cut the aire and divide it by reason that they were sent out and levelled with a violent force then the aire all about behind according to the nature thereof which is to follow where a place is lest vacant and to fill it up pursueth the masle or waight aforesaid that is lanced or discharged forcibly and setteth forward the motion thereof The shooting and ejaculation of lightening is much what after the maner of these waights throwen in maner aforesaid for being enflamed and set on a light fire it flasheth out of a cloud by the violence of a stroke into the aire which being once open and broken givith place unto it and then closing up together above it driveth it downe forcibly against the owne nature As for amber we must not thinke that it draweth any thing to it of that which is presented before it no more than doth the lode stone neither that any thing comming nere to the one or the other leapeth thereupon But first as touching the said stone it sendeth from it I wot not what strong and flatuous fluxions by which the aire next adjoining giving backe driveth that which is before it and the same turning round and reentring againe into the void place doth 〈◊〉 from it and withall carry with it the yron to the stone And for amber it hath likewise a certeine flagrant and flatulent spirit which when the out-side thereof is rubbed it putteth forth by reason that the pores thereof are by that meanes opened And verily that which issueth out of it worketh in some measure the like effect that the Magnet or lode-stone did and drawen there are unto it such matters neere at hand as be most light and dry by reason that the substance comming thereof is but slender and weake neither is it selfe strong nor hath sufficient waight and force for to chase and drive before it a great deale of aire by means whereof it might overcome greater things as the lode-stone doth But how is it that this aire driveth and sendeth before it neither wood nor stone but yron onely and so bringeth it to the Magnet This is a doubt and dificulty that much troubleth all those who suppose that this meeting and cleaving of two bodies together is either by the attraction of the stone or by the naturall motion of the yron Yron is neither so hollow and spungeous as is wood nor so fast and close as is gold or stone but it hath small holes passages and rough aspecties which in regard of the unequality are well proportionate and fortable to the aire in such wise as it runneth not easily through but hath certaine staies by the way to catch hold of so as it may stand steady and take such sure footing as to be able to force and drive before it the yron untill it have brought it to kisse the lode-stone And thus much for the causes and reasons that may be rendred of these effects As considering the running of water above ground by what maner of compression and coarctation roud about it should be performed it is not so easy either to be perceived or declared But thus much we are to learne that for waters of lakes which stirre not but continue alwaies in one place it is because the aire spred all about and keeping them in on every side mooveth not nor leaveth unto them any vacant place For even so the upper face of the water as well in lakes as in the sea riseth up into waves and billowes according to the agitation of the aire for the water still followeth the motion of the aire and floweth or is troubled with it by reason of the inequalities For the stroke of the aire downeward maketh the hollow dent of the wave but as the same is driven upward it causeth the swelling and surging tumor of the wave untill such time as all the place above containing the water be setled and laied for then the waves also doe cease and the water likewise is still and quiet But now for the course of waters which glide and run continually above the face of the ground the cause thereof is because they alwaies follow hard after the aire that giveth way and yet are chased by those behinde by compression and driving forward and so
as touching the generation or creation of the world and of the soule thereof as if the same had not bene from all eternity nor had time out of minde their essence whereof we have particularly spoken a part else where and for this present suffice it shall to say by the way that the arguing and contestation which Plato confesseth himselfe to have used with more vehemencie than his age would well beare against Atheists the same I say they confound and shufflle up or to speake more truely abolish altogether For if it be so that the world be eternall and was never created the reason of Plato falleth to the ground namely that the soule being more ancient than the bodie and the cause and principall author of all motion and mutation the chiefe governour also and head Architect as he himselfe hath said is placed and bestowed therein But what and where of the soule is and how it is said and to be understood that it is more ancient than the body and before it in time the progresse of our discourse hereafter shall declare for this point being either unknowen or not well understood brings great difficulty as I thinke in the well conceiving and hinderance in beleeving the opinion of the trueth In the first place therefore I will shew what mine owne conceit is proving and fortifying my sentence and withall mollifying the same because at the first sight it seemeth a strange paradox with as probable reasons as I can devise which done both this interpretation and proofe also of mine I will lay unto the words of the text out of Plato and reconcile the one unto the other For thus in mine opinion stands the case This world quoth Heraclitus there was never any god or man that made as if in so saying he feared that if we disavow God for creatour we must of necessitie confesse that man was the architect and maker thereof But much better it were therefore that we subscribe unto Plato and both say and sing aloud that the world was created by God for as the one is the goodliest piece of worke that ever was made so the other the most excellent workman and greatest cause that is Now the substance and matter whereof it was created was never made or engendred but was for ever time out of minde and from all eternitie subject unto the workman for to dispose and order it yea and to make as like as possible was to himselfe For of nothing and that which had no being there could not possibly be made ought but of that which was notwell made nor as it ought to bee there may be made somewhat that is good to wit an house a garment or an image and statue But before the creation of the world there was nothing but a chaos that is to say all things in confusion and disorder and yet was not the same without a bodie without motion or without soule howbeit that bodie which it had was without forme and consistence and that mooving that it had was altogether rash without reason and understanding which was no other but a disorder of the soule not guided by reason For God created not that bodie which was incorporall nor a soule which was inanimate like as we say that the musician maketh not a voice nor the dancer motion but the one maketh the voice sweet accordant and harmonious and the other the motion to keepe measure time and compasse with a good grace And even so God created not that palpable soliditie of a bodie nor that moving and imaginative puissance of the soule but finding these two principles the one darke and obscure the other turbulent foolish and senselesse both imperfect disordered and indeterminate he so digested and disposed them that he composed of them the most goodly beautifull and absolute living creature that is The substance then of the bodie which is a certeine nature that he calleth susceptible of all things the very seat the nourse also of all things engendred is no other thing than this But as touching the substance of the soule he tearmeth it in his booke entituled Philebus Infinitie that is to say the privation of all number and proportion having in it neither end limit nor measure neither excesse nor defect neither similitude nor dissimilitude And that which hee delivereth in Timaeus namely that it is mingled with the indivisible nature is become divisible in bodies we must not understand this to be either multitude in unities or length and breadth in points or pricks which things agree unto bodies and belong rather to bodies than to soules but that mooving principle disordinate indefinite and mooving of it selfe which hee calleth in manie places Necessitie the same in his books of lawes hee tearmeth directly a disorderly soule wicked and evill doing This is the soule simply and of it selfe it is so called which afterwards was made to participate understanding and discourse of reason yea wife proportion to the end that it might become the soule of the world Semblably this materiall principle capable of all had in it a certeine magnitude distance and place beauty forme proportionate figure and measure it had none but all these it gat afterwards to the end that being thus digested and brought into decent order it might affoord the bodies and organs of the earth the sea the heavens the starres the plants and living creatures of all sorts But as for them who attribute give that which he calleth in Timaeus necessitie and in his treatise Philebus infinity and immensity of excesse defect of too much and too little unto matter and not unto the soule how are they able to maintaine that it is the cause of evill considering that he supposeth alwaies that the said matter is without forme or figure whatsoever destitute of all qualities and faculties proper unto it comparing it unto those oiles which having no smell of their owne perfumers use in the composition of their odors and precious ointments for impossible it is that Plato should suppose the thing which of it selfe is idle without active qualitie without mooving and inclination to any thing to be the cause and beginning of evill or name it an infinity wicked evill doing not likewise a necessitie which in many things repugneth against God as being rebellious and refusing to obey him for as touching that necessitie which overthroweth heaven as he saith in his Politiques and turneth it cleane contrary that inbred concupiscence and confusion of the first and auncient nature wherein there was no order at all before it was ranged to that beautifull disposition of the world as now it is how came it among things if the subject which is matter was without all qualities and void of that efficacie which is in causes and considering that the Creatour himselfe being of his owne nature all good desired as much as might be to make all things like unto himselfe for a third besides these two principles there is
none And if we will bring evill into the world without a precedent cause principle to beget it we shall run and fall into the difficult perplexities of the Stoicks for of those two principles which are it cannot be that either the good or that which is altogether without forme and quality whatsoever should give being or beginning to that which is naught Neither hath Plato done as some that came after him who for want of seeing and understanding a third principle and cause betweene God and matter have runne on end and tumbled into the most absurd and falsest reasons that is devising forsooth I wot not how that the nature of evill should come without forth casually and by accident or rather of the owne accord forasmuch as they will not graunt unto Epicurus that the least atome that is should turne never so little or decline a side saying that he bringeth in a rash and inconsiderate motion without any cause precedent whereas they themselves the meane-while affirme that sin vice wickednesse and ten thousand other deformities and imperfections of the body come by consequence without any cause efficient in the principles But Plato saith not so for he ridding matter from al different quality and remooving farre from God all cause of evill thus hath hee written as touching the world in his Politiques The world quoth he received al good things from the first author who created it but what evill thing soever there is what wickednesse what injustice in heaven the same it selfe hath from the exterior habitude which was before and the same it doth transmit give to the creatures beneath And a little after he proceedeth thus In tract of time quoth he as oblivion tooke holde and set sure footing the passion and imperfection of the old disorder came in place and got the upper hand more and more and great danger there is least growing to dissolution it be plunged againe into the vast gulfe and bottomlesse pit of confused dissimilitude But dissimilitude there can be none in matter by reason that it is without qualitie and void of all difference whereof Eudemus among others being ignorant mocked Plato for not putting that to be the cause source and first originall of evill things which in many places he calleth mother and nurse for Plato indeed tearmeth matter mother and nurse but he saith likewise That the cause of evill is the motive puissance resiant in the said matter which is in bodies become divisible to wit a reasonlesse and disorderly motion howbeit for all that not without soule which plainly and expresly in his books of lawes he tearmeth a soule contrary and repugnant to that which is the cause of all good for that the soule may well be the cause and principle of motion but understanding is the cause of order and harmony in motion for God made not the matter idle but hath kept it from being any any more 〈◊〉 troubled with a foolish and rash cause neither hath he given unto nature the beginnings and principles of mutations and passions but being as it was enwrapped and enfolded with all sorts of passions and inordinate mutations hee cleered it of all enormities disorders and errors whatsoever using as proper instruments to bring about all this numbers measures and proportions the effect whereof is not to give unto things by mooving and mutation the passions and differences of the other and of diversitie but rather to make them infallible firme and stable yea and like unto those things which are alwaies of one sort and evermore resemble themselves This is in my judgement the minde and sentence of Plato whereof my principall proofe and argument is this that by this interpretation is salved that contrariety which men say and seemeth indeed to be in his writings for a man would not attribute unto a drunken sophister much lesse than unto Plato so great unconstance and repugnance of words as to affirme one and the same nature to be created and uncreated and namely in his booke entituled Phaedrus that the soule is eternall and uncreated but in Timaeus that it was created and engendied Now as touching those words of his in the treatise Phaedrus they are well neere in every mans mouth verie rife whereby he prooveth that the soule can not perish because it was never engendred and semblably he prooveth that generation it had none because it mooveth it selfe Againe in the booke entituled Timaeus God quoth he hath not made the soule to be yoonger than the body according as now in this place we purpose to say that it commeth after it for never would he have permitted that the elder being coupled and linked with the yoonger should be commaunded by it But we standing much I wot not how upon inconsiderate rashnesse and vanity use to speake in some sort accordingly for certaine it is that God hath with the bodie joined the soule as precedent both in creation and also in power and vertue like as the dame or mistresse with her subject for to rule and commaund Againe when he had said that the soule being turned upon her selfe began to live a wise and eternall life The body of the heaven quoth he was made visible but the soule invisible participating the discourse of reason and of harmony engendred by the best of things intellectuall and eternall being likewise it selfe the best of things engendred and temporall Where it is to be noted that in this place expresly calling God the best of all eternall things and the soule the best of things created and temporall by this most evident antithesis and contrariety he taketh from the soule that eternity which is without beginning and procreation And what other solution or reconciliation is there of these contradictions but that which himself giveth to those who are willing to receive it for he pronounceth that soule to be ingenerable and not procreated which mooved all things rashly and disorderly before the constitution of the world but contrariwise he calleth that procreated and engendred which Godframed and composed of the first and of a parmanent eternall and perfect good substance namely by creating it wise and well ordered and by putting and conferring even from himselfe unto sense understanding and order unto motion which when he had thus made he ordained and appointed it to be the governor and regent of the whole world And even after the same maner he pronounceth that the body of the world is in one sort eternall to wit not created nor engendred and after another sort both created and engendred For when he saith that whatsoever is visible was never at rest but mooved rashly and without all order and that God tooke the same disposed and ranged it in good order as also when he saith that the fowre generall elements fire water earth and aire before the whole world was of them framed and ordered decently made a woonderfull trouble trembling as it were in the matter and were mightily shaken by
remaineth now that we should treat of Fortune and casuall adventure and of whatsoever besides that requireth discourse and consideration First this is certeine that Fortune is a kinde of cause but among causes some are of themselves others by accident as for example of an house or ship the proper causes and of themselves be the Mason Carpenter or Shipwright but by accident the Musician and Geometrician yea and whatsoever incident to the mason carpenter or shipwright either in regard of body or minde or outward things whereby it appeereth that the essentiall cause which is by it selfe must needs be determinate certeine in one whereas the accidentall causes are not alwaies one and the same but infinit and indeterminate for many accidents in number infinit and in nature different one from another may be together in one and the same subject This cause then by accident when it is found not onely in such things which are done for some end but also in those wherein our election and will taketh place is called fortune as namely to find treasure when a man diggeth a hole or grave to plant a tree in or to do and suffer any extraordinary thing in flying pursuing or otherwise going and marching or onely in retiring provided alwaies that he doeth it not to that end which ensueth thereupon but upon some other intention And heereupon it is that some of the anncient philosophers have defined fortune to be a cause unknowen and not foreseene by mans reason But according to the Platoniques who come neerer unto it in reason it is defined thus Fortune is an accidentall cause in those things that are done for some end and which are in our election and afterwards they adjoine moreover not foreseene nor knowen by the discourse of humane reason although that which is rare and strange by the same meanes appeareth also in this kinde of cause by accident But what this is if it appeere not manifestly by the oppositions and contradictory disputations yet at leastwise it will be declared most evidently by that which is writtē in a treatise of Plato entituled Phaedon where these words are found What Have you not heard how in what maner the judgement passed Yes iwis For one there was who came and told us of it whereat we marvelled very much that seeing the sentence of judgement was pronounced long before he died a good while after And what might be the cause thereof Ô Phaedon Surely there hapned unto him Ô Echecrates a certeine fortune For it chanced that the day before the judgement the prow of the galley which the Athenians sent to isle Delos was crowned In which words it is to be noted that by this tearme There hapned you must not understand There was but rather it so befell upon a concourse and meeting of many causes together one after another For the priest adorned the ship with coronets for another end and intention and not for the love of Socrates yea and the judges had condemned him also for some other cause but the event it selfe was so strange admirable as if it had hapned by some providence or by an humane creature or rather indeed by some superior nature And thus much may suffice as touching fortune and the definition thereof as also that necessarily it ought to subsist together with some one contingent thing of those which are meant to some end whereupon it tooke the name yea and there must be some subject before of such things which are in us and in our election But casuall adventure reacheth and extendeth farther than fortune for it compriseth both it and also many other things which may chance aswell one way as another and according as the very etymologie and derivation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth it is that which hapneth for and in stead of another namely when that which was ordinary sell not out but another thing in lieu thereof as namely when it chanceth to be colde weather in the Dog daies for sometimes it falleth out to be then colde and not without cause In summe like as that which is in us and arbitrary is part of contingent even so is fortune a part of casuall or accidental adventure and both these events are conjunct and dependant one of another to wit casual adventure hangeth upon contingent and fortune upon that which is in us and arbitrarie and yet not simply and in generall but of that onely which is in our election according as hath beene before said And hereupon it is that this casuall adventure is common aswell to things which have no life as to those which are animate whereas fortune is proper to man onely who is able to performe voluntarie actions An argument whereof is this that to be fortunate happie and blessed are thought to be all one for blessed happinesse is a kinde of well doing and to doe well properly belongeth to a man and him that is perfect Thus you see what things are comprised within fatall destiny namely contingent possible election that which is within us fortune casuall accident or chance adventure together with their circumstant adjuncts signified by these words haply peradventure or perchance howbeit we are not to inferre that because they be conteined within destinie therefore they be fatall It remaineth now to discourse of divine providence considering that it selfe comprehendeth fatall destinie This supreame and first providence therefore is the intelligence and will of the sovereigne god doing good unto all that is in the world whereby all divine things universally and thorowout have bene most excellently and wisely ordeined and disposed The second providence is the intelligence and will of the second gods who have their course thorow the heaven by which temporall and mortall things are ingendred regularly and in order as also whatsoever perteineth to the preservation and continuance of every kinde of thing The third by all probabilitie and likelihood may well be called the providence and prospicience of the Daemonds or angels as many as be placed and ordeined about the earth as superintendents for to observe marke and governe mens actions Now albeit there be seene this threefolde providence yet properly and principally that first and supreame is named Providence so as we may be bolde and never doubt to say howsoever herein we seeme to contradict some Philosophers That all things are done by fatall destinie and by providence but not likewise by nature howbeit some by providence and that after divers sorts these by one and those by another yea and some also by fatall destinie As for fatall destinie it is altogether by providence but providence in no wise by fatall destinie where by the way this is to be noted that in this present place I understand the principall and sovereigne providence Now whatsoever is done by another be it what it will is evermore after that which causeth or maketh it even as that which is erected by law is after the law
signified as much when he called the night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the sharpenesse at the point of the said shadow and yet the Moone as it appeareth in her ecclypses being caught and comprehended within the compasse of that shadow hath much adoo to get out of it by going forward in length thrice as much as her owne bignesse comes to Consider then how many times greater must the earth needs be than the Moone if it be so that the shadow which it casteth where it is sharpest and narrowest is thrice as much as the Moone But yee are afraid least the Moone should fall if she were avowed to the earth for it may be haply that Aeschylus hath sealed you a warrant and secured you for the earth when he said thus of Atlas He standeth like a pillar strong and sure From earth to heaven above that reacheth streight To beare on shoulders twaine he doeth endure A massie burden and unweldy weight if under the Moone there runne and be spred a light and thin aire not firme and sufficient for to susteine a solide masse whereas according to Pindarus To beare the earth there standmost putssant Columns and pillars of hard diamant And therefore Pharnaces for himselfe is out of all feare that the earth will fall mary he pittieth those who are directly and plumbe under the course of the Moone and namely the Aethiopians and those of Taprobana least so weightie a masse should tumble downe upon their heads And yet the Moone hath one good meanes and helpe to keepe her from falling to wit her very motion and violent revolution like unto those bullets or stones or whatsoever weights be put within a sling they are sure enough from slipping or falling out so long as they be violently swong and whirled about For every body is caried according to the naturall motion thereof if there be no other cause to empeach or turne it aside out of course which is the reason that the Moone mooveth not according to the motion of her poise considering the inclination thereof downward is staied and hindred by the violence of a circular revolution But peradventure more cause there were to marvel if she should stand altogether as the earth immoveable whereas now the Moone hath this great cause to empeach her for not tending downward hither As for the earth which hath no other motion at all to hinder it great reason there is that according to that onely weight of the owne it should moove downward and there settle for more heavy it is than the Moone not so much in this regard that greater it is but more for that the Moone by reason of heat and adustion of fire is made the lighter In briefe it appeareth by that which you say if it be true that the Moone be fire it hath need of earth or some other marter to rest upon and cleave 〈◊〉 for to mainteine nourish and quicken still the power that it hath for it cannot be conceived or imagined how fire should be preserved without fuell or matter combustible And you your selves affirme doe yee not that the earth abideth firme and sure without any base or piedstall to susteine and hold it up Yes verily quoth Pharnaces being in the proper and naturall place which is the very mids and center For this is it whereto all heavy and weightie things doe 〈◊〉 incline and are caried to from every side and about which they cling and be counterpeized but the upper region throughout if haply there be any terrestriall and heavy matter by violence sent up thither repelleth and casteth it downe againe with force incontinently or to speake more truely letteth it goe and fall according to the owne naturall inclination which is to tend and settle downward For the answer and refutation whereof I willing to give Luctus some reasonable time to summon his wits together and to thinke upon his reasons and calling unto Theon by name Which of the tragicall Poets was it Theon quoth I who said that Physicians Bitter medicines into the body powre When bitter choler they meane to purge and scoure And when he made me answere that it was Sophocles Well quoth I we must permit them so to doc upon necessity but we ought not to give eare unto Philosophers if they would maintaine strange paradoxes by other positions as absurd or to confute admirable opinions devise others much more extravagant and wonderfull like as these here who broch and bring in a motion forsooth tending unto a middle wherein what absurdity is there not Holde not they that the earth is as round as a ball and yet we see how many deepe profundities hautie sublimities manifold inequalities it hath affirme not they that there be antipodes dwelling opposit one unto another and those sticking as it were to the sides of the earth with their heeles upward their heads downward all arse verse like unto these woodwormes or cats which hang by their sharpe clawes Would not they have even us also that are here for to goe upon the ground not plumbe upright but bending or enclining sidelong reeling and staggering like drunken folke Doe they not tell us tales and would make us beleeve that if barres and masses of iron waighing a thousand talents a peece were let fall downe into the bottom of the earth when they came once to the middle centre thereof will stay and rest there albeit nothing els came against them nor sustained them up And if peradventure by some forcible violence they should passe beyond the said midst they would soone rebound backe thither againe of their owne accord Say not they that if a man should saw off the trunks or ends of beams on either side of the earth the same would never settle downeward still throughout but from without forth fall both into the earth and so equally meet one another and cling together about the hart or centre thereof Suppose not they that if a violent streame of water should runne downeward still into the ground when it met once with the very point or centre in the midst which they holde to be incorporall it would then gather together and turne round in maner of a whirlepoole about a pole waving to and fro there continually like one of these pendant buckets and as it hangeth wagge incessantly without end And verily some of these assertions of theirs are so absurd that no man is able to enforce himselfe to imagine in his minde although falsely that they are possible For this indeed is to make high and low all one this is to turne all upside downe that those things which become as farre as to the midst shal be thought below and under and what is under the middle shall be supposed above and aloft in such sort as that if a man by the sufferance and consent of the earth stood with his navell just against the middle and centre of it he should by this meanes have his head and his heeles both
upon him with this contradiction and say that he may aswel hold that whatsoever is beneath the Primum mobile or starrie firmament ought to be called Below In summe how is the earth called The middle and whereof is it the middle for the universall frame of the world called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is infinit and this infinit which hath neither head nor foot how can it in reason have a navill for even that which we call the mids of any thing is a kinde of limitation whereas infinitie is a meere privation of all limits and bounds As for him who saith it is not in the mids of that universalitie but of the world he is a pleasant man if he thinke not withall that the world it selfe is subject to the same doubts and difficulties for the said universall frame leaveth not unto the very world a middle but is without a certeine seat without assured footing mooving in a voidnesse infinite not into some one place proper unto it and if haply it should meet with some any other cause of stay and so abide stil the same is not according to the nature of the place And as much may we conjecture of the Moone that by the meanes of some other soule or nature or rather of some difference the earth 〈◊〉 firme beneeath and the Moone mooveth Furthermore you see how they are not ignorant of a great errour and inconvenience for if it be true that whatsoever is without the centre of the earth it skils not how is to be counted Above and Aloft then is there no part of the world to be reckoned Below or Beneath but aswell the earth it selfe as al that is upon it shal be above aloft and to be short every bodie neere or about the centre must go among those things that are aloft neither must we reckon any thing to be under or beneath but one pricke or point which hath no bodie and the same forsooth must make head and stand in opposition necessarily against all the whole nature besides of the world in case according to the course of nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say above and beneath be opposite And not onely this absurdity will follow but also all heavie and ponderous bodies must needs lose the cause for which they bend and incline hither for bodie there will be none toward which it should move and as for this pricke or centre that hath no bodie there is no likelihood neither would they themselves have it so that it should be so puissant and forcible as to draw to it and reteine about it all things And if it be found unreasonable and repugnant to the course of nature that the world should be all above and nothing beneath but a terme or limit and the same without body without space and distance then this that we say is yet more reasonable namely that the region beneath and that above being parted distinctly one from another have neverthelesse ech of them a large and spacious roume to round themselves in But suppose if it please you it were against nature that terrestriall bodies should have any motion in heaven let us consider gently and in good termes not after a tragicall maner but mildly This prooveth not by-and-by that the Moone is not earth but rather that earth is in some place where naturally it should not be for the fire of the mountaine Aetna is verily under the ground against the nature of it howbeit the same ceaseth not therefore to be fire The winde conteined within leather bottles is of the owne nature light and given to mount upward but by force it commeth to be there where naturally it ought not to be Our very soule it selfe I beseech you in the name of Jupiter is it not against nature deteined within the body being light in that which is heavie being of a firie substance in that which is colde as yee your 〈◊〉 and being invisible in that which is grosse and palpable do we therefore denie that the soule is within the bodie that it is a divine substance under a grosse and heavie masse that in a moment it passeth thorowout heaven earth and sea that it pierceth and entreth within flesh nerves and marrow and finally is the cause together with the humors of infinit passions And even this Jupiter of yours such as you imagine and depaint him to be is he not of his owne nature a mighty and perpetuall fire howbeit now he submitteth himselfe and is pliable subject he is to all formes and apt to admit divers mutations Take heed therefore and be well advised good sir lest that in transferring and reducing every thing to their naturall place you doe not so philosophize as that you will bring in a dissolution of all the world and set on foot againe that olde quarrell and contention among all things which Empedocles writeth of or to speake more to the purpose beware you raise not those ancient Titans and Giants to put on armes against nature and so consequently endevour to receive and see againe that fabulous disorder and confusion whereby all that is weightie goeth one way and whatsoever is light another way apart Where neither light some countenance of Sunne nor earth all greene With herbs and plants admired is nor surging sea is seene according as Empedocles hath written wherein the earth feeleth no heat nor the water any winde wherein there is no ponderosity above nor lightnesse beneath but the principles and elements of all things be by themselves solitary without any mutuall love or dilection betweene them not admitting any society or mixture together but avoiding and turning away one from the other mooving apart by particular motions as being disdainfull proud and carying themselves in such sort as all things do where no god is as Plato saith that is as those bodies are affected wherein there is no understanding nor soule untill such time as by some divine providence there come into nature a desire and so amity Venus and Love be there engendred according to the sayings of Empedocles Parmenides and Hesiodus to the end that changing their naturall places and communicating reciprocally their gifts and faculties some driven by necessity to moove other bound to rest they be all forced to a better state remitting somewhat of their 〈◊〉 and yeelding one to another they grew at length unto accord harmony and societie For if there had not beene any other part of the world against nature but that ech one had bene both in place and for quality as it ought naturally to be without any need of change or transposition so that there had beene nothing at the first wanting I greatly doubt what and wherein was the worke of divine providence or whereupon it is that Jupiter was the father creator and maker For in a campe or field there would be no need of a man who is expert and skilfull in ranging and ordering of battell
also powre forth our praiers unto them for to have their answere from the Oracles and to what purpose I pray you if it be true that our owne soules bring with them a propheticall facultie and vertue of divination and the cause which doth excite and actuate the same be some temperature of the aire or rather of winde What meanes then the sacred institutions and creations of these religious prophetesses ordained for the pronouncing of answeres And what is the reason that they give no answere at all unlesse the host or sacrifice to be killed tremble all over even from the very feet and shake whiles the libaments effusions of halowed liquors be powred upon it For it is not enough to wag the head as other beasts doe which are slaine for sacrifice but this quaking panting and shivering must be throughout all the parts of the body and that with a trembling noise For if this be wanting they say the Oracle giveth no answere neither doe they so much as bring in the religious priestesse Pythia And yet it were probable that they should both doe and thinke thus who attribute the greatest part of this propheticall inspiration either to God or Daemon But according as you say there is no reason or likelihood therof for the exhalation that ariseth out of the ground whether the beast tremble or no will alwaies if it be present cause a ravishment and transportation of the spirit and evermore dispose the soule alike not onely of Pythia but also of any body else that first commeth or is presented And thereupon it followeth that a meere folly it is to employ one silly woman in the Oracle and to put her to it poore soule to be a votary and live a pure maiden all the daies of her life sequestred from the company of man And as for that Coretas whom the Delphians name to have beene the first that chancing to fall into this chinke or crevasse of the ground gave the hansell of the vertue and property of the place in mine opinion he differed nothing at all from other goteheards or shepheards nor excelled them one whit at least wise if this be a truth that is reported of him and not a meere fable and vaine fiction as I suppose it is no better And verily when I consider and discourse in my selfe how many good things this Oracle hath beene cause of unto the Greeks as well in their warres and martiall affaires as in the foundations of cities in the distresses of famine and pestilence me thinkes it were a very indignity and unworthy part to attribute the invention and originall thereof unto meere fortune and chance and not unto God and divine providence But upon this point I would gladly ô Lamprias quoth he have you to dispute and discourse a little how say you Philippus may it please you to have patience the while Most willingly quoth Philippus for my part and so much I may be bold also to promise in the behalfe of all the company for I see well that the question by you proposed hath moved them all And as for my selfe quoth I ô Philippus it hath not onely moved but also abashed and dismaied me for that in this so notable assembly and conference of so many worthy parsonages I may seeme above mine age in bearing my selfe and taking pride in the probability of my wordes to overthrow or to call into question any of those things which truely have beene delivered or religiously beleeved as touching God and divine matters But satisfie you I will and in the defence of my selfe produce for my witnesse and advocate both Plato For this Philosopher reprooved old Anaxagoras in that being to much addicted to naturall causes and entangled with them following also and pursuing alwaies that which necessarily is effected in the passions and affections of naturall bodies he overpassed the finall and efficient causes for which and by which thinges are done and those are indeed the better causes and principles of greater importance whereas himselfe either before or else most of all other Philosophers hath prosecuted them both attributing unto God the beginning of all things wrought by reason and not depriving in the meane while the matter of those causes which are necessary unto the worke done but acknowledging heerein that the adorning and dispose of all this world sensible dependeth not upon one simple cause alone as being pure and uncompound but was engendred and tooke essence when matter was coupled and conjoined with reason That this is so doe but consider first the workes wrought by the hand of Artisans as for example not to goe farther for the matter that same foot heere and basis so much renowmed of the standing cup among other ornaments and oblations of this temple which Herodotus called Hypocreteridion this hath for the materiall cause verily fire iron the mollefying by the meanes of fire and the tincture or dipping in water without which this peece of worke could not possibly have bene wrought But the more principall cause and mistresse indeed which mooved all this and did worke by all these was art and reason applied unto the worke And verily we see that over such peeces whether they be pictures or other representations of things the name of the artificer and workeman is written as for example This picture Polygnotus drew of Troy won long beforne Who father had Aglaophon and was in Thasos borne And verily he it was indeed as you see who painted the destruction of Troy but without colours ground confused and mingled one with another impossible had it beene for him to have exhibited such a picture so faire and beautifull to the eie as it is If then some one come now and will needs medle with the materiall cause searching into the alterations and mutations thereof particularizing of Sinopre mixed with Ochre or Cerusse with blacke doth he impaire or diminish the glory of the painter 〈◊〉 He also who discourseth how iron is hardned and by what meanes mollified and how being made soft and tender in the fire it yeeldeth and obaieth them who by beating and knocking drive it out in length and bredth and afterwards being dipped and plunged into fresh waters still by the actuall coldnesse of the said water for that the fire heats had softened and rarefied it before it is thrust close together and condensate by meanes whereof it getteth that stiffe compact and hard temper of steele which Homer calleth the very force of iron reserveth he for the workeman any thing lesse heereby in the principall cause and operation of his worke I suppose he doth not For some there be who make proofe and triall of Physicke drogues and yet I trow they condemne not thereby the skill of Physicke like as Plato also himselfe when he saith That we doe see because the light of our eie is mixed with the cleerenesse of the Sunne and heare by the percussion and beating of the aire doth not deny that we have the
argument and to charge my discourse over and above therewith that I might prosecute other precepts remayning behinde which concerne the education of yoong men Thus much therefore I say moreover that children must be trained and brought to their duety in all lenity by faire words gentle exhortations and milde remonstrance and in no wise pardie by stripes and blowes For this course of swinging and beating seemeth meete for bondslaves rather than persons of free condition And to say a truth by this meanes they become dull and senselesse nay they have all studie and labour afterwards in hatred and horrour partly for the smart and paine which they abide by such correction and in part by the contumely and reproch that they sustaine thereby Praise and dispraise be farre better and more profitable to children free borne than all the whips rods and boxes in the world the one for to drive them forward to well doing the other to draw them backe from doing ill but both the one and the other are to be used in alternative course One while they would be commended another while blamed and rebuked and namelie if at any time they be too jocund and insolent they ought to be snibbed a little and taken downe yea and put to some light shame but soone after raised up againe by giving them their due praises And herein we must imitate good nourses who when they have set their infants a crying give them the breast for to still them againe Howbeit a measure would be kept and great heed taken that they be not too highly commended for feare least they grow proude and presume overmuch of themselves For when they be praised exceedingly they waxe carelesse dissolute and enervate neither will they be willing afterwards to take more paines Moreover I have knowen certaine fathers who through excessive love of their children have hated them afterwards But what is my meaning by this speech Surely I will declare my minde and make my words plaine anon by an evident example and demonstration Some fathers I say there be who upon a hot and hastie desire to have their children come soone forward and to be the formost in every thing put them to immoderate travell and excessive paines in such sort that they either sincke under the waight of the burden and so fall into greevous maladies or else finding themselves thus surcharged and overladen they are not willing to learne that which is taught them And it fareth with them as it doth with yoong herbes and plants in a garden which so long as they be watered moderately are nourished and thrive very well but if they be overmuch drenched with water they take harme thereby and are drowned Even so we must allow unto children a breathing time betweene their continuall labours considering and making this account That all the life of man is divided into labor rest and for this cause Nature hath so this account That all the life of man is divided into labor rest and for this cause Nature hath so ordained that as there is a time to be awake so we finde a time also to sleepe One while there is warre and another while peace It is not alwaies winter and foule weather but sommer likewise and a faire season There be appointed not onely worke daies to toyle in but also feastivall holidaies to solace and disport our selves In sunne rest and appose is as it were the sance unto our travaile And this we may observe as well in senselesse and livelesse things as in living and sensible creature For we unbend our bowes and let slacke the strings of Lutes Harpes and such musicall instruments to the end that we may bend and stretch the same againe And in one word as the bodie is preserved and maintained by repletion and evacuation successively so the minde likewise by repose and travell in their turnes Furthermore there be other fathers also woorthy of rebuke and blame who after they have once betaken their children to Masters Tutors and Governors never deigne afterwards themselves either to see or heare them whereby they might know how they learne wherein they do faile verie much in their dutie For they ought in proper person to make triall how they profit they should ever and anon after some few daies passed betweene see into their progresse and proceeding and not to repose their hope and rest altogether upon the discretion and disposition of a mercenarie master And verily this carefull regard of the fathers will worke also greater diligence in the master themselves seeing that by this meanes they are called estsoones as it were to account and examine how much they plie their schollers and how they profit under their hands To this purpose may be well applied a prety woord spoken sometimes by a wise estugry of a stable Nothing quoth he feedeth the steede so fat as doth the masters eie But above all things the memorie of children ought daily to be exercised for that it is as a man would say the Treasury Storehouse of all learning Which was the cause that the ancient Poëts have feigned That Lady Mnemosyne that is to say Memorie was the mother of the Muses Whereby they would seeme under an aenigmaticall and darke speech to give us to understand that nothing availeth so much either to breed or to feed and nourish learning as Memorie And therefore great diligence would be used in the exercise thereof everie way whether the children be by nature good of remembrance and retentive or otherwise of a fickle memorie and given to oblivion For the gift of nature in the one by exercise we shall confirme and augment and the imperfection or default in the other by diligence supplie and correct in such sort that as they shall become better than others so these shall proove better then themselves For verie wisely to this purpose said the Poët Hesiodus If little still to little thou do ad a heape at length and mickle will be had Over and besides I would not have fathers to be ignorant of another point also as touching this memorative part faculty of the mind namely that it serveth much not onely to get learning and literature but also is a meanes that carieth not the least stroke in wordly affaires For the remembrance of matters past furnisheth men with examples sufficient to guide and direct them in their consultatious of future things Furthermore this care would be had of yoong children that they be kept from filthie and unseemely speeches For words as Democritus saith are the shadowes of deeds Trained also they must be to be courteous affable faire spoken aswell in intertainment of talke with every one as in saluting and greeting whomsoever they meete for there is nothing in the world so odious as to be coy and surly of speech to make it strange and to disdaine for to speake with men Againe yoong students shall make themselves more lovely and amiable to those with whom
sober countenance better conceiveth and reteineth the good things uttered and withall hath more leasure to marke observe and discerne that which is either unprofitable or false He sheweth himselfe besides to be a lover of the trueth and is not taken for a litigious quareller a rash wrangler or abitterbrawler And therefore some there be who not unaptly say That we ought no lesse but rather more to void out of the minds of yoong men that presumption and foolish opinion which they have of their owne selves than to rid and exclude the winde and aire out of leather bagges or bladders wherewith they are puft and blowen up if we meane to infuse and put any good thing into them for otherwise if they be still full of that swelling winde of arrogancie and overweening of themselves they will never receive and admit any goodnesse Moreover envie accompanied with a maligne eie and ill will is good in no action whatsoever where it is present but as it is an impediment and hinderance to all honest causes so it is the woorst counsellor and assistant that he can have who would be an auditor making all those things that be profitable and for his benefit to seeme odious unpleasant harsh to the eare and hardly admitted for that the nature of envious persons is to take more pleasure in any thing else than in that which is well spoken And verily whosoever repineth and is vexed at the heart to see others rich beautifull or in authoritie is onely envious for greeved he is at the welfare of others but he that taketh discontentment in hearing a wise and sententious speech is offended with the good of his owne selfe for like as the light is a benefit to them that see even so is speech unto the hearers if they will embrace and entertaine the same As for those kinds of envie which arise in regard of other things there be some naughtie passions and vitious conditions of the minde besides that breed and ingender them but that maner of envie which is conceived against them that speake excellently well springeth from a certeine important desire of vaine glorie and unjust ambition which will not suffer him that is so indisposed to give eare and attend unto the words spoken but troubleth disquieteth and distracteth the minde and understanding both to consider at one instant his owne state and sufficiencie whether it be inferior to the conceit and eloquence of the speaker and also to regard and looke upon the countenance of other hearers whether they take contentment and are in admiration of him that maketh the speech yea and withall is happly he be praifed the same minde is woonderfully galled and amazed angrie and ready to fall out with all that be present in case they approove his speech with applanse Herewith it letteth slip also and rejecteth the matter and good sayings that were delivered already for that the remembrance thereof is unsaverie and unpleasant and still he is disquieted and wotteth not what to do hearing out the rest with feare and trembling list haply they should be better than the former never so desirous that the speakers should hasten to an end and have done as when they discourse and speake best Now when the Sermon is ended and the auditorie dissolved what doth this envious spirit then not ruminate be you sure nor consider of the reason and matter delivered but he stirreth the affections and opinions striaghtwaies and gathereth voice as it were in a scrutinie of the audience If he meet with any that give out good words to the praise of the Preacher them hee avoideth and fleeth from as if he were in a furious fit of madnesse hapneth he upon such as finde fault and be ready to misconstrue and prevert the words that were spoken to the woorst sense these are they whom hee loveth a life to them he runneth and with them hee sorteth and keepeth companie But say that he finde none of that disposition so as he can not wrest any words to a wrong construction then he falleth to make comparisons and to set against him others yoonger than he who of the same theame have discoursed better with more plausible utterance and greater sorce of eloquence he never ceaseth nor giveth over corrupting misinterpreting and disgracing the whole speech untill he have made the same altogether unprofitable and without any edificat at all to his owne selfe It behooveth therefore that he who desireth to heare take truce for the time with ambition to the end that hee may give eare with patience and mildnesse unto him that maketh an oration or sermon and cary himselfe no otherwise than if he were admitted to some sacred and festival banket or an invited guest to the first frmits of a solemne sacrifice praising his eloquence when he hath spoken well and sufficiently to the piint in any matter accepting favourably and in best part his good will to deliver and communicate to others such things as he knew and to perswade his hearers with those reasons and motives which had induced and perswade himselfe Neither must our auditours make this reckoning and conclusion That whatsoever hath beene singularly well delivered by the speaker ought to be ascribed to chance and fortune as if he hada let fall his words at aventuer but impute the same to his diligence labour and art yea and he ought to imitate the same with a kinde of zeale and admiration But whereas he hath faulted and done amisse it is the part of an hearer to bend his minde and consider well and circumspectly what might the cause and occision be of such errour For like as accoding to Xenophon good houshoulders know how to make profit and use aswell of their enemies as their friends even so they that be vigilant and attentive hearers take good not onely by them that speake well but by those also that misse and faile of their purpose for barren triviall and stale invention improper vaine and unsignificant words forced and follish figures abrupt fond and unseemly breakings foorth with joy to some praise and such like impertinences or defects which often times besall unto them that speake in publike place are sooner espied by us that are hearers than observed by themselves who are the speakers And therefore we are to transferre the inquisition and correction of any such fault from them to our selves by examining whether we also may not fault like wise before we be aware For there is nothing in the world more easie than for a man to blame and reprehend his neighbour but such a reprehension verily is vaine and unprofitable unlesse it have a reference to correct and amend the like errours in himselfe In which regard every one ought to be ready in this case according to the advertisement of Plato to say into himselfe Am not I also such an one or doe not I the semblable otherwhiles For even as we see our owne eies shining within the ball or apple or
others be most rash audacious and bolde shewing thereby their shamelesse impudencie which is no good nor true argument of courage and fortitude As for a pretie scoffe pleasantly delivered and in mirth without any wrong meant or touch of credit if a man know how to take it well and be not moved thereby to choler and displeasure but laugh it out it doth argue no base minde nor want of wit and understanding but is a liberall and gentelman-like qualitie savouring much of the ingenuous maner of the Lacedaemonians But to heare a sharpe checke that toucheth the very quicke and a reprehension to reforme maners delivered in cutting and tart words much like unto an egar and biting medicine and therwith not to be cast downe and shrinke together for feare nor to run all into a sweat or be ready to 〈◊〉 and stagger with a dizinesse in the head for very shame that hath set the heart on fire but to seeme inflexible and nothing thereat moved smiling in some sort and drily scoffing after a dissembling maner is a notable signe of a most dissolute and illiberall nature past all grace and that basheth for nothing being so long wonted and inured to euill doing in such sort as the heart and conscience is hardened and overgrowen with a certaine brawne and thicke skinne which will not receive the marke or wale of any lash be it never so smart And as there be many such so you shall meet with other youthes of another nature meere contrary unto them who if they happen but once to be checked and to heare ill are soone gone and will not turne againe but quit the Philosophie schooles for ever These being endued by nature with the good rudiments and beginnings of vertue tending unto felicity another day to wit Shamefastnesse and Abashment loose the benefit thereof in that by reason of their overmuch delicacy and effaeminate minds they can not abide reproofs nor with generositie endure correctious but turne away their itching eares to heare rather the pleasant and smooth tales of some flatterers or sophisters which yeeld them no fruit nor profit at all in the end For as hee who after incision made or the fear of dismembring performed by the Chyrurgian runneth away from him and will not tary to have his wound bound up or seared sustaineth all the paine of the cure but misseth the good that might ensue thereof even so he who unto that speech of the Philosopher which hath wounded and launced his follie and untowardnesse will not give leasure to heale the same up and bring it to a perfect confirmed skin againe goeth his waies with the painfull bit and dolorous sting but wanteth all the helpe and benefit of Philosophie For not onely the hurt that Telephus received as Euripides saith By skales of rust both ease and remedie found Fil'd from the speare that first didmake the wound but also the pricke inflicted upon a towardly yoong man by Philosophie is healed by the same words that did the hurt And therefore when hee findeth himselfe checked and blamed feele he must and suffer some smart abide I say he ought to be bitten but not to be crushed and confounded therewith not to be discouraged and dismaide for ever Thus he is to thinke of himselfe being now inducted in Philosophie as if he were a novice newly instituted and prosessed in some religious orders and sacred mysteries namely that after he hath patiently endured a while the first expiatorie purifications and troubles he may hope at the end thereof to see and finde some sweete and goodly fruit of consolation after this present disquietnesse and agonie Say also that he were wrongfully and without cause thus snubbed and rebuked by the Philosopher yet he shall do well to have patience and sit out the end And after the speech finished he may addresse an Apologie unto him and justifie himselfe praying him to reserve this libertie of speech and vehemency of reproofe which he now used for to represse and redresse some other fault which he shall indeed have committed Moreover like as in Grammar the learning to spel letters and to reade in Musicke also to play upon the Lute or Harpe yea and in bodily exercise the feat of wrestling and other activities at the beginning be painefull cumbersome and exceeding hard but after that one be well entred and have made some progresse therein by little and little continuall use and custome much after the manner of conversing and acquaintance among men maketh maistrie engendreth further knowledge and then everie thing that was stronge and difficult before prooveth familiar and easie ynough both to say and doe Even so it fareth in Philosophie whereat the first there seemeth no doubt to be some strangenesse obscuritie and I wot not what barrennesse aswell in the termes and words as in the matters therein contained Howbeit for all that a yoong man must not for want of heart be astonied at the first entrance into it nor yet for faintnesse be discouraged and give over but make proofe and triall of every thing persevere and continue in diligence desirous ever to passe on still and proceed further and as it were to draw well before waiting and attending the time which may make the knowledge thereof familiar by use and custome the onely meanes which causeth everie thing that is of it selfe good and honest to be also sweete and pleasant in the ende And verily this familiaritie will come on apace bringing with it a great cleernesse and light of learning it doth ingenerate also an ardent love and affection to vertue without which love a man were most wretched or timorous if he should apply himselfe to follow another course of life having once given over for want of heart the studie of Philosophie But peradventure it may fall out so that young men not well experienced may find at the beginning such difficulties in some matters that hardly or unneth at all they shall be able to comprehend them Howbeit they are themselves partly the cause that they doe incurre this obscuritie and ignorance who being of divers and contrarie natures yet fall into one and the selfesame inconvenience For some upon a certaine respectuous reverence which they bare unto their Reader and Doctour or because they would seeme to spare him are afraid to aske questions and to be confirmed and resolved in doubts arising from the doctrine which he delivereth and so give signes by nodding their heads that they approove all as if they understood everie thing verie well Others againe by reason of a certaine importune ambition and vaine emulation of others for to shew the quicknesse and promptitude of their wit and their readie capacitie giving out that they fully understand that which they never conceived by that meanes attaine to nothing And thus it commeth to passe that those bashfull ones who for modestie and shamefastnes are silent and dare not aske that whereof they are ignorant after they be departed out of
in him somewhat better and somewhat worse And verily by that meanes he that hath the worse part obedient to the better hath powre over himselfe yea and better than himselfe whereas he that suffreth the brutish and unreasonable part of his soule to command and go before so as the better and more noble part doth follow and is serviceable unto it he no doubt is worse than himselfe he is I say incontinent or rather impotent and hath no power over himselfe but disposed contrary to nature For according to the course and ordinance of nature meet and fit it is that reason being divine and heavenly should command and rule that which is sensuall and voide of reason which as it doth arise and spring out of the very bodie so it resembleth it as participating the properties and passions thereof yea and naturally is full of them as being deepely concorporate and throughly mixed therewith As it may appeere by all the motions which it hath tending to no other things but those that be materiall and corporall as receiving their augmentations and diminutions from thence or to say more properly being stretched out and let slacke more or lesse according to the mutations of the body Which is the cause that young persons are quicke prompt and audacious rash also for that they be full of bloud and the same hot their lusts and appetites are likewise firy violent and furious whereas contrariwise in old folke because the source of concupiscence seated about the liver is after a sort quenched yea and become weake and feeble reason is more vigorous and predominant in them as much as the sensuall and passionate part doth languish and decay together with the body And verily this is that which doth frame and dispose the nature of wilde beasts to divers passions For it is not long of any opinions good or bad which arise in them that some of them are strong venterous and fearelesse yea and ready to withstand any perils presented before them others againe be so surprised with feare and fright that they dare not stirre or do any thing but the force and power which lieth in the bloud in the spirits and in the whole bodie is that which causeth this diversitie of passions by reason that the passible part growing out of the flesh as from a roote doeth bud soorth and bring with it a qualitie and pronenesse semblable But in man that there is a sympathie and fellow mooving of the body together with the motions of the passions may be prooved by the pale colour the red flushing of the face the trembling of the joints and panting and leaping of the heart in feare and anger And againe on the contrary side by the dilations of the arteries heart and colour in hope and expectation of some pleasures But when as the divine spirit and understanding of man doeth moove of it selfe alone without any passion then the body is at repose and remaineth quiet not communicating nor participating any whit with the operation of the minde and intendement no more than it being disposed to studie upon any Mathematicall proposition or other science speculative it calleth for the helpe and assistance of the unreasonable part By which it is manifest that there be two distinct parts in us different in facultie and power one from another In summe Go through the universall world althings as they themselves affirme and evident experience doth convince are governed and ordred some by a certeine habitude others by nature some by sensuall and unreasonable soule others by that which hath reason and understanding Of all which man hath his part at once yea and was borne naturally with these differences above said For conteined he is by an habitude nourished by nature reason understanding he useth he hath his portion likewise of that which is unreasonable and inbred there is together with him the source and primitive cause of passions as a thing necessarie for him neither doth it enter into him from without in which regard it ought not to be extirped utterly but hath neede onely of ordering and government whereupon Reason dealeth not after the Thracian maner nor like king Lycurgus who commanded all vines without exception to be cut downe because wine caused drunkennes it rooteth not out I say all affections indifferently one with another the profitable as well as the hurtfull but like unto the good gods 〈◊〉 and Hemorides who teach us to order plants that they may fructifie and to make them gentle which were savage to cut away that which groweth wilde and ranke to save all the rest and so to order and manage the same that it may serve for good use For neither do they shed and spill their wine upon the floure who are afraid to be drunke but delay the same with water nor those who feare the violence of a passion do take it quite away but rather temper and qualifie the same like as folke use to breake horses and oxen from their flinging out with their heeles their stiffenes curstnes of the head stubburnes in receiving the bridle or the yoke but do not restreine them of other motions in going about their worke and doing their deed And even so verily reason maketh good use of these passions when they be well tamed and brought as it were to hand without over weakning or rooting out cleane that part of the soule which is made for to second reason and do it good service For as Pindarus saith The horse doth serve in chariot at the thill The oxe at plough doth labour hardin field Who list in chase the wild Bore for to kill The hardy hound he must provide with skill And I assure you the entertainment of these passions and their breed serve in farre better stead when they doe assist reason and give an edge as it were and vigour unto vertues than the beasts above named in their kind Thus moderate ire doth second valour and fortitude hatred of wicked persons helpeth the execution of Iustice and indignation is just and due unto those who without any merit or desert enjoie the felicitie of this life who also for that their heart is puffed up with foolish arrogancie and enflamed with disdainfull pride and insolence in regard of their prosperitie have need to be taken downe and cooled Neither is a man able by any meanes would he never so faine to separate from true friendship naturall indulgence and kind affection nor from humanitie commiseration and pitie ne yet from perfect benevolence and good will the fellowiship in joy and sorrow Now if it be true as it is indeed that they do grossely erre who would abolish all love because of foolish and wanton love surely they do amisse who for covertousnes sake and greedines of money do blame and condemne quite all other appetites and desires They do I say asmuch as those who would sorbid running altogether because a man may stumble and catch a fall as he runneth
lay hand as it were upō your person in the presence of so many men Whereupon Ptolomaeus being mooved at these suggestions sent unto the man a cup of poison with cōmandement that he should drinke it off Aristophanes also casteth this in Cleon his teeth For that when strangers were in place The towne with termes he did disgrace and thereby provoke the Athenians bring their high displeasure upon him And therfore this regard would be had especially above all others that when we would use our libertie of speech we do it not by way of ostentation in a vaine glorie to be popular and to get applause but onely with an intention to profit and do good yea and to cure some infirmitie thereby Over and besides that which Thucydides reporteth of the Corinthians how they gave out of themselves and not unfitly that it belonged unto them and meet men they were to reproove others the same ought they to have in them that will take upon them to be correctours of other persons For like as Lysander answered to a certeine Megarian who put himselfe forward in an assemblie of associates and allies to speake frankely for the libertie of Greece These words of yours my friend would beseeme to have beene spoken by some puissant State or citie even so it may be said to every one that will seeme freely to reprehend another that he had need himselfe to be in maners wel reformed And this most truly ought to be inferred upon all those that wil seeme to chastice and correct others namely to be wiser and of better government than the rest for thus Plato protested that he reformed Speusippus by example of his owne life and Xenocrates likewise casting but his eie upon Polemon who was come into his schoole like a Ruffian by his very looke onely reclaimed him from his loose life whereas on the contrary side if a light and lewd person one that is full of bad conditions himselfe would seeme to finde fault with others and be busie with his tongue he must be sure alwaies to heare this on both sides of his eares Himselfe all full of sores impure Will others seeme to heale and cure Howbeit forasmuch as oftentimes the case standeth so that by occasion of some affaires we be driven to chastice those with whom we converse when we our selves are culpable and no better than they the most cleanly least offensive way to do it is this To acknowledge in some sort that we be likewise faulty and to include and comprehend our owne persons together with them after which maner is that reproose in Homer Sir Diomede what aileth us how is it come about That we should thus forget to fight who earst were thought so stout Also in another place And now we all unwoorthy are With Hector onely to compare Thus Socrates mildly and gently would seeme to reproove yoong men making semblance as if himselfe were not void of ignorance but had need also to be instructed in vertue and professing that he had need with them to search for the knowledge of trueth for such commonly do win love and credit yea and sooner shall be beleeved who are thought subject to the same faults and seeme willing to correct their friends like as they do their owne selves whereas he who spreadeth and displaieth his owne wings in clapping other mens justifying himselfe as if he were pure sincere faultlesse and without all affections and infirmities unlesse he be much elder than we or in regard of some notable and aprooved vertue in farre higher place of authoritie and in greater reputation than our selves he shall gaine no profit nor do any good but be reputed a busie body and troublesome person And therefore it was not without just cause that good Phoenix in speaking to Achilles alledged his owne misfortunes and namely how in a fit of choler he had like one day to have killed his owne father but that sodeinly he bethought himselfe and changed his minde Least that among the Greekes I should be nam'd A parricide and ever after sham'd which he did no doubt to this end because he would not seeme in childing him to arrogate this praise unto himselfe that he was not subject to anger nor had ever done amisse by occasion of that infirmitie and passion Certes such admonitions as these enter and pierce more effectually into the heart for that they are thought to proceed from a tender compassion and more willing are we to yeeld unto such as seeme to have suffred the like than to those that despise and contemne us But forasmuch as neither the eie when it is inflamed can abide any cleere and shining light nor a passionate minde endure franke speech or a plaine and bare reprehension one of the best and most profitable helps in this case is to intermingle there with a little praise as wereade thus in Homer Now sure me thinks you do not well thus for to leave the field Who all are knowen for doughty knights and best with speare and shield A coward if I saw to slee him would I not reproove But such as you thus for to shrinke my heart doth greatly moove Likewise O Pandar where is now thy bowe where are thine arrowes flight Where is that honour in which none with thee dare strive in fight And verily such oblique reprehensions also as these are most effectuall and woonderfull in reclaming those that be ready to run on end and fall to some grosse enormities as for example What is become of wise Oedipus In riddles areeding who was so famous Also And Hercules who hath endur'd such paine Speakes he these words so foolish and so vaine For this kinde of dealing doth not onely asswage and mitigate the roughnesse and commanding power that is in a reprehension and rebuke but also breedeth in the partie in such sort reprooved a certeine emulation of himselfe causing him to be abashed and ashamed for any follies and dishonest pranks when he remembreth and calleth to minde his other good parts and commendable acts which by this meanes he setteth before his eies as examples and so taketh himselfe for a paterne and president of better things But when we make comparison betweene him and others to wit his equals in age his fellow-citizens or kinsefolks then his vice which in the owne nature is stubburne and opinionative enough becommeth by that meanes more froward and exasperate and often times he will not sticke in a sume and chase to fling away and grumble in this wise Why goe you not then to those that are so much better than I why can you not let me alone but thus trouble me as you do And therefore we must take heed especially that whiles we purpose to tel one plainly of his faults we do not praise others unlesse haply they be his parents as Agamemnon did unto Diomedes A sonne iwis sir Tideus left behinde Unlike himselfe and much growen out of kinde And ulysses in the Tragedie entituled
deciding and judging causes because to authority it addeth violence and insolency nor in the teaching and instruction of our children for it maketh them desperate and haters of learning nor in prosperity for it encreaseth the envy and grudge of men ne yet in adversity because it taketh away pitty and compassion when they who are fallen into any misfortune shew themselves testie froward and quarellous to those who come to moane and mourne with them This did Priamus as we reade in Homer Avant quoth he you chiding guests you odious mates be gone Have you no sorrowes of your owne but you come me to moane On the other side faire conditions and milde behaviour yeeldeth succour and helpe in some cases composeth and ordereth matters aright in others dulceth and alaieth that which is tart and sowre and in one word by reason of that kinde meeke and gentle quality it overcommeth anger and all waiward testinesse whatsoever Thus it is reported of Euclides in a quarrell or variance betweene him and his brother For when his brother had contested and said unto him I would I might die if be not revenged of thee he inferred againe Nay let me die for it if I perswade thee not otherwise before I have done by which one word he presently woon his brothers heart so that he changed his mind and they parted friends Polemon likewise at a certaine time when one who loved precious stones was sicke for faire costly rings such like curious jewels did raile at him outragiously answered not a word againe but looked very wistly upon one of the signets that the other had and well considered the fashion and workemanship thereof which when the party perceived taking as it should seeme no small contentment and being very well pleased that he so porused his jewell Not so Polemon quoth he againe but looke upon it thus betweene you and the light and then you will thinke it much more beautifull Aristippus fell out upon a time I know not how with Aeschines and was in a great choler and fit of anger How now Aristippus quoth one who heard him so high at such hot words where is your amity friendship all this while Mary asleepe quoth he but I wil waken it anon With that he stept close to Atschines and said Thinke you me so unhappy every way and incurable that I deserved not one admonishment at your hands No marvell quoth Aeschines againe if thought you who for naturall wit in all things els excel me to see better in this case also than I what is meet and expedient to be done For true it is that the Poet saith The boare so wilde whose necke with hristles strong Is thicke beset the tender hand and soft Of woman nice yea and of infant yong By stroking faire shall bend and turne full oft Much sooner farre and that with greater case Than wrestlers strong with all their force and peise And we our selves can skill how to tame wilde beasts we know how to make yoong woolves gentle yea and lions whelps other-whiles we cary about with us in our armes but see how we againe afterwards in a raging fit of choler be ready to fling from us and cast out of our sight our owne children our friends and familiars and all our houshold servants our fellow citizens and neighbours we let loose our ire like some savage and furious beast and this rage of ours we disguise and cloke forsooth with a colourable and false name calling it Hatred of vice But heerein I suppose we doe no otherwise than in the rest of our passions and diseases of the minde tearming one Providence and forecast another Liberalitie and a third Pietie and religion and yet for all these pretenses of goodly names we can not be cured of the vices which they palliate to wit Timorousnesse Prodigalitie and Superstition And verily like as our naturall seed as Zeno said is a certeine mixture and composition derived and extracted from all the powers and faculties of the soule even so in mine opinion a man may say that choler is a miscellane feed as it were and a dregge made of all the passions of the mind for plucked it is from paine pleasure and insolent violence Of envie it hath this qualitie to joy in the harmes of other men it standeth much upon murder but woorse it is simply than murder for the wrathfull person striveth and laboureth not to defend and save himselfe from taking harme but so he may mischiefe and overthrow another he careth not to come by a hurt and shrewd turne himselfe It holdeth likewise of concupiscence and lust and taketh of it the worse and more unpleasant part in case it be as it is indeed a desire and appetite to greeve vexe and harme another And therefore when we approch and come neere to the houses of luxurious and riotous persons we heare betimes in the morning a minstrel-wench sounding and playing the Morrow-watch by breake of day we see the muddy-grounds and dregs as one was wont to say of the wine to wit the vomits of those who cast up their stomacks we behold the peeces and fragments of broken garlands and chaplets and at the dore we finde the lackies and pages of them who are within drunken and heavie in the head with tipling strong wine But the signes that tell where hastie cholericke and angry persons dwell appeere in the faces of their servants in the marks and wales remaining after their whipping and in their clogs yrons and fetters about their feete For in the houses of hastie and angrie men a man shall never heare but one kind of musicke that is to say the heavie note of wailing grones and piteous plaints whiles either the stewards within are whipped and scourged or the maidens racked put to torture in such sort that you would pitie to see the dolors paines of yre which she suffreth in those things that she lusteth after taketh pleasure in And yet as many of us as happen to be truly justly surprised with choler oftentimes for the harted detestation that we have of vices ought to cut off that which is excessive therein and beyond measure together with our over-light beleefe and credulitie of reports concerning such as converse with us For this is one of the causes that most of all doth engender and augment choler when either he whom we tooke for an honest man prooveth dishonest and is detected for some naughtinesse or whom we reputed our friend is fallen into some quarrell and variance with us as for my selfe you know my nature and disposition what small occasions make me both to love men effectually and also to trust them confidently and therefore just as it falleth out with them who go over a false floore where the ground is not fast but hollow under their feete where I leane most and put my greatest trust for the love that I beare there I offend most and soonest catch
the said counsels be enriched with notable examples similitudes and sentences which no doubt would have 〈◊〉 much more forcible and effectuall if the principall in deed had bene joined therewith to wit true pietie and religion which hath beene cleane omitted by the aut hour who in deed never knew what was the onely true and perfect tranquillitie of the soule Howbeit woonderfull it is how he should proceed so farre as he doeth having no other helpe and meanes but his owne selfe which may so much the better serve our turnes considering that we have aides and guides farre more excellent to bring us so farre as to make entrie and take assured possession of that soveraigne good and felicity whereof hee here speaketh OF THE TRANQVILLITY AND contentment of minde PLUTARCH to PACCIUS sendeth greeting OVerlate it was before I received your letter wherein you requested me to write somwhat as touching the Tranquillity of the Soule and withall of certaine places in Platoes Dialogue Timaeus which seeme to require more exact exposition but so it happened that at the very same time your friend and mine Eros had occasion to saile with speed to Rome upon the receit of certeine letters from that right worshipfull gentleman Fundanus by vertue whereof he was to depart suddenly and to repaire unto him with all expedition By which occasion having not sufficient time and leasure to performe your request in such maner as I purposed yetunwilling that the man coming from me should be seene of you emptie-handed I have collected certaine notes chosen out of those commentaries which for mine owne memorie private use I had compiled long before concerning this argument to wit The Tranquillity contentment of spirit supposing that you also demaund this present discourse not for any pleasure that you take to read a treatise penned curiously and affecting or hunting after fine phrases and exquisite words but onely in regard of some doctrine that may serve your turne and helpe you to the framing of your life as you ought knowing withall full well for the which I doe congratulate and rejoice heartily on your behalfe that notwithstanding your inward acquaintance friendship and favor with the best and principall persons of the citie and that for eloquence you come behind none that plead causes at the bar in open court but are reputed a singular Oratour yet for all that you do not as that Tragicall Merops suffer your selfe foolishly and beyond the course of nature to be carried away as he was with the vaine-glorie and applause of the multitude when they do admire and account you happie therefore but still you keepe in memorie that which oftentime you have heard from us That it is neither a rich Patritians shooe that cureth the gout in the feet nor a costly and pretious ring that healeth the whitflaw or felon in the fingers nor yet a princely diademe that easeth the head-ach For what use is there at all of goods and riches to deliver the soule from griefe and sorrow or to lead a life in rest and repose without cares and troubles What good is there of great honors promotions and credit in court unlesse they that have them know how to use the same well and honestly and likewise if they be without them can skill how to finde no misse of them but be alwaies accompanied with contentment never coveting that which is not And what is this else but reason accustomed and exercised before hand quickly to restreine and eftsoones to reprehend the passionate and unreasonable part of the soule which is given oftentimes to breake out of her bounds and not to suffer her to range and vague at her pleasure and to be transported by the objects presented unto her Like as therfore Xenophon giveth us good counsell Alwaies to remember the gods and most of all to worship and honor them when we are in prosperitie to the end that whensoever we stand in neede we may more boldly invocate and call upon them with full assurance that they will supply our necessities being thus before-hand made propitious and gratious unto us even so wisemen and such as are of good conceit ought alwaies to be furnished and well provided of reasons sufficient to serve their turne for to encounter their passions before they arise to the end that being once laide up in store they may doe most good when time serveth For as curst and angrie mastives by nature which at every noise that they heare keepe an eager baying and barking as if they were affrighted become quiet and appeased by one onely voice which is familiar unto them and wherewith they have beene acquainted so it is no small paine and trouble to still and compose the passions of the minde shittish as they be and growne wilde unlesse a man have ready at hand proper and familiar reasons to represse the same so soone as ever they begin to stir and grow out of order Now as touching those who affirme that if a man would live in tranquillity and rest he ought not to meddle nor deale in many affaires either in publike or private First and formost thus I say that they would make us pay deere for tranquillitie of minde when they would have us buy when he was bidden to stand up but cavilled with him after a mocking and jesting maner what quoth he and if you sold a fish would you bid it rise up Likewise Socrates discoursed familiarly with his fellowes and followers as touching Philosophie even when he was in prison Wheras Phaethon notwithstanding he was mounted up into heaven wept for anger and despight that no man would give him the rule and regiment of the charriot-steeds belonging to the sunne his father And as a shoe is wrested and turned according to the fashion of a crooked or splay-foot but never doth the foot writhe to the forme of a shoe even so it is for all the world with the dispositions of mens minds they frame their lives and make them like thereto For it is not use and custome that causeth the best life to be pleasant also unto them that have made choise thereof as some one haply is of opinion but wisedome rather and discretion maketh that life which is best to be also sweetest and most pleasant Since that therefore the source and fountaine of all tranquillitie and contenment of spirit is in our selves let us cleanse and purifie the same spring as cleane as possibly we can that all outward and casuall occurrences whatsoever may be made familiar and agreeable unto us knowing once how to use them well If things go crosse we ought not iwis To fret for why such choler will not boot But he that know's when ought is done amisse To set all straight shall chieve full well I wot Plato therefore compared our life to a game at Tables wherein the plaier is to wish for the luckiest cast of the dice but whatsoever his chance is he must be sure to play it
