always to repress the Enormity of the Will and to preserve a constant Moderation in all things The contrary Vice to which is called Naughtiness Frugality is as I suppose from Fruit than which nothing better springs out of the Earth Naughtiness is hence though perhaps it may be somewhat hard however let us assay though it pass but for an Allusion if there should be nothing more it is hence deriv'd from that such a man hath not ought in him whereupon he is also said to be nothing worth He then that is Honest or if you had rather that is Modest and Temperate must of necessity be Constant and he that is Constant Quiet he that is Quiet free from all Disturbance and consequently Discontent but these are the Properties of a Wise man theâ—â—fore Discontent will be far from a Wise 〈…〉 SECT IX by an Induction from Particular Passions of Wrath Envy SO that Dionysius of Heraclea Disputes not unhandsomly upon that Passage of Homer wherein Achilles complains to this purpose as I take it My Heart swells big whil'st I on this reflect Rob'd of my Lawful Prize and iust respect Is the Hand rightly dispos'd when it is swell'd or is there any other Member which hath a Rising or Swelling that is not out of order in like manner therefore the Soul puffed up or swollen is out of order but the wise mans Soul is always in order therefore it never rifeth never swelleth But now the Soul in anger is so therefore a wise man is never angry for if he be angry he also Lusts for it is the property of one angry to desire a fixing the most grievous Pain on him by whom he thinks he is injur'd and he who covets that if he shall obtain it must necessarily be transported with joy whence it follows that he must rejoyce at anothers harm which because it is not incident to a wise man neither is it incident to him to be angry but if Discontent were incident to a wise man so also were the Passion of Anger but because he is free from this so must he be also from that of Discontent For if a wise man were liable to Discontent so might he also be to Pitty so might he also be to Envy I use a word of active signification because the ordinary Latin word rather signifieth passively an Odium that so we may decline the Iniquity of the Term now the Latin word for Envy is deriv'd from a Verb which imports looking very wistfully upon anothers Beauty as in the Play Menalippus Who on my blooming Sons look'd with ill eye The Latin Construction seems wrong but Attins said singularly well who though he departs from Custom at present prevailing yet challeng'd the Priviledge of a Poet ventur'd to follow the natural Analogy SECT X. and Pitty THerefore also the Passions of Pitty and Envy are incident to the same Subject For he that is griev'd at some ones Adversity is also griev'd at some ones Prosperity h As Theophrastus deploring the untimely death of Callisthenes his Fellow-Student maligneth the good successes of Alexander therefore he saith that Calisthenes light upon Relation to a Person of the greatest Power and highest Fortune but ignorant how to manage Prosperity as he ought Now as Mercy is the being afflicted at anothers Adversity so Envy is the being afflicted at anothers Prosperity Whosoever therefore is liable to Pitty the same is also liable to Envy but Envy is not incident to a wise man therefore neither is Pitty Now if a wise man used to take Discontent he would use also to take Pitty therefore a wise man is not liable to Discontent i These Arguments are thus brought by the Stoicks and infer'd by legitimate Conclusions but they are to be discours'd somewhat more at large and with greater Variety Yet we must maintain their Tenets more expresly who have proceeded upon the most couragious and as I may say manly Principle and Opinion For our Friends the Peripateticks though there be nothing under Heaven more Copious than they are nothing more Learned nothing more Grave yet do not make out to my judgment a Moderation either of the Distempers or Diseases of the Soul for every Evil though but indifferent great is great But we are proving this that there is no such thing at all in a wise man For as the Body if it be but indifferent is not well so if there be the same indifferency in the Soul it is not in Health Therefore our Ancestors did excellently well name as many other things after their Propriety so Vexation Disquiet Anxiety a Distemper and the Greeks express every disorder of mind by a Term near the same for they call every inordinate Sally of the Spirit a Passion which in that Language imports a Disease We more properly for the Distemper of the mind bears great Analogy with bodily Sickness But Lust is not like Sickness nor is immoderate Joy which is an ecstatical and extravagant pleasure of the Mind Nay Fear it self is not very like a Disease though it borders upon Discontent But properly as Sickness in the Body so Distemper in the Soul hath a name not sever'd from Pain therefore the Original of this Pain is to be laid