regard to obserue the same all their children shall prooue wise and none otherwise But the whilest this significatioÌ„ of nature is very vniuersall and confused and the vnderstanding contents not it selfe nor staieth vntill it conceiue the particular discourse and the latest cause and so it behooues to search out another signification of this name Nature which may be more agreeable to our purpose Aristotle and other naturall Philosophers discend into more particularities and call Nature whatsoeuer substantiall forme which giues the being to any thing and is the originall of all the working thereof in which signification our reasonable soule may reasonably be tearmed nature for from her we receiue our formall being which we haue of being men and the selfe same is the beginning of whatsoeuer we doe and worke But all soules being of equall perfection as well that of the wiser as that of the foolish it cannot be affirmed that nature in this signification is that which makes a man able for if this were true all men should haue a like measure of wit and wisedome and therefore the same Aristotle found out another signification of nature which is the cause that a man is able or vnable saying that the temperature of the foure first qualities hot cold moist and drie is to be called nature for from this issue al the habilities of man all his vertues and vices and this great varietie of wits which we behold And this is clearely proued by considering the age of a man when he is wisest who in his childhood is no more than a brute beast and vseth none other powers than those of anger and concupiscence but comming to youth there begins to shoot out in him a maruellous wit and we see that it lasteth till time certaine and no longer for old age growing 〈◊〉 goes euery day loosing his wit vntill it come to be 〈◊〉 decaied The varietie of wits it is a matter certaine that it springs not from the reasonable soule for that is one selfe in all ages without hauing receiued in his forces and subâ—â—â—unce any alteration but man hath in euery age a diuers temperature and a contrarie disposition by means whereof the soule doth other workes in childhood other in youth and other in old age Whence we draw an euident argument that one selfe soule doing contrarie workes in one selfe bodie for that it partakes in euery age a contrarie temperature when of young men the one is able and the other vnapt this growes for that the one of them enioiâ—◠〈◊〉 temperature from the other And this for that it is the beginning of all the workes of the reasonable soule was by the Phisitions and the Philosophers termed Nature of which signification this sentence is properly verefied that Nature makes able For confirmation of this doctrine Galen writ a booke wherein he prooueth That the maners of the soule follow the temperature of the body in which it keepes residence and that by reason of the heat the coldnesse the moisture and the drouth of the territorie where men inhabit of the meats which they feed on of the waters which they drinke and of the aire which they breath some are blockish and some wise some of woorth and some base some cruel and some merciful many straight brested and many large part lyers and part true speakers sundrie traitors and sundrie faythfull somewhere vnquiet and somewhere stayed there double here single one pinching another liberall this man shamefast that shamelesse such hard and such light of beleefe And to prooue this he cites many places of Hippocrates Plato and Aristotle who affirme that the difference of nations as well in composition of the body as in conditions of the soule springeth from the varietie of this temperature and experience it selfe euidently sheweth this how far are different Greeks from Tartarians Frenchmen from Spaniards Indians from Dutch and Aethiopians from English And this may be seene not only in countries so far distant but if we consider the prouinces that enuiron all Spaine we may depart the vertues and vices which we haue recounted amongst the inhabitants giuing ech one his peculiar vice and vertue and if we consider the wit and manners of the Catalonians Valentians Mercians Granatines Andaluzians Estremenians Portugals Gallesians Asturians Montagneses Biscanes Nauarrists Arragonois and of the kingdome of Castile who sees not and knowes not how far these are different amongst themselues not only in shape of countenaunce and in feature of body but euen in the vertues and vices of the soule Which all growes for that euery of these prouinces hath his particular and different temperature And this varietie of manners is knowne not onely in countries so farre off but in places also that are not more than a little league in distance it cannot be credited what ods there is found in the wits of the inhabitants Finally all that which Galen writeth in this his booke is the groundplot of this my Treatise albeit he declares not in particular the differences of the habilities which are in men neither as touching the sciences which euerie one requires in particular Notwithstanding he vnderstood that it was necessarie to depart the sciences amongst yoong men and to giue ech one that which to his naturall habilitie was requisit in as much as he sayd That well ordered common wealths ought to haue men of great wisedome and knowledge who might in their tender age discouer ech ones wit and naturall sharpnesse to the end they might be set to learne that art which was agreeable and not leaue it to their owne election CHAP. III. What part of the body ought to be well tempered that a young man may haue habilitie MAns body hath so many varieties of parts and powers applied ech to his end that it shal not stray from our purpose but rather growes a matter of necessitie to know first what member was ordained by nature for the principall instrument to the end man might become wise and aduised For it is a thing apparant that we discourse not with our foot nor walke on our head nor see with our nostrils nor heare with our eies but that euery of these parts hath his vse and particular disposition for the worke which it is to accomplish Before Hippocrates and Plato came into the world it held for a generall conceit amongst the naturall Philosophers that the heart was the principall part where the reasonable facultie made his residence and the instrument wherewith the soule wrought the workes of wisedome of diligence of memorie and of vnderstanding For which cause the diuine scripture applying it selfe to the ordinary speech of those times in many places cals the heart the soueraigne part of a man But these two graue Philosophers comming into the world gaue euidence that this opinion was false and prooued by many reasons and experiments that the braine is the principall seat of the reasonable soule and so they all gaue hands to this opinion saue
to the imagination for which cause the great Theorists doe ordinarily erre in the minor and the great practitioners in the maior as if we should speake after this maner Euerie feuer which springeth from cold and moist humours ought to be cured with medicins hot and drie Taking the tokening of the cause this feuer which the man endureth dependeth on humors cold and moist therefore the same is to be cured with medicines hot and drie The vnderstanding will sufficiently prooue the truth of the maior because it is an vniuersall saying That cold moist require for their temperature hot and drie for euerie qualitie is abated by his contrarie But comming to prooue the minor there the vnderstanding is of no value for that the same is particular and of another iurisdiction whose notice appertaineth to the imagination borowing the proper and particular tokens of the disease from the fiue outward senses And if the tokening is to be taken from the feuer or from his cause the vnderstanding cannot reach therunto onely it teacheth the tokening is to be taken from that which sheweth greatest perill but which of those tokenings is greatest is only known to the imagination by counting the damages which the feuer produceth with those of the Syntomes of the euill and the cause and the small or much force of the power To attain this notice the imagination possesseth certain vnutterable properties with which the same cleereth matters that cannot be expressed nor conceiued neither is there found any art to teach them Where-through we see a phisition enter to visit a patient and by meanes of his sight his hearing his smelling and his feeling he knoweth things which seem impossible In sort that if we demand of the same phisition how he could come by so readie a knowledge himselfe cannot tell the reason for it is a grace which springeth from the fruitfulnesse of the imagination which by another name is termed a readinesse of capacitie which by common signes and by vncertain coniectures and of small importance in the twinckling of an eie knoweth 1000 differēces of things wherein the force of curing and prognosticating with certaintie consisteth This spice of promptnesse men of great vnderstanding do want for that it is a part of the imagination for which cause hauing the tokens before their eies which giue them notice how the disease fareth it worketh no maner alteration in their senses for that they want imagination A phisition once asked me in great secresie what the cause was that he hauing studied with much curiositie all the rules and considerations of the art prognosticatiue being therin throughly instructed yet could neuer hit the truth in any prognostication which he made To whom I remember I yeelded this answer that the art of Phisick is learned with one power and put in execution with another This man had a verie good vnderstanding but wanted imagination but in this doctrin there ariseth a difficultie verie great and that is how phisitions of great imagination can learn the art of phisicke seeing they want that of vnderstanding and if it be true that such were better than those who were well learned to what end serueth it to spend time in the schooles to this may be answered that first to know the art of phisicke is a matter verie important for in two or three yeares a man may learn al that which the ancients haue bin getting in two or three thousand And if a man should heerin ascertain himselfe by experience it were requisit that he liued some thousands of yeeres and in experimenting of medicines he should kill an infinit number of persons before he could attain to the knowledge of their qualities from whence we are freed by reading the books of reasonable experienced phisitions who giue aduertisment of that in writing which they found out in the whole course of their liues to the end that the phisitions of these daies may minister some receits with assurance and take heed of other-some as venomous Besides this we are to weet that the common vulgar points of al arts are verie plain and easie to learn and yet the most important of the whole worke And contrariwise the most curious and subtile are the most obscure and of least necessitie for curing And men of great imagination are not altogither depriued of vnderstanding nor of memorie Wher-through by hauing these two powers in some measure they are able to learn the most necessarie points of Phisicke for that they are plainest and with the good imagination which they haue can better looke into the disease and the cause thereof than the cunningest doctors Besides that the imagination is it which findeth out the occasion of the remedie that ought to be applied in which grace the greatest part of practise consisteth for which cause Galen said that the proper name of a phisition was The finder out of occasion Now to be able to know the place the time and the occasion for certain is a worke of the imagination since it toucheth figure and correspondence but the difficultie consisteth in knowing amongst so many differences as there are of the imagination to which of them the practise of Phisicke appertaineth for it is certaine that they all agree not in one selfe particular reason which contemplation hath giuen me much more toile and labour of spirit than all the residue and yet for all that I cannot as yet yeeld the same a fitting name vnlesse it spring from a lesse degree of heat which partaketh that difference of imagination wherewith verses and songs are endited Neither do I relie altogether on this for the reason whereon I ground my selfe is that such as I haue marked to be good practitioners do all piddle somwhat in the art of versifieng and raise not vp their contemplation very high and their verses are not of any rare excellencie which may also betide for that their heat exceedeth that tearme which is requisit for poetrie and if it so come to passe for this reason the heat ought to hold such qualitie as it somewhat drie the substance of the braine and yet much resolue not the naturall heat albeit if the same passe further it breedeth no euill difference of the wit for Phisicke for it vniteth the vnderstanding to the imagination by adustion But the imagination is not so good for curing as this which I seeke which inuiteth a man to be a witch superstitious a magician a deceiuer a palmister a fortune teller and a calker for the diseases of men are so hidden and deliuer their motions with so great secrecie that it behooueth alwaies to go calking what the matter is This difference of imagination may hardly be found in Spaine for tofore we haue prooued that the inhabitants of this region want memory and imagination and haue good discourse neither yet the imaginatiō of such as dwell towards the North is of auaile in Phisicke for it is very slow and slacke only the same is