treatise as touching the amitie of brethren a gift common unto you both as those who are woorthie of the same for seeing that of your owne accord you practise that alreadie which it teacheth and exhorteth unto you shall be thought not so much to be admonished thereby as by your example to confirme and testifie the same which therein is delivered and the joy which you shall conceive to see that approoved and commended which your selves do shall give unto your judgement a farther assurance to continue therein as if your actions were allowed and praised by vertuous and honest beholders of the same Aristarchus verily the father of Theodectes scoffing at the great number of those Sophisters or counterfeit sages in his daies said That in old time hardly could be found seven wise men throughout the world but in our daies quoth he much adoo there is to finde so many fooles or ignorant persons But I may verie well and truely saie That I see in this age wherein we live the amitie of brethren to be as rare as their hatred was in times past The examples whereof being so few as they were among our auncients were thought by men in those daies living notable arguments to furnish Tragedies and Theaters with as matters verie strange and in a manner fabulous But contrariwise all they that live in this age if haply they meete with two brethren that be good and kind one to another woonder and marvell thereat as much as if they saw those Molionides of whom Homer speaketh whose bodies seemed to grow together in one and as incredible and miraculous doe they thinke it that brethren should use in common the patrimonie goods friends and slaves which their fathers left behind unto them as if one and the same soule alone ruled the feet hands and eies of two bodies And yet nature her selfe hath set downe a lively example of that mutuall behaviour and carriage that ought to bee among brethren and the same not farre off but even within our owne bodies wherein she hath framed and devised for the most part those members double and as a man would say brethren-like and twinnes which be necessarie to wit two hands two feet two eies two eares and two nose thrils shewing thereby that she hath thus distinguished them all not onely for their naturall health and safetie but also for a mutuall and reciprocall helpe and not for to quarrell and fight one with another As for the hands when she parted them into many fingers and those of unequallength and bignesse she hath made them of all other organicall parts the most proper artificious and workemanlike instruments insomuch as that ancient Philosopher Anaxagoras ascribed the verie cause of mans wisedome and understanding unto the hands Howbeit the contrarie unto this should seeme rather to be true for man was not the wisest of all other living creatures in regard of his hands but because by nature being eudued with reason given to be wittie and capable of arts and sciences he was likewise naturally furnished with such instruments as these Moreover this is well knowen unto everie man that nature hath formed of one and the same seed as of one principle of life two three and more brethren not to the end that they should be at debate and variance but that being apart and asunder they might the better and more commodiously helpe one another For those men with three bodies and a hundred armes apiece which the Poëts describe unto us if ever there were any such being joined and growen together in all their parts were not able to doe any thing at all when they were parted asunder or as it were without themselves which brethren can doe well enough namely dwell and keepe within house and go abroad together meddle in affaires of State exercise husbandrie and tillage one with another in case they preserve and keepe well that principle of amity and benevolence which nature hath given them For otherwise they should I suppose nothing differ from those feet which are readie to trip or supplant one another and cause them to catch a fall or they should resemble those hands and fingers which enfolded and claspe one another untowardly against the course of nature But rather according as in one and the same bodie the cold the hot the drie and the moist participating likewise in one and the same nature and nourishment if they doe accord and agree well together engender an excellent temperature and most pleasant harmonie to wit the health of the bodie without which neither all the wealth of the world as men say Nor power of roiall majestie Which equall is to deitie have any pleasure grace or profit but in case these principall elements of our life covet to have more than their just proportion and thereupon breake out into a kind of civill sedition seeking one to surcrease and over-grow another soone there ensueth a filthie corruption and confusion which overthroweth the state of the bodie and the creature it selfe semblably by the concord of brethren the whole race and house is in good case and flourisheth the friends and familiars belonging to them like a melodious quire of muscicians make a sweet consent and harmonie for neither they doe nor say not thinke any thing that jarreth or is contrarie one to the other Wher as in discord such and taking part The worse est soones do speed whiles better smart to wit some ill-tongued varlet and pickthanke carrie-tale within the house or some flattering claw-backe comming betweene and entring into the house or else some envious and malicious neighbour in the citie For like as diseases do ingender in those bodies which neither receive nor stand well affected to their proper familiar nourishment many appetites of strange and hurtfull meates even so a slanderous calumniation of jealousie being gotten once among those of a blood kindred doth draw and bring withal evill words and naughtie speechs which from without are alwaies readie enough to runne thither where as a breach lieth open and where there is some fault alreadie That divine master and soothsaier of Arcadie of whom Herodotus writeth when he had lost one of his owne naturall feet was forced upon necessitie to make himselfe another of wood but a brother being fallen out and at warre with a brother and constrained to get some stranger to be his companion either out of the market place and common hall of the citie as he walketh there or from the publike place of exercise where he useth to behold the wrestlers and others in my conceit doth nothing else but willingly cut-off a part or limme of his owne bodie made of flesh and engraffed fast unto him for to set another in the place which is of another kinde and altogether a stranger For even necessitie it selfe which doth entertaine approove and seeke for friendship and mutuall acquaintance teacheth us to honor chearish and preserve that which is of the same nature and kind
in the meane while they perceive not how they receive into the mids of them and suffer to traverse and crosse them men of a currish and dogged nature who can do nothing els but barke betweene and sowe false rumours and calumniations betweene one and another for to provoke them to jarre and fall together by the eares and therefore to great reason and very well to this purpose said Theophrastus That if al things according to the old proverbe should be common among friends then most of all they ought to enterteine friends in common for private familiarities and acquaintances apart one from another are great meanes to disjoine and turne away their hearts for if they fall to love others and make choise of other familiar friends it must needs follow by consequence to take pleasure and delight in other companies to esteeme and affect others yea and to suffer themselves to be ruled and led by others For friendships and amities frame the natures and dispositions of men neither is there a more certeine and assured signe of different humors and divers natures than the choise election of different friends in such sort as neither to eate and drinke not to play not to passe and spend whole daies together in good fellowship and companie is so effectuall to hold and maintaine the concord and good will of brethren as to hate and love the same persons to joy in the same acquaintance and contrariwise to abhor and shun the same companie for when brethren have friends common betweene them the said friends will never suffer any surmises calumniations quarrels to grow betweene and say that peradventure there do arise some sudden heat of choler or grudging fit of complaint presently it is cooled quenched and suppressed by the mediation of common friends for readie they will be to take up the quarrell and scatter it so as it shall vanish away to nothing if they be indifferently affectionate to them both and that their love incline no more to the one side than to the other for like as tin-soder doth knit and rejoyne a crackt peece of brasse in touching and taking hold of both sides and edges of the broken peeces for that it agreeth and forteth as well to the one as to the other and suffreth from them both alike even so ought a friend to be fitted and sutable indifferently unto both brethren if he would knit surely and confirme strongly their mutuall benevolence and good will But such as are unequall and cannot intermeddle and go betweene the one as well as the other make a separation and disjunction and not a sound joint like as certeine notes or discords in musicke And therefore it may well bee doubted and question made whether Hesiodus did well or no when he said Make not a feere I thee advise Thy brothers peere in any wise For a discreet and sober companion common to both as I said before or rather incorporat as it were into them shall ever be a sure knot to fasten brotherly love But Hesiodus as it should seeme meant and feared this in the ordinary and vulgar sort of men who are many of them naught by reason that so customably they be given to jealousie and suspition yea and to selfe-love which if we consider and observe it is well but with this regard alwaies that although a man yeeld equall good will unto a friend as unto a brother yet neverthelesse in case of concurrence he ought to reserve ever the preeminence and first place for his brother whether it be in preferring him in any election of Magistrates or to the mannaging of State affaires or in bidding and inviting him to a solemne feast or publike assembly to consult and debate of weightie causes or in recommending him to princes great lords For in such cases which in the common opinion of the world are reputed matters of honor and credit a man ought to render the dignitie honor and reward which is beseeming and due to blood by the course of nature For in these things the advantage and prerogative will not purchase so much glorie and reputation to a friend as the repulse and putting-by bring disgrace discredit and dishonor unto a brother Well as touching this old said saw and sentence of Hestodus I have treated more at large elsewhere but the sententious saying of Menander full wisely set downe in these words No man who lov's another shall you see Well pleas'd himselfe neglected for to bee putteth us in minde and teacheth us to have good regard and care of our brethren and not to presume so much upon the obligation of nature as to despise them For the horse is a beast by nature loving to a man and the dog loves his master but in case you never thinke upon them nor see unto them as you ought they wil forgoe that kind affectiō estrange themselves take no knowledge of you The bodie also is most necrely knit and united to the soule by the greatest bond of nature that can be but in case it be neglected and contemned by her or not cherrished so tenderly as it looketh to be unwilling shall you see it to helpe and assist her nay full untowardly will it execute or rather give over it will altogether everie action Now to come more neere and to particularise upon this point honest and good is that care and diligence which is emploied and shewed to thy brethren themselves alone but better it would be farre if thy love and kind affections be extended as far as to their wives fathers and daughters husbands by carrying a friendly minde and readie will to pleasure them likewise and to do for them in all their occasions if they be courteous and affable in saluting their servants such especially as they love and favour thankfull and beholding to their Physicians who had them in cure during sicknesse and were diligent about them acknowledging themselves bound unto their faithfull and trustie friends or to such as were willing and forward to take such part as they did in any long voyage and expedition or to beare them company in warfare And as for the wedded wife of a brother whom he is to reverence repute and honor no lesse than a most sacred and holy relique or monument if at any time he happen to see her it will be come him to speake all honour and good of her husband before her or to be offended and complaine as well as she of her husband if he set not that store by her as he ought and when she is angred to appease and still her Say also that she have done some light fault and offended her husband to reconcile him againe unto her and entreat him to be content and to pardon her and likewise if there be some particular and private cause of difference betweene him and his brother to acquaint the wife therewith and by her meanes to complaine thereof that she may take up the matter by composition
to aske at my hands and not in such as be necessarie and requisite If it be so I say see that you be not like unto him that praiseth a pompe and solemne shew of plaies and games more than life indeed which standeth upon things necessary The procession and solemnitie of the Bacchanales which was exhibited in our countrey was woont in old time to be performed after a plaine and homely manner merily and with great joy You should have seene there one carying a little barrell of wine another a branch of a vine tree after him comes one drawing and plucking after him a goate then followeth another with a basket of dried figs and last of all one that bare in shew Phallus that is to say the resemblance of the genitall member of a man but now adaies all these ceremonies are despised neglected and in maner not at all to be seene such a traine there is of those that carie vessels of gold and silver so many sumptuous and costly robes such stately chariots richly set out are driven drawen with brave steeds most gallantly dight besides the pageants dumbe-shewes and maskes that they hide and obscure the auncient and true pompe according to the first institution and even so it is in riches the things that be necessarie and serve for use and profit are overwhelmed and covered with needlesse toies and superfluous vanities I assure you the most part of us be like unto young Telemachus who for want of knowledge and experience or rather indeed for default of judgement and discretion when hee beheld Nestors house furnished with beds tables hangings tapistrie apparell and well provided also of sweete and pleasant wines never reckoned the master of the house happie for having so good provision of such necessarie and profitable things but being in Menelaus his house and seeing there store of Ivorie gold and silver and the mettall Electrum he was ravished and in an ecstasie with admiration thereof and brake out in these words Like unto this the pallace all within I judge to be Of Jupiter that mightie god who dwels in azure skie How rich how faire how infinite are all things which I see My heart as I do them behold is ravish't woonder ouslie But Socrates or Diogenes would have said thus rather How many wretched things are here how needlesse all and vaine When I them view I laugh thereat of them I am not faine And what saiest thou foolish and vaine sot as thou art Where as thou shouldest have taken from thy verie wife her purple her jewels and gaudie ornaments to the end that shee might no more long for such superfluitie nor runne a nodding after forrein vanities farre fetcht and deere bought doest thou conrrariwise embellish and adorne thy house like a theatre scaffold and stage to make a goodly sight for those that come into the Shew-place Loe wherein lieth the felicitie and happines that riches bringeth making a trim shew before those who gaze upon them and to testifie and report to others what they have seene set this aside that they be not shewed to all the world there is nothing at all therein to reckon But it is not so with temperance with philosophie with the true knowledge of the gods so farre foorth as is meete and behoovefull to be knowen for these are the same still and all one although everie man attaine not thereto but all others be ignorant thereof This pietie I say and religion hath alwaies a great light of her owne and resplendant beames proper to it selfe wherewith it doth shine in the soule evermore accompanied with a certaine joy that never ceaseth to take contentment in her owne good within whether any one see it or no whether it bee unknowen to gods and men or no it skilleth not Of this kinde and nature is vertue indeed and trueth the beautie also of the Mathematicall sciences to wit Geometrie and Astrologie unto which who will thinke that the gorgeous trappings and capparisons the brooches collars and carkans of riches are any waies comparable which to say a truth are no better than jewels and ornaments good to trim yoong brides and set out maidens for to be seene and looked at For riches if no man doe regard behold and set their eies on them to say a trueth is a blinde thing of it selfe and sendeth no light at all nor raies from it for certainely say That a rich man dine and sup privately alone or with his wife and some inward and familiar friends he troubleth not himselfe about furnishing of his table with many services daintiedishes and festivall fare he stands not so much upon his golden cups and goblets but useth those things that be ordinarie which goe about everie daie and come next hand as well vessell as viands his wife sits by his side and beares him companie not decked and hung with jewels and spangles of gold not arraied in purple but in plaine attire and simply clad but when he makes a feast that is to say sets out a theater wherein the pompes and shewes are to meet and make a jangling noise together when the plaies are to be represented of his riches and the solemne traine therof to be brought in place then comes abroad his brave furniture indeed then he fetcheth out of the ship his faire chaufers and goodly pots then bringeth hee foorth his rich three-footed tables then come abroad the lampes candlesticks and branches of silver the lights are disposed in order about the cups the cup-bearers skinkers and tasters are changed all places are newly dight and covered all things are then stirred and remooved that saw no sunne long before the silver plate the golden vessels and those that be set and enriched with pretious stones to conclude now there is no shew els but of riches at such a time they confesse themselves and will be knowen wealthy But all this while whether a rich man suppe alone or make a feast temperance is away and true contentment OF THE NATVRALL LOVE OR KINDNES OF PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN The Summarie WIsely said one whosoever it was That to banish amitie and friendship from among men were as great hurt to the societie of mankinde as to deprive them of the light and heat of the Sunne which being verified and found true in the whole course of this life and in the maintenance of all estates not without great cause Nature hath cast and sprinkled the seed thereof in the generation and nourishment of a race and linage whereof she giveth evident testimonies in brute beasts the better to moove and incite us to our duety That we may see therefore this pretious seed and graine of amitie how it doth flower and fructifie in the world we must begin at the love and naturall kindnesse of fathers and mothers to their children for if this be well kept and mainteined there proceed from it an infinite number of contentments which do much asswage and ease the inconveniences
that prudence and wisedome over-ruleth this blind fortune by considering the maistrie and dominion that man hath above beasts the arts also and sciences whereof he maketh profession together with his judgement and will directly opposite and contrarie to all casualties and changes OF FORTVNE BLind fortune rul's mans life alway Sage counsell therein beares no sway said one who ever it was that thought all humane actions depended upon meer casualtie and were not guided by wisedome What and hath justice and equitie no place at all in this world can temperance and modestie do nothing in the direction and managing of our affaires Came it from fortune and was it indeedby meere chance that Aristides made choise to continue in povertie when it was in his power to make himselfe a Lord of much wealth and many goods or that Scipio when he had forced Carthage tooke not to himselfe nor so much as saw any part of all that pillage And was it long of fortune or by casualty that Philocrates having received of King Philip a great summe of gold bought therewith harlots and daintie fishes or that Lasthenes and Euthycrates betraied the citie Olynthus measuring soveraigne good and felicity of man by belly-cheere and those pleasures which of all other be most dishonest and infamous And shall we say it was a worke of fortune that Alexander sonne of Philip not onely himselfe forbare to touch the bodies of the captive women taken in war but also punished all such as offred them violence and injurie and contrariwise came it by ill lucke and unhappie fortune that another Alexander the sonne of King Priamus slept and lay with his friends wife when he lodged and entertained him in his house and not only so but carried her away with him and by that occasion brought all manner of calamitie upon two maine parts of the continent to wit Europe and Asia and filled them both with those miseries that follow warres If we graunt that all these occurrents came by fortune what should let us but we might as well say that cats goats and apes be likewise by fortune given to be alwaies lickorous lecherous shrewd and sawcy But in case it be true as true it is that the world hath in it temperance justice and fortitude what reason is there to say that there is no prudence and wisdome therein now if it be yeelded that the world is not void of prudence how can it be maintained that there should not be in it sage counsell For temperance as some say is a kinde of prudence and most certeine it is that justice should be assisted by prudence or to say more truely ought to have it present with her continually Certes sage counsell wisdome in the good use of pleasures and delights whereby we continue honest we ordinarily do call continence and temperance the same in dangers and travels we tearme to lerance patience and fortitude in contracts and management of State affaires we give the name of loialtie equitie and justice whereby it commeth to passe that if we will attribute the effects of counsell and wisedome unto fortune we must likewise ascribe unto her the works of justice and temperance And so beleeve me to rob and steale to cut purses and to keepe whores must proceed from fortune which if it be so let us abandon all discourse of our reason and betake our selves wholly to fortune to be driven and caried to and fro at her pleasure like to the dust chaffe or sweepings of the floore by the puffes of some great wind Take away sage discreet counsell farewel then all consultation as touching affaires away with deliberation consideration and inquisition into that which is behovefull and expedient for surely then Sophocles talked idlely and knew not what he spake in saying thus Seeke and be sure to finde with diligence But loose what you for-let by negligence And in another place where dividing the affaires of man he saith in this wise What may be taught I strive to learne what may likewise be found I seeke for wishes all I pray and would to God be bound Now would I gladly know what is it that men may finde and what can they learne in case all things in the world be directed by fortune What Senate house of citie would not be dissolved and abolished what counsell chamber of Prince should not be overthrowen and put downe if all were at the disposition of fortune we doe her wrong in reproching her for blindesse when we runne upon her as we doe blinde and debasing our selves unto her for how can wee chuse but stumble upon her indeed if we plucke out our owne eies to wit our wisdome dexteritie of counsell and take a blinde guide to lead us by the hand in the course of this our life Certes this were even as much as it some one of us should say the action of those that see is fortune and not sight or eies which Plato calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Light-bearers the action likewise of them that heare is nothing else but fortune and not a naturall power and facultie to receive the stroke or repercussion of the aire carried by the care and the braine But better it were I trow and so will everie wise bodie thinke to take heed how to discredit our senses so as to submit them to fortune For why Nature hath bestowed upon us sight hearing taste and smelling with all the parts of the body indued with the rest of their powers and faculties as ministers of counsell and wisedome For it is the soule that seeth it is the soule understanding that heareth all the rest are deafe and blinde and like as if there were no sunne at all we should for all the starres besides live in perpetuall night as Heraclitus saith even so if man had not reason and intelligence notwithstanding all his other senses he should not differ in the whole race of his life from brute and wilde beasts but now in that we excell and rule them all it is not by chance and fortune but Prometheus that is to say the use and discourse of reason is the very cause that hath given us in recompence Both horse and asse with breed of beefs so strong To cary us and ease our labour long according as we read in Aeschylus the poet Forasmuch as otherwise fortune and nature both have beene more favourable and beneficiall to most of the brute beasts in their entrance into this life than unto man for armed they be with hornes tusks spurs and stings moreover as Empedocles saith The Urchin strikes with many a pricke Which grow on backe both sharpe and thicke Againe there be many beasts clad and covered with scales and shag haire shod also with claws and hard hooses onely man as Plato saith is abandoned and forsaken by nature all naked unarmed unshod and without any vesture whatsoever But by one gift which she hath given Amends she makes and all is even
notwithstanding that they do reape commoditie find favour at their hands who prosper more than they yet they grieve and vexe thereat envying them still both for their good mind to benefit them and for their might and abilitie to performe the same for that the one proceedeth from vertue and the other from an happie estate both which are good things We may therefore conclude that envie is a passion farre different from hatred since it is so that wherewith the one is appeased and mollified the other is made more exasperate and greevous But let us consider a little in the end the scope and intention aswel of the one as the other Certes the man that is malicious purposeth fully to do him a mischiefe whom he hateth so that this passion is defined to be a disposition and forward will to spie out an occasion opportunitie to wait another a shrewd turne but surely this is not in envie for many there be who have an envious eie to their kinsfolke and companions whom they would not for all the good in the world see either to perish or to fall into any greevous calamitie onely they are greeved to see them in such prosperitie and would impeach what they can their power and ecclypse the brightnesse of their glorie mary they would not procure nor desire their utter overthrow nor any distresses remedilesse or extreame miseries but it would content and suffice them to take downe their height and as it were the upmost garret or turret of an high house which overlooketh them HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE PROFIT BY HIS ENEMIES The Summarie AMong the dangerous effects of envie and hatred this is not the least nor one of the last that they shoot as it were from within our adversaries for to slide and enter into us and take possession in our hearts making us beleeve that we shall impeach one evill by another which is as much as to desire to cleanse one or dure by a new and to quench a great fire by putting into it plentie of oile As for hatred it hath another effect nothing lesse pernictous in that it maketh us blinde and causeth us that we can not tell at which end of turning to take our enemies nor know our selves how to reenter into the way of vertue Plutarch willing to cut off such effects by the helpe of morall Philosophie taketh occasion to begin this discourse with a sentence of Xenophon and prooveth in the first place by divers similitudes That a man may take profit by his enemies and this he laieth abroad in particulars shewing that their ambushes and inquisitions serve us in very great stead After this he teacheth us the true way how to be revenged of those that hate us and what we ought to consider in blaming another Now for asmuch as our life is subject to many injuries and calumniations he instructeth us a man may turne all to his owne commoditie which done he presenteth foure remedies and expedient meanes against their standerous language and how we should confound our enemies The first is To conteine our owne tongues without rendring evill for evill the second is To doe them good to love and praise their vertues the third To out-goe them in well doing and the last To provide that vertue remaine alwaies on our side in such sort that if our enemies be vicious yet we persist in doing good and if they cary some shew and apparence of goodnesse we endevour to be indeed and without all comparison better than they HOW A MAN MAY RECEIVE profit by his enemies I See that you have chosen by your selfe ô Cornelius Pulcher the meetest course that may be in the government of common-wealth wherein having a principall regard unto the weale-publike you shew your selfe most gracious and courteous in private to all those that have accesse and repaire unto you Now forasmuch as a man may well finde some countrey in the world wherein there is no venimous beast as it is written of Candie but the management and administration of State affaires was never knowen yet to this day cleere from envie jealousie emulation and contention passions of all other most apt to engender and breed enmities unto which it is subject for that if there were nothing els even amity friendship it selfe is enough to entangle and encomber us with enmities which wise Chilon the Sage knowing well enough demanded upon a time of one who vaunted that he had no enemies whether he had not a friend In regard hereof a man of State and policie in mine opinon among many other things wherein he ought to be well studied should also thorowly know what belongeth to the having of enemies and give good eare unto the saying of Xenophon namely That a man of wit and understanding is to make his profit and benefit by his enemies And therefore having gathered into a pretie Treatise that which came into my minde of late to discourse and dispute upon this matter I have sent unto you written and penned in the very same tearmes as they were delivered having this eie and regard as much as possible I could not to repeat any thing of that which heretofore I had written touching the politike precepts of governing the weale publike for that I see that you have that booke often in your hand Our fore-fathers in the olde world contented themselves in this That they might not be wounded or hurt by strange and savage beasts brought from forren countreys and this was the end of all those combats that they had against such wilde beasts but those who came after have learned moreover how to make use of them not onely take order to keepe themselves from receiving any harme or dammage by them but that which more is have the skill to draw some commoditie from them feeding of their flesh clothing their bodies with their wooll and haire curing and healing their maladies with their gall rennet arming themselves with their hides and skinnes insomuch as now from henceforth it is to be feared and not without good cause lest if beasts should faile and that there were none to be found of men their life should become brutish poore needie and savage And since it is so that whereas other men thinke it sufficient not to be offended or wronged by their enemies Xenophon writeth That the wise reape commodity by their adversaries we have no reason to derogate any thing from his credit but to beleeve him in so saying yea and we ought to search for the method art to attaine and reach unto that benefit as many of us at least-wise as can not possibly live in this world without enemies The husbandman is not able with all his skill to make all sort of trees to cast off their wilde nature and become gentle and domesticall The hunter can not with all his cunning make tame and tractable all the savage beasts of the forrest and therefore they have sought and devised other meanes and
mire confessing and declaring I wot not what sinnes and offenses that he hath committed to wit that he hath eaten or drunke this or that which his god would not permit that he hath walked or gone some whither against the will and leave of the divine power Now say he be of the best sort of these superstitious people and that he labour but of the milder superstition yet will he at leastwise sit within house having about him a number of all kindes of sacrifices and sacred aspersions yee shall have old witches come and bring all the charmes spels and sorceries they can come by and hang them about his necke or other parts of his bodie as it were upon a stake as Bion was woont to say It is reported that Tyribasus when he should have beene apprehended by the Persians drew his cemiter and as hee was a valiant man of his hands defended himselfe valiantly but so soone as they that came to lay hands on him cried out and protested that they were to attach him in the kings name by commission from his Majestie he laid downe his weapon aforesaid immediately and offred both his hands to be bound and pinnioned And is not this whereof we treat the semblable case whereas others withstand their adversitie repell and put backe their afflictions and worke all the meanes they can for to avoide escape and turne away that which they would not have to come upon them A superstitious person will heare no man but speake in this wise to himselfe Wretched man that thou art all this thou suffrest at the hands of God and this is befallen unto thee by his commandement and the divine providence all hope hee rejecteth he doth abandon and betray himselfe and looke whosoever come to succour and helpe him those he shunneth and repelleth from him Many crosses there be and calamities in the world otherwise moderate and tolerable which superstition maketh mischievous and incurable That ancient King Midas in old time being troubled and disquieted much in his minde as it should seeme with certaine dreames and visions in the end fell into such a melancholy and despaire that willingly he made himselfe away by drinking buls blood And Aristodemus king of Messenians in that warre which he waged against the Lacedaemonians when it hapned that the dogs yelled and houled like wolves and that there grew about the altar of his house the herbe called Dent de chien or Dogs grasse whereupon the wisards and soothsayers were afraid as of some tokens presaging evill conceived such an inward griefe tooke so deepe a thought that he fell into desperation and killed himselfe As for Nicias the Generall of the Athenian armie haply it had beene farre better that by the examples of Midas and Aristodemus he had beene delivered and rid from his superstition than for feare of the shadow occasioned by the eclipse of the moone to have sitten stil as he did and do nothing untill the enemies environed and enclosed him round about and after that fortie thousand of Athenians were either put to the sword or taken prisoners to come alive into the hands of his enemies and lose his life with shame and dishonor for in the darkenesse occasioned by the opposition of the earth just in the mids betweene the sunne and the moone whereby her body was shadowed and deprived of light there was nothing for him to feare and namely at such a time when there was cause for him to have stood upon his feet and served valiantly in the field but the darkenesse of blinde superstition was dangerous to trouble and confound the judgement of a man who was possessed therewith at the very instant when his occasions required most the use of his wit and understanding The sea already troubled is With billowes blew within the sound Up to the capes and clifs arise Thicke mistie clouds which gather round About their tops where they do seat Fore-shewing shortly tempests great A good and skilful pilot seeing this doth well to pray unto the gods for to escape the imminent danger and to invocate and call upon those saints for helpe which they after call Saviours but all the while that he is thus at his devout praiers he holdeth the helme hard he letteth downe the crosse saile-yard Thus having struck the maine saile downe the mast He scapes the sea with darknesse overcast Hesiodus giveth the husbandman a precept before he begin to drive the plough or sow his seede To Ceres chaste his vowes to make To Jove likewise god of his land Forgetting not the while to take The end of his plough-taile in hand And Homer bringeth in Ajax being at the point to enter into combat with Hector willing the Greeks to pray for him unto the gods but whiles they praied he forgat not to arme himselfe at all pieces Semblablie Agamemnon after he had given commandement to his souldiours who were to fight Ech one his launce and speare to whet His shield likewise fitly to set then and not before praieth unto Iupiter in this wise O Iupiter vouchsafe me of thy grace The stately hall of Priamus to race for God is the hope of vertue and valour not the pretense of sloth and cowardise But the Iewes were so superstitious that on their Sabbath sitting still even whiles the enemies reared their scaling ladders and gained the walles of their citie they never stirred foot nor rose for the matter but remained fast tied and inwrapped in their superstition as it were in a net Thus you see what superstition is in those occurrences of times and affaires which succeed not to our minde but contrary to our will that is to say in adversity and as for times and occasions of mirth when all things fall out to a mans desire it is no better than impietie or atheisme and nothing is so joyous unto man as the solemnitie of festivall holidaies great feasts and sacrifices before the temples of the gods the mysticall and sacred rites performed when wee are purified and cleansed from our sinnes the ceremoniall service of the gods when wee worship and adore them in which all a superstitious man is no better than the Atheist for marke an Atheist in all these he will laugh at them untill he be ready to go beside himselfe these toies will set him I say into a fit of Sardonian laughing when he shall see their vanities and other-whiles he will not sticke to say softly in the eare of some familiar friend about him What mad folke be these how are they out of their right wits and enraged who suppose that such things as these doe please the gods Setting this aside there is no harme at all in him As for the superstitious person willing he is but not able to joy and take pleasure for his heart is much like unto that city which Sophocles describeth in these verses Which at one time is full of incense sweet Resounding mirth with loud triumphant song And yet the
miserie WHAT PASSIONS AND MALAdies be worse those of the soule or those of the bodie HOmer having viewed and considered very well the sundry sorts of living creatures mortall compared also one kind with another as well in the continuance as the conversation and maner of their life concluded in the end with this exclamation Lo how of creatures all on earth which walke and draw their wind More miserable none there are nor wretched than mankind attributing unto man this unhappie soveraigntie that he hath the superioritie in all miseries whatsoever but we setting this downe for a supposition granted already that man carieth the victorie and surpasseth all others for his infortunitie and is already declared and pronounced the most unhappie wretch of all living creatures will set in hand to compare him with his owne selfe in a certeine conference of his proper calamities that follow him and that by dividing him not in vaine and unfruitfully but very pertinently and to good purpose into the soule and the bodie to the end that wee may learne and know thereby whether we live more miserablie in regard of our soules or our selves that is to say our bodies for a disease in our bodie is engendred by nature but vice and sinne in the soule is first an action but afterwards becommeth a passion thereof so that it is no small consolation but maketh much for the contentment of our minde to know that the worse is curable and the lighter is that which can not be avoided The fox in Aesope pleading upon a time against the leopard as touching the varietie of colours in their skins after that the leopard had shewed her bodie which to the eie and in outward apparence was well marked beset with faire spots whereas the foxes skin was tawny foule and ill-favoured to see to But you quoth he sir Judge if you looke within shall finde me more spotted and divers coloured than that leopard there meaning the craft and subtiltie which he had to turne and change himselfe in divers sorts as need required after the same maner let us say within our selves O man thy body breedeth and bringeth foorth many maladies and passions naturally of it selfe many also it receiveth and enterteineth comming from without but if thou wilt anatomize and open thy selfe thou shalt finde within a save an ambrie nay a store-house and treasurie as Democritus saith of many evils and maladies and those of divers and sundry sorts not entring and running in from abroad but having their originall sources springing out of the ground and home-bred the which vice abundant rich and plenteous in passions putteth forth Now whereas the diseases that possesse the body and the flesh are discovered and knowen by their inflamations and red colour by pulses also or beating of the arteries and namely when the visage is more red or pale than customably it is or when some extraordinarie heat or lassitude without apparent cause bewraieth them contrariwise the infirmities and maladies of the soule are hidden many times unto those that have them who never thinke that they be sicke and ill at ease and in this regard worse they be for that they deprive the patients of the sense and feeling of their sicknesse for the discourse of reason whiles it is sound and hole feeleth the maladies of the bodie but as for the diseases of the soule whiles reason herselfe is sicke she hath no judgement at all of that which she suffereth for the selfe same that should judge is diseased and we are to deeme and esteeme that the principall and greatest maladie of the soule is follie by reason whereof vice being remedilesse and incurable in many is cohabitant in them liveth and dieth with them for the first degree and very beginning of a cure is the knowledge of a disease which leadeth and directeth the patient to seeke for helpe but he who will not beleeve that he is amisse or sicke not knowing what he hath need of although a present remedie were offered unto him will refuse and reject the same And verily among those diseases which afflict the bodie those are counted worst which take a man with a privation of sense as lethargies intolerable head-ach or phrensies epilepsies or falling-evils apoplexies and feavers-ardent for these burning agues many times augment their heat so much that they bring a man to the losse of his right wits and so trouble the senses as it were in a musicall instrument that They stirre the strings at secret root of hart Which touched should not be but lie apart which is the reason that practitioners in physicke desire and wish in the first place that a man were not sicke at all but if hee be sicke that hee be not ignorant and senselesse altogether of his disease a thing that ordinarily befalleth to all those who be sicke in minde for neither witlesse fooles nor dissolute and loose persons ne yet those who be unjust and deale wrongfully thinke that they do amisse and sinne nay some of them are perswaded that they do right well Never was there man yet who esteemed an ague to be health nor the phthisicke or consumption to be a good plight and habit of the bodie nor that the gout in the feet was good footmanship ne yet that to be ruddy and pale or yellow was all one yet you shall have many who are diseased in minde to call hastines and choler valiance wanton love amitie envie emulation and cowardise warie prudence Moreover they that be bodily sicke send for the physicians because they know whereof they stand in need for to heale their diseases whereas the other avoid and shun the sage philosophers for they thinke verily that they do well when they fault most Upon this reason we holde that the ophthalmie that is to say the inflamation of bloud-shotten eies is a lesse maladie than Mania that is to say rage and furious madnesse and that the gout in the feet is nothing so bad as the phrensie which is an inflamation or impostume bred in the braine for the one of these patients finding himselfe diseased crieth out for paine calleth for the physician and no sooner is he come but he sheweth him his diseased eie for to dresse and anoint he holdeth forth his veine for to be opened yeeldeth unto him his head for to be cured whereas you shall heare ladie Agave in the Tragaedios so farre transported out of all sense and understanding by reason of her raging fit that shee knew not those persons which were most deare and entire unto her for thus she saith This little one here newly kild And cut in pieces in the field From hilles we bring to dwelling place How happy ô hath beene our chace As for him who is sicke in bodie presently he yeeldeth thereto he laies him downe upon his pallet or taketh his naked bed he easeth himselfe all that he can and is content and quiet all the while that the physician hath
services and sacrifices be acceptable which a woman will seeme to celebrate by stealth and without the knowledge and privitie of her husband 18 Plato writeth that the citie is blessed and happie wherein a man shall never heare these words This is mine and This is not mine for that the inhabitants thereof have all things there especially if they be of any woorth and importance as neere as possibly they can common among them but these words ought rather to be banished out of the state of matrimonie unlesse it be as the Physicians holde that the blowes or woundes which are given on the left side of the body are felt on the right even so a wife ought to have a fellow-feeling by way of sympathie and compassion of her husbands calamities and the husband of his wives much more to the end that like as those knots are much more fast and strong when the ends of the cords are knit and interlaced one within another even so the bond of marriage is more firme and sure when both parties the one aswell as the other bring with them a mutuall affection and reciprocall benevolence whereby the fellowship and communion betweene them is mainteined jointly by them both for nature herselfe hath made a mixture of us of two bodies to the end that by taking part of one and part of another and mixing all together she might make that which commeth thereof common to both in such sort as neither of the twaine can discerne and distinguish what is proper to the one or peculiar to the other This communion of goods especially ought principally to be among those who are linked in wedlocke for that they should put in common and have all their havorie incorporate into one substance in such wise as they repute not this part proper to one and that part peculiar to another but the whole proper to themselves and nothing to another and like as in one cuppe where there is more water than wine yet we say neverthelesse that the whole is wine even so the goods and the house ought to beare the name of the husband although peradventure the wife brought with her the bigger portion 19 Helene was covetous and Paris lascivious contrariwise Ulysses was reputed wise and Penelope chaste and therefore the mariage of these last named was blessed happie and beloved but the conjunction of those two before infortunate bringing upon the Greeks and Barbarians both a whole Iliad that is to say an infinite masse of miseries and calamities 20 A gentleman of Rome who espoused an honest rich faire and yoong ladie put her away and was divorced from her whereupon being reprooved and sharply rebuked by all his friends he put forth his foot unto them and shewed them his shoo What finde you quoth he in this shoo of mine amisse new it is and faire to see to howbeit there is not one of you all knoweth where it wringeth me but I wot well where the fault is and feele the inconvenience thereof A wife therefore is not to stand so much upon her goods and the dowrie shee brings nor in the nobilitie of her race and parentage ne yet in her beautie as in those points which touch her husband most and come neerest to his heart namely her conversation and fellowship her maners her carrage demeanor in all respects so disposed that they be all not harsh nor troublesome from day to day unto her husband but pleasant lovely obsequious and agreeable to his humor for like as Physicians feare those feavers which are engendred of secret and hidden causes within the bodie gathering in long continuance of time by little and little more than such as proceed from evident and apparent causes without even so there fall out otherwhiles petie jarres daily and continuall quarels betweene man and wife which they see and know full little that be abroad and these they be which breed separation and cause them to part sooner than any thing els these marre the pleasure of their cohabitation more than any other cause whatsoever 21 King Philip was enamoured upon a certaine Thessalian woman who was supposed and charged by her sorceries and charmes to have enchanted him to love her whereupon queene Olympias his wife wrought so that she got the woman into her hands now when she had well viewed her person and considered her beautifull visage her amiable favour her comely grace and how her speech shewed well that she was a woman of some noble house and had good bringing up Out upon these standerous surmises quoth she and false imputations for I see well that the charmes and sorceries which thou usest are in thy selfe In like maner we must thinke that an espoused and legitimate wife is as one would say a fort inexpugnable namely such an one as in her selfe reposing and placing all these things to wit her dowrie nobilitie charmes and love-drinks yea and the very tissue or girdle of Venus by her study and endevour by her gentle behavior her good grace and vertue is able to win the affectionate love of her husband for ever 22 Another time the same queene Olympias hearing that a certaine yoong gentleman of the Court had married a ladie who though she were faire and well-favoured yet had not altogether the best name This man quoth shee hath no wit at all in his head for otherwise hee would never have married according to the counsell and appetite of his eies only And in trueth we ought not to goe about for to contract marriage by the eie or the fingers as some doe who count with their fingers how much money or what goods a wife bringeth with her never casting and making computation of her demeanour and conditions whether she be so well qualified as that they may have a good life with her 23 Socrates was woont to counsell yoong men who used to see their faces and looke upon themselves in mirrours if they were foule or ill-favoured to correct that deformitie by vertue if they were faire not to soile and staine their beautie with vice semblably it were very well that the mistresse of an house having in her hand a looking glasse should say thus unto her selfe if she be foule and deformed What a one should I be if I nought or leawd withall if faire and well-favoured How highly shall I be esteemed if I be honest and wise besides for if an hard-favoured woman be loved for her faire and gentle conditions she hath more honor thereby than if she wan love by beautie onely 24 The tyrant of Sicily Dionysius sent upon a time unto the daughters of Lysander certeine rich robes costly wreathes and precious jewels as presents but Lysander would not receive these gifts saying These presents would bring more shame than honour to my daughters And the Poet Sophocles before Lysanders time wrote to the like effect in these verses This will ô wretch to thee none honour bring But may be thought a foule and shamefull
publike exercises The Lacedaemonians likewise would never have put up the insolent behaviour and mockerie of Stratocles who having perswaded the Athenians to sacrifice unto the gods in token of thankesgiving for a victorie as if they had beene conquerours and afterwards upon the certaine newes of a defeature and overthrow received when he saw the people highly offended and displeased with him demaunded of them what injurie he had done them if by his meanes they had beene merrie and feasted three daies together As for the flatterers that belong to Princes courts they play by their-lords and masters as those fowlers do who catch their birds by a pipe counterfeiting their voices for even so they to winde and insinuate themselves into the favour of kings and princes doe resemble them for all the world and by this devise entrap and deceive them But for a good governour of a State it is not meet and convenient that he should imitate the nature and the manners of the people under his government but to know them and to make use of those meanes to every particular person by which he knoweth that he may best win and gaine them to him for the ignorance and want of skill in this behalfe namely how to handle men according to their humours bringeth with it all disorders and is the cause of irregular enormities as well in popular governments as among minnions and favorites of princes Now after that a ruler hath gotten authoritie and credit once among the people then ought he to strive and labour for to reforme their nature and conditions if they be faultie then is he by little and little to lead them gently as it were by hand unto that which is better for a most painefull and difficult thing it is to change and alter a multitude all at once and to bring this about the better he ought first to begin with himselfe and to amend the misdemeanours and disorders in his owne life and manners knowing that he is to live from thence foorth as it were in open Theater where he may be seene and viewed on everie side Now if haply it be an hard matter for a man to free his owne mind from all sorts of vices at once yet at least wise he is to cut-off and put away those that bee most apparent and notorious to the eies of the world For you have heard I am sure how Themistocles when hee minded to enter upon the mannaging of State-matters weaned himselfe from such companie wherein hee did nothing but drinke daunce revell and make good cheere and when he fell to sitting up late and watching at his booke to fasting and studying hard hee was woont to say to his familiars that the Tropheae of Miltiades would not suffer him to sleepe and take his rest Pericles in like case altered his fashions in the whole course and maner of his life in his person in his sober and grave going in his affable and courteous speech shewing alwaies a staied and setled countenance holding his hand ever-more under his robe and never putting it foorth and not going abroad to any place in the citie but onely to the tribunall and pulpit for publike orations or els to the counsell house For it is not an easie matter to weld and manage a multitude of people neither are they to be caught of every one and taken with their safetie in the catching but a gracious and gainfull piece of worke it were if a man may bring it thus much about that like unto suspicious craftie wilde beasts they be not affrighted nor set a madding at that which they heare and see but gently suffer themselves to be handled and be apt to receive instruction and therefore this would not in any wise be neglected neither are such to have a small regard to their owne life and maners but they ought to studie and labor as much as possibly they can that the same be without all touch and reproch for that they who take in hand the government of publike affaires are not to give account nor to answere for that onely which they either say or doe in publike but they are searched narrowly into and manie a curious eie there is upon them at their boord much listening after that which passeth in their beds great sifting and scanning of their marriages and their behaviour in wedlocke and in one word all that ever they doe privately whether it be in jest or in good earnest For what need we write of Alcibiades who being a man of action and execution as famous and renowmed a captaine as any one in his time and having borne himselfe alwaies invincible and inferiour to none in the managing of the publike State yet notwithstanding ended his daies wretchedly by meanes of his dissolute loosenes and outragious demeanour in his private life and conversation at home insomuch as he bereft his owne countrey of the benefit they might have had by his other good parts and commendable qualities even by his intemperance and sumptuous superfluitie in expence Those of Athens found fault with Cimon because he had a care to have good wine and the Romaines finding no other thing in Scipio to reproove blamed him for that hee loved his bed too well the ill-willers of Pompey the Great having observed in him that otherwhiles he scratched his head with one finger reprochedhim for it For like as a little freckle mole or pendant-wert in the face of man or woman is more offensive than blacke and blew marks than scars or maimes in all the rest of the bodie even so small and light faults otherwise of themselves shew great in the lives of Princes and those who have the government of the weale-publike in their hands and that in regard of an opinion imprinted in the minds of men touching the estate of governours and magistrates esteeming it a great thing and that it ought to be pure and cleere from all faults and imperfections And therefore deserved Julius Drusus a noble Senatour and great ruler in Rome to be highly praised in that when one of his workemen promised him if he so would to devise and contrive his house so that whereas his neighbours overlooked him and saw into many parts thereof they should have no place therein exposed to their view and discoverie and that this translating and alteration thereof should cost him but five talents Nay quoth he thou shalt have ten talents and make mine house so that it may bee seene into on everie side to the end that all the citie may both see and know how I live for in trueth he was a grave wise honest and comely personage But peradventure it is not so necessarie that a house lie so open as to be looked into on all sides for the people have eies to pierce and enter into the verie bottom of governours manners of their counsels actions and lives which a man would thinke to be most covert secret no lesse quick-sighted are
our paramours and concubines and not unto such great captaines as your selfe But Cato after a more surly and boislerous sort in the like case answered unto Catulus one of his inward and most familiar friends This Catulus being Censour mooved Cato who then was but Questour or Treasurer that for his sake he would dismisse and set free one of his clerks of the Finances under him against whom he had commensed sute and entred processe in law That were a great shame in deed quoth he for you who are the Censour that is to say the corrector and reformer of our maners and who ought to schoole and instruct us that be of the yonger sort thus to be put out of your course by our under officers and ministers for he might well enough have denied to condescend unto his request in deed and effect without such sharpe and biting words and namely by giving him to understand that this displeasure that he did him in refusing to doe the thing was against his will and that he could neither will nor chuse being forced thereto by justice and the law Over and besides a man in government hath good meanes with honesty and honor to helpe his poore friends that they may advantage themselves and reape benefit by him from the common-wealth Thus did Themistocles after the battell at Marathon for seeing one of them that lay dead in the field to have hanging at his necke chaines and collars with other bracelets of gold about his armes passed by and would not seeme for his owne part to meddle with them but turning backe to a familiar friend of his one of his folowers Here quoth he off with these ornaments and take them to your selfe for you are not yet come to be such an one as Themistocles Moreover the affaires and occurrences daily incident in the world doe present vnto a magistrate and great ruler such like occasions whereby he may be able to benefit and entich his friends for all men cannot be wealthy nor like to you ô Menemachus Give then unto one friend a good and just cause to plead unto and defend which he may gaine well by and fill his purse unto another recommend the affaires and businesse of some great and rich personage who hath neede of a man that knoweth how to manage and order the same better than himselfe for another harken out where there is a good bargaine to be made as namely in the undertaking of some publicke worke or helpe him to the taking of a good farme at a reasonable rent whereby he may be a gainer Epaminondas would do more than thus for upon a time he sent one of his friends who was but poore unto a rich burgesse of Thebes to demaund a whole talent of money freely to be given unto him and to say that Epammondas commanded him to deliver so much The burgesse woondring at such a message came unto Epaminondas to know the cause why hee should part with a talent of silver unto him mary quoth he this is the reason The man whom I sent is honest but poore and you by robbing the common-wealth are become rich And by report of Xenophon Agesilaus tooke no smal joy glory in this that he had enriched his friends whiles himselfe made no account at all of money But forasmuch according to the saying of Simonides as all larks ought to have a cap or crest upon the head so every government of State bringeth with it enmities envies and litigious jealousies this is a point wherein a man of estate and affaires ought to be well enformed and instructed To begin therefore to treat of this argument many there be who highly praise Themistocles and Aristides for that whensoever they were to goe out of the territorie of Attica either in embassage or to manage warres together they had no sooner their charge and commission but they presently laid downe all the quarrels and enmitie betweene even in the very confines and frontiers of their countrey and afterwards when they were returned tooke up and enterteined them againe Some also there are who be wonderfull well pleased with the practise and fashion of Cretinas the Magnesian This Cretinas had for his concurrent an adversary in the government of State a noble man of the same citie named Hermias who although he were not very rich yet ambitious he was and caried a brave and hautie minde Cretinas in the time of the warre that Mithridates made for the conquest of Asia seeing the citie in danger went unto the said Hermias and made an offer unto him to take the charge of captaine generall for the defence of the citie and in the meane while himselfe would go foorth to retire to some other place or otherwise if he thought better that himselfe should take upon him the charge of the warre then he would depart out of the citie into the countrey for the time for feare lest if they taried both behinde and hindered one another as they were woont to doe by their ambitious minds they should vndoo the state of the citie This motion liked Hermias very well who confessing that Cretinas was a more expert warrior than himselfe departed with his wife and children out of the citie Now Cretinas made meanes to send him out before with a convoy putting into his hands his owne money as being more profitable to them who were without their houses and fled abroad than to such as lay besieged within the citie which being at the point to be lost was by this meanes preserved beyond al hope and expectation for if this be a noble and generous speech proceeding from a magnanimous hart to say thus with a loud voice My children well I loue but of my hart My native soile by farre hath greater part Why should not they have this speech readier in their mouthes to say unto every one I hate this or that man and willing I would be to doe him a displeasure but my native countrey I love so much the more For not to desire to be at variance and debate still with an enimie in such causes as for which we ought to abandon and cast off our friend were the part of a most fell savage and barbarous nature yet did Phocion and Cato better in mine opinion who enterteined not any enmitie with their citizens in regard of difference and variance betweene them about bearing rule and government but became implacable and irreconcilable onely in publike causes when question was of abandoning or hurting the weale publike for otherwise in private matters they caried themselves kindly enough without any ranckor or malice even toward them against whom they had contested in open place as touching the State for we ought not to esteeme or repute any citizen an enimie unlesse such an one be bred amongst them as Aristion or Nabis or Catiline who are to be reckoned botches rather and pestilent maladies of a citie than citizens for all others if haply they be at a jarre
be exceedingly beloved of him but Agesilaus turned his face away insomuch as the youth desisted and would no more offer himselfe unto him whereupon Agesilaus demanded the reason thereof and seemed to call for him unto whom his friends made answere That himselfe was the onely cause being afraid to kisse so fasire a boy but if he would not seeme to feare the youth would returne and repaire unto him in place right willingly upon this he stood musing to himselfe a good while and said never a word but then at length hee brake foorth into this speech Let him even alone neither is there any need now that you should say any thing or perswade him for mine owne part I count it a greater matter to be the conquerour and have the better hand of such than to win by force the strongest holde or the most puissant and populous citie of mine enemies for I take it better for a man to preserve and save his owne libertie to himselfe than to take it from others Moreover he was in all other things a most precise observer in every point of whatsoever the lawes commanded but in the affaires and businesse of his friends he said That straightly to keepe the rigour of justice was a very cloake and colourable pretence under which they covered themselves who were not willing to doe for their friends to which purpose there is a little letter of his found written unto Idrieus a prince of Caria for the enlarging and deliverance of a friend of his in these words If Nicias have not transgressed deliver him if he have deliver him for the love of me but howsoever yet deliver him and verily thus affected stood Agesilaus in the greatest part of his friends occasions howbeit there fell out some cases when he respected more the publike utility used his opportunity therefore according as he shewed good proofe upon a time at the dislodging of his campe in great haste hurry insomuch as he was forced to leave a boy whō he loved full well behind him for that he lay sicke for when the partie called instantly upon him by name besought him not to forsake him now at his departure Agesilaus turning backe said Oh how hard is it to be pitifull wise both at once Furthermore as touching his diet the cherishing of his bodie he would not be served with more nor better than those of his traine and company He never did eat untill he was satisfied nor tooke his drinke untill he was drunke and as for his sleepe it never had the command and mastrie over him but he tooke it onely as his occasions and affaires would permit for cold and heat he was so fitted and disposed that in all seasons of the yeere he used to weare but one and the same sort of garments his pavilion was alwaies pitched in the mids of his soldiers neither had he a bed to lye in better than any other of the meanest for he was woont to say That he who had the charge and conduct of others ought to surmount those private persons who were under his leading not in daintinesse and delicacie but in sufferance of paine and travell and in fortitude of heart and courage When one asked the question in his presence What it was wherin the lawes of Lycurgus had made the citie of Sparta better he answered That this benefit it found by them to make no recknoning at all of pleasures And to another who marvelled to see so great simplicitie and plainnesse as well in feeding as appearell both of him and also of other Lacedaemonians he said The fruit my good friend which we reape by this straight maner of life is libertie and freedome There was one who exhorted him to ease and remit a little this straight and austere manner of living For that quoth he it would not be used but in regard of the incertitude of fortune and because there may fall out such an occasion and time as might force a man so to do Yea but I said Agesilaus do willingly accustome my selfe hereto that in no mutation and change of fortune I should not seeke for change of my life And in verie truth when he grew to be aged he did not for all his yeeres give over and leave his hardnes of life and therfore when one asked him Why considering the extreame cold winter and his old age besides he went without an upper coat or gabardine he made this answer Because yoong men might learne to do as much having for an example before their eies the eldest in their countrey and such also as were their governors We reade of him that when he passed with his armie over the Thasians countrey they sent unto him for his refection meale of all sorts geese and other fowles comfitures and pastrie works fine cakes marchpanes and sugar-meats with all manner of exquisite viands and drinks most delicate and costly but of all this provision he received none but the meale aforesaid commanding those that brought the same to carrie them all away with them as things whereof he stood in no need and which he knew not what to do with In the end after they had beene verie urgent and importuned him so much as possibly they could to take that curtesie at their hands he willed them to deale all of it among the Ilots which were in deed the slaves that followed the campe whereupon when they demaunded the cause thereof he said unto them That it was not meet for those who professed valour and prowesse to receive such dainties Neither can that quoth he which serveth in stead of a bait to allure draw men to a servile nature agree wel with those who are of a bold and free courage Over and besides these Thasians having received many favours and benefits at his hands in regard whereof they tooke themselves much bound and beholden unto him dedicated temples to his honour and decreed divine worship unto him no lesse than unto a verie god and hereupon sent an embassage to declare unto him this their resolution when he had read their letters and understood what honour they minded to do unto him he asked this one question of the embassadors whether their State and countrey was able to deifie men and when they answered Yea Then quoth he begin to make your selves gods first and when you have done so I will beleeve that you also can make me a god When the Greeke Colonies in Asia had at their parliaments ordained in all their chiefe and principall cities to erect his statues he wrote backe unto them in this manner I will not that you make for me any statue or image whatsoever neither painted nor cast in mould nor wrought in clay ne yet cut and engraven any way Seeing whiles he was in Asia the house of a friend or hoste of his covered over with an embowed roofe of plankes beames and sparres foure-square he asked him whether the trees in those parts grew so
upon the land which had remained a long time among them and had passed by descent from father to sonne and by their forefathers had beene first brought unto them from Brauron unto the isle Lemnos and which they caried with them from thence into all places wheresoever they came after this sudden fright and tumult was passed as they sailed in the open sea they missed the said image and withall Pollis also was advertised that a flouke of an anker was wanting and lost for that when they came to weigh anker by great force as commonly it hapneth in such places where it taketh hold of the ground among rocks it brake and was left behinde in the bottome of the sea whereupon he said that the oracles were now fulfilled which foretold them of these signes and therewith gave signall to the whole fleete for to retire backe and so he entred upon that region to his owne use and after he had in many skirmishes vanquished those who were up in armes against him he lodged at length in the citie Lyctus and wan many more to it Thus you see how at this day they call themselves the kinsfolke of the Athenians by the mothers side but indeed by the father they are a colonie drawne from Lacedaemon THE LYCIAN WOMEN THat which is reported to have beene done in Lycia as a meere fable and tale devised of pleasure yet neverthelesse testified by a constant same that runneth verie currant For Amisodarus as they say whom the Lycians name Isarus came from about the marches of Zelea a colonie of the Lycians with a great fleet of rovers and men of warre whose captaine or admirall was one Chimaerus a famous arch-pirate a warlike man but exceeding cruell savage and inhumane who had for the badges and ensignes of his owne ship in the prow a lion and at the poope a dragon much hurt hee did upon all the coasts of Lycia insomuch as it was not possible either to saile upon the sea or to inhabit the maritime cities and townes neere unto the sea side for him This man of warre or arch-rover Bellerophontes had slaine who followed him hard in chase with his swift pinnace Pegasus as he fled untill he had overtaken him and withall had chased the Amazones out of Lycia yet for all this he not onely received no worthy recompence for his good service at the hands of Iobates king of Lycia but also which was woorse sustained much wrong by him by occasion whereof Bellerophontes taking it as a great indignitie went to sea againe where he praied against him unto Neptune that he would cause his land to be barraine and unfruitfull which done hee returned backe againe but behold a strange and fearfull spectacle for the sea swelled overflowed all the countrey following him everie where as he went and covering after him the face of the earth and for that the men of those parts who did what possibly they could to entreat him for to stay this inundation of the sea could not obtaine so much at his hands the women tooke up their petticots before went to meet him shewed their nakednes wherupon for very shame he returned back the sea likewise by report retired with him into the former place But some there be who more civilly avciding the fabulosity of this tale say That it was not by praiers imprecations that he drew after him the sea but because that part of Lycia which was most sertill being low and flat lay under the levell of the sea there was a banke raised along the sea side which kept it in and Bellerophon cut a breach thorow it and so it came to passe that the sea with great violence entred that way and drowned the flat part of the countrey whereupon the men did what they could by way of praiers and intrearie with him in hope to appease his mood but could not prevaile howbeit the women environing him round about by great troups companies pressed him so on all sides that he could not for verie shame deny them so in favour of them said downe his anger Others affirme that Chimaera was an high mountaine directly opposite to the sunne at noon-tide which caused great reflections and reverberations of the sunne beames and by consequence ardent heats in manner of a fire in the said mountaine which comming to be spread and dispersed over the champion ground caused all the fruits of the earth to dry fade and wither away whereof Bellerophontes a man of great reach and deepe conceit knowing the cause in nature caused in many places the superfice of the said rocke or mountaine to be cloven and cut in two which before was most smooth even and by that reason consequently did send back the beames of the sun cansed the excessive heat in the countrey adjoining now for that he was not well considered and regarded by the inhabitants according to his demerit in despite he meant to be revenged of the Lycians but the women wrought him so that they allaied his fury But surely that cause which Nymphus alleageth in his fourth booke as touching Heraclea is not fabulous nor devised to delight the Reader for he saith That this Bellerophontes having killed a wilde bore that destroied all the fruits of the earth all other beasts within the Xanthiens countrey had no recompense therefore whereupon when he had powred out grievous imprecations against those unthankfull Xanthiens unto Neptune hee brought salt-water all over the land which marred all and made all become bitter untill such time as he being wonne by the praiers and supplications of the women besought Neptune to let fal his wrath Loe whereupon the custome arose and continueth still in the Xanthiens countrey That men in all their affaires negotiate not in the name of their fathers but of their mothers and called after their names THE WOMEN OF SALMATICA ANnnibal of the house of Barca before that he went into Italic to make warre with the Romaines laid siege unto a great citie in Spaine named Salmatica the besieged were at the first affraid and promised to do whatsoever Annibal would commaund them yea and to pay him three hundred talents of silver for securitie of which capitulation to be performed they put into his hands three hundred hostages but so soone as Anmbal had raised his siege they repented of this agreement which they had concluded with him and would do nothing according to the conditions of the accord whereupon hee returned againe for to besiege them afresh and to encourage his souldiers the better to give the assault he said That hee would give unto them the saccage and pillage of the towne whereupon the citizens within were wonderfully affraid and yeelded themselves to his devotion upon this condition That the Barbarians would permit as many as were of free condition to goe foorth every man in his single garment leaving behind them their armes goods money slaves and the citie Now the dames
and wives of the towne fearing lest the enemies would search and rifle their husbands as they went forth of the gates and not once touch and meddle with them tooke unto them short curtelasses or skeines hid them under their clothes and so went forth together with their husbands When they were all out of the towne Annibal having set a guard of Mafaesylians to attend them staied them at the end of the suburbs meane while the rest of his armie without all order put themselves within the citie and fell to the spoile and sackage of it which when the Masaesylians perceived they grew out of all patience could not containe themselves nor looke wel unto their prisoners but were woonderous angrie and in the end meant for to have as good a part and share as the rest of the spoile hereupon the women tooke up a crie and gave unto their husbands the swords which they had brought with them yea some of them fel upon the guard or garrison insomuch as one of them was so bold as to take from Banon the Truchman or interpretor the speare which he had and thrust at him with it but he had on a good corps of a cuirace which saved him but their husbands having wounded some of them and put the rest to flight escaped by this meanes away together in a troupe with their wives which when Annibal understood he set out immediately after them and surprised those who were left behind whiles the rest got away and saved themselves for the present by recovering the mountaines adjoining but after they sent unto Annibal and craved pardon who graciously granted it yea and permitted them to returne in safetie and reinhabit their owne citie THE MILESIAN WOMEN THE Milesian maidens upon a time were surprized with a verie strong passionate fit of a fearfull melancholicke humour without any apparant cause that could be rendred thereof unlesse it were as men most conjectured that the aire was infected and empoisoned which might cause that alienation of the mind and worke a distimperature in their braines to the overthrow of their right wits for all on a sudden every one had a great desire to die and namely in a furious rage would needs hang themselves and in truth many of them secretly knit their neeks in haltars and so were strangled no reasons and remonstrances no teares of father and mother no perswasions and comfortable speeches of their friends would serve the turne but looke what keepers soever they had and how carefully soever they looked unto them they could find meanes of evasion to avoide and goe beyond all their devices and inventions in such sort that it was thought to be some plague and punishment sent from the gods above and such as no humaine provision could remedie untill such time as by the advice of a sage and wise citizen there went foorth a certaine edict and the same enacted by the counsell of the citie That if any one more hapned to hang herselfe she should be carried starke naked as ever she was borne throw the market place in the view of the whole world this proclamation being thus ratified by the common-counsell of the citie did not onely represse for a while but also staied for altother this furious rage of the maidens and their inordinate desire to make themselves away Thus we may see that the fear of dishonor shame infamy is a great signe infallible token of good nature and vertue considering that they feared neither death nor paine which are the most horrible accidents that men can endure howbeit they could not abide the imagination of vilannie shame and dishonor though it hapned not unto them untill they were dead and gone THE WOMEN OF CIO THe maner and custome was for the yoong virgins of Cio to goe altogether unto their publick temples and churches and so to passe the time al the long day there one with another where their lovers who wooed them for marriage might behold them disport and daunce and in the evening they went home to each of their houses in order where they waited upō their fathers and mothers yea and the brethren one of another even to the very washing of their feet Now it hapned sometimes that many yoong men were enamoured of one and the same maide but their love was so modest good and honest that so soone as a maiden was affianced and betrothed unto one all the rest would give over sute so cease to make any more love unto her In summe the good order and cariage of these women of Cio might be knowen in this that in the space of seven hundred yeeres it was never knowen nor appeered upon record that anie wife committed adulterie nor maiden unmaried lost her virgnitie THE WOMEN OF PHOCIS THe tyrants of Phocis surprized upon a time and seized the citie of Delphos by occasion whereof the Thebans made that warre upon them which was called the Holy warre at which time it so befell that the religious women consecrated unto Bacchus named Thyades being bestraught and out of their right wits ranne wandring like vargrants up and downe in the night and knew not whither untill ere they were aware they ranne unto the citie Amphissa where being wearie but yet not come againe to their senses they lay along in the mids of the market place and couched themselves scattering heere and there to take their sleepe the wives of Amphissa being advertised heereof and fearing lest their bodies should be abused by the soldiers of the tyrants whereof there lay a garrison within the citie for that Amphissa was of the league and confederate with the Phocaeans ranne all thither to the place standing round about them with silence and not saying one word and so long as they slept troubled them not but soone as they wakened of themselves and were gotten up they tooke the charge of them gave them meat and each of them looked to one yea and afterwards having gotten leave of their husbands they conveighed and accompanied them in safetie so farre as to the mountains and marches of their owne territorie VALERIA and CLOELIA THe outrage committed upon the person of a Roman ladie named Lucretia and her vertue together were the cause that Tarquinius Superbus the seventh king of the Romanes after Romulus was deprived of his roiall estate and driven out of Rome This dame being married unto a great personage descended of the bloud roiall was abused and forced by one of the sons of the said king Tarquin who was enterteined and friendly lodged in her house by occasion of which villanous fact she called all her kinsfolke and friends together about her unto whom after she had delcared and given them to understand the shamefull dishonour that he had done upon her body she stabbed herselfe in the place before them and Tarquin the father for this cause being deposed from his princely dignitie and chased out of his kingdome levied manie warres against the
