and inspiring Genius whilst he compos'd some of his immortal Works He desired much to have had Issue by her and perform'd the last Offices to her in the following Verses which express with Passion his Conjugal Affection HELPES dicta fui Siculae Regionis Alumna Quam procul à patria Conjugis egit amor Quo sine moesta dies nox anxia flebilis hora Nec solum Caro sed Spiritus unus erat Lux mea non clausa est tali remanente marito Majorique animae parte superstes ero Porticibus sacris tam nunc peregrina quiesco Judicis aeterni testificata Thronum Ne qua manus Bustum violet nisi fortè jugalis Haec iterum cupiat jungere membra suis Vt Thalami CumulÃque comes nec morte revellar Et socios vitae nectat uterque Cinis In English thus Led by the Charms of my kind Lord I came To Rome Sicilian HELPES was my Name My Days Nights Hours he did with Pleasure crown One were our Bodies and our Souls were one Though forc'd from hence I do my Fate survive Whilst still my nobler Part in him doth live A Stranger in this sacred Porch I lie And of th' Eternal Judg I testify O let no Hand invade my Tomb unless My Lord would mingle this my Dust with his As once one Bed then should we have one Grave And I in both shou'd him my much-lov'd Partner haue His other Wife was RVSTICIANA Daughter to Quintus Aurelius Memius Symmachus who was also Chief of the Senate and Consul in the Year CDXXCV By her he had many Children two of which were Consuls viz. QVINTVS ANICIVS SYMMACHVS and ANICIVS MANLIVS SEVERINVS BOETIVS in the Year DXXII. this bearing the Name of his Father the other of his Grandfather Boetius well considering that Symmachus his Father-in-law being without Heirs-male he shou'd do a grateful thing to him if he gave his Name to his eldest Son by his Daughter 'T is likely that his Wealth was not small because besides that he owns in his Writings that he liv'd in great Plenty and Splendour and that he had an Abundance and Affluence of all worldly things his Father supported the honourable Office of the Consulate and his Grandfather in the most difficult times of the Empire commanded the Pretorian Bands Nor was he only considerable by his Patrimony for he had a great Accession to his Fortune by his Wife RVSTICIANA to whom and her Sons the whole Estate of Symmachus did descend since Galla the other Daughter of Symmachus upon the Death of her Husband who died young soon after the time of his Consulship was expir'd vow'd perpetual Chastity and associated her self to the Vestals To these Ornaments of Birth and Fortune Nature added also the considerable Faculties of Speaking and Writing in which he so excell'd that himself acknowledges the first and that the second was not wanting to him will appear to any one who examines what he has written upon the several Subjects of Mathematicks Logick and Divinity But this Divine Work of the Consolation of Philosophy doth far exceed the rest for it abounds in various and difficult Arguments and yields many choice Sentences and Rules of Life Upon every Subject which he attempts he does so acquit himself that none can be said to have taught more accurately to have prov'd more irrefragably or to have illustrated with more Perspicuity To be short he had so much Strength of Soul and Thought and he shew'd so much Judgment in all his Managements that even a most knowing Prince fear'd his Parts and his Vertues and Integrity became his Crime and wrought his Ruine These were the Causes of his Banishment and Death With these he studied to defend the good and to curb and restrain ill Men whenever it was in his Power For whilst he sustain'd the Dignity of Master of the Offices it being dangerous for him then to refuse to do so he was made President of the Council to whom it belong'd to oversee the Discipline of the Palace and being Partaker of many of the Secrets of his Prince was call'd often to advise him in his weightiest Affairs of State and on all these Occasions he gave great Proofs of his Abilities and inviolable Equity Amongst other of his generous and good Actions he defended Paulinus and Albinus both Consulars and the Senate it self with the rich Province of Campania against the Rapine and Violence of King Theodorick Cyprian Triguilla and Conigast and also against the devouring Avarice of the Captain of the Guards and other barbarous Spoilers By these Proceedings he became the Object of ill Mens Hate and incurr'd also the Displeasure of the King But at this very time the Orthodox Emperor Justin succeeding to Anastasius the Arian like a new Sun enlightned the Oriental Regions with the Light of the true Faith He confirm'd that Peace which was desir'd by Theodorick King of the Gothes who then Odoacer being slain reign'd in Italy He having reconcil'd the Church of