nature aswell whiles the creature hath been in the mothers womb as after the same was borne wherof the histories are full but some haue held them only for fables because this is mentioned in the Poets yet the thing carrieth meere truth for diuers times nature hath made a female child and she hath so remained in her mothers belly for the space of one or two months and afterwards plentie of heat growing in the genitall members vpon some occasion they haue issued forth and she become a male To whom this transformation hath befallen in the mothers womb is afterwards plainly discouered by certain motions which they retaine vnfitting for the masculin sex being altogither womanish their voice shrill sweet And such persons are enclined to perform womens actions and fall ordinarily into vncouth offences Contrariwise nature hath sundrie times made a male with his genetories outward and cold growing on they haue turned in ward and it became female This is knowen after she is borne for she retaineth a mannish fashion aswell in her words as in all her motions and workings This may seem difficult to be prooued but considering that which many authenticall historians affirme it is a matter not hard to be credited And that women haue been turned into men after they were borne the verie vulgar doe not much maruell to heare spoke of for besides that which sundrie our elders haue laid downe for trueth It befell in Spain but few yeares since and that wherof we find experience is not to be called in question or argument What then the cause may be that the genitall members are engendred within or without and the creature becommeth male or female will fall out a plain case if we once know that heat extendeth and enlargeth all things and cold retaineth and closeth them vp Wherthrough it is a conclusion of all Philosophers and Phisitions that if the seed be cold and moist a woman is begotten and not a man and if the same be hot and dry a man is begotten and not a woman Whence we apparently gather that there is no man who in respect of a woman may be termed cold nor woman hot in respect of a man Aristotle saith it is necessarie for a woman to be cold and moist that she may be likewise fruitfull for if she were not so it would fall out impossible that her monthly course should flow or she haue milke to preserue the child nine months in her belly and two yeares after it is borne but that the same would soone wast and consume All Philosophers and Phisitions auouch that the belly holdeth the same proportion with mans seed that the earth doth with corne and with any other graine And we see that if the earth want coldnesse and moisture the husbandman dareth not sow therein neither will the seed prosper But of soils those are most fruitfull and fertile in rendering fruit which partake most of cold and moist As we see by experience in the regions towards the North As England Flanders and Almaine whose abundance of all fruits worketh astonishment in such as know not the reason thereof And in such countries as these no married woman was euer childlesse neither can they there tell what barrennesse meaneth but are all fruitfull and breed children through their abundance of coldnesse and moisture But though it is true that the woman should be cold and moist for conception Yet she may abound so much therin that it may choke the seed euen as we see excesse of raine spoileth the corne which cannot ripen in ouermuch coldnesse Whereon we must conceiue that these two qualities ought to keep a certaine measurablenesse which when they exceed or reach not vnto the fruitfulnesse is spoiled Hippocrates holdeth that woman for fruitfull whose womb is tempered in such sort as the heat exceedeth not the cold nor the moist the drie VVherethrough he saith that those women who haue their belly cold cannot conceiue no more than such as are very moist or verie cold and dry But so for the same reason that a woman and her genitall parts should be temperat it were impossible that she could conceiue or be a woman For if the seed of which she was first formed had been temperat the genitall members would haue issued forth and she haue been a man So should a beard grow on her chin and her floures surcease and she become as perfect a man as nature could produce Likewise the womb in a woman cannot be predominatly hot For if the seed whereof she was engendred had been of that temperature she should haue been born a man and not a woman This is past all exception that the qualities which yeeld a woman fruitfull are cold and moisture for the nature of man standeth in need of much nourishment that he may be able to vse procreation and continue his kind Wherethrough we see that amongst all the females of brute beasts none haue their monthly courses as a woman Therefore it was requisite to make her altogether cold and moist and that in such a degree as that she might breed much flegmatick bloud and not be able to wast or consume the same I said flegmaticke bloud because this is seruiceable to the breeding of milke by which Hippocrates and Galen auouch the creature is releeued all the time it remaineth in the mothers belly Now if the same should be temperat it would produce much bloud vnfit for the engendring of milke and would wholly resolue as it doth in a temperat man and so nothing be left for nourishing the babe Therefore I hold it for certain and verily it is impossibie that a woman can be temperat or hot but they are all cold and moist And if this be not so let the Philosopher or Phisition tell me for what cause all women are beardlesse and haue their sicknesse whiles they are healthful for what cause the seed of which she was formed being temperat or hot she was borne a woman not a man Howbeit though it be true that they are alcold moist yet it followeth not that they are all in one degree of coldnesse and moisture For some are in the first some in the second and some in the third and in ech of these they may conceiue if a man answere them in proportion of heat as shall hereafter be expressed By what tokens we may know these three degrees of coldnesse and moisture in a woman and likewise weet who is in the first who is in the second and who in the third there is no Philosopher or Phisition that as yet hath vnfolded But considering the effects which these qualities do worke in women we may part them by reason of their being extended and so we shall easily get notice hereof The first by the wit and habilitie of the woman The second by her maners and conditions The third by her voice big or small The fourth by her flesh much or little The fifth by her colour
Besides this meat children did eat cracknels of white bread of very delicat water with honny and a little salt but in steed of vinegar for that the same is very noisome and dammageable to the vnderstanding they shall adde thereunto butter of Goats-milke whose temperature substance is appropriat for the wit But in this regiment grows an inconuenience verie great namely that children vsing so delicat meats shall not possesse sufficient strength to resist the iniuries of the aire neither can defend themselues from other occasions which are woont to breed maladies So by making thē become wise they will fall out to be vnhealthful and liue a small time This difficulty demandeth in what sort children may be brought vp witty and wise and yet the matter so handled as it may no way gainsay their healthfulnes VVhich shall easily be effected if the parentes dare to put in practise some rules and precepts which I wil prescribe And because deinty people are deceiued in bringing vp their childrē and they treat stil of this matter I wil first assigne them the cause why their children though they haue Schoolemaisters and tutors and themselues take such pains at their booke yet they come away so meanly with the sciences as also in what sort they may remedy this without that they abridge their life or hazard their health Eight things saith Hippocrates make mans flesh moist fat The 1 to be merry and to liue at hearts ease the 2 to sleepe much the 3 to lie in a soft bed the 4 to fare well the fifth to be well apparelled and furnished the sixth to ride alwaies on horsebacke the seuenth to haue our will the eighth to be occupied in plaies and pastimes and in things which yeeld contentment and pleasure All which is a veritie so manifest as if Hippocrates had not affirmed it none durst denie the same Only we may doubt whether delicious people doe alwaies obserue this maner of life but if it be true that they do so we may well conclude that their seed is very moist and that the children which they beget will of necessitie ouer-abound in superfluous moisture which it behooueth first to be consumed for this qualitie sendeth to ruine the operations of the reasonable soule And moreouer the Phisitions say that it maketh them to liue a short space and vnhealthfull By this it should seeme that a good wit and a sound bodily health require one selfe qualitie Namely drouth wherethrough the precepts and rules which we are to lay downe for making children wise will serue likewise to yeeld them much health and long life It behooueth them so soone as a childe is borne of delicious parents inasmuch as their constitution consisteth of more cold and moist than is conuenient for childhood to wash him with salt hote water which by the opinion of all phisitions soketh vp and drieth the flesh giueth soundnesse to the sinews and maketh the child strong and manly and by consuming the ouermuch moisture of his braine enableth him with wit and freeth-him from many deadly infirmities Contrariwise the bath being of water fresh and hot in that the same moisteneth the flesh saith Hippocrates it breedeth fiue annoiances Namely effeminating of the flesh weaknesse of sinews dulnesse of spirits fluxes of bloud and basenesse of stomacke But if the child issue out of his mothers belly with excessiue drinesse it is requisit to washe the same with hote fresh water Therfore Hippocrates said children are to be washed a long time with hote water to the end they may receiue the lesse annoiance by the crampe and that they may grow and be well coloured but for certaine this must be vnderstood of those who come forth drie out of their mothers belly in whom it behooueth to amend their euill temperature by applying vnto them contrarie qualities The Almains saith Galen haue a custome to wash their children in a riuer so soon as they are born them seeming that as the iron which commeth burning hot out of the forge is made the stronger if it be dipped in cold water so when the hot child is taken out of the mothers wombe it yeeldeth him of greater force and vigour if he be washed in fresh water This thing is condemned by Galen for a beastly practise and that with great reason for put case that by this way the skinne is hardened and closed and not easie to be altered by the iniuries of the aire yet will it rest offended by the excrements which are engendred in the body for that the same is not of force nor open so as they may be exhaled and passe forth But the best and safest remedie is to wash the children who haue superfluous moisture with hot salt water for their excessiue moisture consuming they are the neerer to health and the way through the skinne being stopped in them they cannot receiue annoiance by any occasion Neither are the inward excrements therefore so shut vp that there are not waies left open for them where they may come out And nature is so forcible that if they haue taken from her a common way she will seeke out another to serue her turne And when all others faile she can skill to make new waies wherethrough to send out what doth her dammage VVherefore of two extreames it is more auaileable for health to haue a skinne hard and somewhat close than thinne and open The second thing requisit to be performed when the child shalbe born is that we make him acquainted with the winds and with change of aire not keep him still locked vp in a chamber for else it will become weake womanish peeuish of feeble strength and within three or foure daies giue vp the ghost Nothing saith Hippocrates so much weakeneth the flesh as to abide still in warme places and to keepe our selues from heate and cold Neither is there a better remedie for healthfull liuing than to accustome our body to al winds hot cold moist and dry Wherethrough Aristotle enquireth what the cause is that such as liue in the Gallies are more healthy better colored than those who inhabit a plashy soil And this difficulty groweth greater considering the hard life which they lead sleeping in their clothes in the open aire against the sun in the cold the water faring withall so coursly The like may be demanded as touching shepheards who of all other men enioy the soundest health it springeth because they haue made a league with al the seueral qualities of the aire and their nature dismaieth at nothing Cōtrariwise we plainly see that if a man giue himselfe to liue deliciously and to beware that the sun the cold the euening nor the wind offend him within 3 daies he shalbe dispatched with a post letter to another world Therfore it may well be said he that loueth his life in this world shal leese it for there is no man that can preserue himself from the alteration of the aire therfore it is
reason And yet for all this by wanting that onely ventricle there is a great abatement discerned in his operations as well in those of the vnderstanding as of the imaginatiue and memorie as they shal also find in the losse of one sight who were woont to behold with two whereby we cleerely comprize that in euery ventricle are all the three powers sithens by the annoiance of any one all the three are weakened Seeing then al the three ventricles are of one selfe composition and that there rests not amongst them any varietie of parts we may not leaue to take the first qualities for an instrument and to make so many generall differences of wits as they are in number For to thinke that the reasonable soule being in the body can worke without some bodily instrument to assist her is against all naturall Philosophie But of the foure qualities heat cold moisture and drouth all Phisitions leaue out cold as vnprofitable to any operation of the reasonable soule wherethrough it is seene by experience in the other habilities that if the same mount aboue heat all the powers of man do badly performe their operations neither can the stomacke digest his meat nor the cods yeeld fruitfull seed nor the muscles mooue the body nor the braine discourse For which cause Galen sayd Coldnesse is apparantly noysome to all the offices of the soule as if he should say Cold is the ruine of all the operations of the soule only it serues in the body to temper the naturall heat and to procure that it burne not ouer-much and yet Aristotle is of a contrary opinion where he affirmeth it is a matter certaine that that blood carrieth most forcible efficacie which is thickest and hottest but the coldest thinnest hath a more accomplished force to perceiue and vnderstand as if he would say the thicke and hot blood makes great bodily forces but the pure and cold is cause that man possesseth great vnderstanding Whereby we plainly see that from coldnesse springeth the greatest difference of wit that is in any man namely in the vnderstanding Aristotle moreouer mooues a doubt and that is why men who inhabit very hot countries as Aegypt are more wittie and aduised than those who are borne in cold regions Which doubt he resolues in this manner That the excessiue heat of the countrie fretteth and consumeth the naturall heat of the braine and so leaues it cold whereby man growes to be full of reasonablenesse And that contrariwise the much cold of the aire fortifieth the much naturall heat of the braine and yeelds it not place to resolue For which cause sayth he such as are very hot brained cannot discourse nor philosophise but are giddie headed and not setled in any one opinion To which opinion it seemes that Galen leaneth saying that the cause why a man is vnstable and changeth opinion at euery moment is for that he hath a hote braine and contrariewise his being stable and firme springs from the coldnesse of his braine But the truth is that from this heat there groweth not any difference of wit neither did Aristotle meane that the cold blood by his predominance did better the vnderstanding but that which is lesse hote True it is that mans variablenesse springs from his partaking of much heat which lifts vp the figures that are in the braine and makes them to boile by which operation there are represented to the soule many images of things which inuite him to their contemplation and the soule