before you were acquainted therewith have ordained mine owne sonnes to be judges namely for Asia two Minos and Rhadamanthus and one for Europe to wit Aeacus These therefore after they be dead shall sit in judgement within a meddow at a quarrefour or crosse-way whereof the one leadeth to the fortunate isles the other to hell Rhadamanthus shall determine of them in Asia Aeacus of those in Europe and as for Minos I wil grant unto him a preeminence in judgement above the rest in case there happen some matter unknowen to one of the other two and escape their censure he may upon weighing and examining their opinions give his definitive sentence and so it shall be determined by a most sincere and just doome whether way each one shall goe This is that O Callicles which I have heard and beleeve to be most true whereout I gather this conclusion in the end that death is no other thing than the separation of the soule from the body Thus you see ô Apollonius my most deere friend what I have collected with great care and diligence to compose for you sake a consolatorie oration or discourse which I take to be most necessarie for you as well to asswage and rid away your present griefe to appease likewise and cause to cease this heavinesse and mourning that you make which of all things is most unpleasant and troublesome as also to comprise within it that praise and honour which me thought I owed as due unto the memoriall of your sonne Apollonius of all others exceedingly beloved of the gods which honour in my conceit is a thing most convenient and acceptable unto those who by happie memorie and everlasting glorie are consecrated to immortalitie You shall doe your part therefore and verie wisely if you obey those reasons which are therein conteined you shall gratifie your sonne likewise and doe him a great pleasure in case you take up in time and returne from this vaine affliction wherewith you punish and undoe both bodie and mind unto your accustomed ordinarie and naturall course of life for like as whiles he lived with us he was nothing well appaied and tooke no contentment to see either father or mother sadde and desolate even so now when he converseth and so laceth himselfe in all joy with the gods doubtlesse he cannot like well of this state wherein you are Therefore plucke up your heart and take courage like a man of woorth of magnanimitie and one that loveth his children well release your selfe first and then the mother of the yoong gentleman together with his kinsfolke and friends from this kind of miserie and take to a more quiet peaceable maner of life which will be both to your sonne departed and to all of us who have regard of your person as it becommeth us more agreeable A CONSOLOTARIE LETTER OR DISCOURSE SENT UNTO HIS OWNE WIFE AS TOUCHING THE DEATH OF HER AND HIS DAUGHTER The Summarie PLutarch being from home and farre absent received newes concerning the death of a little daughter of his a girle about two yeeres old named Timoxene a childe of a gentle nature and of great hope but fearing that his wife would apprehend such a lesse too neere unto her heart he comforteth her in this letter and by giving testimonie unto her of vertue and constancie 〈◊〉 at the death of other children of hers more forward in age than she was he exhorteth her likewise to patience and moderation in this newe occurrence and triall of hers condemning by sundry reasons the excessive sorrow and unwoorthy fashion of many fond mothers 〈◊〉 withall the inconveniences that such excessive heavinesse draweth after it Then continuing his consolation of her he declareth with what eie we ought to regard infants and children aswell before as during and after life how happie they be who can content themselves and rest in the will and pleasure of God that the blessings past ought to dulce and mitigate the calamities present to stay us also that we proceed not to that degree and height of infortunitie as to make account onely of the misadventures and discommodities hapning in this our life Which done he answereth to certeine objections which his wife might propose and set on foot and therewith delivereth his owne advice as touching the incorruption and immortalitie of mans soule after he had made a medly of divers opinions which the ancient Philosophers held as touching that point and in the end concludeth That it is better and more expedient to die betimes than late which position of his he confirmeth by an ordinance precisely observed in his owne countrey which expresly for bad to mourne and lament for those who departed this life in their childhood A CONSOLATORIE LETTER or Discourse sent unto his owne wife as touching the death of her and his daughter PLUTARCH unto his wife Greeting THe messenger whom you sent of purpose to bring me word as touching the death of our little daughter went out of his way as I suppose and so missed of me as he journeyed toward Athens howbeit when I was arrived at Tanagra I heard that she had changed this life Now as concerning the funerals and enterring of her I am verily perswaded that you have already taken sufficient order so as that the thing is not to doe and I pray God that you have performed that duetie in such sort that neither for the present not the time to come it worke you any grievance displeasure but if haply you have put off any such complements which you were willing enough of your selfe to accomplish untill you knew my minde and pleasure thinking that in so doing you should with better will and more patiently beare this adverse accident then I pray you let the same be performed without all curiositie and superstition and yet I must needs say you are as little given that way as any woman that I know this onely I would admonish you deare heart that in this case you shew both in regard of your selfe and also of me a constancie and tranquillitie of minde for mine owne part I conceive and measure in mine owne heart this losse according to the nature and greatnesse thereof and so I esteeme of it accordingly but if I should finde that you tooke it impatiently this would be much more grievous unto me and wound my heart more than the 〈◊〉 it selfe that causeth it and yet am not I begotten and borne either of an oake or a rocke whereof you can beare me good witnesse knowing that wee both together have reard many of our children at home in house even with our owne hands and how I loved this girle most tenderly both for that you were very desirous after foure sonnes one after another in a row to beare a daughter as also for that in regard of that fancie I tooke occasion to give her your name now besides that naturall fatherly affection which men cōmonly have toward little babes there was one
all just and honest actions when it hath chased and removed out of the way ire and wrath and therefore men are mollified appeased and become gentle by examples of men when they heare it reported how Plato when hee lifted up his staffe against his page stood so a good while and forbare to strike which hee did as he said for to represse his choler And Architas when he found some great negligence and disorder at his ferme-house in the countrey in his houshold servants perceiving himselfe moved and disquieted therewith insomuch as he was exceeding angrie and readie to flie upon them proceeded to no act but onely turning away and going from them said thus It is happie for you that I am thus angrie with you If then it be so that such memorable speeches of ancient men and woorthy acts reported by them are effectuall to represse the bitternesse and violence of choler much more probable it is that we seeing how God himselfe although he standeth not in feare of any person nor repenteth of any thing that he doth yet putteth off his chastisements and laieth them up a long time should be more wary and considerate in such things and esteeme that clemencie long sufferance and patience is a divine part of vertue that God doth shew and teach us which by punishment doth chastise and correct a few but by proceeding thereto slowly doth instruct admonish and profit many In the second place let us consider that judiciall and exemplarie processe of justice practised by men intendeth and aimeth onely at a counter change of paine and griefe resting in this point That he who hath done evill might suffer likewise proceeding no farther at all and therefore baying and barking as it were like dogges at mens faults and trespasses they follow upon them and pursue after all action by tract and footing but God as it should seeme by all likelihood when hee setteth in hand in justice to correct a sinfull diseased soule regardeth principally the vicious passions thereof if haply they may be bent wrought so as they will incline turne to repentance in which respect he staieth long before that he inflict any punishment upon delinquents who are not altogether past grace incorrigible for considering withall and knowing as he doth what portion of vertue soules have drawen from him in their creation at what time as they were produced first and came into the world as also how powerfull and forcible is the generositie thereof and nothing weake and feeble in it selfe but that it is cleane contrary to their proper nature to bring forth vices which are engendered either by ill education or els by the contagious haunt of leaud company and how afterward when they be well cured and medicined as it falleth out in some persons they soone returne unto their owne naturall habitude and become good againe by reason heereof God doth not make haste to punish all men alike but looke what he knoweth to be incurable that he quickly riddeth away out of this life and cutteth it off as a very hurtfull member to others but yet most harmefull to it selfe if it should evermore converse with wickednesse but to such persons in whom by all likelihood vice is bred and ingendred rather through ignorance of goodnesse than upon any purpose and will to chuse naughtinesse hee giveth time and respit for to change and amend how beit if they persist still and continue in their leaud waies hee paieth them home likewise in the end and never feareth that they shall escape his hands one time or other but suffer condigne punishment for their deserts That this is true consider what great alterations there happen in the life and behaviour of men and how many have beene reclaimed and turned from their leaudnesse which is the reason that in Greeke our behaviour and conversation is called partly 〈◊〉 that is to say A conversion and in part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one because mens maners be subject to change and mutation the other for that they be ingendered by use or custome and the impression thereof being once taken they remaine firme and sure which is the cause also as I suppose that our ancients in olde time attributed unto king Cecrops a double nature and forme calling him Double not for that as some said of a good element and gracious prince he became a rigourous fell and cruell tyrant like a dragon but contrariwise because having bene at the first perverse crooked and terrible he proved afterward a milde and gentle lord and if we make any doubt hereof in him yet we may be sure at leastwise that Gelon and Hiero in Sicilie yea and Pisistratus the sonne of Hipocrates all usurpers who atteined to their tyrannicall dominion by violent and indirect meanes used the same vertuously and howsoever they came unto their sovereigne rule by unlawfull and unjust meanes yet they grew in time to be good governours loving and profitable to the common weale and likewise beloved and deare unto their subjects for some of them having brought in and established most excellent lawes in the countrey and caused their citizens and subjects to be industruous and painfull in tilling the ground made them to be civill sober and discreet whereas before they were given to be ridiculous as noted for their laughter and lavish tongues to be true labourers also and painfull who had bene idle and playfull And as for Gelon after he had most valiantly warred against the Carthaginians and defaited them in a great battell when they craved peace would never grant it unto them unlesse this might be comprised among the articles and capitulations That they should no more sacrifice their children unto Saturne In the citie also of Megalopolis there was a tyrant named Lydiades who in the mids of his usurped dominion repented of his tyrannie and made a conscience thereof detesting that wrongfull oppression wherein he held his subjects in such sort ' as he restored his citizens to their ancient lawes and liberties yea and afterwards died manfully in the field fighting against his enemies in the defence of his countrey Now if any one had killed Miltiades at the first whiles he exercised tyrannie in Chersonesus or if another had called judicially into question Cimon enditing him for keeping his owne sister and so being condemned of incest had caused him to be put to death or disfranchised and banished Themistocles out of the citie for his loose wantonnesse and licentious insolencie shewed publickly in the Common place as Alcibiades afterwards was served and proscribed for the like excesse and riot committed in his youth Where had bene then that famous victorie At chieved on the plaines of Marathon Where had bene that renowmed chivalrie Performed neere the streame Eurymedon Or at the mount faire Artemision Where Athens youth as poet Pindare said Freedome first the glorious ground-worke laid For so it is great natures and high minds can bring foorth no meane matters nor the
Philosophie But I pray you my very good friend quoth I unto him forbeare this vehement and accusatorie humour of yours and be not angry if haply you see that some because they be borne of leud and wicked parents are punished or else doe not rejoice so much nor be ready to praise in case you see nobilitie also of birth to be so highly honored for if we stand upon this point and dare avow that recompence of vertue ought by right and reason to continue in the line and posteritie we are by good consequence to make this account that punishment likewise should not stay and cease together with misdeeds committed but reciprocally fall upon those that are descended of misdoers and malefactors for he who willingly seeth the progenie of Cimon honoured at Athens and contrariwise is offended and displeased in his heart to see the race of Lachares or Ariston banished driven out of the citie he I say seemeth to be too soft tender and passing effeminate or rather to speake more properly over-contentious and quarrelsome even against the gods complaining and murmuring of the one side if the children childrens children of an impious wicked person do prosper in the world and contrariwise is no lesse given to blame and find fault if he doe see the posterity of wicked and ungracious men to be held under plagued or altogether destroied from the face of the earth accusing the gods if the children of a naughtie man be afflicted even as much as if they had honest persons to their parents But as for these reasons alledged make you this reckoning that they be bulwarks and rampars for you opposed against such bitter sharpe accusers as these be But now taking in hand again the end as it were of a clew of thread or a bottom of yearne to direct us as in a darke place and where there be many cranks turnings and windings to and fro I meane the matter of gods secret judgements let us conduct and guide our selves gently and warily according to that which is most likely probable considering that even of those things which we daily manage and doe our selves we are not able to set downe an undoubted certaintie as for example who can yeeld a sound reason wherefore we cause and bid the children of those parents who died either of the phthisick and consumption of the lungs or of the dropsie to sit with their feet drenched in water until the dead corps be fully burned in the funeral fire For an opiniō there is that by this meanes the said maladies shall not passe unto them as hereditarie nor take hold of their bodies as also what the cause should be that if a goat hold in her mouth the herbe called Eryngites that is to say Sea-holly the whole flocke will stand still untill such time as the goat-herd come and take the said herbe out of her mouth Other hidden properties there be which by secret influences and passages from one to another worke strange effects and incredible as well speedily as in longer tract of time and in very truth we woonder more at the intermission and stay of time betweene than we doe of the distance of place and yet there is greater occasion to marvell thereat as namely that a pestilent maladie which began in Aethiopia should raigne in the citie of Athens and fill every street and corner thereof in such sort as Pericles died and Thucydides was sicke thereof than that when the Phocaeans and Sybarits had committed some hainous sins the punishment therefore should fall upon their children go through their posteritie For surely these powers and hidden properties have certaine relations and correspondences from the last to the first the cause whereof although it be unknowen to us yet it ceaseth not secretly to bring foorth her proper effects But there seemeth to be verie apparent reason of justice that publicke vengeance from above should fall upon cities many a yeere after for that a citie is one entire thing and a continued body as it were like unto a living creature which goeth not beside or out of it selfe for any mutations of ages nor in tract and continuance of time changing first into one and then into another by succession but is alwaies uniforme and like it selfe receiving evermore and taking upon it all the thanke for well doing or the blame for misdeeds of whatsoever it doth or hath done in common so long as the societie that linketh holdeth it together maintaineth her unitie for to make many yea innumerable cities of one by dividing it according to space of time were as much as to go about to make of one man many because he is now become old who before was a yong youth in times past also a very stripling or springall or else to speake more properly this resembleth the devises of Epicharmus wherupon was invented that maner of Sophisters arguing which they cal the Croissant argument for thus they reason He that long since borrowed or tooke up mony now oweth it not because he is no more himselfe but become another he that yesterday was invited to a feast cōmeth this day as an unbidden guest cōsidering that he is now another man And verily divers ages make greater difference in ech one of us than they do commonly in cities and States for he that had seene the citie of Athens thirtie yeeres agoe and came to visit it at this day would know it to be altogether the very same that then it was insomuch as the maners customes motions games pastimes serious affaires favours of the people their pleasures displeasures and anger at this present resemble wholly those in ancient time whereas if a man be any long time out of sight hardly his very familiar friend shall be able to know him his countenance will be so much changed and as touching his maners and behaviour which alter and change so soone upon every occasion by reason of all sorts of labour travell accidents and lawes there is such varietie and so great alteration that even he who is ordinarily acquainted and conversant with him would marvell to see the strangenesse and noveltie thereof and yet the man is held and reputed still the same from his nativitie unto his dying day and in like case a citie remaineth alwaies one and the selfe same in which respect we deeme it great reason that it should participate aswell the blame and reproch of ancestours as enjoy their glorie and puissance unlesse we make no care to cast all things in the river of Heraclitus into which by report no one thing entreth twise for that it hath a propertie to alter all things and change their nature Now if it be so that a citie is an united and continued thing in it selfe we are to thinke no lesse of a race and progenie which dependeth upon one and the same stocke producing and bringing foorth a certeine power and communication of qualities and the same doth
mature and staid judgement he giveth us to understand that he is of a contrarie opinion but his principall scope that he shooteth at seemeth to be a cutting off and abridging of the great excesse and superfluitie in purveying buying and spending of viands which in his time began to grow out of all measure a disorder and inormitie which afterwards encreased much more For to gaine and compasse this point hee would seeme to perswade men to the opinion of Pythagoras which mightily cutteth the wings of all riot and wast full dissolution Moreover this ought not to be taken so as if it favoured and seconded the errour of certeine fantasticall persons who have condemned the use of Gods good creatures for in the schoole of Christ wee are taught good lessons which refute sufficiently the dreames of the Pythagoreans and resolve assuredly the good conscience of all those that make use of all creatures meet for the sustentation of this life soberly and with thanks giving as knowing them to be good and their use cleane and pure unto those whom the spirit of regeneration hath sanctified for to make them partakers of that realme which is not shut up and inclosed in meats and drinks As touching this present tract for the maintenance of Pythagoras his paradox he alledgeth five reasons to wit That the eating of flesh is a testimonie and signe of inhumanitie That we ought to forbeare it considering we are not driven upon necessitie to feed there upon That it is an unnaturall thing That it hurteth soule and body and for a conclusion That men will never come themselves and converse modestly together if they learne not first to be pitifull and kinde even to the very dumbe beasts WHETHER IT BE LAWfull to eat flesh or no. The former Oration or Treatise BUt you demand of mee for what cause Pythagoras absteined from eating flesh And I againe do marvell what affection what maner of courage or what motive and reason had that man who first approched with his mouth unto a slaine creature who durst with his lips once touch the flesh of a beast either killed or dead or how he could finde in his heart to be served at his table with dead bodies and as a man may say very idols to make his food and nourishment of those parts and members which a little before did blea low bellow walke and see How could his eies endure to beholde such murder and slaughter whiles the poore beasts were either sticked or had the throats cut were flaied and dismembred how could his nose abide the smell and sent that came from them how came it that his taste was not cleane marred and overthrowen with horrour when he came to handle those uncouth sores and ulcers or receive the bloud and humours issuing out of the deadly wounds The skinnes now flaied upon the ground did spraule The flesh on spits did bellow still and low Roast sod and raw did crie aswell as craule And yeeld a voice of living oxe or cow But this you will say is a loud lie and a meere poeticall fiction howbeit this was certeinly a strange and monstrous supper that any man should hunger after those beasts and desire to eat them whiles they still kept a lowing to prescribe also and teach men how they should feed of those creatures which live and crie still to ordeine likewise how they ought to be dressed boiled roasted and served up to the boord But he who first invented these monstruosities ought to be inquired after and not hee who last gave over and rejected the same Or a man may well say that those who at the first began to eat flesh had all just causes so to do in regard of their want and necessitie for surely it was not by reason of disordinate and enormious appetite which they used a long time nor upon plentie and abundance of necessarie things that they grew to this insolencie to seeke after strange pleasures those contrarie to nature But verily if they could recover their senses and speech againe they might well say now Oh how happie and well beloved of the gods are you who live in these daies in what a world and age are you borne what affluence of all sorts of good things do you enjoy what harvests what store of fruits yeeldeth the earth unto you how commodious are the vintages and what riches do the fields bring unto you what a number of trees and plants do furnish you with delights and pleasures which you may gather and receive when you thinke good you may live if you list in all maner of delicacie without once fouling your hands for the matter whereas our hap was to be borne in the hardest time and most terrible age of the world when as we could not chuse but incur by reason of the new creation of all things a great want and streight indigence of many necessaries the face of the heaven and skie was still covered with the aire the starres were dusked with troubled and instable humors together with fire and tempestuous windes the sunne was not yet setled and established having a constant and certeine race to holde his course in From East to West to make both even and morne Dinstinct nor by returne from Tropiques twaine The seasons chang'd from those that were beforne Bedight with leaves with flowers with fruits and graine The earth suffered wrong by the inordinate streames and inundations of rivers which had neither certeine chanels nor banks much of it lay waste and deformed with loughs marishes and deepe bogges much also remained savage being over-spred with wild woods and fruitlesse sorests it brought forth no fruits ripe and pleasant neither were there any tooles and instruments belonging to any arte nor so much as any invention of a witty head Hunger never gave us case or time of repose neither was there any expectation or waiting for the yeerely seasons of seednesse for there was no sowing at all No marvell therefore if we did eat the flesh of beasts and living creatures even contrary to nature considering that then the very mosse and barke of trees served for food well was he who could find any greene grasse or quicke coich or so much as the root of the herbe Phleos but whensoever men could meet with acornes and mast to taste and feed upon they would dance and hop for joy about an oake or beech tree and in their rusticall songs call the earth their bountifull mother and their kinde nourse and such a day as that onely they accounted festivall all their life besides was full of vexation sorrow and heavinesse But now what rage what furie and madnesse inciteth you to commit such murders and carnage seeing you have such store and plentie of all things necessarie for your life why belie you the earth and most unthankfully dishonour her as if shee could not susteine and nourish you why doe you violate the divine power of Ceres the inventresse of sacred
owne safetie and life mooveth us but even for our pleasure we have a poore sheepe lying under our hand with the throat turned upward a philosopher of the one side should say Cut the throat for it is a brute beast and another admonish us on the other side saying Stay your hand and take heed what you doe for what know you to the contrarie whether in that sheepe be the soule lodged of some kinsman of yours or peradventure of some God Is the danger before God all one and the same whether I refuse to eat of the flesh or beleeve not that I kill my child or some one of my kinsfolke But surely the Stoicks are not equally matched in this fight for the defence of eating flesh For what is the reason that they so band themselves and be so open mouthed in the maintenance of the belly and the kitchin what is the cause that condemning pleasure as they doe for an effeminate thing and not to be held either good or indifferent no nor so much as familiar and agreeable to nature they stand so much in the patronage of those things that make to the pleasure and delight of feeding And yet by all consequence reason would that considering they chase and banish from the table all sweet perfumes and odoriferous ointments yea and al pastrie worke and banketting junkets they should be rather offended at the sight of bloud and flesh But now as if by their precise philosophicall rules they would controule our day books and journals of our ordinarie expences they cut off all the cost bestowed upon our table in things needlesse and superfluous meane while they sinde no fault with that which savoureth of bloudshed and crueltie in this superfluitie of table furniture We doe not indeed say they because there is no communication of rights betweene beasts and us but a man might answer them againe verie well No more is there betweene us and perfumes or other forraine and exoticall sauces and yet you would have us to absteine from them rejecting and blaming on all sides that which in any pleasure is neither profitable nor needfull But let us I pray you consider upon this point a little neerer to wit whether there be any communitie in right and justice betweene us and unreasonable creatures or no and let us doe it not subtilly and artificially as the captious manner is of these sophisters in their disputations but rather after a gentle and familiar sort having an eie unto our owne passions and affections let us reason and decide the matter with our selves THAT A MAN CANNOT LIVE PLEASANTLY ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE OF EPICURUS The Summarie GReat disputations there have beene holden among the Philosophers and Sages of the world as touching the sovereigne good of man as it may appeere even at this day by the books that are extant among us and yet neither one nor other have hit the true marke whereat they shot to wit The right knowledge of God Howbeit some of them are a great deale farther out of the way than others and namely the Epicureans whom our author doth perstringe in many places as holding a doctrine cleane contrary unto theirs according as his writings doe testifie And forasmuch as Epicurus and his disciples placed and established this sovereigne good in pleasure of the bodie this their opinion is heere examined and confuted at large for in forme of a dialogue Plutarch rehearseth the communication or conference which he had with Aristodemus Zeuxippus and Theon as they walked together immediately after one lecture of his upon this matter who having shewed in generall tearmes the absurdities of this Epicurian doctrine maint eineth in one word That it is no life at all for to live according to the same Then he explaneth and sheweth what the Epicureans meane by this word To live and from thence proceedeth forward to refute their imagination and whatsoever dependeth thereupon and that by sound and weighty arguments intermingling many pretie conceits and pleasant jests together with certeine proper similitudes for the purpose After he had prooved that they were deceived themselves and seduced their disciples he holdeth moreover this point That even they deprive themselves of the true good which consisteth in the repose and contentment of the mind rejecting as they doe all Histories Mathematicall arts and liberall sciences and among the rest Poëtrie and Musicke shewing throughout all this discourse that such persons are deprived of common sense Passing forward he holdeth and mainteineth that the soule taketh joyin a contentment proper to it selfe and afterwards in discoursing of the pleasure that active life doth bring he refuteth more and more his adversarie addressing to this purpose a certeine conference and comparison betweene the pleasures of bodie and soule whereby a man may see the miserie of the one and the excellencie of the other This point he enricheth with divers examples the end whereof sheweth That there is nothing at all to be counted great or profitable in the schoole of Epicurus whose scholars never durst approove his opinion especially in death also That vertuous men have without all comparison much more pleasure in this world than the Epicureans who in their afflictions know not how to receive any joy or comfort by remembrance of their pleasures past And this is the very summe of the dialogue during the time that the above named persons did walke who after they were set began the disputation a fresh and spake in the first place of Gods providence condemning by diversreasons the atheisme of the Epicureans who are altogether inexcusable even in comparison of the common sort given to superstition continuing and holding on this discourse he depainteth very lively the nature of the Epicureans and commeth to represent and set down the contentment that men of honor have in their religion where also he holdeth this point That God is not the author of evill and that the Epicureans are sufficiently punished for their impietie in depriving themselves of that pleasure which commeth unto us by meditation of the divine wisedome in the conduct and management of all things Consequently he sheweth that this their prophane philosophie overthroweth and confoundeth all persons as well in their death as during their life Whereupon he proceedeth to treat of the immortality of the soule and of the life to come describing at large the misery of the Epicureans and for a finall conclusion he compriseth in fower or five lines the summary of all their error and so shutteth up and concludeth the whole disputation THAT A MAN CANNOT live pleasantly according to the doctrine of Epicurus COlotes one of the disciples and familiar followers of Epicurus wrote and published a booke wherein he endevoured to proove and declare That there was no life at all to speake of according to the opinions and sentences of other Philosophers Now as touching that which readily came into my minde for the answere of his challenge and the discourse against his
properly to a bodie that is solid and able to resist but the onely way and true manner of chastising and punishing those who have lived badly in this world is infamie ignorance an entire abolition and totall reducement to nothing which bringeth them from the river Lethe that is to say Oblivion into another mournfull river where there is no mirth no joy nor cheerefulnesse from thence plungeth them into a vast sea which hath neither shore nor bottom even idlenesse and unaptnesse to all good which can doe nought else but draw after it a generall forgetfulnesse and buriall as it were in all ignorance and infamous obscuritie RVLES AND PRECEPTS OF HEALTH IN MANER OF A DIALOGUE The Summarie THe conjunction of the soule with the bodie being so straight as every man knowes it is I can not see how it is possible that the one should commit any disorder or excesse but the other must needs be grieved there with immediatly And if there be any thing that ought to be deplored and lamented it is the losse of time especially and above all when the same is occasioned by our own intemperance for that at such a time when as we should attend upon our dutie we become and continue unprofitable hurting many times both our selves and many others Now for that the study of good literature requireth a soule well composed and governed in a sound heathfull and vigorous bodie it is not without good cause that Plutarch in termingleth among philosophicall discourses certeine rules precepts as touching health For in truth a vaine endevor enterprise this were and hardly could a man have his mind disposed to good things in case the bodie be ill affected and misgoverned But fearing lest it would be thought that he who made profession of philosophie onely proceeded farther than in reason hee ought and brake the limits and bounds of sciences in medling with physick heere Before that he entreth into the Dialogue when he had touched the occasion of this conference and talke he sheweth that the studie of physick is agreeable to philosophie which done he representeth certeine questions proposed by a third person which serve in stead of a preface to those precepts and lessons by him set downe afterwards not following heerein any exact or exquisit method but making choise of that which he thought to be most meet for the time and suting best to those persons for whose sake this Dialogue was written He speaketh first therefore of the use of meats especially such as are sweet and pleasing to the tooth also what a man is to take heed of in this behalfe Then he treateth of the pleasures of the bodie declaring what measure therein we ought to keepe and discovering by a certeine similitude the pernicious indiscretion of those who love to keepe good cheere and mainteine dainty fare Consequently heereupon he forbiddeth us to use bodily pleasures unlesse we be in good and perfect health condemneth fulnesse and overmuch repletion which is the cause of most diseases that are incident to mans body and this he enricheth and amplifieth by another proper similitude He is desirous also that maladies were foreseene and prevented setting downe a speciall remedie therefore and prooving that the body cannot enjoy any delight whatsoever either in eating or drinking in case it be not healthy From this he proceedeth to make mention of diet and of the prognostikes of diseases breeding and roward Item how and wherewith the maladies of our friends ought to serve and stead us adding thus much moreover that for the better maintenance and preservation of health a man is not to feed to satietie that he ought to travell and not spare himselfe also that he is to save his naturall seed upon this he discourseth of the exercise and nouxishment of students and scholars desciphring particularly whatsoever in this point is most woorth the noting and observation and so cleereth this question namely Whether it be holsome for the body to dispute either at the table or presently upon meat After all this he treateth of walking of sleepe of vomiting of purgations of the belly of diets over exquisit and precise condemning expresly idlenesse as a thing contrary to the good disposition of the body Furthermore he sheweth when a man ought to be at quiet and rest as also the time that he may give himselfe to pleasure but above all he requireth of every man that he learne to know his owne nature and inclination as also the meats and drinks that be agreeable unto his stomack exhorting in the end all students to spare their bodies to looke unto them and make much of them that they may have the better meanes to proceed and goe forward in the knowledge of good letters whereby they might another day be profitable members of the common-wealth and doe more good to the societie of men RULES AND PRECEPTS OF health in maner of a dialogue The personages speaking in this dialogue MOSCHION and ZEUXIPPUS MOSCHION ANd did you then indeed my friend Zexippus turne away Glaucus the physician yesterday who was desirous to conferre with us in philosophie ZEUXIPPUS No iwis good Moschion neither did I put him away desirous was he to doe as you say But this was it that I avoided and feared namely To give him any advantage or occasion to fasten upon me and take hold on me knowing him as I doe to be litigious and quarrelsome for in physick if I may use the words of Homer He may well stand for many a one Although he be but one alone As for philosophie he is not wel affected thereto but alwaies provided of some shrewd bitter tearmes against her in all his disputations and as then especially for I observed how he came directly against us crying out upon us a farre off with a loud voice charging us that we had to enterprise a great matter and the same not very civill honest and in that we had broken the bounds and pluckt up as a man would say the very limit-marks of sciences laying all cōmon and making a confusion of them in disputing as we did of holsome diet and of the maner how to live in good health For the confines and frontiers quoth he of Physicians and Philosophers are as we use to say in the vulgar proverbe as touching Mysians and Phrygians farre different and remooved a sunder Moreover he had readily in his mouth certeine speeches and sentences of ours which we delivered by way of pastime onely and yet for all that were not impertinent or unprofitable and those he would seeme to controule reproove and scorne MOSCHION But I for my part ô Zeuxippus could be very well content yea and most desirous to heare even those speeches that mocked as others beside which yee had concerning this matter if so be it might stand with your pleasure to rehearse the same ZEUXIPPUS I thinke no lesse ô Moschion for that you are enclined naturally to philosophie and
a very hard matter it is in such assemblies and feasts of great lords or deere friends for a man to stay himselfe in a meane and mainteine his accustomed sobrietie but he shall be thought uncivill unmanerly insociable too austere and odious to all the company To the end therefore that we should not put fire to fire as they say lay gorge upon gorge surset upon surset and wine and wine good it were to imitate and follow in good earnest that which was sometime merily done by king Philip and that was this A certaine man invited him upon a time to a supper into the countrey thinking that hee would come with a small company about him but seeing that he brought a great traine and retinue with him and knowing wel that he had prepared no more then would serve for a few guests he was woonderfully troubled Philip perceiving it sent underhand to every one of his friends that came with him this word That they should keepe a roome in their stomacks for a deintie tart or cate that was comming they beleeving this message in good sadnesse made spare of other viands that stood before them looking evermore when this deintie should be served up in such sort as that the meat provided was sufficient for the whole compaine even so we ought before-hand to be prepared against the time that we are to be at such great feasts and meetings aforesaid where we shall be put to it perforce to drinke round in our turne and to answer every ones chalenge to reserue I say a place in our bodies both for meats and also for fine cates and junketting dishes yea and beleeve me if need be for drunkennesse and thither to bring an appetitie fresh and readie for such things But if peradventure such constreints and compulsions surprise us upon a sudden when we are either full and heavie or ill at ease for that we have a little before over-eaten and drunk our selves in case I say some great lords be come to us or in place unexpected or haply a friend or stranger take us at unawares and unprovided so that we be forced for shame to keepe others company who are well enough disposed in body and prepared for to drinke and make merty then must we be especially well armed against foolish bashfulnesse and to meet with such bad shamefastnesse is the cause of so many evils among men and namely by alledging and saying these verses of king Creon in a tragedie of Euripides Better it were for me you to displease My friend than at this time for your contnent To give my selfe to pleasure and mine ease But after with great sorrow to repent For to cast a mans selfe into a pleurisie or phrensie for feare to be held and reputed rustical and uncivill is the part of a rude clowne in deed and of one who hath neither wit nor judgement ne yet any skill or speech to enterteine and keepe companie with men unlesse they may be drunken and engorge themselves like gluttons for the very refusall it selfe of eating and drinking if it be handled with dexteritie and a good grace will be no lesse acceptable to the companie than drinking square and carrowsing round And if the man who maketh a feast absteine himselfe though he sit at the table as the maner is at a sacrifice whereof he tasteth not enterteining his guests with a cheerefull countenance and a friendly welcome and whiles the cups and trenchers walke about him be disposed to mirth and cast out some pretie jests of himselfe he shall no lesse content and please his guests than he that will seeme to be drunken for companie and cram his bellie with them till it be readie to cracke To this purpose he made mention of certeine ancient examples and namely among other of Alexander the Great who after he had drunke well and liberally was abashed and ashamed to denie the challenge of Medius one of his captaines who had invited him to supper and thereupon falling againe to drinke wine afresh died thereof And of those who lived in our daies he spake of one Riglis a notable Pancratiast or champion at all feats of activitie whom Titus Caesar the emperour sent for one day betimes in the morning to come and bathe with him who came indeed and after he had bathed and had drunke a great draught was by report surprised with an Apoplexie whereupon he died immediatly All these matters our Physician Glaucy mocked and reprooved calling them discourses of schoolemasters to children their scholars and as he was not very willing to heare more so were not we greatly discourse to relate and discourse farther unto him for that he had no mind to consider ech thing accordingly that was delivered Socrates verily who was the first that debarred us from eating those meats which drew us on to eat more still when we were not hungry nor had a stomacke thereto and from drinking such drinks which caused us to drinke although we were not drie and thirstie forbad us not simply to use meats and drinks but taught us rather to use them onely when we had need of them joining the pleasure of them with their necessitie like as they do who employ the publicke money of cities which before was wont to be spent at Theaters in exhibiting plaies and shewes about the charges of mainteining souldiers for the warres for that which is sweet so long as it is a part of our nourishment we hold to be proper and familiar to nature and we ought all the whiles that we be hungry to use and enjoy necessarie nourishment as sweet and pleasant but otherwise not to stirre and provoke other new and extraordinarie appetites apart after that we are delivered from those that be common and ordinarie for like as unto Socrates himselfe dancing was no unpleasant exercise even so he who maketh his whole supper or meale of junkets and banketting dishes catcheth lesse harme thereby but when a man hath taken alreadie as much as is sufficient to content nature and wherewith he is well satisfied he ought to beware as much as in any thing els how he putteth forth his hands to any such dainties And we are to flie and avoid in these things follie and ambition no lesse than friandise or gluttonie for these two vices induce us likewise often times to eat some thing when we are not hungrie and to drinke also when we be not athirst yea and they suggest and minister unto us certeine base and extravagant imaginations to wit that it were great simplicitie and a very absurd thing not to feed liberally of a rare deere and geason dish if it may be had as for example That which is made of a sowes pappes when she is newly farrowed Italian mushroomes Samian cakes or snow out of Aegypt for these toies and imaginations smelling somewhat of vain-glorie as the sent of meat comming out of a kitchin maine times set our teeth a watering and our stomacke on edge
voiages or pastimes as they deprive us of our pleasures yea and marre them quite and therefore they who love their delights and pleasures most had least need of any men in the world to neglect their health For many there be who for all they be sicke have meanes to studie philosophy and discourse thereof neither doth their sicknesse greatly hinder them but that they may be generals in the sield to leade armies yea and kings beleeve me to governe whole realmes But of bodily pleasures and fleshly delights some there be which during a maladie will never breed and such as are bred already yeeld but a small joy and short contentment which is proper and naturall unto them and the same not pure and sincere but confused depraved and corrupted with much strange stuffe yea and disguised and blemished as it were with some storme and tempest for the act of Venus is not to any purpose performed upon gourmandise and a full belly but rather when the bodie is calme and the flesh in great tranquillity for that the end of Venus is pleasure like as of eating also and of drinking and health unto pleasures is as much as their faire weather and kinde season which giveth them secure and gentle breeding much like as the calme time in winter affoords the sea-fowles called Alcyones a safe cooving sitting and hatching of their egges Prodicus is commended for this pretie speech That sire was the best sauce and a man may most truely say That health is of all sauces must divine heavenly and pleasant for our viands how delicate soever they be boiled rosted baked or stewed doe no pleasure at all unto us so long as wee are diseased drunken full of surfet or queasie stomacked as they be who are sea-sicke whereas a pure and cleane appetite causeth all things to be sweet pleasant and agreeable unto sound bodies yea and such as they will be ready to snatch at as Homer saith But like as Demades the oratour seeing the Athenians without all reason desirous of armes and warre said unto them That they never treated and agreed of peace but in their blacke robes after the losse of kinsfolke and friends even so wee never remember to keepe a spary and sober diet but when we come to be cauterized or to have cataplasmes and plasters about us we are no sooner fallen to those extremities but then we are ready to condemne our faults calling to minde what errours we have committed in times past for untill then we blame one while the aire as most men doe another while the region or countrey as unsound and unholsome we finde fault that we are out of our native soile and are woonderfull loth to accuse our owne intemperance and disordinate appetites And as king Lisymachus being constreined and enforced within the country of the Getes for very thirst to yeeld himselfe prisoner and al his armie captivate unto his enemies after he had taken a draught of cold water said Good God what a great felicitie have I forgone and lost for a momentarie and transitory pleasure even so we may make use thereof and apply the same unto our selves when wee are sicke saying thus How many delights have we marred quite how many good actions have we fore-let what honest pastimes have we lost and all by our drinking of cold water or bathing unseasonably or else for that we have over-drunke our selves for good fellowship for the bite sting of such thoughts as these toucheth our remēbrance to the quicke in such sort as the scarre remaineth still behind after that we are recovered and maketh us in time of our health more staied circumspect and sober in our diet for a bodie that is exceeding sound and healthy never bringeth foorth vehement desires and disordinate appetites hardly to be tamed or with stood but we ought to make head against them when they beginne to breake soorth and 〈◊〉 out for to enjoy the pleasures which they are affected unto for such lusts some complaine pule and crie for a little as wanton children doe and no sooner is the table taken awaie but they be quiet and still neither finde they fault and make complaint of any wrong or injurie offred unto them but contrariwise they be pure jocund and lightsome not continuing heavie nor readie to heave and cast the next day to an end like as by report captaine Timotheus having upon a time beene at a sober and frugall scholars supper in the academie with Plato said That they who supped with Plato were merry and well appaied the next day after It is reported also that king Alexander the Great when he turned backe those cooks which queene 〈◊〉 sent unto him said That he had about him all the yeere long better of his owne namely for his breakfast or dinner rising betimes and marching before day light and for his supper eating little at dinner I am not ignorant that men otherwhiles are very apt to fall into an ague upon extreme travell upon excessive heats also and colds but like as the odors and sents of 〈◊〉 he weak seeble of themselves whereas if they be mixed with some oile they take force 〈◊〉 even so fulnesse and repletion is the ground which giveth as a man would say bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the outward causes and occasions of maladies and of a great quantity of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humours there is no danger because all such indispositions and crudities are soone 〈◊〉 dissipated and dissolved when some fine or subtill bloud when some pure spirit I 〈◊〉 their motion but where there is a great repletion indeed and abundance of 〈◊〉 as it were a deepe and mirie puddle all troubled and stirred then there arise from 〈◊〉 many maligne accidents such as be dangerous and hard to cure and therefore we are 〈◊〉 to doe like some good masters of ships who never thinke their vessels bee fully fraught and charged throughly and when they have taken in all that ever they can doe nothing else but worke at the pumpe void the sinke and cast out the sea water which is gotten in even so when we have well filled and stuffed our bodies fall to purge and cleanse them with medicines and 〈◊〉 but we ought rather to keepe the bodie alwaies neat nimble and light to the end that if it chaunce otherwise at any time to be pressed and held downe it might be seene above for lightnesse like unto a piece of corke floting aloft upon the water but principally we are to beware of the very 〈◊〉 indispositions which are forerunners of maladies for all diseases walke not as Hesicdus saith in silence and say nothing when they come As whom wise Jupiter hath berest Of voice and toong to them none left But the most part of thē have their vant-curreurs as it were their messengers trumpets namely crudities of stomack wearinesse and heavinesse over all the bodie According to the 〈◊〉 of Hippocrates lassitudes and laborious heavinesse of the bodie comming
delights and pleasures as in travels and paines yea and generally in every action enterprising nothing assuredly and with confidence whereas we ought to deale by our body as with the saile of ship that is to say neither to draw it in keepe it down too straight in time of calme faire 〈◊〉 nor to spred and let it out over slacke and negligently when there is presented some 〈◊〉 of a tempest but as occasion shall require to spare it and give some ease and remission that afterwards it may be fresh and lightsome as hath beene said already and not to slacke the time and stay untill we sensibly feele crudities laskes inflamations or contrariwise stupidities and mortifications of members by which signes being as it were messengers and ushers going before a feaver which is hard at the dore hardly wil some be so much moved as to keepe in and restraine themselves no not when the very accesse and fit is readie to surprise them but rather long before to be provident and to prevent a tempest So soone as from some rocke we finde The puffing gales of northern winde For absurd it is and to no purpose to give such carefull heed unto the crying wide throates of crowes or to the craing and cackling of hennes or to swine when in a rage they tosse and fling straw about them as Democritus saith thereby to gather presages prognostications of wind raine and stormes and in the meane time not to observe the motions troubles and fiering indispositions of our bodie nor prevent the same ne yet to gather undoubted signes of a tempest ready to rise and grow even out thereof And therefore we ought not onely to have an eie unto the bodie for meat and drinke and for bodily exercises in observing whether we fall unto them more lazily and unwillingly than our manner was before time or contrariwise whether our hunger and thirst be more than ordinary but also wee are to suspect and feare if our sleeps be not milde and continued but broken interrupted we must besides regard our very dreames namely whether they be strange and unusuall for if there be represented extraordinarie fansies and imaginations they testifie and shew a repletion of grosse viscuous or slimy humours and a great perturbation of the spirits within Otherwhiles also it hapneth that the motions of the soule it selfe doe fore-signifie unto us that the body is in some neere danger of disease for many times men are surprised with timorous fittes of melancholy and heartlesse distrusts without any reason or evident cause the which suddenly extinguish all their hopes you shall have some upon every small occasion apt to fall into cholerick passions of anger they become eager and hastie troubled pensive and offended with a little thing insomuch as they will be ready to weepe and runne all to teares yea and languish for griefe and sorrow And all this commeth when evill vapours sowre and bitter fumes ingendred within doe arise and steeme up and so as Plato saith be intermingled in the waies and passages of the soule Those persons therefore who are subject to such things ought to thinke and consider with themselves that if there be no spirituall cause thereof it cannot chuse but some corporall matter had need either of evacution alteration or suppression Expedient also it is and very profitable for us when we visit our friends that be sicke to enquire diligently the causes of their maladies not upon a cavilling curiosity or vaine ostentation to dispute sophistically and discourse thereof only or to make a shew of our eloquence in talking of the instances the insults the intercidences communities of diseases and all to shew what books we have read that we know the words tearmes of physick but to make search and enquirie in good earnest and not slightly or by the way as touching these slight common and vulgar points namely whether the sicke partie be full or emptie whether he overtravelled himselfe before or no and whether he slept well or ill but principally what diet he kept and what order of life he followed when he fell for examples sake into the ague then according as Plato was woont to say unto himselfe whensoever he returned from hearing and seeing the faults that other men committed Am not I also such an one so you must compose and frame your selfe to learne by the harmes and errours of neighbours about you for to looke well unto your owne health and by calling them to mind to be so wary provident that you fall not into the same inconveniences and forced to keepe your bed and there extol commend health wishing desiring when it is too late for to enjoy so pretious a treasure but rather seeing another to have caught a disease to marke and consider well yea and to enterteine this deepe impression in your heart how deere the said health ought to be unto us how carefull we should be to preserve and chary to spare the same Moreover it would not be amisse for a man afterwards to compare his owne life with that of the foresaid patient for if it fall out so that notwithstanding we have used over-liberall diet both in drinks and meats or laboured extreamly or otherwise committed errour in any excesse and disorder our bodies minister unto nature no suspition nor threaten any signe of sicknesse toward yet ought we neverthelesse to take heed and prevent the harme that may ensue namely if we have committed any disorder in the pleasures of Venus and love-delights or otherwise bene over-travelled to repose our selves and take our quiet rest after drunkennesse or carrowsing wine round for good fellowship to make amends and recompense with drinking as much colde water for a time but especially upon a surfeit taken with eating heavie and grosse meats and namely of flesh or els feeding upon sundry and divers dishes to fast or use a sparie diet so as there be left no superfluitie in the bodie for even these things as of themselves alone if there were no more be enough to breed diseases so unto other causes they adde matter and minister more strength Full wisely therefore was it said by our ancients in old time that for to mainteine our health these three points were most expedient To feed without satietie To labour with alacritie and To preserve and make spare of naturall seed For surely lascivious intemperance in venerie of all things most decaieth and enfeebleth the strength of that naturall heat whereby our meat and food which we receive is concocted and so consequently is the cause of many excrements and superfluities engendred whereupon corrupt humours are engendered and gathered within the body To begin therefore to speake againe of every of these points let us consider first the exercises meet and agreeable to students or men of learning for like as he who first said That he wrot nothing of Teeth to those that inhabited the sea coasts taught them in so
Moreover there be other sorts of pleasant talke besides these and namely to heare and recite fables devised for mirth and pleasure discourses of playing upon the flute harpe or lute which many times give more contentment and delight than to heare the flute harpe or lute it selfe plaied upon Now the very precise time measured as it were and marked out to be most proper and meet for such recreations is when we feele that our meat is gently gone downe and setled quietly in the bottome of the stomacke shewing some signe of concoction and that naturall heat is strong and hath gotten the upper hand Now forasmuch as Aristotle is of opinion that walking after supper doth stirre up and kindle as one would say our naturall heat and to sleepe immediately after a man hath supped doth dull and quench it considering also that others be of a contrary minde and hold that rest and repose is better for concoction that motion so soone after troubleth and impeacheth the digestion and distribution of the meats which is the cause that some use to walke after supper others sit still and take their ease me thinks a man may reconcile and satisfie verie well after a sort these two opinions who cherishing and keeping his bodie close and still after supper setteth his mind a walking awakeneth it suffering it not to be heavie idle at once by and by but sharpneth and quickneth his spirits as is before said by little and little in discoursing or hearing discourses of pleasant matters and delectable such as be not biting in any wise nor offensive and odious Moreover as touching vomits or purgations of the bellie by laxative medicines which are the cursed and detestable easements and remedies of fulnesse and repletion surely they would never be used but upon right great and urgent necessitie a contrary course to many men who fill their gorges and bodies with an intent to void them soone after or otherwise who purge and emptie the same for to fill them againe even against nature who are no lesse troubled nay much more offended ordinarily by being fedde and full than fasting and emptie insomuch as such repletion is an hinderance to the contentment and satisfying of their appetites and lusts by occasion whereof they take order alwaies that their bodie may be evermore emptied as if this voidance were the proper place and seat of their pleasures But the hurt and dammage that may grow upon these ordinary purgations and vomits is very evident for that both the one and the other put the body to exceeding great straines and violent disturbances As for vomiting it bringeth with it one inconvenience by it selfe more than the former in that it procureth augmenteth an unsatiable greedinesse to meat for ingendered there is by that meanes a violent turbulent hunger like as when the course or stream of a river hath bene for a while stopped staid snatching or greedy at meat which is evermore offensive not a kind appetite indeed when as nature hath need of meat but resembling rather the inflammations occasioned by medicines or cataplasmes Hereupon it is that the pleasures proceeding from thence paste and slippe away incontinently as abortive and unperfect accompanied with inordinate pantings and beatings of the pulse great wrings in the enjoying of them and afterwards ensue dolorous tensions violent oppressions or stoppings of the conduits pores the reliques or retensions of ventosities which staie not for naturall ejections and evacuations but runne up and downe all over our bodies like as if they were shippes surcharged having more need to bee eased of their burden than still to be loden with more excrements As for the troublesome motions of the belly and guts occasioned by purgative drougues they corrupt spill and resolve the natural strength of the solide parts so that they engender more superfluties within than they thrust out and expel And this is for al the world like as if a man being discontented to see within his native citie a multitude of naturall Greekes inhabitants should for to drive them out fill the same with Scythians or Arabian strangers For even so some there be who greatly miscounting and deceiving themselves for to send foorth of their bodies the superfluous humors which are in some sort domesticall and familiar unto them put into them I wot not what Guidian graines Scammoni and other strange drougues fet from farre countries such as have no familiar reference to the bodie but are meere wilde and savage and in truth have more need to be purged and chaced out of the body themselves than power and vertue to void away and expell that wherewith nature is choked and overcharged The best way therefore is by sobrietie and regular diet to keepe the bodie alwaies in that moderate measure of evacuation and repletion that it may be able by proportionable temperature to maintaine it selfe without any outward helpe But if it fall out otherwhiles that there be some necessitie of the one or the other vomits would be provoked without the helpe of strange physicall drogues and not with much adoo and curiositie that they disquiet trouble no parts within but onely for to avoid cruditie and indigestion reject and cast up that gentlie which is too much and cannot be prepared and made meet for concoction For like as linnen clothes that bee scoured and made cleane with sopes ashes lees and other abstersive matters weare more and fret out sooner than such as be washed simply in faire water even so vomites provoked by medicines offend the body much more and marre the complexion But say the belly bee bound and costive there is not a drougue that easeth it so mildly or provoketh it to the siege so easily as doe certaine meats whereof the experience is familiar unto us and the use nothing dolorous and offensive Now in case the body be so heard that such kinde viands will not worke and cause it to be sollible then a man ought for many daies together to drinke thinne and cold water or use to fast or else take some clister rather than purgative medicines such as disquiet the body and overthrow the temperature thereof And yet many there be who ever and anon are ready to run unto them much like unto those lewd and light wanton women who use certeine inedicines to cause abortion or to send away the fruit which they have newly conceived to the end that they might conceive soone againe and have more pleasure in that fleshly action Now is it time to say no more but to let them goe that perswade such evacuations As for those on the contrarie side who interject certaine exact precise and criticall fastings observed too straightly according to just periods and circuits of daies surely they teach nature wherin they doe not well to use astriction before it have need and acquaint her with a necessarie abstinence of food which in it selfe is not necessarie even at a prefixed time which
calleth for that then whereto it is accustomed Better yet it were for a man to use these chasticements of his body freely and at his owne liberty without any foreknowledge of suspition and as for other diet as hath beene said before to order it so that it may frame and be obsequent to all manner of occurrences changes that shall come betweene and not to be tied and bound to one forme and manner of life exactly to keepe certaine daies just numbers and set circuits without failing or missing in any jot For this course is neither sure nor easie it is not civill nor yet agreeable to humanitie it resembleth rather the life of an oister or some stocke of a tree to captivate himselfe and be so subject and thrall that he cannot change or alter his viands he may not once varie in his fastings and abstinencies in his motions or repose but continue alwaies close and covert in a shadie kinde of life idle private to himselfe without conversing with friends without participation of honors farre remote from the administration of weale publicke which were to shut himselfe up as it were a close prisoner a life I assure you which I cannot like nor allow for wee cannot buie our health with idlenesse and doing naught which two are the principall inconveniences incident unto diseases and all one this were as if a man would thinke to preserve his eies by not employing them to see or his voice by speaking not at all thus to be perswaded that for the preservation of health it were necessarie to have continuall repose without doing ought for a man in health cannot doe better for to mainteine the same than to be emploied in many good duties and commendable offices of humanitie An absurd error therefore it is to thinke idlenesse to be either healthy or holsome considering that it destroieth the very end of health which is emploiment neither is it true that the lesse men doe the more healthfull they be For Xenocrates had not his health better than Phocion nor Theophrastus than Demetrius and as for Epicurus and all the crew of his sectaries they had no benefit at all for the atteining of that contentment and tranquillitie of the bodie which they make so great reckoning of and praise so highly by flying and avoiding all State affaires and medling in no publicke and honorable office Other meanes therefore and provision would be made to enterteine and keepe that disposion and habitude of the bodie which is according to nature for this is certeine that all sorts of life be capable as well of sicknesse as of health Howbeit polititians quoth he and States-men are to be admonished to doe cleane contrarie unto that which Plato advertised his yoong scholars to doe For Plato ever as he went out of the schoole was woont thus to say unto them Goe to my sonnes see you employ that leasure which you have in some honest sports and pastimes But we may exhort and put in minde those who deale in the administration of common-wealth to bestow their labour and travell in honest and necessarie things and not to overtoile and spend their bodies in small matters of little or no consequence as the manner is of most men who trouble and torment themselves about just nothing overwatching running to and fro heere and there up and downe about things which many times are neither good nor honest but onely because they would disgrace and shame others either upon envie that they beare unto them or upon obstinate and wilfull selfe-conceit or else to pursue and maintaine some vaine and foolish opinions that they have taken For I thinke verily it was in regard of such persons especially that Democritus said If the body should call the soule judicially into question upon an action of injurie or wrong done and for to make satisfaction of losse and damage she were not able to answer it but must needs confesse the action and be condemned And Theophrastus peradventure said well and truely when speaking by a metaphor or allegorie he affirmed that the soule paid a deere rent for her dwelling within the body For I assure you the bodie may thanke the soule for many harmes that it sustaineth when as she useth it not with reason nor intreateth it according as it is meet and convenient and looke when she hath any proper and peculiar passions of her owne or some enterprises and actions to be performed she maketh no spare of the poore bodie As for the tyrant Jason hee was wont I wot not upon what reason or ground to say That he ought to deale unjustly in small matters who would be just in the greatest affaires and even so wee may well advise a man of State and government to make no reckoning of trifling things but disport play and solace himselfe in repose with them if he would not have his bodie over-spent dull or lazie against the time that he should emploie it in great and important causes much like to an old shippe which hath beene drawen up to land for to be newly calked and trimmed after hath rested a time is fit to doe new service at sea for even so the bodie upon repose and ease whensoever the soule shall put it to any affaires will be ready to follow And runne with her as sucking fole doth go Hard by the damme and never parts her fro And therefore when occasions will permit and give leave wee are to refresh and recreat our selves not envying the bodies naturall sleepe or usuall repose and refection of dinner ne yet easement and recreation which is of a middle nature betweene pleasure and paine nor observing a strict rule which many men doe keepe and in keeping it spill and spend the bodie by sudden mutations like as iron that is often made hot and quenched againe for whensoever the body is foiled and tired with travels then they will even melt and dissolve it in excessive and unmeasurable pleasures and all upon the sudden againe when it is weakned enfeebled with the delights of Venus or by drinking out of course they will draw and drive it presently to the serious travels of the common hall or the court to the solliciting and following of some affaires of great importance which requireth earnest attendance and hot pursute Heraclitus the philosopher being fallen into a dropsie willed his physician to make drought of great raine But most men ordinarily doe fault heerein exceeding much now when they be wearied toiled and foiled with painfull labours and wants yeeld their bodies to be melted and spent quite with voluptuous pleasures and afterwards againe wrest and straine them as it were upon the teinters immediately upon the fruition of some pleasures For nature verily neither liketh nor requireth these alterations and sudden changes by turnes but it is the incontinencie and illiberall Iasciviousnesse of the soule and nothing else that abandoneth her-selfe inordinately unto pleasures and delights so soone as it is out of laborious
no insolencie some delight or disport profitable and procure laughter not accompanied with wanton reproofe and scornefull reproch but such as carieth a grace and pleasure with it for this is it wherein most part of feasts suffer shipwracke namely when they are misgoverned or not ordered as they ought to be But the part it is of a wise and prudent man to know how to avoid enmity and anger in the market-place gotten by avarice in the publicke halles of bodily exercises by contention and emulation in bearing offices and suing for them by ambition and vain-glory and last of all in feasts and banquets by such plaies and pastimes THE FIFTH QUESTION What is meant by this common proverbe Love teacheth musicke and poetrie THe question was mooved one day in Sossius Sesnerius house after certeine verses of Sappho were chanted how this saying of Euripides should be understood Love teacheth musicke marke when you will Tough one before thereof had no skill considering that the poet Philoxenus reporteth how Cyclops Polyphemus the giant cured his love by the sweet tongued muses Whereupon it was alledged that Love is of great power to moove a man for to be bold hardy and adventurous yea and ministreth a readinesse to attempt all novelties according as Plato named it the enterpriser of all things for it maketh him talkative and full of words who before was silent it causeth the bashfull and modest person to court it and put himselfe forward in all maner of service it is the meanes that an idle carelesse lubber and a negligent becommeth diligent and industrious and that which a man would most marvell at a miching hard-head and mechanicall penifather if he fall once to love doth relent and waxe soft as iron in the fire and so prooveth more liberall courteous and kinde than ever before so that this pleasant and merry proverbe seemeth not to be altogether ridiculous impertinent namely that Loves purse is tied knit up with a leeke or porret blade Moreover it was there spoken That Love resembled drunkennesse for that the one aswell as the other doth set folke in a heat it maketh them cheerfull merry and jocund and when as men be come once to that they fall soone to sing to rime and make verses And it is said that the poet Aeschylus composed his tragedies when he had well drunken and was heat with wine I had a grandfather also my selfe named Lamprias who seemed alwaies more learned witty and fuller of inventions yea and to surpasse himselfe in that kinde when he had taken his cups liberally and he was wont to say That at such a time he was like unto incense which being set on fire rendereth the sweet odour that it hath Moreover they that take exceeding great pleasure to see their loves are no lesse affected with joy when they do praise them than in looking upon them for love as it is in every thing a great pratler and full of words so especially and most of all in praises insomuch as lovers would willingly perswade others to that wherein they are themselves perswaded first namely that they love nothing but that which is perfect in goodnesse and beautie and others they would have to be witnesses with them of it This was it that induced the Lydian king Candaules to draw and traine Giges into his bed-chamber for to see the beautie of his wife naked for why such are willing to have the restimonie of others Loe what the reason is that if they write the praises of that which they love they embelish and adorne the same with verses songs and meeter like as images with golde to the end that the said praises might be heard more willingly and remembred better by more people for if they bestow a fighting-cocke an horse or any other thing whatsoever upon those whom they love their minde is principally that this their present should be faire and beautifull in it selfe afterwards that it be most gallantly and in best maner set out but above all in case they be disposed to flatter them in words or writings their chiefe care is that the same run roundly and pleasantly that they be also glorious and beautified with fine figures such as is ordinarily the stile of poets Then Sossius approving well of these reasons said moreover That it were well if some would take in hand to draw and gather arguments out of that which Theophrastus left in writing as touching musicke For long it is not quoth he since I read over that booke wherein he delivereth thus much after a divine maner That three principall causes or roots there be of musicke to wit paine or griefe pleasure or joy and the ravishment of the spirit of which three every one doth bend and turne the voice a little out of the ordinary tune for griefs and sorrowes usually bring with them moanes and plaints which quickly run into song which is the reason that we see oratours in the perorations or conclusions of their speeches the actours also in tragedies when they come to make their dolefull lamentations bring their voices downe gently to a kinde of melodie and by little and little tune them as it were thereto Also the great and vehement joies of the minde do lift up all the body of them especially who are any thing lightsome by nature yea and provoke the same to leape skip and clappe their hands observing a kinde of motion according to number and measure if they can not dance And otherwise in furious sort Like frantike folke they do disport They shake they wag they set out throat And send out many a foolish note according as Pindarus saith But in case they be somewhat more grave and staied than others when they finde themselves moved with such a passion of joy they let their voice onely go at liberty speaking aloud and singing sonnets But above all the ravishment of the spirit or that divine inspiration which is called Enthusiasmus casteth bodie mind voice and all far beyond the ordinary habit which is the cause that the furious and raging priests of Bacchus called Bacchae use rime meeter those also who by a propheticall spirit give answeres by oracle deliver the same in verse and few persons shall a man see starke mad but among their raving speeches they sing and say some verses This being so if you would now display love and view it well being unfolded and laied open abroad hardly shall you meet with another passion which hath either sharper dolours or joies more violent or greater exstasies and ravishments of the spirit lying as it were in a trance so that a man may discover in amorous persons a soule much like unto that city which Sophocles describeth Full of songs and incense sweet Of sighs and groanes in every street No marvell is it therefore nor a strange thing if love conteining comprehending in it selfe all those primitive causes of musicke to wit dolour joy and ravishment of spirit be
there is I say that bitter almonds should have power to withstand the strength of meere wine considering they drie the body within and will not permit the veines to bee full upon the tention and commotion whereof they say drunkennesse doth proceed and for evident proofe of this there may be a good argument gathered from that which befalleth foxes who having eaten bitter almonds is they drinke not presently upon them die therewith by reason that all their humors suddenly are spent and consumed THE SEVENTH QUESTION What is the cause that old folke take greater delight in pure and strong wine than others THere arose a question about old persons what the reason might be that they loved better to drink wine without water or at the leastwise delaied but a little Some alledged the habit of their bodies being cold and hard to be set into an heat in regard whereof the strength of wine was meet and agreeable to their temperature a reason very common and ready at hand but surely neither sufficient for to bee the cause of such an effect nor yet simply true for the same hapueth to their other sences as being hard to be mooved and affected yea and nothing easie to be stirred for to apprehend the qualities thereto belonging unlesse the same be passing strong and vehement whereof the true cause indeed is this that their temperature being weake dull and feeble loveth to be put in minde by knocking upon and this is the cause that for their taste they delight in such sapours as be biting their smelling likewise standeth even so to odors that be strong for affected it is with more pleasure in such as be not tempered nor delaied as for the sense of touching they feele no great paine of ulcers and sores and if it happen that they be wounded their hurt and harme is not so great the same befalleth to their hearing for their eares be in manner deafe and heereupon it is that musicians as they grow in yeeres and waxe aged straine and raise their voice in singing so much the higher and lowder as if they stirred up the organs of hearing by the vehement force of the sound for looke what is steele to the edge and temper of iron for cutting the same is spirit to the bodie for sense and feeling and when it beginnes once to slacke faile and decay the sense likewise and the instruments thereof become dull heavie and earthly having need of some such quicke thing to pricke it in good earnest as strong wine is THE EIGHTH QUESTION How it comes to passe that olde folke reade better afarre off than neere at hand AGainst those reasons which wee devised and alledged upon the subject matter and point in hand it seemed that there might be opposed the eie-sight for that elder persons for to reade any thing the better remoove the letters farther from their eies and in trueth can not well reade neere at hand which the poet Aeschylus seemeth covertly to implie and shew unto us in these verses Know him thou canst not if neere he stand to thee A good olde scribe thou maist much sooner be And Sophocles more plainly testifieth as much when he writeth of old folke in this wise The voice to them arrives not readily And hardly thorow their eares the way can finde Their eies do see farre off confusedly But neere at hand they all be very blinde If then it be so that the senses of aged persons and the instruments serving thereto are not willingly obeisant to their proper objects unlesse the same be strong and vehement what should the cause be that in reading they can not endure the reverberation of the light from letters if they be neere but setting the booke farther off from their eies they do by that meanes enfeeble as it were that light for that it is spread and dissipate in the aire like as the strength of wine when it is tempered with water To this probleme some answered thus That they remoove books and letters farre from their eie-sight not because they would make the saide light more milde or lesse radiant but contrariwise for that they are desirous to catch and gather more splendor and to fill the meane intervall which is betweene the eie and the letter with lightsome and shining aire Others accorded with those who holde that the eies do send out of them certeine raies for by reason that aswell from the one eie as the other a pyramidal beame doth issue the point whereof is in the sight of the eie and the basis doth comprehend the object that is seene probable it is that both these pyramides goe forward apart one from the other a good space and distance but after they be a great way off and come to encounter one another and be confounded together they make but one entire light and this is the reason that albeit the eies are twaine yet every thing that we see appeareth one and not two for that in trueth the meeting and shining together of those two pyramides in common do make of two sights but one This being presupposed and set downe olde men approching neere to letters comprehend the same more feebly in regard that the pyramidall beames of their eies are not yet joined and met together but ech of them reach to the objects apart but if they be farther off so that the said pyramides may be intermingled they see more perfectly much like to them who with both hands can claspe and hold that which they are not able to do with one alone Then my brother Lamprias opposed himselfe against all this and as one who had not read the booke of Hieronymus but even upon the pregnancy and quickenesse of his wit seemed to render another reason namely That we see by the meanes of certeine images arising from the objects or visible things which at the first be big and for that cause trouble the sight of old folke when they regard them neere and hard-by being indeed but hard and slow of motion but when the said images be advanced and spread farther into the aire and have gained some good distance the grosse and terrestriall parts of them breake and fall downe but the more subtill portions reach as farre as to the eies without any paine or offence unto them and do insinuate and accommodate themselves equally and smoothly into their concavities so that the eies being lesse troubled apprehend and receive them better And even so it is with the odours of flowers which are very sweet to smell unto a good way off whereas if a man come over-neere unto them they yeeld nothing so kinde and pleasant a sent the reason is because that together with the savour there goeth from the flower much earthly matter grosse and thicke which corrupteth and marreth the fragrant sweetnesse of the odour if it be smelled to very neere but in case the same be a prety way off that terrestriall vaparation is dispersed round about and so falleth