Constantinople and also several others to Hormisda Bishop of Rome did immediately by his Edict banish all Arians except the Gothes out of the Eastern Empire Theodorick the Goth was troubled at this Action above measure however he dissembled his Resentment when behold three Informers Men of desperate Fortune and worse Lives Gaudentius and Opilio for several Offences being condemn'd to Banishment and Basilius lately dismiss'd from being Steward of the King's Household and also much indebted apply to the King and accuse BOETIVS for that he should hinder an Informer from bringing in his Witnesses to prove the whole Senate guilty of Treason that he declar'd his Design by several Letters of restoring the Liberty of Italy and that he had endeavour'd to raise himself to Honours by magical Arts and other unlawful Means Theodorick jealous as all are of the Rights and Safety of his Crown and fearing too that if the true Religion should be asserted the Romans being more addicted to Justin would attempt some Great thing and knowing that what was done in the East against the Arians was done at the Request and in favour of Hormisda and the Senate of Rome did give ready Faith to those Accusers and immediately sent them to the Senate at Rome from which Place this good Man was then far distant where they were to present their Accusations and to declare that the Lives and Safety of the Prince and of all the Gothes were now in great Jeopardy So to the Grief of all good Men the innocent Boetius absent unheard and undefended was condemned to Death and to Proscription But the King fearing that Justice and all the World would have but too good Cause of Offence against him if this Man should die he changed his Sentence from Death to Banishment that so he might be a Terror to other People and he might still have him in his Power to make a Sacrifice of when his barbarous Soul should thirst after Blood Therefore in the Year
habenas Infundis lumen studiis cedere nescis Graecorum ingeniis sed mens divina coercet Imperium Mundi Gladio bacchante Gothorum Libertas Romana perit tu Consul Exul Insignes Titulos praeclara morte relinquis Tunc decus Imperii summas qui praegravat artes Tertius Otho sua dignum te judicat aula Aeternúmque tui statuit monimenta laboris Et benè promeritum meritis exornat honestis Whilst Rome does all the World proudly awe Thou her great Consul dost to her give Law No nobler Light thy Country ever saw The Learn'd take Lights from thee thou art behind None of the Grecian Worthies thou dost find Room for the World in thy capacious Mind Now when the Roman Liberty is gone Banish'd thou layst thy Purple Honours down And dying scorn'st the Gothick Tyrant's Frown Imperial Otho Patron of all Arts To thee his Favours after Death imparts And builds this Monument to thy Deserts The End of the Life of BOETIVS The Testimonies of several Writers concerning Boetius translated * Ennodius or as some read Evodius was Bishop of Ticinum or Pavia and an excellent Poet and Orator ENNODIVS Bishop of Pavia to Boetius Epist xiii Lib. vii THOV dost vouchsafe most accomplish'd of Men to extol my Vertues when thy Industry even in thy Youth and without those Inconveniences which attend those in Years hath given thee all the Advantages of Age All things in the Vniverse are subject to thy Diligence and Inquiry To whom even in the Beginning of thy Life assiduous Reading is Diversion and that which others with Sweat and Labour scarce attain to thou conquer'st with Delight That which appeared in the Hands of the Antients but a single Light in thine shines with double Lustre and Flame for thou hast obtain'd the Mastery of that in thy Beginning which our Ancestors scarce arrived at in the last part of their Lives Out of the Greek of †Procopius of Caesarea in Palestine was a Rhetorician and a Sophister Amongst his several Histories he wrote three Books of the Gothick Wars PROCOPIVS Hist Goth. Lib. 1. SYmmachus and his Son-in-law Boetius Patricians and nobly descended were in their several times Chiefs of the Senate and Consuls and made deeper Researches into Philosophy and Morality than any Persons of their time and were very charitable as well to Strangers as to Romans who were in want Their Merits having rais'd them to Honours and Authorities they became the Hate of those flagitious Persons who accus'd them falsly and were the Occasion of their Deaths and of the Confiscation of their Goods But a few Days after Theodorick supping and having before him the Head of a great Fish it appear'd to him to be the Head of Symmachus who by his Command was killed grinding his Teeth against him and threatning him with sparkling Eyes and an ireful Countenance Whence being affrighted with the Strangeness of the Prodigy and his