to possesse them all leaues one and takes another Contrariwise it befals in coldnesse which for that it imprints inwardly these figures and suffers them not to rise makes a man firme in one opinion and it prooues so because none other presents it selfe to call the same away Coldnesse hath this qualitie that it not only hindereth the motions of bodily things but also makes that the figures and shapes which the Philosophers call spirituall be vnmooueable in the braine And this firmnesse seemeth rather a negligence than a difference of habilitie Alike true it is that there is found another diuersity of firmnesse which proceeds from possessing an vnderstanding well compacted together not from the coldnesse of the brain So there remaine drouth moisture and heat for the seruice of the reasonable facultie But no Philosopher as yet wist to giue to euery difference of wit determinatly that which was his Heraclitus sayd A drie brightnesse makes a most wise mind by which sentence he giues vs to vnderstand that drinesse is the cause why a man becoms very wise but he declares not in what kinde of knowledge The selfe same meant Plato when he sayd that the soule descended into the body endowed with great wisdome and through the much moisture which it there found grew to become dull vntoward But this wearing away in the course of age and purchasing drinesse the soule grew to discouer the knowledge which he tofore enioyed Amongst brute beasts sayth Aristotle those are wisest whose temperature is most enclined to cold and drie as are the ants and bees who for wisedome concurre with those men that partake most of reason Moreouer no brute beast is found of more moisture or lesse wit than a hog wherethrough the Poet Pindare to gibe at the people of Beotia and to handle them as fooles sayd thus Th'vntoward folke which now is nam'd Beotia were once cald Hogs Moreouer blood through his much moisture sayth Galen makes men simple And for such the same Galen recounts that the Commicks ieasted at Hippocrates children saying of them That they had much naturall heat which is a substance moist and very vaporous This is ordinarily incident to the children of wise men hereafter I will make report of the cause whence it groweth Amongst the foure humours which we enioy there is none so cold and drie as that of melancholie and whatsoeuer notable men for learning haue liued in the world sayth Aristotle they were all melancholike Finally all agree in this point that drinesse makes a man very wise but they expresse not to which of the reasonable powers it affoordeth greatest helpe only Esay the Prophet cals it by his right name where he sayth That trauaile giues vnderstanding for sadnesse and affliction not only diminisheth cōsumeth the moisture of the brain but also drieth vp the bones with which qualitie the vnderstanding groweth more sharpe sightfull Wherof we may gather an example very manifest by taking into consideration many men who cast into pouertie and affliction haue therethrough vttered and written sentences woorth the maruelling at and afterwards rising to better fortune to eat and drinke well would neuer once open their mouths For a delicious life contentment and good successe and to see that all thinges fall out after our liking looseneth and maketh the braine moist And this is it which Hippocrates sayd Mirth looseneth the heart as if he would haue sayd That the same enlargeth and giueth it heat and
the imagination so it is of force that they faile in vnderstanding and be such as the prouerb paints them forth To the second probleme may be answered that Galen enquiring out the wit of men by way of the temperarature of the region where they inhabit saith that those who make abode vnder the North haue all of thē want of vnderstanding but those who are seated between the North and the burned Zone are of great wisedome Which situation answereth directly to our region And verily so it is for Spaine is not so cold as the places subiected to the Pole nor so hot as the burned Zone The same sentence doth Aristotle produce demanding for what cause such as inhabit verie cold regions partake lesse vnderstanding than those who are born in the hotter and in the answere he verie homely handles the Flemmish Dutch English and French saying that their wits are like those of drunkards for which cause they cannot search out nor vnderstand the nature of things this is occasioned by the much moisture wherwith their brain is replenished and the other parts of the bodie the which is knowen by the whitenesse of the face and the golden colour of the haire and by that it is a miracle to find a Dutchman bald and aboue this they are generally great and of tall stature through the much moisture which breedeth encrease of flesh But in the Spaniards we discerne the quite contrarie they are somwhat browne they haue blacke haire of meane stature and for the most part we see them bald Which disposition saith Galen groweth for that the braine is hot and drie And if this be true it behooueth of force that they be endowed with a bad memorie and a good vnderstanding but the Dutchmen possesse a great memorie small vnderstanding For which cause the one can no skill of Latine and the other easily learne the same The reason which Aristotle alleaged to proue the slender vnderstanding of those who dwell vnder the North is that the much cold of the country calleth backe the naturall heate inward by counterposition and suffereth not the same to spread abroad for which cause it partaketh much moysture and much heate and these vnite a great memorie for the languages and a good imagination with which they make clocks bring the water to Toledo deuise engins and workes of rare skill which the Spaniards through defect of imagination cannot frame themselues vnto But set them to Logicke to Philosophie to Schoole-diuinitie to Phisicke or to the Lawes and beyond comparison a Spanish wit with his barbarous termes will deliuer more rare points than a stranger For if you take from them this finenesse and quaint phrase of writing there is nothing in them of rare inuention or exquisite choice For confirmation of this doctrine Galen said that in Scithia one onely man became a Philosopher but in Athens there were many such as if he should say that in Scithia which is a Prouince vnder the North it grew a myracle to see a Philosopher but in Athens they were all borne wise and skilfull But albeit Philosophie and the other Sciences rehearsed by vs be repugnant to the Northren people yet they profit well in the Mathematicals and in Astrologie because they haue a good imagination The answere of the third probleme dependeth vpon a question much hammered between Plato Aristotle the one saith that there are proper names which by their nature carrie signification of things and that much wit is requisite to deuise them And this opinion is fauoured by the diuine scripture which affirmeth that Adam gaue euerie of those things which God set before him the proper name that best was fitting for them But Aristotle wil not grant that in any toung there can be found any name or maner of speech which can signifie ought of it own nature for that all names are deuised and shaped after the conceit of men Whence we see by experience that wine hath aboue 60. names and bread as manie in euerie language his of none we can auouch that the same is naturall and agreeable thereunto for then all in the world would vse but that But for all this the sentence of Plato is truer for put case that the first deuisers fained the words at their pleasure and will yet was the same by a reasonable instinct communicated with the eare with the nature of the thing with the good grace and well sounding of the pronunciation not making the wordes ouer short or long nor enforcing an vnseemly framing of the mouth in time of vtterance setling the accent in his conuenient place and obseruing the other conditions which a tongue should possesse to be fine and not barbarous Of this selfe opinion with Plato was a Spanish gentleman who made it his pastime to write books of chiualrie because he had a certain kind of imagination which entiseth men to faining and leasings Of him it is reported that being to bring into his works a furious Gyant he went manie daies deuising a name which might in al points be answerable to his fiercenesse neither could he light vpon any vntill playing one day at cardes in his friends house he heard the owner of the house say Ho sirha boy traquitantos the Gentleman so soone as he heard this name Traquitantos sodainly he took the same for a word of ful sound in the eare and without any longer looking arose saying gentlemen I wil play no more for many dayes are past sithence I haue gone seeking out a name which might fit well with a furious Gyant whom I bring into those volumes which I now am making and I could not find the same vntill I came to this house where euer I receiue all courtesie The curiositie of this gentleman in calling the Gyant Traquitantos had also those first men who deuised the Latine tongue in that they found out a language of so good sound to the eare Therefore we need not maruell that the things which are spoken and written in Latine doe sound so well and in other tongues so ill for their first inuenters were barbarous The last doubt I haue been forced to alleage for satisfieng of diuers who haue stūbled theron though the solution be very easie for those who haue great vnderstanding are not vtterly depriued of memorie in asmuch as if they wanted the same it would fall out impossible that the vnderstanding could discourse or frame reasons for this power is that which keepeth in hand the matter and the fantasies whereon it behooueth to vse speculation But for that the same is weake of three degrees of perfection whereto men may attaine in the Latine tongue namely to vnderstand to write and to speake the same perfitly it can hardly passe the first without fault and stumbling CHAP. IX How it may be prooued that the eloquence and finenesse of speech cannot find place in men of great vnderstanding ONe of the graces by which the vulgar is best
are some effectes which must be imputed to God immediatly as are those which come besides the order of nature and others by the way of meanes reckoning first as a meane the causes which are ordained to that end The countrey which the Scythians inhabited saith Hippocrates is seated vnder the North a region moist and cold beyond measure where through abundance of clouds it seemes a miracle if you see the sunne The rich men sit euer on horsebacke neuervse any exercise eat and drink more than their naturall heat can consume all which things make the seed cold and moist And for this cause they beget manie females and if anie male were borne they prooued of the condition which we haue specified Know you said Hippocrates to them that the remedie hereof consisteth not in sacrifising to God neither in doing ought like that but it behooueth withall that you walke on foot eat little and drink lesse and not so wholly betake your selues to your pleasures And that you may the more plainly discerne it looke vpon the poore people of this countrie your very slaues who not onely make no sacrifices to your God neither offer him gifts as wanting the means but euen blaspheme his blessed name and speake iniuriously of him because he hath placed them in such estate And yet though so lewd and sacrilegious they are very able for procreation the most part of their children proue males strong not cocknies not Eunuchs not Hermafrodites as do those of yours And the cause is for that they eat litle vse much exercise neither keep thēselues alwais on horsback like their masters By which occasiō they make their seed hot dry and therthrough engender males and not females This point of Philosophy was not vnderstood by Pharao nor by his councell seeing that he said in this manner Come let vs keepe them downe with oppression that they may not multiply nor ioyne with our enemie if warre be raised against vs. And the remedie which he vsed to hinder that the people of Israel should not encrease so fast or at least that so many male children might not be borne which he most feared was to keepe them vnder with much toile of body and to cause them for to eat leeks garlicke and onions which remedie tooke but a bad effect as the holy scripture expresseth for the harder he held them oppressed the more did they encrease and multiply Yet he making reckoning that this was the surest way he could follow doubled this their affliction of body VVhich preuailed so litle as if to quench a great fire he should throw thereinto much oile or grease but if he or any of his counsellors had been seen in this point of naturall Philosophy he should haue giuen them barly bread lettice melons cucūbers citrons to eat and haue kept them well fed and well filled with drinke and not haue suffered them to take anie paine For by this means their seed would haue become cold and moist therof more women than men bin begotten and in short time their life haue been abridged But feeding them with much flesh boiled with garlicke with leeks with onions and tasking them to work so hard he caused their seed to wax hot and drie by which two qualities they were the more incited to procreation and euerbred issue male For confirmation of this veritie Aristotle propoundeth a probleme which saith VVhat is the cause that those who labor much and such as are subiect to the feuer Ecticke suffer many pollutions in their sleepe whereto verely he wist not to shape an answer for he telleth many things but none of them hit the truth The right reason hereof is that the toile of the body and the Ecticke feuer do heat and dry the seed and these two qualities make the same tart pricking and for that in sleep all the naturall powers are fortified this betideth which the probleme speaketh of How fruitfull and pricking the hot and drie seed is Galen noteth in these words The same is most fruitfull and soon inciteth the creature to copulation and is lecherous and prone to lust The fourth condition was not to accompany in the act of generation vntill the seed were setled concocted and dulie seasoned for though the three former diligences haue gone before yet we cannot thereby know whether it haue attained that perfection which it ought to haue Principally it behooueth for 7 or 8 daies before to vse the meats which we haue prescribed to the end the cods may haue time to consume in their nourishment the seed which all that time was engendred of the other meats and that this which we thus go describing may succeed The like diligence is to be vsed touching mans seed that the same may be fruitfull and apt for issue as the gardeners doe with the seeds which they will preserue for they attend till they ripen and clense and wax drie for if they plucke them from the stalke before they are deeply seasoned and arriued to the point which is requisit though they lie in the ground a whole yeare they will not grow at all For this reason I haue noted that in places where much carnall copulation is vsed there is lesse store of children than where people are more enclined to continencie And common harlots neuer conceiue because they stay not till the seed be digested and ripened It behooueth therefore to abide for some daies that the seed may settle concoct and ripen and be duly seasoned for by this meanes is hot and drie and the good substance which it had lost the better recouered But how shall we know the seed to be such as is requisit it should be seeing the matter is of so great importance This may easily be known if certaine daies haue passed since the man companied with his wife and by his continuall incitement and great desire of copulation all which springeth for that the seed is grown fruitfull and apt for procreation The fifth condition was that a man should meddle with his wife in the carnal act six or seuen daies before she haue her naturall course for that the child straightwaies standeth in need of much food to nourish it And the reason hereof is that the hot and drie of his temperature spendeth and consumeth not onely the good bloud of the mother but also the excrements VVherethrough Hippocrates said that the woman conceiued of a male is well coloured and faire Which groweth because the infant through his much heat consumeth all those excrements which are woont to disfigure the face leauing the same as a washed cloth And for that this is true it is behoofull that the infant be supplied with bloud for his nourishment And this experience manifesteth for it is a miracle that a male child should be engendered saue vpon the last daies of the month The contrarie befalleth when a woman goeth with a female for through the much cold and moist of her sex she