birth taking himselfe immediately with the maner But why say I so for we quoth he are come of no better seeds made the party and all the company to laugh heartily Semblably there was a minstrell or professed musician who kindly and with a very good grace repressed the presumptuous curiositie and unskilfulnesse of king Philip who forgat himselfe so much that hee would needs reade a lecture as it were unto the said minstrell how he should finger and strike finding fault with him in certeine accords of musicke Ah God forbid quoth he my good leege lord that it should go so heard with your grace as to be more skiful in this art than my selfe for thus whiles he seemed to mocke himselfe he told the king of his fault without offence and this seemeth to be a device that comicall poets otherwhiles practise to allay the bitter gall of their quips taunts namely to scoffe at themselves as Aristophanes used to make sport with his own bald pate and Cratinus noted himselfe that he loved wine so well in that comedie which he intituled Pytine that is to say a bottle or flagon of wine but above all this regard and consideration would be had that all such scoffes and merrie jestes come from a man extempore and readily either by way of answer to a present demaund or occasioned upon some other sudden scoffe and in no wise to seeme farre fetcht as a thing premeditate studied on before for like as men beare and endure with more patience the anger and debates among themselves arising now and then at the table whiles they be in the middes of their cups but if another stranger should come in place and offer abuse to any of the guests and so trouble the company hee should be reputed an enemie and for very hatred they would thrust him out of the dores by head shoulders even so we can find in our harts easily to pardon a scoffe a frump or broad jest if it proceed from some matter at the present deliverie or seeme to come naturally unforced and without all art but in case it be not occasioned presently nor respective to the purpose but drawen as one would say violently by the haire of the head from elswhere then it resembleth some ambush fore-laied afarre off for to wrong and do injurie to one person or other like to that jest of Timagenes which he discharged upon the husband of a woman who was wont ordinarily to cast up her gorge in this maner With musicke bad you doe begin Thus vomiting to bring her in As also the demand proposed unto the philosopher Athenodorus whether the love of parents to their children be musicall For surely such unseasonable cuts and taunts as these not accommodate to time and place nor fitted to the present occasion doe bewray a malicious minde and a deliberate purpose to offer wrong and abuse and therefore such persons as delight in these biting girds many times for a word which is the lightest thing in the world as Plato saith have paied a most heavie and grievous price whereas contrariwise they that know how to place their words in due time in meet place and aptly to the purpose do verifie the testimonie of the same Plato who saith That it is an assured signe of a mans good bringing up and the point of liberall nurture and instruction to know how to jest with a decent grace and without the offence of any person THE SECOND QUESTION Why men be more hungrie and eat better in Autumne than in any other quarter of the yeere IN the borough Eleusine after the ceremonies of sacred mysteries were performed whē as the solemnitie celebrated with so frequent concourse of people was at the highest we were feasted by Glaucias the oratour in his house where when others had made an end of supper Xenocles his brother began after his maner to cavill and scoffe at my brother Lamprias twitting him with his large feeding and indeed hitting in his teeth and reproching him with the voracitie of the Boeotians who are taken to be good trencher-men whereupon I in the defence of my brother and to be revenged of Xenocles tooke occasion out of the doctrine of Epicurus and said unto him What good fir all men do not define and determine the utmost point and perfection of pleasure to be indolence or the privation of paine as your good master Epicurus doth and besides my brother Lamprias who honoureth and esteemeth more the walking galleries of the Peripateticks and the schoole of the Stoicks called Lyceum than he doth the garden of Epicurus must of necessitie and in effect beare witnesse to Aristotle who affirmeth That there is no man but he eateth more in Autumne than in any other season of the yeere and a reason he giveth thereof although it be now out of my head So much the better quoth Glaucias for we our selves will see if we can finde it out after supper is done Now when the tables were taken away Glaucias and Xenocles both imputed the cause thereof to the sundry fruits of that season and that after a divers sort For one said that new fruits do make the bellie soluble and so by evacuation of the bodie engender alwaies fresh appetites to meat The other to wit Xenocles affirmed that these fruits for the most part carrie with them a certeine piercing and mordicant quallitie yet pleasant withall whereby they provoke and quicken the stomacke to appetite more than any viands or sauces whatsoever insomuch as those who be sickly and have lost their stomacks recover the same many times by eating some of those fruits new gathered But Lamprias alledged that our familiar and naturall heat by which we are nourished in Summer time is dispersed and becommeth more feeble and resolved but contrariwise upon the entrance of Autumne it gathereth it selfe together inwardly againe and is fortified by the meanes of the colde ambient aire which knitteth constreineth and closeth up the pores of the bodie Then I because it should not be thought that I would be one to participate in this conference without contributing somewhat of mine owne when my course came to speake declard that in Summer time by reason of the excessive heat of the weather we are more thirstie and in regard of the same heat and drought take in more moisture and liquid nourishment Now therefore nature quoth I by reason of the change of the aire and the season seeking as her maner is for the contrary causeth us to be more hungry in Autumne than at other times and for the temperature of the bodie tendereth unto it as much drie food as it had taken moisture in Summer time and yet a man can not well say that the cause of this effect dependeth nothing at all of the viands which we eat consisting much of new and fresh fruits not onely thicke gruels and pottage but also of pulset wheat-bread and flesh reared the same yeere which being
assaults and impressions of drunkennesse For these flowers if they be hot gently unstop and open the pores and in so doing make way and give vent for the heady wine to evaporate and breathe out all fumosities and contrariwise if they be temperatly colde by closing gently the said pores keepe downe and drive backe the vapours steaming up into the braine And of this vertue are the garlands of violets and roses which by their smell and comfortable sent represse and stay both ache and heavinesse of head As for the flower of Privet Saffron and Baccaris that is to say Our Ladies gloves or Nard Rusticke bring them sweetly to sleepe who have drunke freely for these send from them a milde aire breathing after a smooth and uniforme manner the which doth softly comprise and lay even the unequall distemperatures the troublesome acrimonies and disorderly asperities arising in the bodies of those who have overdrunk themselves whereupon there ensueth a calme and thereby the strength of the headie wine is either dulled or else rebated Other sorts of flowers there be the odours whereof being spred and dispersed about the braine purge mildly the pores and passages of the senses and their organes subtiliat and discusse gently withour trouble and offence with their moderate heat the humors and all moist vapours by way of rarefaction and warme the braine comfortably which by nature is of a cold temperature and for this cause especially those pettie garlands or poesies of flowers which they hung in old time about their necks they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one would saie suffumigations and they annointed all their brest-parts with the oiles that were expelled or extracted from them Alcyus also testifieth as much where hee willeth to powre sweet oile upon his head that had suffered much paine and upon his brest all grey for even so such odors are directed up as farre as to the braine being drawen by the sense of smelling So it was not because they thought that the soule which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was seated and kept residence within the heart that they called these wreathes and garlands about their necks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some would have it for then more reason it had beene to have tearmed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it was as I said before of the exhalation or evaporation upward from the region of the breast against which they were worne pendant neither are wee to woonder that the exhalations of flowers should have so great force for we finde it written in records that the shadow of Smilax especially when it is in the flower killeth them that lie a sleepe under it also from the Poppie there ariseth a certeine spirit when the juice is drawen out of it which they call Opium and if they take no better heed who draw the same it causeth them to swoone and fall to the ground there is an herbe called Alysson which whosever hold in their hands or doe but looke upon it shall presently be ridde of the yexe or painfull hickot and they say it is very good also for sheepe and goates to keepe them from all diseases if the same be planted along their cotes and folds the Rose also named in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was so called for that it casteth from it an odoriferous smell which is the reason that it quickly fadeth and the beautie passeth soone away cold it is in operation although it carie the colour of fire and not without good cause for that the little heat that it hath flieth up to the superficies of it as being driven outwardly from within by the native coldnesse that it hath THE SECOND QUESTION Whether Ivie of the owne nature be cold or hot THis speech of Tryphon we greatly praised but Amonius smiling It were not meet quoth he to kicke and spurne againe nor to overthrow so beautifull and gay a discourse as this was embelished and adorned with as great varietie as the garlands whereof it treated and which he undertooke to defend and mainteine but that I cannot tell how it is come to passe that the Ivie is enterlaced in the chaplet of flowers and said by the naturall coldnesse that it is to have a vertue and propertie to extinguish and quench the forcible heat of new wine for contrariwise it seemeth to be hot and ardent and the frute which it beareth being put into wine and infused therein giveth it power to inebriat and make drunke yea and to trouble and disquiet the bodie by the inflammation that it causeth by reason of which excessive heat the very body thereof groweth naturall crooked after the manner of wood that curbeth and warpeth with the fire also the snow which oftentimes cōtinueth and lieth many daies upon other trees flieth in great haste from the Ivie tree or to speake more properly is presently gone thawed and melted if it chance to settle upon it that by reason of the heat and that which more is as Theophrastus hath left in writing Harpalus the lieutenant generall under Alexander the Great in the province of Babylon by expresse order and direction from the king his master endevoured and did what he might to set in the kings orchard there certaine trees and plants which came out of Greece and such especially as yeelded a goodly shade caried large leaves and were by nature cold for that the countrey about Babylon is exceeding hot and scorched with the burning heat of the sunne but the ground would never enterteine nor abide the Ivie onely notwithstanding that Harpalus tooke great paines and emploied most carefull diligence about it for plant it as often as he would it dried and died immediatly and why hotte it is of the owne nature and was planted in a mould farre hotter than it selfe which hindered it for taking root for this is a generall and perpetuall rule that all excessive enormities of any object destroy the force and powers of the subject in which regard they desire rather their contraries in such sort as that a plant of cold temperature requireth an hot place to grow in and that which is hot demaundeth likewise a cold ground and this is the reason that high mountaine countries windie and covered with snow beare ordinarily trees that yeeld torch-wood and pitch as pines cone trees and such like And were it not so my good friend Tryphon yet this is certeine that trees which by nature are chill and cold shedde their leaves every yeere for that the small heat which they have for very penurie retireth inwardly and leaveth the outward parts naked and destitute whereas contrariwise heat and uncteous fattinesse which appeereth in the olive laurell and cypresse trees keepe themselves alwaies greene and hold their leaves like as the Ivie also doth for her part And therefore good father Bacchus hath not brought into use and request the Ivie as a preservative and present helpe against the encounter of
truth that whatsoever is more frutefull and apter for generation is also more hot certeine it is that yoong maidens be ripe betimes readier for marriage yea and their flesh pricketh sooner to the act of generation than boies of their age neither is this a small and feeble argument of their heat but for a greater and more pregnant proofe thereof marke how they endure very well any chilling cold and the injurie of winter season for the most part of them lesse quake for cold than men doe and generally need not so many clothes to weare Heereat Florus began to argue against him and said In my conceit these very arguments will serve well to confute the said opinion for to beginne with the last first the reason why they withstand cold better than men is because every thing is lesse offended with the like besides their seed is not apt for generation in regard of their coldnesse but serveth in stead of matter onely and yeeldeth nourishment unto the naturall seed of man Moreover women sooner give over to conceive and cease child-bearing than men to beget children and as for the burning of their dead bodies they catch fire sooner I confesse but that is by reason that commonly they be fatter than men and who knoweth not that fatte and grease is the coldest part of the bodie which is the cause that yoongmen and those that use much bodily exercise are least fatte of all others neither is their monthly sicknesse voidance of bloud a signe of the great quantity and abundance but rather of the corrupt qualitie and badnesse thereof for the crude and unconcocted part of their bloud being superfluous and finding no place to settle and rest nor to gather consistence within the bodie by reason of weaknesse passeth away as being heavy and troubled altogether for default and imbecillitie of heat to overcome it and this appeereth manisestly by this that ordinarily when their monthly sicknesse is upon them they are very chill shake for cold for that the bloud which then is stirred and in motion ready to be discharged out of the bodie is so raw and cold To come now unto the smoothnesse of their skinne and that it is not hairie who would ever say that this were an effect of heat considering that we see the hottest parts of mans bodie to be covered with haire for surely all superfluities and excrements are sent out by heat which also maketh way boring as it were holes through the skinne and opening the passages in the superficies thereof But contrariwise wee may reason that the sliecknesse of womens skinne is occasioned by coldnesse whilch doth constipate and close the pores thereof Now that womens skinne is more fast and close than mens you may learne and understand by them friend Athryilatus who use to lie in bedde with women that annoint their bodies with sweet oiles or odoriferous compositions for even with sleeping in the same bed with them although they came not so neere as to touch the women they finde themselves all perfumed by reason that their owne bodies which be hot rare and open doe draw the said ointments or oiles into them Well by this meanes quoth he this question as touching women hath beene debated pro contrà by opposit arguments right manfully THE FIFTH QUESTION Whether wine be naturally cold of operation But I would now gladly know quoth Florus still whereupon your conjecture and suspicion should arise that wine is cold of nature why And doe you thinke quoth I that this in an opinion of mine Whose then quoth the other I remember quoth I that not of late but long agoe I light upon a discourse of Aristotle as touching this probleme and Epicurus himselfe in his Symposium or banquet hath discussed the question at large the summe of which disputation as I take it is thus much For he saith that wine is not simplie of it selfe hot but that it conteineth in it certeine atomies or indivisible motes causing heat and others likewise that engender cold of which some it casteth off and loseth when it is entred into the bodie others it taketh unto it from the very bodie it selfe wherein it is according as the same petie bodies be of nature and temperature fitted and agreeable unto us in such sort as some when they be drunke with wine are well heat others againe contrariwise be as cold These reasons replied Florus directly bring us by Protagoras into the campe of Pyrrho where we shall meet with nothing but incertitude and be still to seeke and as wise as we were before for plaine it is that in speaking of oile milke honie and likewise of all other things we shall never grow to any particular resolution of them what nature they bee of but still have some evasion or other saying That they become such according as ech of them is mixed and tempered one with another But what be the arguments that your selfe alledge to prove that wine is cold Thus I see well quoth I that there be two of you at once who presse and urge mee to deliver my mind extempore and of a sudden the first reason then that commeth into my head is this which I see ordinarily practised by physicians upon those who have weake stomacks for when they are to corroborate and sortifie that part they perscribe not any thing that is hot but if they give them wine they have present ease and helpe thereby semblablie they represse fluxes of the belly yea and when the bodie runneth all to diaphoreticall sweats which they effect by the meanes of wine no lesse nay much more than by applying snow confirming and strengthening thereby the habit of the bodie which otherwise was ready to melt away and resolve now if it had a nature and facultie to heat it were all one to applie unto the region of the heart as fire unto snow furthermore most physicians do hold that sleepe is procured by cooling and the most part of soporiferous medicines which provoke sleepe be cold as for example Mandragoras and poppie Juice but these I must needs confesse with great force and violence doe compresse and as it were congeale the braine to worke that effect whereas wine cooling the same gently with ease and pleasure represeth and staieth the motion thereof so that the difference onely betweene it and the other is but in degree according to more and lesse Over and besides whatsoever is hot is also generative and apt to ingender seed for howsoever humiditie giveth it an aptitude to run and flow it is spirit by the meanes of heat that endueth it with vigor strength yea and an appetite to generation now they that drinke much wine especially if it be pure of it selfe and not delaied are more dull and slow to the act of generation and the seed which they sow is not effectuall nor of any force and vigor to ingender their medling also and conjunction with women is vaine and doth no
good at all by reason that their seed is cold and feeble furthermore all the accidents and passions which colde worketh doe befall unto those that be drunke for they tremble and shake they are heavie and dull of motion and looke pale the spirit in their joints and members is unquiet and mooveth disorderly their tongues falter stut and be double last of all their sinewes in the extremities of the bodie are drawen up in maner of a crampe and benummed yea and in many drunkennesso endeth in a dead palsie or generall resolution of all parts namely after that the wine hath utterly extinguished and mortified their naturall heat Physicians also are woont to cure these symptones and inconveniences procured by excessive drinke and surset by laying the patients presently in bedde and covering them well with clothes for to bring them to an heat the next morrow they put them into the baine or hot-house and rub them wel with oile they nourish them with meats which do not trouble the masse of the body and thus by this cherrishing they gently fetch againe and recover the heat which wine had dissipated and driven out of the bodie And forasmuch as quoth I in things apparent and evident to the eie we search for the like faculties which lie hidden and secret how can we doubt what drunkennesse is and with what it may be compared for according as I have before said drunken folke resemble for all the world old men and therefore it is that great drunkards soone wax old many of them become bald before their time and grow to be grey and hoarie ere they be aged all which accidents seeme to surprize a man for defect of heat Moreover vineger in some sort resembleth the nature and propertie of wine now of all things that are powerfull to quench there is none so repugnant and contrarie to fire as vineger is and nothing so much as it by the excessive coldnesse that it hath overcommeth and represseth a flame Againe we see how physicians use those fruits to coole withall which of all others be most vinous or represent the liquor of wine as for example pomgranates and other orchard apples As for honie do they not mix the substance thereof with raine-water and snow for to make thereof a kinde of wine by reason that the cold doth convert the sweetnesse for the affinitie that is betweene them into austeritie when it is predominant and more puissant what should I say more have not our ancients in olde time among serpents dedicated the dragon and of all plants consecrated Ivie to Bacchus for this cause that they be both of a certeine colde and congealing nature Now if any doe object for proofe that wine is hot how for them that have drunke the juice of hemlocke the sovereigne remedie and counterpoise of all other is to take a great draught of strong wine upon it I will replie to the contrary and turne the same argument upon them namely that wine and the juice of hemlocke mingled together is a poison incurable presently killeth those who drinke it remedilesse So that there is no more reason to prove it hot for resisting hemlocke than colde for helping the operation of it or els we must say that it is not coldnesse whereby hemlocke killeth those that drinke it so presently but rather some other hidden qualitie and propertie that it hath THE SIXTH QUESTION Of the convenient time for a man to know his wife carnally CErteine yoong men who were new students and had lately tasted of the learning conteined in ancient books were ready to teare Epicurus in pieces and inveighed mightily against him as an impudent person for proposing and moving speech which was neither seemly nor necessarie in his symposium or banquet as touching the time of meddling with a woman for that an ancient man well stept in yeres as he was should make mention begin talke of venerous matters and namely at a banquet where many yoong men were in place to particularize and make question in this sort Whether it were better for a man to have the use of his wife before supper or after seemed to proceed from a lascivious minde and incontinent in the highest degree Against which some there were who alledged the example of Xenophon who after his supper or banquet brought his guests not on foot but on horse-backe riding a gallop away home to lie with their wives But Zopyrus the physician who was very well seene and conversant in the books of Epicurus said That they had not read diligently and with advisement his booke called Symposium that is to say The banquet For he tooke not this question quoth he to treat of at the beginning as a theame or subject matter expresly chosen and of purpose whereto all their talke should be directed and in nothing els to be determined and ended but having caused those yoong men to rise from the table for to walke after supper he entred into a discourse for to induce them to continence and temperance and to withdraw them from dissolute lust of the flesh as being at all times a thing dangerous and ready to plunge a man into mischiefe but yet more hurtfull unto those who use it upon a full stomacke after they have eat and drunke well and made good cheere at some great feast And if quoth Zopyrus he had taken for the principall subject the discourse of this point is it pertinent and beseeming a philosopher not to treat and consider at all of the time and houre proper and meet for men to embrace their espoused wives or much better so to doe in due season and with discretion and is it I pray you not discommendable to dispute thereof elswhere and at other times and altogether dishonest to handle that question at the table or at a feast for mine owne part I thinke cleane contrary namely that we may with good reason reprove and blame a philosopher who openly in the day time should dispute in publicke schooles of this matter before all commers and in the hearing of all sorts of people but at the table where there is a standing cup set before familiars and friends and where other-whiles it is expedient to vary and change our talke which otherwise would be but lewke warme or starke colde for all the wine how can it be unseemely or dishonest either to speake or heare ought that is holsome and good for men as touching the lawfull company with their wives in the secret of marriage for mine owne part I protest unto you I could wish with all my heart that those Partitions of Zeno had beene couched in some booke entituled Abanquet or pleasant treatise rather than bestowed as they are in a composition so grave and serious as are the books of policie and government of State The yoong men at these words were cut over the thumbs and being abashed held their tongues and sat them downe quietly Now when others of the company
did rest or settele upon them Much more probable it is that when these waters and raines together with their ventosities heats occasioned by thunders lightnings come to pierce deepe into the earth it turneth and rolleth round and by that meanes are ingendred therein such like nodosities and knobs soft and apt to crumble which we call Mushromes like as in our bodies there breed and arise certeine flatuous tumors named Kirnels or Glandules formed by occasion of I wot not what bloudy humors and heats withal for a Mushrome seemeth not to be a plant neither without rain moisture doth it breed having no root at all nor any sprout springing from it it is wholly entire of selfe round about and holding upon nothing as having the consistence onely of the earth which hath bene a litle altered changed And if you thinke this reason to be but slender I say unto you more that the most part of those accidents which follow upon thunder and lightning are of the like sort and therefore it is especially that in these effects there is thought to bee a certeine divinitie Then Dorotheus the oratour who was in the companie Truth it is quoth he that you say for not onely the vulgar sort of simple and ignorant people are of that opinion but some also of the philosophers and for mine owne part I know as much by experience that the lightning which of late fell upon our house wrought many strange and woonderfull things for it emptied our sellers of wine and never did hurt unto the earthen vessell wherein it was and whereas there lay a man a sleepe it flew over him yea and flashed upon him without any harme at all to his person or sienging so much as his clothes but having a certeine belt or pouch wherein were certeine pieces of brasse money it melted and defaced them all so confusedly that a man could not know by the forme or impression one from another the man went thereupon to a certeine Pythagorian philosopher who as happe was so journed there and demaunded of him what the reason might bee thereof and what it did presage But the philosopher when hee had cleered and assoiled his minde of scrupulous feare and religion willed him to ponder and consider of the matter apart by himselfe and to pray unto the gods I heare say also that not long since there was a souldiour at Rome who keeping the Centinell upon one of the temples of the citie chaunced to have a flash of lightning to fall very neere unto him which did him no hurt in the world in his body but onely burnt the latchets of his shoes and whereas there were certeine small boxes and cruets of silver within wooden cases the silver within was found all melted into a masse in the bottome and the wood had no injurie at all but continued still entire and sound But these things a man may chuse whether he will beleeve or no. Howbeit this passeth all other miracles which we all I suppose doe know very well namely that the dead bodies of those who have beene killed by lightning continue above ground and putrifie not for many there be who will neither burne nor enterre such corses but cast a trench or banke about and so let them lie as within a rampar so as such dead bodies are to be seene alwaies above ground uncorrupt convincing Clymene in Eurypides of untruth who speaking of Phaethon said thus Beloved mine but see where dead he lies In vale below and there with putrifies And heereupon it is as I take it that brimstone taketh the name in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the resemblance of that smell which those things yeeld that have beene smitten with lightning which no doubt have a fierie and piercing sent and this may bee the reason likewise in my conceit that dogges and fowles of the aire forbeare to touch any dead bodies which in this sort are striken from heaven Thus farre foorth have I laid the first stone for a ground-worke of this cause as also of the Bay-tree Now let us intreat him heere to finish and make out the rest for that he is well acquainted with Mushromes lest haply that befall unto us which sometimes to the painter Androcydes did for whē he painted the gulfe Scylla he portraied more naturally to the life the fishes all about than any thing else besides whereby men judged that hee shewed more affection therein than cunning of his art for that naturally he loved to feed upon good fishes and even so some one might say that we have discoursed so much of Mushromes the breeding and generation whereof is so doubtfull as you see for the pleasure and delight that we take in eating of them Considering now that in these points our discourse seemed to carrie some probabilitie and that everie man was perswaded well enough that the cause and reason thereof was cleere and withall my selfe began to speake and advise that it was now time as the manner was in comedies to set up those engins devised for to counterfet thunder so to inferre a disputation at the table of lightning to which motion all the company condescended but passing over all other points very desirous and earnest they were to heare a discourse as touching this one What the reason might be that men a sleepe be never smitten or blasted with lightning Now albeit I saw well enough that I should gaine no great praise in touching a cause whereof the reason was common yet I beganne to set to it and said That the fire of lightning was fine and subtill as that which tooke the originall and beginning from a most pure liquid and sacred substance which if there had beene in it any moisture or terrestriall grosenesse mingled among the celeritie of motion is such that it would have purged and cast it foorth Nothing is smitten with lightning quoth Democritus that cannot resist the fire from heaven and therefore solide bodies as iron brasle silver and gold be corrupted and melted therewith by reason that they hold out and withstand it contrariwise such as bee rare full of holes spungious soft and lux lightning quickly pierceth through and doth them no harme as for example clothes or garments and drie wood for such as is greene will burne because the moisture within maketh resistance and so catcheth fire withall If then it be true that those who lie a sleepe be never stricken dead with thunder and lightning surely wee must search heere for the cause and never goe farther for the bodies of men awake are stronger more firme and compact yea and able to make more resistance as having all their parts full of spirits by which ruling turning and welding the naturall senses and holding them together as it were with an engine the living creature becommeth strong fast knit and uniforme whereas in sleepe it is slacke loose rare unequall soft and as it were all resolved by reason that the
thus punished **** The end of this discourse is wanting as also the discussing and deciding of the other five questions proposed in the forefront of this fourth booke THE FIFTH BOOKE OF SYMPOSIAQUES OR TABLE-QUESTIONS The Contents or Summarie 1 WHerefore we willingly heare and see them who counterfeit those that be either angry or sorowfull but such as be wroth or heavie inded we love not either to heare or see 2 That there was an ancient game of prize performed in Poetrie 3 Why the Pitch-tree is consecrated to Neptune and Bacchus also that in the beginning men used to crowne with brances of the said tree those who wan the prize at Isthmicke solemnitie of sacred games afterwards with a garland of smallach and now againe they begin to take up the crowning of them with Pitch-tree 4 What is the meaning of these words in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5 Of those that invite many to supper 6 What is the cause of sitting pent and with streight roome at the beginning of supper but at large afterward toward the end 7 Of those who are said to eie-bite or to bewitch 8 What is the reason that the poet called an Apple-tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and why Empedocles named Apples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9 What is the reason that a Fig-tree being it selfe in taste most sharpe and biting bringeth foorth a fruit exceeding sweet 10 Who are they that are said in the common proverbe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE FIFTH BOOKE OF Symposiaques or table-questions The Proëme WHat your opinion is at this present ô Sossius Sinecio as touching the pleasures of the soule and bodie I wot not For that now many a mountaine high And shady forest stand betweene The roaring seas likewise do lie So as to part us barres they beene for you seemed not greatly long agoe to approove and allow their sentence who holde That there is nothing properly and particularly delightsome nothing pleasant unto the soule nothing at all that it desireth or joieth in of it selfe but that it liveth onely according to the life of the bodie laughing as it were and sporting with it in the pleasant affections thereof and contrariwise mourning at the heavie passions afflicting it as if the soule were no other thing but a very matter apt to take the impression of sundry formes or a mirror to receive the images and resemblances of those objects which are presented unto the flesh and body for as by many reasons a man may easily refute the blind and illiberall falsitie of this opinion so by this especially that after the table is taken away and supper done men of learning and knowledge incontinently fall to discourse and devise together as it were at a banquet delighting and solacing one another with pleasant talke wherein the bodie hath no part at all unlesse it be very little and a farre off which experience beareth witnesse that this is the provision of daintie cates and delicate pleasures laid up peculiarly for the soule and that these be the onely delights indeed of the minde whereas those other be but bastards and strangers infected with the societie of the bodie like as therefore nurses whiles they give pappes and panades unto their little babes have some small pleasure in feeding them by tasting the same in their owne mouthes before but after they have filled their infants bellies and brought them a sleepe so as they crie no more then they goe themselves to their owne refection meet for them they eate and drinke and make good cheere even so the soule doth participate with the desires and appetites of the bodie in manner of a nurse attending upon it serving it and framing herselfe in some sort to do it pleasure and satisfie the necessities thereof but after that the body is sufficiently served laied at rest and repose then being delivered of her obsequious service and businesse about the bodie she betaketh herselfe from thenceforward unto her owne pleasures and delights making her repast and taking her solace in discourses of learning in good letters in sciences and histories and in seeking to heare somewhat and know more still of that which is singular What should a man say any more of this considering and seeing as he doth that even base mechanicall and unlettered fellowes after supper ordinarily withdraw their minds and employ the same upon other pleasures and recreations farre remooved from the body proposing darke riddles aenigmaticall questions and intricate propositions of names comprised under notes of certeine numbers hardly to be assoiled or gessed at and after all this come in banquets which make way unto plaiers jesters counterfet pleasants giving roome to Menander and the actours of his comedies all which sports and pastimes are not devised for to ease and take away any paine of the body ne yet to procure some gentle motion and kinde contentment in the flesh but onely for that the speculative and studious part of the minde which naturally is in every one of us doth demaund call for some particular pleasure and recreation of her owne when wee are once discharged of the businesse and offices whereabout we are emploied for the body THE FIRST QUESTION What is the cause that willingly we heare and see those who counterfet them that be angrie or sorrowfull but love not to heare or see the parties themselves in those passions OF such matters there passed many discourses when you were present with us at Athens at what time as the comedian actor Strato flourished for hee was then in so great name and reputation that there was no talke but of him But one time above the rest wee were invited and feasted by Boëthus the Epicurean and with us there supped many more of that sect now after supper the fresh remembrance of the comedie which we had seene acted gave occasion unto us being students and lovers of learning to fall into a discourse and question about the cause why we cannot abide but are greatly discōtented to heare the voices of those who are angrie sorrowful timorous or affrighted and contrariwise what the reason is that they who counterfet these passions and represent their words their jestures and behaviour doe much delight and please us And verily all in manner there in place opined the same and were in one song for they gave this reason and said Inasmuch as he who counterfeiteth those pastimes is better than he who suffereth them indeed in regard that he who is not affected himselfe excelleth the other we knowing so much take pleasure and are delighted but I albeit that I set foot as men say in the daunce of another said thus much That we being naturally framed for to discourse by reason and to love things that savour of wit and be artificially done affect and esteeme those who have a dexteritie therein if a thing succeed accordingly for like as the Bee delighting in sweetnesse flieth from flower to flower seeking busily
reason to induce us thereunto for men are wont to attribute a kinde of divinty unto things which are passing common and the commoditie whereof reacheth farre as for example to water light the seasons of the yeere as for the earth her above the rest they repute not onely divine but also to be a goddesse there is none of all these things rehearsed that salt giveth place unto one jot in regard of use and profit being as it is a fortification to our meats within the bodie and that which commendeth them unto our appetite but yet consider moreover if this be not a divine propertie that it hath namely to preserve and keepe dead bodies free from putrifaction a long while and by that meanes to resist death in some sort for that it suffereth not a mortall bodie wholly to perish and come to nothing but like as the soule being the most divine part of us is that which mainteineth all the rest alive and suffereth not the masse and substance of the bodie to be dissolved and suffer colliquation even so the nature of salt taking hold of dead bodies and imitating heerein the action of the soule preserveth the same holding and staying them that they runne not headlong to corruption giving unto all the parts an amitie accord agreement one with the other and therefore it was elegantly said by some of the Stoicks That the flesh of an hogge was even from the beginning no better than a dead carion but that life being diffused within it as if salt were strewed throughout kept it sweet and so preserved it for to last long Moreover you see that wee esteeme lightning or the fire that commeth by thunder celestiall and divine for that those bodies which have beene smitten therewith are observed by us to continue a great while unputrified and without corruption What marvell is it then if our auncients have esteemed salt divine having the same vertue and nature that this divine and celestiall fire hath Heere I staied my speech and kept silence With that Philinus followed on and pursued the same argument And what thinke you quoth he is not that to be held divine which is generative and hath power to ingender considering that God is thought to be the originall authour creatour and father of all things I avowed no lesse and said it was so And it is quoth he an opinion generally received that salt availeth not a little in the matter of generation as you your selfe touched ere-while speaking of Aegyptian priests they also who keepe and nourish dogs for the race when they see them dull to performe that act and to doe their kinde do excite and awaken their lust and vertue generative that lieth as it were asleepe by giving them aswell as other hot meats salt flesh and fish both that have lien in bring pickle also those ships vessels at sea which ordinarily are fraight with salt breed commonly an infinit number of mice and rats for that as some hold the females or does of that kinde by licking of salt onely will conceive and be bagged without the company of the males or bucks but more probable it is that saltnesse doth procure a certeine itching in the naturall parts of living creatures and by that means provokeht males females both to couple together and peradventure this may be the reason that the beauty of a woman which is not dull and unlovely but full of favor attractive and able to move concupiscence men use to name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say saltish or well seasoned And I suppose that the poets have fained Venus to have beene engendred of the sea not without some reason and that this tale that she should come of salt was devised for the nonce to signifie and make knowen under those covert tearmes that there is in salt a generative power certes this is an ordinarie and generall thing among those poets to make all the sea-gods fathers of many children and very full of issue To conclude you shall not finde any land creature finde any land-creature or flying fowle for fruitfulnesse comparable to any kinde of fishes bred in the sea which no doubt this verse of Empedocles had respect unto Leading a troupe which senselesse were and rude Even of sea-fish a breeding multitude THE SIXTH BOOKE OF SYMPOSIAQUES OR BANQUET-QUESTIONS The Summarie 1 WHat is the reason that men fasting be more at hirst than hungrie 2 Whether it be want of food that causeth hunger and thirst or the transformation and change of the pores and conduit of the bodie be the cause thereof 3 How commeth it that they who be hungrie if they drinke are eased of their hunger but contrariwise those who are thir stie if they eat be more thirstic 4 What is the reason that pit-water when it is drawen if it be left all night within the same aire of the pit becommeth more cold 5 What is the cause that little stones and plates or pellets of lead if they be cast into water cause it to be the colder 6 Why snowe is preserved by covering it with straw chaffe or garments 7 Whether wine is to run throw a strainer 8 What is the cause of extraordinarie hunger or appetites to meat 9 Why the poet Homer when he spcaketh of other liquors useth proper epithits onely oile he calleth moist 10 What is the cause that the flesh of beasts flaine for sacrifiece if they be hanged upon a fig-tree quickly become tender THE SIXTH BOOKE OF Symposiaques or banquet-questions The Proeme PLato being minded to draw Timotheus the sonne of Canon ô Sossius Senecio from sumptuous feasts and superfluous banquets which great captaines commonly make invited him one day to a supper in the Academie which was philosophicall indeed and frugall where the table was not furnished with those viands which might distemper the bodie with feaverous heats and inflamations as Iōn the poet was wont to say but such a supper I say upon which ordinarily there follow kinde and quiet sleeps such fansies also and imaginations as ingender few dreames and those short and in one word where the sleeps do testifie a great calmnesse and tranquillitie of the bodie The morrow after Timotheus perceiving the difference betweene these suppers and the other said That they who supped with Plato over-night found the pleasure and comfort therof the next day and to say a trueth a great helpe and ready meanes to a pleasant and blessed life is the good temperature of the body not drenched in wine nor loaden with viands but light nimble and ready without any feare or distrust to performe all actions and functions of the day-time But there was another commodity no lesse than this which they had who supped with Plato namely the discussing and handling of good and learned questions which were held at the table in supper time for the remembrance of the pleasures in eating and drinking is illiberall and unbeseeming men of worth
transitorie besides and soone at an end like unto the odor of a perfume and sweet ointment or the smell of rost in a kitchin a day after whereas discourses philosophicall and disputations of learning when they be remembred afterwards yeeld alwaies new pleasure and fresh delight unto those that were at them yea and cause them who were absent and left out in hearing the relation thereof to have no lesse part of learning and erudition than they who were present for thus we see that even at this day students and prosessours of learning have the fruition and enjoy the benefit of Socrates his banquets no lesse than they themselves who were personally present and had their reall part of them at the time and verily if corporall matter as dainty dishes and exquisit fare had so greatly affected and delighted their minds with pleasure Plato and Xenophon should have put downe in writing and left unto us the memoriall not of the discourses there held nor of the talke which then passed but rather of the furniture of the table have made a note of the delicate viands pastrie works comfitures and junkets served up in Callias or Agathus houses whereas now of all such matters there is no mention at all as if they were of no account nor worth the naming notwithstanding very like it is there was no want of provision no spare of cost nor defect of diligence in that behalfe but on the otherside penned they have most exactly and with great diligence the discourses of good letters and philosophy which then and there passed merrily and those they have commended unto posterities to give us example that we ought not onely to devise and reason together when we are at the boord but also to call to minde afterwards what good talke had passed and to keepe the same in memorie THE FIRST QUESTION What is the reason that those who be fasting are more thirsty than hungry NOw send I unto you Sossius Senecio this sixth booke of banquet discourses whereof the first question is Why those who be long fasting are more thirstie than hungry for it may seeme contrary unto all reason that thirst rather than hunger should ensue much fasting for that the want of dry food would seeme by course of nature to require a supplie of nutriment by the like Then began I in this manner to argue before the companie there in place That of all things within us and whereof we consist our naturall heat either alone or principally had need of nouriture and maintenance for thus verily wee doe observe in outward elements that neither aire water nor earth desire nutriment neither doe they consume whatsoever is neere unto them but it is fire onely that requireth the one and doth the other which is the reason that all yoong folke doe eat more than elder persons for that they be hotter yea and old men and women can endure to fast better because their naturall heat is already decaied and feeble in them like as it is in those living creatures which have but little bloud for small need have they of nouriture for default of naturall heat Moreover thus much we may observe in everie one of our selves that our bodily exercises our loud outcries and such like matters as by motion doe augment heat make us to take more pleasure in our meat and to have a better appetite to eat now the principall most familiar and naturall food of heat in mine opinion is moisture as we may see by daily experience that burning flames of fire increase by powring oile thereto of all things in the world ashes are the driest because the whole humiditie is burnt up and consumed but the terrestriall substance destitute of all liquor remaineth alone semblably the natures of fire is to separate and divide bodies by taking away the moisture which held them sodered and bound together when as therefore wee fast long our naturall heat draweth forcibly unto it first all the humours out of the reliques of our nourishment which done the inslammation thereof passeth farther and setteth upon the very radical humour within our flesh searching every corner for moisture to feed and nourish it there being caused therefore a woonderfull drinesse our bodie like as in earth or clay that is parched with heat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by consequence commeth to stand more in need of drinke than of meat untill such time as we have taken a good draught by meanes whereof our heat being well refreshed and 〈◊〉 worketh and procureth appetite to solide and dry nourishment THE SECOND QUESTION Whether it be want of food that causeth hunger and thirst or rather the transformation and change of the conduits and passages within our bodies THis discourse being thus ended Philo the physician went about to impugne and overthrow the first position mainteining that thirst proceeded not from default of any nourishment but was to be imputed unto the change of the forme in certaine passages of the body and for demonstration heereof hee alledged of the one side this experience That they who be a thirst in the night if they sleepe upon it lose their thirstinesse although they drinke never a drop on the other side that they who have the ague if their fit decline or be off them or in case the feaver be cleane past and gone presently they are eased of their drought likewise there be many who after they have beene bathed yea and beleeve me others when they have vomited are ridde of thirstinesse and yet they get moisture neither by the one nor the other but they are the pores and petie conduits of the body that suffer mutation because they be altered and transformed into another state and disposition and this appeereth more evidently in hunger for many sicke folke there be who at one time have need of nourishment and yet want appetite to their meat some there are againe who let them eat and fill themselves never so much have never the lesse appetite to meat nay their greedie hunger encreaseth the more semblablie you shall have many of those who lothed their meat to recover their stomacke and appetite quickly by tasting a few olives or capres condite with salt pickle whereby it appeareth plainly that hunger is not occasioned by default of nourishment but through the said alteration or passion of the pores and conduits of the body for surely such meats as those although they diminish the want of nourishment by addition of more food yet neverthelesse cause hunger and even so the poinant acrimonie of these salt viands contenting the taste and pleasant to the mouth by knitting binding and strengthening the stomacke or contrariwise by relaxing or opening the same do procure unto it and breed therein a certeine gnawing and a disposition to the liking of their meat which we call appetite The reason of these arguments seemed unto me very wittily devised and framed pretily for to carrie a good shew of probabilitie howbeit to be contrary unto the
and so maketh an equall distribution and supply thorowout But this transformation and change of the pores from which it is said that hunger and thirst doth proceed what kinde of thing is it I would gladly know For mine owne part none other differences see I but of more and lese and according as they be either stopped or opened when they bee obstructed or stopped receive they cannot either drinke or meat when they be opened and unstopped they make a voide and free place and surely that is nothing els but the want of that which is proper and naturall For the reason my good friend Philo why clothes which are to be died be dipped first in alome water is because that such water hath a piercing scouring and abstersive vertue by meanes whereof when all the superfluous filth in them is consumed and rid away the pores being opened reteine more surely the tincture which is given unto the clothes onely because they receive the same better by reason of the emptinesse occasioned by want THE THIRD QUESTION What is the cause that when men be hungry if they drinke are delivered from their hunger but contrariwise when they be athirst if they eate are more thirsty than before WHen those discourses were thus passed he who invited us to supper began in this wise It seemeth unto me my masters that this reason as touching the voidance and repletion of pores carieth with it a great apparence of truth and namely in the solution of another question besides to wit Why in them who be hungry if they drinke their hunger ceaseth immediately and contrariwise they who are a thirst if they eat are still more thirstie I am of opinion quoth he that those who alledge and urge these pores and their effects doe render the reason and cause of this accident very easilie and with exceeding great probabilitie however in many points they enforce the same not so much as probably for whereas all bodies have pores some of one measure and symmetry others of another those which be larger than the rest receive food solid as well as liquid both together such as bee narrower and more streight admit drinke the avoidance and evacuation of which causeth thirst like as of the other hunger and therefore if they who be a thirst doe eat they finde no succour and benefit thereby because the pores by reason of their streightnesse are not able to receive drie and solid nutriment but continue still indigent and destitute of that which is their due and fit for them whereas they who be hungry in case they drinke finde comfort thereby for that the liquid nouriture entring into those large pores and filling those concavities of theirs doe slake and diminish mightily the force of their hunger As touching the event and effect quoth I true it is as I thinke but I cannot accord and give my consent to the supposition of the cause pretended For if quoth I a man should hold that with these pores and conduits upon which some stand so much so greatly embrace and mainteine so stoutly the flesh is pierced and by meanes thereof full of holes surely he would make it very loose quavering flaggie and so rotten that it would not hang together moreover to say that the same parts of the body doe not receive meat and drinke together but that they doe passe and runne as it were thorough a streiner or canvase bolter some one way and some another me thinks is a very strange position a meere devised fiction for this verie mixture of humiditie tempering and making tender the meats received together with the cooperative helpe of the inward naturall heat and the spirits doth cut subtiliate and mince the foode with all manner of incisions shreddings and divisions no tooles no knives nor instruments in the world so fine and small insomuch as every part and parcell of the said nourishment is familiar meet convenient for ech part member of the bodie not applied fitted as it were to certeine vessels and holes to be filled thereby but united perfectly concorporate to the whole and every part thereof but if this were not so yet the maine point of the question is not assoiled for all that for they who eat unlesse they also drinke to it are so farre off from allaying their thirst that contrariwise they increase the same and to this point there is not yet a word said Consider now said I whether the positions reasons which we set downe are not probable apparent first we suppose that moisture being consumed by drinesse is cleane perished gone that drinesse being tempered susteined by moisture hath certeine diffusions exhalations secondly we hold that neither hunger is a general universal want of dry food nor thirst of moisture but a certeine scantnesse and defect of the one and the other when there is not enough and sufficient for those who altogether doe want the same bee neither hungrie nor thirstie but die presently Let these supposals be laid for grounds it will not be from hencefoorth hard to know the cause of that which is in question for thirst increaseth upon them that eat because meats by their drinesse doe gather together sucke and drinke up the humidity dispersed and which is left but small and feeble in all the bodie causing the same to evaporate away like as we may observe without our bodies how dry earth and dust do quickly snatch dispatch and consume quite the liquor or moisture that is mingled therewith contrariwise drinke necessarily slaketh hunger for by reason that moisture drenching and soking that little meat which it findeth dry and hard raiseth from it certeine vapors and moist exhalations and those it doth elevate and carrie up into all the body applying the same to the parts that stand in need and therefore Erasistratus not unproperly tearmed moisture the wagon of the viands for being mixed and tempered with such things as otherwise of themselves by reason of their drinesse or other evill disposition be idle and heavy it raiseth and lifteth up and heereupon it commeth that many men who have beene exceeding hungry onely by bathing or washing themselves without any drinke at all have woonderfully aswaged and allaied their hunger for the moisture from without entring into the body causeth them to be more succulent and in better plight for that it doth enlarge the parts within so that it doth mitigate the fell mood and appease the crhell rage of hunger To conclude this is the reason that they who are determined to pine themselves to death by utter abstinence from all solid meats live and continue a long time if they receive but water onely even untill the time that all be quite evaporate spent and dried up which might nourish and be united unto the bodie THE FOURTH QUESTION What is the cause that pit or well-water being drawen if it be left all night within the aire of the pit becommeth colder than it
to saie with eight and twentie bases likewise in pyramidals and cubes unlesse there had been some worke-man to limit ordeine and dispose every thing Geometrically thus a limit or terme being given unto that which was infinit all things in this universall world composed ordered and contempered accordingly in excellent manner were first and made and are made now every day notwithstanding the said matter striveth and laboureth daily to returne unto her infinit estate as very loth and refusing to be thus geometrized that is to say reduced to some finit and determinate limits whereas reason on the contrariside restreineth and comprehendeth her distributing her into divers Ideaes from which all things which are ingendred take their generation and constitution He had no sooner thus said but he requested me to contribute somewhat also of mine owne unto this discourse and question in hand but I for my part commended highly their opinions thus delivered as being naturally and directly devised by themselves and their owne proper inventions saying withall That they caried with them sufficient probabilitie But for that quoth I you should not be displeased and offended with your selves nor altogether have your eie abroad and looke unto others listen and heare what meaning and interpretation of the said sentence was most approoved unto our masters and teachers for there is among the propositions or positions rather and theoremes geometricall one above the rest to wit When two formes or figures are given and put downe to set a third thereto equall to the one and semblable to the other for the invention whereof it is said that Pythagoras sacrificed unto the gods for this Theoreon without all doubt is more gallant witty and learned than that by which he did demonstrate and proove that the slope line Hypotinusa availeth as much as the two laterales which make a right angle in a triangle Well said of you quoth Diogenianus but what serveth this for the matter now in question You shall understand soone quoth I in case you will call to memory that division in Timaeus whereas the philosopher made a tripartite distribution of those principles whereby the world had the beginning of generation of which the one he called by a most just name God the second Matter and the third Forme or Idea So the matter of all subject things is most disordinate the Idea of all mouldes and patterns most beautifull but God of all causes simply the best Thus would not he admit or leave any thing as farre foorth as possibly might otherwise be infinit and undeterminate but adorne nature with proportion measure and number making of all subjects one thing in quantity equall to the matter in quality semblable to the forme setting therefore before him this proposition having already twain a third to it he made doth make and preserve for ever equal to the matter semblable to the forme to wit the world which being alwaies in regard of that inbred necessitie of a bodie subject to generation alteration all kinds of passion is aided and succoured by the creatour and father thereof who determineth the substance by reason of just proportion according to the image of the patron whereby the pourprise and circuit of this universall world is more beautifull being thus vast and great than if it had beene lesse and competent THE THIRD QUESTION What is the reason that the night is more resonant or resounding than the day AS we sat at supper one evening in Athens with Ammonius we heard a great tumult noise which rang all the house over of people in the street without crying aloud Captaine captaine now was Ammonius then the third time praetor or captaine of the citie Hee sent foorth immediately some of his men about him to see what the matter was who presently appeased the hurry and dismissed those who had raised this outcry upon which occasion wee in the meane while entred into question Why those who are within house heare them very well that cry without but they that are abroad heare not so easily those within crying as loud Ammonius incontinently made answer and said that this question had already beene solved by Aristotle in this wise For that the voice of those within being once gotten foorth and flowen into a wide place of much aire vanisheth away and is dissipated immediately whereas the voice of them without when it is entred in doth not the like but is reteined and kept close and so by consequence more easie to be heard But there is another thing quoth hee which requireth rather to have a reason rendred thereof namely Why in the night season all voices doe resound greater than in the day time and besides the greatnesse are more cleere distinct articulate audible For mine owne part quoth he I am of this minde that the divine providence hath in great wisedome ordeined that our hearing should be more fresh and quicke when as our sight serveth us in little or no stead at all for seeing that the aire of the night which accorcording to Empedocles Wandreth alone and solitary And doth blind eies about her cary is obscure and darke looke how much defect it maketh in our sight so much it supplieth and requiteth in our eares but for that of things also which necessarily are done by nature the causes ought to be sought out and the proper peculiar office of a philosopher and naturalist is to busie himselfe in seeking after the materiall causes instrumentall principles which of all you will first come forth with some probable reason as touching this matter whereupon there being some pause silence for a time Boethus said thus When I was my selfe a yong man and a student I made use otherwhiles of those principles which are in Geometrie called Positions and certeine propositions I supposed as undoubted truthes without any need of demonstration but now will I use some of those which heeretofore have beene prooved by Epicurus as for example Those things which be are caried in that which is not nor hath any being for much vacuitie or voidnesse there is stored as it were and intermingled among those atomes or indivisible little bodies of the aire which when it is spred abroad in spacious capacitie and by reason of the raritie and thinnesse thereof runneth too and fro round about there be a number of small void and emptie places among those little motes or parcels scattered here and there and taking up the whole region but contrariwise when they are pent in and a restreint and compression made of them being thrust together into a little space these small bodies being hudled perforce one upon another leave a large voide space to vague and range abroad and this doth the night by reason of cold for heat doth loosen disgregate scatter and dissolve all thicke things which is the reason why those bodies which either boile thaw or melt occupie more roome contrariwise such which gather congeale and bee frozen come
turne to speake What should we meane by this I pray you in the name of Jupiter quoth he to attribute this cause unto an invisible motion of the aire and leave the agitation tossing and divulsion thereof which is so manifest and evident to our eies for this great ruler and commander in the heaven Jupiter doth not after an imperceptible maner nor by little and little stirre the smallest parcels of the aire but all at once so soone as he sheweth his face exciteth and moveth all things in the world Giving foorthwith a signall in such wise As men thereby unto their works may rise which they no sooner see but they obey and follow as if together with the new day they were regenerate againe and entred into another manner of life as Democritus saith setting themselves unto their businesse and affaires not without some noise effectual cries in which sense Ibycus called not impertinently the morning or dawning of the day Clytus for that now we begin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to heare others yea to speake aloud our selves whereas the aire of the night being for the most part calme and still without any waves and billowes for that everie thing is at rest and repose by all likelihood conveigheth the voice entier and whole unto us not brokē nor diminished one jot At these words Aristodemus of Cypres who was one of our companie But take heed Thrasyllus quoth he that this which you say be not convinced and resuted by the battels and marches of great armies in the night season for that upon such an occasion the noise and outcries be no lesse resounding and cleere how troubled and waving soever the aire be than otherwise and peradventure there is some cause thereof proceeding also from our selves for the most part of that which we speake in the night season is of this nature that either we commaund some body after a turbulent manner as if a passion urged us thereto or if we demaund and aske ought we crie as loud as we can for that the thing which wakeneth and maketh us to rise at such a time when as we should sleepe and take our repose for to speake or doe any thing is no small matter or peaceable but great and important hasting us for the urgent necessitie thereof unto our businesse in such sort that our words and voices which then we utter go from us in greater force and vehemency THE FOURTH QUESTION How it comes to passe that of the sacred games of prize some use one maner of chaplet and some another yet all have the branch of the date tree Also why the great dates bee called Nicolai During the solemnitie of the Isthmick games at what time as Sospis was the judge and directour thereof now the second time other feasts of his I avoided namely when as hee invited one while many strangers together and otherwhiles a number of none else but citizens and those one with another but one time above the rest when as hee feasted those onely who were his greatest friends and all men of learning I my selfe also was a bidden guest and present among them now by that time that the first service at the table was taken awaie there came one unto the professed oratour and rhetorician Herodes who brought unto him from a scholar and familiar of his who had wonne the prize for an encomiasticall or laudatorie oration that he had made a branch of the date tree together with a plaited and broided coronet of flowers which when he had curteously received he returned them backe to him again saying withall that hee marvelled why some of these sacred games had for their prize this crowne and others that but generally all a branch of date tree For mine owne part quoth he I cannot perswade my selfe that this ariseth upon that cause which some alledge namely the equality and uniformitie of the leaves springing and growing out as they doe alwaies even and orderly one just against another directly wherein they seeme to contend and strive a vie resembling thereby a kinde of combat and that victorie it selfe tooke the name in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say not yeelding nor giving place for there be many other plants which as it were by weight and measure distribute nourishment equally unto their boughes and branches growing opposite in that manner and heerein observe exactly a woonderfull order and equality but in my conceit more probabilitie and apparence of reason they alledge who imagine suppose that our auncients made choice of this tree because they tooke a love to the beautie talnesse and streight growing thereof and namely Homer who compareth the beautie of Nausicaa the Phaeocian queene unto the plant or stem of a faire date tree for this you all know verie well that in old time they were wont alwaies to cast upon those victorious champions who had wonne the prize roses and rose champion flowers yea and some otherwhiles apples and pomegranates thinking by this meanes to recompence and honour them but there is nothing else so much in the date tree to commend it so evidently above other trees for in all Greece fruit it beareth none that is good to be eaten as being unperfect and not ripe enough and if it bare heere as it doth in Syria and Aegypt the date which of all fruits for the lovely contentment of the eie is of all sights most delightsome and for the sweetnesse of taste of all banquetting dishes most pleasant there were not a tree in the world comparable unto it and verily the great monarch and emperour Augustus by report for that he loved singularly well one Nicolaus a philosopher Peripatetick in regard that he was of gentle nature and sweet behaviour tall and slender withall of stature and besides of a ruddy and purple colour in his visage called the fairest and greatest dates after his name Nicolai and to this day they beare that denomination In this discourse Herodes pleased the company no lesse with the mention of Nicolaus the philosopher than he did with that which he had spoken to the question And therefore quoth Sospis so much the rather ought we every one to devise for to conferre unto this question propounded whatsoever hee is perswaded concerning it Then I for my part first brought foorth mine opinion as touching the superioritie of this date tree at the sacred games because the glorie of victours and conquerors ought to endure and continue incorruptible and as much as possibly may be not age and waxe old for the date tree liveth as long as any plant whatsoever that is longest lived and this is testified by these verses of Orpheus Living as long as plants of date trees tall Which in the head be greene and spread withall And this is the onely tree in manner which hath that propertie indeed which is reported though not so truely of many others And
what is that namely to carie the leaves firme and fast so as they never fall off for we do not see that either the lawrell or olive tree nor the myrtle nor any other trees which are said to shed no leafe keepe alwaies the same leaves still but as the first fall others put foorth and by this meanes they continue alwaies fresh and greene living evermore as cities and great townes doe whereas the date tree never loseth any of those leaves which once came foorth but continueth still clad with the same leaves and this is that vigour as I take it which men dedicate and appropriat especially to the force or strength of victorie When Sospis had made an end of this speech Protogenes the Grammarian calling by name unto Praxitelis the discourser and historian Shall wee suffer these oratours and rhetoricians quoth he after their usuall maner and profession to argue thus by conjectures and likely probabilities and can we alledge nothing out of histories pertinent directly unto this matter and verily for mine owne part if my memorie faile me not I have not read long since in the Attique annales that Theseus who first set out games of prize in the isle Delos brake plucked from the sacred date tree a branch which thereupon was called Spadis and Praxitelis said as much But some men quoth he might aske of Theseus himselfe what reason induced him when he proposed the prize of victorie to pull a branch from the date tree rather than from the laurell or olive tree and what will you say if this be a Pythicke prize for that the Amphyctiones honored first at Delphos the victours with a branch of date tree and laurell in honour of Pythius Apollo considering that the maner was not to consecrate unto that God the laurell or olive onely but also the date tree like as Nictas did when in the name of the Athenians he defraied the charges of games in Delos and the Athenians at Delphi and before them Cypselus the Corinthian for otherwise this God of ours hath evermore loved those games of prize yea and was desirous to win the victorie having strove personally himselfe in playing upon the harpe in singing and flinging the coit of brasse yea and as some some say at hurl-bats and fist-fight favouring men also and taking their part at such combats as Homer seemeth to testifie when he bringeth in Achilles speaking in this wise Two chumpions now who simply are of all the armie best My pleasure is shall forth advance and looke who is so blest And favoured at buffet-fight by god Apolloes grace As for to win the victorie and honour in that place Also when he speaketh of archers he saith expresly that one of them who invocated upon Apollo and praied unto him for helpe had good successe and carried away the best prize but the other who was so proud and would not call upon the god for his aid missed the marke scope whereat he shot Neither is it likely or credible that the Athenians dedicated their publicke place of exercise unto Apollo for nothing and without good cause but surely thus they thought that the same God unto whom we are beholden for our health giveth us also the force and strong disposition of bodie to performe such games and feats of activitie But whereas some combats there be sleight and easie others hard and grievous we finde in writing that the Delphians sacrificed unto Apollo by the name of Pyctes that is to say the champion at firstfight but the Candians and Lacedaemonians offered sacrifice unto the same God surnamed the Runner And seeing as we do that the maner is to present in his temple within the citie of Delphos the primices or dedications of the spoiles and bootie gained from the enemies in war as also to consecrate unto him the Trophees is not this a great argument and testimonie that in this God it lieth most to give the victorie and conquest And as he went forward and was minded to say more Cephisus the sonne of Theon interrupted his speech saying These allegations beleeve me savour not of histories nor of Cosmographicall books but being fetched immediatly out of the minds of those Peripateticall discourses are handled and argued probably to the purpose and besides whiles you take up the fabricke or engine after the maner of tragedian plaiers you intend as it should seeme to afright by intimating the name of Apollo those that contradict and gainsay your opinions and yet as well beseemeth his goodnesse and bountie he is indifferent and alike affected unto all in clemencie and benignitie but we following the tracts steps of Sospis who hath led us the way very well keepe our selves to the date tree which afoordeth us sufficient matter to discourse thereof againe for the Babylonians doe chaunt and sing the praises of this tree namely that it bringeth unto them three hundred and threescore sorts of sundrie commodities but we that are Greeks have little or no profit thereby howbeit good philosophie may be drawen out of it for the better instruction of champions and such as are to performe combats of prize in that it beareth no fruit with us for being a right goodly faire and very great tree by reason of the good habit and disposition thereof yet is it not here among us fruitfull but by this strong constitution that it hath it imploieth and spendeth all nouriture to feed and fortifie the bodie after the maner of champions by their exercise so as there remaineth but a little behinde and the same not effectuall for seed over and above all this one qualitie it hath proper and peculiar to it selfe alone and that which agreeth not to any other tree the which I intend to shew unto you For the woodie substance of this date tree aloft if a man seeme to weigh and presse downe with any heavie burden it yeeldeth not nor stoupeth under the poise but curbeth upward archwise as withstanding that wherwith it is charged and pressed and even so it is with those combatants in sacred games for such as through feeblenesse of bodie or faintnesse of heart seeme to yeeld those the said exercises doe bend and keepe under but as many as stoutly abide not onely with their strong bodies but also with magnanimous courage these be they that are raised up on high and mount unto honour THE FIFTH QUESTION What is the cause that they who saile upon the river Nilus draw up water for their use before day-light ONe there was who demanded upon a time the reason why the water-men who saile and row upon the river Nilus provided themselves of that water which they drinke in the night and not by day Some said it was because they feared the sunne which by enchafing and heating the water maketh it more subject to corruption and putrifaction for whatsoever is warmed or made hot the same is alwaies more ready and disposed to mutation and doth soone alter by relaxation
in one word that even the gods themselves doe shew by deeds and effects without voice or speech unto wise men what their will and pleasure is Then Lucius mildely and simply answered That the true cause indeed might peradventure lie hidden still and not be divulged howbeit there is nothing to hinder or let us but that we may render one reason or other which carieth with it some likelihood probability so Theon the grammarian began first to discourse upō that point saying it was very difficult to shew prove that Pythagoras was a Tuskan born but for certeine knowen it was that he had made his abode a long time in Aegypt conversed with the sages of that countrey where he approoved embraced and highly extolled manie of their religious ceremonies and namely that as touching beanes for Herodotus writeth that the Aegyptians neither sowe nor eat beanes no nor can abide so much as to looke upon them and as for fishes we are assured that their priests even at this day absteine from them and living as they doe chaste and unmaried they refuse salt likewise neither will they endure to eat it as a meat by it selfe nor any other viands wherein any sea salt commeth whereof divers men alledge divers sundry reasons but there is one true cause indeed that is the enmitie which they beare unto the sea as being a savage element a meere alien estranged frō us or to speak more truely a mortall enimie to mans nature for the gods are not nourished therewith as the Stoicks were of opinion that the staries were fed from thence but contrariwise that in it was lost the father and saviour of that countrey of Aegypt which they call the deflux or running out of Osiris and in lamenting his generation on the right hand and corruption on the left covertly they give us to understand the end and perdition of Nilus in the sea In which consideration they are of opinion that lawfull it is not once to drinke of the water as being not potable neither doe they thinke that any thing which it breedeth bringeth foorth or nourisheth is cleane and meet for man considering that the same hath not breath and respiration common with us nor food and pasture agreeable unto ours for that the very aire which nourisheth and mainteineth all other living creatures is pernicious and deadly unto them as if they were engendred first and lived afterward in this world against the course of nature and for no use at all and marvell we must not if for the hatred they beare unto the sea they hold the creatures therein as strangers and neither meet nor worthy to be intermingled with their bloud or vitall spirits seeing they will not deigne so much as to salute any pilots or mariners whensoever they meet with them because they get their living upon the sea Sylla commending this discourse added moreover as touching the Pythagoreans that when they sacrificed unto the gods they wuld especially tast of the primices or parcels of flesh which they hadkilled but never was there any fish that they sacrificed or offred unto the gods Now when they had finished their speech I came in with mine opinion As for those Aegyptians quoth I many men there be as well learned as ignorant who contradict them plead in the behalfe and defence of the sea recounting the manifold commodities thereof whereby our life is more plentifull pleasant and happie as touching the surcease as it were of the Pythagoreans and their forbearing to lay hand upon fishes because they are such strangers unto us it is a very absurd and ridiculous device or to say more truely it is a cruell and inhumane part and savoring much of a barbarous Cyclops seeing that to other living creatures they render a reward and recompence for their kinred cousenage and acquaintance by killing eating and consuming them as they doe and verily reported it is of Pythagoras that upon a time hee bought of the fishers a draught of fish and when he had so done commaunded that they should be all let out of the net into the sea againe surely this was not the act of a man who either hated or despised fishes as his enemies or strangers considering that finding them prisoners as he did he paid for their raunsome and redeemed their liberty as if they had bene his kinsfolke good friends and therefore the humanitie equitie and mildnesse of these men induceth us to thinke and imagine cleane contrary that it was rather for some exercise of justice or to keepe themselves in ure and custome thereof that they spared and pardoned those sea-creatures for that al others give men cause in some sort to hurt them whereas poore fishes offend us in no maner and say their nature and will were so disposed yet cannot they execute the same moreover conjecture we may and collect by the reports records and sacrifices of our auncients that they thought it an horrible abominable thing not onely to eat but also to kill any beast that doth no hurt or damage unto us but seeng in processe of time how much pestered they were with a number of beasts that grew upon them and overspred the face of the earth and withall being as it is said commaunded by the oracle of Apollo at Delphos to succour the fruits of the earth which were ready to perish they began then to kill them for sacrifice unto the gods yet in so doing they seemed to tremble and feare as troubled in minde calling this their action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to doe or perpetrate as if they did and committed some great deed in killing a creature having life and even still at this day they observe a ceremony with all religious precisenesse not to massacre any beast before it hath given a nod with the head after the libations and effusions of wine upon it in signe and token of consent so strict they were and wary to commit no unjust act Certes to say nothing of other beasts if all men had forborne to kill and eat no more but pullen and conies within short time they should not have beene able to have dwelt within their townes or cities nor enjoied any fruits of the earth therefore although necessitie at the first had brought in the use of eating flesh a very hard matter it were now in regard of pleasure to put down abolish the same whereas the whole kind of sea-creatures using neither the same aire and water with us nor comming neere unto our fruits but being as a man would saie comprised within another world having distinct bounds and limits of their owne which they cannot passe but immediatly it costeth them their life for punishment of their trespasse giveth unto our belly none occasion or pretence at all more or lesse to runne upon them so that the whole hunting catching and running after fish is a 〈◊〉 worke of gourmandise