Joints and Members trembling above measure he forthwith betook himself to his Bed and there acquainting Elpidius his Physician with things in order as they had happen'd he with Tears lamented his injurious Dealing with Symmachus and Boetius which when he had done being overwhelm'd with Grief and astonish'd with the late portentous Vision he yielded to Death giving this his first and last Example of injurious Acting against his Subjects by condemning such worthy Men contrary to his Custom without any Cause assign'd The same PROCOPIVS Lib. 3. ejusdem Hist This was further added to compleat the Misery of Rusticiana the late Wife of Boetius and Daughter of Symmachus that she who had formerly reliev'd the Poor and Necessitous should going from House to House and Door to Door beg in a servile and Country Habit the Necessaries of Life from her Enemies The Gothes indeed did conspire against the Life of Rusticiana and objected to her that she giving Money to the Commanders of the Roman Army was the Cause of throwing down the Statues of Theodorick in Revenge of the Death of Symmachus her Father and Boetius her Husband Totilas however suffer'd no Injury to be done to her but preserv'd her and several others from all harm * Paulus Diaconus at the Command of Adelburga Daughter of King Desiderias made a large Appendix to the History of Eutropius PAVLVS DIACONVS Lib. 7. added to the History of Eutropius WHilst John the Pope Theodorus Importunus Agapitus Consular Men and another Agapitus a Patrician were performing their Ambassy to Justin Theodorick spurr'd on by his Rage slew Symmachus the Patrician who had been Consul and Boetius the Elder who had also been Consul both good Christians with the Sword Out of MARIVS his Chronicle Justin II. and Opilio being Consuls Indict II. which was in the Year of Grace DXXIV. In this Year Boetius the Patrician was killed within the Territories of Milan Probus the younger and Philoxenus being Consuls Indict III. in the Year DXXV In the Consulate of these Men Symmachus the Patrician was massacred at Ravenna †Anastasius was the Restorer and Keeper of the Apostolick Library and therefore stiled Bibliothecarius ANASTATIVS Bibliothecar in the Life of John I. AT the same time when John the Pope with Theodorus Importunus and Agapitus Exconsuls and Agapitus the Patrician who died at Thessalonica were sent to Constantinople the Heretical King Theodorick detain'd two renown'd Exconsular Senators Symmachus and Boetius and slew them with the Sword * Ado was Arch-bishop of Vienna and writ a short Chronicle from the Beginning of the World to his own times ADO of Vienna in his Chronicle WHen John the Pope in his Return came to Ravenna Theodorick imprisoned him and his Companions being displeased that Justin the chief Defender of the Orthodox Faith had received them so honourably at which time he slew Symmachus and Boetius both Consulars upon Account of their Faith AIMOINIVS de gest Franc. Lib. 2. Cap. 1. SOME of those who were with John the Pope he burnt others he put to Death by several Ways and Tortures Amongst whom Symmachus the Patrician and Boetius his Son-in-law after long Imprisonment fell by the Sword How well Boetius was seen in sacred and profane Letters may by his Writings on several Subjects appear These his Treatises of Arithmetick and Logick and Musick so grateful to the Romans will testify Furthermore his Book of the Consubstantiality of the Trinity doth sufficiently shew how useful he might have been to the Church if the Times could have born him †Joannes Sarisburiensis or Saresberiensis was an English-man and Bishop of Chartres in France Amongst other things he writ Policraticum sive de Nugis Curialium Vestigiis Philosophorum JOHANNES SARISBVRIENSIS Episcop Carnot Policrat Lib. 7. Cap. 15. IF you will not believe me revolve diligently the Book of the Consolation of Philosophy and the contrary will be plain to you And although that Book does not plainly express the word Incarnate yet amongst
bore it with so great Courage and Patience that he said to the Tyrant Beat on beat on the Back of Anaxarchus thou canst not hurt him The Tyrant said he would pluck out his Tongue he hearing that presently bit it off and spit it in the Tyrant's Face Free Man to discover some Persons who had conspired against his Life the Man bit off his own Tongue and spit it in his Face swelling and bloated with Rage so by his Wisdom disappointing the Tyrant and making those Torments which his Cruelty had designed Matter of Triumph to his Heroick Courage To go further what is it that any Man may do to another which another may not do again to him We are told that it was the Custom of (x) Busiris He was the Son of Neptune by Lydia the Daughter of Epaphus and a most cruel