open by us that is the efficient cause of Distemper in the Soul as of Sickness in the Body for as Physicians having found out the cause of a Disease think the Cure found out so we having discover'd the Cause of Discontent shall find out the method of curing it h As Theophrastus deploring the untimely death of Callisthenes his Fellow-Student Callisthenes the Olynthian was well known to Alexander the Great having studied together under the same Tutor Aristotle The King took him along with him to Pen the History of his Asian Atchievements but the freedom of his Discourse and uncomplying demeanor wrought his overthrow For when King Alexander now Lord of Asia requir'd of his Macedons to give him the Ceremony of Persian Adoration he with some others of the Macedonian Nobles too openly declar'd their dislike of it The haughty young Victor could not brook that the Majesty of his Empire and with that Grandeur improv'd should be disputed by his Vasals and therefore is said under a colour of a Sham-Plot of Hermolaus to have executed many of the Non-conforming Nobility but Calisthenes he first mangled and disfigured cut off his Ears Nose and Lips afterwards put him into a Cage with a Dog and so carried him about whithersoever the Army march'd till at last he dy'd with the torture and regret of Spirit Theophrastus wrote a Book entitled Calisthenes or a Lamentation from whence this Passage is quoted i These Arguments are thus brought by the Stoicks From strict Arguing he cometh to examine Terms and prepares the way to enlarge more clearly on the Subject SECT XI The Cause of Dissatisfaction is a mistake in Opinion k THE whole therefore is in Opinion nor is that the Cause of Discontent only but of all the
enquire into every opinion of the rest if it be possible that this excellent as it were Sanction of an happy Life may agree with all their Judgments SECT XXX The different Opinions about the chief Good NOW these Opinions about the Supream good have as I suppose been kept and maintain'd First four single ones that Nothing is Good but what is Honest as the Stoick that Nothing is Good but Pleasure as Epicurus that Nothing is Good but freedom from Pain as x Hierom that Nothing is Good but to enjoy the prime Goods of Nature either all or the greatest as Carneades disputed it against the Stoicks These then are single the following are mix'd The three sorts of Goods the greatest of the Soul the next of the Body external the third as the Peripateticks nor held the ancient Academicks much otherwise Pleasure with Honesty Clitomachus and Calliphon coupled but Freedom from Pain y Diodorus the Peripatetick joyn'd to Honesty These are the Opinions which held their Station any time for those of z Aristo a Pyrrho b Herillus and some others are vanish'd away What claim these can make out let us consider omitting the Stoicks whose opinion I seem already to have enough defended And indeed the cause of the Peripateticks is open'd except Theophrastus and if any of his Followers do very weakly dread and shrink from Pain the rest may do what they usually do magnifie the Gravity and Dignity of Vertue and when they have extoll'd it to Heaven that which such Eloquent men are wont copiously to do it is easie to run down and undervalue all other things in comparison thereto for it is not free for them who hold that praise is to be sought with Pain to deny them to be happy who have acquir'd it since though they are in some Evils yet this name of happy hath a great length and breadth x Hierom. Of Rhodes y Diodorus Surnam'd Cronus z Aristo He held besides Vice and Vertue all to be indifferent a Pyrrho He taught Nothing could be known b Herillus His Tenet that Knowledge is the chiefest Good SECT XXXI The denomination of the whole is from the greater part FOR as Merchandize is said to be gainful Husbandry fruitful not if the one be always free from any loss the other always from any injury of the Weather but if for far the more part there prove good success in both so Life not only if it be cram'd with Goods on every side but if in much the greater and more important part Goods do preponderate it may rightly be call'd happy Happiness of Life therefore in these mens Scheme will follow Vertue even to Punishment and enter with it into the Bull upon the warrant of Aristotle Xenocrates Speusippus Polemo nor will be corrupted by small blandishments to forsake it The same will be the judgment of Calliphon and Diodorus both of which so embraces honesty that he esteems all things which are without it to be set behind it and at a great distance too The rest seem to be harder beset yet they save themselves ashore Epicure Hierom and if there be any that care to defend that Eloquent Carneades for there is none but thinks the Soul judge of these Goods and instructs it how it may be able to contemn those things which seem good or evil For what you take to be the case of Epicurus the same will be that of Hierom and Carneades and