and daintie feeding which without any just or lawfull cause troubleth disquieteth the seas and descendeth into the very bottome of the deepe for we have no reason at any time to call the red sea-barbell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say corne devourer nor the guilt-head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say vine waster or grape eater nor yet any mullets lubins or sea-pikes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say seed gatherers as we name divers land beasts noting them thereby for the harme and annoiance they doe unto us neither can we impute unto the greatest fish in the sea the least wrong or shrewd turne wherewith wee charge in our exceeding neerenesse and parsimonie some cat or wezill a mouse or rat which haunt our houses in which regard they precisely contemning themselves not for feare of law onely to doe wrong unto men but also by the very instinct of nature to offer no injurie unto any thing in the world that doth them no harme nor displeasure used to feed on fish lesse than on any other meat admit there were no injustice in the thing all busie curiositie of men in this point being so needlesse as it is bewraieth great intemperance and wastfull gluttony and therefore Homer in his poeme deviseth this that not onely the Greeks encamping upon the streight of Hellespont absteined wholy from eating fish but also that the delicate and daintie toothed Phaeacians the wanton and licorous woers likewise of lady Penelope dissolute though they were otherwise and all islanders were never served at their tables with any viands or cates from the sea no nor the companions of Ulysses in that grear and long voiage of theirs which they had at sea ever laid hooke leape or wee le or cast net into the sea for fish so long as they had a bit of bread or handfull of meale left But when their ship had vittailes none But all therein was spent and gone even a little before that they laid hands upon the kowes of the sunne then began they to fish not iwis for any deintie dishes but even for necessary food With bended hookes for now their maw Great hunger bit and guts did gnaw So that for extreme need they were forced to eat fish and to kill the sunnes kine whereby wee may perceive that it was a point of sanctimonie and chastitie not onely among the Aegyptians and Syrians but the Greeks also to forbeare feeding upon fish for that beside the injustice of the thing they abhorred as I thinke the superfluous curiositie of such food Heereupon Nestor tooke occasion to speake And why quoth he is there no reckoning made of my countrey-men and fellow-citizens no more than of the Megarians and yet you have heard me to say often times that the priests of Neptune whom we call Hieromnemones never eat fish for this god is surnamed Phytalmios that is to say the President of breeding and generation in the sea and the race descending from that ancient Hellen sacrificed unto Neptune by the name and addition of Patrogeneios that is to say the stock-father and principall Progenitour being of opinion that man came of a moist and liquid substance as also be the Syrians which is the very cause that they worship and adore a fish as being of the same kinde generation and nouriture with themselves philosophizing and arguing in this point with more apparence and shew of reason than Anaximander did who affirmed not that men and fishes were bred both in the same places but avouched that men were first engendred within fishes themselves and there nourished like their yoong frie but afterward when they became sufficient and able to shift and helpe them they were cast foorth and so tooke land like as therefore the fire eateth the wood whereby it was kindled and set a burning though it were father and mother both unto it according as he said who inserted the marriage of Ceyx among the works of Hesiodus even so Anaximander in pronouncing that fish was both father and mother unto men taxeth and condemneth the feeding thereupon THE NINTH QUESTION Whether it be possible that new diseases may be engendred by our meats PHilo the physician constantly affirmed that the leprosie called Elephantiasis was a disease not knowen long since for that none of the ancient physicians made any mention of this maladie whereas they travelled and busied their braines to treat of other small trifling matters I wot not what and yet such subtilties as the common sort could hardly comprehend But I produced and alledged unto him for a witnesse out of philosophie Athenodorus who in the first booke of his Epidemiall or popular diseases writeth that not onely the said leprosie but also Hydrophobie that is to say the feare of water occasioned by the biting of a mad dogge were first discovered in the daies of Asclepiades now as the companie there present marvelled that these maladies should newly then begin and take their consistence in nature so they wondered as much on the other side how so great and grievous diseases could be hidden so long and unknowen to men howbeit the greater part inclined rather to this second later opinion as being more respective and favourable to man for that they could not be perswaded that nature in such cases should in mans bodie as it were in some citie studie novelties and be evermore inventing and working new matters As for Diogenianus he said that the passions and maladies of the soule held on their common course and went the accustomed way still of their predecessours And yet quoth he wickednesse is very manifold in sundry sorts and exceeding audacious to enterprise any thing and the mind is a mistresse of herselfe and at her owne command having puissance to turne and change easily as she thinketh good and yet that disordinate confusion of hers hath some order in it keeping a measure in her passions and conteining herselfe within certeine bounds like as the sea in the flowings and tides in such sort as that she bringeth forth no new kinde of vice such as hath not bene knowen unto those in olde time and of which they have not written for there being many different sorts of lusts and desires infinite motions of feare as many kinds of paine and no fewer formes of pleasure which would require great labour to reckon up and not to give over These neither now nor yesterday Began but all have liveday And no man knowes nor can say well Since when they first to men befell nor yet whereupon any new maladie or moderne passion hath arisen in our body considering it hath not of it selfe the beginning of motion properly as the soule hath but is knit and conjoined with nature by common causes and composed with a certeine temperature the infinite varietie whereof wandereth notwithstanding within the pourprise of set bounds and limits like unto a vessell which lying at anchor in the sea neverthelesse doth wave and
is tossed within a round compasse for neither the setled constitution of a disease is without some cause bringing into the world irregularly and against all law of nature a generation and power from that which hath no being at all nor an easie matter is it for a man to finde out a new cause unlesse withall he do set downe a new aire strange water and such meats as our forefathers never tasted of imagining that they are run hither to us now and never before out of I wot not what other worlds or imaginarie inter-worlds and spaces betweene for sicke wee fall by meanes of the same things whereof we live and no peculiar and proper seeds there be of diseases but the naughtinesse and corruption of such things whereby wee live in regard of us and our owne faults and errours besides about them are they which trouble and offend nature these troubles have perpetually the same differences though the same many times take new names for these names are according to the ordinance and custome of men but the maladies themselves are the affections of nature and so those diseases of themselves finite being varied diversified by these names infinite have deceived and beguiled us and as there is not lightly and upon a sudden committed in the Grammaticall parts of speech or in the Syntaxis and construction thereof any new barbarisme solaecisme or incongruitie even so the temperatures of mens bodies have their falles errours and transgressions which be certeine and determinate considering that in some sort even those things which are against nature be comprised and included in nature and this is it that the wittie inventers and devisers of fables would signifie in saying That when the giants made warre against the gods there were ingendred certeine strange and monstrous creatures every way at what time as the moone was turned cleane contrary and arose not as she was wont and verily their meaning was that nature produced new maladies like unto monsters but withall imagine and devise a cause of such change and alteration that is neither probable nor yet incredible but pronouncing and affirming that the augmentation more or lesse of some diseases causeth that newnesse and diversitie in them which is not well done of them my good friend Philo for this intention and augmentation may well adde thereto frequencie and greatnesse but surely it transporteth not the subject thing out of the first and primitive kinde and thus I suppose the leprosie or Elepantiasis to be nothing els but the vehemencie of these scurvie and scabbie infections as also the Hydrophobie or vaine feare of water no other but an augmentation of the passions of stomacke or melancholie and verily a woonder it were that we should not know how Homer was not ignorant hereof for this is certeine that he called a dogge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this raging accident whereto he is subject and hereupon men also when they are in a rage be said likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When Diogenianus had thus discoursed Philo himselfe both seemed somewhat to answere and refute his reasons and also requested me to speake in the behalfe of the ancient physicians who were thus challenged and condemned for their ignorance or negligence in these principall matters in case it were true that these maladies were not of a later breed and more moderne than their age First therefore it seemed unto me that Diogenianus put not this well downe for a good supposall that tensions and relaxations according to more or lesse make no differences nor remove the subject matters out of their kinde for by this meanes we should likewise say that vineger differed not from wine that is souring nor bitternesse from styplicitie or sourenesse nor 〈◊〉 from wheat ne yet garden mints from the wilde mint but evident it is that these do degenerate yea and become altered in their very qualities partly by relaxations as the things doe languish and lose their heart and in part by tension as they be reenforced and take vigor for otherwise we must be forced to say that the flame differeth not from a white or cleere winde nor a light from a flame nor frost from dew nor haile from raine but that all these be but the inforcements onely and tensions of the same things and so constantly we shall be driven to affirme that blindnesse and dimme sight differ not and inordinate passion of vomiting called Cholera is nothing different from a keckish stomacke and a desire to cast but onely according to augmentation and diminution more or lesse and all this is nothing to the purpose for if they admit and say that this very tension and augmentation in vehemencie came but now of late as if this noveltie were occasioned by the quantitie and not the qualitie yet the absurditie of the paradox remaineth neverthelesse moreover seeing that Sophocles speaking of those things which because they had not bene in times past men would not beleeve to be at this present said very well in this wise All kind of things both good and bad Once at the first their being had This also seemeth very probable and to stand with great reason that maladies ran not forth all at once as if the barriers had bene set open for the race and they let out together but some came alwaies successively behinde at the taile of others and each one tooke the first begining at a certaine time And a man may well conjecture and guesse quoth I that such as arose of want and indigence as also those that came of heat and colde were the first that assailed our bodies but repletions gluttonies and delicate pleasures came afterwards together with sloth and idlenesse which by reason of abundance of victuals caused great store of superfluities and excrements from whence proceeded sundry sorts of maladies the complication whereof and intermixture one with another bringeth evermore some new thing or other for every naturall thing is orderly and limited because that nature is nothing els but order it selfe or at leastwise the worke of order whereas disoreder like to the same that Pindarus speaketh of is infinit and can not be comprised within any certeine number so that whatsoever is unnaturall the same immediatly is unlimited and infinit for the trueth we can not deliver but one way marie to lie a man may finde an infinit number of meanes by occasion of innumerable occurrents also accords musicall and harmonies stand upon their certeine proportions but the errours that men commit in playing upon the harpe or other instrument in song and in dauncing who is able to comprehend although Phrynichus the tragedian poet said of himselfe thus In daunce I finde as many sorts And formes of gestures and disports As waves in sea and billowes strong Arise by tempest all night long And Chrysippus writeth that the divers complications often prositions which they call Axioms and no more surmount the number of ten hundred thousand but Hipparchus reprooved this
thereof untill such time as we come to quench and allay the same thus inflamed and boiling as they doe There is no need therefore ô Diogenianus quoth I offorren and farre fetched causes from without neither of those new worlds and intervals betweene for to goe no further than to our selves the very change onely of the fashion of our diet is a sufficient meanes both to breed and also to abolish and cause to ease any maladie in us THE TENTH QUESTIOIN What is the reason that we take least heed of dreames in the end of Autumne and give small credit unto them FLorus lighting upon physicall problemes or naturall questions of Aristotle which were brought to Thermopylae for to passe the time away filled both himselfe with many doubts as ordinarily men do who are by nature studious and also put as many into the heads of others giving testimony heerein to Aristotle who saith That much knowledge breedeth many occasions of doubt as for other questions they afforded unto us no unpleasant pastime and recreation in the day time as we walked in the galleries abroad but that probleme concerning dreams namely that they be uncertein lying false especially during those moneths whē trees shed their leaves was set on foot again I wot no thow after supper by Phavorinus when he had done with other discourses As for your familiar companions my children they were of opinion that Aristotle himselfe had sufficiently solved the question there needed no farther enquirie into the matter nor any speech more to be made thereof but even to attribute the cause as he did to the new gathered fruits of that season for being as they were fresh and greene still in their strength and full of vigour they engendred in our bodies many ventosities and bred much trouble and agitation in the humours for likely it is not that new wine alone doth worke boile and chaufe nor that oile onely being new drawen and pressed yeeldeth a noise as it burneth in lampes by occasion that the heat causeth the windinesse and spirit thereof to evaporate and walme out but we see that corne also newly inned all fruits of trees presently upon their gathering are plumpe full and swelled againe untill such time as they have exhaled foorth all that is flatuous and breathed out the crudities thereof now that there be certeine meates that cause troublesome dreames and engender turbulent visions and fansies in our sleepe they brought in and alledged for their testimony the instance of beanes and the head of the pulpe or pour-cuttle fish which they are bidden to absteine from who would divine and foreshew things that come by dreames As for Phavorinus howsoever he was himselfe at all times wonderfully affected addicted to Aristotle and one who attributed unto the Peripateticks schole this singular commendation that their doctrine caried more probabilitie and resemblance of the truth than other philosophers whatsoever yet at this present he came out with an old rustie reason of Democritus taken out of the smoake where it had gathered a deale of thicke soot for to furbish scoure and make it bright againe for this was the vulgar opinion which Democritus put downe for a supposition That certeine images doe enter and pierce deepe into our bodies thorough the pores which as they rise againe from the bottome cause those visions which appeare unto us as we sleepe that these came out of al parts wandering as presented from utensils habillements plants but principally from living creatures for that they moove stir much and besides are hot having not onely the expresse similitudes and sundry formes of bodies imprinted in them as Epicurus thinketh who thus farre foorth followeth Democritus and leaveth him there but also drawing therewith the apparences of the motions of the minde of counsel of usuall milde affections as also of vehement passions wherewith they entring in doe speake as if they were living things and distinctly carie unto those that receive the same the opinions the words the discourses and affections of such as transmit the same if in their entrance they reteine still the expresse figures and nothing confused which they doe especially all while that their way and passage thorough the aire cleere and united is speedy quicke and not empeached by any hinderance considering than that the aire of the Autumnall quarter in the end when as trees doe cast their leaves hath much asperitie and inequalitie it turneth aside and putteth by diversly those images causing their evidence to be feeble and transitorie as being darkened by the tardity and slownesse of their pace in the way whereas contrariwise when they runne foorth in great number and swiftly out of those things that swell with fulnesse and burne as it were with desire to be delivered of them then as they passe they yeeld their resemblances all fresh and very significant After this casting his eie upon Autohulus and smiling withall Me thinks quoth he that I perceive you and those about you to addresse your selves alredy for to maintaine a kinde of fight against these images that you meane to fasten with your hands and catch hold of this old opinion as if it were some rotten picture to doe it some violence Goe to quoth Autobulus will you never leave these fashions to play with us in this manner for wee know well enough iwis that you hold and approove the opinion of Aristotle and that for to give a lustre thereunto you have set this of Democritus by it as a shadow and foile that conceit therefore of Democritus we will turne over and put by and take in hand for to impugne this reason of Aristotles which imputeth all to these new fruits and unjustly without al all reason blaming discrediting that which we all love so well for both Summer Autumne will beare witnesse that when we eat these fruits more fresh and greene even at such time as they are most succulent and verdant as Antimachus said our dreames are lesse lying and deceitfull but these moneths which we name the Fall of the leafe pitching their tents as it were and taking up their standings close to the Winter have reduced already both corne of the field and also the fruits of trees which remaine uneaten by their perfect concoction to this passe that they looke slender and in some sort riveled as having lost by this time that violent heady and furious force which was in them As touching new wine they that drinke it soonest doe it in the moneth Anthisteron that is to say Februarie presently after winter and that day upon which they begin to taste it we in our countrey call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the day of good fortune but the Athenians name it of opening their tunnes or wine vessels Pithaegia but so long as the Must or new wine is working still and in the heat we see that all men even the very artificers and labourers are affraid to taste
a little troubled at this chalenge but after he had paused and thought upon the matter a while in the end he spake to this effect It is an ordinary thing quoth he with Plato to play with us many times merrily by certeine devised names that hee useth but whensoever hee inserteth some fable in any treatise of the soule he doth it right soberly and hath a deepe meaning and profound sense therein for the intelligent nature of heaven he calleth a Chariot volant to wit the harmonicall motion and revolution of the world and heere in this place whereof we are now in question to wit in the end of the tenth booke of his Common-wealth he bringeth in a messenger from hell to relate newes of that which he had there himselfe seene and calleth him by the name of Era a Pamphylian borne and the sonne of Armonius giving us covertly by an aenigmaticall conveiance thus much to understand That our soules are engendred by harmonie and so joined to our bodies but when they be disjoined and separate from them they runne together all into aire from every side and so returne againe from thence unto second generations what should hinder then but this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was put downe by him not to shew a truth whereof he spake but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a probable speech and conjecturall fiction or else a thing spoken as it should seeme to a dead bodie and so uttered vainly and at a venture in the aire for Plato alwaies toucheth three causes as being the philosopher who either first knew or principally understood how fatall destiny is mingled with fortune and againe how our freewill is woont to bee joined with either of them or is complicate with both and now in this place before cited hee sheweth excellently well what power each of these causes hath in our humane affaires attributing the choice and election of our life unto free will for vertue and vice be free and at the commaund of no lord and tying to the necessitie of fatall destinie a religious life to God-ward in them who have made a good choise and contrariwise in those who have made a choise of the woorst but the cadences or chaunces of lots which being cast at a venture and lighting heere and there without order befall to every one of us bring in fortune and preoccupate or prevent much of that which is ours by the sundry educations or governments of common-weale wherein it hapneth each of us to live for this I would have every one of you to consider whether it bee not meere folly and without all reason to seeke for a cause of that which is done by fortune and casually for if lot should seeme to come by reason there were to be imputed no more to fortune or adventure but all to some fatall destinie or providence Whiles Lamprias delivered this speech Marcus the Grammarian seemed to count and number I wot not what upon his fingers to himselfe apart but when he had made an end the said Marcus named aloud all those soules or spirits which are called out in Homers Necya Among which quoth he the ghost onely of Elpenor wandering still in the middle confines is not reckoned with those beneath in another world for that his bodie as yet is not interred and committed to the earth as for the soule of Tiresias also it seemeth not to bee numbred with the rest To whom now dead Proserpina above the rest did give This gift alone right wise to be although he did not live as also the power to speake with the living and to understand their state and affaires even before he had drunke the bloud of sacrificed beasts If then quoth hee ô Lamprias you subtract these two and count the rest you shall finde that the soule of Ajax was just the twentieth of those which presented themselves to Ulysses and heereto alluded Plato as it should seeme by way of mirth joining his fable together with that evocation of spirits otherwise called Necyra in Homers Odyssea THE SIXTH QUESTION What is covertly meant by the fable wherein Neptune is feigned to have beene vanquished as also why the Athenians take out the second day of the moneth August NOw when the whole company were growen to a certeine uprore Menephyllus a Peripateticke philosopher calling unto Hylas by name You see quoth he now that this question was not propounded by way of mockerie and contumelious flouting but you my good friend leaving this froward and mal-contented Ajax whose name as Sophocles saith is ominous and of ill presage betake your selfe unto Neptune and side with him a while who is wont to recount unto us himselfe how he hath beene oftentimes overcome to wit in this city by Minerva at Delphi by Apollo in Argos by Juno in Aegina by Jupiter and in Naxus by Bacchus and yet in all his repulses disfavors and infortunities he bare himselfe alwaies mild and gentle carying no ranckor or malice in his heart for proofe heereof there is even in this city a temple common to him and Minerva in which there standeth also an altar dedicated to Oblivion Then Hylas who seemed by this time more pleasantly disposed But you have forgotten quoth he ô Menephyllus that we have abolished the second day of the moneth August not in regard of the moone but because it was thought to be the day upon which Neptune and Minerva pleaded for the scignorie of this territorie of Attica Now I assure you quoth Lamprias Neptune was every way much more civill and reasonable than Thrasibulus in case being not a winner as the other but a loser he could forget all grudge and malice A great breach and defect there is in the Greeke originall wherein wanteth the farther handling of this question as also 5. questions entier following and a part of the 6. to wit 7 Why the accords in musicke are devided into three 8 Wherein differ the intervals or spaces melodious from those that be accordant 9 What cause is it that maketh accord and what is the reason that when one toucheth two strings accordant together the melody is ascribed to the base 10 What is the cause that the eclipticke revolutions of sunne and moone being in number equall yet we see the moone oftner ecclipsed than the sunne 11 That we continue not alwaies one and the same in regard of the daily deflux of our substance 12 Whether of the twaine is more probable that the number of starres is even or odde Of this twelfth question thus much remaineth as followeth Lysander was wont to say That children are to be deceived with cockall bones but men with othes Then Glaucias I have heard quoth he that this speech was used against Polycrates the tyrant but it may be that it was spoken also to others But whereby do you demaund this of me Because verily quoth Sospis I see that children snatch at such bones the Academiques catch at words for it
that if a man begin at one and reckon on still numbring upright unto foure hee shall make up ten surpasse he once the quaternarie he is gone beyond the denarie as for example one and two make three three thereto arise to sixe put thereto foure and you have ten insomuch as number collected by unities resteth in ten but the force and puissance thereof 〈◊〉 in foure The Pythagoreans therefore were wont to sweare by the quaternarie or number of foure which they held to be the 〈◊〉 oath that they could take as appeereth by this Distichon I sweare by this quaternity That 〈◊〉 our soules fountaine Which of natures eternity Doth seed and root containe And our soule as he saith doth consist of the quaternary number for there is in it understanding science opinion and sence from whence proceedeth all manner of art and knowledge and whereupon we our selves are called reasonable as for understanding it is that unity for that it conceiveth and knoweth not but by unitie as for example There being many men they are not every one in particular subject to our senses but incomprehensible and infinit mary in our understanding we conceive and apprehend this one man alone unto whom none is like and so in our cogitation we consider one man onely but if they bee considered particularly apart they are infinit for all these genders and kindes are in unitie and therefore when the question is asked of a particular man what he is we yeeld a generall definition and say He is a reasonable creature apt to discourse by reason and so likewise of this or that horse wee must answer That hee is a living creature having a propertie to neigh. Thus you see how understanding is unity whereby we understand these things but the binary or number of two is by good right an indefinit science for all demonstration and proofe of any science yea and moreover all manner of syllogisme or argumentation doth collect a conclusion which was doubtfull of certeine premised propositions confessed as true whereby it sheweth easily another thing whereof the comprehension is science and so it appeereth that science by a likelihood is the binarie number but opinion by good reason may be said the ternary number by comprehension for that opinion is of many and the ternarie number implieth a pluralitie or multitude as we may see by the poet when he saith Thrice happy men Those Greeks were then And for this cause Pythagoras made no reckoning of three whose sect bare the name of Italique for that he not able to endure the tyrannicall dominion of Polycrates departed from Samos his native country and went to keepe his schoole in Italy HERACLYTUS and HIPPASUS the Metapontine were of opinion that Fire was the principle and beginning of all for of fire say they all things are made and in fire they shal have an end and when it is extrinct and quenched the universall world is in this manner engendred and framed for first and formost the grosest part thereof being condensate and thrust together into it selfe becommeth earth and afterwards when the same earth is resolved by fire it turneth to be water which when it doth evaporate is converted into aire againe the whole world and all the bodies therein conteined shall be one day consumed by fire in that generall conflagration and burning of all whereby hee concludeth that fire is the beginning of all things as that whereof all was made and the end likewise for that all things are resolved into it EPICURUS the Athenian sonne of Neocles following the philosophie of Democritus saith That the principles of all things be certeine Atomes that is to say little bodies indivisible and by reason onely perceptible the same solide and admitting no vacuitie not engendred immortall eternall incorruptible such as neither can be broken nor receive any forme of the parts ne yet be otherwise altered These quoth he being perceptible comprehended by reason moove notwithstanding in emptinesse and by emptinesse as the same voidnesse is infinite so the said bodies also be in number infinit howbeit these three qualities are incident unto them figure bignesse and waight for DIMOCRITUS allowed them but twaine to wit bignesse and figure but Epicurus added unto them a third namely poise or ponderositie For these bodies quoth he must of necessitie moove by the permission of the weight otherwise they could not possibly stirre the figures also of their bodies hee said were comprehensible and not infinit and these were neither hooked nor three-forked ne yet round in manner of a ring for such formes are apt to breake as for the Atomes themselves they be impassible and infrangible having certeine figures no otherwise perceptible but by reason and such a body is called Atomus not in this regard that it is the least of all but for that it cannot be divided as being impassible and admitting no vacuitie and therefore he that nameth an Atome saith as much as infrangible impassible and without vacuitie now that there is such an indivisible body called Atomus it is apparent for that there be elements eternall bodies void and an unitie EMPEDOCLES an Agrigentine the sonne of Meton saith There be foure elements fire aire water and earth also two principall faculties or powers namely 〈◊〉 and discord or amitie and enmitie of which the one hath puissance to unite the other to dissolve and these be his words Foure seeds and rootes of all things that you see Now listen first and hearken what they be Lord Jupiter with hisignipotence And lady Junoes vit all influence Rich Pluto and dame Nestis weeping ay Who with her teares our seed-sourse weets alway By Jupiter hee meaneth fierie heat and ardent skie by Juno giving life the aire by Pluto the earth by Nestis and this humane fountaine of naturall seed water SOCRATES the sonne of Sophroniscus and PLATO the sonne of Ariston both Athenians for the opinions of them both concerning the world and all things therein be the same have set downe three principles God Matter and Idea that is to say Forme God is an universall spirit or Minde Matter is the first and principall subject of generation and corruption Idea an incorporall substance resting in the thoughts and cogitations of God which God is the generall soule and intelligence of the world ARISTOTELES of Stagira the sonne of Nichomachus hath put downe for Principles these three to wit a certaine forme called Eutelectus Matter and Privation for elements foure and for a fifth Quintessence the heavenly bodie which is immutable ZENO the sonne of Mnaseas a Citican borne holdeth for two principles God and Mtater whereof the one is an active and efficient cause and the other passive and besides foure elements CHAP. IIII. How the the world was framed THis world then became composed formed in a round figure bending and coping after this manner those Atomes or indivisible bodies having an accidentarie and inconsiderate motion stirring continually and
most strictly happen many of them to encounter one another and meet together in which regard they differ in figures and magnitudes now when they are thus gathered and heaped up together in one the greater sort of them and such as were most ponderous settled altogether downeward as many of them as were small round even smooth and slipperie those being beaten upon by the encounter of these weightie bodies were repulsed driven backe and forced upward but when that force which drave them aloft began to faile and gave over once to send them up higher not being able to fall downward againe for that they were empeached they were of necessitie enforced to retire into those places which were able to receive them to wit such as were round about them unto which a mightie number of bodies being wound together in an heape and by meanes of the repercussion enterlaced one within another they engendred and brought forth the heaven and afterwards others of the same nature yet of divers formes as hath been said before being likewise driven up aloft accomplished the nature of Stars Moreover the multitude of those bodies yeelding a vapour and exhalation did beat forward and drive the aire which by stirring and motion being converted into wind and comprising therewith the Starres turned them about with it and so maintaine unto this day that revolution which they have aloft Of those bodies then which setled below was made the earth and of such as mounted on high the heaven the fire and the aire but round about the earth by occasion that there was much matter yet left and the same incrassate and thickned by the forcible driving of the winds and the breathing of the starres all that part thereof which was more subtile and of a thinner forme and consistance gathered round together and engendred the element of water which being of a liquid and flowing nature ran downward to holow places lying low which were able to receive and hold them or else the water of it selfe where it staied and rested made concavities and hollow places underneath Thus you see after what manner the principall parts of the world were first engendred and made CHAP. V. Whether All be one THe STOIKE Philosophers held opinion that the world was one which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say All and the same of corporall substance EMPEDOCLES affirmed that the world indeed was one but All and the world were not both one for the world quoth he is but a small portion of All and as for the rest beside it is but an idle and dull matter PLATO proveth his opinion that the world is but one by conjecture and guesseth All to be one by three presumptions or probable arguments First for that otherwise the world were not perfect and accomplished if it comprised not All within it selfe Secondly it should not be like unto the pattern if it were not one and uniforme Thirdly it would not be incorruptible in case there were any thing without it But wee are to answere Plato and say against him that the world is perfect although it comprehend not all things for man is perfect enough and yet all things be not comprised in him Moreover there be many examples drawn from one pattern as we may see in statues houses and pictures and how is it perfect if any thing may turne without it Finally incorruptible neither is it nor can it be considering it had a beginning and a kind of Nativitie METRODORUS saith That as it were an absurd and impertinent speech to say that in a great field there grew but one eare of corne so it were as strange a matter that in this infinitie there should be but one world and that there be in number infinite it appeareth by this that there be causes infinite for if the world were finite and all the causes infinite whereof it is made it cannot chuse but of necessitie there should be likewise infinite for where all the causes be there must needs the effects follow now the causes of the world be either these Atomes or the Elements CHAP. VI. From whence it came that Men had the notion of God THe Stoicke Philosophers define the Essence of God in this wise namely To be a spirit full of intelligence and of a fiery nature having no forme but transforming himselfe into whatsoever he will and resembling all things The notion and apprehension men had of him first by conceiving the beautic of those things which are object to their eies for no beautifull thing hath beene made by chaunce and at adventure but composed framed by some ingenious and operative Art now that the heaven is beautifull it appeareth by the forme colour and bignesse thereof by the varietie also of the starres disposed therein moreover the world is round in manner of a Ball which figure of all other is principall and most perfect for it alone resembleth all the parts for being round it selfe it hath the parts likewise round For this cause Plato said That our mind and reason the most divine part of man is lodged and seated in the head which commeth neere unto a round figure as for the colour it is faire and lovely for it standeth upon the azure or blew which being more darke than purple hath notwithstanding a bright and resplendent qualitie in such sort as by the exceeding strength of that lightsome hew it cutteth and pierceth thorow so great an intervall and spaciousnesse of the aire as it may be evidently seene in so mightie a distance in regard also of the greatnesse thereof it is right beautifull for of all things that be of one and the same kinde that which invironeth and conteineth the rest is ever fairest as we may see in a living creature and a tree besides to consummate and accomplish the beautie of the world there be the celestiall signes which appeare unto our eie for the oblique circle of the Zodiake is embelished with twelve divers and sundry images Wherein the CRAB is to be seene the LION after it The VIRGIN and two forked CLEES the SCORPION with his bit The ARCHER and the CAPRICORNE upon which horned GOAT There follow with the WATER-MAN two FISHES all afloat And after these ensue in course the RAM and sturdy Bull But last of all the double TWINNES make up the douzen full Besides an innumerable sort of other configurations of starres which God hath made in the like arches and rotundities of the world whereupon Euripides wrote thus The starrie splendour of the skie which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some do call The woondrous worke of that most wise Creatour Lord of all Thus then we apprehended heereby the notion of God for the sunne the moone and other starres after they have performed the course of their revolutions under the earth come to rise againe all like in colour equall in bignesse and reteining alwaies still the same places and times whereupon they who deliver unto us the
maner of Gods service and worship declare the same unto us after three sorts the first naturall the second fabulous and the third civill that is to say restified by the statutes and ordinances of every city and State the naturall is taught by philosophers the fabulous by poets the civill and legall by the customes of ech citie but all this doctrine and maner of teaching is divided into seven sorts the first consisteth in the celestiall bodies appearing aloft in heaven for men had an apprehension of God by starres that shew above seeing how they are the causes of great symphonie and accord and that they keepe a certeine constant order of day and night of Winter and Summer of rising and setting yea and among those living creatures and fruits which the earth beneath bringeth forth whereupon it hath bene thought that heaven was the father and earth the mother to these for that the powring downe of showers and raine seemed in stead of naturall seeds and the earth as a mother to conceive and bring the same forth Men also seeing and considering the starres alwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holding on their course and that they were the cause that we did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say beholde and contemplate therefore they called the sunne and moone c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say gods of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to run and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to behold Now they range the gods into a second and third degree namely by dividing them into those that be prositable and such as are hurtfull calling the good and profitable Jupiter Juno Mercurie and Ceres but the noisome and hurtfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say maligne spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say furies and Ares that is to say Mars whom they detested as badde and violent yea and devised meanes to appease and qualifie their wrath Moreover the fourth and fifth place and degree they attributed unto affaires passions and affections namely love Venus lust or desire and as for affaires they had hope justice good policie and equitie In the sixth place be those whom the poets have fained for 〈◊〉 being minded to set downe a father for the gods begotten and engendred devised and brought in such progenitors as these To wit 〈◊〉 Ceus and Crius Hyperion and Iapetus whereupon all this kind is named Fabulous But in the seventh place are those who were adorned with divine honors in regard of the great benefits and good deeds done unto the common life of mankind although they were begotten and borne after the maner of men and such were Hercules Castor Pollux and 〈◊〉 and these they said had an humane forme for that as the most noble and excellent nature of all is that of gods so of living creatures the most beautiful is man as adorned with sundry vertues above the rest and simply the best considering the constitution of his minde and soule they thought it therefore meet and reasonable that those who had done best and performed most noble acts resembled that which was the most beautifull and excellent of all other CHAP. VII What is God SOme of the philosophers and namely Diagor as of the isle of Melos Theodorus the Cyrenaean and Euemerus of Tegea held resolutely that there were no gods And verily as touching Euemerus the poet Callimachus of Cyrene writeth covertly in Iambique verses after this maner All in a troupe into that chapell go Without the walles the city not farre fro Whereas sometime that old vain-glorious asse When as he had the image cast in brasse Of Jupiter proceeded for to write Those wicked books which shame was to indite And what books were they even those wherein he discoursed that there were no gods at all And Euripides the tragaedian poet although he durst not discover set abroad in open 〈◊〉 the same for feare of that high court and councell of Areopagus yet he signified as much in this maner for he brought in Sisyphus as the principall author of this opinion and afterwards favourizeth even that sentence of his himselfe for thus he saith The time was when the life of man was rude And as wilde beasts with reason not endu'd Disordinate when wrong was done alway As might and force in ech one bare the sway But afterwards these enormities were laied away and put downe by the bringing in of lawes howbeit for that the law was able to represse injuries and wicked deeds which were notorious and evidently seene and yet many men notwithstanding offended and sinned secretly then some wise man there was who considered and thought with himselfe that needfull it was alwaies to blindfold the trueth with some devised and forged lies yea and to perswade men that A God there is who lives immortally Who heares who sees and knowes all woondrously For away quoth he with vaine dreames and poeticall fictions together with Callimachus who saith If God thou knowest wot well his power divine All things can well performe and bring to fine For God is not able to effect all things for say there be a God let him make snow blacke fire cold him that sitteth or lieth to stand upright or the contrary at one instant and even Plato himselfe that speaketh so bigge when he saith That God created and formed the world to his owne pattern and likenesse smelleth heerein very strongly of some old dotards foolerie to speake according to the poets of the old comedie For how could hee looke upon himselfe quoth he to frame the world according to his owne similitude of how hath he made it round in manner of a globe being himselfe lower than a man ANAXAGORAS is of opinion that the first bodies in the beginning stood still and stirred not but then the minde and understanding of God digested and aranged them in order yea and effected the generations of all things in the universall world PLATO is of a contrary mind saying That those first bodies were not in repose but that they moved confusedly and without order whereupon God quoth he knowing that order was much better than disorder and confusion disposed all these things but as well the one as the other have heerein faulted in common for that they imagined and devised that God was entangled and encumbred with humane affaires as also that he framed the world in regard of man and for the care that he had of him for surely living as he doth happy immortal acomplished with all sorts of good things and wholly exempt from all evill as being altogether implored and given to prefer and mainteine his owne beatitude and immortallity he intermedleth not in the affaires and occasions of men for so he should be as unhappy and 〈◊〉 as some 〈◊〉 mason or labouring workman bearing heavie burdens travelling and sweting about the 〈◊〉 of the world Againe this god of who they
speake of necessity either was not before the creation of the world at what time as those first bodies lay still unmoveable or stirred confusedly or else if he were before he either slept or watched or did neither the one nor the other but as the former of these we may not admit for that God is eternall so the latter we cannot 〈◊〉 for if God slept from all eternity and time out of minde he was no better than dead for what is eternal sleep other than death but surely God is not subject to death for the immortallity of God and this vicinity to death are much distant asunder and cannot stand both together but if wee say that God was awake all that while either he was defectuous in his blessed state of felicity or els he enjoyed the same complet but in the first condition God is not happy for whatsoever wanteth ought of felitity cannot be happy and verily in the second state he is not better for if he were defective in nothing before to what purpose busied he himselfe in such vaine enterprises moreover if there be a God and that by his prudent care mens affaires be governed how commeth it to passe that wicked men prosper in the world and finde fortune their 〈◊〉 mother but the good and honest suffer the contrary and feele her to be a curst stepdame for king Agamemnon as the poet faith Aprince right good and gracious A knight with all most 〈◊〉 was by an adulterer and adulteresse surprised and murdered trecherously and Hercules one of his race and kinred after he had ridde and purged the life of man from so many monsters that troubled his reposewas poisoned by Deianeira and so by indirect meanes lost his life THALES saith that God is the soule of the world ANAXIMANDER is of opinion that the starres be celestiall gods DEMOCRITUS is perswaded that God is a minde of a fierie nature and the soule of the world PYTHAGORAS affirmeth that of the two first principles Unitie was God and the soveraigne good which is the very nature of one and is Understanding it selfe but the indefinite binarie is the divell and evill about which is the multitude materiall and the visible world SOCRATES and PLATO doe hold that he is one and of a simple nature begotten and borne of himselfe alone truly good All which tearmes and attributes tend unto a Minde so that this minde is God a forme separate apart that is to say neither mingled with any matter nor entangled and joined with any thing passible whatsoever ARISTOTLE supposeth that this supreme God is an abstract forme setled upon the round sphaere of the universall world which is an heavenly and celestiall body and therefore tearmed by him the fifth body or quinta essentia which celestial body being divided into many sphaeres coherent by nature but separate and distinct by reason and understanding hee thinketh each of these sphaeres to be a kinde of animall composed of body and soule of which twaine the bodie is celestiall mooving circularly and the soule reason unmooveable in it selfe but the cause in effect of motion The Stoicks teach after a more generall manner and define God to be a working and artificiall fire proceeding methodically and in order to the generation of the world which comprehendeth in itselfe all the spermaticall proportions and reasons of seed according to which every thing by fatall destinie is produced and commeth foorth also to be a spirit piercing and spreading through the whole world howbeit changing his denomination throughout the whole matter as it passeth by transition from the one to the other Semblably that the world is God the starres likewise and the earth yea and the supreme minde above in heaven Finally Epicurus conceiveth thus of the gods that they all have the forme of man and yet be perceptable onely by reason and cogitation in regard of the subtile parts and fine nature of their imaginative figures he also affirmeth that those other foure natures in generall be incorruptible to wit the atomes vacuitie infinitie and resemblances which also be called semblable parcels and elements CHAP. VIII Of Daemons and demy-gods otherwise named Heroes TO this treatise of the gods meet it is to adjoine a discourse as touching the nature of Daemones and Heroes THALES PYTHAGORAS PLATO and the STOICKS hold that these Daemons be spirituall substances and the Heroes soule separate from their bodies of which sort there be good and bad the good Heroes are the good soules and the bad Heroes the bad soules but EPICURUS admitteth none of all this CHAP. IX Of Matter MAtter is the first and principall subject exposed to generation corruption and other mutations The Sectaries of THALES and PYTHAGORAS together with the Stoicks doe say that this Matter is variable mutable alterable and fluxible all wholly thorow the universall world The disciples and followers of DEMOCRITUS are of opinion that the first principles be impassible to wit the small indivisible bodie Atomos Voidnesse and Incorporall ARISTOTLE and PLATO doe holde that Matter is corporall without forme shape figure and qualitie in the owne nature and propertie but when it hath received formes once it becommeth as it were a nurse a molde pattern and a mother They who set downe for this Matter water earth fire or aire do not say that now it is without forme but that it is a very bodie but such as affirme that these Atomes and indivisible bodies be the said Matter make it altogether formelesse CHAP. X. Of Idea IDea is a bodilesse substance which of it selfe hath no subsistence but giveth figure and forme unto shapelesse matters and becommeth the very cause that bringeth them into shew and evidence SOCRATES and PLATO suppose that these Ideae bee substances separate and distinct from Matter howbeit subsisting in the thoughts and imaginations of God that is to say of Minde and Understanding ARISTOTLE admitteth verily these formes and Ideae howbeit not separate from matter as being the patterns of all that which God hath made The STOICKS such as were the scholars of Zeno have delivered that our thoughts and conceits were the Ideae CHAP. XI Of Causes A Cause is that whereupon dependeth or followeth an effect or by which any thing hapneth PLATO hath set downe three kinds of Causes and those are distinguished by these tearmes By which Of which and For which but he taketh the most principall to be that By which that is to say the efficient cause which is the minde or understanding PYTHAGORAS and ARISTOTLE do hold that the principall Causes be incorporall and as for other Causes either by participation or by accident they are of a corporal substance and so the world is a bodie But the STOICKS are of opinion that all Causes are corporall inasmuch as they be spirits CHAP. XII Of Bodies A Bodie is measurable and hath three dimensions length bredth and depth or thicknesse Or thus A Bodie is a masse that resisteth touching naturally of it selfe
rest of the bodie like unto the armes or hairie braunches of a poulp fish of which seven the naturall senses make five namely Sight Smelling Hearing Tasting and Feeling Of these the Sight is a spirit passing from the chiefest part unto the eies Hearing a spirit reaching from the understand to the eares Smelling a spirit issuing from reason to the nosethirls Tasting a spirit going from the foresaid principall part unto the tongue and last of all Feeling a spirit stretching and extended from the same predominant part as farre as to the sensible superficies of those objects which are easie to be felt and handled Of the twaine behind the one is called genetall seed and that is likewise wise a spirit transmitted from the principall part unto the genetories or members of generation the other which is the seventh and last of all Zeno calleth Vocall and wee Voice a spirit also which from the principall part passeth to the windpipe to the tongue and other instruments appropriat for the voice And to conclude that mistresse her selfe and ladie of the rest is seated as it were in the midst of her owne world within our round head and there dwelleth CHAP. XXII Of Respiration EMPEDOCLES is of opinion that the first Respiration of the first living creature was occasioned when the humiditie in young ones within the mothers wombe retired and the outward aire came to succeed in place thereof and to enter into the void vessels now open to receive the same but afterwards the naturall heat driving without forth this aerie substance for to evaporate and breath away caused exspiration and likewise when the same returned in again there ensued inspiration which gave new entrance to that aerious substance But as touching the Respiration that now is he thinketh it to be when the blood is carried to the exterior superficies of the bodie and by this fluxion doth drive and chase the aerie substance through the nosethirls and cause exspiration and inspiration when the blood returneth inward and when the aire reentreth withall through the rarities which the blood hath left void and emptie And for to make this better to be understood he bringeth in the example of a Clepsidre or water houre-glasse ASCLEPIADES maketh the lungs in manner of a tunnel supposing that the cause of Respiration is the aire smooth and of subtil parts which is within the breast unto which the aire without being thicke and grosse floweth and runneth but is repelled backe againe for that the brest is not able to receive any more nor yet to be cleane without Now when as there remaineth still behind some little of the subtile aire within the breast for it cannot all be cleane driven out that aire without rechargeth againe with equall force upon that within being able to support and abide the waight thereof and this compareth he to Phisicians ventoses or cupping glasses Moreover as touching voluntarie Respiration he maketh this reason that the smallest holes within the substance of the lungs are drawen together and their pipes closed up For these things obey our will HEROPHILUS leaveth the motive faculties of the bodie unto the nerves arteries and muskles for thus he thinketh and saith that the lungs only have a naturall appetite to dilation and contraction that is to say to draw in and deliver the breath and so by consequence other parts For this is the proper action of the lungs to draw wind from without where with when it is filled there is made another attraction by a second appetition and the breast deriveth the said wind into it which being likewise repleat therewith not able to draw any more it transmitteth backe againe the superfluitie thereof into the lungs whereby it is sent forth by way of exspiration and thus the parts of the bodie reciprocally suffer one of another by way of interchange For when the lungs are occupied in dilatation the breast is busied in contraction and thus they make repletion and evacuation by a mutuall participation one with the other in such sort as we may observe about the lungs foure manner of motions The first whereby it receiveth the aire from without the second by which it transfuseth into the breast that aire which it drew and received from without the third whereby it admitteth againe unto it selfe that which was sent out of the brest and the fourth by which it sendeth quite forth that which so returned into it And of these motions two be dilatations the one occasioned from without the other from the breast and other two contractions the one when the brest draweth wind into it and the other when it doth expell the aire insinuated into it But in the breast parts there be but two onely the one dilatation when it draweth wind from the lungs the other contraction when it rendreth it againe CHAP. XXIII Of the Passion of the body and whether the soule have a fellow-feelling with it of paine and dolour THe STOICKS say that affections are in the passible parts but senses in the principall part of the soule EPICURUS is of opinion that both the affections and also the senses are in the passible places for that reason which is the principall part of the soule he holdeth to be unpassible STRATO contrariwise affirmeth that as well the Passions of the soule as the senses are in the said principall part and not in the affected and grieved places for that in it consisteth patience which we may observe in terrible and dolorous things as also in fearefull and maguanimous persons THE FIFTH BOOKE OF Philosophers opinions CHAP. I. Of Divination PLATO and the STOICKS bring in a fore-deeming and fore-knowledge of things by inspiration or divine instinct according to the divinity of the soule namely when as it is ravished with a fanaticall spirit or revelation by dreames and these admit and allow many kinds of divination XENOPHANES and EPICURUS on the contrary side abolish and annull all Divination whatsoever PYTHAGORAS condemneth that onely which is wrought by sacrifices ARISTOTLE DICEARCHUS receive none but that which commeth by Divine inspiration or by dreames not supposing the soule to be immortall but to have some participation of Divinitie CHAP. II. How Dreames are caused DEMOCRITUS is of of opinion that Dreames come by the representation of images STRATO saith that our understanding is I wot not how naturally and yet by no reason more sensative in sleepe than otherwise and therefore sollicited the rather by the appetit and desire of knowledge HEROPHILUS affirmeth that Dreames divinely inspired come by necessitie but natural Dreames by this meanes that the soule formeth an image and representation of that which is good and commodious unto it and of that which must ensue thereupon as for such as be of a mixt nature of both they fall out casually by an accidentall accesse of images namely when we imagine that we see that which wee desire as it falleth out with those who in their sleepe thinke they have their
those places where the aire toucheth them the bones of water and earth within and of these fower medled and contempered together sweat and teares proceed CHAP. XXIII When and how doth man begin to come to his perfection HERACLITUS and the STOICKS suppose that men doe enter into their perfection about the second septimane of their age at what time as their naturall seed doth moove and runne for even the very trees begin then to grow unto their perfection namely when as they begin to engender their 〈◊〉 for before then unperfect they are namely so long as they be unripe and fruitlesse and therefore a man likewise about that time is perfect and at this septenarie of yeeres he beginneth to conceive and understand what is good and evill yea and to learne the same Some thinke that a man is consummate at the end of the third septimane of yeeres what time as he maketh use of his full strength CHAP. XXIIII In what manner Sleepe is occasioned or death ALCMEON is of this mind that Sleepe is caused by the returne of blood into the confluent veines and Waking is the diffusion and spreading of the said blood abroad but Death the utter departure thereof EMPEDOCLES holdeth that Sleepe is occasioned by a moderate cooling of the naturall heat of blood within us and Death by an extreme coldnesse of the said blood DIOGENES is of opinion that if blood being diffused and spred throughout fill the veines and withall drive backe the aire setled 〈◊〉 into the breast and the interior belly under it then ensueth Sleepe and the breast with the precordiall parts are 〈◊〉 thereby but if that aereous substance in the 〈◊〉 exspire altogether and exhale forth presently 〈◊〉 Death PLATO and the 〈◊〉 affirme that the 〈◊〉 of Sleep is the 〈◊〉 of the spirit sensitive not by way of 〈◊〉 and to the earth 〈◊〉 by elevation aloft namely when it is carried to the 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 between the 〈◊〉 the very 〈◊〉 of reason but when there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 sensitive 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Death doth ensue CHAP. XXV Whether of the twaine it is that 〈◊〉 or dieth the Soule or the Bodie ARISTOTLE vorely 〈◊〉 that Sleepe is common to Bodie and Soule both and the cause thereof is a certaine humiditie which doth steeme and arise in manner of a vapour out of the stomack and the food therein up into the region of the head and the naturall heat about the heart cooled thereby But death he deemeth to be an entire and totall refrigeration and the same of the Bodie onely and in no wise of the Soule for it is immortall ANAXAGORAS saith that Sleepe belongeth to corporall action as being a passion of the Bodie and not of the Soule also that there is 〈◊〉 wife a certaine death of the Bodie to wit the separation of it and the Bodie 〈◊〉 LEUCIPPUS is of opinion that Sleepe pertaineth to the Bodie onely by concretion of that which was of subtile parts but the excessive excretion of the animall heat is Death which both saith he be passions of the Bodie and not of the Soule EMPEDOCLES saith that Death is a separation of those elements whereof mans Bodie is compounded according to which position Death is common to Soule and Bodie and Sleep a certaine dissipation of that which is of the nature of fire CHAP. XXVI How Plants come to grow and whether they be animate PLATO and EMPEDOCLES hold that Plants have life yea and be animall creatures which appeareth say they by this that they wag to and fro and stretch forth their boughs like armes also that when they be violently strained and bent they yeeld but if they be let loose they returne againe yea in their growth are able to overcome waight laid upon them ARISTOTLE granteth that they be living creatures but not animall for that animal creatures have motions and appetites are sensitive and endued with reason The STOICKS and the EPIGUREANS hold that they have no soule or life at all for of animallcreatures some have the appetitive concupsicible soule others the reasonable but Plants grow after a sort casually of their owne accord and not by the meanes of any soule EMPEDOCLES saith that Trees sprang and grew out of the ground before animall creatures to wit ere the Sunne desplaied his beames and before that day and night were distinct Also that according to the proportion of temperature one came to be named Male another Female that they 〈◊〉 up and grow by the power of heat within the earth in such sort as they be parts of the earth like as unborne fruits in the wombe be parts of the matrice As for the fruits of trees they are the superfluous excrements of water and fire but such as have defect of that humiditie when it is dried up by the heat of the Summer lose their leaves whereas they that have plentie thereof keepe their leaves on still as for example the Laurell Olive and Date tree Now as touching the difference of their juices and sapors it proceedeth from the diversitie of that which nourisheth them as appeareth in Vines for the difference of Vine trees maketh not the goodnesse of Vines for to be drunke but the nutriment that the territorie and soile doth affoord CHAP. XXVII Of 〈◊〉 and Growth EMPEDOCLES is of opinion that animall creatures are nourished by the substance of that which is proper and familiar unto them that they grow by the presence of naturall heat that they diminish 〈◊〉 and perish through the default both of the one and the other And as for men now a daies living in comparison of their auncestos they be but babes new borne CHAP. XXVIII How 〈◊〉 creatures came to have appetite and pleasure EMPEDOCLES supposeth that Lust and Appetites are incident to animall creatures through the defect of those elements which went unto the framing of ech one that pleasures arise from humiditie as for the motions of perils and such like as also troubles and hinderances c. **** CHAP. XXIX After what sort a Fever is engendred and whether it is an accessary to another malady ERASISTRATUS defineth a Fever thus A Fever quoth he is the motion of bloud which is entred into the veines or vessels proper unto the spirits to wit the arteries and that against the will of the patient for like as the sea when nothing troubleth it lieth still and quiet but if a boisterous and violent winde be up and bloweth upon it contrary unto nature it surgeth and riseth up into billowes even from the very bottom so in the body of man when the bloud is mooved it invadeth the vitall and spirituall vessels and being set on fire it enchafeth the whole body And according to the same physicians opinion a Fever is an accessary or consequent comming upon another disease But DIOCLES affirmeth that Symptones apparent without foorth doe shew that which lieth hidden within Now we see that an Ague followeth upon those accidents
that outwardly appeere as for example wounds inflammations impostumes biles and botches in the share and other emunctories CHAP. XXX Of Health Sicknesse and old age ALCMAEON is of opinion that the equall dispensing and distribution of the faculties in the body to wit of moisture heat drinesse cold bitter sweet and the rest is that which holdeth maintaineth Health contrariwise the monarchie that is to say the predominant soveraignty of any of them causeth sicknesse for the predomination and principality of any one bringeth the corruption of all the other and is the very cause of maladies the efficient in regard of excessive heat or cold and the materiall in respect of superabundance or defect of humors like as in some there is want of bloud or brain whereas Health is a proportionable temperature of all these qualities DIOCLES supposeth that most diseases grow by the inequality of the elements and of the habit and constitution of the body ERASISTRATUS saith that sicknesse proceedeth from the excesse of feeding from crudities indigestions and corruption of meat whereas good order and suffisance is Health The STOICKS accord heereunto and hold that Old age commeth for want of naturall heat for they who are most furnished therewith live longest and be old a great time ASCLEPIADES reporteth that the Aethiopians age quickly namely when they be thirtie yeeres old by reason that their bodies bee over-heat and even burnt againe with the sunne whereas in England and all 〈◊〉 folke in their age continue 120. yeeres for that those parts be cold and in that people the naturall heat by that meanes is united and kept in their bodies for the bodies of the Aethiopians are more open and rare in that they be relaxed and resolved by the sunnes heat Contrariwise their bodies who live toward the North pole bee more compact knit and fast and therefore such are long lived ROMANE QVESTIONS THAT IS TO SAY AN ENQUIRIE INTO THE CAUSES OF MANIE FASHIONS AND CUSTOMES OF ROME A Treatise fit for them who are conversant in the reading of Romane histories and antiquities giving a light to many places otherwise obscure and hard to be understood 1 What is the reason that new wedded wives are bidden to touch fire and water 1 IS it because that among the elements and principles whereof are composed naturall bodies the one of these twaine to wit fire is the male and water the female of which that infuseth the beginning of motion and this affoordeth the propertie of the subject and matter 2 Or rather for that as the fire purgeth and water washeth so a wise ought to continue pure chaste and cleane all her life 3 Or is it in this regard that as fire without humidity yeeldeth no nourishment but is dry and moisture without heat is idle fruitlesse and barren even so the male is feeble and the female likewise when they be apart and severed a sunder but the conjunction of two maried folke yeeldeth unto both their cohabitation and perfection of living together 4 Or last of all because man and wife ought not to forsake and abandon one another but to take part of all fortunes though they had no other good in the world common betweene them but fire and water onely 2 How is it that they use to light at weddings five torches and neither more nor lesse which they call Wax-lights 1 WHether is it as Varro saith because the Praetours or generals of armies use three and the Aediles two therefore it is not meet that they should have more than the Praetours and Aediles together considering that new maried folke goe unto the Aediles to light their fire 2 Or because having use of many numbers the odde number seemed unto them as in all other respects better and more perfect than the even so it was fitter and more agreeable for marriage for the even number implieth a kinde of discord and division in respect of the equall parts in it meet for siding quarrell and contention whereas the odde number cannot be divided so just equally but there will remaine somwhat still in common for to be parted Now among al odde numbers it seemeth that Cinque is most nuptial best beseeming mariage for that 〈◊〉 is the first odde number Deuz the first even of which twaine five is compounded as of the male and the female 3 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 because light is a signe of being and of life and a woman may beare at the most five children at one burden and so they used to cary five tapers or waxe candels 4 Or lastly for that they thought that those who were maried had need of five gods and goddesses namely Jupiter genial Juno genial Venus Suade and above all Diana whom last named women in their labour and travell of childe-birth are wont to call upon for helpe 3 What is the cause that there being many Temples of Diana in Rome into that onely which standeth in the 〈◊〉 street men enter not 1 IS it not because of a tale which is told in this maner In old time a certeine woman being come thither for to adore and worship this goddesse chaunced there to bee abused and suffer violence in her honor and he who forced her was torne in pieces by hounds upon which accident ever after a certeine superstitious feare possessed mens heads that they would not presume to goe into the said temple 4 Wherefore is it that in other temples of Diana men are woont ordinarily to set up and fasten Harts hornes onely in that which is upon mount Aventine the hornes of oxen and other beefes are to be seene MAy it not be that this is respective to the remembrance of an ancient occurrent that sometime befell For reported it is that long since in the Sabines countrey one Antion Coratius had a cow which grew to be exceeding faire and woonderfull bigge withall above any other and a certeine wizard or soothfaier came unto him and said How predestined it was that the citie which sacrificed that cow unto Diana in the mount Aventine should become most puissant and rule all Italy This Coratius therefore came to Rome of a deliberate purpose to sacrifice the said cow accordingly but a certaine houshold servant that he had gave notice secretly unto king Servius Tullius of this prediction delivered by the abovesaid soothfaier whereupon Servius acquainted the priest of Diana Cornelius with the matter and therefore when Antion Coratius presented himselfe for to performe his sacrifice Cornelius advertised him first to goe downe into the river there to wash for that the custome and maner of those that sacrificed was so to doe now whiles Antion was gone to wash himselfe in the river Servius steps into his place prevented his returne sacrificed the cow unto the goddesse and nailed up the hornes when he had so done within her temple Juba thus relateth this historie and Varro likewise saving that Varro expressely fetteth not downe the name of Antion neither doth he write
and above all others when Oeonus the sonne of Licymnius was slaine by a dog he was enforced by the Hippocoontides to give the battell in which he lost many of his friends and among the rest his owne brother Iphicles 91 Wherefore was it not lawfull for the Patricians or nobles of Rome to dwell upon the mount Capitoll MIght it not be in regard of M. Manlius who dwelling there attempted and plotted to be king of Rome and to usurpe tyrannie in hatred and detestation of whom it is said that ever after those of the house of Manlij might not have Marcus for their fore-name Or rather was not this an old feare that the Romans had time out of mind For albeit Valerius Poplicola was a personage verie popular and well affected unto the common people yet never ceased the great and mightie men of the citie to suspect and traduce him nor the meane commoners and multitude to feare him untill such time as himselfe caused his owne house to be demolished and pulled down because it seemed to overlooke and commaund the common market place of the citie 〈◊〉 What is the reason that he who saved the life of a citizen in the warres was rewarded with a coronet made of oake braunches WAs it not for that in everie place and readily they might meet with an oake as they matched in their warlike expeditions Or rather because this maner of garland is dedicated unto Jupiter and Juno who are reputed protectors of cities Or might not this be an ancient custome proceeding from the Arcadians who have a kind of consanguinitie with oakes for that they report of themselves that they were the first men that issued out of the earth like as the oake of all other trees 93 Why observe they the Vultures or Geirs most of any other fowles in taking of presages by bird-flight IS it not because at the foundation of Rome there appeared twelve of them unto Romulus Or because this is no ordinarie bird nor familiar for it is not so easie a matter to meete with an airie of Vultures but all on a sudden they come out of some strange countrey and therefore the sight of them doth prognosticke and presage much Or else haply the Romains learned this of Hercules if that be true which Hero dot us reporteth namely that Hercules tooke great contentment when in the enterprise of any exploit of his there appeared Vultures unto him for that he was of opinion that the Vulture of all birds of prey was the justest for first and formost never toucheth he ought that hath life neither killeth hee any living creature like as eagles falcons hauks and other fowles do that prey by night but feedeth upon dead carrions over and besides he forbeareth to set upon his owne kind for never was there man yet who saw a Vulture eat the slesh of any fowle like as eagles and other birds of prey do which chase pursue and plucke in pieces those especially of the same kind to wit other fowle And verily as Aeschylus the poet writeth How can that bird which bird doth eat Be counted cleanly pure andneat And as for men it is the most innocent bird and doth least hurt unto them of all other for it destroieth no fruit nor plant whatsoever neither doth it harme to any tame creature And if the tale be true that the Aegyptians doe tell that all the kinde of these birds be females that they conceive and be with yoong by receiving the East-wind blowing upon them like as some trees by the Western wind it is verie profitable that the signes and prognosticks drawen from them be more sure and certaine than from any others considering that of all besides their violence in treading and breeding time their eagernesse in flight when they pursue their prey their flying away from some and chasing of others must needs cause much trouble and uncertaintie in their prognostications 94 Why stands the temple of Aesculapius without the citie of Rome IS it because they thought the abode without the citie more holesome than that within For in this regard the Greekes ordinarily built the temples of Aesculapius upon high ground wherein the aire is more pure and cleere Or in this respect that this god 〈◊〉 was sent for out of the citie Epidaurus And true it is that the Epidaurians founded his temple not within the walles of their city but a good way from it Or lastly for that the serpent when it was landed out of the galley in the Isle and then vanished out of sight seemed thereby to tell them where he would that they should build the place of his abode 95 Why doth the law for 〈◊〉 them that are to live chaste the eating of pulse AS touching beanes is it not in respect of those very reasons for which it is said That the Pythagoreans counted them abominable And as for the richling and rich pease whereof the one in Greeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words seeme to be derived of Erebus that fignifieth the darknesse of hell and of Lethe which is as much as oblivion and one besides of the rivers infernall it carieth some reason that they should be abhorred therfore Or it may be for that the solemne suppers and bankets at funerals for the dead were usually served with pulse above all other viands Or rather for that those who are desirous to be chaste and to live an holy life ought to 〈◊〉 their bodies pure and slender but so it is that pulse be flateous and windy breeding superfluous excrements in the body which had need of great purging and evacuation Or lastly because they pricke and provoke the fleshly lust for that they be full of ventosities 96 What is the reason that the Romans panish the holy Vestall virgins who have suffered their bodies to be abused and defiled by no other meanes than by interring them quicke under the ground IS this the cause for that the maner is to burne the bodies of them that be dead and to burie by the meanes of fire their bodies who have not devoutly and religiously kept or preserved the divine fire seemed not just nor reasonable Or haply because they thought it was not lawfull to kill any person who had bene consecrated with the most holy and religious ceremonies in the world nor to lay violent hands upon a woman consecrated and therefore they devised this invention of suffering them to die of their owne selves namely to let them downe into a little vaulted chamber under the earth where they left with them a lampe burning and somebread with a little water and milke and having so done cast earth and covered them aloft And yet for all this can they not be exempt from a superstitious feare of them thus interred for even to this day the priests going over this place performe I wot not what anniversary services and rites for to appease and pacifie their ghosts
first borne IS it for that as some say Servius being by chance borne of a maid-servant and a captive had Fortune so favourable unto him that he reigned nobly and gloriously king at Rome For most Romans are of this opinion Or rather because Fortune gave unto the city of Rome her first originall and beginning of so mightie an empire Or lieth not herein some deeper cause which we are to fetch out of the secrets of Nature and Philosophie namely that Fortune is the principle of all things insomuch as Nature consisteth by Fortune namely when to some things concurring casually and by chance there is some order and dispose adjoined 107 What is the reason that the Romans call those who act comedies and other theatricall plaies Histriones IS it for that cause which as Claudius Rufus hath left in writing for he reporteth that many yeeres ago and namely in those daies when Cajus Sulpitius and Licinius Stolo were Consuls there raigned a great pestilence at Rome such a mortalitie as consumed all the stage plaiers indifferently one with another Whereupon at their instant praier and request there repaired out of Tuscane to Rome many excellent and singular actours in this kinde among whom he who was of greatest reputation and had caried the name longest in all theaters for his rare gift and dexteritie that way was called Hister of whose name all other afterwards were tearmed Histriones 108 Why espoused not the Romans in mariage those women who were neere of kin unto them WAs it because they were desirous to amplifie and encrease their alliances and acquire more kinsfolke by giving their daughters in mariage to others and by taking to wife others than their owne kinred Or for that they feared in such wedlock the jarres and quarrels of those who be of kin which are able to extinguish and abolish even the verie lawes and rights of nature Or else seeing as they did how women by reason of their weaknesse and infirmitie stand in need of many helpers they would not have men to contract mariage nor dwell in one house with those who were neere in blood to them to the end that if the husband should offer wrong and injurie to his wife her kinsfolke might succour and assist her 109 Why is it not lawfull for Jupiters priest whom they name Flamen Dialis to handle or once touch meale or leaven FOr meale is it not be because it is an unperfect and raw kind of nourishment for neither continueth it the same that it was to wit wheat c. nor is that yet which it should be namely bread but hath lost that nature which it had before of seed and withall hath not gotten the use of food and nourishment And hereupon it is that the poet calleth meale by a Metaphor or borrowed speech Mylephaton which is as much to say as killed and marred by the mill in grinding and as for leaven both it selfe is engendred of a 〈◊〉 corruption of meale and also corrupteth in a maner the whole lumpe of dough wherin it is mixed for the said dough becommeth lesse firme and fast than it was before it hangeth not together and in one word the leaven of the paste seemeth to be a verie putrifaction and tottennesse thereof And verely if there be too much of the leaven put to the dough it maketh it so sharpe and soure that it cannot be eaten and in verie truth spoileth the meale quite 110 Wherefore is the said priest likewise forbidden to touch raw flesh IS it by this custome to withdraw him farre from eating of raw things Or is it for the same cause that he abhorreth and detesteth meale for neither is it any more a living animall nor come yet to be meat for by boiling and rosting it groweth to such an alteration as changeth the verie forme thereof whereas raw flesh and newly killed is neither pure and impolluted to the eie but hideous to see to and besides it hath I wot not what resemblance to an ougly sore or filthie ulcer 111 What is the reason that the Romans have expresly commaunded the same priest or Flamen of Jupiter not onely to touch a dogge or a goat but not so much as to name either of them TO speake of the Goat first is it not for detestation of his excessive lust and lecherie and besides for his ranke and filthie savour or because they are afraid of him as of a diseased creature and subject to maladies for surely there seemeth not to be a beast in the world so much given to the falling sicknesse as it is nor infecteth so soone those that either eate of the flesh or once touch it when it is surprised with this evill The cause whereof some say to be the streightnesse of those conduits and passages by which the spirits go and come which oftentimes happen to be intercepted and stopped And this they conjecture by the small and slender voice that this beast hath the better to confirme the same we do see ordinarily that men likewise who be subject to this malady grow in the end to have such a voice as in some fort resembleth the 〈◊〉 of goats Now for the Dog true it is haply that he is not so lecherous nor smelleth altogether so strong and so ranke as doth the Goat and yet some there be who say that a Dog might not be permitted to come within the castle of Athens nor to enter into the Isle of Delos because forsooth he lineth bitches openly in the sight of everie man as if bulls boares and stalions had their secret chambers to do their kind with females and did not leape and cover them in the broad field and open yard without being abashed at the matter But ignorant they are of the true cause indeed which is for that a Dog is by nature fell and 〈◊〉 given to arre and warre upon a verie small occasion in which respect men banish them from sanctuaries holy churches and priviledged places giving thereby unto poore afflicted suppliants free accesse unto them for their safe and sure refuge And even so verie probable it is that this Flamen or priest of Jupiter whom they would have to be as an holy sacred and living image for to flie unto should be accessible and easie to be approched unto by humble futers and such as stand in need of him without any thing in the way to empeach to put backe or to 〈◊〉 them which was the cause that he had a little bed or pallet made for him in the verie porch or entrie of his house and that servant or slave who could find meanes to come and fall downe at his feet and lay hold on his knees was for that day freed from the whip and past danger of all other punishment say he were a prisoner with irons and bolts at his feet that could make shift to approch neere unto this priest he was let loose and his gives and fetters were throwen out of the house not