Tyrant of the Egyptians He sacrificed his Guests to Jupiter not sparing the Priest from whom he had received the Counsel to do it but whilst he prepared to give the same Treatment to Hercules he was with Amphidama his Son and his Ministers and Officers killed by Hercules at the Altar Quis aut Eurystea durum Aut illaudati nescit Busiridis aras Virg. Georg. l. 3. Busiris to kill his Guests and himself at last was killed by Hercules his Guest (y) Regulus He was Consul and having vanquished the Salentini who inhabited that Country near the Apennine Mountains which is now called Parte dela Terra d' Otranto he triumphed at Rome and was the first of the Roman Generals who conducted a Fleet into Africa and being himself taken by the Carthaginians whom he had conquered he was put to Death by them by cutting off his Eye-lids Regulus after a Victory put many of the Carthaginians into Chains but himself soon after was forced to yield to their Fetters Dost thou therefore think that the Power of that Man ought to be magnified who cannot hinder another from committing that upon him which he lately committed upon another Consider too that if there were any thing of proper or natural Good in these Dignities and Powers they would never be attained by wicked Men for disagreeing things do not use to unite and Nature forbids that contrary things should join So that seeing wicked Men do often execute Offices of Dignity and Trust it appears that they are not good in themselves because they can reside in such Subjects The same may also be most justly said of all the Gifts of Fortune which are most commonly shewed in greatest Plenty upon the worst of Men. It ought also to be considered that no Man doubteth him to be valiant in whom he hath seen the Vertue of Fortitude shine nor him to be swift of foot in whom he hath seen Swiftness So Musick maketh a a Musician the Science of Physick a Physician and Rhetorick a Rhetorician The Nature of every thing acts properly according to its End nor is mix'd with foreign Effects of differing Beings but of its own Accord repels what is contrariant to it or may be destructive of it Riches cannot extinguish the unquenchable Thirst of Avarice nor can Power give him Command of himself who is already the Slave of his Vices and bound in the insoluble Chains of his Lusts So Dignities conferr'd upon ill Men do not only not make them worthy but rather shew their Unworthiness by laying them open and discovering their Shame But how comes this to pass you are pleased to impose upon things false Names and differing from their Natures which are often laid open and appear by the Effects of those very things so that even these Riches and this Power and that Dignity ought not of right to be called by those Names And lastly the same thing may be said of all the Gifts of Fortune in which it is manifest that nothing is desirable nor is there any thing of native Good in them since they are not always the Lot of good Men nor make them good to whom they are allotted METRUM VI. Novimus quantas dederit ruinas Urbe flammatâ patribusque caecis c. We know what Ruine (z) Nero. He governed the Roman Empire about the Year of Christ 57. So long as he used the Advice of his Master Seneca he governed well but he being removed he fell into a Course of all Wickedness and Impiety and became a great Example of Infamy Luxury Avarice and Cruelty First he appeared upon the Theatre not only as an Actor but as an Harper Next he would wear no Habit twice he would never travel without a thousand Carriages and all the Shoes of his Mules were of Silver He fished always with a Golden Net and with purple and scarlet Cords He gaping after all Mens Goods did only desire to appear rich Lastly having ordered Rome to be burnt he laid it to the Charge of the Christians and put to Death the Chief of them Peter and Paul the Apostles as also Seneca his Master Antonia his Aunt and Britannicus his Brother Octavia his Wife Agrippina his Mother and at last he killed himself Vid. Sueton. l. 6. Nero's Rage did cause When he (a) Burnt Rome He did not burn the whole City only a Part of it where the worst Buildings were which he did for a Jest that he might by it represent the Siege of Troy Sueton. l. 6. burnt Rome triumph'd o'r its Laws When all the (b) The Conscript Fathers A blazing Star saith Suetonius which is thought to portend Destruction to Governments and Potentates began now for several Nights to appear Nero being troubled at this consulted Babylus an Astrologer he answered that Princes were wont to expiate these kind of Portents by some illustrious Slaughter and to avert their Effects from themselves by throwing them upon the Heads of their Ministers and the Magistrates upon which Advice he sentenced all