in truth all the rest for who is not sufficiently provided against Death or Pain Begin we at him if you please whom we call Lasche and voluptuary What do you take him to fear Death or Pain who calls that day wherein he is a dying blessed and being in very great Pains yet silences them with the memory and recalling to mind of his Inventions nor doth he this in such manner as that he might be thought to bolt forth some extemporary flash for this is his Sentiment about death that when the living Creature is dissolv'd all Sense is abolish'd but what is without Sense nothing concerns us About Pain also he hath certain Rules which he follows for he comforts their greatness with the being short and their length with the being light What I pray those big speakers are they better provided than Epicurus against these two which give the greatest anguish Do not Epicurus and the rest of the Philosophers seem sufficiently prepar'd for those other Evils reputed Who dreads not Poverty yet so doth not any of the Philosophers SECT XXXII and in 33 34 35. A Plea for Poverty NAY even he himself with how little was he contented None hath said more of a slender Diet for the things which occasion a coveting after Money as to have a constant supply for Love for Ambition for daily Expences when he preserveth himself from all those things what great need hath he for Money or rather why should he at all regard it Could Anacharsis the Scythian have no value for Money and cannot our Country Philosophers do the same A Letter of his goeth about in these words Anacharsis to Hanno Greeting My Cloaths is a Scythian Pelt Shooes the soles of my Feet Bed the Ground Dainties a good Stomach Diet Milk Cheese Flesh Wherefore you may come over to me as being at leisure But those Presents of yours wherein you display your magnificence offer either your own Carthaginians or the immortal Gods Almost all Philosophers of all Perswasions could be thus minded except those whom deprav'd Nature had perverted from right Reason Socrates at a Show when a great quantity of Gold and Silver was carried by said How many things are there that I do not lack Xenocrates when Ambassadors from Alexander had brought him fifty Talents which was a very great sum in those times especially at Athens carried their Excellencies along with him into the Academy to Supper provided no exceedings but set before them a bare Colledge-Commons The next day when they ask'd him whom he would order to have the Money drawn over to him What saith he did you not understand by yesterdays short meal that I need no Money At this when he saw them look somewhat dissatisfied he took c a hundred Pounds d of it lest he should seem to slight their Masters liberality But Diogenes more bluntly yet as a Cynick when Alexander ask'd him wherein he could serve him At present saith he a little out of my Sun He had it seems hinder'd his basking He it was who us'd to dispute how much he surpass'd in Life and Fortunes the great King of Persia That he wanted nothing the other would never have enough he lack'd not the others Pleasures wherewith he could never be satisfied the other could no ways attain to his satisfactions c A hundred Pounds A Drachma is valuable against the Denarius about eight pence A Mina 100 Drachmas 30 Minae 300 Drachmae d Of it Of the 50. Talents a Talent was the Greater 80. Minae 266. l. 13. s. 4. d. The Lesser
on the top of his Tomb was a Sphear erected with a Cylinder when I had view'd all about for at the Agragian Port is a great number of Sepulchers I spy'd a Pillar somewhat rais'd above the Bushes l on which was the Figure of a Sphear and Cylinder Then I presently told the Syracusians at that time the chief of the Town were with me that I thought that was the thing I look'd for divers with Hand-Bills were sent in who clear'd the place when an open way was made we came to the Front of the Base there appear'd an Epigram the latter part of the Verses to almost half being perish'd So that noble City of Greece and heretofore very learned had not known the Monument of her most ingenious Citizen had she not learn'd it m of a poor Arpinate But let my Discourse return from whence it hath digress'd for who is there that hath any acquaintance with the Muses that is with Humanity and Learning who had not rather be this Mathematician than that Tyrant If we look into their manner of Life and Employment the mind of one was improv'd by working and searching out Proportions with the delight of invention which is the sweetest repast of Souls The others fed with Carnage and Injuries with Fears both by day and by night Come on compare Democritus Pythagoras Anaxagoras what Kingdoms what Wealth will you prefer before their Studies and Delights for what is the best part in man therein must that best thing of all for man which you enquire after of necessity be seated Now what is there in man better than an ingenuous and sound mind The good of that therefore must we