afterwards fell away and came to nothing so as at this present that goodly countrey is become subject and made thrall to the most violent wicked and wretched nation under heaven THE LIVES OF THE ten oratours ANTIPHON I. ANtipho the sonne of Saphilus and borne in the borough and corporation of Karannum was brought up as a scholar under his owne father who kept a Rhetorick schoole whereunto Alcibiades also by report was wont to go and resort when he was a young boy who having gotten sufficiencie of speech and eloquence as some thinke himselfe such was the quicknesse of his wit and inclination of of his nature he betooke himselfe to affaires of State and yet he held a schoole neverthelesse where he was at some difference with Socrates the Philosopher in matter of learning and oratorie not by way of contention and aemulation but in maner of reprehension finding fault with some points as Xenophon testifieth in the first booke of his Commentaries as touching the deeds and sayings of Socrates He penned orations for some citizens at their request for to be pleaded and pronounced in judiciall courts and as it is given out by some was the first who gave himselfe to this course and professed so to do for there is not extant one oration written in maner of a plea by any oratours who lived before his time no more by those that flourished in his daies for it was not the maner yet and custome to compose oraions for others Themistocles I meane Pericles and Aristides notwithstanding that the time presented unto them many occasions yea and meere necessiries so to do neither was it upon their insufficiencie that they thus abstained as it may appeare by that which Historians have written of everie one of these men above mentioned Moreover if we looke into the most ancient oratours whom we can cal to mind to wit Alcibiades Critias Lysius and Archilochus who have written one the same stile and exercised the same forme maner of pleading it wil be found that they all conversed and conferred with Antiphon being now very aged and farre stept in yeeres for being a man of an excellent quicke and readie wit he was the first that made and put forth the Institutions of oratorie so as for his profound knowledge he was surnamed Nestor And Cecilius in a certaine treatise which he compiled of him conjectureth that he had beene sometime schoolemaster to Thucydides the Historiographer for that Antipho is so highly commended by him In his speeches and orations he is verie exquisite and ful of perswasion quicke and subtil in his inventions in difficult matters verie artificiall assailing his adversarie after a covert maner turning his words and sayings respective to the lawes and to move affections withal aiming alwaies to that which is decent seemely and carying the best apparance shew with it He lived about the time of the Persian warre when Gorgias Leontinus the great professor in Rhetoricke flourished being somewhat yonger than he was and he continued to the subversion of the popular state and government which was wrought by the 400 conspirators wherin himselfe seemed to have had a principall hand for that he had the charge and command of two great gallies at sea and was besides a captaine and had the leading of certaine forces during which time he wan the victorie in divers battels and procured unto them the aide of many allies also he moved the young and lustie able man of warre to take armes he rigged manned and set out sixtie gallies and in all their occasions was sent embassadour to the Lacedaemonians when as the citie Ectionia was fortified with a wall but after that those 400 before said were put downe and overthrowen he was together with Archiptolemus one of the 400 accused for the conspiracie condemned and adjudged to the punishment which is due unto traitours His corps was cast forth without sepulture himselfe and all his posteritie registred for infamous persons upon record and yet some there be who report that he was put to death by the 30 tyrants and namely among the rest Lysias testifieth as much in an oration which he made for Antiphoes daughter for a little daughter he had unto whom Calleschrus made claime in right for his wife and that the thirtie tyrants wee they who put him to death Theopompus beareth witnesse in the fifteenth of his Philippickes But more moderne surely was this man and of a later time yea and the sonne of one Lysidonides of whom 〈◊〉 maketh mention as of no wicked man in his commedie called Pytine For how should he who before was executed by those 400 returne to life againe in the time of the thirtie usurpers or tyrants but his death is reported otherwise namely that being verie aged he sailed into Cicily when as the tyrannie of the former Denys was at the highest and when the question was proposed at the table which was the best brasse as some said this and others that he answered that for his part he thought that brasse was best whereof the statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton were made which when Denys heard he imagining that the speech imported thus much covertly as to set on the Syracusians for to attempt some violence upon his person commanded him to be put to death Others report that the said tyrant gave order that he should be made away upon indignation that he skoffed at his tragoedies There be extant in this oratours name three score orations whereof as Cecilius saith 25 are untruly reported to be his Noted he is and taxed by Plato the comicall poet together with Pysander for avarice love of money It is said moreover that he composed certaine tragoedies alone and others with Dionysius the tyrant who joined with him At the same time also when he gave his mind unto Poetrie he devised the art of curing the griefes and maladies of the minde like as physicians pretend skill for to heale the diseases and paines of the bodie Certes having built a little house at Corinth in the market place hee set up a bill on the gate wherein hee made profession That he had the skill to remedie by words those who were vexed and grieved in spirit and he would demaund of those who were amisse the causes of their sorrow and according thereto apply his comforts and consolations Howbeit afterwards supposing this art and profession to be too base and meane for him he turned his studie to Rhetoricke and taught it Some there be who attribute unto Antipho the booke of Glaucus the Rhegine as touching poets but principally is that treatise commended which he made unto Herodotus as also that which is dedicated to Erasistratus touching the Ideaes and the oration of Message which he penned for his owne selfe another against Demosthenes the captaine which he named Paranomon for that he charged him to have broken the lawes Also another oration he wrote against Hippocrates the general commander
in the hall abovesaid when all the waies and passages were shut up she brought a great deale of wood which was provided for the sacrifice and plled the same against the doores and so set it on fire But when their husbands came running for to helpe from all parts Democrita killed her two daughters and herselfe upon them The Lacedaemonians not knowing upon whom to discharge their anger caused the dead bodies of Democrita and her two daughters to be throwen without the confines and liberties of their territorie for which act of theirs God being highly displeased sent as the Chronicles do record a great earthquake among the Lacedaemonians WHETHER CREATVRES BE MORE WISE THEY OF THE LAND OR THOSE OF THE WATER The Summarie IN this treatise and discourse affoording among other things much pleasure in the reading Plutarch bringeth in two yoong gentlemen Aristotimus and Phoedimus who in the presence of a frequent companie plead the cause of living creatures Aristotimus in the first place for them of the land and Phoedimus in the second for those of the water the drift and conclusion of whose pleas commeth to this point that without resolving unto whom the prize ought to be adjudged one of the companie inferreth that the examples alledged both of the one side and of the other do prove that those creatures have some use of reason Moreover we may distinctly divide this booke into three principall parts the first conteineth a conference betweene Soclarus and Autobulus who gave eare afterwards unto the others for Soclarus taking occasion to speake of a written discourse recited in the praise of hunting commendeth this exercise and preferreth it before combats of sword plaiers and fencers which Autobulus will in no wise approove but holdeth that this warre against beasts schooleth as it were and traineth men to learne for to kill one another afterwards And for that some entrance and accesse there was to be given unto the principall disputation of the intelligence and knowledge which is in brute beasts they doe examine the opinion of the Stoicks who bereave them of all understanding passion and pleasure which opinion of theirs being at large debated is afterward refuted with this resolution that man out-goeth beasts in all subtiltie and quicknesse of wit injustice and equitie meet for civill societie and yet beasts although they be more dull and heavie than men are not therefore void of all discourse and naturall reason Then Autobulus confirmeth this by the consideration of horses and dogges enraged a sufficient testimonie that such creatures before-time had reason and understanding Soclarus opposeth himselfe against such a confirmation in the behalfe of the Stoicks and Peripateticks whereupon Autobulus distinguisheth of the arguments and inclining partly to the side of the Pythagoreans sheweth what maner of justice or injustice we ought to consider in the carriage of men toward beasts And then come the two yoong gentlemen abovenamed in place where Aristotimus taking in hand the cause of land-beasts discourseth at large thereupon which is the second part of this present treatise True it is that all the beginning of his plea is defective and wanting howbeit that which remaineth and is extant sheweth sufficiently the carefull industry of our author in searching into the history of nature and examples drawen out thereof as also out of an infinit number of books to passing good purpose Well then Aristotimus sheweth in the first place that the hunting of land-beasts is a far nobler and more commendable exercise than that of the water and comming then to the point namely to the use of reason which consisteth in the election and preference of one thing before another in provisions forecasts and prerogatives in affections aswell those which be milde and gentle as the other which are violent in diligence and industry in arts and sciences in hardinesse equitie temperance courage and magnanimitie he prooveth all this to be without comparison farre more in land-creatures than in other for the proofe and verifying whereof he produceth bulles elephants lions mice swallowes spiders ravens dogs bees geese cranes herons pismires wolves foxes mules partridges hares beares urchins and divers sorts besides of foure footed beasts of fowles likewise insects wormes and serpents all which are specified in particular afterwards In the last part Phoedimus making some excuse that be was not well prepared taketh in hand neverthelesse the cause of fishes and in the very entrance declareth that notwithstanding it be an hard matter to shew the sufficiencie of such creatures which are so divided and severed from us yet notwithstanding produce he will his proofs and arguments drawen from certeine and notable things recommending fishes in this respect that they are so wise and considerate as he sheweth by examples being not taught nor monished unto any waies framed and trained by man like as most part of land beasts be and yet by the way he prooveth by eeles lampreis and crocodiles that fishes may be made tame with men and how our auncients esteemed highly the institution of such mute creatures after this he describeth their naturall prudence both in defending themselves and also in offending and assailing others alledging infinit examples to this purpose as the skill and knowledge they have in the Mathematicks their amity their fellowship their love their kinde affection to their yoong ones alledging in the end divers histories of dolphins love unto men whereupon Soclarus taking occasion to speake inferreth that these two pleaders agree in one point and if a man would joine and lay together their arguments proofes and reasons they would make head passing well and strongly against those who would take from beasts both of land and water all discourse of reason WHETHER CREATURES BE more wise they of the land or they of the water AUTOBULUS LEonidas a king of Lacedaemon being demaunded upon a time what he thought of Tyrtaeus I take him to bee quoth he a good poet to whet and polish the courages of yoong men for that by his verses he doth imprint in the hearts of yoong gentlemen an ardent affection with a magnanimous desire to winne honour and glorie in regard whereof they will not spare themselves in battels and fights but expose their lives to all perils whatsoever Semblably am I greatly affraid my very good friends left the discourse as touching the praise of hunting which was read yesterday in this company hath so stirred up and excited beyond all measure our yoong men who love that game so well that from hencefoorth they will thinke all other things but accessaries and by-matters or rather make no account at all of other exercises but will runne altogether unto this sport and minde none other besides considering that I finde my selfe now a fresh more hotly given and youthfully affectionate thereunto than mine age would require insomuch as according to the words of dame Phaedra in Euripides All my desire is now to call And cry unto my hounds in chase The dapple stagge
bright as golde This is the fish which I doe sacred holde but many take it for the elops for rare he is to be found and hard to be taken howbeit manie times he is seene about the coast of Pamphylia and whensoever the fishers can meet with any of them and bring them home both they themselves weare chaplets of flowers for joy and also they crowne and adorne their barques with garlands yea and at their arrivall they are received with much shouting and clapping of hands but the most part are of opinion that the anthios beforesaid is he which they call the sacred fish and so is he held to be for that wheresoever he is there may no hurtfull nor ravening monster be found there insomuch as the Divers plunge downe into the sea for spunges boldly in those coasts where these be yea and other fishes both spawne and reare their yoong frie safely there as having him for their pledge and warrant of all safety and security as in a priviledged place The cause hereof is hardly to be rendred whether it be that such hurtfull fishes upon a secret antipathie in nature doe avoid him as elephants a swine and lions a cocke or that there be some marks signes of those coasts which are clere of such harmfull monsters which he knoweth well and observeth being a fish quicke of wit and as good of memorie Common it is to all females for to have a naturall care and providence for their yong but in fishes the males generally are so respective that way and so farre off from devouring the seed of their owne kinde that they continue neere unto the spawne that the females have cast and keepe the same as Aristotle hath left in writing Some milters there be that follow after the spawners and sprinkle them a little about the taile otherwise the spawne or frie will not be faire and great but remaine unperfect and come to no growth This property particularly by themselves have the phycides that they build their nests with the sea weeds or reits covering and defending therewith their spawne and frie against the waves of the sea Dog-fishes give not place in any sort to the most tame and gentle beasts in the world for kinde love and naturall affection to their yoong for first they engender spawne and after that a quicke frie and that not without but within nourishing and carrying the same within their owne bodies after a kind of second generation but when they are growen to any bignesse they put them foorth and teach them how to swim hard by them and afterwards receive them by the mouth into their bodie which serveth in stead of a place of abode of nourishment and of refuge untill such time as they be so big that they can shift for themselves Moreover the provident care of the tortoise in the generation nourishment and preservation of yer yoong is woonderfull for out she goeth of the sea and laieth her egges or casteth her spawne upon the banke side but being not able to cove or sit upon them nor to remaine herselfe upon the land out of the sea any long time she bestoweth them in the gravell and afterwards covereth them with the lightest and finest sand that she can get when she hath thus hidden them surely some say that with her feet she draweth raies or lines or els imprinteth certeine pricks which may serve for privy marks to herselfe to finde out the place againe others affirme that the male turneth the females upon the backe and so leaveth the print of their shell within the same but that which is more admirable she observeth just the fortieth day for in so many daies the egges come to their maturity and be hatched and then returneth she to the place where knowing her owne treasure by the seale she openeth it with great joy and pleasure as no man doth his casket of jewels or cabinet where his golde lieth The crocodiles deale much after this maner in all other points but at what marks they aime in chusing or finding out the place where they breed no mortall man is able to imagine or give a reason whereupon it is commonly said that the foreknowledge of this beast in that respect proceedeth not from any discourse of reason but of some supernaturall divination for going neither farther nor neerer than just to that gage and heigth where Nilus the river for that yeere will rise and cover the earth there laieth she her egges so that when the paisant or countrey man chanceth by fortune to hit upen a crocodiles nest himselfe knoweth and telleth his neighbours how high the river will overflow that Summer following so just doth she measure the place that will be drowned with water that herselfe may be sure not to be drenched while she sitteth and coveth furthermore when her yoong bee newly hatched if she see any one of them so soone as ever it is out of the shell not to catch with the mouth one thing or other comming next in the way be it flie pismire gnat earth-worme straw or grasse the damme taketh it betweene her teeth teareth it and killeth it presently but such as give some proofe of animositie audacitie and execution those she loveth those she cherisheth and maketh much of bestowing her love as the wisest men judge it meet and reasonable according to reason and discretion and not with blinde affection The sea-calves likewise bring forth their yoong on the dry land but within a while after they traine them to the sea give them a taste of the salt water then quickly bring them back againe thus practise they with them by little and little many times together untill they have gotten more heart and begin of themselves to delight for to live within the sea Frogs about their breeding time cal one to another by a certaine amorous note or nuptiall tune called properly Ololugon And when the male hath by this meanes entised and allured the female to him they attend and waite together for the night and why In the water they cannot possibly engender and upon the land they fear to do it in the day time dark night is no sooner come but boldly they go foorth of the water and then without feare they claspe and embrace one another Moreover against a showre of raine their crooking voice such as it is you shall heare more cleere and shrill than ordinarie which is a most infallible signe of raine But oh sweet Neptune what a foule fault and grosse errour was I like to have committed how absurd and ridiculous should I have made my selfe if being amused and busied to speake of these sea-calves and frogs I had forgotten and overpassed the wisest creature and that which the gods love best of all those that do frequent and hant the sea for what musicke of the nightingale is comparable to that of the halcyon what artificiall building of the swallowes and martinets what entier amitie love of
sent by king Ptolomaeus surnamed Soter to the city Sinope for to carie the god Serapis together with their captaine Dionysius were by force of winde and tempest driven against their willes beyond the cape or promontorie Malea where they had Peloponnesus on the right hand and when they wandered and were tossed to and fro upon the seas not knowing where they were making account they were lost and cast away there shewed himslefe before the prow of their ship a dolphin which seemed to call unto them and who guided them unto those coasts where there were many commodious havens and faire baies for ships to harbour and ride in with safetie and thus he conducted and accompanied their ship from place to place untill at length he brought it within the rode of Cirrha where after they had sacrificed for their safe arrivall and landing they understood that of two images there they were to have away that of Pluto and carrie it with them but the other of Proserpina to leave behinde them when they had taken onely the mould and patterne thereof Probable it is therefore that the god Apollo carried an affection to this dolphin for that it loveth musicke so well whereupon the poet Pindarus comparing himselfe unto the dolphin saith that he was provoked and stirred up to musicke by the leaping and dauncing of this fish Like as the dolphin swimmes apace Directly forward to that place Whereas the pleasant shawmes do sound And whence their noice doth soone rebound What time both winds and waves do lie At sea and let no harmonie or rather we are to thinke that the god is well affected unto him because he is so kind and loving unto man for the onely creature it is that loveth man for his owne sake and in regard that he is a man whereas of land-beasts some you shall have that love none at all others and those that be of the tamest kinde make much of those onely of whom they have some use and benefit namely such as feed them or converse with them familiarly as the dogge the horse and the elephant and as for swallowes received though they be into our houses where they have enterteinment and whatsoever they need to wit shade harbour and a necessary retrait for their safetie yet they be afraied of man and shun him as if he were some savage beast whereas the dolphin alone of all other creatures in the world by a certeine instinct of nature carrieth that sincere affection unto man which is so much sought for and desired by our best philosophers even without any respect at all of commoditie for having no need at all of mans helpe yet is he neverthelesse friendly and courteous unto all and hath succoured many in their distresse as the storie of Arion will testifie which is so famous as no man is ignorant thereof and even you Aristotimus your owne selfe rehearsed to very good purpose the example of Hesiodus But yet by your good leave my friend Of that your tale you made no end for when you reported unto us the fidelitie of his dogge you should have proceeded farther and told out all not leaving out as you did the narration of the dolphins for surely the notice that the dogge gave by baying barking and running after the murderers with open mouth was I may tell you but a blinde presumption and no evident argument About the citie Nemium the dolphins meeting with the dead corps of a man floting up and downe upon the sea tooke it up and laied it on their backs shifting it from one to another by turnes as any of them were wearie with the carriage and very willingly yea and as it should seeme with great affection they conveied it as farre as to the port Rhium where they laied it downe upon the shore and so made it knowen that there was a man murdered Myrtilus the Lesbian writeth that Aenalus the Acolian being fallen in fansie with a daughter of Phineus who according to the oracle of Amphirite was by the daughters of Pentheus cast downe headlong into the sea threw himselfe after her but there was a dolphin tooke him up and brought him safe unto the isle Lesbos Over and besides the affection and good will which a dolphin bare unto a yoong lad of the citie Iasos was so hot and vehement in the highest degree that if ever one creature was in love with another it was he for there was not a day went over his head but he would disport play and swimme with him yea and suffer himselfe to be handled and tickled by him upon his bare skinne and if the boy were disposed to mount aloft upon his backe he would not refuse nor seeme to avoide him nay hee was verie well content with such a carriage turning what way soever hee reined him or seemed to encline and thus would hee doe in the presence of the Iasians who oftentimes would all runne foorth to the sea side of purpose to behold this sight Well on a daie above the rest when this ladde was upon the dolphins backe there fell an exceeding great shower of raine together with a monstrous storme of haile by reason whereof the poore boy fell into the sea and there died but the dolphin tooke up his bodie dead as it was and together with it shut himselfe upon the land neither would he depart from the corps so long as there was any life in him and so died judging it great reason to take part with him of his death who seemed partly to be the cause thereof In remembrance of which memorable accident the Iasians represent the historie thereof stamped and printed upon their coine to wit a boy riding upon a dolphin which storie hath caused that the fable or tale that goeth of Caeranus is beleeved for a truth for this caeranus as they say borne in Paros chanced to be upon a time at Byzantium where seeing a great draught of dolphins taken up in a casting-net by the fishers whom they meant to kill and cut into pieces bought them all alive and let them go againe into the sea Not long after it hapned that he sailed homeward in a foist of fiftie oares which had aboord by report a number of pyrates and rovers but in the streights betweene Naxos and Paros the vessel was cast away and swallowed up in a gust in which shipwracke when all the rest perished he onely was saved by meanes as they say of a dolphin which comming under his bodie as he was newly plunged into the sea bare him up tooke him upon his backe and carried him as farre as to a certaine cave about Zacynthus and there landed him which place is shewed for a monument at this day and after his name is called Coeranium upon this occasion Archilachus the poet is said to have made these verses Of fiftie men by tempest drown'd And left in sea all dead behind Coeran alone alive was found God Neptune was to him so kind
certaine power which causeth it to swell as it were and have an appetite to engender For other cause there can 〈◊〉 none rendred why rocks clifts and mountaines be barren and drie but this that they have either no fire at all or else participate 〈◊〉 little the nature thereof in summe so farre off is water from being of it selfe sufficient for the owne preservation or generation of other things that without the aide of fire it is the cause of the owne ruine and destruction For heat it is that keepeth water in good estate and preserveth it in her nature and proper substance like as it doth all things besides and looke where fire is away or wanteth there water doth corrupt and putrifie in such sort as the ruine and destruction of water is the default of heat as we may evidently see in pools marishes and standing waters or wheresoever water is kept within pits and holes without issue for such waters in the end become putrified and stinke againe because they have no motion which having this propertie to 〈◊〉 up the naturall heat which is in everie thing keepeth those waters better which have a current and runne apace in that this motion preserveth that kind heat which they have And hereupon it is that To live in Greeke is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sigfieth to boile How then can it otherwise be that of two things it should not be more profitable which giveth being and essence to the other like as fire doth unto water Furthermore that thing the utter departure whereof is the cause that a creature dieth is the more profitable for this is certaine and manifest that the same without which a thing cannot bee hath given the cause of being unto the same when it was with it For we do see that in dead things there is a moisture neither are they dried up altogether for otherwise moist bodies would not putrifie considering that putrefaction is the turning of that which is drie to be moist or rather the corruption of humours in the flesh and death is nothing else but an utter defect and extinction of heat and therefore dead things be extreme cold insomuch as if a man should set unto them the very edge of rasours they are enough to dull the same through excessive cold And we may see plainely that in the verie bodies of living creatures those parts which participate least of the nature of fire are more senselesse than any other as bones and haire and such as be farthest remooved from the heart and in manner all the difference that is betweene great and small creatures proceedeth from the presence of fire more or lesse for humiditie simply it is not that bringeth forth plants and fruits but warme humiditie is it that doth the deed whereas cold waters be either barren altogether or not verie fruitful and fertill and yet if water were of the owne nature fructuous it must needs follow that it selfe alone and at all times should be able to produce fruit whereas we see it is cleane contrarie namely that it is rather hurtfull to fruits And now to reason from another head and go another way to worke to make use of fire as it is fire need wee have not of water nay it 〈◊〉 rather for it quencheth and 〈◊〉 it out cleane on the other side many 〈◊〉 be who cannot tell what to doe with water without fire for being made hot it is more profitable and otherwise in the owne kinde hurtfull Of two things therefore that which can do good of it selfe without need of the others helpe is better and more profitable Moreover water yeeldeth commodity but after one sort onely to wit by touching as when we feele it or wash and bathe with it whereas fire serveth all the five senses doth them good for it is felt both neere at hand and also seene afarre of so that among other meanes that it hath of profiting no man may account the multiplicity of the uses that it affoordeth for that a man should be at any time without fire it is impossible nay he cannot have his first generation without it and yet there is a difference in this kinde as in all other things The very sea it selfe is made more 〈◊〉 by heat so as it doth heat more by the agitation and current that it hath than any other waters for of it selfe otherwise it differeth not Also for such as have no need of outward fire we may not say that they stand in need of none at all but the reason is because they have plenty and store of naturall heat within them so that in this very point the commodity of fire ought to be esteemed the more And as for water it is never in that good state but some need it hath of helpe without whereas the exellencie of fire is such as it is content with it selfe and requireth not the aid of the other Like as therefore that captaine is to be reputed more excellent who knowes to order and furnish a citie so as it hath no need of forren allies so we are to thinke that among elements that is the woorthier which may often times consist without the succour and aide of another And even as much may be said of living creatures which have least need of others helpe And yet haply it may be replied contrariwise that the thing is more profitable which we use alone by it selfe namely when by discourse of reason we are able to chuse the better For what is more commodious and profitable to men than reason and yet there is none at all in brute beasts And what followeth heereupon Shall we inferre therefore that it is lesse profitable as invented by the providence of a better nature which is god But since we are fallen into this argument What is more profitable to mans life than arts but there is no art which fire devised not or at least wise doth not maintaine And heereupon it is that we make 〈◊〉 the prince and master of all arts Furthermore whereas the time and space of life is very short that is given unto man as short as it is yet sleepe as Ariston saith like unto a false baily or publicane taketh the halfe thereof for it selfe True it is that a man may lie awake and not sleepe all night long but I may aswell say that his waking would serve him in small stead were it not that fire presented unto him the commodities of the day and put a difference betweene the darkenesse of the night and the light of the day If then there be nothing more profitable unto man than life why should we not judge fire to be the best thing in the world since it doth augment and multiply our life Over and besides that of which the five senses participate most is more profitable but evident it is that there is not one of the said senses maketh use of the nature of water
or distaste that which they feed upon Or because that like as they who boile sea water rid it from that salt brackish and biting qualitie that it hath so in those that are hot by nature the salt savour is dulled and mortified by heat Or rather for that a savour or smacke according as Plato saith is a water or juice passing thorow the stem or stalke of a plant but we see that the sea water rūning as thorow a streiner loseth the saltnesse being the terrestriall and grossest part that is in it And hereupon it is that when as men digge along by the sea side they meet with springs of fresh and potable water And many there be who draw out of the very sea fresh water and good to be drunke namely when it hath 〈◊〉 thorow certeine vessels of wax by reason that the terrestriall and saltish parts thereof be streined out In one word cley or marle also yea and the carrying of sea water in long conduct pipes causeth the same when it is so streined to be potable for that there are kept still in them the terrestriall parts and are not suffered to passe thorow Which being so very probable it is that plants neither receive from without forth any salt savour nor if haply any such qualitie breed in them doe they transfuse the same into their fruits for that the conducts of their pores being very small and streight there can not be transmitted thorow them any grosse or terrestriall substance Or els we must say that saltnesse is in some sort a kinde of bitternesse according as Homer signifieth in these verses Bitter salt-water at mouth he cast againe And all therewith his head did drop amaine And Plato affirmeth that both the one and the other savour is abstersive and liquefactive but the saltish lesse of the twaine as that which is not rough and so it will seeme that bitter differeth from salt in excesse of drinesse for that the salt savour is also a great drier 6 What is the cause that if folke use ordinarily and continually to goe among yong trees or shrubs full of deaw those parts of their bodies which do touch the twigs of the said plants are wont to have a scurfe or mange rise upon their skin IS it as Laet us saith for that the deaw by the subtiltie thereof doth fret and pierce the skin Or rather because like as the blast and mil-deaw is incident to those 〈◊〉 or plants that take wet and be drenched even so when the smoothe and tender superficiall parts of the skinne be fretted scarified and dissolved a little with the deaw there ariseth a certeine humour and filleth the fretted place with a smart and angry scurfe for lighting upon those parts which have but little bloud such as be the smalles of the legs and the feet it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superficies of them Now that there is in deaw a certeine inordinate qualitie it appeareth by this that it maketh those who are grosse and corpulent to be leaner and more spare of bodie witnesse our women who are given to be fat and would be fine who gather deaw with linnen clothes or els with locks or fleeces of wooll thinking therewith to take downe and spend their fogginesse and make themselves more gant and slender 7 What is the cause that barges and other vessels in Winter time go more slowly upon the rivers than at other seasons but they do not so upon the sea WHat say you to this May it not be for that the aire of rivers being alwaies grosse and heavy in Winter is more inspissate by reason of the circumstant cold and so is an hindrance to the course of ships Or haply this accident is to be imputed to the water of rivers rather than to the aire about them for colde driving in and restraining the water maketh it more heavy and grosse as we may perceive in water houre-glasses for the water runneth out of them more leasurely and slowly in winter then in summer And Theophrastus writeth that in Thracia neere unto the mount called Pangaeon there is a fountaine the water whereof is twice as much heavie in winter than it is in summer waigh it in one the same vessell full That the thicknesse of water maketh a vessell to passe more sluggishly it may appeare by this that the barges of the river carry greater fraights by farre in winter than in summer because the water being thicke is stronger and able to beare more As for the sea water it cannot be made more thicke in winter by reason of the owne heat which is the cause that it congealeth not and if it gather any thickening it seemeth to be very slender and little 8 What is the reason that we observe all other waters if they be mooved and troubled are the colder but the sea the more surging and waving the hotter it is IS it because if there be any heat in other waters the same is a stranger unto it and comming from without and so the motion and agitation thereof doth dissipate and drive the same forth againe but that heat of the sea which is proper and naturall to it the windes doe stirre up and augment That the sea is naturally hot may evidently be proved by this that it is so transparent and shining as also for that it is not ordinarily frozen heavy though it be and terrestriall 9 What should be the cause that in winter the sea water is lesse bitter and brackish in taste FOr so by report writeth Dionysus the great convaier of conduicts who in a treatise of that argument saith that the bitternesse of the sea water is not without some sweetnesse seeing that the sea receiveth so many and so great rivers for admit that the sunne doe draw up that which is fresh and potable out of it because it is light and subtill that is but from the upper part onely and withall it doth more in Summer than in any other season by reason that in Winter his beames are not so strong to strike for that his heat likewise is but saint and feeble and so a good portion of the sweetnesse remaining behinde doth delay that excessive bitternesse and brackishnesse like a medicine that it hath And the same befalleth unto river waters and all other that be potable for even such in Summer time become worse and more offensive to the raste than in Winter by how much the heat of the sunne doth resolve and dissipate the light and sweet parts thereof but in Winter it runneth alwaies new and fresh whereof the sea cannot chuse but have a good part as well because it is evermore in motion as also for that the rivers running into it be great and impart their fresh water unto it 10 What is the reason that men are wont to powre sea water into their wine vessels among the wine And the common report goeth that there were sometime certeine mariners and fisher-men who brought with them
dust IS it not as I said before because wheat is able to overcome more nourishment but barley can not endure much moisture to drench and drowne it Or in this respect that wheat being a stiffe and hard kinde of graine resembling the nature of wood doth sooner come and chit within the ground in case it be well soked and softened with moisture and therefore liketh better of a wet ground whereas the drier soile at the first sowing agreeth better with barley and is more commodious for it being as it is a more loose and spungeous kinde of graine Or because such a temperature of the ground in regard of the heat is more proportionable and lesse hurtfull unto barley being as it is the colder graine Or rather husbandmen are affraid to thrash their wheat upon a dry and sandy floore because of ants for soone will they take to that kind of graine in such a place As for barley they use lesse to beare it because the cornes thereof be hard to be caried and recaried from one place to another they are so bigge 17 What is the cause that fishers chuse the haire of stone-horsetailes rather than of mares to make their angling lines IS it because the male as in all other parts so in haire also is more strong than the female Or rather for that they thinke the haire of mares tailes drenched and wet as it is ever and anon with their staling is more brittle and woorse than the other 18 What is the reason that when the Calamacie fish is seene in the sea it is a signe of a great tempest IS it because all soft and 〈◊〉 fishes are very impatient of colde and of foule-weather they be so bare and naked and have withall their flesh exceeding tender as being covered neither with shell nor thicke skinne ne yet scale but contrariwise having their hardy gristly and bony substance within which is the reason that all such fishes be called Malacia as one would say Soft and tender For which cause naturally they soone foresee a tempest and feele colde comming for that it is offensive unto them and therefore likewise when the Poulpe or Polyp runneth to land and catcheth holde of some little rocks it is a token that there is great winde toward And for the Calamacie he leapeth forth for to avoid the colde and the trouble or agitation of the water in the bottome of the sea for of other soft fishes his flesh is most tender and aptest to be pierced and hurt 19 Why doth the Polyp change his colour IS it according to the opinion of Theophrastus because it is a fearefull and timorous creature by nature and therefore when he is troubled or amazed as his spirit turneth so he altereth withall his colour even as we men do whereupon we say in the common proverbe The coward in view Soone changeth hew Or may this be a good probable conjecture of the change but not sufficient for the resemblance considering that he changeth so as heresembleth the rocks which he setleth upon Unto which propertie Pindarus alluded in these verses His minde doth alter most mutable To Poulpe the sea-fish skin semblable Which changeth hue to echthing sutable To live in all worlds he is pliable And Theognis Put on a minde like Polype fish and learne so to dissemble Which of the rocke whereto it sticks the colour doth resemble Also men usually say such as surpasse others for cunning and cautelous dealing studie and practise this that for to save themselves and not to be seene or knowen of those about them they alwaies will be like unto the poulpe and change their colours that is to say their maners and behaviour Or do they thinke such an one to make use of his colour readily as of a garment to change and put on another whensoever he will Well then the poulpe fish himselfe by his feare may haply give the occasion and beginning of this change and passion but the principall point of the cause consisteth in something els And therefore weigh and consider what Empedocles writeth Wot well all mortall things that be Defluxions havein some degree For there passe away continually many defluxions not onely from living creatures plants earth and sea but also from stones brasse and iron for all things perish and yeeld a smell in that there runneth something alwaies from them and they weare continually insomuch as it is thought that by these defluxions are all attractions and insultations and some suppose their embracings and connexions others their smilings some their impulsions and I wot not what circumplexions and environments to be attributed unto such defluxions and especially from rocks and stones along the sea continually washed and dashed with the waves therebe decisions passe of some parcels and small fragments the which do cleave unto other bodies and cling about those which have their pores more strict and close or els passe thorow such as have the same over rare and open As for the flesh of the Polype it is to see to fistulous and spongeous like unto hony-combs apt to receive all such defluxions and decisions from other bodies when as then he is afraid his winde goeth and commeth and withall shutteth up his bodie and bringeth it together that he may receive and reteine in the superficies of his skin the defluxions that come from that which is next it for the rivels and wrinckles of his soft skin which are knit with feare are in stead of crooke and bending cleies fit to enterteine the defluxions and parcels lighting upon them which scatter not heere and there but gathering upon the skin make the superficies thereof to be of semblable colour And that this is a true cause it may appeare by one great argument namely that neither the Polyp doth resemble in colour all that which is neere unto it not the Chamaeleon the white colour but both the one the other such things onely as the defluxions whereof are proportionate unto their pores and small passages 20 What is the cause that the teares of wilde boares be sweet but of stagges and hinds saltish and unpleasant to the taste HEat and colde are the cause of both for the stagge is colde of nature but the bore exceeding hot and fierie whereupon it is that the one fleeth away the other maketh head and stands to it when he is assaulted and then is it most of all that he sheddeth teares upon a fell heart for when plentie of heat as I said before mounteth up unto his eies His bristles stare and stand upright His ardent eyes like fire are bright and so the humour that distilleth from his eies is sweet Others say that these teares are pressed and wrong out from the bloud being troubled like as whey from milke and of this opinion was Empedocles And forasmuch as the bloud of the wilde bore is blacke and thicke in regard of heat but that of stags and hinds thin and waterish great
either by experience or some casuall occasion IS it then the smel that mooveth them to seeke these remedies and like as the hony combes by the odor stirre up the bee and the flesh of dead carions the vultures drawing and alluring them a farre of so the craifishes invite unto them swine origan the tortoise and pismires the beare by certaine sents and fluxions which are accommodate and familiar unto them without any sense leading them thereto by discourse of reason and teaching them what is good and profitable Or rather be they the temperatures of the bodies disposed unto sicknesse that bring unto these creatures such appetites engendring divers ceremonies sweetnesses or other strange unusuall qualities as we 〈◊〉 it ordinary in great bellied women who during the time that they go with childe fall to eat grit earth with greedinesse in so much as expert phisitians fore-know by the sundry appetites of their patients whether they shall live or die for so 〈◊〉 the phisitian doth report that in the beginning of the Pneumonie or inflamation of the lungs one patient of his longing for to eate onions escaped that maladie and another whose appetite stood to figgs died for it of the same disease for that the appetites follow the temperatures and the temperatures are proportionate to the diseases It standeth therefore to great reason that beasts likewise such as are not surprised with mortall 〈◊〉 nor sicke to death have that disposition and temperature whereby their appetites doe moove and provoke each one to that which is good and holsome yea and expedient to the cure of their sicknesse 27 What is the cause that must or new wine cotinueth sweet a long time in case the vessell wherein it is kept be colde round about it IS it because the alteration of this sweet savour into the naturall taste of wine is the very concoction of the wine and colde hindereth the said concoction which proceedeth from heat Or contrariwise because the proper joice and naturall savour of the grape is sweet for we say that then the grape beginneth to ripen when it waxeth sweet Now colde not suffring new wine to exhale but keeping the kinde heat thereof within preserveth the said sweetnesse still And this is the very cause that those who make their vintage in a rainy constitution of the weather doe finde that their new wine wil not worke so wel in the vault because that such ebullition proceedeth of heat and the colde doth restraine and refresh the said heat 28 What is the cause that of all savage beasts the beare doth never lightly gnaw the net and toile with her teeth whereas wolves and foxes use ordinarily to eate the same IS it for that her teeth grow farre within her mouth in such sort that she cannot get within the cords of the nets having besides so great and thicke lippes betweene that they hinder her for catching hold with her said fangs Or rather because she having more force in her fore-feet which she useth in stead of hands therewith she doth teare and breake the cords or else having use both of her pawes and also of her month she imploieth those to the bursting of the nets and with her teeth fighteth and maketh her part good against the hunters Besides the tumbling and rolling of her body that she doth practise serveth her in as good stead as any thing else And therefore seeing her selfe in danger to be taken within the 〈◊〉 many times casteth her selfe round upon her head and indevoureth that way to escape rather than either by pawes or fangs to burst the toile 29 What is the reason that we woonder not to see any sources or springs of colde water like as we doe of hot notwithstanding it is evident that as heat is the cause of these so is colde of the other FOr we must not say as some holde opinion that heat indeed is an habitude of it selfe but colde nothing else but the privation of heat for it were in truth more woonderfull how that which hath no subsistance should be the cause of that which hath a beeing But it seemeth that nature would have us to woonder heereat onely for the rare sight heereof and because it is not often seene therefore we should enquire for some secret cause and demand how that may be which is but seldome observed But seest thou this starry firmament So high above and in 〈◊〉 vast In bosom moist of water element The earth beneath how it encloseth fast How many strange and woonderfull sights doth it represent unto us in the night season and what beauty sheweth it unto us in the day time and the common people woonder at the nature of these things ** As also at the rainebowes and the divers tinctures formes and pictures of the clouds appeering by day and how they be adorned with sundry shapes breaking out of them in maner of bubbles 30 What is the cause that when vines or other yoong plants which be ranke of leaves and otherwise fruitlesse are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IS it because that goats in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are exceding fat be lesse apt to engender and hardly for their fatnesse can leape the females For generative seed is the superfluous excrement of that nourishment which is conglutinate to the substantiall parts of the body Now when as any living creature or plant is in very good plight and growen grosse it is an evident signe that the nouriture is imploied and spent altogether in the maintenance of it selfe leaving no excrement at all or the same very small and not good for generation 31 What is the reason that if a vine be sprinkled and drenched with wine especially that which came of the owne grape it drieth and withereth away IS there not the same reason heereof as of the baldnesse in great drinkers when as the wine by meanes of heat causeth the moisture to evaporate which should feed the haire of their head Or is it not rather because the very liquor of wine commeth in some sort of putrefaction according to the verses of Empedocles When in vine-wood the water 〈◊〉 It turnes to wine whiles under barke it lies When as then a vine commeth to be wet with wine outwardly it is as much as if fire were put into it which doth corrupt the naturall temperature of that humour which should nourish it Or rather pure wine being of an astringent nature soketh and 〈◊〉 to the very root where shutting up and enclosing the pores it empeacheth the entrance of that sap by vertue whereof the vine is woont to bud burgen and flourish that it can not runne to the stocke Or may it not be it is cleane contrary to the nature of a vine that the liquor which once went out of it should returne againe into it for a liquor or humour whiles it is within the plant in the nature of a sap may well have power to feed the same but that being
wit the skill of measures then afterwards to Astrologie which is the knowledge of the stars in the highest place above all the rest setteth Harmonicae which is the skill of sounds and accords for the subject of Geometrie is this when as to quantity in generall there is adjoined magnitude in length bredth of Stereometrie when to the magnitude of length and bredth there is added depth or profunditie Likewise the proper subject of Astrology is this when to the solid magnitude there cōmeth motion The subject of harmony or musick when to a bodie moving there is adjoined sound or voice If we subtract then and take away from moving bodies voice from solid bodies motion from superficies depth and profundity and from quantities magnitude we shall come by this time to the intelligible Ideae which have no difference among them in regard of one and sole thing for unitie maketh no number unlesse it come once to touch binarie or two which is infinite but in this wise having produced a number it proceedeth to points and pricks from pricks to lines and so forth from lines to superficies from superficies to profundities from thence to bodies and so forward to the qualities of bodies subject to passions and alrerations Moreover of intellectuall things there is no other judge but the understanding or the mind for cogitation or intelligence is no other thing but the understanding so long as it is applied unto Mathematicals wherein things intellectuall appeare as within mirrours whereas for the knowledge of bodies by reason of their great number nature hath given unto us five powers and faculties of severall and different senses for to judge withall and yet sufficient they are not to discover all objects for many there be of them so small that they can not be perceived by the senses And like as although every one of us being composed of soule and bodie yet that principall part which is our spirit and understanding is a very small thing hidden and inclosed within a great masse of flesh even so very like it is that there is the same proportion within the universall world betweene things sensible and intellectuall for the intellectuall are the beginning of corporall now that which proceedeth from a beginning is alwaies in number more and in magnitude greater than the said beginning But on the contrary a man may reason thus and say First and formost that in comparing sensible and corporall things with intellectuall we doe in some sort make mortall things equall with devine for God is to be reckened among intellectuals Now this is to be granted that the content is alwaies lesse then the continent but the nature of the universall world within the intellectuall comprehendeth the sensible For God having set the soule in the midst hath spred and stretched it through all within and yet without forth hath covered all bodies with it As for the soule it is invisible yea and inperceptible to all the naturall senses according as he hath written in his booke of lawes and therefore every one of us is corruptible but the world shall never perish for that in each of us that which is mortall and subject to dissolution containeth within it the power which is vitall but in the world it is cleane contrary for the principall puissance and nature which is ever after one sort immutable and doth alwaies preserve the corporall part which it containeth and imbraceth within it selfe Besides in a bodily nature and corporall a thing is called individuall and importible for the smallnesse therof to wit when it is so little that it cannot be devided but in the spirituall and incorporall it is so called for the simplicity sincerity purity thereof as being exempt from all multiplicity diversity for otherwise folly it were to cast a guesse at spirituall things by corporal Furthermore the very present time which we call Now is said to be inpartible and indivisible howbeit instant together it is every where neither is their any part of this habitable world without it but all passions all actions all corruptions generations throughout the world are comprised in this very present Now. Now the onely instrument to judge of things intellectuall is the understanding like as the eie of light which for simplicity is uniforme every way like unto it selfe but bodies having many diversities differences are comprehended by divers instruments judged some by this and others by that And yet some there be who unwoorthily disesteeme and contemne the intellectuall puissance and spirituall which is in us for in truth being goodly and great it surmounteth every sensible thing and reacheth up as farre as to the gods But that which of all others is most himselfe in his booke entituled Symposium teaching how to use love and love matters in withdrawing the soule from the affection of beauties corporall and applying the same to those which are intellectuall exhorteth us not to subject and inthrall our selves into the lovely beauty of any body nor of one study and science but by erecting and lifting up our mindes aloft from such base objects to turne unto that vast ocean indeed of pulcritude and beauty which is vertue 3 How commeth it to passe that considering he affirmeth evermore the soule to be more ancient than the body as the very cause of the generation of it and the beginning likewise thereof yea contrariwise he saith that the soule was never without the bodie nor the understanding without the soule and that of necessitie the soule must be within the bodie and the understanding in the soule for it seemeth that heere in there is some contradiction namely that the body both is and is not in case it be true that it is together with the soule and yet neverthelesse ingendred by the soule IS it because that is true which we oftentimes doe say namely that the soule without understanding and the body without forme have alwaies beene together neither the one nor the other had ever commensment of being nor beginning of generation but when the soule came to have participation of understanding and of harmonie and became to be wise by the meanes of consonance and accord then caused she mutation in matter and being more powerfull and strong in her owne motions drew and turned into her the motions of the other and even so the bodies of the world had the first generation from the soule whereby it was shaped and made uniforme For the soule of her selfe brought not foorth the nature of a body nor created it of nothing but of a body without all order and forme whatsoever he made it orderly and very obeisant as if one said that the force of a seed or kernell is alwaies with the bodie but yet neverthelesse the body of the sig tree or olive tree is engendred of the seed or kernell he should not speake contrarieties for the very body it selfe being mooved and altered by the seed
what it will be is not some accident or passion of any motion but it is the cause the puissance and the principle of that proportion and order that conteineth and holdeth together all things according to which the nature of the world and this whole universality which also is animate doth move or rather the very same proportion it selfe and order which doth moove is the thing that we call time For walke it doth with silent pace In way where as no noise is made Conducting justly to their place All mortall things that passe and fade And verily according to the minde of auncient philosophers the substance of the soule was defined to be a number mooving it selfe which is the reason why Plato said That time and heaven were made together but motion was before heaven at what time as there was no heaven at all for why there was no order nor measure whatsoever no nor any distinction but an undeterminate motion like as the matter was rude without forme figure but after that nature once had cast this matter into a colour and had shaped it with forme and figure and then determined motion with periodicall revolutions she made withall both the world and time both at once which two are the very images of God to wit the world of his substance and time of his eternitie for God in that he mooveth is time and in that he hath being is the world This is the reason why he saith That both of them comming together shall likewise both be dissolved together in case that ever there will be any dissolution of them For that which had a beginning and generation cannot be without time no more than that which is intelligible without eternity in case the one is to continue for ever and the other being once made shall never perish and be dissolved Time then being so necessarily linked and interlaced with the heaven is not simply a motion but as we have said already a motion ordeined by order which hath a just measure set limits and bonds yea and certeine revolutions of all which the sunne being superintendent governour and directour for to dispose limit and digest all for to discover set out and shew the alterations and seasons the which bring foorth all things as 〈◊〉 saith confessed it must be that he is a workeman cooperant with that chiefe and sovetaigne God the prince of all not in petie base and frivolous things but in the greatest and most principall works that be 8 PLato in his books of common-wealth having excellently well compared the symphony of the three faculties powers of the soule to wit the reasonable the irascible concupiscible unto the musicall harmony of the notes Mese Hypate and Nete hath given occasion for a man to doubt whether hee set the irascible or reasonable part correspondent to the meane seeing that he shewed not his meaning in this present place for according to the situation of the parts of the body wherein these faculties are seated surely the couragious and irascible is placed in the middes and answered to the region of Mese the meane but the reasonable is ranged into the place of Hypate for that which is aloft first and principall our auncestours used to call Hypaton according to which sense Xenocrates calleth Jupiter or the aire that I meane which converseth above where all things continue the same and after one sort Hypatos like as that which is under the moone Neatos And before him Homer speaking of the soveraigne God and prince of princes saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say our soveraigne and supreme of all rulers And in trueth nature hath by very good right given unto the best part of the soule the highest place in lodging the discourse of reason as the governour of the rest within the head but hath remooved farre from thence to the base and inferior members the concupiscible for the low situation is called Neate according as appeereth by the denomination of the dead who are tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say inferior or infernall and for this cause some therebe who say that the winde which bloweth from beneath and out of places unseene that is to say from the pole Antarticke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the south Since then it is so that there is the same proportion of contrariety betweene concupiscible and reasonable parts of the soule as there is betweene lowest and highest last and first it is not possible that reason should be the highest and principall and not withall correspondent to Hypate but to some other note in musicke for they who attribute unto her as unto the principall faculty and power Mese that is to say the meane see not ignorant as they be how they take from her that which is more principall to wit Hypate which cannot fit well either with ire or lust for both these the one and the other are made for to follow and be commanded by reason and not to command or goe before reason Moreover it should seeme by nature that anger ought to have the meane and middle place considering that naturally reason is to command and anger both to command and be commanded as being on the one side subject to the discourse of reason and on the other side commanding lust yea and punishing it when she is disobedient to reason And like as in grammar those letters which wee call semi-vowels be of a middle nature betweene mute consonants and vowels for that as they sound more than the one so they sound lesse than the other even so in the soule of man wrath is not simply a meere passion but hath many times an apparence of duty and honesty mixed with desire of revenge And Plato himselfe comparing the substance of the soule unto a couple of horses drawing a chariot and guided by a chariot man who driveth them and understandeth by the driver guide as every man well knowes the discourse of reason now of the two steeds that of lusts and pleasures is frampold skittish flinging winsing unruly altogether and unbroken stiffenecked deafe hardly caring either for whip or spurre where as the other of 〈◊〉 is for the most part tractable and obeisant to the bridle of reason yea and ready to joine with it in execution of good things And like as in a chariot with two horses the driver or chariot-man is not in vertue and puissance the middle but rather one of the horses which is woorse than the chariot man and better than his 〈◊〉 that draweth with him even so likewise hath not he given the middle place unto that part which doth rule and governe in the soule but unto that wherein there is lesse passion than in the first and more reason than in the third for this order and disposition observeth the proportion of the irascible to the reasonable part as is of 〈◊〉 to Hypate and to the
they who reproove this are ignorant that the same is the Idea of such things as be alwaies of one sort and the other the Idea of those that change Also that the effect of this is evermore to divide separate and alter that which it toucheth and in a word to make many of one but the effect of that is to conjoine and unite by similitude many things thereby into one forme and puissance Thus you see what be the powers and faculties of the soule of this universality which entring into the fraile mortall and passible instruments of bodies however they be in themselves incorruptible impatible and the same yet in them now appecreth more the forme of an indeterminate duality but that forme of the simple unitie sheweth it selfe more obscurely as deepely setled within howbeit for all that hardly shall one see and perceive in a man either passion altogether void of reason or motion without understanding wherein there is no lust no ambition no joy or griefe and therefore some philosophers there be who would have the perturbations of the mind to be reasons as if forsooth all disire sorow and anger were judgements Others also doe hold that all vertues be passions for in 〈◊〉 say they there is foure intemperance pleasure injustice lucre Howbeit the soule being both contemplative and also active at once as it doth contemplate universal thing so it practiseth particulars seeming to conceive the one by intelligence and to perceive the other by sense common reason meeting alwaies the same in the other and likewise the other in the same endevoureth verily to sever by divers bonds and partitions one from many and the indivisible from the divisible but it can not bring it so about as to be purely in the one or the other for that the principles be so enterlaced one within another and hudled pell-mell together In which regard God hath appointed a certeine receptacle for the same and the other of a divisible and indivisible substance to the end that in diversity there should be order for this was as much as to be engendred Seeing that without this the same should have had no diversitie and consequently no motion nor generation neither should the other have had order and so by consequence also neither consistence nor generation for if it should happen to the same to be divers from the other and againe to the other to be all one with the same such a communion and participation would bring foorth of it selfe nothing generative but require some third matter to receive them and to be digested and disposed by them And this is that which God ordeined and composed first in defining and limiting the infinity of nature mooving about bodies by the firme steadinesse of things intellectuall And like as there is one kinde of brutish voice not articulate nor distinct and therefore not significant whereas speech consisteth in voice that giveth to understand what is in the minde and as harmony doeth consist of many sounds and intervals the sound being simple and the same but the intervall a difference and diversitie of sounds which when they be mixed and tempered together make song and melody Even so the passible part of the soule was infinit unstable and disordinate but afterwards became determinate when tearmes and limits were set to it and a certeine forme expelled to that divisible and variable diversity of motion Thus having conceived and comprised the same and the other by the similitudes and dissimilitudes of numbers making accord of difference thereof the life of the universall world became wise and prudent the harmony consonant and reason drawing with her 〈◊〉 tempered with grace and perswasion which the common sort call fatall destiny Empedocles named concord and discord together Heraclitus the opposite tension and harmony of the world as of a bow or harpe wherein both ends bend one against another Parmemdes light and darknesse Anaxagoras understanding and infinitie Zoroastes God and the devill tearming the one Oromasdes and the other Arimanius But Euripides did not well to use the disjunctive for the copulative in this verse Jupiter natures necessity Or humane minde whether he be For in truth that puissance which pierceth and reacheth through all things is both necessitie and also a minde And this is it which the Aegyptians would covertly give us to understand under the vaile of their mysticall fables that when Horus was condemned and dismembred his spirit and bloud was given and awarded to his father but his flesh and grease to his mother But of the soule there is nothing that remaineth pure and sincere nothing unmixt and apart from others for as Her aclitus was woont to say Hidden harmony is better than the apparant for that therein God who tempered it hath bestowed secretly and concealed differences and diversities and yet there appeereth in the unreasonable part turbulent perturbations in the reasonable setled order in senses necessitie and constreint in the understanding full power and entier libertie but the terminant and defining power loveth the universall and indivisible by reason of their conjunctions and consanguinity Contrariwise the dividing puissance enclineth and cleaveth to particulars by the divisible The totall universalitie joieth in a setled order by the meanes of the same and againe so farre foorth as need is in a mutation by the meanes of the other but the difference of inclinations to honesty or dishonesty to pleasure or displeasure the ravishments and transportations of the spirit in amorous persons the combats in them of honour against voluptuous wantonnesse doe evidently shew and nothing so much the commixion of the nature divine and impassible with the mortall and passible part in bodily things of which himselfe calleth the one the concupiscence of pleasure ingenerate and inbred in us the other an opinion induced from without desirous of the soveraigne good for the soule of it selfe produceth and yeeldeth passibility but the participation of understanding commeth to it without foorth 〈◊〉 by the best principle and cause which is God so the very nature of heaven is not exempt from this double societie and communion but that a man may see how otherwhiles it doth encline and bend another way by the revolution of the the same which is more predominant and so doth governe the world and a portion of time will come like as it hath beene often heeretofore when as the wisedome thereof shall be dulled and dazeled yea and laid asleepe being filled with the oblivion of that which is meet and decent for it and that which from the beginnings is familiar and conformable to the body shall draw weigh downe and turne backe the way and course of the whole universality on the right hand but breake and undoe the forme thereof quite it shall not be able but reduce it againe to the better and have a regard unto the first pattern of God who helpeth the endevours thereof and is ready to reforme and direct the same Thus it is
pliable shewed very well that he held it for a singular vertue to be sociable and to know how to sort and agree with others like as the same Pindar us himselfe When God did call he gave attendance And never bragd of all his valiance meaning and signifying Cadmus The olde Theologians and Divines who of all Philosophers are most ancient have put into the hands of of the images of the gods musicall instruments minding nothing lesse thereby than to make this god or that a minstrell either to play on lute or to sound the flute but because they thought there was no greater piece of worke than accord and harmonicall symphonic could beseeme the gods Like as therefore hee that would seeke for sesquitertian sesquialterall or double proportions of Musicke in the necke or bridge in the belly or backe of a lute or in the pegs and pinnes thereof were a ridiculous foole for howsoever these parts ought to have a symmetrie and proportion one to another in regard of length and thicknesse yet the harmonie where of we speake is to be considered in the sounds onely Even so probable it is and standeth with great reason that the bodies of the starres the distances and intervals of sphaeres the celeritie also of their courses and revolutions should be proportionate one unto the other yea and unto the whole world as instruments of musicke well set and tuned albeit the just quantitie of the measure be unknowen unto But this we are to thinke that the principall effect and efficacie of these numbers and proportions which that great and sovereigne Creatour used is the consonance accord and agreement of the soule in it selfe with which she being endowed she hath replenished both the heaven it selfe when she was setled thereupon with an infinite number of good things and also disposed and ordeined all things upon the earth by seasons by changes and mutations tempered and measured most excellently well and with surpassing wisdome aswell for the production and generation of all things as for the preservation and safety of them when they were created and made AN EPITOME OR BREVIARIE of a Treatise as touching the creation of the Soule according to Plato in Timaeus THis Treatise entituled Of the creation of the soule as it is described in the booke of of Plato named Timaeus declareth all that Plato and the Platoniques have written of that argument and inferreth certeine proportions and similitudes Geometricall which he supposeth pertinent to the speculation and intelligence of the nature of the soule as also certeine Musical and Arithmeticall Theoremes His meaning and saying is that the first matter was brought into forme and shape by the soule Hee attributeth to the universall world a soule and likewise to every living creature a soule of the owne by it selfe which ruleth and governeth it He bringeth in the said soule in some sort not engendred and yet after a sort subject to generation But hee affirmeth that eternall matter to have bene formed by God that evill and vice is an impe springing from the said matter To the end quoth he that it might never come into mans thought That God was the authour or cause of evill All the rest of this Breviarie is word for word in the Treatise it selfe therefore may be well spared in this place and not rehearsed a second time OF FATALL NECESSITY This little Treatise is so pitiously torne maimed and dismembred thorowout that a man may sooner divine and guesse thereat as I have done than translate it I beseech the readers therefore to holde me excused in case I neither please my selfe nor content them in that which I have written ENdevour I will and addresse my selfe to write unto you most deere and loving friend Piso as plainly and compendiously as possible I can mine opinion as touching Fatall destinie for to satisfie your request albeit you know full well how wary and precise I am in my writing First and formost therefore thus much you must understand That this terme of Fatall destinie is spoken and understood two maner of waies the one as it is an action and the other as it is a substance In the first place Plato hath figuratively drawen it forth under a type described it as an action both in his diologue entituled Phaedrus in these words It is an Adrastian law or inevitable ordinance which alwaies followeth and accompanieth God And also in his treatise called Timaeus after this maner The lawes which God hath pronounced and published to the immortall soules in the procreation of the universall world Likewise in his books of Common-wealth he saith That Fatall necessitie is the reason and speech of Lachesis the daughter of Necessitie By which places he giveth us to understand not tragically but after a theologicall maner what his minde and opinion is Now if a man taking the said places already cited quoted would expound the same more familiarly in other words he may declare the former descriptiō in Phaedrus after this sort namely that Fatall destinie is a divine reason or sentence intransgressible and inevitable proceeding from a cause that cannot be diverted nor impeached And according to that which he delivereth in Timaeus it is a law consequently ensuing upon the nature and creation of the world by the rule whereof all things passe and are dispenced that be done For this is it that Lachesis worketh effecteth who is in trueth the daughter of Necessity as we have both alreadie said also shall better understand by that which we are to deliver hereafter in this and other treatises at our leasure Thus you see what Destinie is as it goeth for an action but being taken for a substance it seemeth to be the universall soule of the whole world and admitteth a tripartite division The first Destiny is that which erreth not the second seemeth to erre and the third is under heaven conversant about the earth of which three the highest is called Clotho that next under it is named Atropos and the lowest Lachesis and she receiveth the influences of her two celestiall sisters transmitting and fastening the same upon terrestriall things which are under her governmēt Thus have we shewed summarily what is to be thought said as touching Destiny being taken as a substance namely What it is what parts it hath after what sort it is how it is ordeined and in what maner it standeth both in respect of it selfe and also in regard of us but as concerning the particularities of all these points there is another fable in the Politiques of Plato which covertly in some sort giveth us intelligence thereof and the same have we assaied to explane unfolde unto you as wel as possibly we can But to returne unto our Destiny as it is an action let us discourse thereof forasmuch as many questions naturall morall and rationall depend thereupon Now for that we have in some sort sufficiently defined already what it is we are to consider consequently
gods together with their services and ceremonies Moreover as touching those which are called idle and harvest arguments as also that which is named beside or against destiny they are no better than cavils and sophistries according to this opinion but according to the contrary sentence the first and principall conclusion is that nothing is done without cause but all thing depend upon precedent causes the second that the world is governed by nature which conspireth and is compatible with it selfe the third may seeme rather to be testimonies unto these whereof the first is divination approved by all nations as being really and truely in God the second the aequanimitie and patience of wise men taking and bearing well all accidents and occurrents whatsoever as comming by divine ordinance the third which is so common a speech and divulged in every mans mouth namely that every proposition is either true or false Thus have we drawen this discourse into a small number of short articles to the end that we might remember and comprise in few words the whole matter and argument of Destinie All which points both of the one and the other opinion are to be discussed and examined with more diligent inquisition whereof particularly we will treat afterwards A COMPENDIOVS REVIEW AND DISCOURSE THAT THE STOICKS DELIVER MORE STRANGE OPINIONS THAN DO THE POETS The Summarie APetie declaration this is against the sect of the Stoicks which briefly and in a word is maketh odious giving out in plaine tearmes that such persons be the loudest liers in the world and that their opinion as touching the change and alteration of that party who rangeth himselfe unto them is so monstrous and ridiculous that the discovery only thereof is a sufficient refutation A COMPENDIOUS REVIEW and discourse That the Stoicks deliver more strange opinions than do the Poets PIndarus was reprooved for that after a strange maner and without all sense and probabilitie hee fained Caeneus one of the Lapithae to have had a bodie so hard as it could not be pierced by any weapon of iron and steele but that he remained unhurt and so afterwards Went under earth without en wound When with stiffe foot he cleft the ground But this Lapith of the Stoicks to wit their imagined wise man being forged by them of impassibilitie as of a mettall harder than the diamond is not such an one as is not otherwhiles 〈◊〉 diseased and assailed with paine howbeit as they say he abideth still fearelesse and without sorrow and heavinesse he continueth invincible he susteineth no force nor violence howsoever he be wounded what paine soever he suffereth be he put to all tortures or see his native countrey sacked and destroied before his face or what calamities els beside be presented to his eies And verily that Caeneus whom Pindarus describeth notwithstanding 〈◊〉 were smitten and bare many stroakes yet was unwounded for all that but the wise man whom the Stoicks imagine although he be kept enclosed in prison yet is not restreined of libertie say he be pitched downe from the top of a rocke yet susteineth no violence is he put to the strappado to the racke or wheele yet for all that is he not tormented and albeit he frie in the fire yet he hath no harm nay if in wrestling he be foiled and take a fall yet he persisteth unconquered when he is environed within a wall yet is he not besieged and being solde in port sale by the enemies yet is he no captive but remaineth impregnable resembling most properly for all the world those ships which have these goodly inscriptions in their poups Happie voyage Luckie navigation Saving providence and Remedie against all dangers and yet the same neverthelesse be tossed in the seas split upon the rocks cast away and drowned Iolaus as the Poet Euripides hath fained by a certeine praier that he made unto the gods of a feeble and decrepit olde man became all of a sudden a yong and lustie gallant ready for to fight a battell but the Stoicks wise man who longer agoe than yesterday was most hatefull wretched and wicked all at once to day is changed into a good and vertuous person he is of a rivelled pale leane and poore sillie aged man and as the Poet Aeschylus saith Who suffereth pangs in flanke in reines and backe With painfull cramps stretcht as upon aracke become a lovely faire beautifull and personable youth pleasant both to God and man Minerva in Homer rid Ulisses from his wrinkles his baldnesse and ill fovoured deformity that he might appeare full of favour and amiable but this wise man of there making albeit withered olde age leave not his body but contrariwise increase still and grow more and more with all the discommodities that follow it continuing still for example sake bunch backt if he were so before one eied and toothlesse yet forsooth is not for all this foule deformed and ill favoured For like as by report the bettils fly from good and sweet odors seeking after stinking sents even so the Stoicks love conversing with the most foule ilfavoured and deformed after that by their sapience and wisdome they be turned into all beauty and favor departeth and goeth from them With these Stoicks he who in the morning haply was most wicked will proove in the evening a right honest man who went to bed foolish ignorant injurious outragious intemperat yea a very slave a poore needy begger will rise the morrow morning a king rich happie chaste just firme and constant nothing at all subject to variety of opinions not for that he hath all on a suddaine put forth a beard or become under growen as in a yoong and tender body but rather engendred in a weake soft effeminate and inconstant soule a perfect minde perfect understanding soveraine prudence a divine disposition comparable to the gods a settled and assured science not wandring in opinions and an immutable and stedfast habitude neither went that leawd wickednesse of his away by little little but all at once I may well neeresay he was transmuted from a most vile beast into a demy god a daemon or a very god indeed For so soone once as a man hath learned vertue in the Stoicks schoole he may say thus unto himselfe Wish what thou wilt and what thou list to crave All shall be done doe thou but aske and have This vertue brings riches this carieth with it roialty this giveth good fortune this makes men happie standing in need of nothing contented in themselves although they have not in all the world so much as a single drachme of silver or one grey groat Yet are the fables of Poets devised with more probability and likelihood of reason for never doe they leave Hercules altogether destitute of necessaries but it seemeth that he hath with him alwaies one living source or other out of which there runneth evermore foison and plenty for himselfe and the company about him But he who hath once gotten
as if it were wantonnesse so to doe in case he praise the divine providence for creating them In his fift booke of Nature after he had shewed that wal-lice or punaises serve in good stead to awaken us out of sleepe as also that mice advertise us to beware and take heed where we lay up and bestow every thing and that it is probable that nature taketh pleasure in producing faire creatures and joieth in diversitie he commeth out with this sentence word for word This appeereth most evidently in the peacocks taile for heere he signifieth that this bird was made for the tailes sake and not contrariwise and so when the cocke was once created the hen followed after In his booke of common-wealth when he had said that we are come almost to the painting of dung-hils a little after There be some quoth he who adorne embelish their corn-fields with vines climbing and growing upon trees ranged directly in order as also with myrtle rowes who nourish also peacocks and doves yea and partridges for to heare them cal and record unto them as also nightingales for their pleasant song But I would gladly know of him what hee thinketh and what his conceit is of bees and of hony for it would by good consequence follow that he who had said that punaises and wal lice were profitably created should also inferre that bees were made for no profit Now if he allowed these a place in his Common-wealth how is it that he forbiddeth his citizens to enterteine those things which delight the eare To be briefe like as he were very absurd who should find fault with those guests at a feast who fell to eat comfits and sweet banketting conceits to drinke wine also and to feed of delicate viands and in the meane while commend the man who invited them to such dainties and provided the same for them even so he who praising the divine providence for creating delicate fishes deinty birds sweet hony and pleasant wine should reproove those who reject not these gifts nor be content to eat bare bread and drinke sheere water things that be ever at hand and which are sufficient for our food were as farre out of reason and makes no reckoning at all how he doth contradict himselfe and what contrary opinions he holdeth Moreover having in his treatise of Exhortations said that it was no reason that folke should be defamed or blamed for having to doe carnally with their owne mothers daughters or sisters for eating any kinde of meats whatsoever for going directly out of the bed from a woman or from a dead body and mortuarie unto a temple or sacrifice And heerein quoth he we ought to have a regard and eie unto brute beasts and taking example by them to collect and conclude that in all this there is no absurdity at all nor any thing against nature for fitly and to the purpose very well a man may alledge this and compare the usage of other creatures to shew that they neither being coupled together nor engendring no nor dying in temples do pollute and defile the divinitie Contrary to all this in the fift booke of nature he saith That the poet Hesiodus did very well to admonish and forbid us not to pisse into fountaines nor running rivers yea and much rather to forbeare to make water against an altar or any image and statue of the gods neither mattereth or skilleth it all if dogs affes and yoong children doe so seeing they have no discretion nor consideration in such things and therefore it is very absurd to say in one place That it is meet to consider the savage example of wilde beasts and in another as absurde to alledge the same Some philosophers there be who imagine a certeine accessary motion from without in the principall part of our soule for that a man seemeth to give the head and liberty unto divers inclinations when he is forced to a thing by outward causes which motion appeereth principally in doubtfull and variable things for when of two objects equall in power and every way semblable we are of necessity to chuse one and there is no cause at all to incline us more to the one than to the other this foresaid accessary and adventitious puissance comming in otherwise and seazing upon the inclination of the soule decideth all the doubt Against these philosophers Chrysippus disputing as if they did violence to nature by the contrary and by devising an effect without a cause among sundry other examples alledgeth the cockall bone the balance and many such like things which cannot fall incline and bend now on one side and then on another without some cause difference which is entirely in them or 〈◊〉 commeth from without forth for this is generally held that whatsoever is without cause can have no subsistence no more than meere hazard and chance but in these adventitions and accessarie motions which they suppose there be certeine hidden irreptitious causes which secredy moove and induce our appetite and inclination even without our knowledge to one part or other and this is that which he often repeateth in the most notable works that he hath put forth but that which himselfe afterward delivereth cleane contrary because it is not exposed so openly to the view of the whole world I will alledge verbatim as he hath delivered it For in his treatise concerning the office of a Judge supposing for example sake that two curriers who ranne a course were come both together unto the goale he demandeth what the Judge should doe in this case namely whether it were lawfull for him to give unto whether of them hee pleased the victorious branch of the date tree this being supposed withall that they were both so inward familiar with him that he should rather gratifie them both even out of his owne in some sort than seeme to defraud either of them of the victorious garland which seemeth to be common to them both Whether I say it be lawfull for him to encline unto one or to the other and so award the victory as if they had drawen lots therefore To encline I say casually without any reason like as when two groates are presented unto us every way semblable one to the other we incline rather to that which we take And in the sixt booke of Duties having said that there be certeine things that require no great adoo nor intentive consideration hee is of opinion that in such cases we are to yeeld the choise into the casuall propension of the minde even as to the adventerous hazard of a lot as for example if the question be to make triall of the said two groates one saith this is the better and another that but for that we are to take one of the twaine without more adoo and farther triall of their betternesse we take that which comes first and in another place he saith in putting this to the aventure of a lot it falleth out otherwhiles that wee