the Nobility and Senators to Death Conscript Fathers he did kill When yet his (c) His Brother Britannicus who was the Son of Claudius by Messalina as he himself was by Agrippina he poisoned him Brother's Blood which he did spill Was warm his (d) His Mother Agrippina was Daughter to Germanicus Sister to Caligula Wife first of Domitianus afterwards of Claudius whom she poisoned that she might make Nero her Son who rewarded her with Death Possessor of the Empire When she was dead he went to view her Body made Observations of all the Parts of it and some he praised some he dispraised Adduntur praedictis atrociora saith Suetonius nec incertis autoribus Neronem ad visendum interfectae matris cadaver accurrisse contrectâsse membra alia vituperâsse sitique interim obortâ bibisse Mother a sad Victim fell Then whilst the Body cold and breathless lay Without a Tear the Tyrant did survey Its Parts each Fault each Beauty did espy These he did praise and these he did decry This Monster yet to all those (e) All those Lands He governed the Roman Empire which
But if Dominion and the Rule over many People be the efficient Cause of Happiness doth not it follow that if it be defective in any Part it must necessarily diminish that Happiness and introduce Misery But although humane Empires extend themselves far and wide there must of necessity be many People over which every King can have no Command and on whatsoever Hand this Power which constitutes Happiness shall fail there must Impotence enter which causes Misery Hence therefore it is natural to aver that Princes must have a larger Portion of Misery than of its contrary A (r) A Tyrant He means Dionysius King of Sicily who hath been noted by all succeeding Ages for his tyrannical Government His History is so well known that I need only mention here that one Damocles flattering Dionysius and extolling the Happiness which he thought he did enjoy in the possession of great Power and Wealth the Tyrant attired him one Day as a King and ordered a Royal Table and Service to be prepared for him that he might have a Taste of that Felicity which he so much applauded but whilst Damocles was in his Royal Robes with delicious Fare before him Orders were given to hang a naked Sword with the Point downwards just over his Head and only fastned by an Hair which when Damocles perceived he could not eat nor take any Pleasure in his Royal Attendance By which Dionysius made him perceive that the Life of a Prince though living in great State and Plenty is very uncomfortable since he is continually wrested and tormented with Cares and Fear Districtus Ensis cui super impiâ Cervice pendet non Siculae dapes Dulcem elaborabunt saporem Non avium citharaeque cantus Somnum reducent Hor. l. 3 Carm. Ode 1. certain Tyrant who well understood the Danger of his Condition did well express the Fears and Cares which attend Government by the Terror of a naked Sword hanging over a Man's Head What then is this thing call'd Power which cannot expel Care nor banish Fear Men desire to live secure but cannot and yet they glory in and boast of their Power Canst thou believe him to be powerful whom thou seest not able to do what he would or him mighty who goes surrounded with a Guard to terrify those of whom he himself is more afraid and whose Power is seated in the Number of his Attendance And now why should I trouble my self to discourse of the Favourites of Princes when I have shew'd even Kingdoms themselves to be subject to so much Imbecility especially since these gaudy things are often disgraced and ruined as well when the Prince is fortunate as when he is unhappy Nero would allow (s) Seneca He was a Philosopher of the Sect of the Stoicks and born at Corduba in Spain he was Uncle to Lucan the Poet and Tutor to the Emperor Nero anno Ch. 60. who afterwards sentenced him that he might possess his Wealth to drink Poison which working not its Effect with him he ordered him to be put into an hot Bath and his Veins to be opened out of which the Blood flowing he gently expired Tacitus saith that when one of the Centurions was sent to him to denounce the Certainty of his Death he said Neque aliud superesse post matrem fratremque interfectos quam ut educatoris praeceptorisque necem adjicere That there was nothing now left for him to do after the Murder of his Mother and Brother but to add that of his Teacher and Master to them Seneca his Friend and Tutor this only Favour to chuse the manner of his Death after he had condemned him The Emperor (t) Antoninus He was sirnamed Caracalla and was Successor to Severus in the Roman Empire having killed his Brother Geta. The Impiousness of which Fact he ordered Papinian to excuse or wipe off to the Senate and the People Papinian refused to do