enjoy if we would be happy but the good of the mind is Vertue therefore a happy Life must of necessity be compriz'd in that Hence all things which are good honest honourable as I said above but that same seems that it ought to be more largely said are full of joys Now seeing it is plain that a happy Life is made up of continual and compleat joys it follows that it ariseth from honesty l On which was the Figure of a Sphear and Cylinder On which he had written so accurately m Of a poor Arpinate Tully was born at Arpinum a Corporation Famous before only for the Birth of Marius a stout but illiterate Commander SECT XXIV The Exercise of a Wise man in Contemplation of Nature BUT lest we should only touch in words upon those things which we ought to shew there are some as it were motives to be laid down by us which should more invite us to knowledge and understanding for let us presume on some Person excelling in the best Arts and let him for a while be fancied in our Mind and Thought First he must needs be of an excellent Wit for Vertue doth not in all likelyhood consort with dull Souls Then must he have a forward inclination to the search of truth from whence ariseth n that three-fold issue of the Soul the one in knowledge of the World and explaining of Nature a second in the description of what is to be desir'd what avoided the third in judging what is consequent to what and what repugnant wherein consists both all the subtilty of disputing and truth of judging What joy then I pray must needs possess the wise mans mind dwelling and lodging with these Entertainments and when he shall behold the Motions and Revolutions of the whole Firmament and shall see innumerable Stars sticking in their Orb agree with its own motion fix'd in their due distances Other seven each to keep their courses much differing in height or lowness whose wide motions yet limit certain bounded and order'd Posts of their Race It was the Observation of these that incited and minded those Ancients to enquire farther Thence arose that o search of the Principles and as it were Seeds whence all things had their Original Generation Composition and what is the Rise what Life what Death and what the Change or Conversion from one into another of every kind with or without Sense dumb or speaking whence is the Earth and by what weights pois'd in what caverns it sustains the Seas whether all things born down by their Gravity do always tend to the middle place of the World which is also the lowest in a round Figure n That three-fold issue of the Soul Physicks Ethicks and Logick o Search of the Principles and as it were Seeds whence all things had their Original The Creation of the World in its order could not have been discover'd unless it had been from above revealed for how could Adam come to understand what had past in the Vigils of his Production into Being without a Divine Tradition but the old Sages beheld the order of Causes in Generation and found Matter and Form to concur when there was a vacancy to the producing any new compound SECT XXV Good Manners right Reasoning and discharge of his place WHILST he considers these things and meditates on them day and night there ariseth that knowledge enjoyn'd by the God at Delphi that the Spirit knows it self to have put off former Vices and experiments that it is ally'd to the Divine Spirit and thereupon is fill'd with insatiable Joy For the very Contemplation of the Power and Nature of the Deity and enkindleth a desire of imitating that Eternity nor doth it think it self confin'd to this shortness of Life when it beholds the Causes of all Events depending one upon another and all of them link'd together with necessity which as they flow from eternal Duration to eternal yet a Wisdom and Spirit doth conduct Stedfastly beholding these things and looking upwards or rather looking round on all the Parts and Extremities with what calmness of mind again doth he consider the Contingencies of Hurnane Life and things here below Hence ariseth that knowledge of Vertue the general and particular Vertues sprout forth there is found out what is that chiefest amongst Goods which Nature aims at what the utmost amongst Evils whereinto all Duties are to be resolv'd what order of leading our Life to be chosen These and such-like things being search'd out it is firmly prov'd which we chiefly drive at in this Dispute that Vertue is self-sufficient to happiness of Life A third branch remains the method and skill of disputing which is diffus'd and spreads through all the Parts of Wisdom This defines Notions divides the general into its parts conjoyns consequent means of proof infers regular Conclusions From which as the highest usefulness ariseth towards examining Matters so doth also the most ingenuous delight and worthy of Wisdom But these are the Improvements of leisure pass the same wise man to manage the publick what can be more serviceable than he when he beholds the Interest of his Country to be bound up in his Prudence out of Justice he converts nothing of the publick to his private use exercises so many others and such various Vertues Joyn hereto the benefit