Offices Booke of Destinie * Dialoge of knowledge By the only vnderstanding of Socrates may this comparison be verefied for he taught by demaunds and handled the matter so that the scholler himselfe attained to knowledge without his telling him the same Mans Wisedome is not RemeÌ„brance wherefore we haue here aboue spoken against Plato for that he held this opinion In the second age called youth a man makes an vnion of all the differences of wit in such as they may be vnited for that this age is more temperat than all the rest wherfore it is vnfitting to let it passe without learning of knowledge whereby a man may liue The principall of all these is Nature for if she be in them who applie their mind to Art they may pierce thorow all the other things aboue specified So Baldus betooke himselfe to the studie of the Lawes when he was wel-aged wherethrough some sayd vnto him in a scoffe Thou commest too late O Baldus and wilt prooue a good aduocate in the other world but because he had a capacitie conformable for the lawes he proued learned in a short season Nature giues habilitie Art facilitie Vse sufficiencie Aboue all things Nature is necessarie for if she gainsay al other drifts are attempted in vaine In all Knowledges we must vnderstand how far their iurisdiction exteÌ„deth and what questions apperteine vnto them The Lord working therewithall and confirming with his word followed by signs Iob. 33. The ignorance of naturall Philosophie is cause that miracles are imputed where they ought not Hippocrates vsed vnproper terms when he sayd the soule of man is produced vntil his death In euery citie the wisest and eldest persons should looke into and iudge of the naturall quicknesse of children and so giue notice that ech one might learne an art agreeable to his nature And therefore the heart and the things seated therabouts haue great feeling but for all that are not partakers of knowledge but of all these things the braine is causer There are two sorts of fat men the one full of flesh bones and blood the other replenished with fat and these are very wittie Go to the Ant O sluggard and consider his way and learne wisedome who hauing no guide nor maister prouides himselfe the summer of food and in the time of haruest furnisheth himselfe of meat A Faulconer affirmed to me with an oath that he had a redye Faulcon for hawking which grew bussardly for remedy wherof he gaue hir a botton di fuoto in the head and she amended Plato tooke out of the holie Scripture the best sentences which are to be found in his workes in respect whereof he was called Diuine Plato attributes three soules vnto man Hippocrates answered better saying That nature is learned though she haue not learned to do well The seed and menstruall blood which are two materiall principles of which we be formed are hote moist through which temperature children are so vnskilled When the braine is placed hot in the first degree it makes a man eloquent furnisheth him with store of matter to deliuer for which cause the silent are alwaies cold of braine great talkers hot This frenzie was occasioned by abundaÌ„ce of cholar which tooke hold in the substance of the brain which humor hath great congruence with Poetrie for which cause Horace sayd That if summer did not make euacuation of choler no Poet should passe before him This page was not yet perfectly cured He speakes to one asleepe who teacheth wisedome to a foole The Sibils admitted by the catholike church had this naturall disposition that Aristotle speakes of and besides a propheticall spirit which God powred into theÌ„ for naturall wit sufficed not for so high a point werethe same neuer so perfect When the diseased diuine thus it is a token that the reasonable soule is now awearie of the bodie and so none such recouer Those who haue bene crazed and are called melaÌ„cholike haue their mind endewed with a certain spice of prophesying and diuining Aristotle in his third booke of the soule Horace to say that Vlisses became not a fool figured him that he was not turned into a hog The hart of wise men is where there is sadnesse and the hart of fooles where there is mirth Wherethrough Cicero defining the nature of wit placeth memorie in his definition Docilitie Memorie which as it were by one name are tearmed wit Any distemperature whatsoeuer cannot any long time endure alone Of these differences of wits Aristotle said in this manner He verely is best who vnderstandeth euery thing by himselfe and he also is good who obeith him that sayth well The inuention of arts and the making of bookes saith Galen is performed with the vnderstaÌ„ding and with the memorie or with the imaginatiue but he thatwrites for that he hath many things in his mind cannot ad any new inuention This difference of wits is very dangerous for Diuinitie where the vnderstaÌ„ding ought to abide bound to that which the Catholike church doth resolue This difference of wits senteth very well for Diuinitie where it behooueth to ensue the diuine authoritie declared by the holy Councels and sacred Doctors The smooth white and grosse persons haue no melancholicke humour Amongst brute beasts there is none which approcheth neerer to mans wisdome than the OliphaÌ„t and there is none of a flesh so rough and hard Note that men of great vnderstanding take no care for attiring their bodie but are ordinarily ill apparelled slouenly and hereof we yeeld the reason in the 8. cha and 14. Galen dying went to hell and saw by experieÌ„ce that materiall fire burned the soules and could not consume theÌ„ this Physition had knowledge of that Euangelicall doctrine and could not receiue it But the serpent was the wiliest beast of the earth amongst all those whome God hath made Traquitantos signifieth Bring hither tokens or counters Cicero saith that the honour of man is to haue wit and of wit to be applied to eloquence This is recounted by Plato in his dialogue of knowledge and in his banquet Cicero praising the eloquence of Plato sayd That if Iupiter should haue spoken Greeke he would haue spoken as Plato did Paule Lib. 3. de Anima ca. 3. Take heed you receiue no hurt for leauing out the Pope Solertia S. John Baptist was an angell in his office No doubt your owne king A weake reason rather God chose Saule as a carnal man sit for the Iewes obstinat asking and Dauid as a spirituall man the instrument of his mercie And I hold it vntrue because the phrase vtterly differeth from the Latine toung as spectosus valde inter filios bominum Vnwritten Vâ—rities And such a one if you mistake not is your king Philip. Your king and your selfe An high speculation Note here a sign which sheweth the immortalitie of the soule This is no chapter for maids to read in sight of others You are much mistaken
seeing themselues hedged in with the curious and nice points of naturall Philosophie make them beleeue who know little that God or the diuell are authors of the prodigious and strange effects of whose naturall cause they haue no knowledge and vnderstanding Children which are engendred of seed cold and drie as are those begotten in old age some few dayes and moneths after their birth begin to discourse and philosophise for the temperature cold and drie as we will hereafter prooue is most appropriat to the operations of the reasonable soule and that which processe of time and many dayes and months should bring about is supplied by the present temperature of the brain which for many causes anticipateth what it was to effect Other children there are sayth Aristotle who as soone as they are borne begin to speake and afterwards hold their peace vntill they attaine the ordinarie and conuenient age of speaking which effect floweth from the same originall and cause that we recounted of the page and of those furious and frantike persons and of him who spake Latine on a sudden without hauing learned it in his health And that children whilst they make abode in their mothers bellie and so soone as they are borne may vndergo these infirmities is a matter past deniall But whence that diuining of the franticke woman proceeded I can better make Cicero to conceiue than these naturall Philosophers for he describing the nature of man sayd in this manner The creature foresightfull searchfull apt for many matters sharpe conceited mindfull replenished with reason and counsell whome we call by the name of Man And in particular he affirmeth that there is found a certain nature in some men which in foreknowing things to come exceedeth other mens and his words are these For there is found a certaine force and nature which foretels things to come the force and nature of which is not by reason to be vnfolded The error of the naturall Philosophers consisteth in not considering as Plato did that man was made to the likenesse of God and that he is a partaker of his diuine prouidence and that the power of discerning all the three differences of time memorie for the passed conceiuing for the present and imagination and vnderstanding for those that are to come And as there are men superior to others in remembring things past and others in knowing the present so there are also many who partake a more naturall habilitie for imagining of what shall come to passe One of the greatest arguments which forced Cicero to thinke that the reasonable soule is vncorruptible was to see the certaintie with which the diseased tell things to come and especially when they are neere their end But the difference which rests betweene a propheticall spirit and this naturall wit is that that which God speaks by the mouth of his prophets is infallible for it is the expresse word of God but that which man prognosticateth by the power of his imagination holds no such certaintie Those who say that the discouering of their vertues and vices by the frantike woman to the persons who came to visit her was a tricke of the diuels playing let them know that God bestowes on men a certaine supernaturall grace to attaine and conceiue which are the workes of God and which of the diuell the which saint Paule placeth amongst the diuine gifts and cals it The imparting of spirits Whereby we may discerne whether it be the diuell or some good angell that intermedleth with vs. For many times the diuell sets to beguile vs vnder the cloke of a good angell and we haue need of this grace and supernaturall gift to know him and difference him from the good From this gift they are farthest sundered who haue not a wit capable of naturall Philosophie for this science and that supernaturall infused by God fall vnder one selfe abilitie to weet the vnderstanding atleast if it be true that God in bestowing his graces doe applie himselfe to the naturall good of euery one as I haue afore rehearsed Iacob lying at the point of death at which time the reasonable soule is most at libertie to see what is to come all his twelue children entred to visit him and he to each of them in particular recited their vertues and vices and prophesied what should befall as touching them and their posteritie Certaine it is that he did all this inspired by God but if the diuine scripture and our fayth had not ascertained vs hereof how would these naturall Philosophers haue known this to be the worke of God and that the vertues and vices which the frantike woman told to such as came to visit her were discouered by the power of the diuell whilst this case in part resembles that of Iacob They reckon that the nature of the reasonable soule is far different from that of the diuell and that the powers thereof vnderstanding imagination and memorie are of another very diuers kind and herein they be deceiued For if a reasonable soule informe a well instrumentalized body as was that of Adam his knowledge comes little behind that of the subtillest diuell and without the body he partakes as perfect qualities as the other And if the diuels foresee things to come coniecturing and discoursing by certaine tokens the same also may a reasonable man do when he is about to be freed from his body or when he is endowed with that difference of temperature which makes a man capable of this prouidence For it is a matter as difficult for the vnderstanding to conceiue how the diuell can know these hidden things as to impute the same to the reasonable soule It will not fall in these mens heads that in natural things there may be found out certaine signs by means of which they may attaine to the knowledge of matters to come And I affirme there are certaine tokens to be found which bring vs to the notise of things passed and present and to forecast what is to follow yea to coniecture some secrets of the heauen Therfore we see that his things inuisible are vnderstood by the creatures of the world by means of the things which haue bene created Whosoeuer shall haue power to accomplish this shall attaine therevnto and the other shall be such as Homer spake of The ignorant vnderstandeth the things passed but not the things to come But the wise and discreet is the Ape of God for he immitates him in many matters and albeit he cannot accomplish them with so great perfection yet he carries some resemblance vnto him by following him CHAP. V. It is prooued that from the three qualities hot moist and drie proceed all the differences of mens wits THe reasonable soule making abode in the body it is impossible that the same can performe contrary and different operations if for each of them it vse not a particular instrument This is plainly seen in the power of the soule which performeth diuers operations in the outward