it saying that Parricide was sooner committed than concealed and that it was another kind of Parricide to accuse an innocent Person murdered which Refusal so irritated Antoninus that he commanded he should be killed by his Souldiers Antoninus exposed (u) Papinian He was a most famous Lawyer and is said to have excelled all those who preceded and followed his time in the Knowledg of his Profession He succeeded to Scaevola whose Disciple he was in the Administration of the Affairs relating to the Treasury of the Emperor Severus to whom he was related by his second Wife and was so well esteemed by that Emperor that when he died he left his Sons to his Care Papinian who had long been great at Court to fall by the Swords of his Souldiers Both of them would willingly have renounced their Authority and Seneca was willing to have given his whole Estate and all his Riches into the Hands of Nero and to have retired but whilst the Force of Fate pushed them on towards their Fall neither of them could accomplish what they desired to have done What then is this Power of which Men even when they enjoy it are afraid of which when they are desirous they are not sure nor safe and which when they would lay it down they cannot be acquitted of it Are those Friends to be trusted to in time of need whose Friendship is not founded upon Vertue but upon thy Fortune Believe it they whom thy happy Estate have made so will change when that is altered and when thou art miserable they will be thy Enemies And what Plague in the World can be greater or hurt thee more than such an Enemy who hath gain'd an Intimacy with thee METRUM V. Qui se volet esse potentem Animos domet ille feroces c. He to his Passions Laws must give Who would at Fame and Power arrive He must not too himself forget And to Lust's servile Yoak submit Although thy Laws and Power extend To fruitful (w) India 'T is so called from the River Indus and is a vast Territory terminating Asia towards the East although here it is taken for the East India's distant Land Though frozen (x) Thule Was the last of the Islands which the Romans had discovered and lay the most Northerly of all towards the West wherefore here it is taken for the West It is generally believed to be Iceland and depends upon the King of Denmark as King of Norway About the End of the 9th Century it began to be frequented by the Europeans Thule's stubborn Brow Should to thy dreadful Scepter bow Yet if black Care invades thy Breast If Grief and Plaints do thee molest Thou neither powerful art nor bless'd PROSA VI. BUT O how deceitful oft and how deformed is the thing called Glory Hence not without Reason did the Tragedian exclaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Glory Glory there are thousands of Men who have deserved nothing whose Lives nevertheless thou hast rendred famous for many have surreptitiously gotten to themselves great Names by the false
increased by several Rivers amongst the rest Pactolus it enters into the Aegean Sea by the Bay of Smyrna and is said to have Golden Sands Nec pulcher Ganges atque auro turbidus Hermus Virgil. Georg. l. 1. v. 151. Hermus in his yellow way Can to the World convey Or India with its warmer Hand Which Diamonds yields and Pearls both Can never clear the Mind But rather doth it blind And in thick Darkness doth it clothe That which doth raise our Thoughts so high The mighty shining Bait Which so doth captivate Doth in Earth's lowest Caverns lie But the gay Light which Heaven doth rule From which its Force it hath Doth in no obscure Path But by clear Light conduct the Soul He then who sees that Source of Light And will it comprehend Compar'd to it he 'll find That the Sun's Rays are wrap'd in Night PROSA XI Boet. I Assent and am overcome by the Strength of thy Reasons Phil. At how great a rate wouldst thou value this Good if thou didst rightly know it Bo. At an infinite rate if at the same time I might attain to the Knowledg of God who is the true Good Ph. That thou shalt do so I shall make clear to thee by undeniable Reasons if thou wilt but grant me those things which a little before I have laid down as Conclusions Bo. I grant them all Ph. Have not I made it clear that those things which are desired by most are not therefore true and perfect Goods because they differ amongst themselves and that when one is absent the other cannot confer absolute Happiness And then that they are the perfect Good when they are molded up into one Form that is to say when Self-sufficiency Power Veneration Renown and Pleasure collectively meet For if they be not one and the same thing they have nothing to recommend them or to make them to be numbred amongst desirable things Bo. I grant thou hast demonstrated these things nor can they by