so violently that we should not see reason enough to endure them any longer good Gods m why do we make much difficulty for the Harbor is at hand death upon the spot an eternal receptacle into a State of insensibility n Theodorus said to Lysimachus threatning him with death you have indeed rais'd your self to great advancement if you can compare in power with a Spanish Fly Paul when King Perses petition'd him not to be led in Triumph reply'd That is in your own Power Much hath been said of death the first day when the Debate was expresly concerning death and not a little the second when the Subject was about Pain he that can remember that is in no great danger of not thinking death either to be desir'd or at least not to be fear'd k That he heard ill M. Crassus the Triumvir one of the three Keepers of the Liberty of Rome with Pompey and Julius Caesar he certainly lay under a flagrant infamy of unsatiable Covetousness both at home and with the Persians On this account Tully inveighs against him in his last Paradox He was also brought into some suspicion in the matter of Catiline but there compurg'd by him and perhaps he doth the like here only in point of disaffection to the Government in his time establish'd l Our Epicureans A colour or facetious Argument taken to expose that Sect. m Why do we make much difficulty A Stoical case to favour impatience in Pain n Theodorus Call'd Atheist was sent Embassador by Ptolomy to Lysimachus King of Thrace where speaking resolutely he was threat'ned by him who was of a cholerick Temper when he bid him come no more into his presence he reply'd he would not unless Ptolomy sent him again Some of the Fathers count him falsly traduc'd of Atheism because he disallow'd the worship of the Greeks and being a Cyrenian and known to Ptolomy he might have acquaintance with the Alexandrian Jews SECT XLI That it is an opinion almost universally held by the Philosophers that wise men are always happy THAT order seems in my judgment fit to be observ'd in Life which is enjoyn'd in the treats of the Greeks either drink or be gone And reason good for either let a man enjoy the pleasure of taking his Cup with others or let him timely withdraw lest he being sober be fallen upon by the rest in a drunken Fit So should a man avoid by retiring what injuries of Fortune he cannot sustain These same directions of Epicurus repeats Hierom word for word Now if those Philosophers who are of the opinion that vertue of it self is of no consideration all that we call honest and praise-worthy they say to be meer Jargon and a pure Rant yet if these judge the wise man to be always happy what I pray do you think should the Philosophers descended from Socrates and Plato do some of which say there is so great excellency in the goods of the mind that those of the Body and external ones are eclips'd by them others do not so much as count them goods place all their advantages in their mind Which Controversie of theirs Carneades was wont to moderate as an Umpire to which both Parties refer'd their Cause to be compromis'd For whereas what things the Peripateticks think goods the Stoicks count the same Conveniencies and yet the Peripateticks do not attribute more to Riches Health and other things of like Nature then the Stoicks since they were to be weigh'd by reality not words he deny'd there was any just cause of Dissention Wherefore let the Philosophers of other Perswasions look to it how they can gain this Point Yet I am pleas'd that they make a profession beseeming Philosophers about wise mens title to living in perpetual happiness But since we must be going to morrow let us comprise in memory these five days Debates And to say the truth I think I shall draw them up in writing for upon what can we better employ o this leisure such as it is and we will send these other five Books to our Friend Brutus by whom we have not only been invited to the making Philosophical Treatises p but also provok'd Wherein how much we shall profit others we cannot easily tell but for our own most bitter griefs and various disquiets charging us on every side no other relief could be found o This leisure such as it is Spoken with some Stomach for his being at that time in Prudence oblig'd to compound for his safety by retirement from his honourable Emploiments p But also provok'd By example and the address of his Book upon alike Subject FINIS THE CONTENTS Of the First BOOK Comforts against Death The Prologue Sect. 1 2 3 4. SECT I. THAT the Greeks were inferior to the Romans in most Points of useful knowledge Page 1. SECT II. However Superior in Poetry Pictures Musick and Geometry P. 3. SECT III. Equall'd by them in Oratory which is encouragement to set upon Philosophy P. 5. SECT IV. Philosophy joyn'd with Oratory is