grosenesse And the same may easily be prooued another way for if sadnesse and affliction drie vp and consume the flesh and for that reason man gaineth more vnderstanding it fals out a matter certain that his contrary namely mirth will make the braine moist and diminish the vnderstanding Such as haue purchased this manner of wit are suddenly enclined to pastimes to musicke and to pleasant conuersations and flie the contrarie which at other times gaue them a relish and contentment Now by this the vulgar sort may conceiue whence it growes that a wise and vertuous man attaining to some great dignitie whereas at first he was but poore base sodainly changeth his manners and his fashion of speech and the reason is because he hath gotten a new temperature moist and full of vapours whence it followes that the figures are cancelled which tofore he had in his braine and his vnderstanding dulled From moisture it is hard to know what difference of wit may spring sithens it is so far contrary to the reasonable facultie At least after Galens opinion all the humours of our body which hold ouer-much moisture make a man blockish and foolish for which cause he sayd The readinesse of mind and wisedome growes from the humour of choler the humour of melancholy is author of firmnesse and constancie blood of simplicitie and dulnesse the flegmaticke complexion auaileth nothing to the polishing of mannes In so much that blood with his moistures and the flegme cause an impairing of the reasonable facultie But this is vnderstood of the faculties or reasonable wits which are discoursiue and actiue and not of the passiue as is the memorie which depends as well on the moist as the vnderstanding doth on the drie And we call memorie a reasonable power because without it the vnderstanding and the imaginatiue are of no valure It ministreth matter and figures to them all wherevpon they may syllogise conformably to that which Aristotle sayth It behooues that the vnderstander go beholding the fantasmes and the office of the memorie is to preserue these fantasmes to the end that the vnderstanding may contemplat them and if this be lost it is impossible that the powers can worke and that the office of memorie is none other than to preserue the figures of things without that it appertains therto to deuise them Galen expresseth in these words Memorie verely laies vp and preserueth in it selfe the things knowne by the sence and by the mind is therin as it were their store-house and receiuing place and not their inuenter And if this be the vse thereof it fals out apparant that the same dependeth on moisture for this makes the braine pliant and the figure is imprinted by way of strayning To prooue this we haue an euident argument in boyes age in which any one shall better conne by hart than in any other time of life and then doth the braine partake greatest moisture Whence Aristotle moueth this doubt Why in old age we haue better wit and in yoong age we learne more readily as if he should say What is the cause that when we are old we haue much vnderstanding and when we are yoong we learne with more towardlinesse Whereto he answereth That the memorie of old men is full of so many figures of things which they haue seene and heard in the long course of their life that when they would bestow more therein it is not capable thereof for it hath no void place where to receiue it But the memorie of yoong folke when they are newly borne is full of plaits and for this cause they receiue readily whatsoeuer is told or taught them And he makes this playner by comparing the memorie of the morning with that of the euening saying That in the morning we learne best because at that time our memorie is emptie and at the euening illy because then it is full of those thinges which we encountred during the day To this Probleme Aristotle wist not how to answer and the reason is very plaine for if the spices and figures which are in the memorie had a body and quantitie to occupie the place it would seeme that this were a fitting answer but being vndeuided and spiritual they cannot fill nor emptie any place where they abide yea we see by experience that by how much more the memorie is exercised euery day receiuing new figures so much the more capable it becommeth The answere of this Probleme is very euident after my doctrine and the same importeth that old men partake much vnderstanding because they haue great drinesse and fayle of memorie for that they haue little moisture and by this means the substance of the braine hardneth and so cannot receiue the impression of the figures as hard wax with difficultie admitteth the figure of the seale and the soft with easinesse The contrary befals in children who through the much moisture wherewith the braine is endowed faile in vnderstanding and through the great supplenesse of their braine abound in memorie wherein by reason of the moisture the shapes and figures that come from without make a great easie deepe and well formed impression That the memorie is better the morning than the euening cannot be denied but this springeth not from the occasion alleaged by Aristotle but the sleepe of the night passed hath made the braine moist and fortifyed the same and by the waking of the whole day it is dried and hardened For which cause Hippocrates affirmeth those who haue great thirst at night shall doe well to drinke for sleepe makes the flesh moist and fortifieth all the powers which gouern man And that sleepe so doth Aristotle himselfe confesseth By this doctrine is perfectly seene that the vnderstanding and memorie are powers opposit and contrary in sort that the man who hath a great memorie shall find a defect in his vnderstanding and he who hath a great vnderstanding cannot enjoy a good memorie for it is impossible that the braine should of his owne nature be at one selfe time drie and moist On this maxime Aristotle grounded himselfe to prooue that memorie is a power different from remembrance and he frames his argument in this manner Those who haue much remembrance are men of great vnderstanding and those who possesse a great memorie find want of vnderstanding so then memorie and remembrance are contrary powers The former proposition after my doctrine is false for those who haue much remembrance are of little vnderstanding and haue great imaginations as soone hereafter I will prooue but the second proposition is verie true albet Aristotle knew not the cause wheron was founded the enmitie which the vnderstanding hath with the memorie From heat which is the third qualitie groweth the imaginatiue for there is no other reasonable power in the braine nor any other qualitie to which it may be assigned besides that the sciences which appertaine to the imaginatiue are those which such vtter as dote in their sicknesse and
impaired many times the operations of the vnderstanding are thereby lost and yet those of the memorie and the imagination remaine sound which could not come to passe if the vnderstanding enioyed not a particular instrument for it selfe besides this which the other powers do partake To this I know not what may be yeelded in answer vnlesse it be by some metaphysicall relation compounded of action and power which neither themselues know what it meaneth nor is there any other man that vnderstands it Nothing more endammageth mans knowledge than to confound the sciences and what belongs to the Metaphysicks to entreat thereof in naturall Philosophie and matters of naturall Philosophie in the Metaphysicks The reasons wherevpon Aristotle grounded himselfe are of small moment for the consequence followeth not to say that the vnderstanding because it must know materiall things should not therefore enioy a bodily instrument for the bodily qualities which serue for the composition of the instrument make no alteration of the power nor from them do the fantasmes arise euen as the sensible placed aboue the sence causeth not the selfe sence This is plainly seene in touching for notwithstanding that the same is compounded of four materiall qualities and that the same hath in it quantitie and hardnesse or softnesse for all this the hand discerneth whether a thing be hot or cold hard or soft great or little And if you aske in what sort the naturall heat which is in the hand hindereth not the touching that it may discerne the heat which is in the stoue we answer that the qualities which serue for the composition of the instrument do not alter the instrument it selfe neither from them do there issue any shapes whereby to know them Euen as it appertaineth to the eye to know all figures and qualities of things and yet we see that the eye it selfe hath his proper figure and quantitie and of the humours and skins which go to his composition some haue colours and some are diaphane and trasparant all which hindereth not but that we with our sight may discerne the figures and quantities of all the things which shall appeare before vs and the reason is for that the humours the skins the figure and the quantitie serue for the composition of the eye and such thinges cannot alter the sightfull power and therefore trouble not nor hinder the knowledge of the outward figures The like we affirme of the vnderstanding that his proper instrument though the same be materiall and ioyned with it cannot enlarge it for from it issue no vnderstandable shapes which haue force to alter it and the reason is For that the vnderstandable placed aboue the vnderstanding causeth not the vnderstanding so it remaineth at libertie to vnderstand all the outward materiall thinges without that it encounter ought to hinder the same The second reason wherein Aristotle grounded himselfe is of lesse importance than the former for neither the vnderstanding nor any other accident can be qualiti-like for of themselues they cannot be the subiect of any qualitie For which cause it litle skilleth that the vnderstanding possesse the braine for an instrument togither with the temperature of the 4. first qualities that therfore it may be called qualitie-like inasmuch as the braine and not the braine and not the vnderstanding is the subiect of the heat the cold the moyst and the drie To the third difficulty which the Peripateticks alleage saying That by making the vnderstanding an instrumētall power we reaue one of those principles which serue to prooue the immortality of the reasonable soule we answere That there are other argumentes of more soundnesse whereby to prooue the same whereof wee will treat in the chapter following To the second argument we answere that not euery difference of operations argueth a diuersitie of powers for as we will prooue heereafter the imaginatiue performeth matter so strange that if this maxime were true in sort as the vulgar Philosophers had it or admitting the interpretation which they giue it there should be in the braine ten or twelue powers more But because all these operations are to be marshalled vnder one generall reason they argue no more than one imaginatiue which is afterwardes diuided into many particular differences by the meanes of the sundry operations which it performeth the composing of the shapes in the presence or the absence of the obiects not onely argueth not a diuersitie of the generall powers as are the common sense and the imaginatiue but euen not of the verie particulars To the third argument we answere that the memory is nothing els but a tendernesse of the braine disposed with a certaine kinde of moisture to receiue and preserue that which the imaginatiue apprehendeth with the like proportion that white or blew paper holdes with him who writeth for as the writer writeth in the paper the things which he would not forget and after he hath written them returnes to read them euen so we ought to conceiue that the imagination writeth in the memorie the figures of the things knowen by the fiue senses and by the vnderstanding as also some others of his own framing and when it will remember ought saith Arist. it returneth to behold contemplat them With this maner of comparison Plato serued himselfe when he said that fearing the weake memorie of old age he hastened to make another of paper namely bookes to the end his trauailes ought not to be lost but that hee might haue that which might represent them vnto him when he list to read them This selfe doth the imaginatiue of writing in the memorie and returning to read it when it would remember the same The first who vttered this point was Aristotle and the second Galen who said thus Forasmuch as that part of the soule which imagineth whatsoeuer the same be seemeth to be the selfe that also remembreth And so verily it seemeth to be for the things which we imagine with long thinking are well fixed in the memorie and that which we handle with light consideration also soone we forget the same againe And as the writer when he writeth faire the better assureth it to be read so it befalles to the imaginatiue that if it seale with force the figure remaineth well imprinted in the braine otherwise it can skarsly be discerned The like also chanceth in old deedes which being sound in part and in part perished by time cannot well be read vnlesse we gather much by reason and coniecture So doth the imaginatiue when in the memorie some figures remaine and some are perished where Aristotles errour had his originall who for this cause conceiued that remembrance was a different power from the memorie Moreouer he affirmed that those who haue great remembrance are likewise of great vnderstanding which is also false for the imaginatiue which is that that makes the remembrance is contrarie to the vnderstanding in sort that to gather memory of things and to remember them after they are