the world whereby all things are governed How is it possible then that these two positions should subsist together namely that God is in no wise the cause of any dishonest thing and that there is nothing in the world be it never so little that is done but by common nature and according to the reason thereof For surely among all those things that are done necessarily there must be things dishonest and yet Epicurus turneth and windeth himselfe on every side imagining and devising all the subtill shifts that he can to unloose set free and deliver our voluntary free will from this motion eternall because he would not leave vice excuseable without just reprehension whereas in the meane while he openeth a wide window unto it and giveth it libertie to plead That committed it is not onely by the necessitie of destiny but also by the reason of God and according to the best nature that is And thus much also moreover is to be seene written word forword For considering that common nature reacheth unto al causes it cannot otherwise be but all that is done howsoever and in what part soever of the world must be according to this common nature and the reason thereof by a certeine stint of consequence without impeachment for that there is nothing without that can impeach the administration thereof neither mooveth any part or is disposed in habitude otherwise than according to that common nature But what habitudes and motions of the parts are these Certeine it is that the habitudes be the vices and maladies of the minds as covetousnesse lecherie ambition cowardise and injustice as for the motions they be the acts proceeding from thence as adulteries thefts treasons manslaughters murders and parricides Chrysippus now is of opinion That none of all these be they little or great is done without the reason of Jupiter or against law justice and providence insomuch as to breake law is not against law to wrong another is not against justice nor to commit sinne against providence And yet he affirmeth that God punisheth vice and doth many things for the punishment of the wicked As for example in the second booke of the gods Otherwhiles there happen quoth he unto good men grievous calamities not by way of punishment as to the wicked but by another kinde of oeconomy and disposition like as it falleth out usually unto cities Againe in these words First we are to understand evill things and calamities as we have said heeretofore then to thinke that distributed they are according to the reason and dispose of Jupiter either by way of punishment or else by some other oeconomie of the whole world Now surely this is a doctrine hard to bee digested namely that vice being wrought by the disposition and reason of God is also punished thereby howbeit this contradiction he doeth still aggravate and extend in the second booke of Nature writing thus But vice in regard of grievous accidents hath a certeine peculiar reason by it selfe for after a sort it is committed by the common reason of nature and as I may so say not unprofitably in respect of the universall world for otherwise than so there were no good things at all and then proceeding to reproove those who dispute pro contra and discourse indifferently on both parts he I meane who upon an ardent desire tobroch alwaies and in every matter some novelties exquisite singularities above all other saith It is not unprofitable to cut purses to play the sycophants or commit loose dissolute and mad parts no more than it is incommodious that there should be unprofitable members hurtfull and wretched persons which if it be so what maner of god is Jupiter I meane him of whom Chrysippus speaketh in case I say he punish a thing which neither commeth of it selfe nor unprofitably for vice according to the reason of Chrysippus were altogether irreprehensible and Jupiter to be blamed if either he caused vice as a thing unprofitable or punished it when he had made it not unprofitably Moreover in the first booke of Justice speaking of the gods that they oppose themselves against the iniquities of some But wholly quoth he to cut off all vice is neither possible nor expedient is it if it were possible to take away all injustice all transgression of lawes and all folly But how true this is it perteineth not to this present treatise for to enquire and discourse But himselfe taking away and rooting up all vice as much as lay in him by the meanes of philosophy which to extirpe was neither good nor expedient doeth heerein that which is repugnant both to reason and also to God Furthermore in saying that there be certeine sinnes and iniquities against which the gods doe oppose themselves he giveth covertly to understand that there is some oddes and inequality in sinnes Over and besides having written in many places that there is nothing in the world to be blamed nor that can be complained of for that all things are made and finished by a most singular and excellent nature there be contrariwise sundry places wherein hee leaveth and alloweth unto us certeine negligences reprooveable and those not in small and trifling matters That this is true it may appeere in his third book of Substance where having made mention that such like negligences might befal unto good honest men Commeth this to passe quoth he because there be some things where of there is no reckoning made like as in great houses there must needs be scattered and lost by the way some bran yea and some few graines of wheat although in generality the whole besides is well enough ruled and governed or is it because there be some evill and malignant spirits as superintendents over such things wherein certeinly such negligences are committted the same reprehensible and he saith moreover that there is much necessitie intermingled among But I meane not hereupon to stand nor to discourse at large but to let passe what vanity there was in him to compare the accidents which befell to some good and vertuous persons as for example the condemnation of Socrates the burning of Pythagoras quicke by the Cylonians the dolorous torments that Zeno endured under the tyrant Demylus or those which Antiphon suffred at the hands of Dionysius when they were by them put to death unto the brans that be spilt and lost in great mens houses But that there should bee such wicked spirits deputed by the divine providence to have the charge of such things must needs redound to the great reproach of God as if he were some unwise king who committed the government of his provinces unto evill captaines and rash headed lieutenants suffering them to abuse and wrong his best affected subjects and winking at their rechlesse negligence having no care or regard at all of them Againe if it be so that there is much necessity and constraint mingled among the affaires of this world then is not God the
so say namely the occupation or taking up of the middle place wherein it standeth because it is in the mids for if it were thought otherwise to be founded it were altogether necessarie that some corruption should take holde of it And againe a little after for even so in some sort hath that essence bene ordeined from all eternity to occupie the middle region being presently at the very first such as if not by another maner yet by attaining this place it is eternall and subject to no corruption These words conteine one manifest repugnance and visible contrariety considering that in them he admitteth and alloweth in that which is infinit a middle place But there is a second also which as it is more darke and obscure so it implieth also a more monstrous absurditie than the other for supposing that the world can not continue incorruptible if it were seated and founded in any other place of the infinitie than in the mids it appeareth manifestly that he feared if the parts of the substance did not moove and tend toward the mids there would ensue a dissolution corruption of the world But this would he never have feared if he had not thought that bodies naturally from all sides tend to the middes not of the substance but of the place that conteineth the substance where of he had spoken in many places that it was a thing impossible and against nature for that within voidnesse there is no difference by which bodies can be said to move more one way than another and that the construction of the world is cause of the motion to the center as also that all things from every side do bend to the mids But to see this more plainly it may suffice to alledge the very text in his second booke of Motion for when he had delivered thus much That the world is a perfect body and the parts of the world not perfect because they are respective to the whole and not of themselves Having also discoursed as touching the motion thereof for that it was apt and fitted by nature to moove it selfe in all parts for to conteine and preserve and not to breake dissolve and burne it selfe he saith afterwards But the universall world tending and mooving to the same point and the parts thereof having the same motion from the nature of the body like it is that this first motion is naturally proper to all bodies namely to encline toward the mids of the world considering that the world mooveth so in regard of it selfe and the parts likewise in that they be the parts of the whole How now my goodfriend may some one say what accident is befallen unto you that you should forget to pronounce these words withall That the world in case it had not fortuned for to settle in the mids must needs have bene subject to corruption and dissolution For if it be proper and naturall to the world to tend alwaies to the same middle as also to addresse the parts thereof from all sides thereto into what place soever of the voidnesse it be carried and transported certes thus 〈◊〉 and embracing as it were it selfe as it doth it must needs continue incorruptible immortall and past all danger of fracture or dissolution for to such things as be broken bruised dissipated and dissolved this is incident by the division and dissolution of their parts when ech one runneth and retireth into their proper and naturall place out of that which is against their owne nature But you sir supposing that if the world were seated in any other place of voidnesse but in the mids there would follow a totall ruine and corruption thereof giving out also as much and therefore imagining a middle in that where naturally there can be none to wit in that which is infinit have verily quit cleane and fled from these tensions cohaerences and inclinations as having in them no assured meanes for to mainteine and holde the world together and attributed all the cause of the eternall maintenance and preservation thereof unto the occupation of a place And yet as if you tooke pleasure to argue and convince yourselfe you adjoine to the premisses thus much In what sort every severall part moveth as it is cohaerent to the rest of the body it stands with good reason that after the same maner it should moove by it selfe alone yea if for disputation sake we imagine and suppose it to be in some void part of this world and like as being kept in and enclosed on every side it would move toward the mids so it would continue in this same motion although by way of disputation we should admit that all on a sudden there should appeare some vacuity and void place round about it And is it so indeed that every part what ever it be compassed about with voidnesse forgoeth not her naturall inclination to move tend to the mids and should the world it selfe unlesse some fortune blind chance had not prepared for it a place in the mids have lost that vigor power which conteineth and holdeth all together so some parts of the substance of it moove one way and some another Now surely heerein there be many other maine contrarieties repugnant even to natural reason but this particularly among the rest encountreth the doctrine of God divine providence to wit that in attributing unto them the least and smallest causes that be he taketh from them the most principall and greatest of all other For what greater power can there be than the maintenance and preservation of this universall world or to cause the substance united together in all parts to cohaere unto it selfe But this according to the opinion of Chrysippus hapneth by meere hazzard and chance for if the occupation of a place is the cause of worlds incorruption and eternity and the same chanced by fortune we must inferre there upon that the safety of all things dependeth upon hazzard and adventure and not upon fatall destiny and divine providence As for his doctrine disputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of things possible which Chrysippus hath delivered directly agaisnt that of fatall destiny how can it chuse but be repugnant to it selfe for if that be not possible according to the opiniō of Diodorus which either is or shall be true but whatsoever is susceptible naturally of a power to be although the same never come into act or esse is to be counted possible there will be a number of things possible which never shal have being by destiny invincible inexpugnable surmoūting al things And therefore either this doctrine overthroweth al the force and puissance of destiny or if it be admitted as Chrysippus would have it that which potentially may be wil fal out oftentimes to be impossible whatsoever is true shall be also necessary as being comprised contained by the greatest and most powerfull necessity of all others and whatsoever is false impossible as
is called Pseudomenos for to say my good friend that the augmentation cōposed of contrary positions is not notoriously false and againe to affirme that syllogismes having their premisses true yea and true inductions may yet have the contrary to their conclusions true what conception of demonstrations or what anticipation of beleefe is there which it is not able to overthrow It is reported of the Pourcuttle or Pollyp fish that in winter time he gnaweth his owne cleies and pendant hairy feet but the Logicke of Chrysippus which taketh away and cutteth off the principall parts of it what other conception leaveth it behinde but that which well may be suspected For how can that be imagined steady and sure which is built upon foundations that abide not firme but wherein there be so many doubts and troubles But like as they who have either dust or durt upon their bodies if they touch another therewith or rub against him doe not so much trouble and molest him as they doe begrime and beray themselves so much the more and seeme to exasperate that ordure which pricketh and is offensive unto them even so some there be who blame and accuse the Academicks thinking to charge upon them those imputations wherewith themselves are found to be more burdened For who be they that pervert the common conceptions of the senses more than do these Stoicks But if you thinke so good leaving off to acuse them let us answere to those calumniations and slanders which they would seeme to fasten upon us LAMPRIAS Me thinks Diadumenus that I am this day much changed and become full of variety me thinks I am a man greatly altered from that I was ere while for even now I came hither much dismaied and abashed as being depressed beaten downe and amazed as one having need of some advocate or other to speake for me and in my behalfe whereas now I am cleane turned to an humor of accusation and disposed to enjoy the pleasure of revenge to see all the packe of them detected and convinced in that they argue and dispute themselves against common conceptions and anticipations in defence whereof they seeme principally to magnifie their owne sect ** saying that it alone doth agree and accord with nature DIADUMENUS Begin we then first with their most renowmed propositions which they themselves call paradoxes that is to say strange and admirable opinions avowing as it were by that name gently admitting such exorbitant absurdities as for example that such Sages as themselves are onely kings onely rich and faire onely citizens and onely Judges or pleaseth it you that we send all this stuffe to the market of olde and stale marchandise and goe in hand with the examination of these matters which consist most in action and practise whereof also they dispute most seriously LAMPRIAS For mine owne part I take this to be the better For as touching the reputation of those paradoxes who is not full thereof and hath not heard it a thousand times DIADUMENUS Consider then in the first place this whether according to common notions they can possibly accord with nature who thinke naturall things to be indifferent and that neither health nor good plight and habitude of body nor beawty nor cleane strength be either expetible profitable expedient or serving in any stead to the accomplishment of that perfection which is according to nature nor that the contraries hereunto are to be avoided as hurtfull to wit maimes and mutilations of members deformities of body paines shamefull disgraces and diseases Of which things rehearsed they themselves acknowledge that nature estrangeth us from some and acquainteth us with other The which verily is quite contrary to common intelligence that nature should acquaint us with those things which be neither expedient nor good alienate us from such as be not hurtfull nor ill and that which more is that she should either traine us to them or withdraw us from them so farre forth as if men misse in obtaining the one or fall into the other they should with good reason abandon this life and for just cause depart out of the world I suppose that this also is by thē affirmed against common sense namely that nature her selfe is a thing indifferent and that to accord and consent with nature hath in it some part of the soveraigne good For neither to follow the rule of the law nor to obey reason is good and honest unlesse both law and reason be good and honest But this verily is one of the least of their errors For if Chrysippus in his first booke of exhortations hath written thus A blessed and happie life consisteth onely in living according to vertue and as for all other accessaries quoth hee they neither touch nor concerne us at all neither make they any whit to beatitude he cannot avoid but he must avow that not onely nature is indifferent but also which is more senselesse and foolish to associate and draw us into a league with that which in no respect concerneth us and we our selves likewise are no better than fooles to thinke that the soveraigne felicity is to consent and accord with nature which leadeth and conducteth us to that which serveth nothing at all to happinesse And yet what agreeth and sorteth sooner to common sense than this that as things eligible are to be chosen and desired for the profit and helpe of this life so naturall things serve for to live answerable to nature But these men say otherwise for although this be their supposition that to live according to nature is the utmost end of mans good yet they hold that things according to nature be of themselves indifferent Neither is this also lesse repugnant to common sense and conception that a well affected sensible and prudent man is not equally enclined and affectionate to good things that be equall and alike but as some of them he waigheth not nor maketh any account of so for others againe he is prest to abide and endure all things although I say the same be not greater or lesse one than another For these things they hold to be equall namely for a man to fight valiantly in the defence of his country and chastly to turne away from an olde trot when for very age she is at the point of death for both the one and the other doe that alike which their duty requireth And yet for the one as being a worthie and glorious thing they would be prest and ready to lose their lives whereas to boast and vaunt of the other were a shamefull and ridiculous part And even Chrysippus himselfe in the treatise which he composed of Jupiter and in the third booke of the Gods saith that it were a poore absurd and foolish thing to praise such acts as proceeding from vertue namely to beare valiantly the biting of a flie or sting of a wespe and chastly to abstaine from a crooked old woman stooping forward ready to tumble into her
and demonstration thereof It remaineth therefore that it is long either of weakenesse or smalnesse that it is not perceived when they who have it present feele it not nor have any knowledge thereof Moreover it were very absurd to say that the eie sight should perceive and discerne things that be but whitish a little or middle colours betweene and not bee able to see those that be exceeding white in the highest degree or that the sense of feeling should apprehend that which is meanly hot or warme and yet have no sense at all of such things as be excecding hot But there is more absurdity in this that a man should comprehend that which meanly and commonly is according to nature to wit health or the good plight of the body and be ignorant againe of vertue when it is present considering withall that they hold it to be principally and in highest degree accordant to nature for how can it otherwise be but against common sense to conceive well enough the difference betweene health and sicknesse and to be ignorant of that distinction which is betweene wisedome and follie but to thinke the one to be present when it is gone and when a man hath the other not to know so much that he hath it Now forasmuch as after that one advanced and proceeded forward as farre as may be he is changed into felicity and vertue one of these two must of necessitie follow that either this estate of progresse and profit is neither vice nor infelicity or else that there is no great difference and distance betweene vice and vertue but that the diversitie of good things and evill is very small and unperceptible by the sense for otherwise men could not be ignorant when they had the one or the other or thinke they had the one for the other so long then as they depart not from any contrariety of sentences but will allow affirme and put downe all things whatsoever to wit That they who profit and proceed are still fooles and wicked that they who are become wise and good know not so much themselves but are ignorant thereof that there is a great difference betweene wisedome and folly Thinke you that they shew a woonderfull constance and uniformity in the maintenance of their sentences and doctrines Well if in their doctrine they goe against common sense and are repugnant to themselves certes in their life in their negotiations and affaires they doe much more for pronouncing flatly that those who be not wise are all indifferently and alike wicked unjust disloiall faithlesse and foolish and yet forsoorth some of them they abhorre and will not abide but be ready to spit at them others they will not vouchsafe so much as to salute if they meet with them upon the way and some againe they will credit with their monies nominate and elect by their voices to be magistrates yea and bestow their daughters upon them in mariage Now in case they hold such strange and extravagant positions in sport and game let them plucke downe their browes and not make so many surrowes as they doe in their foreheads but if in earnest and as grave Philosophers surely I must needs tell them that it is against common notions to reproove blame and raile upon all men alike in words and yet to use some of them in deeds as honest persons others hardly to intreat as most wicked and for example to admire Chrysippus in the highest degree make a god of him but to mocke and scorne Alexinus although they thinke the men to be fooles alike and not one more or lesse foolish than the other True it is say they and needs it must be so But like as he who is but a cubit under the top of the water is no lesse strangled and drowned than he who lies five hundred fathom deepe in the bottom of the sea even so they that be come within a little of vertue are no lesse in vice still than those who are agreat way off and as blinde folke be blinde still although haply they shall recover their eie-sight shortly after even so they that have wel proceeded and gone forward continue fooles still and sinfull untill such time as they have fully attained to vertue but contrary to all this that they who profit in the schoole of vertue resemble not those who are starke blinde but such rather as see not clerely nor are like unto those who be drowned but unto them that swimme yea and approch neere unto the haven they themselves do beare witnesse by their deeds and in the whole practise of their life for otherwise they would not have used them for their counsellors captaines and lawgivers as blinde men do guides for to lead them by the hands neither would they have praised and imitated their deeds acts sayings and lives of some as they did if they had seene them all drowned alike and suffocated with folly and wickednesse But letting that goe by consider these Stoicks that you may woonder the more at them in this behalfe that by their owne examples they are not taught to quit and abandon these wise men who are ignorant of themselves and who neither know nor perceive that they cease to be stifled and strangled any longer and begin to see the light and being risen aloft and gotten above vice and sinne take their winde and breath againe Also it is against common sense that for a man furnished with all good things and who wanteth nothing of perfect blisse and happinesse it should be meet and befitting to make himselfe away and depart voluntarily out of this life yea and more than so that he who neither presently hath nor ever shall have any good thing but contrariwise is continually haunted and persecuted with all horrible calamities miseries and mishaps that can be should not thinke it fit and covenient for himselfe to leave and for sake this life unlesse some of those things which they hold be indifferent be presented and doe befall unto him Well these be the goodly rules and trim lawes in the Stoicks schoole and verily many of their wise men they cause indeed to go out of this life bearing them in hand that they shall be more blessed and happie although by their saying a wise man is rich fortunate blessed happy every way sure and secured from all danger contrariwise a foole and leawd man is able to say of himselfe Of wteked parts to say I dare be hold So full I am that unneth I can hold And yet forsooth they thinke it meet and seemely for such as these to remaine alive but for those to forgo this life And good cause why quoth Chrysippus for we are not to measure our life by good things or evill but by such as are according to nature See how these Philosophers mainteine ordinary custome and teach according to common notions Say you so good sit ought not he who maketh profession of looking into the estate of life and
substances flow and runne partly by yeelding and sending foorth somewhat out of themselves and in part by receiving other things from without and that by reason of the number and multitude of that which comes in or goes out things continue not one and the same but become altered and divers by the foresaid additions and detractation so as their substance receiveth a change Also that contrary to all right and reason custome hath so farre prevailed that such mutations be called augmentations and diminutions whereas rather they ought to be termed generations and corruptions for that they force an alteration of one present state and being into another but to grow and diminish are passions and accidents of a body and subject that is permanent Which reasons and assertions being after a sort thus delivered in their schooles what is it that these defenders of Perspicuity and Evidence these canonicall reformers I say of common notions would have namely that every one of us should be double like twinnes or of a two-fold nature not as the poets feigned the Molionides to be in some parts 〈◊〉 and united and in other severed and disjoined but two bodies having the same colour the same shape the same weight and place a thing that no man ever saw before mary these Philosophers onely have perceived this duplicity this composition and 〈◊〉 whereby every one of us are two subjects the one being substance the other ** the one of them runneth and floweth continually and yet without augmentation and diminution or remaining in the same state such as it is the other continueth still and yet groweth and decreaseth and yet suffreth all things quite contrary to the other wherewith it is concorporate united and knit leaving to the exteriour sense no shew of distinct difference And yet verily it is said of that 〈◊〉 how in old time hee had so quicke and piereing an eie-sight that he was able to see through stocks and stones And one there was by report who fitting in Sicily could from a watch-tower sensibly discerne the shippes sailing out of the haven of Carthage which was distant a day a nights failing with a good forewind And as for Callicrates and Myrmecides they have the name to have made chariots so smal as that the wings of a fly might cover them yea in a millet graine or sesam seed to have engraven Homers verses But surely this perpetuall fluxion diversity in us there was never any yet that could divide distinguish neither could we our selves ever find that we were double that partly we ranne out continually and in part againe remained alwaies one and the same even from our nativity to our end But I am about to deale with them more simply and plainly for whereas they devise in every one of us foure subjects or to speake more directly make ech of us to be foure it shall suffice to take but two for to shew their absurditie When we doe heare Pentheus in a tragedy saying that he seeth two Sunnes and two cities of Thebes we deeme of him that he seeth not two but that his eies doe dazzell and looke amisse having his discourse troubled and understanding cleane transported And even these persons who suppose and set downe not one city alone but all men all beasts all trees plants tooles vessels utensils and garments to be double and composed of two natures reject wee not and bid farewell as men who would force us not to understand any thing aright but to take every thing wrong Howbeit haply heerein they might be pardoned and winked at for feining and devising other natures of subjects because they have no meanes else for all the paines they take to mainteine and preserve their augmentations But in the soule what they should aile what their meaning might be and upon what grounds and suppositions they devised to frame other different sorts and formes of bodies and those in maner innumerable who is able to say or what may be the cause unlesse they ment to displace or rather to abolish and destroy altogether the common and familiar conceptions inbred in us for to bring in and set up new fangles and other strange and forren novelties For this is woonderfull extravagant and absurd for to make bodies of vertues and vices and besides of sciences arts memories fansies apprehensions passions inclinations and assents and to affirme that these neither lie nor have any place subsisting in any subject but to leave them one little hole like a pricke within the heart wherein they range and draw in the principall part of the soule and the discourse of reason being choked up as it were with such a number of bodies that even they are not able to count a great sort of them who seeme to know best how to distinguish and discerne one from another But to make these not onely bodies but also living creatures and those endued with reason to make I say a swarme of them the same not gentle mild tame but a turbulent sort rable by their malicious shrewdnesse opposit repugnant to al evidence usual custome what wanteth this of absurdity in the highest degree And these men verily do hold that not onely vertues vices be animall and living creatures nor passions alone as anger wrath envy griefe sorrow malice nor apprehensions onely fantasies imaginations and ignorances nor arts and mysteries as the shoomakers smithscraft but also over and besides al these things they make the very operations and actions themselves to be bodies yea and living creatures they would have walking to be an animall dancing likewise shoping saluting and reprochfull railing and so consequently they make laughing weeping to be animall And in granting these they admit also coughing sneesing and groaning yea and withall spitting reaching snitting and snuffing of the nose and such like actions which are as evident as the rest And let them not thinke much and take it grievously if they be driven to this point by way of particular reasonning calling to minde Chrysippus who in his third booke of Naturall questions saith thus What say you of the night is it not a body evening morning midnight are they not bodies Is not the day a body The new moone is it not a bodie the tenth the fifteenth the thirtieth day of the moone the moneth it selfe Summer Autumne and the whole yeere be they not bodies Certes all these things by me named they hold with tooth and naile even against common prenotions But as for these hereafter they maintaine contrary to their owne proper conceptions when as they would produce the hottest thing that is by refrigeration and that which is most subtile by inspissation For the soule is a substance most hot and consisting of most subtill parts which they would make by the refrigeration and condensation of the body which as it were by a certaine perfusion and tincture it hardeneth altereth the spirit from being vegetative to be
a man ravished with a divine and heavenly zeale to vertue whereby he was declared and pronounced wise were odious fained and sopsticall by what name shall we truely and justly call your cries your shouts your hideous noises your applauses and clapping of hands your adorations and canonizations wherewith you exalt and celebrate him who incited and exhorted you to continuall pleasures one after another who in one of his letters sent unto Anaxarchus hath written thus As for me I invite and call you to continuall pleasures and not to these vaine and unprofitable vertues such as have nothing but turbulent hopes of uncerteine fruits And yet Metrodorus writing unto Timarchus saith thus unto him Come on quoth he let us do some goodly and honest thing for those who are faire and beautifull so that we be not plunged in these semblable and reciprocall affections but retiring anon out of this base and terrestriall life let us advance our selves to these true holy and divine ceremonies and mysteties of Epicurus And even Colotes himselfe hearing 〈◊〉 one day 〈◊〉 of Naturall things fell downe at his feet immediatly and tooke holde of his knees as if hee had beene a god And Epicurus likewise taking no small pride and glorie heerein writeth thus unto him againe For as if you adored that which then was delivered by mee there came upon you suddenly a desire and zeale proceeding from no cause in nature to come toward mee to prostrate your selfe upon the ground to clip and claspe my knees and to use those gestures unto me which ordinarily they doe who worship the gods and pray unto them So that you have quoth he made mee also reciprocally to deifie and adore you Certes I could finde in my heart to pardon them who say they would not spare for any cost but give they cared not what for a table or picture wherein they might see lively represented to the 〈◊〉 this story depainted namely how the one lieth prostrate at the others feet and embraceth his knees who mutually againe adoreth him and maketh his devout praiers unto him And yet this devotion and service of Colotes how well soever it was by him ordered and precisely observed reaped not the condigne fruit thereof for he was not by him declared A wise man onely this blessing he had from him againe Goe thy waies and walke immortall and repute us also semblably immortall These men knowing full well in their owne consciences that they use such foolish words ridiculous jestures and fond passions yet forsooth they are so bold as to call other men odious And Colotes verily having given us a taste of his goodly first fruits wise positions as touching Naturall senses namely That we do eate our viands and cates not hay or forage and that when the rivers be high wee ferry over them in botes but when they be low and passable we wade easily on foot through the fourd exclameth and 〈◊〉 out afterwards You use ô Socrates vaine speeches you interteine those who come and speake unto you with one thing in word and do practise others cleane contrary in deed And say you so Colotes First I would gladly know wherein the words of Socrates were vaine arrogant considering that he was wont ordinarily to say that he knew nothing at all but was a learner continually and went to search and finde out the trueth But if haply you should light upon such speeches from Socrates his mouth as those were which Epicurus wrote unto Idomeneus send us then the first fruits for the furniture of our sacred body for us I say our children For thus it comes upon me to speake what more insolent and 〈◊〉 words could you devise to speake And yet that Socrates never said otherwise than he did he hath given us marvellous proofes in the battell of Delium and in that of Potidea That which he did during the time of the thirty tyrants against Archelaus and against the people of Athens his poverty his death his cariage and demeanour in all these times and occasions be they not answerable every way to the sayings and doctrines of Socrates This had beene a true proofe indeed to have shewed that hee lived and did otherwise than he spake and taught in case he had proposed the end of man to be a joifull and pleasant life and then lived as he did Thus much as touching the reprochfull termes that hee hath given Socrates Moreover he perceiveth not how himselfe is attaint even in those points which he reprooveth and objected as touching things evident and apparent For one of the positions and decrees of Epicurus is this That no person ought irrevocably to beleeve or be perswaded to a thing but onely the wise man Now seeing that Colotes became not one of the Sages for all that adoration worship which he performed unto Eptcurus let him demand first and formost these questions How it is that he falleth to cates and not to hay when he hath need of victuals and why he casteth a robe about his owne body and not upon a pillar considering that he is not assuredly perswaded that cates be cates or that a robe is a robe But if he doe so namely feed upon viands and weare a robe if he venture not to wade through rivers when they be risen and high if he flie from serpents and woolves being not in a sure beleefe that any thing is such as it seemeth but doing every thing according as it appeereth unto him the opinion as touching senses would not hinder Socrates at all but that he might likewise use that which seemeth not him For bread seemed not bread unto Colotes nor hay to be hay because he had read those holy canons and sacred rules of Epicurus which fell from heaven out of Jupiters lap and Socrates upon a vaine arrogance of his owne conceived an imagination of bread that it was hay and of hay that it was bread For these wise men heere have better opinions and rules to goe by than we But to have sense and to receive an impression in the imagination of things evident is common as well to ignorant persons as to Sages for that it proceedeth from causes that need no discourse of reason But that position that our naturall senses are not certeine nor sufficient enough to proove a thing and cause beliefe is no hinderance but that every thing may appeere unto us but when we use the senses in our actions according to that which appeereth it permitteth us not to trust thē as if they were every way true and without error for that sufficeth in them which is necessary and commodious for use because there is nothing better As for Science knowledge and perfection which the soule of a Philosopher desireth to have of every thing the senses have just none But of these matters which Colotes hath charged upon many others he will give us occasion else where to discourse thereof Furthermore that wherein he doth
to it but appetition immediatly presenteth it selfe which is nothing else but amotion and incitation of the minde Now for that there must be a sense as it were of these things and the same consisting of flesh and blood the same pleasure and delight likewise will appeare good And therefore it will semblably seeme good unto him who holdeth off his assent for surely he hath senses and is made of flesh blood and bone and so soone as he hath apprehended the imagination of good he hath an appetite and desire thereto doing all that ever he can not to misse it nor leese the fruition thereof but as much as is possible to cleave and adhere continually to that which is proper unto him as being driven and drawen thereto by Naturall and not Geometricall constraints For these goodly pleasant gentle and tickling motions of the flesh be of themselves without any other teacher attractive enough as they themselves forget not to say and are able to draw and traine him whosoever he be that will not confesse nor be knowen but stoutly denieth that he is made soft and pliable by them But paradventure you will aske me how it comes to passe that one of these that are so retentive and deinty of their assent climeth not up some hill but to the baine or hot house or when hee riseth and purposeth to goe into the market place why hee runneth not his head against a post or the wall but taketh his way directly to the dore And aske you me this question indeed you that holde all fenses to bee infallible the apprehensions also and imaginations to bee certaine and true Forsooth it is because the baine seemeth unto him a baine and not a mountaine the dore also appeareth to be a dore and not the wall And so is it to be said likewise of such otherthings everie one For the doctrine delivered as touching this cohibition of assent doth not pervert the sense nor worke in it by strange passions and motions any such change and alteration as may trouble the imaginative faculty Onely it taketh away and subverteth opinions but useth all other things according to their nature But impossible it is not to yeeld consent unto apparent evidences For to denie those things which wee are verily perswaded of and doe beleeve is more absurd than neither to deny nor affirme any thing at al. Who be they then that deny such things as they beleeve and goe against things evident even they who overthrow divination and denie that there is any government by divine providence they who say that neither the 〈◊〉 animall nor the moone which all men honour and adore to which they make their praiers and offer sacrifice As for you doe yee not anull that which is apparent to the whole world to wit that naturally infants yong ones are conteined within their mothers and dams and that betweene paine and pleasure there is no meane even against the sense and experience of all men saying that not to be in paine is to have pleasure and not to do is to suffer as also not to joy is to be sorowfull But to let passe all the rest what is more evident and so fully believed generally than this that those who have their braines troubled and their wits distracted or otherwise sicke of melancholicke diseases weene they see and heare those things which they neither heare nor see namely when their understanding comes to be in such sort affected and transported as to breake out into these speeches These women here in habit blacke yclad hold in their hands To dart at me and burne mine eies torches and firy brands Also Loe how she in her armes doth beare My mother deare who did me reare These verily and a number besides of other illusions more strange and tragicall than these resembling the prodigious monsters that Empedocles describeth like anticks which they make sport and laugh at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say With crooked shanks and winding seet resembling rammes in pace In bodie made like ox or cow like man before in face And all other sorts of monstrous shapes and strange natures mixed together all in one fetched from troublesome dreames and alienations of the minde But these men say that none of all this is any deception or errour of the sight or vaine apparition but be all true imaginations of bodies and figures which passe to and fro out of the inconstant aire about them Tell me now what thing is so impossible in nature that we need to doubt if it be possible to beleeve these For such things as never any conceited maske-maker or deviser of visards any inventive potter glasse-maker or curious painter and drawer of woonderfull shapes durst joine together either to deceive the beholders or to make them sport for their pastime these men supposing verily and in good earnest that they be really subsistent and that which more is affirming all firme and constant beliefe all certitude of judgement and of trueth to be quite gone for ever if such things have not their subsistence these men I say be they which involve all in obscuritie and darknesse who overthrow all apparence and bring into our judgement feare and terrour into our actions doubtfull suspition in case our ordinary and usuall actions and such affaires of ours which are dayly ready at hand be caried in the same imagination beleefe and perswasion that these enormious absurd and extravagant fansies for the equalitie which they suppose in all plucketh away more credit from things ordinary than it addeth unto such as be uncouth and unusuall which is the cause that we know Philosophers not a few more willing to avouch that no imagination is true than that all be true without exception and who distrust all men whom they had not conversed withall all things which they had not tried generally all speeches which they had not heard rather than beleeve so much as one of these imaginations and illusions which madde and franticke folke fanaticall persons possessed with a furious spirit or dreamers in their sleeps doe apprehend Seeing then some imaginations we may utterly abolish and others not lawfull it is to reteine our assent and doubt of things whether they be or no if there were no other cause els but this discordant which is sufficient to worke in us suspition of things as having nothing assured and certeine but all incertitude and perturbation As for the dissensions and differences about the infinite number of worlds the nature of the Atomes being indivisible bodies and their declinations to a side although they trouble and disquiet many men yet this comfort there is and consolation that in all this there is nothing neere at hand to touch us but rather every one of these questions be farre remote and beyond our senses wheras this distrust and diffidence this perturbation and ignorance about sensible things and imaginations presented to our eies our eares and
love of Lysandra have made you to forget your olde sports and delights wherewith you were wont to passe the time away call to minde I beseech you and rehearse unto us those sweet verses of faire Sappho wherein she saith that when her love came in her sight she lost her voice presently and was speechlesse her bodie ran all over into colde sweats she became pale and wan she fell a trembling and quaking her braines turned round surprised she was with dizzinesse and fell into a fainting fit of swowning Thrice happy do I holde that wight Who may est soones enjoy thy sight Of thy sweet voice to reape delight And pleasant smiles Which kindle in me such a fire That as I them do much admire My heart they ravish and desire Transport the whiles Thy face no sooner doe I see But sudden silence comes on me My tongue strings all dissolved bee And speech quite gone Then underneath my skin is spred A firy flush of colour red With that mine eyes be darkened And sight yeeld none Mine eares also do buzze and ring And yet distinctly heare nothing Cold drops of swet run down trickling Or stand as dew My joints anon and sinewes shake My heart-root pants my flesh doth quake And palenesse soone doth overtake My former hew And thus full wan I do remaine As flower in house that long hath laine Or grasse in field which wanting raine Doth quickly fade Untill at length in extasie Withouten sense and breath I lie As if death of me suddenly Surprize had made When Daphnaeus had recited this sonet Is not this quoth my father in the name of Jupiter I beseech you a plaine possession of the minde by some heavenly power is not this I say an evident motion and a very celestiall ravishment of the spirit What furious passion was there ever so great and strong that came upon the prophetesse Pythia when she mounted that three-footed fabricke from whence she delivered oracles Who ever was there so farre transported and caried beside himselfe by the pipes and flutes of fanaticall persons supposed to be surprized by some divine spirit of furie by the tabour and other strange ceremonies in the service of Cybele the mother of the gods Many there be that holde the same body and looke upon the same beautie but the amourous person onely is caught and ravished therewith What should be the reason of it Certes there is some cause thereof Verily when Menander sheweth it unto us yet we learne it not nor understand his meaning by these verses There is a maladie of the minde That it surpriseth fatally Who smitten is therewith doth finde Himselfe sore wounded inwardly And heereof is god Love the cause who toucheth one and spareth another But that which ought indeed to have been spoken rather at the first Since now it comes into my minde And way out of my mouth would finde as Aeschilus saith I thinke not good to overpasse in silence being a matter of so great importance For of all things els my good friend in a maner whereof we take knowledge not by the ministerie of the five naturall senses some there be that came into credit at the beginning and authority by fables other by lawes and the rest by doctrine and discourse of reason Now the constant beleese and full perswasion of the gods the first masters teachers and authors altother thereof were Poets Law givers and in a third ranke Philosophers who all with one accord jointly did set this downe as a verity that Gods there be howbeit they are at great discord and variance touching the number order nature essence and power of them For those whom the Philosophers acknowledge to be gods are not subject to diseases nor to age neither know they what it is to fele paine or endure trauell Escape they doe the passage of the firth Of roaring Acheron and live in joy and mirth And in that regard Philosophers admit not at all the Poeticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say contentions and reconsiliations they will not allow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be gods nor confesse them to be the sonnes of Mars and in many points doe they differ also and dissent from law givers as Xenophanes did who said unto the Egyptians as touching Osiris if you take him for a mortall man adore him not if you account him an immortall god lament not for him Againe the the Poets and law givers on the other side deigne not nor will abide so much as to heare those Philosophers who of certeine Idees numbers unities and spirits make gods neither can they possibly conceive and understand such doctrine In summe much variety there is dissonance in their opinions about this one point but like as in old time there were three sects or factions in Athens al adverse opposite malicious one unto the other to wit of the Paralli the Epacrii and Paediaei yet notwithstanding when they were assembled and met together in a generall councell they gave all their voices and suffrages to Solon and elected him with one common assent their peace-maker their governour and law giver as one woorthy without any question or doubt at all to have conferred upon him the principality and highest degree of vertue and honour even so those three sects differing in opinion about the gods and giving their voices some on this side and others on that and not willing to subscribe one unto another nor easily receiving that which is otherwise delivered than by themselves be all of one and the same minde as touching this one god Love and him the most excellent Poets the best Law givers and the principall Philosophers admit with one voice into the register and kalender of the gods praising and extolling him highly in all their writings and like as Alcaeus saith That all the Mitylenaeans with one accord and generall consent chose Pittacus for their soveraigne prince and tyrant even so Hesiodus Plato and Solon bring and conduct Love out of Helicon into the Academie unto us for our king prince and president crowned and adorned gaily with garlands and chaplets of flowers honored also and accompanied with many shackles and couples professing amitie and mutuall societie not such as Euripides saith With fetters bound and tied was Farre stronger than of iron and brasse Linking them by a cold heavy and massie chaine of need and necessitie as a colourable vaile and pretence to shame and turpitude but such as are caried by winged chariots unto the most goodly and beautifull things in the world whereof others have treated better and more at large When my father had thus said See you not quoth Soclarus how being fallen now againe the second time into one and the same matter you forced your selfe to turne away from it I wot not how avoiding to enter into this holy discourse and if I may be so bold to say what I thinke shifting
light of the Sunne commeth to wit the Aaire the Moone and the earth we see that one of them is by him illuminate not as the aire but as the earth we must of necessity collect that those two be of one nature considering that of the same cause they suffer the same effects Now when all the companie highly commended Lucius for this disputation Passing well done of you Lucius quoth I you have to a proper discourse annexed as prety a comparison for we must give you your right and not defraud you of that which is your due With that smiled Lucius I have yet quoth he a second proportion which I will adde unto the other to the end that we may prove by demonstration that the Moone wholy resembleth the earth not only by this that she suffreth togtheer with the earth from the same cause the same accidents but also because they both doe worke the like effects upon the same object For this I am sure you will yeeld and grant unto me that of all those things which are observed about the Sunne none doe so much resemble one another as his eclips doth his setting or going downe if you will but call to minde that meeting of Sunne and Moone together which hapned of late daies and beginning immediatly after noonested caused many a starre from sundry parts of the skie to be seene and wrought such a temperature or disposition in the aire as is of the twilight evening and morning But if you will not grant me the said supposition in this our Theon here will cite and bring I trow Mimnermus Cydias Archilochus and besides them Stesichorus and Pindarus lamenting that in eclipses the world is robbed of their greatest light which they bewaile as if it were enterred saying that midnight was come at noone day and that the radiant beames of the Sunne went in the way and path of darkenesse but above all he will alledge Homer saying that in an eclips the faces and visages of men were overcast and seized upon with night and darkenesse also that the Sunne was quite lost and missing out of the heaven being in conjunction with the Moone ************** And this hapneth by a naturall cause according as Homer sheweth in this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What time as Moones their interchange begin As one goes out another commethin As for the rest in mine advise they be as certaine and doe conclude as exactly as the demonstrations of the Mathematicians to wit that as the night is the shadow of the earth so the eclipse of the Sun is the shadow of the Moone when as the sight returneth upon it selfe For the Sunne going downe is hidden from our sight by the earth and being eclipsed is likewise darkened by the Moone and both the one and the otherbe offuscations of darkenesse that of the Sunne setting by the earth and the other of the Sunne eclipsed by the Moone by the reason that the shade 〈◊〉 our sight of which premises the conclusion evidently doth follow For if the effect be like the efficients also be semblable because necessary it is that the same accidents or effects in the 〈◊〉 subject must come from the same efficient Now if the darkenesse occasioned by the eclipses be not so deepe nor affect the aire so forcibly as doth the night we are not to marvell thereat for the substance of that bodie which maketh the night and of it that 〈◊〉 the eclipse may wel be the same although the greatnesse be not equall For the Aegyptians I suppose doe hold that the Moone is in bignesse the 72. part of the earth And Anaxagoras saith it is just as big as Peloponnesus Aristarchus writeth that the overthwart line or Diamiter of the Moone in proportion to that of the earth is lesse than if 60. were compared with nineteene and somewhat more than if a hundred and eight were compared with 43 and thereby the earth bereaveth us of all sight of the Sunne so great it is For it must be a great obstacle and opposition betweene which continueth the time of a night and the Moone albeit otherwhile she hideth all the Sunne yet that ecclipse neither lasteth not so long nor is so universall for there appeareth alwaies about his circumference some light which will not permit the darknesse to be so blacke and deepe and altogether so obscure Aristotle also I meane the ancient Philosopher of that name rendring a reason why there happen ecclipses of the Moone oftener than of the Sunne among other causes brings in this for one that the Sunne is ecclipsed by the obstruction of the Moone and the Moone by that of the earth which is much greater and more spacious and so by consequence is opposed very often And Posidonius defined this accident thus The ecclipse of the Sunne quoth he is the conjunction or meeting of the Sunne and the Moone the shadow whereof doeth darken our eie-sight for there is no defect or ecclipse of the Sunnes light but unto those whose sight the shadow of the Moone hath caught and so hindreth them from seeing the Sunne Now in confessing that the shadow of the Moone reacheth downe unto us I know not what he hath left himselfe for to alledge Certes impossible it is that a starre should cast a shadow for that which is voide altogether of light is called a shadow and light maketh no shadow but contrariwise naturally riddeth it away But what arguments besides were alledged to this purpose quoth he The Moone quoth I then suffereth the same ecclipse Well done quoth he of you to reduce this into my memorie But would you have me to prosecute this disputation as if you had already granted and set downe that the Moone is subject to ecclipses when she is caught within the shadow of the earth or that for a subject and argument of some declamation and demonstration unto you I first rehearse all the arguments one after another Mary do so I pray you quoth Theon bestow your labour in such a discourse I had need verily quoth he of some perswasion having onely heard say that when these three bodies to wit the earth the Sunne and the Moone are directly in one right line then happen ecclipses for that either the earth taketh the Sunne from the Moone or the Moone taketh him from the earth for the Sunne is in defect or ecclipse when the Moone and the Moone likewise when the earth is in the mids of them three whereof the one falleth out in conjunction the other in the opposition or full Moone Then quoth Lucius these be in a maner all the principall points and the very briefe of those that which hath beene delivered but to begin withall if you thinke so good take in hand that firme argument which is drawen from the forme and figure of the shadow which indeed is a Conus or Pyramis resembling a sugar loafe with the sharpe end forward namely when a great fire or great light being round
be possible that there should be in the Moone so great profundities and such rugged inequalities as to make so bigge a shadow and then whether being so great their bignesse should not be descried and seene by us Heereupon I smiling upon him Now I assure you Apollonides quoth I I con you thanke you have done it very well in devising such a proper demonstration whereby you will proove both me and your selfe also to be greater than those Giants Aloïades I meane not at every houre of the day but especially in the morning and evening doe you thinke that when the Sunne maketh our shadowes so long hee yeeldeth unto our sense this goodly collection and augmentation that if the thing which is shadowed be great then that which maketh the shadow must needs be exceeding great Neither of us twaine I wot well hath ever beene in the isle Lemnos and yet both of us have many a time heard this vulgar Iambique verse so rise in every mans mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The mountaine Athos shall on either side The cow that stands in Lemnos hide For this shadow of the bill falleth as it should seeme upon a certeine brazen image of an 〈◊〉 in that Isle reaching in lengthover sea no lesse than 700 stadia not because the said mountaine which maketh the shadow is of that height but because the distāces of the light causeth the shadowes of bodies to be by many folds greater than the bodies are Go to then consider that when the Moone is at the full at what time as she rendreth unto our eie the forme of a visage most expresly by reason of the profunditic of the shadow within then is she also farthest distant from the Sunne for the farre recoiling and withdrawing backward of the light is it that makes the shadow great and not the bignesse of those inequalities which are upon the superficies of the Moone Moreover you see that the excessive glittering of the Sunne shining all about will not suffer a man to see in the day time the very tops of mountaines but the deepe hollow and shadowy parts therein appeare very farre off It carieth therefore no absurditie at all that a man is not able exacty to see and discerne that full light and illumination of the Moone but that the opposition of darke shadowes unto cleare lights by reason of their diversitie is more exquisitely seene But this quoth I seemeth rather to checke and consute that reflexion and reverberation which is said to rebound from the Moone for that they who stand within the raies or beames that are returned and retorted backe have meanes to see not onely that which is illumined but that also which doeth illuminate For when in the resultation of a light from the water upon some wall the sight falleth upon the very place it selfe which is thus illuminate by the reflexion the eie seeth three things to wit the beames or shining light driven backe the water which maketh that reflexion and the Sunne it selfe whose light hitting upon the superficies of the water is reflexed and sent backe This being generally granted as a thing evidently seene yet by way of objection they bid those who affirme that the earth is illuminate from the Moone by the reflection of the Sunnes light from it to shew by night the Sunne appearing in the superficies of the Moone like as he may be seene in the day time within the water upon which she shineth when there is the foresaid reflexion of his beames But because he cannot then be seene they inferre that it must be by some other manner and not by reflexion that the Moone is illuminate and if there be no such reflexion then cannot the Moone in any wise be earth How shall this be met withall and what answere shall be shaped unto it quoth Apollonides for the reason of reflexion seemeth all one and common as well to us as to you True quoth I common it is in some sort and in some sort not but first marke I beseech you the comparison how they go cleane kim kam and against the streame as if rivers ranne up hilles for the water is heere beneath upon the earth and the Moone is above and in the heaven in such sort as the beames reflected make the forme of their angles opposite and quite contrarie one unto the other the one carrying the head or point upward against the supersicies of the Moone the other downeward to the ground Let them not then demand and require that a mirrour should render every forme or face alike nor that in every distance there should be equall or semblable reflexion for in so dooing they would goe against apparent evidence And they who holde the Moone to be a bodie not smooth even subtile as water is but solid massy and terrestriall I cannot conceive why they should looke for to see the Sunne in it as in a glasse For milke verily doth not yeeld such specularie images nor cause reflexion of the sight by reason of the inequallity and rugged asperity of the parts how is it possible then that the Moone should send backe from it the sight as mirrours doe which are more polished And even this also if any rase blur filth or confused spot have caught them in the superficies from whence the sight being reflected is wont to receive the impression of some figure may welbe seene but counter-light they yeeld none and he who requireth that either the Sunne should appeare in the Moone or our sight be redubled against the Sunne let him require withall that the eie be the Sunne the sight thereof the light and man heaven For like it is that the reflexion of the Sunne beames against the Moone for their vehement exeeding great brightnesse should with a stroke rebound upon us but seeing our sight is weake and feeble what marvel is it if it neither give such a stroke as might rebound nor maintaine the continuity thereof if it leaped backe againe but is broken and faileth as not having that abundance of light whereby it should not be disgregate and dissipated within those unneven and unnequall asperities For it is not possible that the reflexion of our sight upon water or other sorts of mirrours whiles the same is yet strong and able as being neere unto the spring from whence it commeth should not returne againe upon the eie But from the Moone suppose there may rebound some glimmering glances certes they be all weake and obscure failing in the very way by reason of so long a distance For otherwise arched and hollow mirrors send backe their reflected raies with more force than they came in such sort as many times they catch fire and doe burne whereas the imbossed and courled mirrours made round and bearing out like a bowle cast from them feeble and darke raies because they beate them not backe on all sides You see certainely when two rainebowes appeare in the heaven by reason that one cloud doth inviron
another when they be parted and asunder and they embrace one the other in the darke many times Moreover that this Core or Proserpina is one while above in heaven and in the light another while in darkenesse and the night is not untrue onely there is some error in reckoning and numbring the time For we see her not six moneths but every sixth moneth or from six moneths to six moneths under the earth as under her mother caught with the shadow and seldome is it found that this should happen within five moneths for that it is impossible that she should abandon and leave Pluto being his wife according as Homer hath signified although under darke and covert wordes not untruely saying But to the farthest borders of the earth and utmost end Even to the faire Elysian fields the gods then shall thee send For looke where the shadow endeth and goeth no farther that is called the limit and end of the earth and thither no wicked and impure person shall ever be able to come But good folke after their death in the world being thither carried lead there another easie life in peace and repose howbeit not altogether a blessed happie and divine life untill they die a second death but what death this is aske me not my Sylla for I purpose of my selfe to declare shew it unto you hereafter The vulgar sort be of opinion that man is a subject compounded and good reason they have so to thinke but in beleeving that he consisteth of two parts onely they are deceived for they imagine that the understanding is in some sort a part of the soule but the understanding is better than the soule by how much the soule is better and more divine than the bodie Now the conjunction or composition of the soule with understanding maketh reason but with the bodie passion whereof this is the beginning and principle of pleasure and paine the other of vertue and vice Of these three conjoined and compact in one the earth yeeldeth for her part the body the Moone the soule and the Sunne understanding to the generation or creation of man and understanding giveth reason unto the soule **** even as the Sunne light and brightnesse to the Moone As touching the deathes which we die the one maketh man of 3. two and the other of 2. one And the former verily is in the region and jurisdiction of Ceres which is the cause that we sacrifice unto her Thus it commeth to passe that the Athenians called in olde time those that were departed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Cereales As for the other death it is in the Moone or region of Proserpina And as with the one terrestriall Mercury so with the other celestiall Mercurie doth inhabit And verily Ceres dissolveth and seperateth the soule from the bodie sodainly and forcibly with violence but Proserpina parteth the understanding from the soule gently and in long time And heereupon it is that the is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one would say begetting one for that the better part in a man becommeth one and alone when by her it is separated and both the one and the other hapneth according to nature Every soule without understanding as also endued with understanding when it is departed out of the body is ordeined by fatall destiny to wander for a time but not both alike in a middle region betweene the earth and the Moone For such soules as have beene unjust wicked and dissolute suffer due punishment and paines for their sinfull deserts whereas the good and honest untill such time as they have purified and by expiration purged foorth of them all those infections which might be contracted by the contagion of the body as the cause of all evill must remaine for a certeine set time in the mildest region of the aire which they call the meddowes of Pluto Afterwards as if they were returned from some long pilgrimage or wandring exile into their owne countrey they have a taste of joy such as they fecie especially who are professed in holy mysteries mixed with trouble and admiration and ech one with their proper and peculiar hope for it driveth and chaseth foorth many soules which longed already after the Moone Some take pleasure to be still beneath and even yet looke downward as it were to the bottome but such as be mounted aloft and are there most surely bestowed first as victorious stand round about adorned with garlands and those made of the wings of Eustathia that is to saie Constancie because in their life time here upon earth they had bridled and restreined the unreasonable and passible part of the soule and made it subject and obedient to the bridle of reason Secondly they resemble in sight the raies of the Sunne Thirdly the soule thus ascended on high is there confirmed and fortified by the pure aire about the Moone where it doth gather strength and solidity like as iron and steele by their tincture become hard For that which hitherto was loose rare and spongeous groweth close compact and firme yea and becommeth shining and transparent in such sort as nourished it is with the least exhalation in the world This is that Heracletus meant when he said that the soules in Plutoes region have a quicke sent or smelling And first they behold there the greatnesse of the Moone her beauty and nature which is not simple nor void of mixture but as it were a composition of a starre and of earth And as earth mingled with a spirituall aire and moisture becommeth soft and the blood tempered with flesh giveth it sense even so say they the Moone mingled with a celestiall quintessence even to the very bottome of it is made animate fruitfull and generative and withall equally counterpeised with ponderosity and lightnesse For the whole world it selfe being thus composed of things which naturally moove downward and upward is altogether void of motion locall from place to place which it seemth that Xenocrates himselfe by a divine discourse of reason understood taking the first light thereof from Plato For Plato was he who first affirmed that every starre was compounded of fire and earth by the meanes of middle natures given in certeine proportion in as much as there is nothing object to the sense of man which hath not in some proportion a mixture of earth and light And Xenocrates said that the Sunne is compounded of fire and the first or primitive solid the Moone of a second solid and her proper aire in summe throughout neither solid alone by it selfe nor the rare apart is capable and susceptible of a soule Thus much as touching the substance of the Moone As for the grandence bignesse thereof it is not such as the Geometricians set downe but farre greater by many degrees And seldome doth it measure the shadow of the earth by her greatnesse not for that the same is small but for that it bringeth a most servent and swift motion to the end
as also by the apparence of one and the same visage in divers and sundry mirours flat hollow curbed or embowed round outwardly which represent an infinit variety But there is neither mirror that sheweth and expresseth the face better nor instrument of nature more supple obsequent and pliable that is the Moone howbeit receiving form the Sunne a light and firy illumination she sendeth not the same backe unto us but mingled with somewhat of her owne whereby it changeth the colour and hath a power or facultie far different for no heat at all there is in it and as for the light so weake and feeble it is that it faileth before it commeth unto us And this I suppose to be the meaning of Heraclitus when he saith that the lord unot whom belongeth the oracle at Delphos doth neither speake nor conceale but signifie onely and give signe Adde now to this which is so well said and conceived and make this application that the god who is heere useth Pythia the prophetesse for sight and hearing like as the Sunne useth the Moone He sheweth future things by a mortall body and a soule which cannot rest and lie stil as being not able to shew her selfe immooveable and quiet to him who stirreth and mooveth her but is troubled still more and more by the motions agitations and passions of her owne and which are in her selfe for like as the turnings of bodies which together with a circular motion fall downward are not firme and strong but turning as they do round by force and tending downward by nature there is made of them both a certaine turbulent and irregular circumgiration Even so the ravishment of the spirit called Enthusiasmus is a mixture of two motions when the minde is moved in the one by inspiration and in the other naturally For considering that of bodies which have no soule and of themselves continue alwaies in one estate quiet a man cannot make use not moove them perforce otherwise than the quality of their nature will beare nor move a cylindre like a bal or in maner of a square cube nor a lute or harpe according as he doth a pipe no more than a trumpet after the order of a cithern or stringed instrument ne yet any thing else otherwise than either by art or nature each of them is sit to be used How is it possible then to handle and manage that which is animate which mooveth of it selfe is indued with will and inclination capable also of reason but according to the precedent habitude puissance and nature As for example to move one musically who is altogether ignorant and an enemie of musicke or grammatically him who skilleth not of grammer and knoweth not a letter of the booke or eloquently and thetorically one who hath neither skill nor practise at all in orations Certes I cannot see or say how And herein Homer also beareth witnesse with me who albeit he supposeth thus much that nothing to speake of in the whole world is performed and effected by any cause unlesse God be at one end thereof yet will not he make God to use all persons indifferently in every thing but each one according to the sufficiency that he hath by art or nature To prove this see you not quoth he my frend Diogenianus that when Minerva would perswade the Achaeans to any thing she calleth for Ulysses when she is minded to trouble and marre the treaty of peace she seeketh out Pandarus when she is disposed to discomfit and put to flight the Trojans she addresseth her selfe and goeth to Diomedes for of these three the last was a valiant man of person and a brave warrior the second a good archer but yet a foolish and brainsicke man the first right eloquent and wise withall for Homer was not of the same minde with Pandarus if so be it were Pandarus who made this verse If God so will in sea thou maist well saile Upon an hurdle or a wicker fraile But well he knew that powers and natures be destined to divers effects according as ech one hath different motions notwithstanding that which mooveth them all be but one Like as therefore that facultie which moveth a living creature naturally going on foot can not make it to flie nor him who stutteth and stammereth to speake readily ne yet him to crie bigge and aloud who hath a small and slender voice which was the reason as I take it that when Battus was come to Rome they sent him into Afrike there to plant a colonie and people a citie for howsoever he had a stutting and stammering tongue and was otherwise of a small voice yet a princely minde he caried a politike head he had of his owne and was a man of wisedome government even so impossible it is that Pythia should have the knowledge to speake here elegantly learnedly for notwithstanding that she were wel borne and legitimate as any other had lived honestly and discreetly yet being brought up in the house of poore husbandmen she descendeth into the place of the oracle bringing with her no art learned in schoole nor any experience whatsoever But as Xenophon thinketh that a yoong bride when she is brought to her husbands house ought to be such an one as hath not seene much and heard as little semblably Pythia being ignorant and unexpert in maner of all things and a very virgin indeed as touching her minde and soule commeth to converse with Apollo And we verily are of opinion that God for to signifie future things useth Herons Wrens Ravens Crowes and other birds speaking after their maner neither will we have soothsaiers and prophets being as they are the messengers and heralds of God to expound and declare their predictions in plaine and intelligible words but wee would that the voice and dialect of the prophetesse Pythia resembling the speech of a Chorus in a tragedie from a scaffold should pronounce her answers not in simple plaine and triviall termes without any grace to set them out but with Poeticall magnificence of high and stately verses disguised as it were with metaphors and figurative phrases yea and that which more is with found of flute and hautboies what answere make you then as touching the old oracles Surely not one alone but many First the ancient Pythiae as hath beene said already uttered and pronounced most of them in prose secondly that time affoorded those complexions and temperatures of bodie which had a propense and forward inclination to Poesie whereto there were joined incontinently the alacritie desires affections and dispositions of the soule in such sort a they were ever prest and ready neither wanted they ought but some little beginning from without to set them on worke and to stirre the imagination and conception whereby there might directly be drawen unto that which was meet and proper for them not onely Astrologers and Philosophers as Philinus saith but also such as were well soaked with wine and shaken with some
senses being inserted and ingraffed in our bodies by harmony but principally those which are celestiall and divine namely sight and hearing which together with God give understanding and discourse of reason unto men with the voice and the light doe represent harmony yea and the other inferrior senses which follow them in as much as they be senses are likewise composed by harmony for all their effects they performe not without harmony and howsoever they be under them and lesse noble yet they yeeld not for all that for even they entring into the body accompanied with the presence of a certaine divinity together with the discourse of reason obtaine a forcible and excellent nature By these reasons evident it is that the ancient Greeks made great account and not without good cause of being from their infancie well instructed and trained up in Musicke for they were of opinion that they ought to frame and temper the mindes of yoong folke unto vertue and honesty by the meanes of Musicke as being right profitable to all honest things and which wee should have in great recommendation but especially and principally for the perillous hazzards of warre In which case some used the Hautboies as the Lacedaemonians who chaunted the song called Castorium to the said instruments when they marched in ordinance of battell for to charge their enimies Others made their approch for to encounter and give the first onset with the noise of the Lyra that is to say the harpe or such like stringed instruments And this we finde to have bene the practise of the Candiots for a long time for to use this kinde of Musicke when they set forth and advanced forward to the doubtfull dangers of battell And some againe continue even to our time in the use of Trumpets sound As for the Argives they went to wrestle at the solemne games in their city called Sthenia with the sound of the Hautboies And these games were by report instituted at first in the honor and memory of their king Danaus and afterwards againe were consecrated to the honor of Jupiter surnamed Sthenius And verily even at this day in the Pentathlian games of prise the maner and custome is to play upon the Hautboies and to sing a song thereto although the same be not antique nor exquisite nor such as was wont to be plaied and sung in times past as that Canticle composed sometime by Hierax for this kinde of combat and named it was Eudrome Well though it be a faint and feeble maner of song yet somewhat such as it was they used with the Hautboies And in the times of greater antiquity it is said that the Greeks did not so much as know Theatricall Musicke for that they emploied all the skill knowledge thereof in the service and worship of the gods in the institution and bringing up of youth before any Theater was built in Greece by that people but all the Musicke that yet was they bestowed to the honor of the gods and their divine service in the temples also in the praises of valiant and woorthy men So that it is very probable that these termes Theater afterwards and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long before were derived of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say God And verily in our daies Musicke is growen to such an heigth of difference and diversity that there is no mention made nor memory remaining of any kinde of Musicke for youth to be taught neither doth any man set his minde thereto or make profession thereof but looke whosoever are given to Musicke betake them selves wholy to that of Theaters for their delight But some man may haply say unto me What good sir thinke you that in old time they devised no new Musicke and added nothing at all to the former Yes I wis I confesse they did adjoine thereto some new inventions but it was with gravity and decency For the historians who wrote of these matters attributed unto Terpander the Dorian Nete which before time they used not in their songs and tunes And even so it is said that the Myxolidien tune was wholly by him devised to the rest as also the note of the melody Orthien and the song named Orthius by the Trochaeus for sounding the al' arme and to encourage unto battell And if it be true as Pindarus saith Terpander was the inventour of those songs called Scolia which were sung at feasts Archilochus also adjoined those rhymes or Iambicke measures called Trimetra the translation also and change into other number and measures of a different kinde yea and the maner how to touch and strike them Moreover unto him as first inventour are attributed the Epodes Tetrameter Iambicks Procritique and Prosodiacks as also the augmentation of the first yea and as some thinke the Elegie it selfe over and besides the intension of Iambus unto Paean Epibatos of the Herous augmented both unto the Prosodiaque also the Creticke Furthermore that of Iambique notes some be pronounced according to the stroke others sung out Archilochus was the man by report who shewed all this first and afterwards tragicall Poets used the same likewise it is said that Crexus receiving it from him transported it to be used at the Bacchanall songs called Dithyrambs And he was the first also by their saying who devised the stroake after the song for that beforetime they used to sing and strike the strings together Likewise unto Polymnestus is ascribed all that kinde of note or tune which now is called Hypolydius and of him they say that he first made the drawing out of the note longer and the dissolution and ejection thereof much greater than before Moreover that Olympus upon whom is fathered the invention of the Greeke musicke that is tied to lawes and rules was hee who first brought by their saying all the kinde of harmonie and of rhymes or measures the Prosodiaque wherein is conteined the tune and song of Mars also the Chorios whereof there is great use in the solemnities of the great mother of the gods yea and some there be who make Olympus the authour also of the measure Bacchius And thus much concerning every one of the ancient tunes and songs But Lasus the harmonian having transferred the rhymes into the order of Dithyrambs and followed the multiplicitie in voice of hautboies in using many sounds and those diffused and dispersed to and fro brought a great change into Musicke which never was before Semblably Melanippides who came after him conteined not himselfe in that maner of Musicke which then was in use no more than Philoxenus did Timotheus for he whereas beforetime unto the daies of Terpander the Antissaean the harpe had but seven strings distinguished it into many more sounds and strings yea and the sound of the pipe or hautboies being simple and plaine before was changed into a Musicke of more distinct varietie For in olde time unto the daies of Melanippides a Dithyrambicke Poet the plaiers of the