more beneficial P. 6. SECT V. The Position that the Proponent taketh Death to be Evil. P. 8. SECT VI. The local Hell of the Poets to be fictitious P. 10. SECT VII They who are not are not miserable P. 12. SECT VIII Nor is dying miserable but essay'd to be prov'd rather good P. 14. SECT IX What Death is What the Soul in vulgar opinion P. 16. SECT X. What it is in the judgment of divers Philosophers P. 17. SECT XI Inferences from these different Opinions P. 19. SECT XII Arguments for the Souls subsistence after death from immemorial Tradition from Funeral Rites and from the veneration of ancient Heroes P. 21. SECT XIII From this that there is a Tradition of the Superior Gods having been Men deceas'd P. 23. SECT XIV From an innate care of Posterity Zeal for the State P. 25. SECT XV And thirst after Glory P. 26. SECT XVI That dead mens Souls abide in Caverns under Earth is the groundless Fiction of Poets or imposture of Magicians P. 28. SECT XVII That it is more likely they ascend P. 30. SECT XVIII Nor vanish P. 32. SECT XIX But mount the Sky P. 33. SECT XX. And thence contemplate Nature P. 35. SECT XXI That the Epicureans who plead for Annihilation have no such reason to triumph in their Scheme of Natural knowledge improved P. 37. SECT XXII An immaterial Substance though invisible may subsist of it self as God so the Soul P. 38. SECT XXIII Arguments for the immortality of the Soul from its being the principle of its own Motion P. 40. SECT XXIV From the capaciousness of its memory P. 41. SECT XXV Corollaries upon the former Arguments from that of Invention P. 44. SECT XXVI From further Endowments P. 46. SECT XXVII From its Divine Original P. 48. SECT XXVIII From its Faculties P. 49. SECT XXIX From its Nature P. 51. SECT XXX From the Authority of Socrates and Cato P. 52. SECT XXXI From the Sequestring it self from the Body
much evil you have discharg'd humane Condition S. Which way M. Because if dying had been miserable to them that are dead we should have had an endless and everlasting evil in Life Now I see the Goal whether when I have finish'd my course nothing further is to be fear'd But you seem to me to be of Epicharmus's mind an acute man and not unfacetious as being a Sicilian S. What was his mind for I do not know it M. I will tell you if I can translate it for you know I no more use to bring in ends of Greek in a Latin Discourse than when I am speaking Greek to come in with Latin Sentences S. In that you are right but what I pray is that saying of Epicharmus M. To dye I 'me loth but weigh not to be dead S. Now I find the Greek by his subtlety but since you have forc'd me to yield that they who are dead are not miserable perswade me if you can that it is not a miserable thing that we must dye M. There is now no great difficulty in that but I aim at higher Matters S. How no great difficulty in that or what can be those higher Matters M. Because if there be no evil after death neither can death it self be evil for the time which immediately follows it is after death wherein you allow that there is no evil upon which follows that neither is it evil that we must dye which is we must arrive thither where we confess is no evil S. Speak to that I pray more largely for these captious questions sooner gain of me a Confession than a Conviction But what are those higher Matters that you say you aim at M. To make out if I am able that death is so far from being evil that it is good S. I do not require that from you but would gladly hear it for though you should not demonstrate what you attempt yet you will gain the question that death is not evil Proceed then I shall not interrupt you I had rather hear it in a continu'd Speech M. What if I should ask you any thing would you not answer me S. That were an uncivil part but unless there be a necessity I had rather you would for bear it * * If there be no evil after death neither can death it self be evil Death as a passage to a State of insensibility can have no very formidable aspect and this is offer'd to overthrow the first Branch in the disjunctive Syllogisme as if death were evil to them that are to dye But the Heathen World knew not the universal calpableness of mankind the rigorous Sanction of a just Law and Power of the Law-giver to put his Sentence in Execution wherein the Terrors of Death doth consist SECT IX What is death what the Soul in vulgar Opinion M. I Will comply with you and to my best Ability declare what you desire yet not so as if inspir'd by Pythian Apollo I should speak nothing that were no Oracle and Infallible but as a weak man of like frailty with the rest of Mankind pursuing what hath greatest appearance of Truth for beyond probabilities I am not able to advance Let a them deliver Certainties who both affirm these Matters to be comprehensible and profess themselves to have arriv'd at Perfection S. In that as you please we are prepar'd to give attention M. Death then however universally it may seem to be