memorie And if it be true that the good preachers of our time content their audience because they haue these gifts it followeth very well that whosoeuer is a great preacher can small skill of Schoole-diuinitie and a great scholler will hardly away with preaching through the contrarietie which the vnderstanding carieth to the imagination and to the memorie Well knew Aristotle by experience that although the oratour learned Naturall and Morall Philosophy Phisicke Metaphisicke the Lawes the Mathematicals Astrologie and al the arts and sciences notwithstanding he was seen of all these but in the flowers and choice sentences without pearcing to the roote of the reason occasion of any of them But he thought that this not knowing the Diuinitie nor the cause of things which is termed Propter quid grew for that they bent not themselues thereunto and therfore propounded this demand Why do we imagine that a Philosopher is different from an oratour To which probleme he answereth that the Philosopher placeth all his studie in knowing the reason and cause of euerie effect and the oratour in knowing the effect and no farther And verily it proceedeth from nought els than for that naturall Philosophy appertaineth to the vnderstanding which power the oratours do want and therefore in Philosophy they can pearce no farther than into the vpper skin of things This selfe difference there is between the Schoole-diuine and the positiue that the one knoweth the cause of whatsoeuer importeth his faculty and the other the propositions which are verefied no more The case then standing thus it falleth out a dangerous matter that the preacher enioyeth an office and authoritie to instruct Christian people in the trueth and that their auditorie is bound to beleeue them and yet they want that power through which the trueth is digged vp from the roote we may say of them without lying those wordes of Christ our redeemer Let them go they are blinde and do guide the blinde and if the blind guide the blind both fall into the ditch It is a thing in tollerable to behold with how great audacity such set themselues to preach who cannot one iote of Schoole-diuinitie nor haue anie naturall abilitie to learne the same Of such S. Paul greatly cōplaineth saying But the end of the commandement is charitie from a pure heart and good conscience faith vnfained from which verily some straying haue turned aside to vain babling who would be doctors in the Law and yet vnderstand not the things which they speake nor which they auouch Besides this we haue prooued tofore that those who haue much imagination are cholericke subtle malignant and cauillers and alwaies enclined to euill which they can compasse with much readinesse craft Touching the oratours of his time Aristotle propoundeth this demand why we vse to call an oratour craftie and giue not this name to a musitian nor to a comical poet And more would this difficulty haue growen if Aristotle had vnderstood that musicke and the stage appertain to the imaginatiō To which probleme he answereth That Musitions and stage-plaiers shoot at none other Butte than to delight the hearers but the oratour goes about to purchase somewhat for himselfe and therfore it behooueth him to vse rules and readinesse to the end the hearers may not smell out his fetch and bent Such properties as these be had those false preachers of whom S. Paul spake writing to the Corinthians But I feare that as the serpent beguiled Eue with his subtletie so their senses are led astraie for these false Apostles are guilefull workmen who transforme themselues into the Apostles of Christ and this is no wonder for Sathan transformed himselfe into an Angel of light and therefore it is no great matter for his ministers to transforme themselues as ministers of iustice whose end shall be their worke as if he should say I haue great feare my brethren that as the serpent beguiled Eue with his subtletie and malice so they also intricate their iudgment and perseuerance for these false Apostles are like pottage made of a foxe Preachers who speake vnderwiles represent verie perfectly a kinde of holinesse seeme the Apostles of Iesus Christ and yet are disciples of the diuell who can skill so well to represent an Angel of light that there needeth not a supernaturall gift to discouer what he is and since the maister can play his part so well it is not strange that they also who haue learned his doctrine practise the semblable whose end shall be none other than their works All these properties are well knowen to appertaine to the imagination and that Aristotle said very wel that oratours are subtle and readie because they are euer in hand to get somewhat for themselues Such as possesse a forcible imagination we said before that they are of complexion verie hote and from this quality spring three principall vices in a man Pride Gluttonie and Lecherie for which cause the Apostle said Such serued not our Lord Iesus Christ but their bellie And that these three euill inclinations spring from heat and the contrarie vertues from cold Aristotle prooueth saying thus and therfore it holdeth the same force to shape conditions for heat and cold more than anie thing els which is in the bodie do season maners and therefore printeth and worketh in vs the qualities of maners as if he should say from heat and cold spring all the conditions of man for these two qualities do more altér our nature than any other For which cause men of great imagination are ordinarily bad and vitious for they abandon themselues to be guided by their natural inclination and haue wit and ability to do lewdly For which cause the same Aristotle asketh Whence it groweth that a man being so much instructed is yet the most vniust of all liuing creatures to which probleme he maketh answere that man hath much wit and a great imagination and for this he findeth manie waies to do ill and as by his nature he coueteth delights and to be superiour to all and of great happinesse it is of force that he offend for these things cannot be atchieued but by doing wrong to many but Aristotle wist not how to frame this probleme nor to yeeld a fitting answere Better might he haue enquired for what cause the worst people are commonly of greatest wit amongst those such as are best furnished with abilitie commit the lewdest prancks whereas of dew a good wit and sufficiencie should rather encline a man to vertue and godlinesse than to vices and misdoing The answere heereto is for that those who partake much heate are men of great imagination and the same qualitie which maketh them wittie traineth them to be naughtie vicious But when the vnderstanding ouerruleth it ordinarily inclineth a man to vertue because this power is founded on cold and drie From which two qualities bud many vertues as are Continencie Humilitie Temperance and from heat the contrarie And if Aristotle had
courtesie and pardoning might be dispersed among the people albeit of disposition he were very wide from this vertue for of his owne nature he was fell and vnmercifull and in such sort was trained vp from the tender yeares of his youth that he neuer learned laws or ciuil conditions but wars slaughters and betrayings of the enemy Wher through he grew to be a captain verie cruel and malicious in beguiling men and alwaies deuising how he might entrap his enemie And when he saw he could not preuaile by open war he sought to get the vpper hand by pollicies as was plainly seen in this deed of arms by vs rehearsed and by the battaile which he fought against Sempronius neer the riuer Trebia The tokens to know a man that is possessed of this difference of wit are verie strange and well worthy of contemplation VVher-through Plato saith that the man who is verie wise in this sort of abilitie which we trace out cannot be couragious nor wel conditioned for Aristotle saith That wisdom consisteth in cold and stomacke and manlinesse in heat Therefore these two qualities being repugnant and contrarie it is impossible that a man be verie full of hardinesse and also of wisdome therewithall For which cause it is necessarie that choler be burned and become choler adust to the end that a man may prooue wise but where this spice of melancholie is found inasmuch as the same is cold feare cowardize are straightwaies entertained In sort that craft and readinesse require heat for that the same is a worke of the imagination but not in such degree as courage where-through they repugne ech to other in extension But heerin befalleth a matter worth the noting that of the foure morall vertues Iustice Prudence Fortitude and Temperance the two first require a wit and good temperature to the end that they may be put in practise for if a Iudge be not endowed with vnderstanding to make himselfe capable of the point of iustice little auails it that he carrie a good will to render euery man his due Since this his good meaning may wander out of the way and wrong the true proprietarie The like is to be vnderstood of wisdome for if the only will sufficed to set things in good order then in no work good or euill should any error be committed There is no theefe whatsoeuer who seeketh not to rob in such manner as he may not be espied and there is no captain who desireth not to be owner of so much wisdome as may serue to vanquish his enemie But a theefe that is not his craftsmaister in filching soon falleth to be discouered and the captain that wanteth imagination ere long is ouercome Fortitude and Temperance are two vertues which men carrie in their fist though they want a naturall disposition for if a man be disposed to set little of his life and show hardinesse he may well do it but if he be couragious of his owne naturall disposition Aristotle and Plato affirme verie trulie it is not possible that he can be wise though he would In sort that by this reason there groweth no repugnancie to vnite the wisdome of the minde with courage for a wise and skilful man hath the vnderstanding to hazard his honour in respect of his soule and his life in respect of his honour and his goods in respect of his life and so he doth Hence it comes that gentlemen for that they are so much honored are so couragious and there is none who will endure more hardnesse in the wars for that they are brought vp in so many pleasures to the end they may not be termed ribalds Heeron is that by-word grounded God keep me from a Gent. by day and a theefe by night for the one because he is seen and the other that he may not be known do fight with double resolution on this selfe reason is the religion of Malta grounded who knowing how much it importeth nobilitie to be a man of valure haue a firme law that all those of their order shalbe issued from gentilitie both on the fathers side and the mothers for so ech of them must in the combat shew himselfe worth two of a baser progenie But if a gentleman had the charge giuen him to encamp an army and the order whereby he should put the enemy in rout if he had not a wit appropriat heerunto he would commit and vtter a thousand disorders for wisdome lieth not in mens disposition But if there were recōmended vnto him the guard of a gate they might soundly sleep on his eies although by nature he were a baggage The sentence of Plato is to be construed when a wise man followeth his owne natural inclination and doth not correct the same by reason And in that sort it is true that a verie wise man cannot of his naturall disposition be couragious for choler adust which maketh him wise maketh him also saith Hippocrates timorous and fearfull The second propertie wherewith a man possessed of this difference of wit cannot be endowed is to be pleasant and of quaint behauiour for with his imagination he frameth many plots and weeteth that whatsoeuer error or negligēce are the way to cast away an army wher-through he euer carieth an eie to the maine chance But people of little worth call carefulnesse a toil chastisment crueltie and mercie softnesse suffering and dissembling of leud parts a good disposition And this verily springeth because men are sots who pierce not into the true value of things nor in what sort they ought to be managed but the wise and skilfull cannot hold patience nor beare to see matters ill handled though they nothing appertain vnto themselues and therfore liue a small while and with much trouble of spirit Whence Salomon said I gaue also my mind to vnderstand wisdom doctrine errors and folly and found that in these also there is wearinesse and affliction of spirit for into much wisdome entreth much displeasure and who so attaineth Science getteth sorrow In which words it seemeth that Salomon gaue vs to vnderstand that he liued better contented being ignorant than after he had receiued wisdome And so verily it came to passe for the ignorant liue most carelesse inasmuch as nothing giueth them pain nor vexation and they litle reck who haue a better capcase than thēselues The vulgar accustometh to call such the Angels of heauen for they see how they take nothing at heart neither find fault with any thing ill done but let all passe but if they considered the wisdome and condition of the Angels they should see it were a word that carried euill consonance and a case for the inquisition house for from the day when we receiue the vse of reason vntill that of our death they doe nought els saue reprooue vs for all our euill doings and aduise vs to that which we ought to do And if as they speake to vs in their spiritual language by mouing our imagination so they should deliuer
touched by Galens mind hindereth all the powers and faculties of the soule and suffereth not them to worke Hence beginneth the answer of this second doubt and it is that those who play at Chesse conceiue feare to loose because the game standeth vpon termes of reputation and disgrace and for that Fortune hath no stroke therein so the vitall spirits assembling to the heart the imagination is foreslowed by the cold and the fantasms in the darke for which two reasons he who plaieth cannot bring his purpose to effect But the lookers on in as much as this no way importeth them neither stand in feare of loosing through want of skill do behold more draughts for that their imagination retaineth his heat and his figures are enlightened by the light of the vitall spirits True it is that much light reaueth also the light of the imagination and it befalleth what time the player waxeth ashamed and out of countenaunce to see his aduersarie beat him then through this aggreeuednes the naturall heat encreaseth and enlighteneth more than is requisit of all which he that standeth by is deuoid From hence issueth an effect very vsual in the world that what time a man endeuoreth to make the best muster of himselfe and his learning and sufficiencie most knowne it prooueth worst with him with others againe the contrarie betideth who being brought to their triall make a great show and passed out of the lists appeare of little woorth and of all this the reason is very manifest for he whose head is filled with much naturall heat if you appoint him to do an exercise of learning or disputation within foure and twentie hours after a part of that excessiue heat which he hath flieth to the heart and so the brain remaineth temperat and in this disposition as we wil prooue in the chapter ensuing many points woorth the vtterance present themselues to a mans remembrance But he who is very wise and endowed with a great vnderstanding being brought to triall by means of feare cannot retaine the naturall heat in his head whereon through default of light he findeth not in his memorie what to deliuer If this fell into their consideration who take vpon them to controll the Generals of armies blaming their actions and the order which they set down in the field they should discerne how great a difference resteth betweene the giuing a looking on the fight out at a window or the breaking of a launce therein and the feare to leese an armie whose charge their soueraigne hath committed to their hands No lesse dammage doth feare procure the Physition in curing for his practise as we haue prooued heretofore appertaineth to the imagination which resteth more annoied by cold than any other power for that his operation consisteth in heat Whence we see by experience that Physitions can sooner cure the vulgar sort than Princes and great personages A counsellor at law one day asked me knowing that I handled this matter what the cause might be that in the affairs where he was well payd many cases and points of learning came to his memorie but with such as yeelded not to his trauell what was due it seemed that all his knowledge was shrunke out of his braine whome I answered