hautboies were wont to receive their salaries and wages at the hands of Poets for that Poetrie you must thinke bare the greatest stroke and had the principal place in Musicke and acting of plaies so as the Minstrels beforesaid were but their ministers but afterwards this custome was corrupted upon occasion whereof Pherecrates the Comicall Poet bringeth in Musicke in forme and habit of a woman with her bodie piteously scourged and mangled all over and he deviseth besides that Dame Justice demandeth of her the cause why and how she became thus misused unto whom Poësie or Musicke maketh answere in this wise MUSICKE I will gladly tell since that we pleasure take You for to heare and I to answere make One of the first who did me thus displease And worke my woe was Melanippides He with twelve strings my bodie whipt so sore That soft it is and looser than before Yet was this man unto me tolerable And not to these my harmes now comparable For one of Athick land Cynesias he Shame come to him and cursed may he be By making turnes and winding cranks so strange In all his strophes and those without the range Of harmony hath me perverted so That where I am unneth I now do kno His Dithyrambs are framed in such guise That left seeme right in shield and targuet wise And yet of him one can not truly say That cruelly he me ant me for to slay Phrynis it was who set to me a wrest His owne device that I could never rest Wherewith he did me winde and writhe so hard That I well neere for ever was quite marr'd Out of five strings for sooth he would devise No fewer than twelve harmonies to rise Well of this man I cannot most complaine For what he mist he soone repair'd againe Timotheus sweet Lady out alas Hath me undone Timotheus it was Most shamefully who wrought me all despite He hath me torne he hath me buried quite JUSTICE And who might this Timotheus be deere hart That was the cause of this thy wofull smart MUSICKE I meane him of Miletus Pyrrhias Surnam'd his head and haire so ruddy was This fellow brought upon me sorrowes more Than all the rest whom I have nam'd before A sort he of unpleasant quavers brings And running points when as he plaies or sings He never meets me when I walke alone Upon the way but me assailes anone Off go my robes and thus devested bare He teawes me with twelve strings and makes no spare Aristophanes also the Comicall Poet maketh mention of Philoxenus and saith that he brought songs into the dances called Rounds and in this maner he deviseth that Musick should speake and complaine What with his Exharmonians Niglars and Hyperbolians And such loud notes I wot not what He hath me stuft so full as that My voice is brittle when I speake Like radish root that soone will breake Semblably other Comicall Poets have blasoned and set out in their colours our moderne Musicians for their absurd curiositie in hewing and cutting Musicke thus by peace-meale and mincing it so small But that this science is of great power and efficacie aswell to set strait and reforme as to pervert deprave and corrupt youth in their education and learning Aristoxenus hath made very plaine and evident for he saith that of those who lived in his time Telesias the Theban happened when he was yoong to be brought up and instructed in the most excellent kinde of Musicke and to learne many notable ditties and songs among which those also of Pindarus of Dionysius the Theban of Lamprus Pratinas and other Lyricall Poets singular men in their facultie and profession of playing cunningly upon the harpe and other stringed instruments He had learned likewise to sound the hautboies passing well and was sufficiently exercised and practised in all other parts of good literature but when he was once past the flower and middle of his age he became so farre rivished and caried away with this Scenicall musicke so ful of varietie that he despised that excellent musicke and poesie wherein he was nourtred all for to learne the ditties and tunes of Philoxenus and Timotheus and principally such of them as had most varietie and noveltie and when he betooke himselfe to compose ditties and set songs making triall what he could do in both kinds aswell in that of Pindarus and this of Philoxenus he was able to performe nothing wel and to the purpose in that Musicke of Philoxenus the reason whereof was his excellent education from his infancie If rhen a man be desirous to use musicke well and judiciously let him imitate the olde maner and yet in the meane while furnish the same with other sciences learne Philosophie as a mistresse to guide and leade for shee is able to judge what kinde of measures is meet for musicke and profitable For whereas three principal points and kinds there be unto which all musicke is universally divided to wit Diatonos Chroma and Harmonie he ought to be skilfull in Poetrie which useth these severall kinds who commeth to learne Musicke and withall he must atteine to that sufficiencie as to know how to expresse and couch in writing his poeticall inventions First and formost therefore he is to underst and that all musicall science is a certeine custome and usage which hath not yet atteined so farre as the knowledge to what end every thing is to be leatned by him that is the scholar Next to this it would be considered that to this teaching and instruction there be not yet adjoined presently the enumeration of the measures maners of musicke But the most part learne rashly and without discretion that which seemeth good is pleasant either to the learner or the teacher as the Lacedaemonians in old time the Mantineans likewise and the Pellenians for these making choise of one maner above the rest or els of very few which they tooke to be meet for the reformation and correction of maners used no other musicke but it which more evidently may appeare if a man will enquire and consider what it is that every one of these sciences taketh for the subject matter to handle for certaine it is that the Harmonique skill conteineth the knowledge of intervals compositions sounds notes and mutations of that kinde which is named Hermosmenon that is to say well befitting and convenient neither is it possible for it to proceed farther So that we must not require nor exact of her that she should be able to discerne whether a Poet hath well properly and fitly used for example sake in musicke the Hyperdorian tune in his entrance the Mixolydian and the Dorian at his going forth and the Phrygian or Hypophrygian in the mids for this perteineth not at all to the subject matter of the Harmonicke kinde and hath need of many other things for he knoweth not well the force of the proprietie And if he be ignorant of the Chromaticke kinde and Enharmonian he shall never atteine to
to be a goddesse craved the pillar of wood which she cut downe with facility and tooke from underneath the truncke of the Tamarix or Erice which she anointed with perfumed oile and enwrapped within a linnen cloth and gave it to the kings for to be kept whereof it commeth that the Byblians even at this day reverence this piece of wood which lieth confecrate within the temple of Isis. Furthermore it is said that in the end she light upon the coffer over which she wept and lamented so much that the yongest of the kings sonnes died for very pity of her but she herselfe accompanied with the eldest of them together with the coffer embarked tooke sea departed But when the river Phaedrus turned the wind somwhat roughly about the dawning of the day Isis was so much displeased and angry that she dried it quite And so soone as she came unto a solitary place where she was by herselfe alone she opened the coffer where finding the corps of Osiris she laid her face close to his embraced it and wept Herewith came the child softly behinde and espied what she was doing whom when she perceived she looked backe casting an untoward eie and beheld him with such an angry aspect that the poore infant not able to endure so terrible a looke died upon it Some say it was not so but that he fell into the sea in maner aforesaid and was honored for the goddesse sake and that he is the same whom the Aegyptians chaunt at their feasts under the name of Maneros But others give out that this child was named Palestinus and that the city Pelusium was built in remembrance of him by the goddesse Isis and so tooke the name after him and how this Maneros whom they so celebrate in their songs was the first inventour of musicke Howbeit others there are againe who affirme that this was the name of no person but a kinde of dialect or language proper and agreeable unto those who drinke and banquet together as if a man should say In good houre and happily may this or that come For the Aegyptians were wont ordinarily to use this terme Maneros in such a sense like as no doubt the drie sceletos or dead corps of a man which they used to carie about and shew in a bierre or coffin at the table was not the representation or memoriall of this accident which befell unto Osiris as some doe imagine but served as an admonition to put the guests in minde to be merry and take their pleasure and joy in those things that were present for that soone after they should be like unto it This I say was the reason that it was brought in at their feasts and mery meetings Furthermore when Isis was gone to see her sonne Horus who was fostered and brought up in the city Butus and had laid the foresaid coffer with Osiris body out of the way Typhon fortuned as he hunted in a cleere moone-shine night to meet with it and taking knowledge of the body cut it into foureteene peeces and flung them heere and there one from another which when Isis understood she searched for them in a bote or punt made of papyr reed all over the moores and marishes whereof it comes that the Crocodiles never hurt those who saile or row in vessels made of that plant whether it be that they are affraid of it or reverence it for this goddesse sake I know not And thus you may know the reason why there be found many sepulchres of Osiris in the country of Aegypt for ever as she found any peece of him she caused a tombe to be made for it others say no but that she made many images of him which she left in every city as if she had bestowed among them his very body indeed to the end that in many places he might be honored and that if happly Typhon when he sought for the true sepulcher of Osiris having vanquished and overcome Horus many of them being reported and shewed he might not know which was it and so give over seeking farther Over and besides the report goes that Isis found all other parts of Osiris body but onely his privy member for that it was immediately cast into a river and the fishes named Lepidotus Phagrus and Oxyrynchus devoured it for which cause Isis detesteth them above all other fishes but in sted of that natural part she made a counterfet one called Phallus which she consecrated and in the honor thereof the Aegyptians hold a solemne feast After all this it followeth in the fable that Osiris being returned out of the infernall parts appeared unto Horus for to exercise instruct and traine him against the battell of whom he demanded what he thought to be the most beautifull thing in the world who answered To be revenged of the wrong and injury which had bene done to a mans parents Secondly what beast he thought most profitable to goe into the field withall unto whom Horus should make answere The horse whereat Osiris marvelled and asked him why he named the horse and not the lion rather Because quoth Horus the lion serveth him in good sted who stands upon his owne guard and defense onely and hath need of aid but the horse is good to defait the enimy quite to follow him in chace and take him prisoner When Osiris heard him say so he tooke great pleasure and contentment heerein judging heereby that his sonne was sufficiently appointed and prepared to give battell unto his enimies And verily it is said that among many that daily revolted from Typhon and sided with Horus even the very concubine of Typhon named Thueris was one who came to him and when a certaine serpent followed after and pursued her the same was cut in peeces by the guard about Horus in remembrance whereof at this very day they bring forth a certaine cord which likewise they chop in peeces Well they say the battell continued many daies but in the end Horus had the victory As also that Isis having Typhon prisoner fast bound in her hands killed him not but loosed him and let him goe which Horus not able to endure with patience laid violent hands upon his mother and plucked from her head the roiall ornament that she had thereon in sted whereof Mercury set one a morion made in maner of a cowes head Then Typhon called Horus judicially into question charging him that he was a bastard but by the helpe of Mercury who pleaded his cause he was judged by the gods legitimate who also in two other battel 's vanquished Typhon And more than all this the tale saith that Isis after death was with child by Osiris by whom she had Helitomenus and Harpocrates who wanted his nether parts Thus you see what be in maner all the principall points of this fable setting aside and excepting those which are most execrable to wit the dismembring of Horus and the beheading of Isis. Now that if any there be
insult over him debase and defame him what they can In so much as men of a ruddy colour they deride make of them a laughing stocke And as for the inhabitants of Coptos they use at a certaine feast to throw an asse headlong downe from the pitch of an high rocke because Typhon was ruddy and of a red asses colour The Busiritants and Lycopolites forbeare to sound any trumpets because they resemble the braying of an asse and generally they take an asse to be an uncleane beast and daemonicall for the resemblance in hiew that it hath with him and when they make certaine cakes in their sacrifices of the moneths Payni and Phaophi they worke them in paistry with the print upon them of an asse bound Also in their solemne sacrifice to the Sun they command as many as will be there to worship that god not to we are any brooches or jewels of gold about their bodies nor to give any meat or provander unto an asse what need soever he have thereof It seemeth also that the Pythagoreans themselves were of opinion that Typhon was some fiend or daemonicall power for they say that Typhon was borne in the even number of six and fifty againe that the triangular number or sigure is the puissance of Pluto Bacchus and Mars of the quadrangle is the power of Rhea Venus Ceres Vesta and Juno that of twelve angles belongeth to the might of Jupiter but that of fifty six angles is the force of Typhon as Eudoxus hath left in writing But the Aegyptians supposing that Typhon was of a reddish colour doe kill for sacrifice unto him kine and oxen of the same colour observing withall so precisely that if they have but one haire blacke or white they be not sacrificeable for they thinke such sacrifices not acceptable but contrariwise displeasant unto the gods imagining they be the bodies which have received the soules of leaud and wicked persons transformed into other creatures And therefore after they have cursed the head of such a sacrifice they cut it off and cast it into the river at least waies in old time but now they give it unto strangers But the oxe which they meane to sacrifice indeed the priests called Sphragistae that is to say the sealers come marke it with their seale which as Castor writeth was the image of a man kneeling with his hands drawen backe and bound behinde him and having a sword set to his throat Semblably they use the name of an asse also as hath bene said for his uncivill rudenesse and insolency no lesse than in regard of his colour wherein he resembleth Typhon and therefore the Aegyptians gave unto Ochus a king of the Persians whom they hated above all others as most cursed and abominable the surname of asse whereof Ochus being advertised and saying withall This asse shall devour your oxe caused presently their beefe 〈◊〉 to be killed and sacrificed as Dinon hath left in writing As for those who say that Typhon after he had lost the field fled six daies journy upon an asse backe and having by this meanes escaped beg at two sonnes Hierosolymus and Judaeus evident it is heerein that they would draw the story of the Iewes into this fable And thus much of the allegorirall conjectures which this tale doth affoord But now from another head let us of those who are able to discourse somewhat Philosophically and with reason consider first and formost such as deale most simply in this behalfe And these be they that say like as the Greeks allegorize that Saturne is time Juno the aire and the generation of Vulcan is the transmutation of aire into fire even so they give out that by Osiris the Aegyptians meane Nilus which lieth and keepeth company with Isis that is to say the earth That Typhon is the sea into which Nilus falling loseth himselfe and is dispatched heere and there unlesse it be that portion thereof which the earth receiveth and whereby it is made fertill And upon the river Nilus there is a sacred lamentation even from the daies of Saturne wherein there is lamenting how Nilus springing and growing on the left hand decaieth and is lost on the right For the Aegyptians doe thinke that the east parts where the day appeareth be the forefrunt and face of the world that the North part is the right hand the South part the left This Nilus therfore arising on the left hand and lost in the sea on the right hand is said truely to have his birth and generation in the left side but his death and corruption in the right And this is the reason why the priests of Aegypt have the sea in abomination and terme salt the fome and froth of Typhon And among those things which are interdicted and forbidden this is one that no salt be used at the boord by reason whereof they never salute any pilots or sailers for that they keepe ordinarily in the sea and get their living by it This also is one of the principall causes why they abhorre fishes in such sort as when they would describe hatred they draw or purtray a fish like as in the porch before the temple of Minerva within the city Sai there was purtraied and engraven an infant an old man after them a falcon or some such hauke and close thereto a fish and last of all a river-horse which Hieroglyphicks doe symbolize and signifie thus much in effect O all yea that come into the world and goe out of it God hateth shamelesse injustice For by the hauke they understand God by the fish hatred and by the river-horse impudent violence and vilany because it is said that he killeth his father and after that forceth his owne mother and covereth her And semblably it should seeme that the saying of the Pythagoreans who give out that the sea is a teare of Saturne under covert words doe meane that it is impure and uncleane Thus have I beene willing by the way to alledge thus much although it be without the traine of our fable because they fall within the compasse of a vulgar and common received history But to returne to our matter the priests as many as be of the wiser and more learned sort understand by Osiris not onely the river Nilus and by Typhon the sea but also by the former they signifie in one word and simply all vertue and power that produceth moisture and water taking it to be the materiall cause of generation and the nature generative of seed and by Typhon they represent all desiccative vertue all heat of fire drinesse as the very thing that is fully opposite and adverse to humidity and hereupon it is that they hold Typhon to be red of haire and of skin yellow and by the same reason they willingly would not encounter or meet upon the way men of that hew no nor delight to speake unto such Contrariwise they feigne Osiris to be of a blacke colour because all water causeth the earth
Memphis when it is just at the full commeth to foureteene cubits correspondent to the full Moone They holde moreover Apis to be the lively image of Osiris and that he is ingendred and bred at what time as the generative light descendeth from the Moone and toucheth the Cow desirous of the male and therefore Apis resembleth the formes of the Moone having many white spots obscured and darkened with the shadowes of blacke And this is the reason why they solemnize a feast in the new Moone of the moneth Phamenoth which they call The ingresse or entrance of Osiris to the Moone and this is the beginning of the Spring season and thus they put the power of Osiris in the Moone They say also that Isis which is no other thing but generation lieth with him and so they name the Moone Mother of the world saying that she is a double nature male and female female in that she doth conceive and is replenished by the Sunne and male in this regard that she sendeth forth and sprinkleth in the aire the seeds and principles of generation for that the drie distemperature and corruption of Typhon is not alwaies superior but often times vanquished by generation and howsoever tied it be and bound yet it riseth fresh againe and fighteth against Orus who is nothing els but the terrestriall world which is not altogether free from corruption nor yet exempt from generation Others there be who would have all this fiction covertly to represent no other thing but the ecclipses for the Moone is ecclipsed when she is at the full directly opposite to the Sunne and commeth to fall upon the shadow of the earth like as they say Osiris was put into the chest or coffer above said On the other side she seemeth to hide and darken the light of the Sunne upon certeine thirtieth daies but yet doth not wholly abolish the Sunne no more than Isis doth kill Typhon but when Nephthys bringeth forth Anubis Isis putteth herselfe in place for Nephthys is that which is under the earth and unseene but Isis that which is above and appeareth unto us and the circle named Horizon which is common to them both and parteth the two hemisphaeres is named Anubis and in forme resembleth a dogge for why a dogge seeth aswell by night as by day so that it should seeme that Anubis among the Aegyptians hath the like power that Proserpina among the Greeks being both terrestriall and coelestiall Others there be who thinke that Anubis is Saturne and because he is conceived with all things and bringeth them foorth which in Greeke the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth therefore he is surnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Adogge So that there is some hidden and mysticall secret in it that causeth some even still to reverence and adore A dogge for the time was when more worship was done unto it in Aegypt than to any other beast but after that Cambyses had killed Apis cut him in pieces and flung the same heere and there no other creature would 〈◊〉 neere to taste thereof save the dogge onely whereupon he lost that prerogative and preeminence to be more honoured than other beasts Others there are who would have the shadow of the earth which causeth the Moone to be ecclipsed when she entreth into it to be named Typhon And therefore me thinks it were not amisse to say that in particular there is not any one of these expositions and interpretations perfect by it selfe and right but all of them together cary some good cōstruction for it is neither drought alone nor winde nor sea ne yet darknesse but all that is noisome and hurtfull whatsoever and which hath a speciall part to hurt and destroy is called Typhon Nether must we put the principles of the whole world into bodies that have no life and soule as Democritus and Epicurus doe nor yet set downe for the workman and framer of the first matter a certeine reason and providence without quality as do the Stoicks such a thing as hath a subsistence before and above all and commandeth all for impossible it is that one sole cause good or bad should be the beginning of all things together for God is not the cause of any evill and the coagmentation of the world bendeth contrary waies like as the composition of a lute or bow as Heraclitus saith and according to Euripides Nothings can be by themselves good or bad That things do well a mixture must be had And therefore this opinion so very auncient is descended from Theologians and Law-givers unto Poets and Philosophers the certeine author and beginning whereof is not yet knowen howbeit so firmely grounded in the perswasion and beliefe of men that hard it is to suppresse or abolish the same so commonly divulged not onely in conferences disputations and ordinary speeches abroad but also in the sacrifices and divine ceremonies of gods service in many places as well among the Barbarians as Greeks to wit that neither this world floteth and waveth at aventure without the government of providence and reason nor reason onely it is that guideth directeth and holdeth it as it were with certeine helmes or bits of obeisance but manie things there be confused and mixed good and bad together or to speake more plainely there is nothing heere beneath that nature produceth and bringeth foorth which of it selfe is pure and simple neither is there one drawer of two tunnes to disperse and distribute abroad the affaires of this world like as a taverner or vintner doeth his wines or other liquors brewing and tempering one with another But this life is conducted by two principles and powers adverse one unto another for the one leadeth us to the right hand directly the other contrariwise turneth us aside and putteth us backe and so this life is mixt and the verie world it selfe if not all throughout yet at leastwise this beneath about the earth and under the Moone is unequall variable and subject to all mutations that possibly may be For if nothing there is that can be without a precedent cause and that which of it selfe is good can never minister cause of evill necessarie it is that nature hath some peculiar cause and beginning by itselfe of good aswell as of bad And of this opinion are the most part of the ancients and those of the wisest sort For some thinke there be two gods as it were of a contrary mystery profession the one author of all good things and the other of bad Others there be who call the better of them god and the other Daemon that is to say divell as Zoroastres the Magician did who by report was five thousand yeeres before the warre of Troy This Zoroastres I say named the good god Oromazes and the other Arimanius Moreover the gave out that the one resembled light more than any sensible thing else whatsoever the other darknesse and ignorance also that there is one in the middes betweene them
spirit of prophesy in those daies used many organs and voices to speake unto the people being a greater multitude than now there be And therefore we should on the other side rather wonder if God would suffer to run in vaine like waste water this propheticall divination or to resound againe like as the desert rockes in the wide fields and mountaines ring with the resonance and ecchoes of heard-mens hollaing and beasts bellowing When Ammonius had thus said and I held my peace Cleombrotus addressing his speech unto me And grant you indeed quoth he thus much that it is the god Apollo who is the authour and overthrower also of these Oracles Not so answered I for I maintaine and hold that God was never the cause of abolishing any Oracle or divination whatsoever but contrariwise like as where he produceth and prepareth many other things for one use and behoofe nature bringeth in the corruption and utter privation of some or to say more truely matter being it selfe privation or subject thereto avoideth many times and dissolveth that which a more excellent cause hath composed even so I suppose there be some other causes which darken and abolish the vertue of divination considering that God bestoweth upon men many faire goodly gifts but nothing perdurable immortall in such sort as the very workes of the gods do die but not themselves according as Sophocles saith And verily the Philosophers and naturalists who are well exercised in the knowledge of nature and the primitive matter ought indeed to search into the substance property and puissance of Oracles but to reserve the originall and principall cause for God as very meet and requisit it is that it should so be For very foolish and childish it is that the god himselfe like unto those spirits speaking within the bellies of possessed folkes such as in old time they called Eugastrimithi and Euryclees and be now termed Pythons entred into the bodies of Prophets spake by their mouthes and used their tongues and voices as organs and instruments of speech for he that thus intermedleth God among the occasions and necessities of men maketh no spare as he ought of his majesty neither carieth he that respect as is meet to the preservation of the dignity and greatnesse of his power and vertue Then Cleombrotus You say very well and truely quoth he but for as much as it is a difficult matter to comprise and define in what maner and how farre forth and to what point we ought to employ this divine providence in my conceit they who are of this minde that simply God is cause of nothing at all in the world and they againe that make him wholly the authour of all things hold not a meane and indifferent course but both of them misse the very point of decent mediocrity Certes as they say passing well who hold that Plato having invented and devised that element or subject upon which grow and be engendred qualities the which one while is called the primitive matter and otherwhile nature delivered Philosophers from many great difficulties even so me thinks they who ordained a certaine kinde by themselves of Daemons betweene god and men have assoiled many more doubts and greater ambiguities by finding out that bond and linke as it were which joineth us and them together in society Were it the opinion that came from the ancient Magi and Zoroasties or rather a Thracian doctrine delivered by Orpheus or els an Aegyptian or Phrygian tradition as we may conjecture by seeing the sacrifices both in the one countrey and the other wherein among other holy and divine ceremonies it seemeth there were certeine dolefull ceremonies of mourning and sorrow intermingled savouring of mortality And verily of the Greeks Homer hath used these two names indifferently terming the Gods Daemons and the Daemons likewise Gods But Hesiodus was the first who purely distinctly hath set downe foure kinds of reasonable natures to wit the Gods then the Daemons and those many in number and all good the Heroes and Men for the Demi-gods are ranged in the number of those Heroicke worthies But others hold that there is a transmutation aswell of bodies as soules and like as we may observe that of earth is ingendred water of water aire and of aire fire whiles the nature of the substance still mounteth on high even so the better soules are changed first from men to Heroes or Demi-gods and afterwards from them to Daemons and of Daemons some few after long time being well refined and purified by vertue came to participate the divination of the gods Yet unto some it befalleth that being not able to holde and conteine they suffer themselves to slide and fall into mortall bodies againe where they lead an obscure and darke life like unto a smoaky vapour As for He siodus he thinketh verily that even the Daemons also after certeine revolutions of time shall die for speaking in the person of one of their Nymphs called Naiades covertly and under aenigmaticall termes he designeth their time in this wise Nine ages of men in their flower doth live The railing Crow foure times the Stags surmount The life of Crowes to Ravens doth nature give A threefold age of Stags by true account One Phoenix lives as long as Ravens nine But you faire Nymphs as the daughters verily Of mighty Jove and of nature divine The Phoenix yeeres ten fold do multiply But they that understand not well what the Poet meaneth by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make the totall sum of this time to amount unto an exceeding great number of yeeres For in trueth it is but one yeere and no more And so by that reckening the whole ariseth in all to nine thousand seven hundred and twenty yeeres just which is the very life of the Daemons And many Mathematicians there be by whose computation it is lesse But more than so Pindarus would not have it when he saith that the Nymphs age is limited equall to trees whereupon they be named Hamadryades as one would say living and dying with Okes. As he was about to say more Demetrius interrupted his speech and taking the words out of his mouth How is it possible quoth he ô Cleombrotus that you should make good and mainteine that the Poet called the age of man a yeere onely and no more for it is not the space either of his flower and best time nor of his olde age according as some reade it in Hesiodus for as one reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is say flourishing so another readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say aged Now they that would have it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put downe for the age of man thirty yeeres according to the opinion of Heraclitus which is the very time that a father hath begotten a sonne able to beget another of his owne but such as follow the reading that hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 attribute unto the age of man an
hundred and eight yeeres saying that foure and fifty is the just moity or one halfe of a mans life which number is composed of an unitie the two first plaines two squares and two cubiques which numbers Plato also tooke to the procreation of the soule which he describeth But it seemeth verily that Hesiodus by these words covertly did signifie that generall conflagration of the world at what time it is very probable that the Nymphs together with all humors and liquid matters shall perish Those Nymphs I meane which many a tree and plant In forrests faire and goodly groves do hant Or neere to springs and river streames are seene Or keepe about the medowes gay and greene Then Cleombrotus I have heard many quoth he talke hereof and I perceive very well how this conflagration which the Stoicks have devised as it hath crept into the Poems of Heraclitus and Orpheus and so perverted their verses so it hath seized upon and caught hold of Hesiodus and given a perverse interpretation of him aswell as of others But neither can I endure to admit this consummation and end of the world which they talke of nor any such impossible matters and namely those speeches as touching the life of the Crow and the Stag or Hinde which yeeres if they were summed together would grow to an excessive number Moreover a yere conteining in it the beginning and the end of all things which the seasons thereof doe produce and the earth bring forth may in mine opinion not impertinently be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the age of men for even your selves confesse that Hesiodus in one passage called mans life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How say you is it not so Then Demetrius avowed as much This also quoth Cleombrotus is as certeine that both the measure and also the things which be measured are called by one and the same names as it appeareth by Cotyla Chaenix Amphora and Medimnus Like as therefore we name Unitie a number which indeed of all numbers is the least measure and beginning onely of them semblably Hesiodus termed Yeere the age of man for that with it principally we measure his age and so communicate that word with the thing that it measureth as for those numbers which they make there is no singularity at all or matter of importance in them as touching the renowmed numbers indeed But the number of 9720 hath a speciall ground and beginning as being composed of the foure first numbers arising in order from one and the same added together or multiplied by foure every way arise to fortie Now if these be reduced into triangles five times they make the just summe of the number before named But as touching these matters what need I to contend with Demetrius for whether there be meant thereby a longer time or a shorter a certeine or uncerteine wherein Hesiodus would have the soule of a Daemon to change or the life of a Demi god or Heros to end it skilleth not for he prooveth neverthelesse that which he would and that by the evidence of most ancient and wise witnesses that there be certeine natures neuter and meane as it were situate in the confines betweene gods and men and the same subject to mortall passions and apt to receive necessarie changes and mutations which natures according to the traditions examples of our forefathers meet it is that we call Daemons and honour them accordingly And to this purpose Xenocrates one of the familiar friends of Plato was woont to bring in the demonstration and example of triangles which agreed very well to the present matter in hand for that triangle which had three sides and angles equall he compared unto the nature divine and immortall that which had all sides unequall unto the humane and mortall nature and that which had two equall and one unequall unto the nature of the Daemons for the first is every way equall the second on every side unequall and the last in some sort equall and in other unequall like unto the nature of the Daemons having humane passions and affections yet withall the divine power of some god But nature herselfe hath proposed unto us sensible figures and similitudes visible above of gods vetily the Sunne and other starres but of mortall men sudden lights and flashes in the night blazing comets and shooting of starres for unto such Euripides compared them when he said Who was ere while and lately in the floure Of his fresh youth at sudden in an houre Became extinct as starre which seemes to fall From skie and into aire sent breath and all Now for a mixt body representing the nature of Daemons or Angels there is the Moone which they seeing to be so subject to growing and decreasing yea and to perishing altogether and departing out of sight thought to accord very well and to be sortable unto the mutability of the Daemons kinde For which cause some have called her a terrestriall starre others an Olympian or celestiall earth and there be againe who have named her The heritage and possession of Proserpina both heavenly and earthly Like as therefore if one tooke the aire out of the world and remooved it from betweene the Moone and the earth he should dissolve the continuation coherence and composition of the whole universall frame by leaving a voide and emptie place in the middes without any bond to joine and linke the extremes together even so they who admit not the nation and kind of the Daemons abolish all communication convers and conference betweene gods and men considering they take away that nature which serveth as a hanchman interpreter and minister betweene both as Plato said or rather they would drive us to confound and huddle together yea and to jumble all in one if we came to interningle the divine nature and deity among humane passions and actions and so plucke it out of heaven for to make it intermeddle in the negocies and affaires of men like as they faie the wives of Thessalie draw downe the Moone from heaven Which devise fiction hath taken roote and is beleeved among women by reason that Aglaonica the daughter of Agetor by report being a wise dame and well seene in Astrologie made semblance and perswaded the vulgar sort that in every ecclipse of the Moone she used alwaies some charmes and enchantments by vertue whereof she fetched the Moone out of heaven As for us give we no eare and credit unto them who say there be some Oracles and divinations without a deity or that the gods regard not sacrifices divine services and other sacred ceremonies exhibited 〈◊〉 them neither on the other side let us beleeve that God is present to intermeddle or employ himselfe in person but betaking and referring that charge unto the ministers of the gods as it is meet and just like as if they were deputies officers and secretaries let us constantly hold that those be the Daemons which are
and the same denomination like as we doe the sea also for all the parts of the earth are called earth and of the sea likewise but no part of the world is world for that it is composed of divers and different hatures For as touching that inconvenience which some especially feare who spend all matter within one world lest forsooth if there remained any thing without it should trouble the composition and frame thereof by the jurres and resistances that it would make furely there is no such cause why they should feare for when there be many worlds and ech of them particularly having one definit and determinate measure and limit of their substance and matter no part thereof will be without order and good disposition nothing will remaine superfluous as an excrement without to hinder or impeach for that the reason which belongeth to ech world being able to rule and governe the matter that is allotted thereto will not suffer any thing to goe out of course and order and wandring to and fro for to hit and run upon another world nor likewise that from another ought should come for to rush upon it because in nature there is nothing in quantity infinit inordinate nor in motion without reason order But say there should happly be some deflux or effluence that pasleth from one world to another the same is a brotherly sweet and amiable communication and such as very well agreeth to all much like unto the lights of starres and the influences of their temperatures which are the cause that they themselves doe joy in beholding one another with a kinde and favourable aspect yea and yeeld unto the gods which in every starre be many and those good meanes to intertaine and embrace one another most friendly For in all this verily there is nothing impossible nothing fabulous nor contrary unto reason unlesse paradventure some there be who will suspect and feare the reason and sentence of Aristotle as consonant unto nature For if as he saith every body hath a proper and naturall place of the owne by reason thereof necessarily it must be that the earth from all parts should tend toward the midst and the water afterwards upon it serving by meanes of their weight and ponderosity in stead of a foundation to other elements of a lighter substance And therefore quoth he if there were many worlds it would fall out oftentimes that the earth should be found situate above aire and fire and as often under them likewise the aire and fire sometime under otherwhiles in their naturall places and againe in others contrary to their nature Which being impossible as he thinketh it must follow of necessity that there be neither two nor more worlds but one alone to wit this which we visibly 〈◊〉 composed of all sorts of substance and disposed according to nature as is meet and convenient for diversity of bodies But in all this there is more apparent probability than verity indeed For the better proofe heereof consider I pray you my good friend Demetrius that when he saith among simple bodies some bend directly to the midst that is to say downward others from the midst that is to say upward and a third sort move round about the midst and circularly in what respect taketh he the midst Certaine it is not in regard of voidnesse for there is no such thing in nature even by his owne opinion againe according unto those that admit it middle can it have none no more than first or last For these be ends and extremities and that which is infinite must consequently be also without an end But suppose that some one of them should enforce us to admit a middle in that voidnesse impossible it is to conceive and imagine the difference in motions of bodies toward it because there is not in that voidnesse any puissance attractive of bodies nor yet within the same bodies any deliberation or inclination and affection to tend from all sides to this middle But no lesse impossible is it to apprehend that of bodies having no soule any should moove of themselves to an incorporall place and having no difference of situation than it is that the same should draw them or give them any motion or inclination to it It remaineth then that this middle ought to be understood not locally but corporally that is to say not in regard of place but of body For seeing this world is an union or masse compounded of many bodies different and unlike conjoigned together it must needs be that their diversities engender motions discrepant and 〈◊〉 one from the other which appeereth by this that every of these bodies changing substance change their place also withall For the subtilization and rarefaction distributeth round about the matter which ariseth from the midst and ascendeth on high contrariwise condensation and constipation depresseth and driveth it downeward to the middle But of this point we need not discourse any more in this place For what cause soever a man shall suppose to produce such passions and mutations the same shall containe in it a severall world for that each of them hath an earth and sea of the owne each one hath her owne proper middle as also passions and alterations of bodies together with a nature and power which preserveth and 〈◊〉 every one in their place and being For that which is without whether it have nothing at all or else an infinite voidnesse middle can it affoord none as we have said before but there being many worldes each of them hath a proper middle apart in such sort as in every one there shall be motions proper unto bodies some falling downe to the midst others mounting aloft from the midst others mooving round about the midst according as they themselves doe distinguish motions And he who would have that there being many middles weighty bodies from all parts should tend unto one alone may very well be compared unto him who would have the blood of many men to run from all parts into one vaine likewise that all their braines should be contained within one and the same membraine or pannicle supposing it a great inconvenience and absurdity if of naturall bodies all that are solide be not in one and the same place and the rare also in another Absurd is he that thus saith and no lesse foolish were the other who thinketh much and is offended if the whole should have all parts in their order range and situation naturall For it were a very grosse absurdity for a man to say there were a world which had the Moone in it so situate as if a man should carry his braine in his heeles and his heart in the temples of his head but there were no absurdity nor inconvenience if in setting downe many distinct worldes and those separate one from another a man should distinguish with all and separate their parts For in every of them the earth the sea and the skie shall be so placed and
situate in their naturall seats as it is meet and appertaineth and each of those worlds shall have superior inferiour circular and a centre in the midst not in regard of another world nor of that which is without but in it selfe and in respect of it selfe And as for the supposition which some make of a stone without the world it cannot be imagined how possibly it should either rest or moove for how can it hang still seeing it is ponderous and waighty or moove toward the midst of the world as other heavy bodies considering it is neither part of it nor counted in the substance thereof As concerning that earth which is contained in another world and fast bound we need not to make doubt and question how it should not fall downe hither by reason of the wieght not be plucked away from the whole seeing as we doe that it hath a naturall strength to containe every part thereof For if we shall take high and low not within and in respect of the world but without forth we shall be driven unto the same difficulties and distresses which Epicurus is fallen into who maketh his little Atomes or indivisible bodies to move and tend toward those places which are under foot as if either his voidnesse had feet or the infinity which he speaketh of permit a man to imagine either high or low And therefore some cause there is to marvell at Chrysippus or rather to enquire and demand what fansie hath come into his head and mooved him to say that this world is seated and placed directly in the midst and that the substance thereof from all 〈◊〉 having taken up and occupied the place of the midst yet neverthelesse it is so compact and tied together that it endureth alwaies and is as one would say immortalized for so much hath he written in his fourth booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Of possible things dreaming to no purpose of a middle place in that vast 〈◊〉 and yet more absurdly attributing unto that middle which is not nor hath any subsistence the cause of the worlds continuance and stabilitie especially having written thus much many times in other places that the substance is governed and mainteined partly by the motions tending to the mids and partly by others from the mids of it As for other oppositions besides that the Stoicks make who is there that feareth them as namely when they demand How it is possible to mainteine one fatall necessity and one divine providence and how it can otherwise be but that there should be many DIES and ZENES that is to say Joves and Jupiters if we grant that there be many worlds For to begin withall if it be an inconvenience to allow many such Joves and Jupiters their opinions verily be farre more absurd for they devise an infinit sort of Sunnes Moones Apolloes Dianaes and Neptunes in innumerable conversions revolutions of worlds Moreover what necessitie is there to enforce us to avow many Jupiters if there be many worlds and not rather in every of them a severall god as a sovereigne governor and ruler of the whole furnished with all understanding and reason as he whom we surname the Lord and Father of all things Or what should hinder but that all worlds might be subject to the providence destiny of Jupiter and he reciprocally have an eie to oversee all to direct digest and conduct all in ministring unto them the principles beginnings seeds and reasons of all things that are done and made For it being so that we do see even here many times a bodie composed of many other distinct bodies as for example the assembly or congregation of a city an armie and a daunce in every one of which bodies there is life prudence and intelligence as Chrysippus thinketh impossible it is not likewise that in this universall nature there should be ten fifty yea and a hundred worlds using all one and the same reason and correspondent to one beginning But contrariwise this order and disposition is best beseeming the gods For we ought not to make the gods like unto the kings of a swarme of bees which go not forth but keepe within the hive nor to holde them enclosed and imprisoned as it were rather and shut up fast within Matter as these men do who would have the gods to be certeine habitudes or dispositions of the aire and supposing them to be powers of waters and of fire infused and mixed within make them to arise and be engendred together with the world and so afterwards to be burnt likewise with it not allowing them to be loose and at libertie like as coatch-men and pilots are but in maner of statues or images are set fast unto their bases with nailes and sodered with lead even so they enclose the gods within bodily matter and pin them hard thereto so as being jointed as it were sure unto it they participate therewith all changes and alterations even to finall corruption and dissolution Yet is this opinion fare more grave religious and magnificent in my conceit to holde that the gods be of themselves free and without all command of any other power And like as they firy light Castor and Pollux succour those who are tossed in a tempest and by their comming and presence Allay the surging waves of sea below And still the blustring winds aloft that blow and not sailing themselves nor partaking the same perils with the mariners but onely appearing in the aire above save those that were in danger even so the gods for their pleasure goe from one world to another to visit them and together with nature rule and governe every one of them For Jupiter verily in Homer cast not his eies far from the city of Troy either into Thracia or the Nomades and vagrant Scythians along the river Ister or Daunbie but the true Jupiter indeed hath many faire passages goodly changes beseeming his majesty out of one world into another neither looking into the infinit voidnesse without nor beholding himselfe and nothing els as some have thought but considering the deeds of men and of gods the motions also and revolutions of the starres in their sphaeres For surely the deity is not offended with variety nor hateth mutations but taketh much pleasure therein as a man may guesse by the circuitions conversions and changes which appeare in the heaven I conclude therefore that the infinitie of worlds is a very senselesse and false conceit such as in no wise will beare and admit any god but emploieth fortune and chance in the managing of all things but contrariwise the administration and providence of a certeine quantity and determinate number of worlds seemeth unto me neither in majestie and worthinesse inferior nor in travell more laborious than that which is emploied and restreined to the direction of one alone which is transformed renewed and metamorphozed as it were an infinit sort of times After I had delivered this speech I
such things as manifestly do appeere For in divers and sundry countries we see that lakes and whole rivers yea and many more sountaines and springs of hot waters have failed and beene quite lost as being fled out of our sight and hidden within the earth but afterwards in the very same places they have in time shewed themselves againe or else run hard by And of mettall mines we know that some have beene spent cleane and emptied as namely those of silver about the territory of Attica semblably the vaines of brasse oare in Euboea out of which they forged sometime the best swords that were hardned with the tincture of cold water according to which the Poet Aeschylus said He tooke in hand the keene and douty blade Which of Euboean steele sometime was made The rocke also and quarry in Carystia it is not long since it gave over to bring foorth certeine bals or bottomes of soft stone which they use to spin and draw into thred in maner of flax for I suppose that some of you have seene towels napkins nets caules kerchiefes and coifes woven of such thred which would not burne and consume in the fire but when they were foule and soiled with occupying folke flung them into the fire and tooke them foorth againe cleane and faire but now al this is quite gone and hardly within the said delfe shall a man meet with some few hairie threds of that matter running here there among the hard stones digged out from thence Now of all these things Aristotle and his sectaries hold That an exhalation within the earth is the onely efficient cause with which of necessity such effects must faile and passe from place to place as also otherwhiles breed againe therewith Semblably are we to thinke of the spirits and exhalations prophetical which issue out of the earth namely that they have not a nature immortall and such as can not age or waxe olde but subject to change and alteration For probable it is that the great gluttes of raine and extraordinary flouds have extinguished them quite and that by the terrible fall of thunder-bolts the places were smitten and they withal dissipated and dispatched but principally when the ground hath beene shaken with earthquakes and thereupon setled downward and fallen in with trouble and confusion of whatsoever was below it cannot chuse but such exhalations conteined within the holow caves of the earth either changed their place and were driven forth or utterly were stifled and choked And so in this place also there remained and appeered some tokens of that great earth-quake which overthrew the city and staied the Oracle heere like as by report in the city Orchomenos there was a plague which swept away a number of people and therewith the Oracle of Tiresias the prophet failed for ever so continueth at this day mute and to no effect And whether the like befell unto the Oracles which were woont to be in Cilicia as we heare say no man can more certeinly enforme us than you Demetrius Then Demetrius How things stand now at this present I wot not for I have beene a traveller and out of my native country a long time as yee all know but when I was in those parts both that of Mopsus and also the other of Amphtlochus flourished and were in great request And as for the Oracle of Mopsus I am able to make report unto you of a most strange and woonderfull event thereof for that I was my selfe present The Governour of Cilicia is of himselfe doubtfull and wavering whether there be gods or no upon infirmity as I take it of miscredance and unbeliefe for otherwise he was a naughty man a violent oppressour and scorner of religion But having about him certeine Epicureans who standing much upon this their goodly and beautifull Physiologie forsooth as they terme it or else all were marred scoffe at such things he sent one of his affranchised or freed servants unto the Oracle of Mopsus indeed howbeit making semblance as if he were an espiall to discover the campe of his enemies he sent him I say with a letter surely sealed wherin he had written without the privity of any person whatsoever a question or demaund to be presented unto the Oracle This messenger after the order and custome of the place remaining all night within the sanctuary of the temple fel there asleepe and rehearsed the morrow morning what a dreame he had and namely that he thought he saw a faire and beautifull man to present himselfe unto him and say unto him this onely word Blacke and no more for presently he went his way out of his sight Now wee that were there thought this to be a foolish and absurd toy neither wist we what to make of it But the governour aforesaid was much astonied thereat and being stricken with a great remorse and pricke of conscience worshipped Mopsus and held his Oracle most venerable for opening the letter he shewed publikely the demaund conteined therein which went in these words Shall I sacrifice unto thee a white Bull or a blacke insomuch as the very Epicureans themselves who conversed with him were much abashed and ashamed So he offred the sacrifice accordingly and ever afterwards to his dying day honoured Mopsus right devoutly Demetrius having thus said held his peace but I desirous to conclude this whole disputation with some corollary turned againe and cast mine eie upon Philippus and Ammonius who sat together Now they seemed as if they had somewhat to speake unto me and thereupon I staied my selfe againe With that Ammonius Philip quoth he ô Lamprias hath somewhat yet to say of the question which hath beene all this while debated For he is of opinion as many others beside him are that Apollo is no other god than the Sunne but even the very same But the doubt which I moove is greater and of more important matters For I wot not how erewhile in the traine of our discourse we tooke from the gods all divination and ascribed the same in plaine termes to Daemons and angels and now we will seeme to thrust them out againe from hence and to disseize them of the Oracle and three footed table of which they were possessed conferring the beginning and principall cause of prophesie or rather indeed the very substance and power it selfe upon windes vapours and exhalations For even those temperatures heats tinctures and consolidations if I may so say which have beene talked of remove our minde and opinion farther off still from the gods and put into our heads this imagination and conceit of such a cause as Euripides deviseth Cyclops to alledge in the Tragoedie bearing his name The earth must needs bring forth grasse this is flat Will she or nill she and feed my cattell fatte This onely is the difference because he saith not that he sacrificed his beasts unto the gods but unto himselfe and his belly the greatest of all the Daemons but we both sacrifice and
to say Drying or having the power to drie Diatessaron A consonance or concord in Musick called a Fourth where of there be foure in the Scale which compriseth fifteene strings it answereth to the proportion Epitritos for it consisteth of three and one third part Diapente A consonance or concord in Musicke called a Five it answereth to the proportion Hemiolios or Sesquialtera for three conteineth two and halfe three and two make five Diapason a perfect consonance conteining two fourths or made of Diatesseron and Diapente As if it consisted of all an Eight It answereth to duple proportion or Diplasion Disdia pason A duple Eight or quadruple Fourth which was counted in old time the greatest Systema in the Musicke scale Diastema The intervall in the scale of Musick Also the rest or Time of which and of founds or notes consisteth Diatonicke Musicke Diazeugmenon Of disjuncts in Musicke Diaphoretical or Diphoretical So is called in Physicke Excessive sweat whereby the spirits be spent and the body much weakened and made faint as in the disease Cardiaca Diatonique Musicke Keepeth a meane temperature betweene Chromaticke and Enharmoniacke and may go for plaine song or our Musicke Diatonos A note in Musicke Diatonos Hypatōn D SOLRE Diatonos Mesōn Dictatour A soveraigne Magistrate above all others in Rome from whom no appeale was granted meere absolute and king-like but that his time of rule was limited within sixe moneths ordinarily so named because he onely said the word and it was done or for that he was Dictus that is to say nominated by one of the Consuls usually in fome time of great danger of the state and not otherwise elected Diesis The quarter of a note in Musicke or the least time or accent G SOL RE UT Dionysius in Corinth An usuall proverbe in Greece against such as are upon their prosperous estate so proud and insolent as they forget themselves and oppresse their inferiors putting them in minde that they may have a fall as well as Dionysius who having beene a mighty and absolute Monarch of Sicily was driven at last to teach a Grammar and Musicke schoole in Corinth Dithyrambs Were songs or hymnes in the honour of Bacchus who was surnamed Dithyrambus either because hee was borne twice and came into this world at two dores once out of his mother Senerleus wombe and a second time out of his father Jupiters thigh or else of Lythirambus according as Pindarus writeth For when Jupiter had sowed him within his thigh at what time as he should come forth againe he cried foorth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Undoe the seame Undoe the seame The Poets who composed such Hymnes were called Dithyrambicques whose verses and words were darke and intricate Divination Soothsaying or foretelling of future things Dolichus A long carriere or race containing twelve or as some say 24. Stadia Dorian or Doricke Musick Was grave and sober so called for that the Dorians first devised and most used it Drachme or Dram The eight part of an ounce Also a peece of money valued at seven pence halfe-penie in silver and in gold much about a french crowne The Romane denarius was aequivalent unto it E ECho A resonance or resounding of the last part of the voice or words delivered Echo-pan A song of Echo supposed to be a Nymph not visible but woonderfully beloved of Pan the Heardmens god Eclipticke making or occasioning an eclipse Elegi Lamentable and dolefull ditties composed of unequall verses as the Hexameter and Pentameter and such be called Elegiake Elenchs subtile arguments devised to reproove or confute Elotae The common slaves that the Lacedaemonians used and emploied in base ministeries as publicke executions c. Elucidaries Expositions or Declarations of things that be obscure and darke Embrochalion a devise that Physicians have to foment the head or any other part with some liquor falling from aloft upon it in maner of raine whereupon it tooke the name Emphaticall that is to say Expresse and verie significative Empiricke Physicians Who without regard either of the cause in a disease or the constitution and nature of the patient goe boldly to worke with those meanes and medicines whereof they had experience in others fall it out as it would Empusa A certeine vaine and fantasticall illusion sent by the divell or as the Painims say by Hecate for to fright infortunate folke Appeare it doth in divers formes and seemeth to go with one legge whereupon it tooke the name quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for one foote or legge it hath of brasse the other of an asse and therefore it is named also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Encomiastical Perteining to the praise of a thing or person Endrome A kinde of bickering or conflict Endymatia A kinde of daunce or Musicall Note Enharmonion one of the three generall sorts of Musicke song of many parts or a curious concent of sundry tunes Enthymemes Unperfect syllogismes or short reasonings when one of the premisses is not expressed yet so understoode as the conclusion neverthelesse is inferred Epact The day put to or set in to make the leape yeere Ephori Certeine Magistrates or Superintendents for the people in Sparta in opposition to the kings and to take downe their regall power such as were the Tribunes of the Commons at Rome ordeined for to abridge the Consuls absolute authoritie Epiali Be fevers of the Quotidian kind that is continuall they have an unequall distemperature both of colde and heat at once but the heat seemeth to be milde and gentle at the first whereupon they tooke that name These fevers also for the same reason be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epidemial diseases Such as are occasioned by some common cause and therefore spred and take hold of all persons indifferently in a tract or city as the pestilence To Epitomize To relate or pen a thing briefly and by way of an abbreviarie Epitritos The proportion sesquitertion whereby eight exceedeth sixe namely by a third part Etymologie the knowledge of the origniall of words and from whence they be derived Eviration Gelding or disabling for the act of generation Exharmonians Discords or dissonances in Musicke Exstasie or Ecstasie A traunce or transportation of the minde occasioned by rage admiration feare c. F FLatulent Windy or engendring winde as pease and beanes be flatulent meat Fomentations in Physicke be properly devises for to be applied unto any greeved part either to comfort and cherish it or to allay the paine or else to open the pores of the skinne and to make way for plasters and ointments to worke their effects the better Laid to they are by the meanes of bladders spunges wollen clothes or quilts and such like Fungosity A light and holow substance such as wee may perceive in spunges mushromes fusse bals elder pith c. G GAlli The furious priests of dame Cybele the great mother of the gods honored in Phrygia It is supposed that they
governour of all moisture 1301.40 Bactrians desire to have their dead bodies devoured by birds of the aire 299.50 Baines and stouphes 612.1 in old time very temperate 783.30 the occasion of many diseases 783.30 Balance not to be passed over 15.10 Ballachrades 903.30 Bal what it signifieth in the Aegyptian language 1319.1 Banishment of Bulimus 738.20 Banishment how to be made tolerable 275.1.10 no marke of infamie 278.20 seemeth to be condemned by Euripides ib. 30 Banished persons we are all in this world 281.20 Banquet of the seven Sages 326.30 Barbarians and Greeks compared 39.40 Barbell the fish honoured 976.40 Barbers be commonly praters 200.40 a pratling Barber checked k. Archelaus 408.10 Barber to K. 〈◊〉 crucified for his 〈◊〉 tongue 200.30 Barbers shops dry bankets 721.20 a Barber handled in his kinde for his 〈◊〉 tongue 201.1 Barly likes well in sandy ground 1008.10.20 Barrennesse in women how occasioned 844.20 Evill Bashfulnesse cause of much 〈◊〉 danger 165.10.20.30 over-much Bashfulnesse how to be avoided 164.30 Bashfulnesse 163.10 of two sorts 72.1 Bashfulnesse to be avoided in diet 613.1 Bathing in cold water upon exercise 620.20 Bathing in hot water ib. 30. Bathing and 〈◊〉 before meat 612.20 Bathyllion 759.10 Battus the sonne of Arcesilaus 504.30 Battus a buffon or 〈◊〉 775.10 Battus surnamed Daemon 504.20 Battus 1199.20 Beanes absteined from 15.20 Beare a subtill beast 965.10 why they are saide to have a sweet hand 1010.50 why they gnaw not the 〈◊〉 1012.30 tender over their yoong 218.20 a Bearded comet 827.20 Beasts haue taught us Physicke al the parts thereof 967.60 Beasts capable of vertue 564.50 docible apt to learne arts 570.1 able to teach ib. 10. we ought to have pittie of them 575.30 brute Beasts teach parents naturall kindnesse 217.218 Beasts braines in old time rejected 783.10 they cure themselves by Physicke 1012.1 Beasts of land their properties 958.50 what beasts will be mad 955.20 beasts not sacrificed without their owne consent 779.20 skilful in Arithmetick 968.20 kind to their yong 218.10 beasts wilde what use men make of them 237.40 of land or water whether have more use of reason 951. 30. beasts have use of reason 954.955 how to be used without injurie 956.40 how they came first to be killed 779.10 whether they feed more simply than we 702.1 whether more healthfull than men 702.1 Beauty the blossome of vertue 1153.10 beauty of what worth 6.50 beauty of woman called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 728.50 beauty without vertue not 〈◊〉 47.1 Beboeon 1370.40 Bebon ib. Bed of maried folke 〈◊〉 many quarrels betweene them 322 20. bed-clothes to bee shuffled when we be newly risen 777.40 Bees of Candie how witty they be 959. 50. bees cannot abide smoke 1014.30 they sting unchaste persons ib. 40. the bee a wise creature 218.1 The Beetill flie what it signisieth 〈◊〉 1291.30 why honoured by the Aegyptians 1316.30 Beer a counterfeit wine 685.40 Begged flesh what is ment by it 891.50 Bellerophontes continent everie way 739.30 Bellerophontes commended for his continence 42.30.139.30 he slew Chimarchus 489.10 not rewarded by Iobates ib. Belestre 1137.1 The Bellies of dead men how they be served by the Aegyptians 576.40 of belly belly cheere pro contra 339.340 belly pleasures most esteemed by lipicurus and Metrodorus 595. 10. belly hath no cares 620.40 Bepolitanus strangely escaped execution 502.40 Berronice the good wife of 〈◊〉 1111.40 〈◊〉 detected for killing his father 545.30 Bias his answer to a pratling fellow 194.20 his answer to king Amasis 327.10 his apophthegme 456.1 his apophthegme touching the most dangerous beast 47.30 Binarie number 807.10 Binarie number or Two called contention 1317.30 Bion his answere to Theognis 28.20 his apophthegme 254. 50. his saying of Philosophie 9.1 〈◊〉 hath divers significations 29.20 Birds why they have no wezill flap 745.10 birds how they drinke 745.10 skilfull in divination 968.40 taught to imitate mans mans voice 966.30 Biton and Cleobis rewarded with death 518.10 See Cleobis Bitternesse what effects it worketh 656.10 a 〈◊〉 of his toong how he was served by K. Seleucus 200.20 Blacknesse commeth of water 997. 10 Blacke potage at Lacedaemon 475. 20 Bladder answereth to the winde-pipe like as the guts to the wezand 745.20 Blames properly imputed for vice 47.30 Blasing 〈◊〉 827.10 The Blessed state of good folke departed 530.50 Bletonesians sacrificed a man 878.10 Blushing face better than pale 38 50 Bocchoris a k. of AEgypt 164.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 898.40 Bodily health by two arts preserved 9.10 Body fitter to entertaine paine than pleasure 583.10 body feeble no hinderance to aged rulers 389.40 bodies what they be 813. bodies smallest 813.50 body cause of all vices and calamities 517.30 body may well have an action against the soule 625.1 much injuried by the soule ib. Boeotarchie 367.10 Boeotians good trencher men 669 10. noted for gluttony 575.1 Boeotians reproched for hating good letters 1203.50 Boldnesse in children and youth 8.40 Bona a goddesse at Rome 856.50 Books of Philosophers to be read by yoong men 9.50 Boreas what winde 829.30 Bottiaeans 898.30 their virgins song ib. Brasidas his saying of a silly mouse 251.20 Brasidas his apophthegmes 423. 30.456.1 his death and commendation ib. 10 A Brason spike keepeth dead bodies from putrefaction 697.50 Brasse swords or speares wounde with lesse hurt 698.1 Brasse why called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 698.1 why it is so resonant 770.10 Brasse of Corinth 1187.1 Bread a present remedie for fainting 739.1 Brennus king of the Gallogreeks 910.40 Brethren how they are to divide their patrimonie 180.40 one brother ought not to steale his fathers heart from another 179 30. they are to excuse one another to their parents 179.50 how they should cary themselves in regard of age 184.185 Briareus a giant the same that Ogygius 1180.20 Bride lifted over the threshold of her husbands dore 860.30 bridegrome commeth first to his bride without a light 872.10 20. bride why she eateth a quince before she enter into the bed-chamber 872.20 brides haire parted with a javelin 879. 50 Brimstone why called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 705.30 Brison a famous runner 154.30 Brotherly amity a strange thing 174.20 Brutus surprised with the hunger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 738.50 his gracious thankefulnesse to the 〈◊〉 739.1 Decim Brutus why he sacrificed to the dead in December 862. 10 Brutus beheadeth his owne sonnes 909.50 The Bryer bush 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 892. 50 Bubulci the name at Rome how it came 865.10 Bucephalus K. Alexanders horse 963.50 how he was woont to ride him 396.20 Buggery in brute beasts not known 568.30 Building costly forbidden by Lycurgus 577.30.880.1 Bulb roote 704.20 Buls and beares how they prepare to fight 959.1 Buls affraied of red clothes tied to figge-trees become tame 323. 741.30 Bulla what ornament or jewell 40. why worne by Romaines children 883.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fainting
a token of mortalitie 766.30 Geometricall proportion allowed in Lacedaemon by Lycurgus 767.50 Geometrie commended 767.10 in what subjects or objects it is occupied 767.20.30 Geomori who they were 904.40 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Honour why so termed in Greeke 391.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why old men be so called 391.30 Geryones or Geryon a wonderfull giant 374.20 Gidica her villany 916. 10. she hangeth her selfe ib. Glasse with what heat it is best melted and wrought 697.1 Glaucia with childe by Deimachus 901.10 Glaucia a riveret of her name ib. 20 Glancopis why the Moone is called so 1174.1 Glaucus his foolish bargaine with Diomedes 1087.20 Lucius Glauco lost both his hands 906.40 Glory of what account it is 6.50 Glosses 28.50 Glottae 1311.40 Gluttons abroad spary at home 614.30 Gnathaenium the name of an harlot 1144.1 Gnatho a smell feast 754.40 Gnatho the Sicilian a glutton 606.30 Go we to Athens 898.30 Goats very subject to the falling sicknesse 886.40 Goats rivers a place so called 922.10 Goats of Candie cured by Dictamnus 569.40 Goats commending their pasturage and feeding 702.10 a Goat fancied Glauce 966.30 God how he is called Father and Creatour 766.30 God 768.50 Gods and Goddesses how they differ 766.40.50 how God is said by Plato to practise Geometrie continually 767 10. how he framed the world 768.10 God manageth great affaires onely 364.40 Gods nature what it is according to Plutarch 263.40 God seemeth to deferre punishment for causes to him best knowen 541 God immortall 1099.1 God is not Philornis but Philanthropos 1221.10 God not the authour of euill 1033.50 God described by Antipater 1076 10 Gods which were begotten which not 1076.20 God what he is 808.10.809.20 notion of God how it came 809.20 God his nature described 1335.50 Gods worship in three sorts 810.10 Gods the Sunne and Moone why called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 810.20 Gods good and profitable 810.20 Gods bad and hurtfull ib. Gods fabulous 810.30 what God is Sundry opinions of Philosophers 812 God the father and maker of all things 1018.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 953.10 Goldsmiths with what fire they melt work their gold 699.1 Gold why it maketh no good sound 770.10 Good or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifieth 868.40 Good or bad things simply 1084.40 to Good men what epithets and additions Homer giveth 1297.10 a Goose in love with a boy 966.30 Geese silent as the flie over the mount Taurus 202.10 Geese of Cilicia how witty they are 959.50 Geese saved the Capitoll of Rome 638. 20. carried in a shew at Rome 638. 30. how they restraine their owne gagling ib. Gorgias 〈◊〉 the great Rhetorician 919. 20. his apophthegme of Tragoedies 985.10 Gorgias could not keepe his owne house in peace 323.20 Gorgo the wife of Leonidas a stout dame 464.30 her apophthegme ib. Gorgo the daughter of Cleomenes her apophthegmes 479.40 Gorgon and Asander 1152.20 Governours of youth how to be chosen 5.10 Government politicke the best 940 50 of Governments the exorbitations 941.30 C. Gracchus 348. 50. by what device he did moderate his voice in pleading 122.10 Graces why placed with Venus and Mercury 316. 10. their names 292.1 Grammar what art it is 1249.1 Grashoppers sacred and musicall 777.10 Greece in Plutarchs time fallen to a low ebbe 1326.1 〈◊〉 and Galatians buried quicke by the Romans 878.40 Greekes what opinion they have of the gods 1306.40 Greekes compared with the Aegyptians in matters of religion 1315.10 Guests ought to sort well together 722.1 Guests sit close at first but more at large toward the end 722.20 Guests invited ought to be of acquaintance 755.40 Guests invited coming last to a feast 775.20 A Guest ought to come prepared to a feast 328.10 Guests how to be placed at a feast 646.20 how to be pleased at the table 648.20 allowed their chaplets of flowres 680 20 Whether it be commendable for Guests to weare garlands 682.10 Of Guests a multitude to be avoided at a feast 721.20 The guide a fish 975.30 Gurmandise in men taxed by Gryllus 669.10 Gifts none betweene wife and husband 853.1 No gifts from sonne in law or father in law 853.20 Gymnasia the overthrew of Greece 864.20 Gymnopaedia what daunce 1251 30 Gymnosophists 1270.30 Gyrtias her apophthegmes 480.1 H HAbitude in the soule what it is 67.40 Hades and Dionysius both one 1298.40 Haile how it commeth 828. 10 how it may be averted 746.30 Haire long commended and commanded by Lycurgus 422.40 Haire long commended 423.10 Halo the circle how it is made 832.40 Halcyones sea-birds see Alciones 633.50 Hamedriades why so called 1327 50 Hamoxocylistae a family in Megara 905.40 Hands alwaies warme holsome and good for health 611.40 Hands most artificious instruments 174.40 Hanno banished for ruling a lion 349.50 Happinesse diversly taken by Poets and philosophers 32.30 Happinesse not to be measured by time 1333.1 Hares how crafty they are 965.1 The Hare why not eaten among the lewes 111.10 Hares of exquisit sense 711.10 Hares and asses alike ib. Harma the name of a city 908.20 Harmatios what tune or song 1251.1 Harmonia what goddesse 1306 50 Harmonie what Daemon 157.40 Harmonicke musicke 976.40 Harmonice 1019.1 Harmony commended 1255.30 Harpalus endevoured to have Ivy grow about Babylon 685.20 An Harpe or lute going about the table 645.10 Harpe familiar at feasts 760.20 Harpocrates the sonne of Osiris by Isis wanteth his nether parts 1295.1 Harpocrates his portracture 1313.50 Harts or Stagges age 1327.30 Hatred how engendred 234.20 it differeth from envie 234.1 Hauke symbolizeth god 1300.20 Hauke symbolizeth Osiris 1308.10 Hautboies and slute 760.30 commended at feasts ib. Romanes worshipped the gods with their Heads covered but men bare headed 853.50 Health what it is 849.30 Health of what price 6.50 Health the best sauce 615.20 by what meanes mainteined 618.50 Health and pleasure agree well together 702.1 Health how it is accounted of diversly 75.20 Heart not to be eaten 15.20 Heat naturall mainteined most by moisture 730 Heat putrifieth things 774.10 Heats by fire of divers kindes and sundry operations 697.1 Heaven how the Aegyptians pourtray 1291.30 Heaven how made 808.30 Heaven beautifull 809 Heaven what substance it hath 830. into how many circles divided 820.40 Heare much and say little 53.20 Hearing how to be emploied 18.40 presenteth the greatest passions to the minde 52.10 ought to goe before speech 52.50 Hearers how they should be qualified 53.20 c. they ought to sequester envy and ambition 53.50 how they should behave them selves in praising the speaker 58.40 Hebius Tolieix 915.40 Hecates gulfe in the Moone 1183 30 Hecatompedon a temple of Minerva in Athens 963.20 Hecatomphonia 341.10 Hector noted for presumption 24.40 Hegesias caused his scholars to pine themselves 223.1 Hegesippus surnamed Crobylus his apophthegme 420.40 Helbia a vestall nunne smitten with lightning 878.20 Helena escaped sacrificing 916.10 how in Homer she spiceth her cups 644.1 Helepolis an engine of battery 415.30 Heliope what Daemon 157.30 Helitomenus 1295.1 Hellanicus a
of themselves without any evident cause prognosticate and fore-signifie diseases for that as it should seeme the spirits that should passe unto the nerves and sinewes are obstructed stopped and excluded by the great repletion of humors and albeit the bodie it selfe tendeth as it were to the contrarie and pulleth us to our bedde and repose yet some there be who for very gluttony and disordinate lust put themselves into baines hot-houses making haste from thence to drinking square with good fellowes as if they would make provision before-hand of victuals against some long siege of a citie or feare that the feaver should surprise them fasting or before they had taken their full dinner others somwhat more honest yea civill than they are not this way 〈◊〉 but being ashamed fooles as they are to confesse that they have eaten or drunke overmuch that they feele any heavinesse in head or cruditie in stomacke loth also to be knowen for to keepe their chamber all the day long in their night gownes whiles their companions goe to tennis and other bodily exercises abroad in publicke place and call them foorth to beare them companie rise up and make them ready to goe with them cast off their clothes to their naked skinne with others and put themselves to doe all that men in perfect health are to performe But the most part of these induced and drawen on by hope perswaded are bold to arise and to doe hardly after their wonted maner assisted by a certaine hope grounded upon a proverbe 〈◊〉 an advocate to desend gourmandise and wanton life which adviseth them that they should 〈◊〉 wine with wine drive or digest one surfeit with another Howbeit against all such hope 〈◊〉 are to oppose the warie and considerat caution that Cato speaketh of which as that wise 〈◊〉 saith doth diminish and lessen great things and as for small matters it reduceth them to nothing also that it were better to endure want of meat and to keepe the bodie emptie and in 〈◊〉 than so to hazard it by entring into a baine or runne to an high ordinarie to dine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be some disposition to sicknesse hurtfull it will be that we have not taken heed nor conteined our selves but beene secure if none dangerous it will not be that we have held 〈◊〉 restrained our selves and by that restraint made our body so much more pure and cleare But that 〈◊〉 foole whosoever he be that is afraid to let his friends and those of his owne house know that he is amisse or ill at ease for that he hath eaten overmuch or surfeited with strong drinke as being ashamed to confesse this day his indigestion shall be forced to morrow even against his will to bewray either an inordinate catarrh and fluxe or an ague or else some wrings and torments of the belly thou takest it for a great shame to be knowen that thou didst want or were hungry but farre greater shame it is to avow crudity and rawnesse to bewray heavinesse proceeding from full diet and upon repletion of the bodie to be drawen neverthelesse into a baine as if some rotten vessell or leaking shippe that would not keepe out water should be shot into the sea Certes such persons as these resemble some sailers or sea-faring men who in the tempestuous time of winter be ashamed to be seene upon the shore doing nothing but when they have once weighed anker spred saile and launched into the deepe and open sea they are very ill appaied crying out piteously and ready to cast up their gorge even so they that doubt some sicknesse or finde a disposition of the bodie ready to fall into it thinke it a great shame and discredit to stand upon their guard one day to keepe their beds and forbeare their ordinarie table and accustomed diet but afterwards with more shame they are faine to lie by it many daies together whiles they be driven to take purgations to applie many cataplasmes to speake the physicians faire and fawne upon them when they would have leave of them to drinke wine or cold water being so base minded as to doe absurdly and to speake many words impertinently feeling their hearts to faile and be ready to faint for the paine they endure alreadie and the feare they are in to abide more Howbeit very good it were to teach and admonish such persons as otherwise cannot rule and conteine themselves but either yeeld or be transported and carried away by their lusts that their pleasures take the most and best part of the bodie for their share And like as the Lacedaemonians after that they had given vinegar and salt to the cooke willed him to seeke for the rest in the beast sacrificed even so in a bodie which one would nourish the best sauces for the meat are these which are presented unto it when it is sound in health and cleane For that a dish of meat is sweet or deere is a thing by it selfe without the bodie of him who taketh it and eateth thereof but for the pleasantnesse or contentment thereof we ought to have regard unto the body that receiveth it also for to delight therein it should be so disposed as nature doth require for otherwise if the body be troubled ill affected or overcharged with wine the best devices and sauces in the world will lose their grace and all their goodnesse whatsoever and therefore it would not be so much looked unto whether the fish be new taken the bread made of pure and fine flowre the bathe hot or the harlot faire and beautifull as considered precisely whether the man himselfe have not a lothing stomacke apt to heave and vomit be not full of crudities error vanity and trouble else it will come to passe that she shall incurre the same fault and absurditie that they doe who after they are drunken will needs goe in a maske to plaie and daunce in an house where they all mourne for the death of the master thereof lately deceased for in stead of making sport and mirth this were enough to set all the house upon weeping and piteous wailing For even so the sports of love or Venus exquisit uiands pleasant baines and good wines in a bodie ill disposed and not according to nature doe no other good but stirre trouble fleame and and choler in them who have no setled and compact constitution and yet be not altogether corrput as also they trouble the body and put it out of tune more than any thing else yeelding no joy that we may make any reckoning of nor that contentment which wee hoped and expected True it is that an exquisit diet observed streightly and precisely according to rule and missing not one jot causeth not onely the bodie to be thinne hollow and in danger to fall into many diseases but also dulleth all the vigor and daunteth the cheerefulnesse of the verie mind in such sort as that she suspecteth all things and feareth continually to stay long as well in