known must first be enquir'd what it is Some hold death to be a Separation of the Body from the Soul Others think there is no Separation but that both Soul and Body determine at once and that the Soul is extinguish'd with the Carkass Of those who judge that the Soul departs some hold that it presently scatters some again after a long space others maintain that it endures for ever Now what it is where seated or whence it cometh is matter of great Controversie Some take it to be the heart whence men are said to be without Heart of a bad Heart or of one Heart And that great Statesman Nasica who was twice Consul had the Surname of Wise-heart And the old Poet terms Wise Aelius Sextus of an heart Profound Empedocles thinks the Soul to be the Bloodshed through the Heart Others judge that a part of the Brain is the Principle of Sense and Understanding Another Party cannot agree either the one or other to be the Soul but these lodge it in the Heart those in the Brain as its Seat or Palace Others and among them we in our own Language use the name Soul and Spirit promiscuously for we say to gasp and expire or give up the Ghost also men of a gallant Spirit of a sound Spirit and the like As for Spirit it is being interpreted Breath Zeno the Stoic holds the Soul to be a Fire a Let them deliver Certainties He reflects upon the Stoics who were very positive and Pretenders to perfect Wisdom SECT X. What it is in the Judgment of divers Philosophers BUT these which I have recited that the Soul should be Heart Brains Breath Fire are vulgar Opinions the remaining private Doctors have held and some of the Ancient ones Of later date Aristoxenus Musician and Philosopher too maintain'd it was a certain Key to which the body was strain'd as in the tuning of an Instrument so by the nature and posture of the Body variety of Motions were rais'd and as Notes in Musick He kept to his Art yet somewhat he said which somewhat such as it was had been long before both said and explain'd by Plato Xenocrates deny'd that the Soul hath any corporeal Figure but said it was a number whose Power as Pythagoras had before held was of great Efficacy in Nature His Master Plato divided the Soul into three Parts The Principal of these which is Reason he plac'd in the Head as in its Citadel and separated into two Anger and Lust which he lodg'd in different Apartments placing Anger in the Stomach and Lust under the Entrails But Dicaearchus in that Discourse which he held at Corinth and put out in three Books in the Person of learned men in the first Books brings in many Disputants in the two latter introduceth one Pherecrates an old man of Phthia whom he alledgeth as descended of Deucalion and there to argue that there is no such being as a Soul that it is a meer Name without a Notion and that we speak improperly in saying that Creatures have a living Soul whereas in truth there is neither in Man nor Beast any such thing as Soul or Spirit but all that Power which produceth in us Actions of the Mind or Senses is an equal Complexion of the Elements nor can subsist in a separate Estate as being no substance but plain body which under such a Figure is by its natural Temper dispos'd to Vegetation and Sense Aristotle who far surpasseth all others Plato alwayes excepted both in Parts and Industry after he had computed the four
Elements which furnish material cause of existence to all compound Bodies pitches upon a fifth Essence of which the rational Soul should consist for to think and forecast to learn and teach to invent with so many other Abilities of Memory Love Hatred Desire Fear Anxiety Joy he doth not conceive these and the like can be inherent in any of those four Elements Hereupon he adds a fifth nameless Nature and so calls the Soul by the new name of a pure Act being in continu'd and perpetual Motion SECT XI Inferences from these diverse Opinions THese are almost all the Opinions about the Soul as far as I can recollect for let us wave Democritus a brave man indeed and excellent Scholar but who fram'd the Soul upon a casual rencounter of smooth and globular Moths for among those Gentlemen there is no feat so strange but what omnipotent Atomes can perform Of these Opinions which is true God alone knows which hath the greatest appearance of truth is much to be question'd Had we best therefore discuss these different Opinions or return to the enquiry at first propos'd S. I would fain both might be if it were possible but it is hard to confound them Wherefore if without scanning them at large we may be deliver'd from the Terrors of death let that be our business but if that cannot be obtain'd till this question of the Souls nature be decided let us now dispatch this and that another time M. I judge that more convenient which I find you like better for it will be concluded with good Reason that whatsoever of those Opinions which I have alledged prove true death must be either not evil or rather good For if the Soul