any means be doubted of Ph. These things then when they are distinct not being Goods and when they meet immediately being made Goods do not they owe their Beings of Good to Unity Bo. So it seems to me Ph. But wilt thou yield that every thing which is good is so by the Participation of the sovereign Good or not Bo. It is certainly so Ph. Thou must then by the same Reason acknowledg Unity and Good to be the same thing for the Substance of those things must be the same whose Effects do not naturally differ Bo. I cannot deny it Ph. Knowest thou then that every Being doth so long endure and subsist as it is entire and knit together by Unity but that as soon as it looses that Bond it is dissolv'd and Privation follows Bo. How dost thou make out that Ph. Thus As in Animals or sensitive Creatures it is plain the Soul and Body being united and continuing together the Being then is called Animal a living Creature but so soon as this Unity is dissolved by the Separation of these it immediately perisheth ceasing to be what it was before The Body also it self which whilst it remains in one Form by the Conjunction of its Members retains the Form and Resemblance of a Man but if by dissevering and segregating the Parts that Oneness is distracted it is no more what before it was In the same manner if we run through all other Beings it will surely appear that every thing as long as it preserveth Unity doth subsist and if that dies the other must also die with it Bo. Though I consider never so long yet I can see no other thing Ph. Is there then any thing which inasmuch as it lives naturally doth forgo its Desire of Subsisting and affect Corruption and Annihilation Bo. If I consider those living Creatures which have any Power of willing or refusing I do not in Nature find any thing which without some foreign Impulse or the Concurrence of outward Accidents doth cast away its Intention and Desire of subsisting and willingly hasten to Destruction for every Animal is endowed with that great Principle of Self-preservation and pursues it and doth eschew Mischief and Death But if I casting an Eye upon the Vegetative World consider Herbs and Trees and other inanimate things I confess I am under a doubt and know not well what to think of them Ph. But even of these there is no Cause that thou shouldst doubt for behold Herbs and Trees first choose a convenient Place to grow in where their Nature as much as it can hinders them from withering and perishing soon for some spring in the Fields others upon Mountains others rise in Lakes and Marshes others put forth amongst the Stones some choose the most barren Sands for the Place of their Birth and all these if any Hand should endeavour to transplant them to any other place would forthwith wither But Nature gives to every thing that which is agreeable to and convenient for them and endeavours that they should not perish before their time Dost thou not know that all Herbs and Trees as if their Mouths were fastned downward in the Earth do draw up their Nourishment by the Root and diffuse their Strength and Bark as through their Marrow And also that the softest and most tender Matter as the Pith or Marrow is is always laid up in the most inward Cabinet and covered by a strong Coat of Wood and the uppermost Garment of Bark is opposed to the Storms and Weather as being fitted best to endure them And canst thou not here behold and admire the Diligence and Care of Nature which propagates all things by a Multiplicity of Seeds which all Men know are as a Foundation for a Building not to remain for a time but as if it were for ever And even those things which are thought to be inanimate do not they by the same Reason desire that which properly belongs to them and to preserve their Beings For why should Levity carry the Flames upward and Gravity make the Earth tend downwards towards its Centre but that these Places and Motions agree with their several Bodies Furthermore whatsoever is agreeable to the Nature of any thing that preserves that thing as that which hath an Abhorrency from it corrupts and destroys it Now that which is hard as a Stone doth most tenaciously adhere together in all its Parts and resists an easy Dissolution but what things are liquid or flowing as Air and Water yield easily to those who would separate them but soon again return and slide back to those things from which they were divided but Fire doth utterly refuse any such Division And now I do not treat of the voluntary Motions of a knowing and discerning Soul but of natural Intention and Instinct Thus we swallow our Meat without thinking of it and draw our Breath in our Sleep without perceiving it For the Love of Life is not derived to living Creatures from the Inclinations and Bent of