that matters of interest appertained to the wrathfull facultie which maketh his residence in the heart and if the same receiue not contentment it doth not willingly send forth the vitall spirits by whose light the figures which rest in the memorie may be discerned But when that findeth satisfaction it cheerfully affoordeth naturall heat VVherthrough the reasonable soule obtaineth sufficient cleernesse to see whatsoeuer is written in the head This defect do men of great vnderstanding partake who are pinching and relie much on their interest and in such is the propertie of that counsellor best discerned But who so falleth into due consideration hereof shall obserue it to be an action of Iustice that he who laboureth in another mans vineyard be well paied his wages The like reason is currant for the phisitions to whom when they are wel hired many remedies present them selues otherwise the art aswell in them as the lawyer slippeth out of their fingers But here a matter verie important is to be noted namely that the good imaginanation of the phisition discouereth on a sodain what is necessarie to be done And if he take leisure and farther consideration a thousand inconueniences come into his fancie which hold him in suspense and this-while the occasion of the remedie passeth away Therefore it is neuer good to aduise the phisition to consider well what he hath in hand but that he forthwith execute what first he purposed For we haue prooued heretofore that much speculation maketh the naturall heat to auoid out of the head and again the same may encrease so far forth as to turmoile the imagination But the phisition in whom it is slacke shall not doe amisse to vse long contemplation for the heat aduancing it selfe vp to the braine shall come to attaine that point which to this power is behooffull The third doubt in the matters alreadie rehearsed hath his answer verie manifest for the difference of the imagination with which we play at chesse requireth a certaine point of heat to see the draughts and he that plaieth well fasting hath then the degree of heat requisit thereunto But through the heat of the meat the same exceedeth that point which was necessarie and so he plaieth worse The contrarie befalleth to such as play well after meales for the heat rising vp togither with the meat and the wine arriueth to the point which wanted whiles he was fasting It is therefore needfull to amend a place in Plato who saith that nature hath with great wisdome disioyned the liuer from the braine to the end the meat with his vapours should not trouble the contemplation of the reasonable soule But here if he mean those operations which appertain to the vnderstanding he speaketh very well but it can take no place in anie of the differences of the imagination Which is seen by experience in feasts and banquets for when the guests are come to mid meale they begin to tell pleasant tales merriments and similitudes where at the beginning none had a word to say but at the end of the feast their tongue faileth them for the heat is passed beyond the bound requisit for the imagination Such as need to eat and drinke a little to the end the imagination may lift vp it selfe are melancholicke by adustion for such haue their brain like hot lime which taken vp into yourhand is cold and drie in feeling but if you bath the same in any liquor you cannot endure the heat which groweth therof We must also correct that law of the Carthagineans which Plato alleageth whereby they forbad their Captains to drinke wine when they went to their wars and likewise their gouernours during the yeare of their office And albeit Plato held the same
who is possessed of this temperature we need prescribe no diet what he shall eat and drinke for he neuer exceedeth the quantitie and measure which phisicke would assigne him And Galen contenteth not himselfe to terme them most temperat but moreouer auoucheth that it is not necessary to moderat their other passions of the soule for his anger his sadnesse his pleasure and his mirth are alwaies measured by reason Whence it followeth that they are euermore healthful and neuer diseased and this is the fourth figure But herein Galen swarueth from reason for it is impossible to frame a man that shalbe perfect in all his powers as the body is temperat and that his wrathfull and concupiscentiall power get not the soueraigntie ouer reason and incite him to sin For it is not fitting to suffer any man how temperat soeuer to follow alwaies his owne naturall inclination without gainsetting and correcting him by reason This is easily vnderstood considering the temperature which the braine ought to haue to the end the same may be made a conuenient instrument for the reasonable facultie and that which the heart should hold to the end the wrathfull power may couet glorie empire victorie and soueraigntie ouer all and that which the liuer ought to haue for disgesting the meats and that which ought to rest in the colds to be able to preserue mankind and to increase the same Of the brain we haue said sundry times tofore that it should retaine moisture for memory drinesse for discourse and heat for the imagination But for all this his naturall temperature is cold and moist and by reason of the more or lesse of these two qualities somtimes we terme it hot and somtimes cold now moist then drie but the cold and moist grow to predominat The liuer wherein the facultie of concupiscence resideth hath for his naturall temperature heat and moisture to predominate and from this it neuer altereth so long as a man liueth And if somtimes we say it is cold it groweth for that the same hath not all the degrees of heat requisit to his owne operations As touching the heart which is the instrument of the wrathfull facultie Galen affirmeth it of his owne nature to be so hot as if while a creature liueth we put our finger into his hollownesse it will grow impossible to hold the same there one moment without burning And albeit somtime we terme it cold yet we may not conceiue that the same doth predominate for this is a case impossible but that the same consisteth not in such degree of heat as to his operations is behooffull In the cods where the other part of the concupiscible maketh abode the like reason taketh place for the predomination of his naturall temperature is hot and drie And if somtimes we say that a mans cods are cold we must not absolutly so vnderstand the same neither to predomination but that the degree of heat requisit for the generatiue vertue is wanting Hereon we plainly inferre that if a man be well compounded and instrumentalized it behooueth of force that he haue excessiue heat in his heart for otherwise the wrathfull facultie would grow verie remisse and if the liuer be not exceeding hot it cannot disgest the meat nor make bloud for nourishment and if the cods haue not more heat than cold a man will prooue impotent and without power of begetting Wherefore these two members being of such force as we haue said it followeth of necessitie that the braine take alteration through much heat which is one of the qualities that most paineth reason and which is worst the will being free inciteth and inclineth it selfe to condiscend to the appetites of the lower portion By this reckoning it appeareth that nature cannot fashion such a man as may be perfect in al his powers nor produce him inclined to vertue How repugnant it is vnto the nature of man that he become inclined to vertue is easily prooued considering the composition of the first man which though the most perfect that euer mankind enioyed sauing that of Christ our redeemer and shaped by the hands of so great an artificer yet if God had not infused into him a supernaturall qualitie which might keepe down his inferiour part it was impossible abiding in the principles of his owne nature that he should not be enclined to euill And that God made Adam of a perfect power to wrath and concupiscence is well to be vnderstood in that he said and commanded him Encrease and multiply and to replenish the earth It is certaine that he gaue them an able power for procreation made them not of a cold complexion inasmuch as he commanded him that he should people the earth with men which worke cannot be accomplished without abundance of heat And no lesse heat did he bestow vpon the facultie nutritiue with which he was to restore his consumed substance and renew another in lieu thereof Seeing that he said to the man and the woman Behold I haue giuen you euerie hearb that bringeth forth seed vpon the earth whatsoeuer trees haue seed of their kind to the end they may serue you for food for if God had giuen them a stomacke and liuer cold and of little heat for certain they could not haue digested their meat nor preserue themselues 900 yeares aliue in the world He fortified also the heart and gaue the same a wrathfull facultie which might yeeld him apt to be a king and lord and to command the whole world and said vnto them Do you subdue the earth and command ouer the fishes of the sea and the foules of the aire and all the beasts that mooue on the face of the earth But if he had not giuen them much heat they had not partaken so much viuacitie nor authoritie of soueraigntie of commandement of glory of maiestie and of honour How much it endamageth a prince to haue his wrathfull power remisse cannot sufficiently be expressed for through this only cause it befalleth that he is not feared nor obeied nor reuerenced by his subiects After hauing fortified the wrathfull and concupiscible powers giuing vnto the forementioned members so much heat he passed to the facultie reasonable and shaped for the same a braine cold and moist in such degree and of a substance so delicat that the soule might with the same discourse and philosophize and vse his infused knowledge For we haue alreadie auouched and heretofore prooued that God to bestow a supernaturall knowledge vpon men First ordereth their wit and maketh them capable by way of the naturall dispositions deliuered by his hand that they may receiue the same for which cause the text of the holy scripture affirmeth that he gaue them a heart to conceiue and replenished them with the discipline of vnderstanding The wrathful and concupiscentiall powers being then so mighty through great heat and the reasonable so weake and remisse to resist God made prouision of a supernaturall qualitie and this is tearmed by
the Diuines Originall Iustice by which they come to represse the brunts of the inferiour portion and the part reasonable remaineth superiour and enclined to vertue But when our first parents offended they lost this qualitie and the irascible and concupiscible remained in their nature and superiour to reason in respect of the strength of the three members that we spake of and man rested readie euen from his youth vnto euill Adam was created in the age of youth which after the Physitions is the most temperat of all the residue and from that age foorth he was enclined to euilnes sauing that little time whilst he preserued himselfe in grace by originall iustice From this doctrine we gather in good naturall Philosophie that if a man be to performe any action of vertue to the gainsaieng of the flesh it is impossible that he can put the same in execution without outward ayd of grace for the qualities with which the inferiour power worketh are of greater efficacie I sayd with gainsaying of the flesh because there are many vertues in man which grow for that he hath his powers of wrath and concupiscence feeble as chastitie in a cold person but this is rather an impotencie of operation than a vertue for which cause had not the catholicke church taught vs that without the speciall aid of God we could not haue ouercome our owne nature Philosophie naturall would so haue learned vs namely that grace comforteth our wil. That then which Galen would haue sayd was that a temperat man exceedeth in vertue all others who want this good temperature for the same is lesse prouoked by the inferiour part The fifth propertie which those of this temperature possesse is to be very long liued for they are strong to resist the causes and occasions which engender diseases and this was that which the roiall prophet Dauid meant The daies of our age in themselues are seuentie yeares but if in the potentates there be eightie or more it is their paine and sorrow as if he should say The number of yeares which men ordinarily do liue arriue vnto seuentie and if potentates reach vnto eightie those once passed they are dead on their feet He tearmeth those men potentates who are of this temperature for more than any other they resist the causes which abridge the life Galen layeth downe the last token sayeng that they are very wise of great memorie for things passed of great imagination to foresee those to come and of great vnderstanding to find out the truth of all matters They are not malicious not wily not cauillers for these spring from a temperature that is vitious Such a wit as this assuredly was not framed by nature to addict it selfe vnto the studie of the Latine tongue Logicke Philosophie Phisicke Diuinitie or the Lawes for put case he might easily attaine these sciences yet none of them can fully replenish his capacitie only the office of a king is in proportion answerable therevnto and in ruling and gouerning ought the same solely to be imploied This shal easilie be seene if you run ouer the tokens and properties of a temperat man which we haue laid downe by taking into consideration how fitly ech of them squareth with the roiall scepter and how impertinent they shew for the other arts and sciences That a king be faire and gratious is one of the things which most inuiteth his subiects to loue him and wish him well For the obiect of loue saith Plato is beautie and a seemly proportion and if a king be hardly fauoured and badly shaped it is impossible that his subiects can beare him affection rather they reake it a shame that a man vnperfect and void of the gifts of nature should haue sway and commaundement ouer them To be vertuous and of good conditions easily may we gather how greatly it importeth for he who ought to order the liues of his subiects and deliuer vnto them rules and lawes to liue conformably to reason it is requisit that he performe the same also in his owne person for as the king is such are the great the meane and the inferiour persons Moreouer by this means he shall make his commandements the more authenticall and with the better title may chastise such as do not obserue them To enioy a perfection in all the powers which gouern man namely the generatiue nutritiue wrathfull and reasonable is more necessarie in a king than any artiste whatsoeeuer For as Plato deliuereth in a well ordered common-wealth there should be appointed certain surueiours who might with skill looke into the qualities of such persons as are to be married and giue to him a wife answerable vnto him in proportion and to euerie wife a conuenient husband Through this diligence the principall end of matrimonie should not become vaine for we see by experience that a woman who could not conceiue of her first husbād marrying another straghtwaies beareth children and many men haue no children by their first wife taking another speedily come to be fathers Now this skill saith Plato is principally behooffull in the marriage of kings for it being a matter of such importance for the peace and quiet of the kingdome that the Prince haue lawfull children to succeed in the estate it may so fall that the king marrying at all aduentures shall take a barraine woman to wife with whom he shal be combred all daies of his life without hope of issue And if he decease without heires of his body straightwaies it must be decided by ciuill wars who shall command next after him But Hippocrates saith this art is necessarie for men that are distemperat and not for those who partake this perfect temperature by vs described These need no special choice in their wife nor to search out which may answere them in proportion for whom soeuer they marry withal saith Galen forthwith they beget issue but this is vnderstood when the wife is sound and of the age wherein women by order of nature may conceiue and bring forth in sort that fruitfulnesse is more requisit in a king than in any artist whatsoeuer for the reasons tofore alleaged The nutritiue power saith Galen if the same be gluttonous greedy and bibbing it springeth for that the liuer and stomack want the temperature which is requisit for their operations and for this cause men become riotous and short liued But if these members possesse their due temperature and composition the selfe Galen affirmeth that they couet no greater quantitie of meat and drink than is conuenient for preseruation of life Which propertie is of so great importance for a king that God holdeth that land for blessed to whose lot such a Prince befalleth Blessed is the land saith he in Ecclesiasticus whose king is noble and whose princes feed in due times for their refreshment and not for riotousnesse Of the wrathful facultie if the same be extended or remisse it is a token saith Galen that the heart is ill composed and partaketh