be Heart or Blood or Brains of a certain because it is Corporal it will dye with the other Body If it be breath perhaps it will scatter into thin Air If Fire it will be quench'd If it be the Harmony of Aristoxenus it will be discomposed What need I mention Dicaearchus who allows not the Soul to be any Substance according to all these Opinions none hath any concern after Death for Life and Sense are extinguish'd together But what is insensible hath neither interest in good or evil The Judgments of the rest open some door of Hope if this may chance to please you that our Souls when they have escap'd out of our Bodies may arrive at Heaven as at their own Home S. That is well pleasing to me and I could principally wish that it were so But next however it is could be contented with the perswasion that it were so M. What need have you of our pains to that purpose can we surpass Plato in Eloquence Read over diligently his Book about the Soul you will need no further Information S. I have in truth done so and that many times but I know not how whilst I am in reading I yield my assent when I have laid down the Book and begin to meditate with my self upon the Soul's Immortality all my former Assent slips out of my mind M. What think you of this do you grant that Souls do either subsist after death or determine upon death S. I readily grant it M. b What if they survive S. I allow they are blessed M. If they dye S. That they are not miserable because they have no being for that Point upon compulsion from you we a little before granted M. How then or wherefore do you say death in your judgment to be an evil which either renders us blessed in case the Soul survive or not miserable as being without all Sense b What if they survive I allow they are blessed An intellectual Life is a Blessing compar'd with Annihilation but to this must be added Reconciliation to God on such Terms as he hath declar'd consistent with the Honor of his Justice and Truth SECT XII Arguments that the Soul subsists after Death from immemorial Tradition from Funeral Rites and from the Veneration of ancient Heroes S. BE pleas'd therefore to declare in the first place if you are able that the Soul subsists after Death if you cannot evince that for it is a hard matter to make out clearly inform us that Death carrieth no evil along with it for I fear least that be evil I say not to be insensible but that we must lose our Senses M. We can produce the best Authority for that Sentence which you would gain now this both ought and is wont to be of greatest moment in deciding all Causes as first the consent of all Antiquity who the less distance they were remov'd from their original and divine Extraction did perhaps discern truth more clearly Therefore this one Principle was deeply engrasted in those old Sires who liv'd in the non-age of time that there was Sense after Death nor would man by departure out of Life be so rais'd up from the Foundations as to perish totally And this may be collected as from many other Instances so in particular from the Pontifical Sanctions about Ceremonies at the places of burial which they would never have observ'd with so much Devotion nor aveng'd the breach of them under such inexpiable Penalties had it not been imprinted in their minds that death was not an Annihilation but a removal and change only of Life which used to conduct Men and Women of good Fame up to Heaven and which continu'd in others but was depress'd to the grosser Regions investing the Earth After this Ritual and the Opinion of our Ancestors In Heaven lives Romulus with the Gods in bliss as Ennius compliant with Fame sweetly sings In like manner among the Greeks and from them deriv'd to us and as far as the Western Ocean is Hercules esteem'd a God so powerful and propitious From hence Bacchus born of Semâ—le and in like renown Castor and Pollux Brethren Sons of Tynearus who are deliver'd to have been in the Battles of the Roman People not only assistants of Victory c but also Messengers there of express What is not Ino Cadmus's Daughter who was nam'd by the Greeks Leucothea term'd by the Romans Matuta What is not almost all Heaven not to instance in more peopled with Inhabitants of humane Race c But also Messengers thereof In the War with the Latins at the Regillan Lake two Knights on white Horses were seen to lead up the Roman Battalia and after the Victory the same night to wash their Houses at the Fountain of Juiurna where having brought Post to Rome the News of the day won they vanish'd The like divine Express is said to have brought the word to Domitius Aenobarbus the day that Perses King of Macedon was beaten by Paulus Aemilius SECT XIII From this that the Superior Gods are receiv'd to have been Men deceas'd BUT if I should go about to ransack old Monuments and discover out of them what the Greek Writers have disclos'd those very Gods which are reputed of the higher Rank will be found to have pass'd from us here to