The sixth by her haire The seuenth by her fairenesse or foulnesse As touching the first we may know that though it be true as tofore we haue prooued that the wit and abilitie of a woman followeth the temperature of the brain and of none other member yet her womb and cods are of so great force and vigour to alter the whole body that if these be hot and dry or cold and moist or of whatsoeuer other temperature the other partes saith Galen will be of the same tenour but the member which most partaketh the alterations of the belly all Phisitions say is the brain though they haue not set down the reason wheron they ground this correspondencie True it is Galen prooueth by experience that by speying a Sow she becommeth faire and fat and her flesh verie sauory and if she haue her cods she tasteth little better than dogs flesh VVherby we conceiue that the belly and the cods carrie great efficacie to communicat their temperature to all the other parts of the body especially to the brain for that the same is cold moist like themselues Between which through the resemblance the passage is easie Now if we conclude that cold and moist are the qualities which worke an impairement in the reasonable part and that his contraries namely hot and drie giue the same perfection and encreasement we shall find that the woman who sheweth much wit and sufficiencie partaketh of cold and moist in the first degree and if she be verie simple it yeeldeth a signe that she is in the third the partaking between which two extreames argueth the second degree for to thinke that a woman can be hot and drie or endowed with a wit and abilitie conformable to these two qualities is a verie great error because if the seed of which she was formed had been hot and dry in their domination she should haue been born a man and not a woman But in that it was could and moist she was born a woman and not a man The truth of this doctrine may cleerely be discerned if you consider the wit of the first woman who liued in the world for God hauing fashioned her with his own hands and that very accomplished and perfect in her sex it is a conclusion infallibly true that she was possessed of much lesse knowledge than Adam which the diuell well weeting got him to tempt her and durst not fall in disputation with the man fearing his great wit and wisdome Now to say that Eue for her offence was reft that knowledge which she wanted cannot be auouched for as yet she had not offended So then this defect of wit in the first woman grew for that she was by God created cold and moist which temperature is necessarie to make a woman fruitfull and apt for childbirth but enemy to knowledge and if he had made her temperat like Adam she should haue been very wise but nothing fruitful nor subiect to her monthly courses saue by some supernaturall meanes On this nature S. Paul grounded himselfe when he said Let a woman learne in silence with all subiection neither would he allow the woman to teach or gouerne the man but to keep silence But this is true when a woman hath not a spirit or greater grace than her own naturall disposition but if she obtaine any gift from aboue she may wel teach and speake for we know that the people of Israel being oppressed and besieged by the Assirians Iudith a very wise woman sent for the Priests of the Cabeits and Carmits and reprooued them saying How can it be endured that Osias should say if within fiue daies there come no succour he will yeeld the people of Israel to the Assirians see you not that these words rather prouoke God to wrath than to mercie how may it be that men should point out a limited time for the mercy of God and in their mind assigne a day at which he must succour and deliuer them And in the conclusion of this reproofe she told them in what sort they might please God and obtaine their demand And no lesse Elbora a woman of no lesse wisdome taught the people of Israel how they should render thanks vnto God for the great victories which she had attained against their enemies But whilst a woman abideth in her naturall disposition all sorts of learning and wisdome carrieth a kind of repugnancie to her wit And for this cause the Catholicke Church vpon great reason hath forbidden that no woman do preach confesse or instruct for their sex admitteth neither wisdome nor discipline It is discouered also by the maners of a woman and by her condition in what degree of cold and moist her temperature consisteth for if with a sharp wit she be froward curst wayward she is in the first degree of cold and moist it being true as we haue proued tofore that an ill condition euermore accompanieth a good imagination She who partaketh this degree of cold moist suffereth nothing to escape her hands noteth all things findeth fault with all things and so is insupportable Such are accustomably of amiable conuersation and feare not to looke men in the face nor hold him ill mannered who maketh loue vnto them But on the other side to be a woman of good conditions and to be agreeued at nothing to laugh vpon euery small occasiō to let things passe as they come and to sleep soundly descrieth the third degree of cold and moist for much pleasantnesse of conceit is ordinarily accompanied with little wit She who partaketh of these two extreams standeth in the second degree A voice hoarse big and sharp saith Galen is a token of much heat and drouth and we haue also prooued it heretofore by the opinion of Aristotle wherthrough we may gain this notice that if a woman haue a voice like a man she is cold and moist in the first degree and if very delicat in the third And partaking betwixt both the extreames she shall haue the naturall voice of a woman and be in the second degree How much the voice dependeth on the temperature of the cods shall shortly hereafter be prooued where we entreat of the tokens appertaining to a man Much flesh also in women is a signe of much cold and moist for to be fat and big say the Phisitions groweth in liuing creatures from this occasion And contrariwise to be leane and dry is a token of little coldnesse moisture To be meanly fleshed that is neither ouermuch nor verie little giueth euidence that a woman holdeth her selfe in the second degree of cold and moist Their pleasantnesse and curtesies sheweth the degrees of these two qualities much moisture maketh their flesh supple and little rough and hard The meane is the commendablest part The colour also of the face and of the other parts of the body discouereth the extended or remisse degrees of these two qualities When the woman is verie white it boadeth saith Galen much cold
and moist and contrariwise she that is swart and browne is in the first degree therof of which two extreames is framed the second degree of white and well coloured To haue much haire and a little shew of a beard is an euident signe to know the first degree of cold and moist for all Phisitions affirme that the haire and beard are engendred of heat and drinesse and if they be blacke it greatly purporteth the same A contrary temperature is betokened when a woman is without haire Now she whose complexion consisteth in the second degree of cold and moist hath some haire but the same reddish and golden Foulnesse moreouer and fairenesse help vs to iudge the degrees of cold and moist in women It is a miracle to see a woman of the first degree very faire for the seed whereof she was formed being dry hindereth that she cannot be fairely countenanced It behooueth that clay be seasoned with conuenient moisture to the end vessels may be well framed and serue to vse But when that same is hard dry the vessell is soule and vnhandsom Aristotle farther auoucheth that ouermuch cold and moist maketh women by nature foule for if the seed be cold and very moist it can take no good figure because the same standeth not togither as we see that of ouer soft clay ill shaped vessels are fashioned In the second degree of cold and moist women prooue verie faire for they were formed of a substance well seasoned and pleasant to nature which token of it selfe alone affordeth an euident argument that the woman is fruitfull for it is certain that nature could do it and we may iudge that she gaue her a temperature and composition fit for bearing of children Wherethrough she answers in proportion welneer to al men and all men do desire to haue her In man there is no power which hath tokens or signes to descry the goodnesse or malice of his obiect The stomacke knoweth the meat by way of tast of smelling and of sight wherethrough the diuine scripture saith That Eue fixed her eies on the tree forbidden and her seemed that it was sweet in tast The facultie of generation holdeth for a token of fruitfulnesse a womans beautie and if she be foule it abhorreth her conceiuing by this signe that nature erred and gaue her not a fit temperature for bearing of children By what signes we may know in what degree of hot and dry euery man resteth § 1. A Man hath not his temperature so limited as a woman for he may be hot drie which temperature Aristotle Galen held was that which best agreed with his sex as also hot and moist and temperat but cold moist and cold and drie they would not admit whilst a man was sound and without impairment for as you shall find no woman hot and drie nor hot and moist or temperat so shall you find no man cold and moist nor cold and drie in comparison of women vnlesse in case as I shal now expresse A man hot and drie and hote and moist and temperat holdeth the same degrees in his temperature as doth a woman in cold and moist and so it behooueth to haue certain tokens whereby to discerne what man is in what degree that we may assigne him a wife answerable vnto him in proportion We must therefore weet that from the same principles of which we gathered vnderstanding what woman is hot and drie and in what degree from the selfe we must also make vse to vnderstand what man is hote and drie and in what degree and because we sayd that from the wit and manners of a man we coniecture the temperature of his cods it is requisit that we take notice of a notable point mentioned by Galen namely that to make vs vnderstand the great vertue which a mans cods possesse to giue firmnesse and temperature to all the parts of the body he affirmeth that they are of more importance than the heart and he rendereth a reason saying that this member is the beginning of life nought else but the cods are the beginning of liuing soundly and without infirmities How much it endammageth a man to be depriued of those parts though so small there need not many reasons to prooue seeing we see by experience that forth with the haire and the beard pill away and the big and shrill voice becommeth small and herewithall a man leeseth his forces and naturall heat and resteth in far woorse and more miserable condition than if he had bene a woman But the matter most worth the noting is that if a man before his gelding had much wit and habilitie so soone as his stones be cut away he groweth to leese the same so far foorth as if he had receiued some notable dammage in his very braine And this is a manifest token that the cods giue reaue the temperature from all the other parts of the body and he that will not yeeld credit hereunto let him consider as my selfe haue done oftentimes that of 1000 such capons who addict themselues to their booke none attaineth to any perfection and euen in musicke which is their ordinarie profession we manifestly see how blockish they are which springeth because musick is a worke of the imagination this power requireth much heat whereas they are cold and moist So it falleth out a matter certaine that from the wit and habilitie we may gather the temperature of the cods for which cause the man who showeth himselfe prompt in the works of the imagination should be hot and drie in the third degree And if a man be of no great reach it tokeneth that with his heat much moisture is vnited which alwaies endammageth the reasonable part and this is the more confirmed if he be good of memorie The ordinarie conditions of men hot and dry in the third degree are courage pride liberalitie audacitie and cheerefulnesse with a good grace and pleasantnesse and in matter of women such a one hath no bridle nor ho. The hote and moist are merry giuen to laughter louers of pastime faire conditioned very courteous shamefast and not much addicted to women The voice and speech much discouereth the temperature of the cods That which is big and somwhat sharp giueth token that a man is hot and dry in the third degree and if the same be pleasant amiable and very delicat it purporteth little heat and much moisture as appeareth in the gelded A man who hath moist vnited with heat will haue the same high but pleasant shrill Who so is hot and drie in the third degree is slender hard and rough fleshed the same composed of sinews and arteries and his veines big contrariwise to haue much flesh smooth and tender is shew of much moisture by means wherof it extendeth and enlargeth out the naturall heat The colour of the skin if the same be brown burned blackish greene and like ashes yeeldeth signe that a man is in the third degree of